Chapter 40: Duke T'ai Goes Fishing

  "Look ahead, that's it, the largest pet store in Luoyang City, owned by Li Jun's family."

  Yang Fan listened and quickly stopped the carriage, saying to Chu Kuangge: "Brother Chu, ask your brothers to wait outside, we'll accompany Miss to take a look at the pet store."

  Chu Kuang Ge responded with a single word, instructing several brothers to guard the light carriage and wait at the entrance of the alley under the tree. Tian Ai Nu wore an intricately carved hat, slowly got out of the carriage, followed by a young maid in green clothes. Yang Fan and Chu Kuang Ge led the way on either side, guiding her into that pet store.

  This is Tongye Fang, located in the northeast corner of Luocheng. Because it is north of the Luo River and adjacent to the Imperial City, it belongs to the place where officials and nobles like to live. Therefore, although Tongye Fang is on the edge of the city, the land price is higher than most of the Fang south of the Luo River. Despite this, Li Jun's shop occupies a large area, which is actually larger than many officials' mansions.

  The mansions of the nobles and aristocrats are far away, with flying eaves and corners, and every step inside is a pavilion. Li Jun's pet shop occupies a large area, but the house is empty and sparse, because most of what was built here are various animal houses for pets.

  Li Jun's gate was wide open, with no family members guarding it, allowing guests to come and go freely. When the three of them entered, they saw people coming in and out constantly, not only many merchants and travelers, but also many nobles dressed in fine clothes, accompanied by male and female servants, either entering or exiting, creating a lively and extraordinary scene.

  Li Jun's family sells only one thing: animals.

  In modern terms, he opened a pet store.

  In this "pet shop", there were animal houses and bird rooms everywhere, the larger ones were like palaces, while the smaller ones were only as big as a palm. With a gust of wind, the smells of many flying birds and beasts mixed together, which was not very pleasant. Tian Ai Nu and the little maid behind her couldn't help but cover their noses.

  "Is the young lady coming back first?"

  An old man with a rolled-up sleeve hastened to welcome him, beaming with smiles as he bowed to Tian Ai Nu. This person looked like he was in his fifties, with sparse white hair, slender build, and shallow fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyebrows and eyes, but his spirit was extremely bright. Chu Kuang Ge stood aside and introduced: "Master, this is Li Jun, the shopkeeper of this store."

  Tian Ai Nu nodded slightly after listening, her veil lightly turned, and she looked at Yang Fan, gesturing for him to speak.

  Yang Fan took a step forward and said to Li Jun: "My family's young lady wants to buy a satisfactory pet, would you please introduce one or two?"

  Business came to the door, Li Jun smiled and said: "Of course, of course, this is the young lady's first time back, I'll show her the way."

  Li Jun led Tian Ai Nu on the way, and saw flying in the sky, walking on the ground, swimming in the water, poisonous and non-poisonous, all kinds of creatures. There were crickets, spiders, parrots, eagles, various goldfish, performing monkeys and fighting cocks, ferocious Tibetan mastiffs, clever Pomeranians, Persian kittens, as well as cranes, deer, turtles, even donkeys and sheep that were kept as pets.

  "Little girl, look at how this monkey is behaving!"

  "This gorilla is so ugly!"

  "Hehe, little girl, take a look at this one. How's this long-eared rabbit? Its fur is like a piece of black satin, shiny and glossy."

  "The donkey's braying is so unpleasant!"

  "Haha, so this Snow Girl is clever and agile, the young lady must have liked her."

  "No good, I like galloping and hunting in the countryside, this parrot is not suitable."

  Tian Ai Nu walked away with a shake of her head, and Li Jun's face was somewhat embarrassed. He couldn't help but ask: "I wonder what kind of pet the young lady likes?"

  Tian Ai Nu nodded and thought for a moment before answering, "It would be best if it could accompany me in my daily life to dispel boredom and melancholy, and also accompany me on hunting trips outside the city to provide excitement."

  Li Jun exhaled and said: "This is easy, little girl, please follow me."

  Li Jun led them quickly to a kennel, introducing: "How about the young lady choosing a hunting dog? The dogs in this room are all famous and precious breeds from various countries, all of which have been carefully trained, understand human nature, recognize human language, and are excellent companions for hunting and play..."

  Tian Ai Nu said faintly: "I don't like dogs, never have."

  Yang Fan recalled the past she had told herself that night, the family dogs all turned into wild dogs, roaming with wolves in the village, preying on humans..., and couldn't help but take a deep look at her.

  Li Jun's voice caught in his throat, and he thought to himself: "This guest is indeed a difficult one to deal with. Now that she has entered my home, if I don't make her leave satisfied, won't it ruin the reputation of Li?"

  Li Jun thought for a moment and said: "In that case, please follow me to the inner courtyard, where the pets are of an even higher grade."

  Yang Fan said: "Uncle only needs to choose a pet that our family's daughter likes, the price is no problem."

  Li Jun led them into the backyard, walked to a cage and pointed inside: "Young lady, take a look at these ferrets. These ferrets have sharp teeth and claws, are very good at hunting, not only intelligent but also have a good appearance, they are the favorite pets of the wealthy in the capital. However... these ferrets only eat meat, do not eat vegetarian food, the usual expenses... are quite high."

  Tian Ai Nu gently shook her head, although a faint veil hung on her face, but everyone could see that she didn't even glance at the civet cat in the cage. Since entering the backyard, her gaze had been fixed on the several most solid iron cages at the end of the courtyard.

  Li Jun saw her staring at the end of the courtyard and coughed, saying: "There are two hunting leopards in that enclosure. These leopards are born fierce, if they have already grown up, it is difficult to get rid of their beastly nature and train them for use. Therefore, all the hunting leopards here were caught and sent over when they were young, and then trained and taught. So, Madam, think about it, after so many years of feeding, not counting the labor costs, not counting the teacher's wages, just the meat it eats every day is over ten kilograms..."

  Tian Ai Nu waved her hand, not listening to his nonsense, and walked straight over. Her eyes scanned lightly and she set her sights on the beautiful leopardess. Li Jun Dao said: "Young lady, this leopard is worth..."

  Tian Ai Nu raised a slender jade finger, stopping Li Jun from speaking, then slowly pointed forward, pointing to the mother leopard with a slender body and beautiful flower patterns, saying: "It's this one!"

  The mother leopard seemed to have understood her words, and at this moment she raised her head, opened her bloody mouth, revealing a row of snow-white sharp teeth, let out a roar that shook the entire cage, then stretched out her slender blood-red tongue, elegantly licking the tip of her own nose...

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  In the Tang Dynasty, foreigners opened shops and hotels in the Great Tang. The most opened were jewelry stores and hotels. Jewelry is self-evident, Western jewelry, whether it's style or color, is better than local Tang jewelry. There are many foreign wine houses, but it's because foreign wine houses have Huji.

  Men are the largest consumer group in hotels. The young and beautiful waitress Hu Ji naturally attracts customers to flock to her.

  "Plucking lotus and throwing water upwards, a gentleman's heart is on the floating flowers." Fine wine and beautiful women complement each other perfectly.

  Few Han women expose their faces and work as hotel attendants, so there is little competition. As a result, the Hui hotels are getting bigger and more luxurious, becoming the favorite haunt of high-ranking officials, wealthy merchants, and tycoons.

  As a result, large wine houses in the area of Chang'an and Luoyang were generally run by foreigners.

  Dunhuang Alley is adjacent to the North City, and it's one of the most bustling places in Luoyang. The "Jin Chai Zui" inside Dunhuang Alley is one of the top two Hui minority restaurants in Luoyang.

  Tian Ai Nu walked in with Yang Fan and Qing Yi Xiao Bi when there were several Hu Ji dancing on the stage. The hotel was extremely large, but only had one floor, with a circular two-foot-high performance stage in the middle, the stage diameter of several zhang, the wine seats all around were arranged towards the center of the stage.

  If some wine guests do not want to be seen by others, the waiter will move a screen around their drinking table on three sides. The front facing the stage will have another folding screen set up separately. If the guest does not like watching the performance on the stage and wants a more private environment, they can use the folding screen to block the front as well, turning it into an elegant room with no one in sight on all four sides.

  But those who come here to drink, rarely have all four sides blocked off. They come here to drink and enjoy the beauty of women, why would they keep the beauties out? When they get excited, they will even jump onto the stage and sing and dance with Hu Ji, or even chase Hu Ji away and perform a solo dance.

  Those who can appear here are either rich or noble. It is unimaginable that people of such stature would behave in this manner in other dynasties. Can you imagine a septuagenarian, the richest man under heaven, or a scholar-official leader nearing sixty years old, or a governor over fifty years old, getting drunk and making merry in front of friends, followers, subordinates, and even complete strangers?

  But in this era, it is normal. Not only for those dignified and high-ranking big shots, but also for those married women who have given birth to children or are still raised in the boudoir, it is normal, which has nothing to do with identity and status, but a custom.

  From the Wei and Jin dynasties to the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and then to the Sui and Tang dynasties, the fusion of Hu and Han was very close. Over the centuries, a large number of Hu people's culture, ideas, customs, and habits were absorbed and assimilated into the Central Plains Han culture, becoming an integral part of it. When high-ranking officials and nobles got drunk, they would sing and dance in public, which became a very elegant and refined activity.

  When the news of Li Jing's victory arrived in the capital, Emperor Taizong of Tang was overjoyed and opened up the palace to dancing girls and singing women. He himself danced with abandon in the great hall, while his father, Retired Emperor Gaozu, even grabbed a pipa from one of the singing girls to accompany his son. The ministers also joined in the revelry, leaving their seats to run onto the platform, singing and dancing together.

  Imagine a group of old men, dressed in official robes, some with whiskers or white hair, dancing and waving their arms in the grand hall, it's like a group of demons dancing wildly. More than ten years later, Crown Prince Li Zhi was overjoyed to have his first son, and as the grandfather, Li Shimin rushed to his son's Eastern Palace to lead the dance.

  The emperor is like this, and so are the officials; among the people, such a phenomenon is even more common.

  In the hotel, everyone was enjoying themselves, and no one noticed the three people who walked in.

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