Ang Lee had always been disgusted with the distinction between legitimate children and concubines. Why would there be such a huge difference in status between children born from the same father? If there was a little difference, it wouldn't matter. But if the difference was too big and they became no different from servants, it would be too cruel.
However, the so-called no different from servants referred to the treatment in life, such as food and accommodation. They were the same as high-ranking servants, but their status was a little special, so they were treated better.
In addition, if this illegitimate son or daughter, who was not valued, suddenly became a great person in the future, then the situation would be greatly improved. Their status in the family would be raised, and even their lowly mother's status would be raised as well.
Looking at the two young ladies in front of him, who didn't even have a title, Ang Lee didn't ask much. He couldn't ask who their mother was! This was not a question that Ang Lee should care about. It would be very embarrassing if he asked.
Judging from the age of the two, they were about 14 or 15 years old. Were they still children? They were at the age where they liked to play, so they wanted to run out and see the snow outside.
Usually, they didn't have a chance to leave the residence. They even had to work with the palace maids, which was light work such as sewing clothes and embroidering handkerchiefs. Heavy work such as washing clothes and cooking would not be assigned to them. So, they lived a more dignified life.
Although their treatment was very low, they were, after all, of the same bloodline as those with high status. Thus, they had more opportunities. Although they were not favored by their fathers, they were able to curry favor with their brothers so that they could live better lives.
And because of the blood relationship, as long as a concubine-born brother or sister could look up to him, show weakness everywhere, and flatter him, the son of the first wife would generally be very happy to have a follower. This would also highlight the superiority of his own status. In front of outsiders, he could proudly tell others that the person he ordered around was his own concubine-born brother. At this time, others might also flatter him that a concubine-born brother was too humble. Compared to a son of the first wife, the difference was too obvious.
Li Yu was the kind of person who liked to look for a sense of superiority. When he casually opened his mouth, there was a condescending momentum. The two little girls didn't dare to speak for fear of angering Li Yu and not being able to take care of them in the future. Even if they were reprimanded by Li Yu every day, they were very willing because they had long been used to it. This habit made them develop a pleasing personality. Moreover, being able to be reprimanded from time to time also reflected that Li Yu did not forget them. The care he could give was enough to offset the domineering words. Thus, unconsciously, it made them develop a weak character that was abused.
Usually, they were used to being casually reprimanded by Li Yu. At this moment, seeing Ang Lee speaking so softly and with such a good attitude, the two girls were not used to it. They looked at Li Yu in a daze and didn't know how to answer.
Children were generally more timid, especially when they met strangers, their courage was even more timid. The two little girls in front of them were at the level of children. They basically didn't go out much, so they were more nervous when they saw Ang Lee.
"Why aren't you greeting your elder brother?"
Li Yu spoke.
"Elder brother, hello elder brother."
The two of them said in unison.
"Good, good, good. Hello, two sisters. This is the first time we meet, so I didn't prepare any gifts. These two monoculars are for you. Take it!"
The monoculars that Ang Lee carried with him were originally for his own use, but at this time, Ang Lee felt that it was good to give them away. Anyway, there were many monoculars at home. As for hunting, it was just for fun. Even if he couldn't hunt one, it didn't matter. Moreover, Ang Lee's eyesight was not bad. He calculated that even without the help of a telescope, he could still find prey from a long distance.
"Thank you, elder brother."
After getting Li Yu's nod of approval, the two dared to accept Ang Lee's gift, but they didn't know how to use it. Under Ang Lee's guidance, they quickly learned how to use the telescope and were very excited to use it.
However, the snow was a little too heavy. Therefore, even if they used the telescope, they couldn't see too far. The visibility in the environment was too low.
"The snow today is a little strange! The snowflakes are really as heavy as goose feathers. I can't see clearly 50 steps away. "
Li Yu looked at the snowy scene and said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "For so many years, I haven't seen such heavy snow in the capital city. However, in the area around Yingzhou, such heavy snow is a common occurrence. Sometimes, it can even snow for more than ten days. The snow can be waist-deep, and it can even be hard to walk!"
"Oh, I didn't expect such heavy snow in Yingzhou. It seems that Chang 'an is better. If the snow is really waist-deep, wouldn't it be difficult for many animals to move in the wild? Especially animals with short legs, how can they find food?"
Li Yu asked curiously.
"Then they can only crawl on the snow. If the prey is not strong enough or can't find enough food, they will definitely starve to death. Therefore, many hunters don't need to hunt after entering the mountains. They can directly pick up frozen prey in the snow. I've picked up many hares and roe deer."
Ang Lee explained.
"That's interesting. I really hope that we can see some prey today."
Li Yu was looking forward to it.
However, it was difficult to realize this wish, because the temperature in Chang 'an was not as low as in Yingzhou. Although the snow was heavy, it was definitely not waist-deep. It was not easy to freeze some prey to death. However, it was definitely a great help for hunting prey. Especially for hunting prey, snow was the best tracker, because the snow would quickly cover the old traces, leaving only the recent ones. In this way, by the depth of the footprints, one could know when the prey passed by and whether it was worth pursuing.
In fact, it was not cold when it snowed. Only when the snow melted was it really cold. Therefore, although it was snowing heavily outside, the weather was still okay, about minus 10 degrees Celsius. It was not too cold. As long as the main thing was to keep warm, it would not be a problem. Especially, the most important thing was to keep one's ears warm. Otherwise, it would be easy to freeze one's ears.
Li Yu's two younger sisters were not favored. They often had to do chores, and they even had to wash their own clothes. Their physiques were not bad, and they wore thick clothes. Therefore, they would not be cold in such a snowy day.
Li An and Li Yu were here to hunt, but at the same time, they were here to enjoy the scenery and relax. As for the two little girls, they were here purely to enjoy the scenery and relax. Because they had almost no chance to leave their residence, they were especially excited and had a happy expression on their faces.
"The income from hunting is far less than that of working in the workshop. There are fewer and fewer hunters. This is a good thing for us. In the future, when no one hunts, there will be more prey, and it will be easier to hunt."
Ang Lee suddenly said.
This was because a few days ago, an old craftsman in the R&D Center suddenly brought his nephew, saying that he wanted to learn craftsmanship from him and earn some money to support his family. Ang Lee happened to see him. At first glance, the old craftsman's nephew was very strong. He asked about it and found that he was a hunter. Because the income from hunting was too low, he often went out to hunt and returned empty-handed. There was no way to support his family. Therefore, he could only change his profession to be a craftsman. As long as he worked hard, the craftsmen of the Tang dynasty would be able to support their families.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. In recent years, I have also found that there are fewer and fewer hunters going into the mountains to hunt. On the contrary, there are more and more powerful people. In the future, hunting can only be a pastime, not a way to make a living."
Li Yu also said affirmatively.
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Let's go! Let's hurry into the mountains to hunt and try to hunt a few prey by noon. In this way, we don't have to eat the food we brought for lunch. It's also fresh. "
"Well, let's go into the mountains immediately. You each take a few people to search on both sides. If you find the footprints of the prey, report it immediately."
Li Yu ordered loudly. This time, he brought so many guards, and the heavy snow was also a great help. He believed that they would be able to catch the prey.
The group of people walked slowly, chatting and enjoying the beautiful snow scene. As for looking for the footprints of the prey, that was the job of the guards. In addition, the two young ladies had binoculars in their hands and were constantly searching. However, because the heavy snow was originally dazzling, after using the binoculars, the dazzling light increased tenfold. It was okay to see the snow in the distance, but it was very dazzling to look at the nearby snow. Fortunately, the sun in the sky had not yet come out. Otherwise, they could not use binoculars in the snow as it would burn their eyes.
In such a snowy weather, humans could stay at home quietly and enjoy life, or stand in the yard and watch the snow scene. However, animals were different. Most of them did not have stored food. In order to survive, they had to brave the heavy snow to look for food. Herbivores needed to find the shoots of plants in the snow, and carnivores also needed to chase herbivores in the snow to fill their stomachs.
No matter what kind of wild animals, they could not give up looking for food because of the weather. Otherwise, what awaited them was only the road of starvation. This was very different from humans.
In the snowy weather of the university, going out to look for food would inevitably leave footprints, and these footprints were the guide for hunters to find the prey. As long as fresh footprints were found, they could basically find the trail of the prey.
Sure enough, the guard in charge of the investigation quickly found the footprints of the prey. Moreover, they were relatively fresh footprints, which was enough to show that the prey was not far away. As long as they followed the footprints, there was a great possibility of finding the prey.
"Let me see. This seems to be the footprints of a hare, and there must be more than one."
Ang Lee walked to the location of the footprints found and gave a preliminary judgment. Hares were the most numerous wild animals near the capital, and it was also the prey that hunters could usually catch the most, followed by pheasants and various wild birds. In fact, the number of rats in the wild was not small, but because rats were very cunning, it was difficult to catch them. Moreover, no one liked to eat rat meat, so the rats escaped a disaster. However, these rats that were let go by humans fed the small beasts that ate rats as food. For example, foxes and owls liked to eat rats very much, and the number of rats had a certain tendency to rise.
As for catching rats, the later generations were also very distressed. In a special period of time, Hua Xia launched a campaign to eliminate the four pests, saying that they wanted to eliminate the large number of rats, sparrows, flies, and mosquitoes in the country. However, after many years of this campaign, other than the large number of sparrows that were eliminated and became the protected animals of the imperial court, the rats, flies, and mosquitoes were almost not eliminated. The reason was because rats burrowed in the ground and were difficult to catch, flies and mosquitoes were too small, and sparrows could be easily caught with birdnets. As such, after many years of hunting, sparrows would be greatly reduced, but the rest of the rats, flies, and mosquitoes almost did not decrease.
The rat's reproductive ability was too strong and was destined to never go extinct. The rabbit's reproductive ability was also extremely tenacious. Therefore, despite the hunters' relentless pursuit, they were still not extinct. In fact, there were quite a number of them.
"What, do you want to take these rabbits?"
Li Yu said with a smile.
Ang Lee looked at his subordinates behind him and said, "Take out the sled and test your skills."
Because the snow was thicker, the running ability of the horses could not compare to the speed of the skis, so in order to catch the prey as soon as possible, they needed to use the power of the skis.
A few guards immediately dismounted, put on the skis, and followed the footprints. In such weather, using skis to chase the prey was the wisest choice, and also the easiest way to succeed.
The skis moved on the snow as if they were flying, chasing the footprints left by the prey at a very fast speed. The large group of people slowly followed. In the thick snow, even if the horses could run at a high speed, they could not be so willful. After all, no one knew what dangers there would be under the flat surface of the snow. If there were traps, it would be terrible. Even if they used skis, there was a certain amount of risk. However, the surface area of the skis was larger, and the people were lighter. The horse's hooves were small, and the weight of the horse and the people were too heavy. As long as they encountered a trap, they would definitely fall into it.
"Wow, they're so fast."
Seeing the guards disappear in front of them, a young lady's envious voice reached Ang Lee's ears.
"Sister, do you want to learn how to ski? I can teach you. It's very easy to learn, and you can learn it in a day."
Ang Lee said very politely.
"Really?"
The young lady's eyes lit up, but she quickly said in disappointment, "It's useless even if you learn it. There aren't many opportunities to go out, and you can't be so presumptuous in the palace."
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
