Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 5 and Epilogue

This is the final part of the Fake City story, a fictional story set in the time of the Three Kingdoms in Chinese history. You can look back on the blog for the first four parts of the story. The next story I'll post in this series is about Xuanzang who lived during the Tang Dynasty.

Part 5

A few months later people in the town were talking about a group of men who were going to the cities to destroy them. By this time, most of the towns close by below the mountain were already abandoned. This made everyone hope that they would never come. However, the leaders of the town started training some of the men how to fight. The boys in this story, however, had a different idea.

‘Hey, what if we build a town close to ours but make it look already broken  down,” Xi Bing said one day as they were in the orchard.

“What? Why?” Asked Xi Wei.

“Because if we make it look like there’s a another town here that’s already been destroyed, they would probably give up and go away.” Said Xi Wei.

The older man who was pruning his apple trees close by overheard their conversation and went to them.

“That might actually work. I think it might, just might work.” Said the old man.

“Yes, and we’d have to make a big road going to the fake town to make it look like it’s a real town.” Said Xi Wei.

The old man talked with some of the leaders of the city and they decided it was a good idea. The boys were able to help their dads build part of it. It took everyone three months to finish the town. Since they were making the town look like it had been destroyed, it faster. They didn’t have to make tall buildings. Instead, they had to make it look like there used to be tall buildings. They also made a big road going to the town.

The boys loved playing hide and go seek in the fake town. They were hardly seen in town anymore because whenever the weather was nice they were either in the orchard, talking with the family that grew vegetables, or in the new “fake” town playing hide and go seek. Every time they went to the fake town, they added and did more to make it look like it had once been lived in.  Sometimes Xi Wei would find rocks and mark on the walls and sometimes Xi Bing and Chen Min would move stones around. They made sure to walk along the road going to the town at least two times each day to make the road look like it had been used.

All their work paid off a year later when a group of men came. The boys were in the orchard when they heard people coming from the distance. Thankfully, the old man was there and told them all to be quiet. The old man went with the boys to get a closer look. 

“If you go with me, you have to be quiet. Quieter even then a mouse,” said the old man.

“Of course!” Said Xi Wei. However, he said in a regular voice.

“Shhh,” the old man whispered back. 

They slowly walked closer and found a place to watch that was hidden. About fifty men came. They went to the town and walked around. The boys and old man could hear them talking.

‘Who did this? I thought we were the only ones in this area.” Said one of the men.

“Maybe it was the people to the North of us,” said another voice.

“I think so. Let’s go and find them! They took everything from this town that belonged to us.” Said another voice. 

All in all, the men spent only an hour looking around the city before deciding to leave. They never talked about there being another city close by, which means that the plan worked.  

Epilogue

The four boys remained close friends their whole lives. They lived in that town a long time. The old man died two years later, but told the boys to take care of his apple trees for him. He said that his children and their children lived in a different city so he wanted to give all of his apple trees to the four boys. The old man spent his time teaching the boys how to take care of the apple trees before he died. The vegetable family continued growing vegetables, although it was harder for them to make money because more and more people started growing their own vegetables in the forest close by. In terms of the country, the Han Dynasty ended (220 AD) and the country was going crazy. The country was divided into three countries (The Three Kingdoms Period) before becoming united again under the Sui Dynasty in 589 AD. 

Old Recipes: Scottish Oat Cakes, Crumpets, and Chelsea Buns

 Recently I tried out three recipes from the old cookbook. The oat cakes were ok. I liked them but the kids thought they were just ok (not good, not bad). I also made crumpets. About 3 years ago I bought the molds to make crumpets because it's something I've wanted to try out for a long time now. However, the molds got mixed up in a package to us when we were in Asia and sent back to my family in the states. After we moved here (about a year and a half ago), my family gave me the package and I finally got the crumpet molds! However, I've only made them twice. This time around they turned out much better than the first time! Everyone liked them. 

I also made oat cakes. My hunch is that maybe they are supposed to be thicker than this (?). I was trying to follow the recipe in the book. 

These are the Chelsea Buns. I really liked them- not as sweet as a cinnamon roll and more flavor.

Old Recipes: Northumbrian Girdle Cakes and Shrewsbury Cakes

 These two were a big hit. Northumbrian Girdle Cakes were a big hit. They were similar to scones but cooked in a pan instead of in an oven. The recipe has no eggs in it. 

Of course, some things haven't gone exactly so well...we tried an old recipe for Banbury Cakes. Today Banbury cakes are made with a filling of old cake crumbs and mince meat. The recipe I followed has a bread dough that's wrapped in puff pastry (well, as far as I understood the recipe to say!). It flopped; it was not a big success. I think if you use the filling of mince meat and old cake crumbs, it would be better.

This one, Shrewsbury Cakes, was a success. It's a type of sugar cookie but made with egg instead of baking soda and baking powder to make them rise. They were great fresh, hot from the oven, slightly sweet but not overly sweet. I think they'd be great dunked in a cup of tea.

Kids in Ancient China (Part 6): The Fake City Part 4

I realize that I haven't finished posting the rest of this story! I'll post Part 5 and the Epilogue later (in a week or two). There are 10 stories total and we are on story #6 (which is so long, I'm posting it in several parts, hence "Part 4" for this post). 

 Part 4

After this, the four boys tried to find time to meet together and find out what exactly was behind the other building they saw. Now that they knew that it once was where the emperor stayed, they imagined that it must be a super nice place.

“Yes, but this was years ago. Remember, it was when he was our age. That was a long time ago!” Said Chen Min. 

“I would love to see it still,” said Xi Wei.

“Me too,” said Chen Yang. 

“Ok, let’s go.” Said Chen Min.

They walked around the wall but found no easy way to climb up and over it. Finally, Xi Wei had an idea: “What if we climb up that tree and use that  branch to help us get over the wall.” 

“Hmmm, that might work,” said Chen Min. “Let me try first.”

Chen Min climbed the tree and found that it wasn’t so hard, but he didn’t want Xi Wei or Chen Yang to try it because it was a little difficult. However, he knew that if he said that they were too young to do it, they would be angry about it. Instead, Chen Min decided to just be quiet and not say anything. 

“Chen Min, are you ok?” Asked Chen Yang. 

“What’s going on?” Asked Xi Wei.

It was quiet for a few minutes until Chen Min said, “I’m thinking of a way to get down.” Another few minutes later, there was “thud” as he jumped to the ground. 

“Was that you? Are you ok? What do you see?” Asked Xi Bing.

“Can we come up too?” Asked Xi Wei.

“Yes, I’m ok.” Chen Min answered. He walked around the inside and found two small houses and lots of plants growing. There were places where it looked like there used to be more houses, but were taken down. In their place were rows and rows of plants.  

“Oh, I thought I heard something,” said a girl’s voice. A girl of about seven years old said. Her hair was long and braided in two braids. “Are you all right? Did you climb and jump from that tree?”

“Uh, yes.” Answered Chen Min.

“Wow, did it hurt? That looks like a big jump!” 

“Well, yes, it did hurt a little, but not too much.” However, Chen Min had a bad scrape on his knee. When the girl looked down and saw the blood, she immediately told him to follow her.

“My mom can help you.” The girl said.

“No, I can’t. There are other boys- my friends- waiting outside.” He said.

“Oh, I thought you were alone.”

“No, my little brother and some friends came along. Do you suppose they can come in too?” He asked.

“Yes, yes, of course! But before anything we need to get you some help. Stay here, I’ll have my mom come and help you.” She said. She rushed off saying, “Mom, mom!” 

Within a few minutes she came back with her mom, who had some water and a towel to clean the wound.

“What made you think of jumping from that tree? That’s really high!” The mom asked.

“Well, I, I, I,” Chen Min hesitated. “I really wanted to see what was behind  this wall. I saw the door, but it was locked and I didn’t want to get into trouble.”

“Trouble?” Well, now you’ve gone and hurt yourself. Does your mother know that you’re here?” She asked.

“No. I do have some friends and my little brother outside waiting for me.” He said.

“Oh, well, bring them in. Yan, go and open the door for them.” The mom directed to her daughter.

In a few minutes the rest of the boys were at Chen Min’s side. “Ouch, that looks like that hurts!” Said Chen Yang.

“So, what exactly are you boys doing out here?” The mom asked them.

“We saw this place and heard that it was where Emperor Lin stayed when he came to visit years ago. We wanted to see how it was like.” Said Chen Min.

“This is how it is.” the mom said. “After the emperor left, no one wanted to live here because it’s outside of the city walls. However, my grandparents wanted to live here. They took down some of the buildings so there would be more room to grow vegetables. We sell our vegetables in the city.” The mom explained.

“We saw some tomatoes and other vegetables grown in the forest in between the trees. We thought that’s where all of the vegetables come from that are sold in the city,” said Xi Bing.

“No, most of them come from here. Of course some of them come from the forest. People don’t want to cut down a lot of trees because then it’s more obvious that there’s a city here. The reason we’ve been able to live here so long without any bad guys coming is that it’s hard to find this city. If everyone started cutting down trees to have bigger places to grow vegetables, it would be more easy to find the city.” She told them.

The boys stayed there a good hour or two. Tan Yan, the little girl, showed them all around and told them which vegetables were which. She said that hardly anyone came to visit them and it was great to have new friends. The boys often went to play with her and called her family the “Vegetable family” since they grew so many vegetables. Even Xi Jing, Xi Bing and Xi Wei’s older sister came occasionally with them. 

Old Recipes: Cheese Pasties, Devon Potato Cake, and Bakewell Tart

 Today the kids had some friends over so it was a great opportunity to try out some more old recipes from the 1929 recipe book. I really enjoy these recipes; it's something different than what I normally do for snacks. The Devon Potato Cake was a flop- not that good. It was really dense and heavy. My daughter loved the Bakewell Tart and everyone loved the Cheese Pasties.

Old Recipes: Derby Cakes

 I found an old cookbook from England from 1929 in a shelf of free books at the local library. It's called "County Recipes of Old England" and have recipes that are famous from different counties of England (and also Wales, Scotland, and Ireland). Now that summer has come, I want to challenge myself to cook one or two recipes from the cookbook for fun. Today was Derby Cakes. My kids loved them; they were like really think scones. 

Hospital Visit

 Two days ago my youngest son broke his arm playing in the backyard. I was in the kitchen getting lunches ready for the next day while the kids were in the backyard. They came rushing to the house and my youngest son was screaming in pain. His arm looked broken so we drove to the hospital a few blocks away. It was a bad break, just above the elbow. They wanted him in for surgery the next morning in a larger city that could do it...a 4 hour drive away. We could choose to drive ourselves or have him (with me) take an airplane to fly there to get there faster. We chose to fly. There are special medical airplanes to help take people in rural areas like where we live to bigger hospitals if need be. I felt like we were part of the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia!

We were both amazed at how nice people were the whole trip getting us to the hospital to get his arm fixed. An ambulance took us to the airplane, about a 30 minute drive away, then we flew on a medical plane, and then an ambulance was waiting for us to take us to the hospital...the hospital room was all ready for us. He had room all to himself and there was an extra bed for me in the room....in the pediatrics ward it seems that all the rooms are like this so that one parent can stay with their child. It was all very, very nice. He got in the first thing in the morning. They put wires in to hold the bones together; they were really good at trying to keep the pain manageable. We got to go home the next day in the afternoon. The experience was so good that he joked, "When can I break my arm again so I can go in a plane and stay in the hospital like that?" We are SO thankful. This was the view from the hospital room...so beautiful! The hospital has a beautiful park outside and even someone playing the piano on the lobby. We are very, very thankful. He'll have a cast on for a month or so; kids heal quick.