Seeing the appearance of the eldest son, Wen Zixiao couldn't help reprimanding, "Brother Cheng, what are you doing, walk me well."

Wen Shun cost was going back to the partial hospital in fear, when he suddenly heard his father's reprimand, he shivered with fright, and when he looked up, he saw the father sitting in the main room, as well as his aunt and mother. He got up, carried the food box and ran into the side courtyard and into the main room.

As soon as he entered the main room, everyone sitting in the main room smelled a milky fragrance, and there was another scent that was a bit like meat but more intense. It was very tempting, and they couldn't help swallowing.

Wen Zixiao originally wanted to train the eldest son to act like a thief, but when he smelled the smell, he couldn't help but ask, "What's the smell?"

Wen Shuncheng opened the food box, revealing the stir-fried eel shreds inside, and took out the fish balls and milk steamed buns wrapped in oil paper from his arms.

He said, "Father, why did you come back suddenly?"

Wen Zixiao saw that his son brought food back, and thought that he had made money selling eel and bought food from outside to improve the food in the next three rooms.

"Where did you buy the food? It smells delicious, and what kind of dish is this? It's a bit like eel?"

Eel is generally made into eel soup, but have never seen such a practice, it seems that the eel is cut into filaments? Can the earthy smell of eel be covered in this way?

If the fresh fish is not handled well, the fishy smell is very strong. It is also a common practice to make fish soup, and some are cut into sections and cooked with added seasoning, and the taste is only average. There was a restaurant in the capital that made the eel soup well, but he still missed it. Since he came to the border town, he hadn't had a delicious meal.

The dishes in a restaurant like Donglaiju should be good, but he was reluctant to go in and have a meal, and a meal would cost two or three taels of silver.

Wen Shuncheng smiled and said, "Father, this is not only the smell, but even more delicious to eat. This is stir-fried eel, this is fish ball, and this is milk steamed bun. I'll go get chopsticks, you can try it."

After he finished speaking, he ran to the small kitchen to get a few pairs of wooden chopsticks.

Wen Zixiao was not polite to his son, and took the stir-fried eel with wooden chopsticks.

The eel shreds are fresh, smooth, tender, and fresh, and there is no fishy smell of eel at all.

Wen Zixiao heaved a sigh of relief, took another milk steamed bun, and took a bite. The milk was full of aroma, soft and sweet, and the white and fat fish balls were also delicious and had no fishy smell.

"Dad, how does it taste?"

Wen Zixiao said sternly: "The delicious food that I have never eaten in my life, even the best restaurant in the capital, can't make such a taste. Brother Cheng, where did you buy it? It's not cheap, right?"

Could it be that my son went to Donglaiju to buy it?

Yuanbao Town is also the largest restaurant in Donglaiju on East Street, and the dishes are the best.

When Concubine Bai, Mrs Meng, Brother Gong and Sister Tao had all tasted these foods, they were all amazed.

Wen Shuncheng said in a low voice, "Father, this is what the fourth sister-in-law did."

"Fourth sister-in-law?" Wen Zixiao didn't react for a while.

He remembered that Brother Cheng was the number four at home, right?

Concubine Bai swallowed the milk steamed buns in her mouth and said, "The fourth daughter-in-law of your second sister's family, Yu Niang."

This milk bun is so delicious, fluffy and soft.

Wen Zixiao then realized that he was talking about the Fourth Highness.

He also knew that the current wife of the Fourth Highness was the girl whom the Marquis of Dechang introduced to marry instead.

I didn't expect this girl to have such good cooking skills.

The family cleaned up a few dishes, and Wen Zixiao asked, "Why did you sneak back here just now?"

Wen Shuncheng scratched his head, and talked about the fourth sister-in-law he met when he came back from catching the eel today, and finally the fourth sister-in-law hired him to work. After that, he would go to the fourth sister-in-law's house to work every day, and he talked about the consistent money every month, and added: " It's not like the second sister always asked me about the fourth sister-in-law's family inside and out. She seemed to have some ideas about the fourth sister-in-law's cooking skills. I have to ask questions again, so be careful." In fact, he had never met before, but he was also a little worried subconsciously, afraid of causing trouble for the fourth sister-in-law's family.

The second sister in his mouth is Wen Yunling, who ranks second in the grandchildren.

Wen Zixiao frowned slightly, "Even if she is found out, even if she has an idea, we don't owe her anything, no matter what she thinks, our family and your fourth sister-in-law's family will not be accustomed to her, so you don't need to worry about it. ."

He didn't return until he came back, and he went to his father and mother to ask for peace. He also learned from his father that Aunt Gui had contracted tuberculosis and had left Wen's house and returned to Pei's house.

When he returned to the third room, he asked his concubine again, who also insisted that Concubine Gui was suffering from tuberculosis.

"Right. How is your Aunt Gui?" Wen Zixiao asked.

Wen Shuncheng said: "Concubine Gui is fine, her complexion is getting better and better, and she has gained some weight."

Tuberculosis can make you fat?

Wen Zixiao gave Aunt Bai a puzzled look, feeling that something was wrong, and couldn't help asking her what was going on.

Bai Yiniang said lightly, "All the bosses say it is tuberculosis, so it must be tuberculosis, maybe it's not serious, your Aunt Gui was scolded too hard before, and it's good to be served by your children and grandchildren. Otherwise, look at our third room, look at your aunt, your wife, and Sister Tao, which one is thinner than when you first came from Baozhen? The complexion is also worse. "

Wen Zixiao's face darkened. He had long thought of separating the family. His father and mother were partial. He knew that the eldest and second brothers were direct sons, so he never argued with them, but his father regarded them as servants. Looking at it, how can it be tolerated forever.

Even if the family is split, the old man doesn't give him any money. He has secretly saved a lot of money himself. He doesn't have enough money to buy a house for the time being. At times, she was as tired as Aunt Gui.

Just how to break up with the old man?

...

Wen Zixiao is in favor of letting Brother Cheng help the second sister's house to work. As for Brother Gong, he has nothing to do on weekdays. He usually follows Brother Cheng to help Brother Xuan's daughter-in-law to run and run. .

Wen Shuncheng stayed at Pei's house. He worked quickly and went out of town in the morning to fish for his eels.

Even the eels caught for several days were bought for the fourth sister-in-law.

Wild eel supplements the body, so Xu Qinyu used eel to make many delicious dishes, such as stir-fried eel, dry pot eel, sizzling oil eel paste, dried eel segments, roasted eel slices with green onions, steamed eel, Eel porridge, eel soup, Liangxi crispy eel, etc., have all been made and enjoyed.

She wants to give brother Cheng the eel money, but he doesn't want it either, so he asks him to bring back some food every day, in addition to the eel and milk steamed buns he makes every day, as well as braised fish and fish head stewed tofu and fish balls , and take it back to the people in the third room to eat.

Wen's family's third room has been eating well recently, and her complexion has become better visible to the naked eye.

No matter what you eat, the aroma is the strongest when it is out of the pot, and it can spread far and wide. When it is warm, there is not much aroma left. If you stay in one room, you can still smell the aroma of the food, but the big room has two rooms. It is very far from the side courtyard, and there are several courtyards in the middle, so naturally can't smell anything, and don't know that Cheng Ge'er is working for Yu Niang.

In the blink of an eye, Wen Shuncheng had been working in Pei's house for half a month, and he even took Wen Shungong to do some scattered work in Pei's house.

It was mainly because the two brothers were together on weekdays, but because Wen Shungong was not feeling well that morning, he didn't go to touch the eel with him.

Brother Gong was two years younger than Brother Cheng, barely ten years old. Xu Qinyu wanted to give him some wages, but neither of them wanted to, saying that she had a lot of food every day. This is also true. If there is anything to eat on weekdays, the two brothers eat it together. The half-sized boy and thief can eat it, so Xu Qinyu did not pay the small wages any more, but still gave the usual money.

After only half a month's work, Wen Shuncheng is already very handy. Killing fish and washing fat intestines is very quick, and beating fish mud is not a problem, it really saves Xu Qinyu a lot of effort.

Most of the work that Brother Gong does is to help take out the garbage, and he usually leads Brother Feng and Sister Qian to play wildly with Mo Yu in the yard.

Xu Qinyu found that Cheng Ge'er learned very quickly, and his knife skills were not bad. Although the fish sliced ​​was not as thin as a cicada's wings, it was also quite thin, and the thickness was even. He should have some talent in cooking. Xu Qinyu intends to observe again to see if Brother Cheng is willing to be a cook, but before that, he still has to train his knife skills.

Every cook starts out as a knife maker, which is essential.

Xu Qinyu is busy here, and it has been a month since the fourth brother left.

She still misses her fourth brother a little bit. wonder how the fourth brother is running with the caravan outside.

The disaster on the north side has not yet passed, although it did not continue to snow, but the weather is still very cold.

On their southwest side, they have all started wearing thin jackets.

The refugees who were fleeing disasters in the north should mostly go to the south or the direction of the capital, but they would not flee to the southwest. Not to mention, there are many damp insects and ants along the way, which is not conducive to escape.

Not only did news come from the north, but within two days, Wen Shuncheng told Xu Qinyu something mysteriously as soon as he touched the eel.

"Fourth sister-in-law, I just went out to fish, and when I came back, I heard that the water bandits on the other side of the canal robbed the official boat!"

Xu Qinyu took a deep breath, "Dare to rob official ships? Those water bandits on both sides of the canal are so bold?"

There have always been some water bandits and mountain bandits on the cliffs on both sides of the canal. They are actually one family. There are towering cliffs on both sides of the canal. They are familiar with the journey and live in the mountains. They can be regarded as mountain bandits, but on weekdays, they rob more merchant ships on the canal.

Xu Qinyu also heard that there were actually two water-pulling bandits.

The first group is to rob some merchant ships with a bad reputation, and they do not kill people, but when they rob things, there will definitely be a bit of fighting and killing, and there are still some injuries.

There is also a group that robs everything and kills people. heard that there was a merchant ship that was robbed by this water robber before, and all the people on the ship were killed.

The court was very angry, and sent officers and soldiers to suppress the bandits, but because of the terrain of the cliff, the suppression was unsuccessful several times.

But didn't expect these water bandits to be so bold that they even robbed the official ship.

The official ships on the canal transported coal and iron ore, and daring to rob them would be a crime of beheading.

The previous water bandits didn't dare to rob the official ship at all, but they didn't know which group was the one who robbed the official ship this time.

"Steal the coal mine or the iron mine?" Xu Qinyu asked.

Wen Shuncheng whispered: "What's more, both ships have been robbed, not only the iron and coal on board, but also two ships. I don't know where the ships have gone."

Usually both official ships go together.

Xu Qinyu remembered that the iron mine and the mine on the other side of the coal mine started construction a few days ago, so the wharf was also lively, and the weather was getting warmer, she also planned to dry some dried beans, make some dried tempeh and bean paste, in addition After making barrels of fermented bean curd, go to set up a food stall near the pier.

This bean has just been bought, and such a big thing happened on the canal.

The imperial court will definitely not let these water bandits go so easily, including the wharf that has been uneasy recently. Well, it seems that the wharf's business is not easy to do. It's better to wait for the tempeh, bean paste and fermented bean curd to be ready, then go to the west. There is a small food stall on the street or East Street, and there is no need to go to the pier.

...

On the Zhangbi Mountain on both sides of the canal, one of the mountain walls is halfway up the mountain, under the cover of dense forests, and behind it is a large open space, many cabins on the open space, and a row of vegetable fields. .

This is the hiding place of the water bandits on both sides of the canal.

In the stockade, a very sturdy man was rubbing his bare head, his simple and honest face was full of puzzlement, "Boss, do you think the people from Boss Lei are crazy, how dare they rob the official ship? Isn't this afraid that the imperial court will come to smite us again?"

They were the water bandits who, in Xu Qinyu's mouth, did not kill but robbed some merchant ships with a bad reputation.

The person who was called the boss by the bald man was about thirty years old. He was also burly and had a beard on his face. Hearing this, he frowned, "Boss Lei is really crazy, we'd better be more cautious these days, Zhaikou. If there is any trouble, we will immediately abandon the village to avoid it.”

There was a weak man in his twenties next to the boss, he shook his head after listening to the two of them, "No, it's definitely not Boss Lei who did it, Boss Lei is ruthless, but even so, he doesn't dare to rob an official. The ship, otherwise he would have robbed him early these years, and robbing the official ship means that he is completely opposed to the court, he is not that stupid, and robbing some merchant ships is enough for him to make money."

No one wants to provoke the court, so does Boss Lei. Besides, the coal mines and iron mines on the official ship, how can I get rid of those things? It's impossible to get rid of coal mines and iron ore without some connections. Even if you have connections, it's not easy to get rid of that stuff. Go crazy and grab that stuff.

So he knew it wasn't Boss Lei.

Beard frowned, "Since it wasn't Boss Lei who robbed it, who did it?"

The weak man pondered for a moment and said, "I still remember that some small caravans were robbed before, and the method was a bit similar to ours. The owner of the caravan was robbed after gaining a lot of ill-gotten wealth, but we were not the ones who robbed them. Our method is a bit similar, and it's not Boss Lei's handwriting, if Boss Lei makes a move, the people on the merchant ship, including the thugs, will not be able to survive, so there is another group of people, and they should be the ones who robbed the official ship."

Everyone in the village was lost in thought, who would dare to rob the official ship?

Will this also bring them a crushing blow?

...

In fact, the imperial court was very angry. When the news reached the palace, the Empress Dowager Fu was in a hurry, and immediately sent officers and soldiers to track down the whereabouts of the two stolen official ships. He immediately sent officers and soldiers guarding the southwest to suppress the bandits on both sides of the canal.

After ordering these things, the Empress Dowager Fu turned around and saw her son lying on the imperial concubine's couch, letting the beauty serve him to eat fruit.

Empress Dowager Fu frowned, "Why don't you criticize the memorial?"

The new emperor grinned, "It doesn't matter if there is a queen mother, the mother's approval is enough. I really don't bother to read the papers of those ministers. It's nothing more than the disaster victims in the north who asked the treasury to allocate funds for disaster relief, or impeach me and the queen mother. I really hate it. Are these ministers bothering you? I have been on the throne for a long time, and I am still talking about the past, and besides, I have spared my fourth brother and my lineage, but exiled them."

The two beauties trembled.

Ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, the palace did not know how many maidservants and beauties died.

Concubine Fu glanced at the two beauties and waved her hands. The two hurriedly leaned back and closed the palace door carefully.

Only the Empress Dowager Fu and the new emperor were left in the hall, and the Empress Dowager Fu didn't realize why her son didn't approve the memorials. , why not look for the edict and think about where your father will hide the edict, if the edict is not found for a day, it will be a sharp arrow hanging over our heads."

She just felt that there was no reason to be born like Wen's, to ascend to the throne of empress, to be favored by Emperor Sheng Jing, and in the end she even wanted to make the eldest prince the crown prince, and even wrote an imperial edict.

Also, at that time, those speech officials wrote letters all day long, so she released the whole line of the Pei family, but who knew that after releasing them, these speech officials did not stop, and kept nagging all day long.

Not only did she want to kill Pei Weixuan's lineage, but she even wanted to kill all these speech officials who had nothing to do all day long and only knew how to write letters.

But she couldn't kill her, and the imperial edict was not found, so there was no need to die. She wanted a good reputation, a prosperous and peaceful queen mother who was recorded in the history books in the prosperous Kaiyuan Dynasty.

However, Emperor Sheng Yuan felt that looking for edicts was better than going to the garden of those animals raised by his fourth brother, feeding the golden eagles, riding yaks, and petting white tigers.

"Hurry up and go!" Fu Guifei sternly said.

After seeing his mother lost his temper, Emperor Sheng Yuan had no choice but to get up, and finally left the hall, led the little eunuch and maids, but did not go to Emperor Sheng Jing's previous bedroom, but went to the fourth brother's bedroom.

Emperor Sheng Yuan felt that he had been looking for several months. Maybe his father lied to them before his death. He didn't have an edict at all. Emperor Sheng Yuan was also a little sad because it was his father, the emperor, and the queen mother who did it. He knew that the queen mother would not do it. If the eldest brother is the one who ascends to the throne, they will be the ones who will be imprisoned and exiled.

While thinking about it, Emperor Sheng Yuan walked towards his fourth brother's bedroom.

When arrived at the fourth brother's bedroom, there was a garden, where the pets were kept.

Those ferocious wild beasts had no animal nature at all and were very well-behaved. That's why Emperor Sheng Yuan kept a few ferocious beasts, and went to see them in his spare time. It was also a special feeling.

When he arrived at the garden, he asked the palace servants to open the garden.

The white tiger, golden eagle, lynx and yak immediately came to meet him.

The white tiger even rubbed against him so intimately, and the golden eagle also accompanied him, gently fanning him with its three or four feet long wings, and the very beautiful golden lynx, also lazily Lie down beside him and let him caress.

Finally, rode a yak for a stroll in the garden.

Emperor Sheng Yuan stayed in the garden for an hour, and when he left, he was satisfied. He felt that petting these furry pets was in a different mood, and he was more comfortable than being accompanied by beauties.

Speaking of beauties, Emperor Sheng Yuan thought of the three girls in the Marquis of Dechang's Mansion, who cried so much that they were so delicate and weak that it made people feel distressed.

When he went back and told his mother that the draft would start in a few days, the third girl from the Marquis of Dechang's mansion would definitely also enter the palace for draft, and then they would be able to stay in the palace directly.

When Emperor Sheng Yuan left, the palace guards closed the gate of the garden. The white tiger, lynx, yak, and the big golden eagle immediately got up, ran to a small lake specially dug for them at the back of the garden, and began to roll around until they were covered in mud.Slowly wash off the mud on your body.

While washing its wings, the golden eagle screamed 'Wah-wah-wah', and actually felt a bit of grievance and anger from its screaming.

The palace guards guarding the garden knew that the golden eagle was angry when they heard the cry. After all, the golden eagle never called like this when it followed the Fourth Highness.

But the palace people didn't dare to tell Emperor Sheng Yuan that they might lose their heads, they might as well pretend not to know and help the Fourth Highness guard them.