Chapter 48: Beating◇

So that's why he was called here. Zhou Jin finally understood Zhou Zelin's intention. Since it was a good intention, Zhou Jin naturally stopped being polite and said frankly:

"I've heard that for military families like us, only by reaching the rank of minor flag officer can other family members have the opportunity to study and take the imperial examinations. I don't want my brothers and sons to be forced to fight on the battlefield in the future, so I plan to take on this fate myself! I plan to build a career in the army!"

"Good! Good! It's good for you to fight for yourself! It's good for you to have a future in the army! I knew you were ambitious. If all the descendants of our Zhou family had your ambition, there would be no need to worry about not being able to rise in the future! Haha, cough cough, good, good! cough cough cough..."

Zhou Zelin was so excited by Zhou Jin's words that he couldn't help coughing.

Zhou Po, who was standing by, quickly poured a bowl of water. Zhou Jin took it and fed it to Zhou Zelin. After a few sips, he felt better after applying pressure.

Zhou Zelin paused for a moment before speaking again:

"In that case, I'll give you a few letters. You and Pearl will ride together and take them to a study in town called Pine and Bamboo House. It's located in a pine forest east of Baili Town. You'll find out where it is. When you get there, you can give the letters to a gatekeeper named Uncle Wen. He will take the letters and deliver them to his master."

"Yes," Zhou Jin replied with his head down. Although he was very curious about who the friend Zhou Zelin was talking about, Zhou Zelin didn't say, so he didn't dare to ask. But he thought Zhou Zelin would not harm him, and there was no need to harm him, so after receiving the letter, he withdrew with Zhou Luo and rode to the town to deliver the letter.

When he came back in the evening, Zhou Jin went to the town and bought a slaughtered sheep. Thinking that if he went to the military camp, he didn't know how long he would be able to come back, he thought of inviting a few families to have a meal together, and also asking them to take good care of his mother and others when he was away.

Now the weather in Liaodong has become increasingly cold. Even the weak ones like Zhou Zelin have started to heat their kangs. When Zheng saw the mutton, she rejected Zhou Jin's idea of ​​eating roasted mutton and decided to eat mutton hotpot instead.

First, she asked Zhou Jin to help her pick out the lamb ribs with a sharp knife, blanch them, wash them, and then stew them in a big pot.

While the lamb ribs were being stewed, Zheng cut the remaining lamb into even slices and placed them on a plate. He also asked Zhou Yu and Zhu Xi to help him pick, wash and arrange the radishes, cabbages, mushrooms, spinach and coriander in the house.

Seeing that there was no stove to cook the pots, Zheng requisitioned the three stoves that Zhou Yu and his apprentices usually used to boil medicine. He put charcoal in the kitchen and lit it, placed a medium-sized casserole on it, and put the stewed lamb ribs in the casserole. In this way, three servings of lamb rib pots were ready.

Aside from the lack of chili peppers, this mutton hotpot is exactly like the modern lamb rib hotpot. No, because there are no hormones or other catalysts, the mutton here is much more fragrant than modern mutton! It's simply fragrant!

Before eating it, Zhou Jin and the others could already imagine how it would taste!

"Stop looking at it now, go get some help!"

Seeing that Zhou Jin's siblings and Zhu Xi were so greedy that they wanted to jump into the casserole, Zheng suppressed her laughter and scolded them.

"Hey!" After hearing this, several people hurriedly dispersed to call people. After a while, several families arrived. Everyone sat at three tables according to age, gender, and status. Zhou Jin even specially placed a small jar of Shaodaozi wine on the table of Zhou Ruiquan and others, in return for which Zhou Ruiquan looked at him with satisfaction several times.

On behalf of his entire family, Zhou Jin first toasted the elders at Zhou Ruiquan and Zhou Ruifeng's table, asking them to help take care of the house while he was away, and then returned to Zhou Po and their table.

The guys at the table couldn't wait any longer. When they saw Zhou Jin coming back, they started to scramble for the meat. Zhou Jin was a step too late and almost missed the last piece of lamb ribs.

But lamb ribs are delicious, and shabu-shabu lamb slices are even more delicious. Zheng cut a sheep into dozens of plates of lamb. The thick lamb slices were dipped in the casserole and then dipped in a lot of dipping sauce. The taste is so delicious that it will make your tongue fall off!

There are also various hot pot dishes that are delicious, such as soft-boiled radishes, delicious mushrooms, and cabbage soaked in mutton broth...

Pure natural green food exudes bursts of fragrance, and it tastes delicious no matter what you eat!

After the dishes were cooked, Zhu Xi added a pot of hand-rolled noodles to the soup. He rubbed his bulging belly and thought...perfect! !

It was strange, too. He'd eaten this kind of mutton hotpot countless times before, but why did he always think the one made by Hei Yatou's mother was even better? Or was it really true what his grandfather said, that food tastes best when you're scrambling for it?

Thinking of his grandfather, Zhu Xi thought again, if only his grandfather could agree to his request in the letter and let him stay at the black girl's house for a few more days...

………

A few days later,

No matter how reluctant Zheng was, the time had come for Zhou Jin and the others to report to the military camp. That night, Zheng sorted out the luggage that Zhou Jin was going to take the next day, fearing that he would leave something behind!

Zhou Yu looked at the seven or eight large bags his mother had packed and was speechless. His brother was going to leave with Zhou Po and the others tomorrow, and there was no space for luggage. How could his brother carry so much? He wanted her to simplify things further, such as bringing only two sets of cotton-padded clothes instead of four, and only one set of bedding would be enough. Why did he have to bring two beds?

It was Zhou Jin who came in and said that he had it with him, and asked his mother to pack it up. Zheng felt relieved after hearing this.

After Zhou Jin comforted his mother, he went to comfort little Zhou Ying, who had been crying all day because she couldn't bear to leave him. After finally coaxing the little girl to sleep, he returned to the room and saw his brother Zhou Li crying secretly under the quilt.

There was no other way, so I had to dig the little guy out of the quilt again and hold his head down until he started to talk nonsense again.

"Brother, A'li must study hard with Uncle Lin in the future. When you are promoted to the general flag, A'li will definitely be able to pass the imperial examination and come back, so that our family can escape the hardship of being a military household! Let your future son, my nephew, only serve in the army when he wants to, and study when he wants!"

The little guy promised while crying and with red eyes.

Yesterday, Zhou Zelin specially called over several young boys from several families. Regardless of whether they could understand or not, he told them about Dayan's policy of getting rid of military households. He also said that after Zhou Jin and the others left, he would let Zhou Li and the others go to school with him.

That's why little Zhou Li said this.

"Haha, okay! As the only two men in our family, let's work hard together and strive to make our family better and better, okay?!" Zhou Jin touched his younger brother's head and encouraged him.

"Well, Uncle Lin said that Ah Li is also a man. He can't rely solely on Big Brother to support the family. He has to help too!"

Zhou Li puffed up her cheeks, pursed her lips and said firmly.

Well, ever since Uncle Zhou cheered up, his ability to deceive people has greatly improved. He just called him over and said a few words, and look how motivated little Zhou Li was! ?

Zhu Xi sat on the kang in the room, complaining in his heart while watching the Zhou Jin brothers perform a drama of deep brotherly love.

He thought to himself, it’s better to be an ordinary citizen. At least the brotherhood is real and not acted, unlike him and his second brother, who are more fake than the other the moment they meet!

"Hey! Come out for a moment!" Zhu Xi was distracted. When he looked up, he saw that Zhou Jin had already comforted his brother and hooked his finger at him.

Well……

Although Zhu Xi had been rescued twice by Zhou Jin, because Zhou Jin had been very busy these days, he had less chance to spend time with him than with Zhou Yu and Zhou Luo. Seeing him with a stern face asking him to leave, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.

He had heard from Zhou Luo that their leader had killed someone! But he couldn't just kill him if he disliked him, could he?

"What do you want to do?" Zhu Xi asked in panic when he saw Zhou Jin bringing him directly to the shadow of the yard.

"Who are you? What's your relationship with Uncle Lin? Why do you two have to avoid others when you're in contact? Why does the clan leader have to be so fawning when he sees you?"

Zhou Jin asked directly,

Zhu Xi...

So my whereabouts in the past few days have been exposed?

"Uh, I, I..."

"Okay, if you want to lie to me or have something to hide, just stop talking."

Seeing that he seemed to be hesitant to speak, Zhou Jin said directly,

"You've been staying at my house for seven or eight days now, and your injuries have long since healed. Can you leave now?"

Zhu Xi...

Why do you two brothers love to chase people away when you have a disagreement?

It’s not that he couldn’t move to Zhou Luo’s house, but there were only three of them, father and son, in Zhou Luo’s family, and they couldn’t even have hot soup or rice to eat. Zhu Xi was lucky enough to have a meal cooked by his Uncle Zhou once, and he almost got sent away!

If he lives in his house, he might as well go back to Kyoto!

"Hehe, Brother Jin, although I can't tell you who I am, I can guarantee that I am definitely a good person and will never do anything to harm your family. If you don't believe me, you can go ask Uncle Zhou. He is your uncle, he won't harm you, right? If I were a bad person, he would have chased me away long ago, right? Hehe..."

Zhou Jin is only one month older than Zhu Xi. For the sake of his own stomach, Zhu Xi decided to curry favor with Zhou Jin and even called his brother, fearing that Zhou Jin would really drive him away!

Zhou Jin called Chang Sanlang out just to give him a warning. Since Zhou Zelin had tacitly agreed that he was living in their house, Zhou Jin felt that this kid should not be too dangerous.

He also felt that this kid was definitely either rich or noble, most likely a young master from a large family who had run away from home after getting a bout of chuunibyou. Otherwise, the old patriarch wouldn't be so fawning over him...

If their family took him in, there would probably be some benefits in the future...

But they still have to give him a warning, otherwise this kid might think they have the right to take him in!

Then he said again:

"Since you say so, I'll believe you once more. However, you have to tell me how long you plan to stay in my house, right?"

"Uncle Zhou has sent a letter to my grandfather. When his letter arrives, we'll know whether I'm going or staying. However, Liaodong is so far from the capital, it will take at least a month to go back and forth, right?" Zhu Xi replied hurriedly. Fearing that Zhou Jin would think he was eating too much, he added, "Don't worry, when my grandfather brings me some silver, I'll give it all to your family. I won't eat your food for free!"

"That's not necessary. We can still afford to provide you with a few meals. I just hope that you can keep your word and not do anything to bring trouble to my family!"

It was not easy for our family to reach Liaodong safely. I don't want to bring disaster to our family because of you!"

Seeing that the beating was almost over, Zhou Jin pretended to be magnanimous.

"No, no, you are my saviors. I, Zhu, would never harm you even if I were blinded by my evil intentions! Hehe, don't worry, Brother Jin!" Zhu Xi assured hurriedly.

I thought to myself, is it easy for me to have a good meal? The grandson of the emperor actually bows and scrapes to others like this!

Fortunately, the other person was his savior, so it was understandable for him to be humble. If it was someone else, and the news got to Kyoto in the future, he would really have no way to live as a human being!

…

The author has something to say:

It seems that every farming or food article will have this sentence, "I wish I could make my tongue fall off the fragrance" or "It is so fragrant that it can make my tongue fall off the fragrance". Although Cai Cai thinks it is very vulgar, she is not immune to it, hahahaha...

Still asking for collection, comments, and flowers!!