"Chief Clerk Qi, is it perhaps the food doesn't suit your taste?" Some people prefer bland food and can't eat these dishes, so Qin San Niang wondered if he had some dietary restrictions and couldn't help but ask.

"No, these dishes are all very good...delicious." Qi Zhubu scooped a wonton into his bowl, took a small bite, and felt a burst of sweet juice gushing out, mixed with the freshness of fish soup, a very rich feeling on his tongue.

This isn't just delicious, it's incredibly delicious! No wonder these two people didn't even care about their manners!

Then, Qi Zhubu also began to eat. Although he ate quite quickly, he did so with great elegance, clearly a noble young master from a prominent family.

At the same time, Qi, the registrar, also noticed that the scholar opposite him was eating very properly, and there was a hint of composure in him who had long been in a position of power.

He was somewhat puzzled. Farmers generally wouldn't know these rules, yet this man's movements were fluid and effortless, just like his father's, which he had done for decades. Of course, even though he had doubts, he wouldn't show them. After all, this man was actually just a scholar, though perhaps his ancestors were from a wealthy family. But he was certain this man was destined for greatness.

This time, Qin San Niang didn't take out the wine. It wasn't that she was reluctant to part with it, but rather that the last batch of wine she brewed had already been finished, and the new batch wasn't ready yet.

Qi Yuchen, however, was secretly delighted! It must mean they ran out of wine, and you were all unlucky! I still have two jars!

However, even without wine, judging from Magistrate Jia's satisfied expression, he couldn't have been more pleased with the meal.

He even asked the names of each dish, and he liked them all. However, he was too embarrassed to ask for the recipes. Such excellent culinary skills were meant to be passed down through generations, and he didn't want to leave any reason for people to say that "the magistrate was greedy and stole the recipes" because of his gluttony...

The constables were treated very well. Although Liu and the others were a little afraid of them, these ordinary constables were not as scary as the others inside the house.

Wu Chunhua also set up two tables for them and served several main dishes: a platter of braised pig's head meat, cucumber salad, braised pork belly with preserved mustard greens, scrambled eggs with scallions, sweet and sour pork ribs, and loofah and egg drop soup! In addition, there was plenty of rice.

The yamen runners were somewhat puzzled as to why the officials were inviting them to stay for a meal. Where could they find a restaurant in the city where they could at least have a drink and some snacks? But once the food was served, all their complaints vanished!

"Wow, this food looks delicious! It's really tasty!"

Wu Chunhua smiled, "I made several of these dishes!" Hearing the praise, she was pleased and boldly spoke up.

"We don't have much to offer you, but we've prepared a few dishes. Please try them and see if they suit your tastes. Also, knowing that you officials have had a long and tiring journey, and considering that our rice harvest was plentiful, we'll provide plenty of rice today! Everyone, eat and drink to your heart's content."

Everyone beamed with joy, and the young constable in the lead laughed heartily, "Sister, you're too kind! Your dishes are just as good as those in the finest restaurants! We brothers won't stand on ceremony!"

After they finished speaking, all that could be heard was the clinking of chopsticks and the smacking sounds of chewing. They were rough men who didn't care much about eating. They kept saying how delicious the food was and couldn't stop eating.

There were more than a dozen people, two large tables of food, all served in bowls, and in the end, not a single drop of sauce was left!

The constables slumped on their stools, so full they could barely move, and exclaimed once again how wonderful the food was! This meal must be similar to what the adults eat; this family is truly honest! Didn't you see their sons eating the same food?

The eldest son and the second son did indeed only eat a few kinds of vegetables, but they usually eat a lot of good food. Besides, their mother had made brown sugar glutinous rice cakes and sweet dumplings for breakfast, and they were all stuffed. So they really couldn't eat anything else now! They could only eat something plain!

In the eyes of those men, it felt like they were taking away the food from other people's children, which made them even more embarrassed.

If the children knew what they were thinking, they would definitely say there was no need for that! They eat these dishes all the time. But saying that only hurts more! Let this beautiful misunderstanding continue.

After finishing his meal, Magistrate Jia took his leave in high spirits, leaving behind a tael of silver as payment for the meal.

The Qin family, having received payment for the meal, happily saw them off for two miles, wishing these lucky charms would come more often—it was like having a private kitchen in their past life! Truly, as long as you have good skills, you'll never lack money!

Wu Chunhua, Liao Hongying, and others were thinking that they should open a restaurant in the future. With their skills, it would surely be a huge success! In the past, they wouldn't have been so sure, but now they had no doubts. Look, even the county magistrate liked their food, so how could ordinary people not like it?

After hearing this, Qin San Niang was overjoyed, but she quickly rejected the suggestion, saying, "We're already incredibly busy! Where would we find the energy for that? We need to earn money, but we also need to be alive to spend it!"

Since Wu Chunhua and the others had also helped today, and Qin Sanniang wasn't a stingy person, she decided to treat everyone to a meal that evening after receiving the silver. Plus, they hadn't celebrated the rice harvest yet, so they decided to do it all together! The village head's family had also provided a chicken, so she gave them two qian of silver, thinking they could all make money together!

The village head, Wang, was overjoyed; she was truly reluctant to part with the chicken!

After the rice is harvested, it just needs to be dried. On sunny days like this, it will be ready in two or three days.

Unhulled rice is easier to store, so farmers generally don't hull it. Grain dealers also buy this type of unhulled rice. When it's time to eat, the rice is hulled using a wooden pestle to become brown rice. If you want to get finer japonica rice, you need to grind it again with a stone mill and then sift it.

Most families couldn't bear to eat polished rice; they were lucky if they could save some brown rice. They kept enough for taxes and the next year's planting quota, and most of the remaining meager harvest had to be sold for money. After that, they would buy some cheaper brown rice, broken rice, or old rice, just enough to make ends meet.

Of course, the Qin family had no intention of selling them. These were their own products, naturally grown and free from pollution. The pursuit of green food made Qin San Niang even more reluctant to sell them.

Moreover, the wheat and rice in the space had already been harvested twice, with yields much higher than the actual yield per mu (a Chinese unit of area, approximately 0.165 acres). She roughly weighed them and estimated the yield to be around 600 jin (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 300 kg) per mu, even without much management from her. Therefore, when she heard that the yield here was only three shi (a Chinese unit of volume, approximately 0.5 kg) per mu, and that this was despite everyone diligently fertilizing, she felt it was really not much!