Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Decision.
Finally, even the driver heard the noise and lifted the curtain to look in: "Brother Heng, would you like a cake?"
"Who's hungry?" Tao Yingheng had just finished speaking when his stomach growled even louder.
The driver smiled, thinking that Heng was young and shy, and quickly took down the Hu pancake hanging on the edge of the carriage, handed it to Tao Yingheng, then lowered the curtain and walked out.
Tao Yingheng stared at the pancake expressionlessly, feeling angry in his heart. He had long been tired of eating these dry pancakes.
But the rumbling sound in his stomach kept getting louder and louder, so Tao Yingheng had no choice but to grab the pancake and take a big bite.
The saliva moistened the Hu pancake, and the aroma of wheat gradually filled the mouth, flowing down the throat and into the stomach.
But the feeling of fullness in his stomach still did not satisfy him, instead it made him miss the tempting fragrance even more.
Tao Yingheng sat up unconsciously and looked outside secretly. His eyes couldn't help but drift to the grill outside the car, and his mind was full of the taste of the chicken rack.
As he glanced over, he happened to see several people gathered in front of the plate, taking turns to eat the entire roasted chicken rack.
"Damn it!" Tao Yingheng came to his senses, his face turning pale, blue, red, and purple. He threw the remaining Hu pancakes away and dove into the quilt.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it—"
"Tao Yingheng, what the hell are you doing?" Tao Yingce heard the noise, lifted the curtain and took a look inside. Seeing the biscuit crumbs on the bedding, his veins suddenly bulged: "You little bastard, do you want a beating?!"
Lu San and his companions were eating chicken racks when they heard the noise and looked over, looking at each other in confusion. After a long moment, someone whispered, "Should we go and persuade them?"
"When brothers quarrel, why should we try to persuade them?"
"That's right... well, the last piece is mine!"
"Ah, you bastard, you're playing tricks on me!"
"Hey, first come, first served, understand?"
Lu San and the others chatted, laughed, and played around, and soon forgot about the matter between Tao Lang and the other two.
Not to mention the Linzhi family. After washing up, they returned to the carriage to rest and recharge their energy, as they still had a long journey ahead.
The next day, when Lin Zhi got up, Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang were already up. Hearing the noise inside, they lifted the curtain and brought up rice porridge and pickles: "Help yourself."
Lin Zhi looked at the sun and said in surprise, "Why did I sleep so late today? The caravan hasn't set off yet?"
Taking another look outside, Lin Zhi was even more surprised: "Why does the camp look so deserted?"
"He was like this when we got up in the morning. It seemed like he said something and left." Lin Sen frowned slightly, with worry in his eyes.
"Could it be that we are involved in a case?" Song Jiaoniang felt that this possibility was very high. She thought that her family was just commoners and that she got involved last time by pure luck, so she told Lin Sen not to ask about it.
After hearing this, Lin Sen said no more.
Linzhi felt that what Song Jiaoniang said made sense. After thinking about it, she simply sorted out the remaining ingredients and thought about today's menu.
Apart from some other ingredients, the main staple food is taro. This taro is not the big one that people in later generations like to eat in Lipu, but a small one.
Linzhi took a look and thought of taro with scallion oil. After cooking, it is soft, glutinous and delicate, and melts in the mouth. The light sweet taste combined with the aroma of scallion oil makes it a perfect dish to go with rice.
Of course, if there is meat, cooking it into taro ribs, taro braised pork, taro braised chicken, etc. are also good choices.
Lin Zhi felt a sweet taste in his mouth just by imagining it. Unfortunately, because of the kidnapping incident, his parents were in a state of paranoia. In addition, they were worried that everyone left because of a crime. So when Lin Zhi just opened his mouth to express his desire to go to the village at the foot of the mountain to buy some food, he was opposed by Song Jiaoniang: "No, no."
“It’s so unsafe!”
"There are mountains all over the place, so it's impossible to run around."
"You were kidnapped by someone carelessly. How am I supposed to live in the future?"
Song Jiaoniang had already said this, and Lin Zhi quickly raised her hands in surrender. Since there were no other ingredients to go with it, she had no choice but to set the menu to scallion oil taro.
This dish requires relatively little preparation, and Linzhi plans to start tinkering with it during her next break. But now she lazily nestles in the carriage, flipping through the album of clothes Song Jiaoniang gave her, and listening to her parents talk about the family's arrangements after arriving in Bian Jing.
To settle down in Bianjing, the most important thing was to rent a house. Song Jiaoniang was a servant of the Xi family, having lived there since birth. Her knowledge of Bianjing came only from the old lady's casual conversations with the other mothers.
"I heard from Miss Chen, who was talking to the old lady last time, that the house her family rents in Bianjing costs 1,600 strings of cash a year."
"Sixteen hundred strings of cash!" Lin Sen suddenly raised his voice, then calmed down. "You're exaggerating. Madam Chen is the wife of an official, so the location and size of her residence are naturally different. Let's choose a more secluded place. Two and a half rooms for the three of us will be enough. I think ten strings of cash should be enough... right?"
"Of course I know that." Song Jiaoniang rolled her eyes at him and muttered, "I was just thinking of something else that Chen Niang mentioned."
"?"
"Mrs. Chen said the mansion they rented for 1,600 guan (approximately 1,000 guan) wasn't as good as the Xi family's," Song Jiaoniang said to Lin Sen. "I remember the mansion in Taiping Prefecture was also rented. Do you remember how much it cost?"
Lin Sen was in charge of this matter. He answered directly: "Three hundred and sixty strings of cash a year. Lang...Xi Lang rented it for three years."
"Look at this, how much difference is there in the price of the house?"
"Mother, there's no ceiling on the rent or building for wealthy families. It's no use speculating like this." Lin Zhi couldn't help but interrupt when she heard this. "Why not ask Madam Xie, or Brother Lu and the others? They all live in Bianjing, so they're sure to know more than we do."
As the family was talking, a burst of noise came from not far away. Lin Zhi stopped talking and looked in the direction of the sound. She found that the group of people who were not there before had returned.
The group walked straight to Lin Zhi's family. Madam Xie was the first to put a bag of things on the carriage rack, and then the people behind her put several bags of things on it. "Sister Zhi, this is what we bought for you."
"Huh?" Linzhi sat up straight with surprise and leaned over to look at the bags. What caught her eye was a bag of fresh taro still covered in mud, a bag of eggplants, a basket of apples and tangerines probably bought from the village, and ten chickens and a basket of eggs.
Lin Zhi looked at the pile of ingredients, especially the ten chickens, and a smile froze on her face. She squinted her eyes at the people with sparkling eyes and sighed, "You want to eat?"
"No, no," Madam Xie said seriously, "Yesterday you made so many steamed buns by yourself, we don't know how to thank you."
"Why are you so polite all of a sudden?" Lin Zhi answered subconsciously, and then she raised her eyebrows: "Are you sure you don't want me to do it?"
Lin Zhi pretended to sigh and glanced at the things in front of her: "What a pity! It would have been better if you had brought pork, mutton or something."
Several people looked at each other, and then Lu San walked away a few steps. Soon he came back with a bag of pork.
Lu San looked up and down, but he didn't dare to meet Lin Zhi's eyes. He laughed and stammered, "Uh, I just forgot. I just bought ten kilograms of pork."
“When did you buy it?”
"...Hey, we agreed to go buy thank-you gifts! What did you buy?" Mrs. Xie blushed and said angrily.
"...Sister Zhi just wanted pork! What I gave her touched her heart - ah! Sister Xie, why did you hit me?" Lu San hugged his head and huddled up in a ball with grievance.
"How dare you say that!" Madam Xie felt embarrassed and kicked him again. Her ears turned red and she quickly turned around to explain that she had no such intentions and that she really wanted to give Linzhi a gift.
Lin Zhi was so happy that she quickly stopped Sister Xie from going on a rampage. She smiled and said, "Don't be angry, Sister Xie. I was just worried about running out of food, too. This is a win-win situation!"
"That's right—Oops, I was wrong!"
"Just tell me where you need our help, Sister Zhi." Madam Xie responded after punishing Lu San.
"Hmm...it would be nice if there were more vegetables?" Lin Zhi thought for a moment and smiled.
"Okay!" Madam Xie took a few people out in a hurry. It was said that they had just seen shepherd's purse on the road and planned to go to the village again to see what vegetables could be bought there.
In the evening, brothers Chen Yan and Tao Yingce looked at the three dishes and rice on the table, and smelled the fragrance that filled their noses, and they were all stunned.
At the same time, outside there was a sound of ghosts howling and wolves howling: "This is what it feels like to be alive!"
“It’s delicious!”
"Wow, sister Zhi, why did we meet you so late?"
"What are these people doing? This is too corny, isn't it?" Tao Yingheng rubbed his arms while listening to the conversation outside.
But having learned his lesson yesterday, he did not say anything directly. Instead, he picked up his chopsticks and looked at the three dishes in front of him: Chinese cabbage with oil residue, stir-fried pork slices, and a dish of roast chicken with taro.
Both the gruel and the meat slices are made of pork, so the picky Tao Yingheng set his goal immediately without any hesitation.
He quickly picked up a piece of chicken and put it straight into his mouth. He wanted to see how... delicious... these three dishes would be...
Tao Yingheng's thoughts gradually slowed, and his eyes gradually widened. He exerted so much force in his hands that the wooden chopsticks could no longer withstand the pressure and made a slight crackling sound.
Wait a minute... isn't that right!?
Isn't it just an ordinary looking chicken? How could it be so delicious?
When these words flashed through Tao Yingheng's mind, his teeth were already chewing hard unconsciously, feeling the rich gravy bursting in his mouth, his mouth full of the aroma of chicken and taro.
The chewy and tender chicken and the soft and delicate taro, the fragrance spreads instantly in your mouth after one bite, and even your breath is filled with aroma.
Tao Yingheng frantically reminded himself to remain reserved, to maintain his expression, and not to let his elder brother and Brother Shen notice that something was wrong with him.
He hadn't expected that the two had already taken his reaction into account. After all, Tao Yingce's expression remained unchanged, but his hands moved as if on accelerator, picking up several pieces of chicken and taro in quick succession.
Chen Yan and Tao Yingce knew that Heng Ge'er was shy, so they didn't say anything to stop him. Instead, they picked up their chopsticks and started eating the small amount of taro roast chicken.
The moment the chicken and taro entered their mouths, Chen Yan and Tao Yingce immediately understood why Heng Ge'er couldn't stop.
Really, it’s delicious!
Chen Yan and Tao Yingce looked at each other and tried hard to pick up the rice.
They devoured several pieces of taro roast chicken before turning their attention to the other two dishes. Compared to Tao Yingheng, who was picky and looked down on pork, Chen Yan and Tao Yingce were more indifferent, even a little curious about how Lin Zhi could make the fishy pork.
The two men, one in front and one behind, picked up a chopstick of fried cabbage and meat slices with oil residue and put them into their mouths. They were both stunned at the same time. Even though the oil residue was made of pork, it did not have the worrying fishy smell at all.
What's more, this taste——
When Tao Yingheng came to his senses, he found that his wooden chopsticks were empty. He lowered his head and discovered that not only was the taro roast chicken empty, but the two dishes next to it had also been cleared out. As for the instigators, Chen Yan and Tao Yingce, they had eaten so much that their bellies were full that they collapsed in their chairs and burped.
"Brother? Brother Yan?" Tao Yingheng looked at the two of them in disbelief, but the two of them ignored him, looked at each other, and spoke at the same time.
"Go and tell it?"
"Go ahead and tell me!"
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