Chapter 107 (Spicy Hot Pot)

After lunch, the cheerful atmosphere died down.

Dongdong and his three children are fine, they can come over next time they have a holiday, but Shen Pingyu is different, he will not be back until the end of the year.

Yan Qiushu sighed: "I thought you could stay here for two more days, why are you leaving now?"

She brought her children to the kitchen. Although she had only been here for a short time, she still made a lot of delicious food, some by herself and some by the kitchen staff. Occasionally, if the guests liked the food, they would send people to buy it, saying that they thought the food here was better than that sold at the food festival.

Yan Qiushu thought that maybe it was because she made most of the seasonings here?

So the purpose at this moment was to pack food for Shen Pingyu, filling up the oil paper bags one after another.

Shen Pingyu was helping her, and was a little reluctant to leave. After hearing this, he hesitated for two seconds, then tiptoed to her ear and whispered, "Your Majesty is seriously ill. I want to go back to the Shen family and ask my grandfather and second grandfather to write an article to support Prince Chang."

The Shen family holds an extraordinary status among the literati. Although they have never entered officialdom, their words are more effective than those of many high-ranking officials, especially in ancient times, when teachers are the elders and have a noble status. The articles they write are read by students, and the more people they are circulated, the greater the impact they have.

Yan Qiushu understood immediately. The Xiao family's actions in the past few months had become increasingly radical. Coupled with the successive accidents involving the third prince and the sixth prince, everyone was becoming anxious.

This will speed up the process of dynasty succession.

Under this premise, Shen Pingyu naturally couldn't stay any longer.

Yan Qiushu smiled and continued to pretend: "Yes, I know, I just nag a little. Oh, and give some to Zhou Zhaoqin. Is he doing well over there? I heard from him that he is living well over there. You even sent someone to bring him food. You are taking good care of him."

Shen Pingyu smiled and said, "Well, Aunt Yan said she would take care of him. Master Zou cooked the food, so I asked someone to deliver some every time."

But not only that, in Leping, the Shen family is the local tyrant. As the eldest son, a little care from the future head of the Shen family will be enough for Zhou Zhaoqin to ensure that no one dares to mess with him there.

Not to mention that it’s delivered every time.

Yan Qiushu said earnestly: "Thank you Pingyu."

The young boy pursed his lips, smiled, and shook his head, indicating that it was not a big deal.

Yan Qiushu packed everything up and asked Shui Yan to take it to the carriage. She held the hands of several children and walked towards the carriage, muttering: "Oh, there is still a lot of potato flour left. You can take it too. The recipe for potatoes is also on paper..."

As she spoke, she walked to the side of the carriage. The curtain had been drawn and the driver had placed a ladder, waiting for them to climb up. Yan Qiushu looked at the young boy in front of her who was saying goodbye to her respectfully, and pinched his little face skillfully.

Shen Pingyu frowned slightly, but did not move, allowing her to pinch him.

Yan Qiushu didn't feel comfortable pinching him for too long, so she let go after pinching him twice and said with a smile, "Go ahead."

"Yeah!" Shen Ping met the carriage, and Dong Dong and the others followed closely behind. Xiao Pingsong sent his younger brother and sister up, and then he went up last. Then four heads popped out at the same time to say goodbye to Yan Qiushu. Wan'er was even more tearful: "Sister Shu, we are leaving. We will come to see you next time!"

Dong Dong yelled at the top of his voice: "Sister Shu, when can you marry Uncle? It's so tiring running back and forth like this~"

Yan Qiushu: "... Dongdong, you have no snacks for the next ten days! I will only give them to Wan'er and Pingsong!"

Dongdong screamed immediately and wanted to run down and hug her legs to admit his mistake.

But he was stopped by Xiao Pingsong. As the eldest of this generation, he was very sensible and comforted him: "It's okay, I can share some of mine with you."

Dongdong was still choking with sobs.

That's different. These are the only snacks he has. His uncle doesn't allow people in the house to make delicious food for him. He can only eat the food sent by his sister Ashu.

When the children come, the farm becomes very noisy and sometimes it is so noisy that it gives people a headache.

But after the child left, she felt that the manor was too quiet.

Even though Hsiao Huai-ya is here, she doesn't come out often. It's quiet here and more suitable for staying at home.

Fortunately, guests came to visit soon. Yan Qiushu cheered up and entertained them. The disappointment of not having children to play with her was soon covered up by the busyness.

Most of the people who come here are easy to get along with, and they basically come to play for a day or half a day.

The scenery here is indeed beautiful, but it is not as convenient as Kyoto. The best food is the food made by Yan Qiushu, but there are substitutes, so most of the food is just for the freshness.

Yan Qiushu also fishes for three days and dries the nets for two days. She doesn't worry about her performance and focuses more on farming.

Potatoes and peppers were planted one after another and soon sprouted. She had to spend more time in the fields every day to check on them. These two things would be the food for Xiao Waiting's army in the future, so she couldn't be careless!

Only when they were well fed would they have the strength to fight and avoid being trapped and dying.

At the same time, Shen Pingyu also returned to Leping with a bunch of food.

Because he was worried about what Yan Qiushu had told him, he only rested for one night after returning. The next day, he came to the academy in the back mountain of Shen's house with a lot of bags.

After someone reported it, he soon saw a little boy about the same height as Dongdong running over.

However, apart from their height, the two children had no other similarities. Because he was very thin, his once chubby face had become more oval-shaped. His eyebrows and eyes were more handsome than those of ordinary children. He ran over with his big eyes, causing the servant following him to almost fail to keep up.

When he arrived in front of Shen Pingyu, Zhou Zhaoqin stopped and saluted: "Hello, Senior Brother."

Shen Pingyu and he had the same teacher, but he was a registered disciple while the other was a direct disciple and had entered the sect first, so he had to call him senior brother.

The reserved and indifferent young boy nodded casually, looked at him twice, and then looked at the servant beside him.

The servant hurried forward and handed all the packages in his hand to Zhou Zhaoqin's servant.

Shen Pingyu explained softly, "This is what Aunt Yan asked me to bring you. It contains some snacks and some seasonings. However, there is no place to cook in the academy, so I will ask Master Zou to cook it for you later."

Zhou Zhaoqin was overjoyed. His face, which was trying to be serious, still showed an expression of joy and excitement. His tightly pursed lips could not help but twitch upwards: "Thank you, Senior Brother, for bringing it here. Thank you, Sister Shu."

"You're welcome." Shen Pingyu smiled faintly.

Seeing that the coldness on his face had faded a little because of this smile, Zhou Zhaoqin wanted to ask something.

But before he could open his mouth, Shen Pingyu leaned forward and said, "I have something else to do. I'll leave first. I'll send someone to bring lunch. You don't have to go to the cafeteria."

"Yes." Zhou Zhaoqin nodded absentmindedly and watched Shen Pingyu go away. The little guy sighed precociously, looked in the direction of Kyoto, and pursed his little mouth with regret.

But soon he smiled again.

It’s okay. He will meet his senior brother at lunch and it will be the same if he asks then.

Because there is a teacher's class this morning, all the teacher's disciples will come to attend the class. Shen's Academy is open in the morning and evening, so they will naturally eat in the cafeteria at noon.

"Dong——" After a bell sound, several sounds rang out in succession.

Zhou Zhaoqin's face changed. He told the servant to put the things in his dormitory and then ran to the classroom.

When he was in Kyoto, he was never so panicked. He studied when he wanted to, and didn't study when he didn't want to. No one forced him. But after experiencing all this, he already knew that no one would protect him for the rest of his life. He had to learn. Only by studying could he understand things, know how that group of people would treat him, and know how to live well without dragging down those who protected him.

Classes start at 7 p.m. every day and end after 5 p.m., for a total of two and a half hours. During this period, each teacher teaches for one hour, and the half-hour in the middle is for them to rest.

The teacher was talking in class, and Zhou Zhaoqin was trying hard to take notes, secretly looking at the sky outside, hoping that the class would end soon.

It was not until Mr. Shen Qingxuan, the white-bearded teacher, finished his last point and slammed his ruler on the table that everyone was shocked. He smiled and said, "Okay, let's go eat. Eat more."

"Yes! Farewell, teacher!" All the students stood up, tall and short, of all ages. The youngest was Zhou Zhaoqin, who was only six years old, and the oldest was a fifteen-year-old boy. All of them wore clothes of different colors representing their different classes, and they bowed and bowed to see the teacher off.

After the teacher left, the students dispersed, but gathered in the cafeteria again.

When Zhou Zhaoqin arrived at the cafeteria, Shen Pingyu's servant was already waiting there. When he saw him coming, he immediately welcomed him inside.

The students in his class looked at him again and again with envy.

Zhou Zhaoqin looked straight ahead and sat there obediently, his little face tense, waiting expectantly for the delicious food and his senior brother to appear.

Soon Shen Pingyu came over.

The waiter then served the dishes, placing two large bowls of bright red food in front of the two people. The contents of the bowls were a little different from the previous ones. As soon as they appeared, the bright red color made people stare in amazement. Their noses felt slightly stimulated, and their saliva began to secrete.

"How is this made? Why does it look so spicy?" Zhou Zhaoqin couldn't help but ask curiously.

Each person gets one portion. His portion has less red, but still quite a bit. It contains various meatballs and vegetables that he has eaten before, as well as brown and white noodles that he has never eaten before. Some of them are sticking out, completely surrounded by red. The soup that occasionally peeks out from the gaps is also dark brown in color, and the salty, spicy taste hits your nose straight.

Shen Pingyu said, "This is the spicy hotpot Aunt Yan mentioned. It uses the hotpot base she made. It requires a lot of chili peppers. The chili peppers were brought back by my uncle. She grew a lot and asked me to bring a lot back. It's not easy to cook hotpot in the academy now. I'll take you to eat it during the next holiday. The hotpot is eaten while it's boiling. This means that the food is cooked in advance and eaten directly."

He took out his chopsticks and passed them over: "Eat it."

"Thank you, senior brother." Zhou Zhaoqin took it with both hands, very politely. But when he picked up the chopsticks and took the first bite, he could no longer be polite.

So spicy!

The first thing he took a bite of was the Sanzi inside. His mother didn't know what it was, but she was curious because she had never seen it before. The Sanzi in the spicy hot pot absorbed the salty and spicy soup, and when he took a bite, all the soup was squeezed out and fell on his lips and tongue.

Zhou Zhaoqin shuddered so much that his face turned red from the spiciness.

Shen Pingyu was stunned for a moment, and quickly came up to serve milk tea: "Eat slowly, drink some milk tea."

The Xiao family and the Shen family have long cooperated in Leping to open a food street there, and the response has been good. Now the food street has become one of the largest streets in Leping in terms of traffic.

Zhou Zhaoqin didn't even have time to say thank you this time. He just took a gulp of the milk tea. Fortunately, he only felt uncomfortable with the first sip, so he suppressed it immediately. He looked at his senior brother with tears in his eyes: "Thank you, senior brother."

"It's okay. It's my fault. I didn't consider that you can't eat such spicy food." Shen Pingyu apologized. Maybe he inherited his grandmother, Mrs. Xiao, and was born to love spicy food. The first time he ate spicy strips, he couldn't stop.

Nowadays, the spiciness of these has actually been reduced a lot, not to mention that when it came to Zhou Zhaoqin, he even added a little more light chicken soup, but who would have thought that he was still like this.

"Shall I ask someone to make your chicken soup again and remove the chili oil?" Shen Pingyu asked.

But Zhou Zhaoqin quickly shook his head: "No, no! I can eat it, I like it too!"

Shen Pingyu didn't quite believe it.

Seeing this, Zhou Zhaoqin continued eating. This time he learned his lesson and ate the meatballs first. The beef balls were round and had less chili on them, so they were easier to eat. After one bite, the salty and spicy juice was gone due to the strong taste of the beef balls. He could completely accept it and even liked it.

He really likes it. While eating it, his big eyes narrowed as if he was eating some delicious food.

Shen Ping was relieved when he saw this, and said, "As long as you like it, it's good. What you just ate was Sanzi, and the white noodles next to it are potato flour. Aunt Yan made it before we came here, and used up all the remaining potatoes. We ate it, and the extra ones were allowed to be brought back by me. Fortunately, they were not spoiled. The potatoes were brought back by His Royal Highness Prince Huai, and Aunt Yan got some..."

As Zhou Zhaoqin listened to him, he forgot to chew the delicious food in his mouth and stared at him eagerly, hoping that he could say more.

But Shen Pingyu finished speaking quickly. He lowered his eyes in disappointment, picked up a piece of soft and tender potato flour, and slurped it into his mouth. It was slippery and delicious!

The more he ate, the better it tasted. The spicy taste no longer made his lips and tongue uncomfortable. Instead, it was so spicy that he wanted to drool. He could only suppress it by eating more.

A bite of meatball, a bite of Sanzi, another bite of vermicelli, and finally a bite of crispy, tender and sweet mung bean sprouts. There was still a lot of soup in the big bowl, but the food inside was getting less and less.

Zhou Zhaoqin wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief, then picked up a piece of pork belly. The cooked pork belly was thin and tender, not greasy at all. Stimulated by the spicy taste, the only thing he could taste on his tongue was the fresh and tender texture.

With his appetite satisfied, Zhou Zhaoqin seemed to become a little bolder. He wiped his mouth, cleared his throat, and looked at the person opposite him.

Shen Pingyu was just like him, sweating profusely while eating. He just happened to be taking a break at this moment, sipping milk tea.

He hurriedly asked, "Excuse me, Senior Brother, what is Sister Shu doing in Kyoto? I heard that she is engaged to your uncle and no longer lives in the Xiao family. So where does she live?"

Shen Pingyu explained to him: "She lives in a farm in the suburbs. She runs a farmhouse there. She says it's a small business. If people stay there or buy something, she can make money. But I think her business is not very good. I stayed there before I left, and no one came..."

He told what he had seen and heard that day.

I didn't exaggerate, but I did show some sympathy. Without any customers, I would definitely not make any money.

Zhou Zhaoqin thought the same thing, frowning, "Why did she want to do business? Didn't she live very well in the Xiao family before?"

How tiring is it to run a business? And the social status is not good either.

Shen Pingyu thought for two seconds and said, "I heard that engaged couples cannot live under the same roof, and Aunt Yan has no family, so she might be collecting dowry."

As he guessed, he also reminded himself of Aunt Yan's dowry. She was alone, so it was no wonder that she wanted to do business. It turned out to be for her dowry?! This made sense. After all, if she married into the Xiao family and her dowry was too little, she would definitely be laughed at by others.

He thought about how much private money he had, which should be quite a bit, and he could buy a lot of things...

Zhou Zhaoqin was stunned for a moment, and asked in surprise: "Aunt Yan has no family? Where are her parents?"

Shen Pingyu said: "I heard that they are all dead. Now her mother's tablet is in the ancestral hall in the village."

Zhou Zhaoqin held the chopsticks tightly, lowered his head, looked at the spicy hot pot in front of him that was already a little cold, quickly picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth, feeling sad.

It turns out that Sister Shu is also an orphan.

He whispered, "No wonder she wants to do business."

He remembered his mother saying that when his mother married his father, her grandfather gave her a lot of dowry. This was also the reason why his father always treated his mother well and did not let other concubines bully her.

Now, Sister Shu is just like him, without a father or a mother, and has to earn money for her dowry.

He pressed his chest and felt a hard object hanging from his neck, falling on his chest. It was hidden by his clothes and could not be seen by others.

This was sent to him some time ago by a man who claimed to be his father's adviser. He said it was the family inheritance his father left him. I heard there was a lot of silver. I wonder if it is enough for Sister Shu's dowry?