Chapter 66: General Luan was a young man at that time, and he returned on a white horse. ...
“Guiji Braised Food Shop!”
There was a burst of cheers.
The five-grain fish meal won the hearts of the people, and the number of people participating in the vote overwhelmed Cuiyuan Tower.
Even though the restaurant was backed by powerful people, the yellow-haired old man, as the referee representative, still cast the decisive vote in an impartial manner.
The bean sprout boy seemed to see the master chef who had taught him how to cut fish fillets step by step, stroking his head kindly.
"Master, I will work hard and keep up the good work." The young man wiped away his tears.
The person in charge of Cuiyuan Tower glanced at the chef coldly, his cheeks as if two walnuts were stuffed, and finally walked away in anger.
There are still two rounds of competition, and he will never take it lightly again.
Below the stage, Guizhi'er's lips were blooming like a crescent moon as she happily collected the silver bills she had earned.
All the way from the north, the small treasury became more and more full.
Gui Zhier thought that if General Luan, who provided the original capital, received her letter, he would be overjoyed.
Little did they know that General Luan was already on his way to the capital in response to the imperial edict.
In March, the awakening wheat seedlings should be rolling in green waves, and the rape flowers should be in full bloom. However, the fourth year of Chengshuo was destined to be difficult for Daliang.
What the young general saw along the way was that due to the impact of the spring floods, the victims were starving and dying everywhere.
The middle-aged man's eye sockets were sunken, his pupils dull, his body a mere skeleton covered in skin. The child could still cry a few times, but the woman and child, with an empty stomach, was already dying.
There is no green grass in the wild and no surplus food in the fields.
The bandit problem became even more serious during the famine. When officers and soldiers went to the countryside, they would indiscriminately kill ordinary people and take their heads to become bandits.
"Let's go north. There's food to eat there."
"Let's go north. The officials here say the court is building a river embankment and they're going to collect taxes and punish people. There's no way to survive if we stay here."
In the simple understanding of the villagers of Qingyezhou, floods are natural disasters, but man-made disasters are often more terrifying.
Heading north, the northern border has clarified the head tax and land tax, and there are plenty of fertile black soil waiting to be developed.
Luan Shuangbai touched the mane of the snow-shadow white horse.
The young man, with a red tasseled spear on his back, stood tall and straight. Along the way, he brought Guizhier some ice flowers from the snow on Meishan Mountain and picked cherry blossoms from Donglu Prefecture.
"Buy some more rice to make porridge." He instructed the owner of Huitong Money House.
"Young Master, the price of rice has gone through the roof." The old shopkeeper flipped through the account book and sighed, "Thank goodness your account has been receiving income all the time, otherwise, how could we afford it?"
"What?" Luan Shuangbai's eyes widened and he slapped his thigh in annoyance.
He had forgotten that he had once given Miss Gui a jade and gold pendant as a token of trust.
The boy coughed twice awkwardly, his face flushed red.
A blush quickly spread from her cheeks to behind her ears, and unspeakable embarrassment took root in her heart.
"Boss, may I ask how much money you have spent these days?" Luan Shuangbai asked guiltily.
The old shopkeeper tickled the abacus twice and raised three fingers.
"Three thousand taels? That's not bad." Luan Shuangbai breathed a sigh of relief, so as not to let the young lady look down on him.
I think Guizhier has established herself in the capital with her superb cooking skills and has already built up her business.
I haven't seen you for a long time and I miss you so much.
Luan Shuangbai couldn't hide the smile in his eyes, and the blush on his face was tinged with embarrassment.
"Young Master, it's three thousand taels of gold." The old shopkeeper's sparse white beard trembled slightly as his lips opened and closed.
The boy's smile froze instantly.
"Don't call me the young master anymore. My family is big and my business is great, and I'm not capable of handling it." Luan Shuangbai covered his chest and took a deep breath.
Passing through Yanping and Zezhou, March with fireworks is a good time to go to the south of the Yangtze River.
Closer to the capital, the refugees were stopped outside by the imperial guards, and looking around, the scene was still one of singing and dancing.
The news that the young general returned to Beijing spread.
From Shangshanfang to Guangjifang, people who loved to join in the fun opened their windows one after another.
Looking down, the alley was paved with bluestone slabs, with horse-head walls with white walls and black tiles on both sides, and the spring rain flowed along the tile grooves.
"Damn, damn, damn."
A handsome white horse jumped into view, its raised hooves slender and powerful. It entered the main street, and Luan Shuangbai followed the rules and walked with the horse.
The experience of war during the winter has made the boy's chest broader, and the lines of his face are strong and smooth as he wears armor.
"Oh, he really is the martial arts champion!" The female grocer shook the rattle twice. She watched almost the entire martial arts competition last year.
Seeing Luan Shuangbai defeat the rich and powerful young man in the ring.
I can't help but admire him.
"He won the battle and is now to be called Major General."
The bronze-skinned old craftsman interrupted, and the hammer in his hand fell like raindrops, making a "clink" sound and sparks flying.
At that time, the young man returned riding a white horse.
"Has General Liang returned to Beijing?" The old man, who was sitting on a bench under the eaves to avoid the rain, opened his eyes in a daze.
The sparse white hair fell on his head like the remaining snow. The old man's back had been bent by time and his body was hunched.
"Dad, don't say anything careless. You're getting old and confused." The grocer covered her father's mouth in fear. "He's General Luan."
"Oh, it's the General Jinglüe..." the old man murmured.
His eyes were cloudy and blurry, as if he had drifted into the depths of distant memories, back to his childhood.
The grocer looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that no one was paying attention to her old father's nonsense.
I heard that General Liang died in battle against the horse bandits in western Hunan. Now the emperor is magnanimous and will not hold him responsible for the defeat, so he was buried alive.
It is better for ordinary people to stay out of the affairs of bigwigs.
A man and a horse walked together towards the depths of the imperial city.
The young general stood tall and straight, with a few strands of hair hanging in front of his forehead. His sword-like eyebrows and star-like eyes revealed a sense of fearlessness and determination.
He raised his hand and stroked the horse's neck, his movements gentle and coordinated.
On the same day, the second scientific expedition was carried out as scheduled.
The Imperial Examination Hall was locked again, a tense atmosphere filled the air, the sky darkened, and the flickering candlelight cast the thin figures of the examinees on the wall.
The "swish" sound of writing and the occasional coughing were intertwined.
Night is a great time for inspiration.
The tip of Li Mi's pen, a student from Yang'an, hovered above the straw paper for a long time without falling.
He was trapped by the tricky and obscure test questions, and his mouth couldn't help but slowly opened and yawned loudly.
Fatigue narrowed his eyes into slits, and even a few tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.
"I can't hold on any longer. Let's have some midnight snack and go to bed first."
Li Mi was worried that if he copied too slowly when he woke up tomorrow and his handwriting was even more sloppy due to his haste, he would fail the second exam.
But right now, I was so sleepy that I felt dizzy.
He had no choice but to get up and go to the end of the alley to get hot water to brew the "coffee" he had just bought from Miss Gui.
The hot water spread out in circles, and a mixture of bitter, sweet and burnt aroma filled my nose.
"This dark water, isn't it?"
Li Mi suppressed his doubts and took a sip.
The intense bitterness hits the taste buds without reservation, spreading wildly in the mouth like a surging tide.
This tastes so weird!
Li Mi frowned fiercely, the corners of his mouth unconsciously stretched and drooped.
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