Seeing his eldest son like this, Wen Zixiao couldn't help but scold him, "Cheng'er, what are you doing? Walk properly."

Wen Shunben was returning to the side courtyard with trepidation when he suddenly heard his father's scolding. He shivered with fear and looked up to see his father sitting in the main room, along with his aunt and mother. He then stood up, picked up the food box and ran into the side courtyard and the main room.

As soon as he entered the main room, everyone sitting there smelled a milky aroma, as well as another aroma that was a bit like the aroma of meat but richer. It was very tempting, and everyone couldn't help swallowing.

Wen Zixiao originally wanted to scold his eldest son for being a thief, but when he smelled the smell, he couldn't help but ask, "What's that smell?"

Wen Shuncheng opened the lunch box, revealing the stir-fried shredded eel inside, and took out fish balls and steamed buns wrapped in oil paper from his pocket.

He said, "Dad, why did you come back so suddenly?"

When Wen Zixiao saw his son bringing food back, he thought that he had earned money from selling eels and bought the food outside to improve the diet of the third roommate.

"Where did you buy this food? It smells delicious. And what kind of food is this? It looks a bit like eel."

Eels are commonly made into eel soup, but I haven't seen this method. It seems that the eels are cut into strips? Can the earthy smell of the eels be covered in this way?

If river fish is not properly processed, it will have a strong fishy smell. It is common to make fish soup with it. Some people cut it into pieces and add more seasonings to cook it, but the taste is only average. There is a restaurant in the capital that makes good eel soup. He missed it very much. Since he came to the border town, he has not had a good meal.

The dishes in a restaurant like Donglai Ju should be good, but he was reluctant to go in for a meal. A meal would cost at least two or three taels of silver. Two or three taels of silver was not a big deal in the past, but now he was reluctant to do so.

Wen Shuncheng chuckled, "Dad, this not only smells good, it tastes even better. This is stir-fried shredded eel, this is fish balls, and this is steamed buns with milk. I'll get the chopsticks so you can try them."

After he finished speaking, he ran to the small kitchen and got a few pairs of wooden chopsticks.

Wen Zixiao didn't bother to be polite with his son. He took the wooden chopsticks and picked up a handful of stir-fried shredded eel.

The eel shreds are smooth, tender and fresh, without any fishy smell.

Wen Zi let out a breath, picked up another milk bun, and took a bite. It was full of milk aroma, soft and sweet. The white and plump fish balls were also chewy and delicious, without the fishy smell of fish.

"Dad, how does it taste?"

Wen Zixiao said seriously, "This is the most delicious food I've ever tasted in my life. Even the best restaurant in the capital can't make it taste like this. Cheng'er, where did you buy it? It's not cheap, is it?"

Could it be that my son went to Donglaiju specifically to buy it?

In Yuanbao Town, the Donglai Restaurant on East Street is the largest and has the best dishes.

When Aunt Bai, Madam Meng, Brother Gong and Sister Tao tasted these foods, they were all amazed.

Wen Shunchengcai whispered, "Dad, this was made by my fourth sister-in-law."

"Fourth sister-in-law?" Wen Zixiao didn't react for a moment.

He remembers that Cheng Ge'er is the fourth child in the family, right?

Aunt Bai swallowed the steamed bun in her mouth before saying, "The fourth daughter-in-law of your second sister, Yu Niang."

This milk steamed bun is really delicious, soft and fluffy.

Wen Zixiao then realized that he was talking about the Fourth Prince.

He also knew that the Fourth Prince's current wife was a girl sent out by the Marquis Dechang's mansion as a replacement for marriage.

I didn't expect this girl to be such a good cook.

The family finished their meals, and Wen Zixiao asked, "Why did you sneak back just now?"

Wen Shuncheng scratched his head and told her about how he met his fourth sister-in-law when he came back from catching eels today, and how her sister-in-law hired him to do work. He would have to go to her house to work every day and receive a salary every month. He then said, "It's because my second sister always asked me about my fourth sister-in-law's family in a roundabout way, as if she had some ideas about her cooking skills. My fourth sister-in-law also gave me so many delicious foods, and I was worried that I would run into my second sister when I got home and she would ask me all kinds of questions. That's why I'm being careful." In fact, he never ran into her on weekdays, but he was subconsciously a little worried, afraid of causing trouble for his fourth sister-in-law's family.

The second sister he mentioned was Wen Lingling, the second child among her grandchildren.

Wen Zixiao frowned slightly, "Even if she is discovered, so what? Even if she really has some ideas, we don't owe her anything. No matter what she thinks, our family and your fourth sister-in-law's family will not tolerate her, so you don't need to worry."

When he came back, he first went to pay his respects to his father and mother. He also learned from his father that Aunt Gui had contracted tuberculosis and had left the Wen family and returned to the Pei family.

When he returned to the third room, he asked his aunt again, and his aunt also insisted that Aunt Gui had tuberculosis.

"By the way, how is your Aunt Gui?" Wen Zixiao asked.

Wen Shuncheng said: "Aunt Gui is doing well. She looks better and better, and has gained some weight."

Can tuberculosis make you fat?

Wen Zixiao looked at Aunt Bai in confusion, feeling that something was not right, and couldn't help asking Aunt Bai what was going on.

Aunt Bai said calmly, "The doctor said it was tuberculosis, so it must be tuberculosis. It may not be a serious condition. Your Aunt Gui was tortured too much before. It would be better if she was taken back by her children and grandchildren and served with good food and drink. Otherwise, look at our third room, your Aunt, your wife, and Sister Tao. Which one of them is not thinner than when they first came to Yuanbao Town? Their complexion is even worse."

Wen Zixiao's face darkened. He had long had the idea of ​​dividing the family. His parents were partial to each other. He knew that his eldest and second brothers were legitimate sons, so he never argued with them. But his father treated the third branch of his family like servants, and he could not tolerate it forever when he saw it.

Even if the family was divided, it wouldn't matter if the old man didn't give him any money. He had secretly saved a lot. If the money was not enough to buy a house for the time being, he could rent a house first. Otherwise, he was afraid that his aunt, his wife and daughter would be as tired as Aunt Gui.

But how should I tell my grandfather about the separation?

…

Wen Zixiao was in favor of letting Chengge'er go to help his second sister's family with work. As for Gongge'er, he didn't have much to do on weekdays, so it would be nice for him to follow Chengge'er to help Xuange's daughter-in-law with some chores.

Wen Shuncheng stayed at the Pei family. He worked efficiently and would run out of town in the morning to catch his eels.

All the eels caught for several days were bought by my fourth sister-in-law.

Wild eels are good for the body, so Xu Qinyu made many delicious dishes with eels, such as stir-fried shredded eel, dry-pot eel, fried eel paste, dry-fried eel slices, eel slices with scallions, steamed eel, eel porridge, eel soup, Liangxi crispy eel, etc. She made them all and enjoyed them all.

She wanted to give Cheng Ge'er money for the eels, but Cheng Ge'er refused, so she asked Cheng Ge'er to bring some food back home every day. In addition to the eels and milk steamed buns she made every day, she also had braised fish, fish head stewed with tofu and fish balls, which she took turns bringing back for the people in the third room to eat.

The third branch of the Wen family has been eating well recently, and their complexion has improved visibly.

No matter what kind of food, the aroma is strongest when it is just out of the pot, and can be smelled from far away. When it is warm, there is not much aroma left. If you stay in a room, you can still smell the aroma of food, but the first and second rooms are very far away from the side courtyard, and there are several courtyards in between, so naturally you can't smell anything, and I don't know what Cheng Ge'er is doing working for Yu Niang.

In a blink of an eye, Wen Shuncheng had been working in the Pei family for half a month, and Wen Shungong also did some odd jobs in the Pei family.

The main reason was that the two brothers were usually together, but that morning Wen Shungong was not feeling well, so he did not go fishing with him.

Gong Ge'er is two years younger than Cheng Ge'er, barely ten years old. Xu Qinyu wanted to give him some wages, but they both refused, saying that they ate a lot every day at her place. That was true, because on weekdays, the two brothers would eat together if there was any food, and half-grown boys were good at eating, so Xu Qinyu did not pay the younger one any more, and still gave him the usual salary.

After only working for half a month, Wen Shuncheng had already become very proficient at the job. He was very skillful in killing fish and cleaning the fat intestines, and pounding the fish into paste was even easier. This really saved Xu Qinyu a lot of effort.

Gongger's job was mostly to help take out the trash and such like, and he would often take Fengger and Yuanjie to play crazy things with Moyu in the yard.

Xu Qinyu found that Cheng Ge'er learned very quickly and his knife skills were quite good. Although the fish slices he sliced ​​were not as thin as cicada wings, they were quite thin and the thickness was even. He must have some talent in cooking. Xu Qinyu planned to observe Cheng Ge'er for a while to see if he was willing to be a chef. However, before that, she still had to practice Cheng Ge'er's knife skills first.

Every chef starts by practicing knife skills, which is essential.

Xu Qinyu has been busy here. It has been a month since her fourth brother left.

She still missed her fourth brother a little bit, and wondered how he was doing with the caravan.

The disaster in the north has not yet passed. Although there is no further heavy snow, the weather is still very cold.

In the southwest, people have already started wearing thin shirts.

The refugees who fled from the disaster in the north would probably go to the south or the capital, and would not flee to the southwest. Not only is it too far, but the road is also damp and full of ants, which is not conducive to escape.

Not only did the news come from the north, but within two days, Wen Shuncheng, who had just returned from catching eels, told Xu Qinyu something mysteriously.

"Sister-in-law, I just went out to fish, and when I came back I heard that the pirates on the other side of the canal had robbed the government ship!"

Xu Qinyu gasped, "They dared to rob government ships? Are the pirates on both sides of the canal so bold?"

There have always been some pirates and mountain bandits on the cliffs on both sides of the canal. In fact, they are from the same family. There is a section of the canal with cliffs on both sides that reach the sky. The pirates live on the cliffs on both sides. Because the terrain of the cliffs is dangerous, only the pirates are familiar with the route. Living on the mountain, they are also considered bandits, but on weekdays they mostly rob merchant ships on the canal.

Xu Qinyu also heard that there were actually two groups of pirates.

They would rob merchant ships of bad reputations without killing anyone, but they would steal things, so there would definitely be some fighting and some injuries.

There is also another group that robs everything and even kills people. I heard that a merchant ship was robbed by this group of pirates before, and all the people on the ship were killed.

The imperial court was furious and sent soldiers to suppress the bandits, but due to the cliff terrain, they were unsuccessful after several attempts.

But no one expected these pirates to be so bold as to rob even government ships.

The official ships on the canal were carrying coal and iron ore. Anyone who dared to steal these would be guilty of a capital crime.

The pirates in the past did not dare to rob the government ship at all. I don’t know which group of pirates robbed the government ship this time.

"Did they rob the coal mines or the iron mines?" Xu Qinyu asked.

Wen Shuncheng whispered, "More than that, both ships were robbed. Not only the iron and coal on board, but also the two ships were robbed. I don't know where the ships went."

Usually the two official ships travel together.

Xu Qinyu remembered that the iron and coal mines had started working a few days ago, so the dock became lively. As the weather was getting warmer, she also planned to dry some beans and make some dried black beans and bean paste. After making a bucket of fermented bean curd, she would set up a breakfast stall near the dock.

These beans had just been purchased when such a big thing happened on the canal.

The imperial court will certainly not let these pirates off so easily. The wharf has to be uneasy recently. Well, it seems that the business at the wharf is not going to be easy. It would be better to set up a breakfast stall in West Street or East Street after making the black bean paste and fermented bean curd. There is no need to go to the wharf anymore.

…

On the Zhangbi Mountain on both sides of the canal, there is a large open space halfway up one of the mountain walls, shaded by dense trees. There are many small wooden houses and vegetable plots on the open space.

This is where the pirates on both sides of the canal hide.

Inside the village, a very sturdy man was stroking his bald head, his honest face full of confusion, "Boss, do you think the people under Boss Lei are crazy? How dare they rob the government ship? Isn't this going to provoke the imperial court to come and suppress us again?"

They were the pirates that Xu Qinyu mentioned who did not kill anyone but only robbed merchant ships of bad reputation.

The man called "Boss" by the bald man was about 30 years old, also strong and with a full beard. Hearing this, his brows furrowed even more. "Boss Lei is really crazy, right? We'd better be more careful these days. We need to send more people to the entrance of the village and the front and back mountains. If there is any disturbance, we will immediately abandon the village and hide."

There was a frail man in his twenties beside the boss. He shook his head after hearing what the two said. "No, it was definitely not done by Boss Lei. Boss Lei has a fierce temper, but even so, he would not dare to rob government ships, otherwise he would have robbed them long ago. Robbing government ships means completely opposing the court. He is not that stupid. Robbing merchant ships is enough for him to make money."

No one wants to provoke the imperial court, and the same goes for Boss Lei. Besides, how can you get rid of the coal and iron ore on the official ship if you steal it? It is impossible to get rid of the coal and iron ore without some connections. Even if you have connections, it is not easy to get rid of it. You must be crazy to steal it.

So he knew it wasn’t Boss Lei.

The bearded man frowned, "If it wasn't Boss Lei who stole it, then who stole it?"

The frail man pondered for a moment and said, "But I still remember that some small caravans were robbed before, and the method was a bit similar to ours. The owner of the caravan had obtained a lot of ill-gotten gains before and was robbed, but it was not us who robbed them. Although the method was a bit similar to ours, it was not the work of Boss Lei. If Boss Lei had taken action, the people on those merchant ships, including the thugs, would not have survived. So there was another group of people, and they should be the ones who robbed the official ship."

Everyone in the village fell into deep thought. Who on earth would dare to rob a government ship?

Will this also bring devastating pressure on them?

…

In fact, the court was indeed very angry. When the news reached the palace, Empress Dowager Fu was furious. She immediately sent officers and soldiers to track down the whereabouts of the two stolen official ships. She also sent a letter to the governor of Raozhou in the southwest border as soon as possible, asking him to immediately send officers and soldiers from the southwest garrison to suppress the bandits on both sides of the canal.

After giving these instructions, Empress Dowager Fu turned around and saw her son lying on the imperial concubine's couch, with a beauty serving him fruit.

Empress Dowager Fu frowned, "Why haven't you reviewed the memorial yet?"

The new emperor smiled and said, "Isn't it that we have the Queen Mother? It's enough for her to review it. I'm too lazy to read the memorials from the ministers. They are nothing more than asking the national treasury to allocate funds for disaster relief for the victims in the north, or impeaching me and the Queen Mother. I really hate these ministers. Are they annoying? I have been on the throne for a long time, but they still keep talking about the past. Besides, I have spared the fourth brother's lineage and only exiled them."

The two beauties trembled.

Ever since the new emperor ascended the throne, countless maids and beauties have died in the palace.

Concubine Fu Gui glanced at the two beauties and waved her hand. The two of them hurriedly leaned back and carefully closed the palace door.

Only Empress Dowager Fu and the new emperor were left in the hall. Empress Dowager Fu didn't think it was wrong for her son not to review the memorials. It was fine. She could review the memorials. But seeing her son being so lazy, she was a little angry. "You are so idle. Why don't you go find the imperial edict and think about where your father hid it. If we don't find it, it will be a sharp arrow hanging over our heads."

She just thought that it was not her due to Wen's birth that she was able to ascend to the throne of empress and to be favored by Emperor Sheng Jing. In the end, he even wanted to make the eldest prince the crown prince and wrote an imperial edict.

Also, it was because of the censors who wrote petitions to the emperor all the time that she released all the members of the Pei family. However, after releasing them, the censors did not stop and kept nagging her all the time.

She not only wanted to kill Pei Weixuan's lineage, she even wanted to kill all those censors who did nothing but write letters to the emperor all day long, and put an end to it all.

But she couldn't kill him. The edict hadn't been found, and there was no need to fight to the death. She wanted a good reputation, a prosperous and peaceful era, and to be recorded in history books as a good empress dowager during the Kaiyuan Period.

Emperor Sheng Yuan, however, thought that instead of looking for an imperial edict, it would be better to go to the animal park that his fourth brother had raised before and pet a lynx, feed a golden eagle, ride a yak, and touch a white tiger.

"Hurry up!" Concubine Fu Gui said sternly.

Seeing that his mother had lost her temper, Emperor Sheng Yuan had no choice but to get up and finally leave the hall, leading the eunuchs and palace maids. However, he did not go to Emperor Sheng Jing's previous bedroom, but went to his fourth brother's bedroom.

Emperor Sheng Yuan felt that he had been searching for several months, and maybe his father had deceived them before his death. There was no edict at all, and he just wanted to scare them so that he would feel uneasy even if he ascended the throne. Thinking of the way his father looked when he died, Emperor Sheng Yuan felt sad. That was his father, and it was his mother who did it. He knew that if his mother didn't do it, and when his eldest brother ascended the throne, they would be the ones to be imprisoned and exiled.

Emperor Sheng Yuan thought about this as he walked towards his fourth brother's bedroom.

When we arrived at the fourth brother's bedroom, there was a garden which was a place specially used to raise those pets.

Those ferocious beasts had no bestiality at all and were very well-behaved, so Emperor Sheng Yuan kept them. It would be a different experience to go and see them in your spare time.

When he arrived at the garden, he asked the palace servants to open it.

The white tiger, golden eagle, lynx and yak immediately came to greet him.

The white tiger rubbed against him affectionately, and the golden eagle also accompanied him, fanning him gently with its wings that were three or four feet long when spread out. There was also a very beautiful golden lynx, which lay lazily beside him and allowed him to stroke it.

Finally, we rode the yaks for a walk in the park.

Emperor Sheng Yuan stayed in the garden for an hour and was very satisfied when he left. He felt that petting these furry pets made him feel different and more comfortable than having a beautiful woman by his side.

Speaking of beauties, Emperor Sheng Yuan thought of the third young lady of Marquis Dechang's Mansion. He burst into tears and felt like crying. She looked so delicate and weak that it made people feel distressed.

When he goes back and talks to his mother, the beauty selection will begin in a few days. The third young lady from the Marquis Dechang's mansion will definitely also enter the palace for the selection, and then she can stay in the palace directly.

After Emperor Sheng Yuan left, the palace maids closed the gate of the garden. The white tiger, lynx, yak and the big golden eagle immediately got up and ran to a small lake specially dug for them at the back of the garden. They began to roll around in the mud, and then slowly washed the mud off their bodies with the lake water.

The golden eagle was washing its wings while calling "wa wah wah", and one could actually sense a hint of grievance and anger from its voice.

When the palace maids guarding the garden heard the cry, they knew that the golden eagle was angry. After all, the golden eagle never cried like this when it followed the Fourth Prince.

But the palace maids didn't dare tell Emperor Sheng Yuan, as they might lose their heads. It was better for them to pretend they didn't know and help the Fourth Prince guard them.