Although playing mahjong is addictive, it is never an easy job. After building the Great Wall for an entire afternoon, not to mention the pampered Yinzuo, even Yinzhi and Yinreng felt stiff from sitting.
"Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, stop wasting my fish food. Go find Dexi over there and ask him to take you to pick some more lotus leaves. Sixth Brother is taking people to dig the soil now. We'll bury the beggar's chicken first."
Twelve, Thirteen, and Fourteen had been feeding the fish all afternoon and had long lost interest in feeding the fish. When they heard that they could go boating and pick lotus leaves, they immediately put down the fish food in their hands and ran towards Dexi.
Yinzuo asked someone to come and put away the mahjong, and served hot tea to his brothers again. He then took his men and tools to the open space by the lake to work. Yinzhi and his friends sat down and drank tea for a while. When they saw Twelve and Thirteen coming back from picking lotus leaves and rowing a boat, they all stood up and walked towards Yinzuo. Although Yinreng and his friends had heard about the method of cooking beggar's chicken before, they had never seen anyone do it in person, so they were inevitably curious.
When the brothers reached the clearing by the lake, Thirteen and Fourteen had already come ashore with lotus leaves. Yinzuo also directed the palace servants to dig a few small pits on the ground and light a fire on them. When they saw Yinzhi and the others coming, they were not polite at all.
"Big brother, second brother, since you guys are here, don't just sit there. See that pile of dirt over there? One of you should go and turn it into mud."
As the saying goes, no child can resist the temptation of mud. Even older children like Yin'er and Yin?, who are just over ten years old, are no exception. Although they have never played with mud before, they are very enthusiastic.
"Sixth brother, leave this job to me and Old Ten. Don't worry, we will do it for you."
Yinzhen glanced at Yin'er and Yin'er who were running away with the buckets of water. He opened his mouth but finally just shook his head and didn't say anything to stop them. It was also because everyone was so happy today, there was no need to spoil the fun by talking about rules and etiquette.
"Sixth Brother, I never knew that Ninth and Tenth could make mud. Are you sure they can do this?"
When Yinzuo heard what Yinzhi said, he looked up at Yinlu and Yinzhen who were working hard not far away, and nodded.
"Don't worry, big brother. Mixing mud isn't a technical job. It's just adding soil if there's too much water, or adding water if there's too much soil. Let them do it themselves. Even if the mud they make in the end isn't usable, we can just ask someone to mix some more. Now that Thirteen and Fourteen have brought back the lotus leaves, I'll have someone get the chicken we prepared earlier. Once the lotus leaves are cleaned, we can wrap them."
Yinzhi had just asked the same question before, but after hearing what Yinzuo said, he felt that it made sense, so he naturally stopped paying attention to Yin'er and the others, and followed Yinzuo towards Thirteen, Fourteen and the other younger ones.
"Sixth brother, Dexi said that the lotus leaf chicken needs larger and thicker leaves. I just spent a long time picking leaves in the lake. I guarantee that the leaves I picked are large and thick."
Yinzuo took the leaves from Shisan's hand and looked at them carefully. He found that it was just as he said. The size of each leaf was almost the same, and it was obvious that they were carefully selected.
"Yes, Thirteen is indeed meticulous in his work. This lotus leaf is also well chosen, exactly the kind I need."
Fourteenth brother has never been willing to be lonely. Seeing his thirteenth brother being praised, he hurriedly squeezed next to Yinzuo holding the lotus leaves he picked.
"Sixth brother, look at what I picked. Isn't it big and nice too?"
Yinzuo knew very well the importance of treating everyone equally. Upon hearing this, he took the leaf from Fourteen's hand, looked at it carefully, and then nodded.
"Yes, the leaves picked by Fourteen are indeed big and good."
Since he had already praised thirteen and fourteen, Yinzuo certainly would not leave out twelve, so he waved him over, took the leaf in his hand, looked at it, and praised it.
"The leaves picked by Twelve are also good. Later, Sixth Brother will use the lotus leaves you picked to make beggar's chicken for you."
Since they were the ones who picked the lotus leaves, Yinzuo didn't plan to let others wash them. He asked someone to bring buckets of water and called a few young ones over.
"See that bucket over there? Go over there and wash the lotus leaves in your hands, then bring them back to me."
What child doesn't like playing in the water? When they heard Yinzuo's order, the three of them walked towards the bucket with lotus leaves without any hesitation. Seeing how enthusiastic they were, Yinzuo was happy to have some peace and quiet. He found a stone by the lake and sat down instinctively without thinking it was dirty. Yinzhi was even more casual than him. He saw that the open space next to Yinzuo was relatively clean, so he didn't even look for any stone and just sat down.
"I didn't realize before that you're actually quite good at taking care of children. What a great relationship! If Ihana bothers me again someday, I'll send her over to you. You have a big place here, so I think she'll like it."
Listen, is this even human language? Just because you're annoyed by your daughter's noises, I don't mind it, right? Why do I always feel like there's a bit of personal vendetta in what you're saying?
The brothers Yinzuo and Yinzhi were sitting here chatting idly when they heard a sudden exclamation from not far away, followed by the excited voice of Little Fourteen.
"Sixth brother, Sixth brother, come here quickly, look at this leaf, it can spray water."
Yinzhi and Yinzuo were frightened by the noise at first, and they couldn't help but feel confused when they heard Fourteen's words. They looked at each other, stood up and walked towards Thirteen and Fourteen.
When the two of them got closer and saw the situation clearly, they understood why Fourteen and the others were so excited. It turned out that when they were using a watering can to clean the lotus leaves, they accidentally poured water into the lotus leaf stems, and then they found that the water could actually spray out from all around the leaves. This made the children feel like they had discovered a new world.
"I thought you had discovered something remarkable. Twelve, you are a few years older than Thirteen and Fourteen. You should have learned the Lotus Sutra. Come and recite a few lines for them."
Twelve was quite obedient. When his sixth brother asked him to set an example for his younger brother, he did so without any hesitation.
"Among the flowers of land and water, there are many lovely ones. Tao Yuanming of the Jin Dynasty particularly loved the chrysanthemum. Since the Tang Dynasty, people have loved the peony. But I particularly love the lotus, which rises from the mud without being stained, washes in the clear water without being coquettish, is straight inside and out, has no vines or branches, and its fragrance becomes clearer from a distance. It stands tall and clean, and can be admired from afar, but not touched..."
Twelve came here with Yinzuo on his back and raised his hand to stop him. He took a lotus leaf from the side and waved to Thirteen and Fourteen to come over, then asked the three of them.
"The article says that the lotus flower grows out of the mud without being stained, washes in the clear water without being coquettish, is straight inside and out, and has no vines or branches. Do you know what this 'straight outside and straight inside' means?"
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