Chapter 29029 Dragon and Phoenix Dance
Chapter 29
Mu Jiang's eyes lit up with murderous intent. "I agree. If we make our intentions clear, any reckless scoundrel who dares to come to us will be annihilated without a single mortal remains."
Mu Yun nudged him with his elbow and said, "Kill, kill, kill! You've killed all my luck."
Mu Jiang covered his ribs and quickly shut up.
Mu Yun looked at Qi Jingyan and said, "Your Highness, we left the capital in a hurry and didn't prepare any flags."
Qi Jingyan: "Just make one side now."
Mu Yun advised again, "Your Highness, please think twice. If you hang the flag, it will be like setting up a target, telling everyone that Your Highness is on this ship."
Qi Jingyan didn't answer, but ordered, "Pen and ink are ready."
Seeing that His Highness was determined, Mu Yun stopped trying to persuade him and went to the desk, spread out paper and ground ink.
After Mu Yun had ground the ink, Qi Jingyan pushed his wheelchair over, picked up his brush, dipped it in ink, and with a few strokes of the brush, he wrote the word "Yu" in a powerful, flamboyant style that seemed to penetrate the paper.
Depressed?
Mu Yun and Mu Jiang were both shocked and said in unison: "Your Highness, aren't we flying the banner of Prince Shen's Mansion?"
Qi Jingyan put down his pen and glanced at them indifferently: "When did I ever say to hang the flag of Prince Shen's Palace?"
Mu Jiang was stunned. Yes, His Highness never mentioned flying their own flag. He bowed to Qi Jingyan with admiration, "Your Highness is wise. Your Highness, isn't this what you call selling dog meat under the guise of selling mutton?"
"This is called hiding one's tracks and escaping like a cicada." Mu Yun nudged him again, then couldn't help laughing. He carefully picked up the paper with both hands and said, "I'll go find Mu Shisan to act as your banner."
Qi Jingyan instructed: "Ask Mu Shi to make a token for Young Marquis Yu."
Mu Yun agreed with a smile and walked out quickly.
After Mu Yun left, Qi Jingyan looked at Mu Jiang and asked, "Are all the brothers here?"
Mu Jiang nodded: "Yes, they are all here, not one is missing. A few of them are injured, but they are all minor injuries. They will be fine after a while."
Qi Jingyan's brows relaxed: "That's good."
For the past month, they had been hiding in the mountains, completely isolated from the outside world. So he asked, "Tell me, what news have you had recently?"
Mu Jiang's expression became serious, and he told the news he had gathered recently one by one:
"The bad news is that many people have come to the capital, all looking for Your Highness. Most of them are probably sent by the Third Prince and the Zhang family, hoping to murder Your Highness on the road."
"Besides that, there are some charlatans who are not afraid of death for the sake of money, and some whose origins are still unclear, but they all have bad intentions."
Qi Jingyan nodded: "Is there any good news?"
Mu Jiang: "The good news is that the Queen Mother has sent someone to deliver something to His Highness again, but it's going directly to Lingnan. Calculated, it should arrive before us."
Qi Jingyan's brows softened. "I'll have a few brothers go overland to Lingnan to pick them up."
"Yes," Mu Jiang replied, and then said, "By the way, Your Highness, a few days ago, Young Marquis Yu led three thousand cavalrymen out of the capital and headed south, but his purpose is unclear."
"But he also kept searching, but I didn't know if he was looking for His Highness or someone else."
Qi Jingyan thought of the word "Yu" he had just written, and his eyebrows raised slightly: "That's a coincidence."
Mu Jiang also thought of this and grinned, "Hehe."
He was now very much looking forward to seeing how Young Marquis Yu would react when he learned that His Highness was heading south under his banner.
Mu Jiang's two "hehe" sounds were filled with obvious gloating. Qi Jingyan raised his eyes and looked at him indifferently.
Mu Jiang quickly suppressed his smile and shut his mouth tightly: "I was wrong."
Qi Jingyan didn't pursue the matter and asked again, "How have you been doing these days?"
Mu Jiang: "That day, after you and the little prince left in the car, my brothers and I headed south along the original route."
At this point, Mu Jiang became excited: "Your Highness, you don't know how dangerous this journey was. Fortunately, Your Highness had the foresight to divide the troops into two groups..."
---
on deck.
The guards who had just returned to the team were grabbing Mu Shan, Mu Feng, Mu Jiu and others, chasing and beating them, and questioning them in a miserable voice while beating them.
"Tell me, how many delicious foods have you eaten without our knowledge this month? How come you all have become so fat and plump?"
"Mushan is the fattest, beat him up hard."
"Mu Feng has not only gained weight, but also grown taller. We can't hit him lightly."
"And Mu Jiu and the others, we can't let any of them go."
Mu Feng, Mu Shan, Mu Jiu and other people who followed Qi Jingyan had eaten a lot of delicious food every day in the past month thanks to Meng Yuning.
At this moment, he was being beaten by his brothers who had been sleeping in the open air and working hard. Feeling guilty, he kept hiding, not daring to fight back, and kept making excuses.
"We didn't eat much, just some wild vegetables or something."
Of course, the guards didn't believe it. Relying on their advantage in numbers, several of them held down one person at a time and forced them to confess what they had eaten.
"I don't believe that your face could be this big just by eating wild vegetables. It's almost as big as a millstone."
"Even if it's wild vegetables, it's delicious if Miss Meng cooks it."
Mu Feng and the others dared not admit that they had eaten anything good: "I really didn't eat anything. Maybe it's because we haven't been training much in the mountains recently, so we gained weight."
The group of guards naturally didn't believe it and started scratching and pinching. Mu Feng and the others fought back with laughter.
The two groups of tall and strong young men started to quarrel over the unfair food treatment they had received over the past month.
Meng Yuning stood far away holding Yi'er, who was holding the little rabbit, and watched the fun with a smile.
He thought to himself that it was a good thing that the ship was big and strong enough, otherwise, if they had done so much, the planks would have been broken.
Originally, they were together all day long, and she didn't notice any changes in Mu Shan, Mu Feng and the others. But now, when she compared them with the guards who had been running around outside for a month, she realized that they were completely two different groups of people.
A group of people had rough skin and were very dark and thin. It was obvious that they had lived a hard life, sleeping on the ground and going hungry one day.
The others all have rosy complexions and look plump and fair. It is obvious that they have been eating nutritiously and living a comfortable life recently.
Meng Yuning couldn't help but smile, feeling a sense of accomplishment. Of course, looking at those dark and thin guards, she felt that they were also working very hard.
After the noise, the crowd quieted down. The skinny, dark-skinned young men came up to Meng Yuning and asked pitifully, "Miss Meng, are you cooking today?"
"We haven't had a good meal since we separated."
"Miss Meng, could you please cook for us today? We are so hungry."
Everyone was discussing with Meng Yuning.
Meng Yuning looked at the tanned guards and thought of their resolute rush toward the dangerous road. She felt a surge of respect and clapped her hands before agreeing readily, "Okay, I'll cook today."
The young men immediately cheered: "That's great, it's Miss Meng who cooked. We can finally have a full meal."
Meng Yuning smiled and asked, "Where is the kitchen? Let's go and make it now."
Several guards rushed forward and enthusiastically led Meng Yuning to the kitchen. "The kitchen is on the first floor. Miss Meng, please come this way."
Meng Yuning took Yi'er's hand and followed everyone down the stairs to the first floor and went to the kitchen.
A dark and thin guard introduced, "Miss Meng, we've stocked up on firewood, rice, oil, salt, and various seasonings. We also bought some vegetables, eggs, and meat. But since the weather is getting hotter, we didn't buy much meat. We'll have to resupply along the way."
Meng Yuning assessed the food and nodded, saying, "Okay, these dishes will be enough to last us a few days. We can even go fishing later."
"Come, make way." Mu Feng came in with a few fat white guards carrying the big bamboo baskets they had brought down from the mountains: "Here are the vegetables, here are the vegetables."
After they placed the bamboo baskets against the wall, the dark and thin guards came over and peeked in, curious: "What are these?"
Mu Feng opened the lids of the bamboo baskets one by one and introduced them one by one: "We haven't forgotten our brothers. Recently, we have been desperately looking for various ingredients when we have free time. We thought that when we meet again, we will let you taste them too."
"Come, look! These are wild pheasants, rabbit meat, and various dried fish: grass carp, carp, crucian carp, and even longevity fish."
"There are vegetables in the mountains. We didn't eat the two dried lambs last time, so we saved them for you."
"And this basket, filled with dried bamboo shoots, dried mushrooms, and all kinds of dried wild vegetables."
After saying that, he waved his hand and concluded, "Anyway, let's put it this way. We've dried everything we've eaten recently into dried vegetables and brought them to you brothers. How about that? Isn't that a good idea?"
The dark and thin guards laughed: "That's more like it, you have a conscience."
After laughing, he asked again: "Tell me quickly, what delicious food has Miss Meng made for you recently?"
Mu Feng pushed Mu Shan forward: "Mu Shan eats the most, let him speak."
Mu Shan scratched his big head innocently. "I didn't eat much. Just pheasant stewed with wild bamboo shoots, pheasant eggs fried with shepherd's purse, braised pheasant with mushrooms, braised carp, wild duck soup..."
Listening to him recounting all the dishes he had eaten recently as if he were counting his own treasures, the dark and thin guards' saliva dripped all over the floor, slurping sounds came one after another, and their eyes flashed green.
When Mu Shan couldn't think of any new dishes, he scratched his head again and said, "That's all I can think of. But to be honest, Miss Meng's cooking is so delicious. I eat so much every time."
The dark and thin guards wiped their saliva with their hands, then pounced on Mu Shan with a roar and beat him up again: "Eat, eat, eat, all you know is eating. Why don't you die of stuffing?"
After they had made a noise for a while, Meng Yuning said with a smile, "Make room for me. I'm going to cook."
The guards said yes and left the kitchen, but they didn't go far. They squatted in a row at the kitchen door, talking while waiting to help Meng Yuning.
There were a lot of fresh meat and vegetables, so naturally, we had to eat the fresh ones first, otherwise they would go bad. Meng Yuning pointed to the two lamb legs on the ground and said, "Come on, brothers, help me wash and cut these lamb legs."
"Miss Meng, leave it to us." The two guards who had been helping Meng Yuning in the mountains stood up immediately, walked into the kitchen, picked up two lamb legs and put them in a large wooden basin, scooped a few buckets of water from the water tank, washed the lamb legs first, changed the water and washed them again, and then put them on the washed chopping board.
I wanted to cut it into smaller pieces, but I didn't know how to cut it, so I asked, "Miss Meng, how do I cut this meat?"
Meng Yuning pointed to a pile of white radishes on the ground and said, "Let's make mutton and white radish stew today. Just cut the mutton into small pieces."
The guards were stunned: "White radish?"
Meng Yuning quickly recalled and calmly tried to make amends: "It's radish, also known as white radish. I like to call it white radish."
The guards nodded repeatedly: "White Radish is a nice name."
Meng Yuning didn't want to dwell on this issue, so she quickly changed the subject. She curled up her index finger and thumb and gestured to measure the size: "Just cut it this big. It's easy to break down and you'll enjoy it."
Yi'er was holding his little rabbit, squatting in front of a pile of white radishes, letting the little rabbit eat the radish leaves.
Hearing Meng Yu say this, he looked up and followed suit, curling up two little fingers and placing them in front of his eyes, saying in a baby voice, "One bite of meat."
Everyone was amused by the little prince's adorable appearance. Meng Yuning touched Yi'er's little head and said, "Yes, one bite of meat."
The two guards asked again, "Have you cut the meat off the two lamb legs?"
Meng Yuning thought of these poor children who had been hungry for a month, and waved her hand: "Cut it all off, you'll have enough to eat today."
Then he continued, "Take out the bones, rub them with salt, and hang them outside to dry. You can use them to make soup later.
The two guards smiled and agreed, lowering their heads to concentrate on cutting the meat. Without Meng Yuning's instructions, the two dark and thin guards stepped forward, each holding a few round white radishes, and went to the side to peel them. Considering the number of people eating, they peeled two large wooden basins of white radishes.
Meng Yuning checked the seasonings she would be using for cooking and pointed to the chickens on the ground with their legs tied and clucking: "Mu Feng, let's find a place to keep these chickens first. Let's finish eating the beef and mutton first, and then kill them."
Mu Feng agreed, called a few people forward, each of them picked up two, and went out to find a place to raise them.
They needed to prepare food and couldn't use the pot for the time being, so Meng Yuning called two guards in to help wash the rice and put it into the pot. They lit the fire in the three large pots in the kitchen and started cooking the rice first.
A thin, dark guard who was picking spinach was extremely hungry. Worried that the three pots of rice were not enough, he pointed to the wooden shelf against the wall and said, "Miss Meng, we also bought some flour."
Meng Yuning thought for a moment and said, "Okay, who knows how to knead dough? Help me make a bowl of dough so I can make some thousand-layer pancakes later."
Everyone looked at each other, bewildered. No one really knew how to knead the dough. Mu Shan scratched his head and said innocently, "Miss Meng, I'm strong. How do you knead it? Tell me and I'll do it."
Meng Yuning said okay and asked Mu Shan to wash his hands first. Then she found a clean wooden basin, wiped the water off with a clean rag after washing, opened a bag of flour weighing about ten pounds and poured it into the basin, poured the boiling water in the kettle on the stove into a ceramic basin, dissolved some salt grains, and then added some warm water and poured it into the basin of flour.
Mu Shan followed Meng Yuning's instructions and kneaded the dough directly with his hands. His two big hands were like sleds, which were super suitable for kneading dough. He quickly kneaded a bowl of dough and formed it into a smooth large dough.
Meng Yuning took another wooden basin and put it on top: "Okay, let's put the noodles here to wake them up first. After the dishes are ready, we can make the pancakes."
While the rice was cooked, everyone prepared all the ingredients needed, including chopped mutton, white radish, picked and washed spinach, eggplant cut into dice, which the guards called Luosu, and chopped onions, ginger and garlic.
When the rice was cooked, the guards took a clean rice bucket, scooped out all the rice, scooped out the rice crust, and covered the rice bucket with it as a lid.
After the guards cleaned the pot and boiled water, she threw a handful of uncut onions, ginger and garlic into the pot, poured the mutton in and blanched it first. After blanching, she took it out and washed it.
Then heat oil in two pots at the same time. When the oil is hot, divide the mutton into two portions and pour them into the two pots. Then instruct the two guards to stir-fry quickly.
After frying the mutton until the moisture is dried, fry it for a while until the surface becomes golden and slightly charred. Add onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry to remove the fishy smell. Then add shochu and soy sauce and stir-fry until it changes color. Add hot water, sprinkle salt and some pepper, then cover with two lids, boil over high heat, then switch to low heat and simmer slowly.
Meng Yuning looked at the heads hanging out at the kitchen door and said with a smile, "These two pots of braised mutton with white radish will take at least an hour to cook."
Everyone nodded in unison: "Ms. Meng, take your time. We are not in a hurry."
There's no rush. If she hadn't said there wasn't enough room in the kitchen, they would have been eager to squat by the pot to watch. Meng Yuning couldn't help but laugh, but she didn't chase them away.
She poured the remaining hot water from the pot into a ceramic pot to cool it down, then calculated the time and decided to make the pancakes first.
Take the rested noodles out of the basin, look at the size of the bottom of the pot, and divide the noodles into small pieces, ten in total.
Then he took the chopping board, washed the rolling pin and started rolling the noodles. After rolling a few times, he found that it was too tiring, so he had to ask Mu Shan for help again.
She asked Mu Shan to roll out the dough into a large piece according to her requirements, and then evenly spread the pastry prepared in advance with oil, salt, flour and chopped green onions on it, and then cut a few cuts on both sides of the dough, and then folded it up piece by piece to form a square cake.
Pinch the edges tightly, roll the pancake thin with a rolling pin, carefully roll up the pancake with the rolling pin, spread it in a pan with hot oil, and fry it slowly over low heat.
After turning it over a few times, when both sides of the pancake become golden brown, the pancake is done.
Meng Yuning picked up the first pancake, placed it on the chopping board, cut off a small piece, and fed it to Yi'er, who had been standing on tiptoe and drooling, "Yi'er, try it first."
Yi'er ate it in one gulp. The Thousand Layer Pancake had a crispy crust and a soft, fragrant interior. A bite filled his mouth with the aroma of wheat. Yi'er's eyes widened as he nodded repeatedly, "Delicious, delicious."
Meng Yuning then cut a few more small pieces, placed them in a small bowl, and handed them to Yi'er along with the chopsticks: "Then Yi'er, fill your stomach first."
Yier said yes obediently, holding the small bowl, walked to the pile of radishes, found a big round radish, sat on it, and started eating with the bowl in his arms.
After settling Yi'er down, Meng Yuning cut the remaining cakes into small pieces, put them all in a large bowl, and handed them to the guards who had been craving them for a long time: "Try it first, I'll make some more."
The guards thanked him politely, took the food, and then went outside with the bowls to divide it up.
Meng Yuning and Mu Shan then baked the remaining nine pancakes.
After frying, cut it into small pieces as usual and put it in a large bowl.
Then Meng Yuning looked at the pot of stewed mutton and thought it was almost done, so she poured the white radish into the two pots respectively, stirred them, covered the pots and continued stewing.
While the radish was stewing, Meng Yuning made a pot of braised eggplant, and then stir-fried the green spinach.
After the two dishes here are cooked, the two pots of braised lamb with white radish are also ready.
Everyone helped to serve all the dishes. Meng Yuning had originally planned to serve a small portion for Qi Jingyan, but Mu Yun came over and said, "Miss Meng, there's no need to serve a separate portion. His Highness said that he would eat with everyone today."
Meng Yuning naturally agreed, so everyone carried all the food out to the second deck.
Qi Jingyan and everyone else were already waiting. All the tables that could be moved on the boat were moved over, and each table was set with food and bowls and chopsticks.
Meng Yuning was walking at the end, holding Yi'er's hand. When they reached the deck, they found that the sun was hanging on the side of the mountain like a big salted duck egg yolk. It was about to set. The river was reflecting the sunset, and the scenery was beautiful.
The boat was moving, the river breeze was blowing, and Meng Yuning, who had been sweating from working hard, suddenly felt refreshed.
The guards over there were already clamoring for food. Qi Jingyan smiled and held out his hand to Meng Yuning: "A Ning, come here."
Meng Yuning thought he wanted her to take Yi'er over, so she took Yi'er's hand and walked over and handed Yi'er's little hand to him.
Qi Jingyan pinched his brother's little hand: "..."
Su Yang, who had disappeared for half a day since boarding the ship, diligently pulled the chair next to Qi Jingyan away: "Sister Meng, please sit here with Brother Qi."
They sat like this when they were eating in the mountains, so Meng Yuning smiled and said okay, then walked over and sat down.
Mu Yun came over and asked Qi Jingyan if he wanted to say a few words. Qi Jingyan smiled and waved his hand: "No need. We are all starving. Let's eat first."
The guards cheered His Highness for his wisdom, and then pounced on the food like a group of hungry wolves, devouring it.
Meng Yuning thought that it was a good thing that they had set up a few more tables and divided the food into more portions, otherwise with so many people gathered together, it would not be enough for them to squeeze in.
There were not many people at Meng Yuning's table. Besides her, there were Qi Jingyan, Yi'er, Doctor Tang, Su Yang, and Mu Yun. Everyone was sitting there, picking up their chopsticks politely and quietly.
Meng Yuning first scooped out a piece of mutton and a piece of radish for Qi Jingyan and Yi'er respectively: "Your Highness, Yi'er, try this mutton and radish first. They have been stewed for a long time."
Yi'er had tasted it in the kitchen just now, so she held the bowl and looked at Qi Jingyan: "Brother, try it."
Qi Jingyan nodded, picked up the piece of mutton and put it in his mouth. The mutton was tender and juicy, soft and fragrant, with the sweetness of white radish. He ate the radish again. The white radish was cooked to perfection and was crispy, with the mellow meaty aroma of mutton. In short, this dish was very delicious and left a lasting impression.
He nodded: "Not bad."
After that, he picked up the spoon and filled a spoonful with mutton and white radish for Meng Yuning: "A Ning, you have worked hard today, you should eat more."
Meng Yuning was indeed very tired and hungry at the moment, so she didn't bother to be polite with everyone. She picked up the mutton and started to eat it ravenously, her eyebrows arched as she ate. "It's really delicious, Doctor Tang, Ayang, come and try it."
Everyone started eating.
Soon, all the dishes on the table were eaten up and everyone was so full that they could hardly move.
Looking at the guards, they were all full of soup and food, sitting casually on the deck, leaning against each other in groups of three or four, basking in the last rays of sunset, with a look of satisfaction on their faces.
Meng Yuning and Qi Jingyan looked at each other and couldn't help laughing.
Suddenly, they heard a strong sound of wind. Meng Yuning looked and saw a red cloth flag with a big word "Yu" (yù) written on it on the mast, fluttering in the wind.
Meng Yuning leaned over and looked up curiously, "Your Highness, where did this flag come from? What are the words on it?"
She wanted to ask what he was reading, but she didn't dare to ask, otherwise it would be easy to be exposed.
After Qi Jingyan put down his chopsticks, he casually rested one arm on the back of the chair behind Meng Yuning. Seeing her leaning to the side, he raised his hand and put his arm around her shoulders. His voice was gentle, "The flag was just made, and I wrote the words."
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