Amber smiled and said, "I just inquired and found out that the great scholar Qin took the young master and young lady to the back mountain to cook with ingredients they found there!"
"Using what's available?" Jiang Qinyu's eyes widened in surprise, a few images flashing through her mind before she chuckled, "Good, good, good, he's really becoming more and more like a playful old man."
Qin Ziyi used to adhere to the theory that "a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen," but now he has actually evolved to cooking with the children using local ingredients.
The changes in him and Grandpa Lu over the past month have been significant.
Grandpa Lu is alright, after all, he had traveled all over the country and suffered a lot in his early years.
Qin Daru was completely different. He had countless students throughout his life, but he rarely did anything himself.
After arriving in Dingshui Village, Qin Ziyi immediately hit it off with Grandpa Jiang and the others. He then became increasingly interested in the lives of the villagers, and even the temporary school became mobile.
The so-called mobile temporary school means that the children's class time and place are different every day, depending entirely on what Qin Ziyi knows the day before and what he wants to teach the children.
"This servant thinks that it's good that Elder Qin is doing this. At least the young master and young lady are genuinely happy, and what's amazing is that they haven't fallen behind in their studies at all." Amber was starting to admire Qin Ziyi.
Jiang Qinyu smiled and said, "Alright, then we'll eat by ourselves for lunch. We'll save the wild goat meat that Brother Meng brought this morning and cook it for them tonight."
Meng Tianze now sets traps in the mountains and checks on them every two days to see if he has any luck. This morning, he found a small wild goat in the mountains and brought half of it to Jiang Qinyu.
"This servant understands, Madam. You should get up and stretch your muscles." Amber reminded her with a smile.
Although she had returned to Dingshui Village, Jiang Qinyu's workload had not decreased at all; on the contrary, she had become even busier due to the unification of the four northwestern prefectures.
When Lu Yanzheng visited the Qinzhou General's Mansion last time, he confirmed one thing with Jiang Qinyu: all matters related to business in the four northwestern prefectures would be managed by Jiang Qinyu.
In other words, Lu Yanzheng handed over the management of the four northwestern prefectures to Jiang Qinyu.
She has more and more people under her command, but they usually only communicate by letter, and she only sends people to make contact in case of emergencies.
Jiang Qinyu got up and stretched. Amber quickly stepped forward and massaged her shoulders.
"I'm getting old. I can barely straighten my back after sitting for just two hours," Jiang Qinyu said with a self-deprecating laugh.
Amber chuckled. "If you say that, Madam, wouldn't all the aunties and grandmas in the village be worried sick?"
Actually, the lady just sits for too long. If she moves around more, she won't have these feelings anymore.
Jiang Qinyu smiled, but couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
She's getting further and further away from the day she can finally lie down and relax!
...
Meanwhile, on the back hill, Qin Ziyi and Grandpa Lu were making lunch with a group of children.
"Shufan, you'll make the arrangements today," Qin Ziyi said with a smile.
After several months of study, Shufan has developed an increasingly scholarly air about him, making him a striking figure amidst the lush green mountains and forests.
Upon hearing this, Shu Fan was not intimidated. He glanced at everyone and said, "There are plenty of ingredients in the mountains, but we can't neglect the preparation. Now, let me divide us into groups..."
He divided all the children into several groups: some to gather firewood, some to build stoves, some to find food, some to find water...
Grandpa Lu whispered, "This kid will be quite something in the future."
"That's right," Qin Ziyi stroked his beard, looking smug. "Don't you even know whose apprentice you are?"
"Give me a break. If it weren't for me, would you have such a disciple?" Old Master Lu immediately retorted sourly.
Everyone likes outstanding children, especially at their age. If they can pass on their skills, it's already a stroke of good luck. Unfortunately, none of his family members are up to par.
Qin Ziyi is lucky to have met someone like Shu Fan; otherwise, he would definitely be sighing and lamenting right now.
"When we get back, I'll give you my set of chess pieces from the previous dynasty's collection," Qin Ziyi said generously.
Grandpa Lu's eyes lit up. "Really? You're going to give me Old Master Song's chess set?"
That was a classic endgame puzzle, and it's said that no one has solved it yet. He had asked Old Man Qin for it twice before but failed, so he never expected that Old Man Qin would offer to give it to him now.
"Here you go! A chess set for a disciple, it's worth it!" Qin Ziyi's smile widened.
As they were talking, Shufan had already led a group of children to find the ingredients for today's lunch, the children who were building stoves had also built two earthen stoves, and the children who were collecting firewood were running over here.
"Brother Tianbao, you can start the fire, but be careful not to choke," Shufan said to Lu Tianbao.
Lu Tianbao patted his chest and said, "Don't worry, I'm good at this job!"
Shufan glanced around and then led the children to dig a small ditch around the earthen stove.
"What are you digging up?" Qin Ziyi asked curiously.
Shufan explained, "I heard my aunt mention that when starting a fire in the mountains, you have to be careful to dig firebreaks so that even if a spark falls accidentally, it won't cause a forest fire."
Qin Ziyi looked at it. The trench he had the children dig was about half a meter wide. Because they were not strong, they did not dig it very deep, but the soil they dug out was wet. If it caught fire, it could indeed block it for a while.
"I don't know how that girl's brain works, how does she know everything?" Old Master Lu exclaimed in amazement upon hearing this.
Qin Ziyi also felt that Jiang Qinyu was knowledgeable and had a good memory. She seemed to know a little about everything and even taught Shufan and Pan'er by example.
Although it was just a group of children on the mountain, they had a pretty good lunch.
Shu Fan had people pick mulberry leaves to make bowls and bitter thorns to make chopsticks. In addition to common wild vegetables, he also dug up some sweet potatoes from the field and caught a lot of insects to roast.
"I only learned today that insects can be roasted and eaten like this..." Grandpa Lu exclaimed in amazement.
Qin Ziyi was also completely taken aback, and looked at Shu Fan to ask, "Did your aunt teach you this too?"
Shufan nodded, "Auntie said that when people are in dire straits, the most important thing is to ensure that their bodies get enough calories. Don't worry about whether it tastes good or not, as long as it's not poisonous, you can eat it."
He remembered his aunt mentioning a "man at the top of the food chain," but he didn't remember much of it except which insects were edible.
The other children chimed in, and Lu Tianbao said, "Mr. Qin, when our village was suffering from drought a couple of years ago, the villagers dug up all sorts of things to eat in the mountains. Try them, they're not hard to eat."
He assumed the two gentlemen were hesitant to take a bite because they were afraid the taste wouldn't be good.
Qin Ziyi and Grandpa Lu exchanged a glance before popping the insects they were holding into their mouths.
A moment later, the group of people scrambled to eat all the roasted insects, while the wild vegetables were neglected.
After a lively lunch, Qin Ziyi casually recited an ancient poem and began the afternoon's classes.
As the sun set, two horse-drawn carriages appeared at the entrance of Dingshui Village.
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