Li Chun'e took a large bowl and filled it with rice from the pot; it should weigh more than a pound.
Zhao Xian knew what Li Chun'e was thinking, so he smiled and said:
“Mother, there are some jobs in town. I’ll go check them out tomorrow. If we have work, the family won’t go hungry. Let my younger siblings have a good meal today.”
"Ah, you're planning to find a job to make a living?" Li Chun'e exclaimed with delight.
"Yes, it's the manager of the hotel in town. He used to be a wealthy merchant in the capital, with a lot of money and many ways to make a living. I'll go see him tomorrow, and I should be able to find some work for him. That way, we won't be short of money at home."
Zhao Xian's words brought tears to Li Chun'e's eyes. Her scholar son had indeed changed; he now knew how to earn money to support the family. How happy her husband would be if he knew this!
Soon the rice was cooked, and Li Chun'e brought the food to the table and invited her family to come and eat.
The two brothers, who were chopping wood at the door, couldn't wait any longer. Hearing their mother's voice, they dropped their axe and hurried to the dining table.
I rendered some of the two pounds of pork belly into lard, and used the rest to make braised pork.
Besides the braised pork, there were also stir-fried eggs with chives, garlic chives, green beans, cucumber, baby bok choy, and other vegetarian dishes. All of these dishes were cooked with lard and modern seasonings, making them a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.
The group stood around the table, their faces filled with disbelief, as if they were dreaming.
Seeing that their eldest brother had not yet sat down at the table, they did not dare to pick up their bowls to eat, but simply stood quietly by the table.
Zhao Xian brought a basin of water out of the kitchen, and his younger siblings saw him but didn't know what he meant.
"Wash your hands before eating; pay attention to hygiene."
It turned out that their older brother had told them to wash their hands before eating, so they quickly went over to wash their hands, and the basin of water soon turned black.
The group sat back down at the table, their eyes all fixed on the plate of braised pork.
The braised pork that Zhao Xian made was cooked with modern seasonings purchased from the system, including star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, and dark soy sauce, which were not available at that time.
The aroma of meat had already permeated half of the village, and people were amazed, wondering which family in the village was eating meat for lunch, as it smelled so good.
It's currently the lean season, and some families have started digging for wild vegetables to replace their staple food. But at this time, who can afford to eat meat?
Curious, some people followed the aroma of meat and finally discovered that the scholar's family was cooking meat.
Some villagers started talking about it, finding it unbelievable that the scholar's family was eating meat.
"No way, I saw Aunt Zhao borrowing grain everywhere in the village today, which means her family has run out of food and there's no meat left to eat."
"You can't explain what's going on in the scholar's family. Maybe the meat was borrowed and cooked for the scholar."
"The scholar still owes me a lot of money, which is secured by his house. The deed is still with me and will expire in about ten days. I need to go to his house to remind him that his family is now eating meat and the money should be ready."
The speaker was Zhang the landlord. Two years ago, he had his eye on the scholar's old house. Lending money to the scholar was just a means to an end; if the scholar couldn't repay the loan, the house would belong to him.
He was going to the scholar's house to remind him not to forget that he was only eating meat and that he would be collecting the money at the end of the month.
"This is going to be interesting, let's go take a look."
Some people, who weren't satisfied with just a little more trouble, secretly followed behind, wanting to see what the commotion was about.
In their view, the scholar could never repay such a sum of money.
Zhao Xian's family had already started eating. They almost simultaneously picked up a piece of braised pork and put it in their mouths. Before they could even taste it, Zhang Da Hu stepped in.
Seeing the scholar's family eating around the table, the bowl of braised pork on the table immediately caught his eye.
Not only that, but there were also some vegetables he had never seen before, as well as several bowls of white rice piled high, which left him speechless with astonishment.
Everyone in the village was starving. Although he was a wealthy man in the village, he didn't dare to eat like that. When had such delicious food ever appeared on his family's table?
"Scholar, your food is quite good, isn't it? The money you borrowed from me is due at the end of this month, and you need to pay me back twenty taels of silver then. How are your preparations going?"
Zhang the landlord's words shocked the whole family. They all stared at Zhao Xian in astonishment, wondering when he had borrowed so much silver from Zhang the landlord.
Zhao Xian searched through the original owner's memories and found that it was true. He had met a scholar named Ma Youlong in town. Ma Youlong was eloquent and boasted that he had connections in the government.
Seeing Zhao Xian's eagerness to obtain an official position, Ma Youlong decided to take advantage of him. He told Zhao Xian that he had a relative who worked as a clerk in the county government and wanted to find a learned scholar with good writing skills to serve by his side.
Zhao Xian believed it to be true and begged Ma Youlong to help him with this favor.
Ma Youlong said he could help, but he needed to "grease some palms" and prepare at least ten taels of silver.
The temptation of getting a job in the county government for just ten taels of silver was too great. Zhao Xian had no doubt about what Ma Youlong said, gritted his teeth and borrowed ten taels of silver from Zhang, a wealthy man in the village, and secretly used his house deed as collateral.
Ten taels of silver may not seem like much, but for rural people who make a living by farming, it's a huge sum of money.
Although he would have to repay twenty taels of silver with interest in two years, he was not worried at all. As long as he could get a job in the county government, repaying this amount of money should not be a problem.
When he handed over the ten taels of silver he had borrowed to Ma Youlong, Ma Youlong confidently told him that he could get the matter done within three days.
While Zhao Xian was still immersed in his dream, little did he know that Ma Youlong had already run away.
Three days later, when Zhao Xian went to the inn where Ma Youlong was staying in town, he couldn't find Ma Youlong, so he went to ask the innkeeper.
The shopkeeper looked him over and understood about 70-80% of what was going on.
"Did you ask him for a favor and he took money from you?"
Zhao Xian was taken aback. He didn't know what the shopkeeper meant by that, and he couldn't very well tell him that he had spent ten taels of silver to ask him to help him find a job in the county government.
“We are all scholars, and we often talk about academic matters,” Zhao Xian lied.
"That's good. This Ma Youlong is a swindler. He has already cheated a lot of people out of their money in the town. He was afraid of being discovered and reported to the authorities, so he ran away two days ago. Many people want to find him, but they can't find him anymore."
Zhao Xian's brain went blank for a moment, and he almost fell over. The shopkeeper, seeing this, knew that he had also been deceived.
He left the inn in a daze, as if he had just fallen seriously ill. He dared not tell his family. Fortunately, the debt would not be repaid for two years, so there was no immediate rush. Gradually, he let the matter go, as if nothing had happened.
He only remembered this matter when the creditor came to his door today. The original owner of this body was such a scoundrel. He was forced to repay the debts that the original owner owed. If he couldn't repay them, the house would be gone, and his family would have nowhere to live.
Seeing his mother and siblings looking at him in panic, he felt a great calamity was about to befall him. At this moment, they could no longer smell the aroma of braised pork.
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