In the study, Li Zhiyuan looked at the two letters on the table with complex expressions. As before, one of these letters was for Su Qingze. The difference was that this time there was a gift—a pair of well-made longevity locks. The letter for him wrote that it was a birthday present for his son. It also mentioned that the imperial court nowadays was just in the process of recruiting people. So he was told to pay attention to those who have real talents, regardless of the background and profession, especially those who were helpful to the people. In particular, he was told to pay attention to the situation of fish, rice, and duck co-raising, and had to report the results.
Su Qingze might have told the other party about raising fish, rice, and duck together when he replied to the letter. He didn't dare to mention it before because the result hadn't been seen yet.
Su Qingze might just regard it as a funny thing, but he didn't expect that person to really cared about this matter...
At the end of the letter, he told him that he could let Su Qingze do what he wanted like losing weight, as long as it was not harmful to the body.
Li Zhiyuan actually was a little scared. He was afraid that the person would be disgusted with Su Qingze because of his fat appearance. So that was why he strongly agreed and permitted Su Qingze to go to Shenjia Village to cultivate his body. But it turned out that this fear was useless. It seemed that whether Su Qingze thin or fat, as long as he was happy, he didn't bother about his appearance!
"Hah..." Li Zhiyuan sighed, full of anxieties. For Su Qingze, he didn't know whether this kind of doting habit was a good or bad thing.
"Dàrén, Shen Xiucai is here." The housekeeper knocked gently on the door.
Li Zhiyuan sorted his thoughts and said, "Come in."
"Xuéshēng* greets County Dàrén." Shen Yanbei joined his hands in salute and bowed respectfully.
*refers to a person who studies in schools at all levels.
Li Zhiyuan was very satisfied with his humility and asked, "Is Qingze back?"
"Su Gōngzǐ and my fulang go to see Fūrén."
Li Zhiyuan nodded and let Shen Yanbei sit down. Shen Yanbei first thanked Li Zhiyuan for the book and the Four Treasures he gave on the day of his crown ceremony. Then he said in a straight-forward manner, "Dàrén's handwritten books help xuéshēng a lot. It's just that xuéshēng is slow-witted, so there are still many points that I can't understand. I hope Dàrén can enlighten me!"
Li Zhiyuan was about to ask him how he felt after reading the book. Since Shen Yanbei directly asked it, he just said, "You can say it."
Shen Yanbei was not polite and immediately showed the problem out. The two had different views on certain concepts, so the discussion about the current policy had been a bit intense for a while.
Shen Yanbei relied on the broad vision of future generations, while Li Zhiyuan focused on the national conditions of his own country. Luckily, the contradictions could be easily resolved under certain circumstances. Shen Yanbei could not help but sigh that he only read a few books. It turned out that he still knew too little about the condition of this current time and space.
Li Zhiyuan looked at the contemplative young man in front of him, but he was secretly startled. A person's origin usually greatly limited a person's horizons, but Shen Yanbei was different. This young man saw the problems for the long-term needs, and also was able to grasp the key of the point, even could draw inferences about it. His learning ability was quite strong! No wonder the other person asked him to pay attention, this young man was indeed a promising person with great potential!
In the side room connected to the mansion’s master bedroom, the little birthday star Li Lin was wearing a red robe with a happy character, sitting at the table holding a piece of golden silk honey jujube cake. This jujube cake was soft, slightly sweet, and had a slight milky fragrance. The little birthday star was very happy when eating it.
Su Wanqing watched her son happily ate a piece, then nodded. "This Tongfu Restaurant is indeed on a different level." Today, they hosted a banquet on their son’s birthday to welcome guests from all over the world. So they especially invited Tongfu Restaurant's chef to come over to take care of the food. Early in the morning, Chef Shen made fragrant silk porridge and delicate and easy-to-digest pastries for eating.
His son, who had never liked porridge that much, even finished a bowl of shrimp porridge. He also took the initiative to eat the snacks. Su Wanqing was very happy in her heart.
"Jiějiě!"
When she heard the boy's hearty voice, Su Wanqing smiled and narrowed her eyes at Su Qingze as soon as she raised her head.
"Come back?" Su Wanqing stood up to greet him. But she could no longer smile. After not seeing him for a while, the boy had lost weight! That looked very obvious at a glance! The face that used to be white and tender was getting thinner, which made the contours of the facial features became clearer. The young man also seemed to have grown taller a bit. Before, he was round as pearls and smooth as jade, but now he gradually looked like a green pine. He even looked thinner when he was standing in front of this stall and big man...
No. It was not a man!
Su Wanqing stared at the pale mole between his eyebrows.
"Uncle!" After little birthday star saw Su Qingze, his eyes lit up, and struggled to get out of his seat. Lan Ling, who was watching him on the side, hurriedly put him down.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, the little birthday star took the jujube cake and rushed over. "Eat cake!"
"Hey! Good!" Su Qingze hugged his nephew. Not being polite, he really took a bite of the cake in his hand. The little birthday star giggled and stuffed the rest of the jujube cake into his mouth.
Lan Ling was shocked: "Oh, Shàoyé, eat slowly!" He quickly brought milk and gave the little birthday star a mouthful.
"Don't act senselessly!" Su Wanqing glared at her son and younger brother and looked at Gu Changfeng softly. "This must be the family fulang of Shen Xiucai?"
His facial feature was sharp like knives, and the eyes were pure and bright. He might not have the slenderness of ordinary Shuānger, on the contrary, there was a kind of tough masculinity. His action and expression were not flattering at all. Instead, he was calm, a kind of person who was indifferent and unconcerned.
Su Wanqing couldn't help but appreciate and be curious at the same time. In this world whose people really cared about appearance, it was not an easy task to live calmly without fear of others' eyes.
"I greet Fūrén." Gu Changfeng joined his hands in salute. The woman's eyebrows were very similar to Su Qingze, but Su Qingze's looked more youthful and heroic. He could almost imagine what Su Qingze would look like when he was completely slimming down.
Su Wanqing smiled cordially. "Please sit down! It may be hard for you since Qingze has bothered you all this time."
Gu Changfeng smiled embarrassedly. "It's okay." The woman looked friendly and approachable. Her gestures were gentle, which could easily make people feel good.
"Don't speak for him. I don't know if his temperament was getting wild after living there?" Su Wanqing smiled and shook her head, letting Hongrui serve tea.
Gu Changfeng's eyes were serious. "He's so good. He loses weight quickly." Su Qingze was young and had a valuable identity. No matter what he did, the villagers were very tolerant and often called him for fun things. Because always ran and jump everywhere, it made him getting thinner day by day.
Su Wanqing was startled, then laughed.
Gu Changfeng Feng frowned slightly, and said with a serious face, "My husband said, if he continues to walk and move more, he will lose weight faster."
"No, no, I don't mean that." Su Wanqing sighed with a smile. "I just didn't think that one day his wild nature would turn to be good!"
"Jiějiě!" Su Qingze shouted dissatisfiedly with his little nephew in his arms. "Where do I act like that?"
"Yes, you are not wild." Su Wanqing took her son over and wiped his mouth with the cloth towel that Lan Ling handed over. " You only used all the energy which were forced to be trapped when you were young!"
"Fūrén," a little maid came to inform. "The Fūréns and local gentlemen now are waiting in the flower hall."
Su Wanqing looked at the hourglass and said to Gu Changfeng, "It's not good to make the guest waiting so long. Shall we go now?"
Gu Changfeng stood up, which mean that she could do as she pleased. Su Wanqing hugged her son and led Gu Changfeng and Su Qingze to the Flower Hall, surrounded by her maidservant.
The female guests were arranged to have a banquet in the flower hall, while the men gathered in the lobby of the second yard. Before the county magistrate arrived, the person with the highest status in the hall was actually Juren Li Yi. Although Dongjiang County was not that poor, there were not many scholars and only a few people who had been admitted as Xiucai. Not to mention the one who passed the provincial civil service examination. So these local gentlemen gave Li Yi a lot of faces. Plus because of Li Yuanwai's flatter, Li Yi became the focus of all the people.
The old scholar sitting beside took a look at Li Yi and said with a straight face, "Self-satisfaction will incur losses, modesty will receive the benefit."
Someone laughed. "Lao Guo, what are you whispering about Li Juren?"
This old Xiucai was the father of Shen Youcai's eldest daughter-in-law, Guo Xiucai, who was a straightforward person. Hearing this, he immediately said, "A scholar should be humble and studious, not being complacent instead!"
Li Yi's face was a bit ugly. Li Yuanwai said in a meaningful way, "Old Guo Xiucai, you should say this to your good student."
Hearing this, everyone laughed. It was well known that Guo Xiucai married his daughter to a villager in Shenjia Village because he was interested in the other party's family's solid background and that family had a child who was expected to pass the exam to be a Xiucai. But who knew that the other party's family's background was fake, the boy was an arrogant person, and his family was unable to support the wall*.
*metaphor for a hopeless person, unable to help him grow.
"You!" Lao Guo Xiucai flushed.
At this moment, Li Zhiyuan walked in with the housekeeper and Shen Yanbei.
Everyone stood up to bow one after another. "I greet Dàrén!"
Li Zhiyuan smiled and waved his hand. "Today is my son's birthday banquet. I am grateful to everyone for coming to congratulate me. I have prepared some wine, so please don't be polite!" As soon as the voice fell, some maids started to serve the food and beverage.
Everyone said yes. Many people were staring at Shen Yanbei, and those who didn't know were wondering who this young man was and how could he be close to the county magistrate.
Li Yi clenched his fists under his sleeve, really jealous.
This poor star was really a lucky bastard! First, he climbed to Su Gōngzǐ and now also to the county magistrate!
Shen Yanbei just smiled politely at the doubtful glances cast by everyone.
Li Zhiyuan took the first place, took a glass of wine, and said to everyone, "All of you here are outstanding figures from Dongjiang County and had given a lot to the prosperity of Dongjiang County. This official will toast you!"
"Dàrén speaks seriously!" Li Yi said, "This is what we as Dongjiang County people should do!"
Others echoed, "Li Juren is right!" "That's true!"
Shen Yanbei. "..."
This Li Yi was very good at flattering!
Li Yi looked at Li Zhiyuan sincerely. "I hope that under Dàrén's authority will make Dongjiang County go further in the future! We also toast Dàrén!"
"Okay!" Li Zhiyuan picked up his wine glass and was about to drink. Unexpectedly, a small servant rushed in.
"Lǎoyé, it's not good—"
"What's the matter?" Li Zhiyuan asked with a frown.
"The young master accidentally ate a potted fruit in the flower hall. Now he is so uncomfortable that he is crying. Fūrén wants you to hurry over!"
Li Zhiyuan was shocked, "Hurry up to find the doctor!" After finishing speaking, he didn't care about anyone and ran straight to the flower hall.
Shen Yanbei hurried to keep up. It might a bit rude to suddenly run to the female guests' side, but suddenly he didn't want to bother about that.
Everyone glanced at each other. Li Yi stared at Shen Yanbei's back and gritted his teeth. "Let's go to take a look too!"
In the flower hall, Su Wanqing was coaxing her son into her arms. The little birthday star cried and snotty. His lips were red and swollen, looked very pitiful.
Lan Ling knelt on the ground, crying and kowtow. "It's all this núbì's fault! It's all núbì's fault for putting this flower here!"
"Lan Ling jiějiě, get up first!" Su Qingze also felt sorry for his nephew, but it wasn't Lan Ling's fault. There were a lot of potted plants in the flower hall, and two of them were covered with pinky-red fruits that looked extremely good. These two plants were placed at each side of the main table. As soon as his sister took a seat, his little nephew picked it up and played it, and even put it in his mouth!
"Wangqing!" Li Zhiyuan hurriedly came closer, seeing his son's appearance, his brows wrinkled. "What's the matter?"
"Zhiyuan!" Seeing Li Zhiyuan, Su Wanqing breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Lin'er has become like this after eating this fruit!"
After understanding the cause of the incident, Li Zhiyuan said with a dark face, "Throw these two things out!" These two pots of flowers were given to the Su's Family a year ago. It was said that it was from other countries. They brought them from Qinghe because they looked prosperous and blessing. Who knew that this thing would actually harm people!
Shen Yanbei, who had just arrived, watched the little young servant rudely lifted the two potted flowers. His pupils shrank, and he hurriedly shouted, "Wait a minute!"
Gu Changfeng hurriedly stopped the young servant and took down the flowers.
Shen Yanbei glanced at Gu Changfeng and walked quickly to Su Wanqing's side. He carefully looked at the little birthday star and asked, "Is there any sugar? Sugar water is also good. Give him a drink!"
Su Wanqing was startled, and was about to ask someone to bring the candy, when an unfamiliar voice sounded, "Shen Xiucai, you are not a doctor, so don't mess around!"
Li Yi, who followed, said to Li Zhiyuan with a serious expression, "For the sake of the young master's safety, it is better to wait for the doctor to see it before making a decision."
Li Zhiyuan hesitated, Li Yi was right, but his son looked really uncomfortable...
"This is hot pepper. It tastes more pungent than green onion, ginger, and garlic. It won't be a big case if you eat it by mistake. Just eat something sweet to ease it." Shen Yanbei picked out the pepper and smelled it, and the long-waited spiciness filled his nose, which made him happy!
Li Yi scolded, "Nonsense! If it isn't that big deal, why Xiǎo gōngzǐ is crying so hard like this!"
Shen Yanbei's answer was... he directly ate the pepper!
"Yanbei!" Gu Changfeng frowned, his face full of worry.
The familiar spiciness lingered on the tip of his tongue, Shen Yanbei almost burst into tears!
Finally, he found the pepper!
Boiled fish! Spicy chicken! Spicy hot pot! Mapo tofu!
Everyone's eyes widened when Shen Yanbei ate the pepper directly. Su Wanqing hurriedly said, "Bring sugar water!"
Soon the sugar water was brought up, Su Wanqing carefully fed his son. The little birthday star drank a big sip of water and stopped crying. Then he reached out and took the initiative to hold the bowl and drank a bowl of sugar water!
Li Yi's face was gloomy. His fists under the sleeve were tightly clenched.
After the little birthday star finished drinking the sugar water, he smacked his mouth and started crying again. "It hurts!"
Su Wanqing and Li Zhiyuan looked at Shen Yanbei, Shen Yanbei comforted him, "The spiciness will not disappear all of a sudden, it will only gradually fade away. Just find something for him to play with, and it will be fine after a while."
"Shen Xiucai, I advise you to stop to pretend to understand!" Li Yi sneered.
Ignoring Li Yi's cynicism, Shen Yanbei asked Zhou Yu to take out the present box. "This is a little bit of care from the xuéshēng for the Xiǎo Gōngzǐ. I wish Xiǎo Gōngzǐ a happy birthday! Wishing you the best of health and happiness!"
It was so scheming! He gave the gift under the watchful eyes of the people! Even though you didn't want to accept it, you still had to accept it! Everyone scolded Shen Yanbei for being cunning in their heart.
The young man looked natural and sincere. Li Zhiyuan opened the box hesitantly.
Everyone came forward and then looked dumbfounded. There were no valuables things in the box, only some colorful wooden blocks, and a few books.
"This?" Li Zhiyuan picked up the book and flipped through it. The more he looked at it, the more solemn his expression became.
Putting down the book, Li Zhiyuan took out the small wooden block. "How to play this?"
"This is a building block." Shen Yanbei smiled and used the blocks to build a house in front of everyone.
The little birthday star stopped crying, staring at the blocks with bright eyes. He eagerly stretched out his hand. "Daddy! I want it!"
The stone in Su Wanqing's heart fell to the ground. She gratefully glanced at Shen Yanbei, letting the people take the toy aside for her son to play with.
The little birthday star, accompanied by his maid, was playing the blocks. He was smiling so hard that they could see his teeth. Li Yi's face was stained with ink, feeling too hateful toward Shen Yanbei.
This accident might a bit shocking but not dangerous. Everyone returned to the banquet. This time, everyone did not compliment Li Yi again but toasted Shen Yanbei with a smile while inquiring about the gadgets. Who didn't have many children these days? The county magistrate didn't let them take a look at the book, but those building blocks were indeed good things! They could see Xiǎo Gōngzǐ didn't stop to play and had forgotten the pain.
Seeing that everyone was so curious about the toys, Shen Yanbei intended to sell that, but he suddenly remembered the two pots of peppers.
"How do you know that it is pepper?" Li Zhiyuan asked curiously.
"My restaurant's private rooms' names are sour, sweet, bitter, spicy, and salty. But actually, there is no spicy dish!" The name and the decoration of the private rooms were naturally based on the five flavors. Since there was no chili and pepper, he had to use ginger.
Li Zhiyuan was stunned. "We can use this for cooking?" There were dishes in the private room named after the five flavors. But he had not eaten spicy dishes yet.
"Yes." Shen Yanbei replied. Without a roundabout way of talking, he directly begged for two pots of pepper.
Li Zhiyuan smiled and said, "You can take it. When the new dishes have been launched, I'll come to taste it."
This time, Li Zhiyuan didn't use "this official", but "I". The subtle gap made Shen Yanbei squinted. "Xuéshēng will be waiting for you!"
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