171, Chapter 171

When Qin Fang heard that Du Ke personally admitted that he was his teacher, he couldn't suppress the joy on his face. He curled his lips and said, "Yes. Knowing that the teacher was coming, Zhuo Jing had tidied up the yard in advance, fearing that the yard would not be suitable. She is worried about the teacher's feelings."

Du Ke smiled and said: "It's up to you, as long as I have a bed, I can sleep at the foot of this beast mountain."

Shen Lixian and Du Ke are old acquaintances, and this is the first time he has seen Du Ke who is so kind to others. Therefore, he looked at Qin Fang curiously: "Master Du, is this the General Qin that the emperor is full of praise for?"

Du Ke was quite proud and said: "Yes, this is Qin Fang. Come to Li Xian, let me introduce you. Qin Fang is Shen Lixian, a member of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Li Xian is someone the emperor values ​​​​very much. The moral general Qin Fang."

Although the member of the household department, Wailang, was of the seventh rank, Qin Fang knew the identity of Shen Lixian. Du Ke had already introduced him in his letter. This person was the emperor's brother-in-law, the biological brother of the late Empress Shen, and the crown prince of Chengenhou. Therefore, Qin Fang did not dare to treat him like an ordinary seventh-grade official. Qin Fang calmed down his excitement and said to Shen Lixian: "Master Shen."

Shen Li's first impression of Qin Fang was that this young man was really tall. Tall equals a military commander, many people would think so. He likes to look directly at people. Of course, because of his status, he can look directly at anyone in the capital. The emperor's brother-in-law, how can he not have a high status? Of course, whether one's status is high or not depends on whether the emperor gives him face or not, but the emperor is very considerate to the Shen family.

Qin Fang gave Shen Lixian the impression of being tall. Probably because on the way here, Du Ke didn't tell Qin Fang that he was tall, so for a while, Shen Lixian was also quite surprised. He smiled and said, "I have met General Qin. I heard that General Qin found the ore and learned about the method of making ice from saltpeter. It will be of great benefit to the country and the people. Shen admires him."

Qin Fang hurriedly said: "Master Shen, thank you very much. As a citizen of Qi State, it is Qin's honor to be able to do something for the court and people of Qi State." When Qin Fang wrote the letter and the memorial, he said: A verbose person. But when chatting face to face, he is definitely not a talkative person, and there are even very few topics that he can take the initiative to bring up.

Shen Lixian: "General Qin is humble."

Du Ke: "Okay, you don't need to be polite. I've been waiting for two hours and I'm very hungry. Let's solve some people's livelihood issues first."

Qin Fang said: "Why don't you go back to the General's Mansion first? Zhuo Jing asked the kitchen to make mung bean soup today. The chilled mung bean soup is particularly delicious. Teacher and Master Shen came at the right time."

Du Ke‌: "Then what are you waiting for? Let's go quickly."

Yang Haiyan didn't know that Du Ke had arrived. Fortunately, when Qin Fang took Du Ke back to the general's mansion, he had already asked the soldiers to rush back to the general's mansion to inform Yang Haiyan. And he took Duco in the carriage himself, so it would be slower.

‌According to modern time, it is already three o'clock in the afternoon. Yang Haiyan had woken up from her nap and was making cold skin with Aunt Lian. She made it with sweet potato flour. After it was done, she put some peanuts, spicy cabbage, shredded potatoes and shredded radish and mixed them together, then put them in ice cubes. With ice in it, it tastes better.

The only drawback is that there is no coriander in it.

The Liangpi was freezing when the guard came: "Xiangjun, there are a group of common people coming outside the general's mansion. They are the new common people of Qi State."

Yang Haiyan was stunned: "Why are they here? But what's the matter?"

The guard said: "They are carrying some things to deliver food to the general and the country prince. They include game, vegetables, etc."

Yang Haiyan listened and said hurriedly: "Then welcome them in. Aunt Yu, go and prepare some tea. Aunt Lian, let's go to the hall."

"yes."

Yang Haiyan was waiting in the hall for the new people to come in. There were many people coming, all women and men, and they all looked in good spirits. When they arrived at the entrance of the hall, they didn't pick anything in. Instead, they put down their backpacks and baskets one by one and came in.

"Common people see you, Madam." They didn't know that Yang Haiyan was already the village monarch, so they saluted according to the title they used when they were acquainted.

Yang Haiyan ‌: "Everyone, please get up. Although everyone looks a little tired, they are still energetic. It can be seen that you are doing pretty well after settling down, right?"

The leading man among them said: "My life is much better than when I was at the border. Thank you, madam, for your concern."

Yang Haiyan smiled: "If you are doing well, the general and I are relieved. We are afraid that you will not adapt to the environment in Qiguo. However, if you are wronged in the village, don't endure it. As long as you are right, I and the general will be on your side.”

Man ‌: "With the general here, we have not been wronged. The people in the village and the village chief have taken good care of us and allocated land to us. ‌U‌Thanks to the general for everything... We discussed it with several families I understand that the general and his wife are not lacking anything, but this is what we want, so please come first.”

At that time, a woman said: "Madam, do you still remember me? My child was only six years old. He was sick and infected and refused to take medicine. You used sugar to coax him to take medicine. Now he is in very poor health. Zhuang. Madam, I’m grateful for your help. Please don’t refuse.”

"Yes, ma'am, that's what we want."

"Mrs……"

Every new citizen started talking about it, fearing that Yang Haiyan would refuse.

Yang Haiyan really didn't mean to accept it at first. It would be nice if she knew what they meant. Moreover, they had just settled here and it was not easy to get something. But when her eyes caught sight of the melons in the basket on the floor, she was stunned. ‌…Isn’t this a cucumber?

Yang Haiyan calmed down, thought for a while and said: "Since it is your intention, I will accept it so that you can rest assured. But in a few days, the crops in my manor will have a good harvest. , when the time comes, I will send some to you, and you cannot refuse." This approach is also to prevent someone from trying to trick Qin Fang in the future and saying that he is a bastard of the common people.

Everyone was very happy when they saw what Yang Haiyan said. They all smiled.

Yang Haiyan walked to the door, pointed at the cucumbers in the basket and asked, "What's the long green thing? Is it fruit?"

"Madam, it's Hugua." The woman who spoke first was the one who spoke.

"Cut?" Yang Haiyan remembered reading several ancient novels. The novel mentioned that cucumber was brought to the Central Plains from the Western Regions by Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty. It was called courgette at that time.

And here, it’s also called Hugua.

Yang Haiyan was confused: "I've never seen a courgette before, but what's the origin?"

The woman hurriedly explained: "Madam, don't worry, courgettes are edible and are a specialty of our Hu people."

Yang Haiyan became even more confused: "Hu Clan?"

The woman said: "My wife may not know that we are not from the same tribe. We migrated for several generations and then lived in the border areas. Generation after generation, in our generation, we are We were born in the border areas, but in fact, our ancestors are from multiple tribes.

And our U tribe is called the Hu tribe. Courgettes are unique to our Hu people. The Hu people used to move around and could not bring many things with them, but they always carried courgette seeds with them because it only takes about sixty days from sowing to harvesting, so it takes a short time and is easy to grow. , so we Hu people carry it with us. However, the biggest feature of courgette is that it has enough water but no taste. "The woman said, picked up a courgette and took a bite. The crisp sound made Yang Haiyan want to eat it.

The woman added: "Madam, don't worry, we Hu people have been eating courgettes for generations. It is an edible food."

When Yang Haiyan heard this, she couldn't help but wonder if the Hu people here were the people from the Western Regions in the real world. However, she didn't ask for confirmation, there was no need. "Well, thank you, eldest sister. I happen to have never eaten any food. The weather has been hot recently, so it's good to eat something with moisture."

The woman felt relieved when she saw that Yang Haiyan was no longer suspicious.

These people did not stay long. Yang Haiyan collected the things, they drank a cup of tea, and left in a hurry.

As soon as they left, Yang Haiyan said: "Aunt Lian, take the other things to the big kitchen, and take the courgettes to the small kitchen in my yard."

Aunt Lian is good at seeing colors. Seeing Yang Haiyan's behavior, she knew that Yang Haiyan might like this courgette very much. She arranged for some vegetables to be delivered to the big kitchen, and she carried the basket with courgettes to the small kitchen.

When they got to the small kitchen, Yang Haiyan washed two courgettes, then cut half of them and gave them to Aunt Lian: "Eat it, grandma, how does it taste?" After saying that, she also took a bite of the rest. ‌The half root.

Aunt Lian followed and ate: "It's very crisp and tasteless." Speaking of which, she couldn't get used to eating such tasteless food.

Yang Haiyan finished half of the courgette in a few mouthfuls, and she said, "I have an idea."

Then, she cut another washed courgette into shreds and mixed it into the cold skin.

Aunt Lian looked at it: "Can I eat this?"

Yang Haiyan smiled and said, "Wait." After mixing, she brought two small bowls over and took a small bowl each for herself and Aunt Lian, "Here, let's eat and see."

Needless to say, the courgette, which was originally bland and tasteless, tastes different after being mixed with cold skin. Aunt Lian exclaimed: "You can still eat courgette like this, it tastes really delicious."

Yang Haiyan ‌: "No, I thought courgettes had no taste, and radish had no taste either. Cutting them into shreds might be good as a condiment, but I didn't expect them to be really good." She was embarrassed to pretend.

"Xiang Jun...Xiang Jun..."

The master and servant had just eaten a few mouthfuls of cold skin, when the guard's voice came from outside the yard again. Aunt Lian hurried out: "What's the matter? Are there any rules for shouting like this?"

The guard apologized and said, "Mom, please don't be mad. It's a soldier from the military camp outside. He said that the general sent him to inform the village master of the news. He and Master Du Kedu arrived shortly after. Master Du was standing at the foot of Beast Mountain. ‌I’ve been waiting for the general for more than two hours and still haven’t eaten anything.”