Qin Shubao patted his old brother on the shoulder: "Don't worry, Yaojin, Xiaorui's vision is not wrong. Isn't this just what you want? You always like to take things by surprise, and you will become known as Cheng Yaojin halfway. Who in the world can't do it?" dawn?"
"Okay! Listen to my second brother, I believe you are just a kid, just for fun. If things come true, Your Majesty and I will recommend you to be an official. Maybe you can even become a consort."
"No, please don't, I don't want to be famous or be an official, so just say what you came up with." Xiao Rui quickly warned.
As expected, within a few days, the imperial court sent special envoys to Youzhou to help appease the people, conduct population surveys, etc...
Immediately, Cheng Yaojin asked to see the emperor in the small study and proposed to join the state to suppress the bandits.
The emperor was puzzled. Is there banditry in Bingzhou? I haven't heard of the report. Helpless, Cheng Yaojin could only confess that training in the camp every day was too boring and wanted to go out to relax.
Emperor Li Er was very reasonable and finally allowed him to go out to relax with three thousand soldiers and horses in the name of suppressing bandits, but he gave a strict warning not to go north to the grassland. In the entire court, apart from Cheng Yaojin, only Yuchi Gong, who is known as the Double Black of the Tang Dynasty, has this honor.
Three thousand is three thousand, and Cheng Yaojin didn't think it was too little. He said to himself: It's not like Jieli is trying to capture the Turks. Three thousand elites are enough to deal with Luo Yi. Old Cheng, I can defeat him single-handedly.
Half a month later, Luo Yi rebelled. A month later, Cheng Yaojin came back with Luo Yi's head, flaunting his power all the way, and boasted to the Ministry of War: I knew Luo Yi was going to rebel, how could I not rebel if he had a bone in the back of his head? So I laid an ambush in advance, no, I caught him! Come on, come on, let's touch it. This protruding bone is the reverse bone.
Li Jing, the Secretary of the Ministry of War, frowned and observed for a long time. He had a doubt in his heart. This Cheng Zhijie has always been reckless. When did he grow into a wise general? Something's wrong!
So Lao Li Jing decided to test the debut questions.
After going to court, Cheng Yaojin carried two jars of burning knives and hurried to Qin Qiong's house. He arrived before anyone arrived and said, "My dear nephew, please help me. I have a question to ask! It was me who made the bet with Yuchi Laohei." , I bet on ten jars of fine wine, I must not lose!"
After asking, I found out that Xiao Rui had already left, the limelight was over, and he quietly returned to Xiaojiazhuang a few days ago. Cheng Yaojin chased Xiaojiazhuang again.
"This is Xiaojiazhuang? How come after asking around, no one knows Xiao Rui?" The old devil held the wine jar and stood by the lotus pond scratching his head.
At Xiao Rui's house, the villagers quietly went to Xue Li and reported: "Second Young Master, there is a man with a big beard. The whole village is looking for the Young Master, asking everyone he meets if he is the spy sent by the master?"
Xue Li looked at the butler Xiao Hu next to him. Xiao Hu's old face turned red and said, "Second Young Master, don't look at me. Although I was sent by the Master, I was sent by the Master, but it was on the Master's order. I was acting against the Master. I am the Master's man." .”
Everyone laughed, and Xue Li nodded: "Uncle Hu, I'm not questioning your acting skills. I just want you to go out and have a look. Do you recognize the person? My brother went to the sword-making workshop in the mountains and came back three days later. , we can’t be disturbed by anyone these days.”
Xiao Hu blushed and stepped out to observe. When he came back, he shook his head and said he didn't recognize it.
"Second Young Master, that bearded man seems to be very persistent. He is sure that the First Young Master is from this village. He will not leave until he finds someone. It's very suspicious."
Xue Li nodded: "Nine times out of ten, he was sent by the master. Of course, it may also be an enemy."
"Enemy? That boy last time, dared to send people back to seek revenge? Second Young Master, why don't you let Erhua give it to him..." Xiao Hu made a gesture of wiping his neck.
Xue Li couldn't laugh or cry, "Uncle Tiger, we are good people, not bandits! What if we kill the wrong person?"
Everyone was buzzing with ideas, and Xue Li rolled his eyes, "Yes, let's think of a way to try him. Uncle Hu, aren't the new batch of peppers just ripe? We just want to have a pepper challenge, okay? Distinguish the variety and quality of the peppers. Since this person won’t leave, let’s keep him to eat and find out what his background is.”
Soon, the bearded Cheng Yaojin was invited to Xiao Rui's house by the enthusiastic villagers. Five barbecue racks were set up in the yard. Each rack was filled with mutton skewers and different types of chili noodles.
"The people in this village are so welcoming. I'm here to meet people, not to eat..." Before Lao Cheng finished complaining, his stomach began to growl as he smelled the aroma, "Oh... what kind of fragrance is this? It smells so good!" "
"Uncle, I heard that you came to this village to find someone. Sorry, there is really no one named Xiao in our village. It's time to eat, and our village is holding a chili eating competition today. Can you eat spicy food? Can you eat spicy food? If so, you can also participate.”
Cheng Yaojin was puzzled, "Chili? What kind of chili?"
Chili peppers were introduced to China later. The spiciness in the Tang Dynasty mostly came from the spiciness of peppers, so Cheng Yaojin did not know chili peppers.
Xue Li waved his hand and brought a few bullet-head dried chili peppers, "Look, it's this kind of fresh seasoning. It's great for eating, especially for barbecue and drinking! Today is a spicy food competition among the villagers. Who wins? The winner will be rewarded with a jar of fine wine."
oh? A must?
Lao Cheng is not tempted when it comes to other things, but when it comes to drinking, Lao Cheng has zero resistance.
He slapped his chest: "I can eat spicy food, but what kind of fine wine can you have in this small village? Can it be compared to my ten-tael-gold Shao Daozi? Isn't it just a spicy eating competition? Count me in. Who can do it? If you beat me, this altar of burning knives will be considered as a reward!"
"Okay! Uncle, have fun!" Xue Li held back his smile and glanced at the wine jar in the other person's hand. He thought to himself, "Who are you looking down on? Shao Knife is the wine brewed in our village. What you have in your hand is blended for three years. We reward it." But ten years old.
I originally thought that the other party had no brains, but the next second, Cheng Yaojin's behavior made Xue Li look at him with admiration.
After agreeing to participate, Cheng Yaojin grabbed Xue Li's sleeve and whispered: "But I have to add one more thing. If I win, there will be no reward. Please tell me Xiao Rui's whereabouts."
"Huh? Uncle, what do you mean by this? We Zhuangzi really don't have..."
"Boy, are you playing tricks on me? I was introduced here by someone. There is no one named Xiao in Xiaojiazhuang? Ask your people to put down their hostility. I am a friend, not an enemy."
Xue Li looked up and down, knowing that the other party was prepared, and nodded in agreement: "Yes, as long as you win the chili eating contest, I will tell you the news about Xiao Rui."
"It's a deal!" Cheng Yaojin never thought about whether the other party would cheat. Who dares to cheat with me?
"Our chili peppers are divided into five levels from low to high, mildly spicy, normal spicy, extra spicy, the hottest, and abnormally spicy! It's just..."
"No need to be verbose, just give me that perverted and spicy thing. Who are you trying to scare? Back then, I wasn't even afraid of the knife tip licking blood. Are you still afraid of eating spicy food?" Cheng Yaojin was very confident.
Xue Li covered his eyes, "Sorry, we confused these five kinds of peppers. We don't know which one is abnormally spicy, so the contestants need to taste them one by one. We will distinguish the varieties based on your evaluation. Finally, eat The one with the most wins.”
"That's it, no problem. Stop being so long and let's get started."
Lao Cheng walked directly to the barbecue stall on the far left as if he was familiar with it. The barbecue master handed over a skewer of grilled mutton skewers on bamboo skewers.
It's not too hot, so Lao Cheng strokes it to the end.
The villagers who were watching gave thumbs up, thinking that he was a cruel person.
But the next second...
Hiss...cough, cough...spicy, spicy, spicy...water, get water quickly...
Xue Li covered his eyes, no way, with this performance, could it be that the food was so spicy right after it was served?
The villagers who participated in the competition came up one after another and picked up a bunch to try. Then, when they looked at Cheng Yaojin, his eyes were different, from admiration to contempt, "This man looked at the five big and three thick and arrogant look on his face, making trouble." After waiting for a long time, it turned out to be a silver-like pewter spear head, which couldn’t even stand up to ordinary spicy food. I thought I had eaten something abnormally spicy.”
What the hell? Normally spicy? Cheng Motou really wanted to find a crack in the ground and crawl into it.
