The next morning, everyone took a boat to Zhuangzi near the island.
This Zhuangzi is on the edge of Qin Lake. There are not many people in Zhuangzi, only about thirty households.
The lunch meal was arranged in a family with only a mother-in-law and a grandson.
"A few years ago, Qin Lake was attacked by bandits. The son and daughter-in-law of this family were killed by the thieves when they extorted food. Now there is only an old lady in her seventies living with her four-year-old grandson. Life is difficult. I heard that the young master As ordered, the old man thought of her house first!" As the old housekeeper walked, he introduced Xu He to the house he was about to go to.
"Here, we're here! It's over there!" The old housekeeper pointed to an adobe courtyard wall in the distance.
Xu He followed his finger and saw a half-collapsed earth wall not far away. The three thatched houses behind the wall were crumbling under the influence of the lake breeze.
When everyone came to the entrance of the courtyard, they saw that a small part of the wooden door of the courtyard wall had rotted from the bottom, and people could almost get in from underneath.
The old housekeeper knocked twice, and after a while, the courtyard door opened, and an old man with gray hair and a rough face opened the door.
Seeing the old butler, the old man was very polite and said repeatedly: "Thanks to the care of Butler Xu, I have prepared meals and am waiting for the nobles to come!"
While he was talking, a child with two pigtails stumbled out of the yard.
As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the courtyard, he huddled behind the old man and stretched out his head to look at the group of strangers in front of the door.
Seeing this, Xue Yongzhi frowned and pulled Xu He, called him aside and whispered: "Xiaohe, what are you doing?"
Xu He said with a smile: "I guess you have never been to this kind of family to eat, no, I will show you the experience, and at the same time, I will also give a lot of income to the poor people!"
Xue Yongzhi was anxious: "How could she, Lu Heng, come to a place like this..."
Xu He glanced at him: "What? Is the food here poisonous?"
Xue Yongzhi waved his hands and said anxiously: "That's not what I meant, that is, just..."
Xu He patted his arm and said with a smile: "Relax, young master!"
Just when Xue Yongzhi turned his head to look at the courtyard door with deep thoughts, he suddenly discovered that a scene that surprised him happened.
Along the way, Lu Heng, the unruly and willful young master, actually took the old woman's hand and asked, "Old man, I've made you tired!"
The old woman had bad eyesight and vaguely thought it was a handsome young man speaking, so she patted Lu Heng's hand and said, "I'm not tired, I'm not tired. I just don't know if the food from our farm can be eaten by the nobles!"
Lu Heng smiled and said, "What's the point? I...my father leads our family to eat brown rice every year after the Spring Festival!"
Xu He was stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect that the dignified British government actually knew how to remember the bitter and the sweet?
Moreover, Lu Heng's performance surprised Xu He.
I thought that even if such a high-ranking and noble woman could eat in such a place, it was mostly because of novelty.
Although it is new, in fact, I am dismissive of this environment and the people who live in it, and even feel a little disgusted.
But Lu Heng held the mother-in-law's hand and chatted easily about home affairs, without any sign of disdain.
Is this still the unruly and willful [young master] Lu Heng?
Xu He felt a little confused.
When he came to Gu Hengbo's side, he asked: "Meisheng, if you don't like eating here at noon, go to the boat later and I'll prepare some food for you!"
Gu Hengbo shook his head and said with a smile: "I'm staying under the five pine trees. It's lonely and joyless. The Tian family has a hard time in autumn. The neighbor girl cooks cold food at night. Kneel down and eat with carved rice. The moonlight shines on the plain plate. It makes me feel ashamed. Thank you three times." meal."
"Xiaohe has good intentions, Hengbo thinks spending the summer like this is more interesting!"
When everyone entered the courtyard, they saw that this was a very shabby house.
Perhaps because she knew that the noble man was coming, the old woman swept the yard early in the morning. There were wet marks on the ground, and piles of chicken manure could be seen beside the yard wall. They were probably kept for fertilization in the fields.
The old woman's house was dark and smelly, so everyone moved tables and stools to sit on the patio in the courtyard.
After a while, the old woman stopped drinking tea and poured it into coarse pottery bowls while saying sheepishly: "I don't have very good tea at home, just the wild tea I picked myself in the spring. Don't think it's ugly!"
Xu He smiled and said: "Old man, don't be busy. Move a stool and let's sit down and talk for a while."
The old man wiped his mouth and said with a smile: "Okay, okay!"
After she sat down, Lu Heng smiled and said, "Old man, how old are you? Do you still farm?"
The old woman smiled and said: "Plant, plant, there are not many fields, and the general will make ends meet!"
The old housekeeper said: "Grandma Liu is a talented person from all over the country. When she is old, she not only farms the land and raises children, but also makes a bamboo basket to catch some fish, shrimps and crabs to replenish her grandson's health in her spare time!"
Lu Heng asked curiously: "Guan Cage, what is that?"
The old woman pointed to a row of bamboo fences by the lake not far away and said: "It's just an ecstasy. Once fish, shrimps and crabs come in, they can't get out! This is called a cage. It's a cage inserted at the bottom of the water. There are barbs inside, and fish and shrimps can't get out." If you go in, you won’t be able to get out. Let’s eat the fish and shrimp in this bamboo basket for lunch today!”
While the old woman went to the kitchen to prepare the meal, Lu Heng said proudly: "We have a prosperous Wei Dynasty, so even a widowed old woman can live with her grandchildren!"
Everyone just smiled slightly when they heard this. After all, as a young lady who grew up in the duke's mansion, how could she know about the sufferings in the world? Even though the old woman said it easily, how many people knew about the sadness inside?
What's more, this is still in the south of the Yangtze River, a land of plenty. If it were elsewhere in the Wei Dynasty, it would be even more miserable.
But everyone knows that the other person has a special status and comes to experience life to relax. If they talk about bad things, the trip will be boring.
The adults sat in the patio talking and chatting, while the two children had a great time playing with Grandma Liu's grandson.
The child from the farm family, wearing a bellyband, no pants, shoes or socks, wandered around the world with two children from the city.
However, Wu Decao and the servants of the Xue Mansion were watching everything, and Xu He was happy for them to have fun.
After a while, the lunch meal was ready, and Granny Liu put it in front of everyone with a smile.
Although Xu He's original intention was to eat the bitter and savor the sweet, he couldn't really make some rough food for everyone to eat that was difficult to swallow.
On the table at this moment, I saw a big bowl of miscellaneous fish from Qin Lake, such as crucian carp, squid, croaker, catfish, arhat dog and river shrimp. No matter what kind they are, they are all cooked in one pot. What does it look like? Of course, we can't be particular about it, but the best thing is that the ingredients are fresh, and the aroma is fragrant as soon as it is served.
The rest are all the seasonal vegetables of this solar term, green and snow-white, and the whole table is spread out, which looks really appetizing.
Lu Heng smiled and said: "Xu He, you are a scholar, although you are a bit annoying, but you are still very reassuring in your work. I am very satisfied with the food and accommodation these two days, and the stories you tell are good!"
Just as everyone was laughing, suddenly the door of Granny Liu's house was kicked open.
Seven or eight people poured in from outside. When they entered the door, they shouted: "Ms. Wang Liu, it's time to hand over the summer grain!"
