The mountain road is rugged, one person is riding a donkey backwards and leisurely, and the other person is walking steadily in coarse linen clothes.
It was Ye Ming and Song Cheng. Now Song Cheng was wearing a cheap coarse cloth, but he was more dignified than before. Although he treated Ye Ming with respect, he no longer had the flattering attitude before.
"Old Song, you have done a lot of good things along the way, so aren't you afraid of using up all your blessings?"
Ye Ming took the gourd and wanted to take a sip of wine, but found that the wine was all gone, which was a bit disappointing.
Song Cheng smiled and said: "Since Mr. Yang said that I am a person with great blessings, I guess it will not be so easy to use up all the blessings.
Anyway, I was not very wealthy before, so as long as the final income is better than before, I will be satisfied. "
"Aren't you afraid of losing money? Then your income may not be as good as before."
"It doesn't matter. I have a reputation as a scholar. No matter how bad I am, I can survive. I won't be worse than I am now."
"Are you implying Yang?"
"Haha, I don't dare. You are my sponsor and my hope. How can I dare to forgive you?"
The two of them were talking and laughing as they walked. The road ahead became increasingly difficult and they seemed to have gone deep into the forest.
Ye Ming suddenly raised his eyebrows, opened his eyes, and looked deep into the forest.
Lei Ling, who was lying on the back of Donkey Gen, also stood up and stared over there.
Seeing this, Song Cheng followed suit, but found nothing.
"Mr. Yang, what's going on?"
Ye Ming got off the donkey, pointed to the stone beside him and said:
"Sit down, take a rest and have something to eat."
Following Ye Ming during this period, Song Cheng also knew that Ye Ming would never do anything meaningless, so he sat down and took out two cakes from the package he carried with him, and the two of them ate one piece at a time.
Ye Ming took out the gourd from his waist several times and wanted to drink some wine, but the wine was not poured out.
No more, really not a drop left.
This meal was very tasteless.
Halfway through eating the cake, I heard movement in the woods opposite, voices, and the cry of monkeys.
Song Cheng subconsciously became vigilant, but seeing Ye Ming's lack of reaction, he knew it wasn't a big problem.
Soon, the group of people on the opposite side appeared.
They are a group of hunters with knives and bows on their backs.
This group of hunters caught five monkeys, all alive, two dead monkeys, and three jars of monkey wine.
Ye Ming, who smelled the aroma of wine, stopped eating the cake and "looked" at the group of people.
The hunters also looked at Ye Ming and the two with some vigilance. They were relieved when they saw that they seemed to be passing by and did not bring weapons.
A group of people came out of the forest and left along the road. Ye Ming also rode on the donkey and walked together.
The hunters seemed to be going to the county town as well, and happened to be traveling the same way as Ye Ming and the others.
Ye Ming said to the hunter leader:
"Brother, why are you catching so many monkeys?"
When the hunter leader heard this, he looked at Ye Ming with some surprise:
"Why, you don't know?"
"We come from other places, so we really don't know."
The leader of the hunter said: "It's nothing. The magistrate of Wuhou County has recently been fond of eating monkey brains, preferably live monkey brains, so he specially ordered the arrest.
One can only be exchanged for five taels of silver!
Now all the capable hunters in the vicinity, either in groups or alone, are catching monkeys in Yuanxiang Mountain. "
"I see."
Ye Ming nodded to express his understanding, then looked at the monkey wine they were carrying and asked,
"Do you sell this monkey wine?"
"If you don't want to sell it, the magistrate of Monkey Wine also wants it. Depending on the quality of the wine, you can exchange it for some money, and it can also be used to deduct taxes."
The hunter leader explained.
"Does Magistrate Wuhou like to eat it?"
Ye Ming asked again.
Another hunter laughed and said:
"Not only does he like to eat, but the magistrate is really good at eating, and he has all kinds of ways to eat that we, the idiots, can't even think of.
Let’s just say that before this, in order to eat fresh bird’s nests, the county magistrate searched the whole county for fresh bird’s nests, and even sent special personnel to form a bird’s nest team, so that no swallows dared to build nests in the county...
And the year before last, the magistrate wanted to eat snake soup..."
Obviously, the hunters are very clear about some things about the magistrate. It can even be said that they are acting specifically to satisfy the magistrate's taste to some extent.
After listening to them talking for a long time, Song Cheng couldn't help but ask:
"What about the Wuhou magistrate becoming an official?"
When the hunters heard this, they looked at each other and remained silent.
Song Cheng could tell just by looking at their expressions what was going on with the magistrate.
Ye Ming seemed to be someone who didn't know how to read the atmosphere. Even though he was silent, he still asked other questions eagerly.
Seeing this, the hunters chatted with each other one after another.
Not long after, the scene became lively again.
Ye Ming was talking when he suddenly said to Song Cheng:
"Old Song, open your umbrella."
Song Cheng looked up at the sky with some doubts. There was no sign that it was going to rain, but he still chose to listen to Ye Ming and open his umbrella.
Not long after I opened my umbrella, monkeys roared suddenly in the forest.
The faces of the hunters changed slightly, and one of them said:
"No, the monkey is here seeking revenge."
Just as he was talking, a stone flew out of the forest and hit a man on the shoulder, causing the hunter to scream in pain.
Soon, a group of monkeys appeared around. These monkeys kept barking at everyone, picked up stones, wood, etc. from the ground, and smashed them at the hunters.
Several monkeys caught by hunters also began to scream, seemingly communicating with the surrounding monkeys.
The hunters were besieged. The leader drew his bow and shot a monkey with an arrow.
The monkey screamed, fell under the tree, and died on the spot.
This failed to scare the monkeys around, but instead made the monkeys excited and kept throwing things and hitting people.
The hunters drew their bows to fight back and retreated along the mountain road with the monkeys in their hands.
The monkeys in the mountains pursued him and attacked him with various objects.
Song Cheng held an umbrella to cover himself and Ye Ming, admiring Ye Ming's foresight.
"Mr. Yang, these monkeys are here to seek revenge. Why are they beating us together? We didn't provoke them."
Ye Ming didn't panic at all. He used a bamboo stick to knock aside a flying stone and said:
"Who allowed us to get close to the hunters? This is called a fire at the city gate - and it will affect the fish in the pond."
Hearing this, Song Cheng nodded, not afraid at all. Although these monkeys were scary, they were not enough to truly threaten them.
The hunters didn't have to give up until they got out of Yuanqiao Mountain. They roared there, and many monkeys urinated in the direction of the hunters to show their anger.
"Oh, these beasts are so annoying. One of my teeth was knocked out on my face."
A hunter covered his swollen face and angrily slapped the captured monkey.
The monkey had long lost his energy, and even after being beaten, he only looked at him with anger.
"Okay, don't beat him to death. It won't be worth anything if you beat him to death."
The hunter leader was also beaten with a bruised nose and face, but he still asked the brothers not to abuse the monkeys.
Not long after leaving Yuanqiang Mountain, everyone walked to the official road. The journey was much easier.
Because taking the official road often requires a long detour, Ye Ming and his wife walked to Yuanqiang Mountain, but they didn't expect to see such a good show on the way.
The group of people arrived outside Wuhou County.
Wuhou County was the fiefdom of Wuhou in ancient times, so it was called Wuhou County.
Of course, no one in this dynasty is granted the title of Wuhou. The biggest one here is the county magistrate, no one else.
The officer guarding the city gate widened his eyes when he saw that this group of hunters had brought back five live monkeys.
This is twenty-five taels of silver. These hunters have made a lot of money!
In order to watch the excitement, Ye Ming and the others followed the hunters to the county government office and watched them hand over the monkeys to the county government officials.
After a period of tax collection and conversion by the county government office, five live monkeys, two dead monkeys, plus three jars of monkey wine, totaled thirty-one taels of silver.
After calculating the money, the accountant calculated various taxes and used the money to offset the taxes.
After some calculations, the hunters only got three taels of silver, and the rest was included in taxes.
Although the hunters were disappointed by this, they had gained something in the end.
Besides, if the people don't fight with the officials, at least they have some money, which is better than nothing.
"Hunters risk their lives and only have this little money?"
Song Cheng looked a little angry.
This is too dark. Are there any tax collectors who are so exaggerated?
Three taels of silver were divided among a dozen hunters, so the gains were indeed a bit small.
The hunters figured out that they could only go to Yuanqiao Mountain in a few days to catch a few more monkeys.
The only thing I hope now is that the magistrate won't get tired of eating the monkey brains so quickly. Otherwise, if the monkey catches it but can't get the money, then it will all be lost.
Hunters' worries are not groundless, because similar things have happened before.
After separating from the hunters, Song Cheng was wondering where to rest tonight when he heard someone from the yamen shouting:
"Tomorrow morning, the county magistrate will hold the county's fourth food competition this year. Chefs, please be prepared. People can also go to the county government office tomorrow morning to compete!"
As the man shouted along the road, everyone got the news.
Song Cheng found that ordinary people were not very motivated, while families with cooks rushed to tell each other as if they had heard some great news.
When I inquired about it, I found out that it was said to be a food competition, but it was actually the county magistrate choosing a chef.
For ordinary people, it’s just a fun thing to watch.
But for those cooks, it's different.
As long as you can become the cook of the magistrate, your status will rise immediately. The most important thing is to be appreciated by the magistrate. Not to mention anything else, even if the family has a way of living, exorbitant taxes and other miscellaneous taxes will not affect your family. , then life will be much better than now.
Hearing that this was the case, Song Cheng didn't care much.
Ye Ming suddenly asked:
"Old Song, you used to run a roadside hotel, so you should know how to cook, right?"
"I can make a few home-cooked stir-fries, so I can eat and drink by myself no problem, but if I want to get noticed by the local magistrate, it may not be easy."
Song Cheng knew what Ye Ming's question meant, but he also knew his own abilities. He was not a professional cook, so how could he be compared to the chefs in this county?
Ye Ming smiled and said: "You just go and sign up for the competition tomorrow. Use my special seasoning and make sure that the county magistrate treats you as a guest."
When Song Cheng heard this, he didn't question Ye Ming's ability, he just said:
"This person is a local official, but he only cares about his own enjoyment and does not care about the life and death of ordinary people. Want me to be his cook?
Don’t go! "
"Old Song, I know what you want. I want you to be a cook, not really a cook, but mainly an internal agent. What do you think?"
"Internal response? What does Mr. Yang want to do?"
"It's a secret for the time being. Okay. Lao Song, go to the county government office to sign up!"
Ye Ming pushed Song Cheng to sign up for the competition.
Unexpectedly, there is an assessment for county government registration, and at least one dish must be cooked on site.
Song Cheng cooked a donkey meat roast on the spot, and the master who was in charge of the assessment nodded slightly.
Song Cheng was immediately given the qualification to participate in the competition tomorrow.
After winning the qualification, Song Cheng was still a little proud. He didn't use the special seasoning provided by Ye Ming, he just relied on his own cooking skills!
Unexpectedly, as soon as he left the county office, he was kicked on the butt by a donkey's hoof and fell to the ground.
"Ouch~~"
Song Cheng felt pain and held his butt. He didn't expect that the always honest and honest Donkey Gen would kick him.
"Mr. Yang, what are you doing with your donkey roots? Why did you kick me?"
Lei Ling on the side rolled her eyes at him and turned her head.
Ye Ming smiled and said, "Don't you know the reason?"
Song Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then realized what the problem was.
Donkey meat is on fire!
...
