Wonderful Life After Exchanging Fate - Chapter 52
At noon, the convoy arrived at a wilderness, where everyone took a rest, had something to eat, and continued on the road.
Li Song went to the back from time to time to check on the situation of the Jiang family. When his father came, he had told him to take good care of the Jiang family.
He thought the Jiang family was amazing. A family of people in the village had never been to Luzhou at all, and they dared to go to Luzhou when they heard that they could make money there. Anyway, he didn’t dare. Thinking about his first escort, he went to Luzhou, and the team was full of old escorts. He only followed him once, and he was very worried.
In fact, Jiang Cheng was also worried, so when he saw him coming, he kept asking about the situation in Luzhou.
There was nothing wrong along the way, so Li Song told him in detail.
Jiang Yunzhu listened to him and confirmed what he said with what he knew. When she heard Li Song mentioning someone, she asked a few words aloud, paving the way for future plans.
Several people were chatting, Li Song suddenly looked back vigilantly.
“What’s going on?” Jiang Cheng asked nervously. On the way they escaped from the famine in Changfeng Mansion, they once encountered bandits. Fortunately, they avoided them when they saw them from a distance, otherwise they really didn’t know what would happen.
“It’s okay, you guys continue to move forward.” Li Song said, then he turned his horse’s head and hid behind a nearby cliff.
Jiang Yunzhu and the others continued to move forward, and about fifteen minutes later, Li Song rode up to catch up with a man in his hand, followed by a donkey.
The convoy stopped, and Li Song threw the man on the ground.
Gu Qifeng slipped up and got up, humming, “I said I didn’t follow you, does the road belong to your family, don’t let others go.”
It was him, Jiang Yunzhu and others were surprised.
This time he was going to set up a stall in Luzhou, Jiang Yunzhu only brought Xue Jing, Jiang Cheng and Chen Shi, Xu Qingshan was the driver.
Speaking of which, before Jiang Yunzhu really underestimated Gu Qifeng’s toughness, he seemed to have identified the Jiang family, and has been looking for work everywhere in the Jiang family. His parents pulled him back several times, but it didn’t work, so he turned a blind eye in the end. Only eyes.
In Gu Qifeng’s words, they finally resigned to their fate, knowing that he was not as good as Gu Yanzhou, and he would not be able to take the imperial examination.
Since then, he has stayed at Jiang’s house even more.
The Jiang family actually liked him quite a bit. He is quick-tempered, knows how to settle accounts, and has a sweet mouth. He is really a good candidate to be the shopkeeper.
This time he heard that Jiang Yunzhu was going to Luzhou, so he kept saying that he wanted to go too, but Jiang Yunzhu naturally disagreed, but who knew that he quietly followed.
“Do you know him?” Li Song asked Jiang Yunzhu and others. He has been to Jiang’s house several times, and he seems to have seen Gu Qifeng at Jiang’s house.
“Why did you follow?” Jiang Cheng asked.
“I also want to visit Luzhou.” Facing Jiang Cheng, Gu Qifeng was still very honest, but he still couldn’t help saying, “After the Chinese New Year, I am also fourteen years old, and my cousin went there when he was fourteen.” I’m not as good as him when it comes to studying in the capital, but I’m not a child anymore.”
Yes, Gu Qifeng actually has a clear understanding of himself. He is helping Jiang’s family these days, and he knows what he wants to do in the future. And opportunities often need to be fought for by themselves, and they are fleeting.
In this day and age, fourteen is indeed not too young, and some people are even married and have children.
Jiang Cheng looked at Jiang Yunzhu questioningly, what should he do now, drive him back? It’s been half a day’s journey, and it’s not safe for Gu Qifeng to go back alone.
Jiang Yunzhu frowned.
“Otherwise let him follow me.” Xu Qingshan said suddenly. Gu Qifeng is Gu Yongde’s nephew, so he is also related to him, so he has to take care of him.
“Brother Qingshan, you are the best!” Gu Qifeng immediately ran to Xu Qingshan, said a lot of good things, and even took out an apple from his bag for Xu Qingshan to eat.
Xu Qingshan didn’t answer, just asked him if he told his family that he must follow him closely.
“I told my father, but not my mother. I know, Brother Qingshan, don’t worry.” Gu Qifeng assured.
After a small episode, everyone moved on.
When it was dark, they arrived at Biling Town.
“Rest here for one night, and you can arrive in Luzhou at noon tomorrow.” Li Song said.
Jiang Cheng and the others are fine.
There was nothing to say all night, but the next morning, Jiang Yunzhu got up an hour earlier than everyone else, and got busy in the kitchen of the inn. When everyone was up, she just poured the contents of the pot into a jar and sealed it.
“Yunzhu, wake up so early? What are you eating? It’s so delicious.” Chen looked around and saw the jar in Jiang Yunzhu’s hand.
“Mom, I can use this.” Jiang Yunzhu said.
The inn provided breakfast, everyone ate breakfast, the contents of the jar were almost cold, Jiang Yunzhu poured it out, cut it into small pieces, put it in a food box, and moved on.
Near noon, they saw the gate of Luzhou City. Luzhou deserves to be the largest city in Central South, the city is vast and majestic, relying on the sky and the earth. The city gate alone was five meters high, and a person seemed insignificant in front of such a giant.
There was a lot of traffic at the gate of the city, Chen Shi and Jiang Cheng walked past the huge mottled bluestone slab, both feeling anxious.
However, Jiang Yunzhu felt a sense of familiarity. This was indeed Luzhou City, where she had lived in her dream for seven years.
There is a temple fair in the city from the fifth day of the lunar new year, until the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day, the city will be very lively. Now all kinds of festive decorations have been placed on the street, looking around, it is festive and full of pedestrians.
“What are you going to do next?” Li Song asked after entering the city. When the Escort delivered the goods, they usually turned back on the same day, rested in Biling Town for one night, and returned to Wuling County the next day.
What about the Jiang family? Where do they go and where do they live. Do you want to stay in a hotel? Usually it’s okay, but at this time of year, the inn must be overcrowded, and the prices can go up and down. Li Song was very worried that they couldn’t find a place to live, or that it cost a lot of money to stay in a hotel for one night, and they couldn’t make that much from selling food, so they didn’t want to lose money and make money.
“Our family has a warehouse in the west of the city, but it’s really a warehouse. There are no windows and no water. It’s okay to store some things, and people can live in it…” It’s not very good, especially Jiang Yunzhu and the others, they must not be able to live. Of course, it is definitely better than sleeping on the streets. But in that case, he might as well pay for them and find them an inn.
Jiang Yunzhu originally wanted to find a warehouse to store things, but Li Song said it was great that they could store things there. The rest is to find a place to live, and of course she won’t let Li Song pay for it.
“Is Fatong Temple going this way?” She asked Li Song.
“Are you going to Fatong Temple?” Li Song was puzzled.
“Well, listen to you, the Zhike monk of Fatong Temple is a strange person.”
There are six famous temples in Luzhou City. The first one is Jinguang Temple, which was built by the imperial court. It is the largest and has the most incense. Then there are Jialan Temple and Changming Temple.
Fatong Temple ranks last among these six temples, but there are also many people.
The Zhike monk of Fatong Temple is very famous. He is a bit like Yi Yin in the Shang Dynasty and Liu An in the Western Han Dynasty. He is a gourmet. He once wrote a book “Benwei Lun”, explaining the Zen in food.
Because he likes delicious food, the vegetarian restaurant in Fatong Temple is very famous.
Jiang Yunzhu had also been to Fatong Temple several times in her dream, and knew the nature of the Zhike monk, so she made plans early.
Hearing this, Li Song recalled that Jiang Yunzhu believed to have asked about the Zhike monk before, and also knew that Jiang Yunzhu’s cooking was delicious, so he vaguely had a guess. However, he still felt that Jiang Yunzhu was too risky.
“I’ll take you there,” he said. If it doesn’t work, he can help them find an inn, at least he is familiar with Luzhou.
“Thank you, but it’s too much trouble for you.” Jiang Yunzhu said.
Li Song smiled, “It will take some time for them to unload, I will send you off, and the time is just right for you to come back.” After speaking, he asked the bodyguards to unload, and he led Jiang Yunzhu and the others.
The hospitality was hard to come by, Jiang Yunzhu and the others followed behind in a mule cart and a donkey cart.
There are a lot of people going to the temple to offer incense during Chinese New Year and festivals. One is to pray for the blessing of the Buddha, and the other is to play by the way. Therefore, even if the temple fair has not started yet, there are crowds around Fatong Temple.
When we got here, Li Song was also dumbfounded, what should we do now? Look around, it’s full of people.
“Father, mother, take care of the car and wait for me here.” Jiang Yunzhu got out of the car carrying the food box.
“Yunzhu.” Jiang Cheng and Chen Shi worried.
“Don’t worry, I’ll follow Miss Jiang.” Li Song said. He was tall and big like an iron tower. He protected Jiang Yunzhu and quickly opened a way for her in the crowd.
After a while, Jiang Yunzhu entered the temple and saw a young monk who was in charge of receiving pilgrims, so he went over and asked, “Master, is Master Puxuan in the temple?” Puxuan is the guest monk in the temple.
In a temple like Fatong Temple, the Zhike monk is also prestigious. If it is not for the rich and powerful, he usually will not meet in person.
The young monk glanced at Jiang Yunzhu, but he didn’t dare to look any further.
Today Jiang Yunzhu specially put on the new clothes given by Mrs. Liu, with two little hairpins on her head, matching the clothes, she is really as beautiful as a moonlight pearl.
The young monk put his palms together and asked, “Dare to ask who the benefactor is?” Ask who it is, so that he can go in and report.
But Jiang Yunzhu handed him the food box in her hand, “I have a dish here that I would like to ask Master Puxuan to taste, the name, let’s talk about it after the master tastes it.” It is impossible for her to report her name, and no one here knows her .
Looking at her attire, temperament, and listening to her conversation, the young monk felt that she must be a nobleman of some family, so he didn’t dare to neglect, so he took the food box and went inside.
There were a lot of things going on in the temple recently, Puxuan was instructing two disciples to do something, when the young monk walked in with a food box.
Pu Xuan stopped.
The young monk told the story.
It was already noon, but he hadn’t eaten yet. Puxuan happened to be a little hungry, so he became interested and looked at the food box.
The young monk understood, opened the food box, and took out a plate of things to put on the table.
However, his face suddenly changed drastically, and he didn’t know what to do with the plate of food.
The two disciples of Puxuan next to him also saw what was on the plate, and immediately shouted, “How dare you bring this kind of thing into the temple.”
The other person was more kind, but immediately said, “Take it out soon.”
The young monk who was holding the plate was suddenly stunned, and hurriedly stuffed the plate into the food box, feeling extremely annoyed with Jiang Yunzhu. He saw that she was a virtuous and beautiful girl, so he brought the food box in for her. Who would have thought that she would harm him like this!
At this time Puxuan said, “Put down that dish.”
“Master!” The three shouted in unison.
That dish, that dish they only glanced at, but they could clearly see that it was a dish of pork skin jelly. Buddhism avoids meat, but someone gave Puxuan a plate of meat jelly and said he would taste it. Wasn’t this intentionally humiliating him?
It is tolerable or unbearable!
“Take a closer look.” Puxuan said.
The three of them were stunned, take a closer look? What does master mean. The young monk took the food out of the food box again, and put it on the table while carefully looking at it.
No matter how you look at it, it’s still a plate of pork skin jelly.
Although, the meat jelly was cut into pieces and placed in the shape of flowers.
Pu Xuan laughed. There are chopsticks in the food box, he took the chopsticks, picked up a piece and put it in his mouth.
“Master!” The three disciples exclaimed in shock. Master will break the precept if he continues this mouthful! Moreover, I don’t know who sent it, and whether it was poisoned.
But Puxuan put the piece into his mouth, with surprise on his face, then he chewed more and said, “So it is!”
“Master…” The three disciples didn’t know what to do.
“Try it too, and you’ll know. You three, none of them are like me.” Puxuan likes food, and also likes to study food, but his three disciples are only busy with various chores.
Three disciples, you look at me, I look at you, isn’t this jelly?
In the end, they gritted their teeth and tasted it. Master had already eaten it, but they didn’t eat it. It wasn’t that they were rejected by Master in the future.
They didn’t have time to look for chopsticks either, so each squeezed a piece of that crystal thing and put it in his mouth.
The jelly is very soft and elastic. When you bite it with your teeth, the jelly melts immediately, and the juice overflows your mouth.
Fresh, very fresh taste.
At the same time, the teeth also bit into the skin of the jelly. The skin was soft and chewy, and it also smelled like meat, but…they all looked at Puxuan. This thing doesn’t really seem to be meat skin.
Moreover, this jelly has only the smell of meat, but no meat at all. It is really a vegetarian dish.
“Have you learned a lot?” Puxuan said.
The three disciples showed shame on their faces. They never thought that someone could make a plate of vegetarian dishes so much like jelly.
“That’s why I said that you can’t just hang around in the temple every day, watching the sky from a well, and just keep going.” Puxuan said.
“Master, the apprentice has been taught.” The three disciples quickly saluted, and then looked at the plate of “meat skin” jelly. This food is really delicious. They didn’t even taste the taste of the piece just now, they just thought it was delicious .
Puxuan snorted and was useless. However, his gaze also lingered on the plate of “meat skin” jelly.
“The person who delivers the food please come in.” He told the young monk.
“Yes, Master.” The young monk went out immediately.
Outside, Jiang Yunzhu was standing there waiting.
“Girl, my master invites you in.” The young monk said.
Jiang Yunzhu let out a sigh of relief, it seemed that he was lucky. She followed the young monk around the main hall, went to a room at the back, and met Puxuan.
Puxuan was younger than she remembered, but mostly the same.
Puxuan was also looking at Jiang Yunzhu, his eyesight was still much better than that young monk, he could see that Jiang Yunzhu’s family background should not be good. But it doesn’t matter, the person who can make this kind of dish is already outstanding enough.
“Please sit down, girl.” He stretched out his hand.
“Thank you.” Jiang Yunzhu sat down generously.
“Miss, did you use sweet potato flour for this dish?” The “meat skin” seems to be made of sweet potato flour.
“Master has really good eyesight. He really used sweet potato flour.” Of course, he didn’t just use sweet potato flour, otherwise he would definitely not be able to make that kind of taste. As for what to add, it is inconvenient to tell the monk.
“Is it so realistic?” Pu Xuan asked. There are some imitation dishes in Su Zhai, such as imitation bear’s paw and imitation abalone, but most of them imitate their taste. Jiang Yunzhu’s dish is so similar in shape, it is suspected of teasing people.
For example, his three incompetent apprentices just now.
Isn’t Jiang Yunzhu helpless? Let him eat the dishes cooked in the morning. If he doesn’t make something novel, can he see her? But she couldn’t say it directly, so she laughed, “False is also true, and true is also false.”
Her sentence comes from the sentence in “A Dream of Red Mansions”, “When a fake is true, it is also a fake, and if there is nothing, there is something and there is nothing.” This sentence exhausts the relationship between truth and falsehood.
Puxuan was stunned for a moment, true, false…Suddenly, he burst out laughing, “Young lady really has a good heart, the poor monk has been taught.”
Jiang Yunzhu’s face turned red, it wasn’t what she thought, she just borrowed it.
Fortunately, Puxuan didn’t ask her this, but asked her why she came.
Jiang Yunzhu euphemistically stated her purpose of coming to Luzhou, and what she wanted to live in, and said that she only wanted a tile to cover her body, and she didn’t need to live in a guest room, and she could use a firewood house or something.
Now there are many pilgrims in the temple, and there is really no spare guest room. The firewood room, “There are quite a lot of firewood rooms, but no one has lived there for a long time. If the girl doesn’t mind…”
“Don’t dislike it, don’t dislike it.” Jiang Yunzhu said quickly.
Puxuan nodded, and asked the young monk to lead Jiang Yunzhu to the woodshed.
“Then thank you, master. One more thing, can I borrow the kitchen in the temple? I can’t repay you by living in the temple. I want to cook two dishes for the master as a thank you.” The food is worth the room fee.
Thinking of the taste of “meat skin jelly”, Puxuan readily agreed.
Outside the gate, Jiang Cheng and Chen Shi were waiting anxiously when Jiang Yunzhu came out from the temple.
“Yunzhu.” Chen asked with concern.
“Father, mother, I have found a place to live.” Jiang Yunzhu said, and then she said to Li Song, “Brother Li, can I borrow your warehouse?” Put her meat skewers. It is not easy to bring in these meaty smells by living in the temple.
Li Song was dumbfounded by her actions just now. She only heard that the Zhike monks in Fatong Temple liked delicious food, so she made one and delivered it to her door. Did you really give them a place to live?
Li Song didn’t know whether Jiang Yunzhu was too smart, or she was lucky, or both.
Anyway, he admires her very much now, and feels that the Jiang family may really make a fortune in Luzhou this time.
“Okay.” He agreed.
After storing the goods in the warehouse of Li’s family, Jiang Yunzhu and others returned to Fatong Temple. In the west courtyard of the guest room, there are indeed several woodsheds, some of which are piled with things, and some of which are a little dilapidated, but they can be accommodated after tidying up.
Only now did Chen Shi and Jiang Cheng have the opportunity to ask Jiang Yunzhu what happened. Jiang Yunzhu said briefly that she was afraid that there would be no place to stay in the inn in the city. She heard that the Zhigu monk in Fatong Temple liked delicious food, so she thought of coming over to borrow it. The rent is paid for with vegetables.
Mainly live here, close to the water towers, on the one hand, they take up space to set up stalls.
When Jiang Cheng and the others heard this, they were both happy and admired.
That night, Jiang Yunzhu really made two vegetarian meals for Puxuan, and Puxuan sent someone to bring her two plates of pastries. It was obvious that he still liked those vegetarian meals.
Before dawn the next day, the Jiang family got up early.
Jiang Yunzhu had already figured out where to set up a stall, and it was by the Wuliu Bridge. The people who come and go there are all people with small assets, which is suitable for her to sell meat skewers.
They came early, but there are already several stalls selling things by the bridge, some selling biscuits, some selling facial makeup, some selling tea and so on. Maybe if they come a little later, there will be no room.
Everyone felt that it was very convenient to live in the temple.
Quickly took a seat, Jiang Yunzhu cleaned up the place, and Jiang Cheng went to get meat skewers and other things.
When they packed up, there were more people on the street.
“Grilled skewers, delicious grilled skewers, come and taste them!” Gu Qifeng shouted cheerfully.