Overlord's Road to Ancient Emperors

Early the next morning, Li Xu went to a small nearby village. There were only a dozen or so families living along the river. In broad daylight, there were only a few children in the village playing with mud under the big tree. At first glance, he saw a few outsiders Come on, I was so scared that I ran home and hid.

Li Xu chose a few unremarkable clothes when he went out this time, which are resistant to dirt and wear, but that face is too glamorous, even wearing a burlap bag is still a person with outstanding temperament, not to mention that there is a man wearing a silver mask by his side tall man.

In the village, who would go out wearing a mask?Even if they were disfigured, they would still be naked, and those who were well-informed would naturally be able to guess their identities.

Li Xu turned around and joked with He Zun, "If I knew it earlier, I wouldn't bother putting on a silver mask, and changing the color wouldn't fool anyone."

"Silver looks good." He Zun touched his new mask. He really felt that it was too stupid to go out wearing a gold mask before. The golden light was so shiny that anyone who saw it had to take a few more glances. Curious about the face under the mask.

"You can change Dai, and then fabricate a brother to come out and form the two evil spirits of gold and silver, and you can go out and walk the rivers and lakes directly." Li Xu said that he became happy, and then asked worriedly: "Hey, if our identities Being exposed and being hunted down, can you stand it alone?"

He Zun pointed to the man behind him, and said, "My lord forgot that there is still one of us."

"Old Qi, he can't run as fast as this king, but he is not the main target, and he can escape if he wants to."

Lao Qi was picked up by He Zuncong from outside. It is said that he lived near the gate of the city. He wandered in and out of the city every day, and occasionally went out of the city to hunt and catch fish. status.

This person's feet are a bit sloppy, his back is a bit hunched, and he looks ten years older than his actual age. Li Xu still thinks that He Zun is kind and wants to help the poor, but He Zun tells him that this person is available.

Li Xu thought that Lao Qi would be some kind of martial arts master hiding in the city, but saw him being chased all over the street by a few naughty children. Although he ran away in the end, his embarrassing figure had already given him the answer. Just an ordinary man.

Lao Qi smiled honestly from behind, "Don't worry, my lord, the villain will not escape alone."

"Don't worry, if you are in distress, you can run away one by one. It is not worthwhile to risk your life even if you know you are dead." Li Xu saw an old man sitting in the yard of a family, so he walked over and knocked on the door, "Old man, can I borrow some water?" drink?"

The old man turned around slowly, pointed to the large water tank under the eaves, and said in dialect: "The water is there, young people can do what they want."

The dialect of this place is somewhat different from that of Minzhou, but Li Xu can generally understand it. He glanced at the large water tank exposed to the air, where a few flies were sleeping on the edge of the water tank, and he didn't know how to continue the conversation. up.

Lao Qi ran into the house and moved a stool for Li Xu to sit on, then went to the water tank to scoop up a scoop of water and drank it himself, without any intention of sharing it with Li Xu and He Zun, then wiped his mouth, ran to stand behind Li Xu with.

"Old man, what is the name of your village?"

"Ludun Village, did young people pass by here?" the old man was weaving bamboo baskets without looking up.

"Yes, we are going to Shanghang County on this trip to visit relatives and friends. I heard that there was a disaster there, and I am a little worried."

"Shanghang, I haven't heard of it, I don't know where it is, but if it can spread to other places, it must be very serious. These days are sad."

Li Xu moved to sit next to him, and chatted with him, "The old man's craftsmanship is good, this basket is really beautiful."

"Young Master is from a wealthy family, so it's rare to see it. This is a bamboo basket. Everyone can weave this thing, so it's nothing."

"Then can you sell us a bamboo basket, go out and want to catch some small fish for dinner."

"What's the difficulty? It's the most convenient to use this kind of basket to catch fish. In the evening, hide it by the riverside with rich water and grass. You can catch half a basket of fish and shrimp in one night. But they are all poor and lowly things. Are you used to them?"

"After marinating, the small river fish is wrapped in flour and deep-fried in oil. It is crispy and delicious. If you can add a couple of rice wine, it will be even more delicious."

The old man laughed when he heard this, "That's the way rich people eat it. I heard that the old men in the city use lard to stir-fry vegetables, and they can also fry meat and eggs. Anyway, I have never eaten it before. I don't know what it tastes like."

"Then how do you eat in this village?"

"How else can I eat it? You can either cook it in soup or steam it. Fish soup is a good thing."

"Then can I have a meal at your house at noon, and eat dry food on the road every day, and my throat hurts from eating."

He Zun and Lao Qi all turned their faces away. They couldn't believe that King Shun was such a shameless person who ate dry food every day. They never ate a dry meal this time when they went out. It was either hot boiled noodles or hot seafood porridge.

The old man nodded and said yes, "Going out is suffering, especially in this hot weather, food can't be kept, but there is nothing delicious in the old man's house, only simple tea and light food, just don't dislike it, young master."

"No, no, my two followers can go hunting in the mountains and go fishing in the river, and they won't eat your family in vain." After saying that, he assigned He Zun and Lao Qi to go out to work.

Lao Qi left without saying a word, He Zun was still a little hesitant, worried about leaving Li Xu here alone.

Li Xu waved his hand, "Go, go, come back early, don't miss lunch."

It is true that He Zun didn't go there for long, and soon brought back a hare. The rabbit kept kicking, full of vitality, and probably didn't know that his life was about to end.

"Hey, this hero is very skilled. Game at the foot of the mountain is rare. Usually, everyone has to go deep into the mountains to catch these prey."

Without saying a word, He Zun handed over the hare to him. The old man put down the bamboo stick in his hand, wiped the handle, and took the rabbit over. Alright, let's have a makeshift meal at the old man's house at noon today."

Hearing this, Li Xu rolled up his sleeves and followed, "No, let's treat it as the meal paid by the three of us, master and servant. I still have some cooking skills, let me show you."

Only then did the old man show a bit of a strange expression, "This is impossible, there is no reason to let the guests cook." In fact, what he wanted to say was not to ruin a rabbit, Li Xu really didn't look like he could cook. The look of the cook.

In the end, Li Xu failed to compete for the position of the head chef, because the kitchen of this family was too simple, with no condiments except a little salt.

Not long after, Lao Qi also came back, hanging a large grass carp weighing four to five catties with a straw rope in his hand, and a bag of screws in his pocket.

Li Xu looked at the screw, his heart moved, and he asked Lao Qi to get some peppers, and carried them into the kitchen.

It was almost noon, and all the people who went out to work in this family came back. The old man had three sons and a daughter, all three sons were grown up, and the daughter was only twelve or thirteen years old. She came back with a basket of pigweed and picked some wild animals. Mushroom, depending on the situation, these four children are all unmarried.

Seeing a stranger coming to the house, the juniors all showed guarded expressions, especially He Zun who was wearing a mask and dared not show his true colors, let alone a good person.

The old man got to know Li Xu a little better, and called his children over, "Come and have a meal, this son's family brought a hare, a fish, and fried a handful of screws, which is very rich."

They can only enjoy meals of this size during the Chinese New Year. Usually, even if they find wild game, they will dry it and eat it slowly. A fish needs to be cooked several times, so how can it be extravagant to put it all in the pot.

Let Li Xu sit in the main seat, He Zun and Lao Qi sat one on the left and one on the right, and the family of five dared to sit down.

The meal was eaten in silence, only the sound of chewing the grilled rice could be heard, Li Xu ate very slowly, the rice grains were a bit hard, and the rice husks were not cleaned, the dishes also lacked some flavor, but because of the addition of some chili, It's still a good meal.

After dinner, Li Xu asked about the family's livelihood. They said that the family only had ten acres of land, which was quite a lot, but it was useless except for growing vegetables and a few fruit trees.

Li Xu took out some chili peppers and put them on the table, and asked, "This thing is called chili peppers, and a little bit was added to the dishes you ate just now, what do you think of the taste?"

The old man watched Li Xu put this thing into the dish. He actually wanted to stop him, but unfortunately he was not as fast as Li Xu. If Li Xu hadn't promised not to damage the ingredients, he would have wanted to fish out the pepper and throw it away. The taste of several dishes is really good, they are cooked better than usual, and the slightly choking taste is acceptable.

The three young men didn't quite understand what Li Xu meant, and after glancing at the old father, the eldest said, "It's... not bad." To be honest, he didn't even take a few bites of the food after eating three bowls of rice, and the taste was not good. I didn't taste it much, I just thought it was delicious. After all, there are not many meals where you can eat meat throughout the year.

"It's like this. I'm from Fujian Province. I run a small business at home and sell local specialties. A steward brought this pepper back from other places. After trying it, I found that it can be used for cooking, so I want to plant it on a large scale, but there are not enough people, so I would like to ask you, are you willing to plant this? No matter how much you plant, I will buy them all. A pound of sun-dried peppers costs [-] Wen, and the seeds can be given to you for free.”

"This..." The whole family couldn't believe it when they looked at me and you. Is this pepper something good?It even needs to be planted on a large scale.

"Not only you, everyone in the village can plant. The elderly can invite the heads of each household to come and discuss in detail. As long as they are willing, they will send someone to deliver the seeds next month."

The sons looked at the old father, obviously wanting to hear his opinion. The old man looked at Li Xuyou, looked at the leftovers on the table, nodded and said, "Then let's invite the folks here first. Also, the son's name has to be confirmed, if you want to grow this kind of pepper, you must pay a deposit first."

Li Xu agreed without even thinking about it, "Okay, how about this, a catty of seeds can plant about ten acres of land, and then you will get as many seeds as you want to plant, and the deposit will be [-] yuan per mu of land, but If someone reports the number indiscriminately and cannot give that much pepper when it expires, I will get back the deposit, so please tell everyone about it.”

The old man asked the three sons to invite people, and the girl put the leftovers on the table into the kitchen, and cleaned the hall again, and the people who went to invite people arrived one after another.

Probably because they heard that there is money to be made, three or four people from each household came. Obviously, everyone in the family who could talk came, but at first glance, they were all men.

Li Xu passed the peppers to them, and told them the uses of the peppers.

Everyone's first question is: "You are telling the truth, no matter how many peppers you grow, you can buy them?" What they are most afraid of is that the things they grow cannot be sold, and their efforts will be wasted.

"Don't worry about this, my son will do what he said. If no one comes to buy it when it expires, you can take the goods to Minzhou City and find the largest Fulai restaurant in the city. If these peppers are sold to the restaurant, the price will be higher than the purchase price." higher."

A rather old man exclaimed: "I know about Fulai Restaurant. My brother-in-law once worked as a waiter in the restaurant, and later he came out and opened a snack shop. I can write to him and ask him."

Some people's thoughts were moved. If the price of selling it to restaurants was higher, why didn't they take it to the city and sell it?It only takes half a month to walk to Minzhou City from here.

"I don't know if you can ask for the quantity? Or let me decide how much to plant and how much to sell?"

"You can plant as much as you like. I told my father-in-law just now that a deposit of [-] Wen is given for one mu of land, and the actual amount will be calculated when harvesting. Twenty Wen per catty of sun-dried peppers is considered fair."

Everyone actually doesn’t know how to grow peppers, let alone how many catties an acre of land can produce. But when they heard that they could get a deposit of [-] Wen per acre of land, they couldn’t sit still.

All their income throughout the year may not be five hundred taels of silver. If they can plant ten acres of land, it will be five taels of silver, my God, five taels of silver, and their children will be able to marry a wife.

"You only need to grow peppers on dry land, in front of the house, behind the house, at the foot of the mountain, anywhere. When the time comes, the steward will come to teach you planting experience. This is a long-term business. It is not just planting this time and it is over. You can go back and be with your family. Discuss, report the number of cultivated land to me in an hour, and someone will come to you with seeds in a month."

Everyone was very active, and they ran home to discuss with their families.