The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 43: Scum

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*

A snow-white towel was placed into a copper basin filled with half a basin of water.

"Ser Javin, please step out of the carriage," Julie said.

Javin's face flushed red. He saw the three-dog sigil on the girl's armor, and also on Sweetmouth Ralph's armor. Why did these two have the Clegane family's sigil? Weren't the Clegane's cavalrymen Lord Tywin's family soldiers?

When did the Mountain acquire family cavalry? Can he even afford them?

But now was not the time to figure out these unimportant questions. Lord Javin had to jump out of the carriage. He was very grateful that the Mountain was riding far away and didn't come over.

He was afraid that the Mountain would see Jeyne's beauty and do something unbefitting of proper etiquette.

"My lady, what are you going to do?" Javin asked politely in a soft voice.

"Lord Earl, we are under orders from Lord Tywin to come ten miles outside the city to greet the Earl and Lady Jeyne; and under orders from Ser Gregor to wash away the dust of the road for Lady Jeyne."

Julie was quick-witted. As she spoke, she lifted the curtain, carried the copper basin into the carriage, and jumped in herself. The curtain fell, swaying gently. After a while, the voices of Jeyne and Julie talking, and the sound of water, came from inside the carriage.

Next to the carriage, a smiling Ralph took out a woman's silver mirror, rouge, powder, and eyeliner pencil from a large package. Looking at the patterns and ornaments on these items, they were all high-end goods used by the great nobles. Earl Javin was mediocre in martial arts, but he was knowledgeable about the things used by nobles. He could see that these things were basically exquisite goods sent over by trading ships from across the Narrow Sea, and were very valuable.

Earl Javin's mood miraculously improved. This fully proved Lord Tywin's importance to Jeyne, and it was also an emphasis on the Westerling family.

Lord Tywin was so considerate. He was afraid that Jeyne's complexion would be bad after traveling for two days, and it would be inconvenient to put on makeup and touch up, so he sent soldiers to greet her ten miles outside the city, and even sent female soldiers to serve Jeyne in dressing up, and then enter the city beautifully. Jeyne was beautiful and virtuous, and her radiant beauty would allow the people to see her dignity and grace after entering the city, which would also bring glory to Lord Tywin's honor.

"Ser Gregor, I'm sorry, I misunderstood you before," Earl Javin said with a softened expression, apologizing to Gregor.

Gregor was about the same age as Ser Javin. He looked relaxed and ignored Earl Javin's polite remarks.

Gregor's rudeness and impoliteness were also well-known throughout the Seven Kingdoms. Earl Javin valued his status, and although he felt quite embarrassed, he didn't bother to argue with the infamous Mountain.

However, the current Gregor disdained to pay attention to Earl Javin because he looked down from the bottom of his heart on the hypocritical, pretentious, affected, artificial, sanctimonious, and selfish Earl Javin, who was willing to sell off his ancestral territory for vain fame and showmanship. His daughter Jeyne was not his daughter at all, but his most valuable commodity with Cybelle. He racked his brains to sell Jeyne for a good price. As for the daughter's own feelings, future, and happiness, he completely disregarded them.

In Earl Javin's eyes, the Mountain was a vulgar and unbearable scumbag; in the eyes of the current, different Mountain, Earl Javin was just a wastrel scumbag who was neither good at writing nor martial arts!

*

At the same time, the Lannister's main castle, the dining hall.

The dining hall was very large, with a huge long table that could accommodate two hundred people at the same time. There were four such long tables.

Only one exquisite table was provided for the knights to eat at.

Tywin Lannister sat upright in front of the dining table decorated with gold and silver carvings, with a snow-white napkin clipped to his chest with a golden lion brooch. When he ate, no servants or family soldiers were allowed to eat in the dining hall at the same time.

Tywin liked silence.

Only knights with noble status and status were qualified to dine with him.

Tywin's younger brother, Kevan Lannister, sat opposite Tywin, and his Maester, Pycelle, sat on the side.

In the huge dining hall, there were only three people eating.

Kevan Lannister's body had already begun to gain weight. His head was completely bald, shaved clean, but there was a circle of thick hair above his ears and on the back of his head, as if he was wearing a golden hair-woven hoop. His chin was square, and his beard was neatly trimmed, very short. When he spoke, the fat on his chin trembled, and his beard was also golden.

Ser Kevan was born in 245 AC and was fifty-three years old this year, three years younger than Tywin. He had round shoulders and a thick waist, and his skin was very well maintained.

Of the four Tywin brothers, only Tywin and Kevan were left. The other two brothers had died of illness.

Kevan was Tywin's most trusted deputy. His loyalty and reliability were known throughout the Seven Kingdoms, and he had the reputation of being Tywin's shadow. Kevan recognized his elder brother's extraordinary qualities when he was seventeen years old. From that time on, he completely obeyed Tywin. Sure enough, Tywin lived up to his brother's expectations, and at the age of nineteen, he destroyed the rebellious nobles in the West and revitalized the family's prestige. At the age of twenty, he became the Hand of the King to the Mad King Aerys Targaryen because of his widespread reputation and worked continuously for twenty years—until he took the initiative to resign.

Among the nobles in the West, there was a saying: In front of Tywin, Kevan never expressed a different opinion. In fact, this sentence was not accurate. Tywin discussed many things with Kevan, but in the end, even if Tywin's decision completely violated Kevan's wishes, Kevan would execute it 100%.

*

"Try this soup," Tywin gestured to Kevan.

Kevan gave his brother and the maester a strange look, then picked up a soup spoon and tasted it.

"It's still Aldrich's craftsmanship," Kevan said with a smile, "As delicious as it used to be."

Tywin had no smile, as if he hated Kevan.

He clapped his hands.

The same golden basin containing the same bacon soup was brought up.

"Try this!" Tywin said again.

So Kevan tried this bowl of bacon soup. He slowly drank a spoonful, and his expression gradually became surprised. He looked at Tywin and the maester, and then tasted the soup next to him.

"Are both of these Aldrich's craftsmanship?" Kevan asked with a strange voice.

"Yes!"

"Are the ingredients exactly the same?"

"Yes!"

"But why does one feel more refreshing and delicious the more you drink it, while the other feels more and more crude and bitter?"

Tywin was expressionless, glanced at the servant next to him, and the servant immediately brought up two exquisite porcelain boxes. Under Tywin's signal, Kevan opened the white jade carved lid. One box contained the familiar light yellow rock salt, and the other box contained a snow-white substance like fine sand.

"This is snow salt," Tywin said.

"Snow salt?"

"The sea salt supplied from across the Narrow Sea? I heard that a lot of forests have to be cut down to burn the seawater in rows of large iron pots to obtain it. How much does this salt cost per ounce?"

"No money, it can be produced directly by processing rock salt," Tywin said lightly.

"Oh?"

"Was the snow salt production method discovered by Maester Pycelle? That's great, haha, we can use snow salt to exchange for ironware and good horses with other nobles, and we can also sell it to the other side of the Narrow Sea to exchange for the exquisite silk and porcelain we want. Maester, you are amazing, you have made a great contribution!" Kevan said with great joy.

"It's not the maester's credit, it's the Mountain!" Tywin said in a cold voice.

The smile on Kevan's face suddenly froze, his eyes widened, his mouth opened, as if an invisible hand had strangled his throat.

He couldn't believe it!

How could this be possible? The Mountain is just a complete scumbag.

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