The Transmigrated Life of a Salty Fish Family

Chapter 899 Planting a Seed in My Heart

Yan Lao Er knew the exact date his wife and child would be going to Beijing.

But I still couldn't resist heading to Xiaozhuang, which I recently bought on the outskirts of Beijing.

Make some repairs here, and tidy up there.

Prepare extra bedding and such.

I also bought a lot of kitchen utensils, such as iron pots, water tanks, and pots and pans.

The group of brothers he brought from Xiao'an Village were also always smiling and running around with him.

A group of people built a kang (a heated brick bed), plastered the walls, and chopped up a whole wall of firewood.

Yesterday afternoon, I bought some broken coal that no one else wanted at the Xishan Coal Yard and loaded it into several trucks to take to that village.

Yan Lao Er and his brothers worked together, making coal briquettes until dark. Seeing that they wouldn't be able to return before the city gates closed, they decided to stay at the manor and test their newly built heated kang (a traditional Chinese bed-stove).

It wasn't even cold yet, but the group of grown men were full of energy and slept like pancakes. Later, they couldn't stand it anymore and took out the charcoal fire from the kang (heated brick bed).

Yan Lao Er couldn't sleep soundly, so he got up before dawn, picked out some unburnt charcoal, stuffed it into the stove, blew on it a couple of times, and the stove lit up.

A custom-made iron griddle was placed on top.

Mix the batter well.

With one hand, scoop up the batter, and with the other hand, deftly scrape it into a round shape with a spatula.

You get a pancake almost every two turns.

It's neither too thin nor too thick, and it's crispy, fragrant, and chewy – the texture that villagers love most.

Repetitive tasks can easily lead to mental blanking out.

Yan Lao Er finally calmed down.

I didn't think about anything else; all I could see were the freshly made pancakes.

Concentrating on his work, he didn't notice the pairs of eyes hidden in the shadows, staring at him with curiosity and confusion, wondering what this trusted confidant of the King of England, Deputy Commander Yan, was doing.

They weren't close, and it was still dark, so they could only vaguely see the person waving his arms and turning around in front of the stove.

It looks like cooking, but it doesn't look like cooking.

The people hiding in the shadows come from different factions.

They tacitly covered for each other while remaining wary of one another, keeping a distance between them.

These people quickly dispersed and left.

Unaware of his surroundings, Yan Lao Er found that making pancakes could alleviate his anxiety about seeing his wife and daughter. After making them, he would roll them up with scallions, spread on some of the little soybean paste he had brought from home, and slurp down two pancakes. The spicy yet sweet scallion flavor would awaken him for the new day.

Ah! How wonderful this world is!
Ah! This smells so refreshing!
Sun Erdan woke up by the smell. Before his eyes were even fully open, his body automatically found its way to the freshly made pancake, picked it up, rolled it up, and ate it.

Then he was awakened.

People feel more energetic.

"Brother Yan, why are you up so early?"

"How can I sleep?"

"The waiter is almost here, what are you still worried about?"

"I'd rather they didn't come, but I'm quite worried about them coming," Yan Lao Er said with a frown. "Brother Erdan, tell me, this capital city is really a small place with a lot of scheming. The people above still have some sense of propriety when they're fighting, but the people below don't care about anything when it comes to using underhanded tactics."

Sun Erdan took a bite of the pancake, chewed it vigorously, and said with a look of agreement, "That's right. I thought we were pretty ruthless when we were killing barbarians on the border. As they say, 'licking blood from the blade,' but what do you call this in the capital? They're ruthless even without shedding blood! And they're hiding their ruthlessness so you can't see it. These bastards are really cunning! I never thought they would actually dare to kill people!"

Yan Lao Er said aggrievedly, "If it weren't for Brother Xiao Lu's sharp eyesight, which alerted us to something amiss, we would have fallen into their trap." Sun Er Dan was also furious and casually picked up a piece of burning ash-white coal and threw it into the stove.

Flames rose up as he moved.

Yan Lao Er checked the fire, removed the griddle, replaced it with an iron pot, and ladled water into it to cook porridge.

"It's good that Xiao Er is here. She's bringing the entire Xiao An camp with her, several thousand men. We're not afraid of people coming, we're just afraid they won't come," Yan Lao Er said fiercely.

Sun Erdan's eyes gleamed with a thieving light as he whispered, "Brother Yan, you said the capital is different from our Guanzhou, where we can't just take action. But how dare they?"

“I’ve seen it all during my time in the capital. It all boils down to a power struggle among our Prince’s brothers. Those bastards have powerful backers and dare to make a move, but we have powerful backers too! They have the Prince’s back, and so do we! They’re still the younger ones. Isn’t our Prince the eldest? We should be bolder!”

"If you ask me, why should we be afraid of them? If they do the first day of the month, we'll do the fifteenth. If they dare to use a knife, we'll bleed them dry."

"As long as we don't get caught, who will know we did it? When it really comes down to it, we'll deny everything!"

Sun Erdan was also really holding back.

At first, they just talked nonsense, speaking in a sarcastic and unpleasant tone.

Later, they said they were going to have a competition, so they fed the horses, put nails on the field, and the arrows missed the target and almost injured people. The wrestling match they were supposed to be doing was all about breaking hands and feet.

This time, they were hiding in the woods and launching a sneak attack. The woods were their only way out of the city, and if it weren't for Lu Xiaozi's sharp eyes, they would have fallen into their trap.

Yan Lao Er was cooking a porridge made with two kinds of rice and millet, with the water bubbling and gurgling, just like his mood at that moment, gradually boiling.

Frustrated, I stirred it with a spoon, and the churning rice and millet calmed down a little, but soon started churning again.

"To stop boiling water by adding more boiling water!" Yan Lao Er suddenly remembered this phrase.

Sun Erdan, being completely illiterate, asked dumbly, "Huh?"

Yan Lao Er gestured with a spoon: "Like this spoon, if I stir it like this and pour in some water, the pot won't boil anymore, but it won't last long, and it'll boil again in the blink of an eye."

"The point is, it's useless, small-scale efforts are useless." He used an iron hook to pull two small pieces of ash coal from the stove.

"Look, this is called removing the firewood from under the cauldron." Looking at Sun Erdan's ignorant eyes, Yan Lao Er straightened his back and suddenly felt that reading was really useful. Look how impressed Sun Erdan is! "It's about taking the charcoal out of here, and the fire won't burn as brightly. This is called eliminating the source!"

After hearing his explanation, Sun Erdan understood a little.

He began to ponder it carefully.

He muttered to himself, "The source? The source!"

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Brother Yan, listen to my understanding. Isn't the source of this several princes? For example, if one of their subordinates comes, we kill him; if a group comes, we wipe them out. But as long as the prince behind him is there, he can recruit more and more people, endlessly recruiting them."

"Then if we just kill the person recruiting, no one will take the jobs!"

Yan Lao Er's pupils dilated.

Sun Erdan, you're a real talent!

How did you come up with that? You've never read a book.
He swallowed hard, remaining silent for a long while.

Sun Erdan kept a close eye on his expression, and when he saw how shocked he looked, almost as if he had wet himself, he immediately realized that his guess was correct.

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Yan Lao Er threw down his spoon, covered Sun Er Dan's mouth, and solemnly said, "Let me tell you, don't blurt out everything. If people hear it, it'll be terrible. Those are words that could get you beheaded!"

Sun Erdan grinned and said, "Look how scared you are, Brother Yan. When we brothers talk privately, who can listen? I say something and you listen, and then we're talking about something else entirely."

While saying this, he secretly harbored his own thoughts.

Sun Erdan: Everyone in Guanzhou knows that killing a big fish doesn't bring as much merit as killing a small one! The reward money is much less!
Yan Lao Er: To be honest, Er Dan's eyes scared me at that moment~o(╥﹏╥)o~