A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Starting from the Village Chief

Chapter 18 Passionate and unrestrained
evening,

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Li Yi returned to the banks of the He River from Chang'an.

He was walking in front, leading a mule with two little kids sitting on it, and behind them was a young woman with patches all over her body.

"After crossing the bridge, we're home. See that big soapberry tree in front? That's the yard behind it. It used to be a Taoist temple called Wuji Temple. It was renovated a few days ago..."

"See that canal over there? It's called Shaqu. There are thirty mu of rice fields beside the canal. They're mine. And on the plateau over there, I also have twenty mu of mulberry fields."

Although they had walked for dozens of miles, the woman followed Li Yi's finger and looked left and right. She saw the lush green rice fields, the winding river bend, the plateau slopes like a high wall, and the continuous Zhongnan Mountains in the south.

Her hometown is Henan, where wheat is grown, and this was her first time seeing rice fields.

"Lanxiang, I'm back."

Li Yi crossed the Luojiawan Bridge, walked up the hill to the gate of the courtyard, and started shouting loudly.

Lanxiang walked out of the yard which had no door yet, "Brother, you're back." The girl looked at the woman and two little kids following Li Yi, feeling a little confused.

"This is Xiuzhi, and these two are her children. The older one is called Menshuan, he's seven years old, and the younger one is called Menzhu, he's five years old."

On the way back, Li Yi had already asked about the woman's family situation. Her hometown was Ruyang, Yuzhou, Henan, which was geographically part of Huaixi. Since the Sui Dynasty, Huaixi generally referred to the area north of the Huai River. Yuzhou was called Runan County in the Sui Daye Dynasty, a place that produced a lot of mules for pulling carts.

Xu Xiuzhi is actually only 23 years old this year. She married Zhang San, the carpenter next door, when she was 15 years old.

Xiuzhi raised her head and looked at the small courtyard in front of her with a person-high wall built by Hu Ji, and then looked at the little girl at the gate of the courtyard. She thought this was her benefactor's sister.

The woman's sallow and sad face forced a smile: "The young lady is Alang's sister, right? I am the slave girl Alang bought in Chang'an..."

The yellow-haired girl Lanxiang said a little embarrassedly: "I am not my brother's biological sister, but just a neighbor. My last name is Luo, and my name is Lanxiang."

Li Yi looked at the two of them and said, "Sister Xu will live here with her two children from now on."

The woman said to Li Yi, "Thank you, Alang, for burying my husband. From now on, I and my two children will be your family's servants. We will serve you well. In addition to housework, I can also do farm work. Although my family has never grown rice before, I can learn. The two children are young and can work. If there is anything they do not do well, feel free to punish them..."

Li Yi looked at her apprehensive expression and waved his hand, "Don't be so apprehensive, relax a little."

Entering the courtyard,

Li Yi arranged for Xiuzhi and her mother to live in the same room. "Tomorrow I'll take you to Fengjiabao to see Leng Xiucai for a pulse check and medical consultation. I'll also buy some cloth. You can make three mosquito nets, one for your room, one for Lanxiang, and one for Gousheng and Shitou's beds. Can you make clothes? If you can, I'll buy some more cloth and you can make new clothes for everyone."

Xiuzhi said that she could cut and sew clothes and shoes, and could also spin yarn and weave cloth. After putting down her tattered bag, she started cleaning the yard and asked the two brothers, Mensuan and Menzhu, to help with the work.

"The yard is quite clean, no need to sweep. We're tired after walking dozens of miles, let's take a break. Lanxiang, cook more rice today, since there are three more people in the family."

Xiuzhi asked Lanxiang to take her to the kitchen and said she would cook.

"I'll go and return the mule to Guo Erlang's home first," Li Yi said as he led the mule to Guozhuang. Guo Erlang had not returned from Chang'an yet, so Li Yi left the mule and thanked Du, and without staying any longer, he went home.

He felt that after Guo Erlang came back and paid him the hundred strings of cash, he should really consider buying a mule for transportation.

Today he had walked a hundred miles round trip. On the way back, he gave the mule to the two kids to sit on. He walked dozens of miles himself and was very tired. Fortunately, this was Wuyi's body that had traveled around the world. If it were his previous sub-healthy body, he would probably still be on the road.

Li Yi spent a thousand coins to buy a coffin to bury Xu Xiuzhi's husband, and gained three more servants. Even now, Li Yi still couldn't fully accept it.

It feels easier than buying a pet.

There will be three more mouths to feed in the family, and there will also be someone to do the laundry and cooking. When Luo San went to serve in the army, he agreed to help take care of the three children, but he was really worried that he wouldn't be able to take care of them. Now that Xu Xiuzhi is here, he can relax.

I walked all the way back to the courtyard and found Luo Sanniang coming.

"I saw you back in the straw hut in the rice field," the big yellow-haired girl was now fully focused on the business she had with Li Yi. She was looking forward to the stall at the bridgehead opening soon, especially hoping that she could find buyers for the bean curd sheets and fried tofu.

"Wuyi, a batch of bean curd sheets has been dried,"

The pot of bean curd sheets she made last night was baked at night and dried in the sun for a whole day. This morning she made another pot of bean curd sheets and dried them directly in the sun. She also made fried tofu according to the method taught by Li Yi.

Li Yi carefully examined the fried tofu and bean curd sheets she brought and found that some of them were not made well, probably because they were just made at the beginning, while others were already quite good.

This girl is really smart.

"It's just right, I can add two dishes to the dinner, stew some fried tofu and then stew some dried bean curd sheets."

Sanniang felt distressed, "Where are the dried bean curd sheets that we worked so hard to make?"

"We have to try it first to see how it tastes, otherwise how can we sell it?"

"But it won't take long to soak."

"Add some hot water to soak it, and then boil it for a while longer."

The sun had completely set behind the mountain, and the brothers Gousheng and Shitou had also returned. The ox was well fed and had been washed by the canal on the way back. The two brothers had also picked a lot of Polygonum multiflorum and hung it on the ox's back to carry it back, so that they could use it as smoke to repel mosquitoes at night.

Shitou proudly held a bunch of frogs, while Gousheng took out a few duck eggs.

The two ducks had snails and frogs to eat every day. As a result, they laid two eggs a day instead of one, and the eggs became bigger.

"I was just saying that bean curd sheets and fried tofu don't go well with meat, and yet you brought back so many frogs. Oh, and two big frogs. It's just right for us to stew bean curd sheets with frogs, and scrambled duck eggs with fried tofu." The two brothers Shitou were a little confused when they saw a few new faces in the yard.

Lanxiang whispered the situation in the brothers' ears.

"Shi Tou, Gou Sheng, from now on, Men Shuan and Men Zhu are also members of this family. Don't bully them. Take them with you to play." Li Yi instructed.

This dinner,

In the end, we all worked together to complete it.

Lanxiang cooks, Sanniang cuts vegetables, Xiuzhi makes the fire, and Li Yi is the chef.

Xiuzhi stared blankly at Li Yi, who always used a large spoonful of lard when cooking, while the four boys who were already playing together kept sniffing and drooling.

The tiger-striped frog, weighing just over half a pound, would be a protected species in later times, with anyone eating it facing jail. Yet, it's quite common at Hehe Toad Beach, especially at night, where the loudest ones, the ones that constantly chirp, are the ones who are more alert and harder to catch than other frogs and toads. But it's not a problem for Gousheng and Shitou, who are experts at catching toads by swiping fish.

Sanniang was very skilled in handling frogs, peeling the skin, removing the head and internal organs, and chopping them into large pieces. Her movements were very skillful and she was not afraid at all.

Li Yi's cooking is generally recognized as delicious because he is willing to use oil and salt, and will secretly add some secret seasonings.
Frogs stewed with bean curd sheets, fried duck eggs with fried tofu, boiled water spinach, and finally a big pot of wild vegetable soup.

Li Yi only gave himself a passing score. The lack of suitable pots and pans and the lack of a stove really affected his operation. He was very dissatisfied and hoped to put the construction of a smokeless wood-burning stove on the agenda as soon as possible. However, he had to wait until the iron woks, iron tripods, etc. customized by Fengjiabao Blacksmith Shop could be made. The pots and pans needed to be prepared before building the stove.

Xu Xiuzhi helped Li Yi and the others to serve rice and soup. After everything was done, she took the door bolt and door post, but her brothers just stood in a corner.

"You can also serve yourself some rice and soup."

"I'll serve here. After you guys finish eating, I'll clean up and eat later." Xiuzhi said. Although she was a slave before, she also knew that since she was a slave, she must abide by the rules of a slave.

The food was very fragrant and delicious, but I could only swallow my saliva secretly beside them.

Li Yi looked at her, then looked at the two Mensuo brothers who lowered their heads and swallowed secretly.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "We are not a wealthy family, so there is no need to serve us like this. You should hurry up and eat. Bring a big bowl and I will give you some dishes to eat."

Li Yi also knew that her mother was a slave after all, and it was impossible for her to eat at the same table with her master, as that would make everyone uncomfortable.

But Li Yi doesn't care too much about this identity.
Seeing that she didn't move, Li Yi went to get a big bowl, put a little of each dish in it, and then took another bowl to fill a big bowl of soup.

"Hurry up and eat. Next time you cook, pack a portion for the three of you."

Xiuzhi was stunned. How could a slave eat the same food as his master?

"Slave, I will just cook some vegetable porridge every day. One liter of food a day is enough for the three of us."

Li Yi waved his hand and said, "You'll definitely be able to eat your fill here. Go and eat quickly."

Xiuzhi took the dishes and soup to the side and went to get some rice. The three mothers ate in the corridor outside the kitchen. There was no table or chairs, so the dishes and soup were placed on the ground. The three mothers squatted beside them, each holding a bowl of rice and eating.

The millet rice was fragrant, the fried tofu and duck eggs were greasy, and the bean curd sheets and frog stew were even more delicious. Xiuzhi couldn't remember how long it had been since they had eaten such good food, or even how long it had been since they had eaten their fill. She had almost forgotten the taste of salt.

"Eat slowly," Xiuzhi whispered to her two sons as they wolfed down their food. As they ate, tears began to fall into the bowl.

The three of them met a good master, but unfortunately their husbands were not so lucky.

Inside the house, Li Yi said, "It's still not as cool as outside. Let's eat outside. I'll get a stone table and stone benches under the tree in the yard. It will be so comfortable to eat in the cool breeze."

After a while, several people brought out the dishes and soup, and then each of them brought out a big bowl, and also squatted under the corridor to eat, starting the old bowl meeting.

While eating, Sanniang asked Li Yi when he could go to sell bean curd sheets and fried tofu, and also asked if he could set up a stall at the bridgehead to sell soy milk and tofu pudding tomorrow.

"Sure, we can set up a stall at the bridgehead tomorrow morning and try it out. I'm going to Nianzhuang this afternoon to visit the village head, Wang Lizheng. I heard he has a good relationship with the owner of the Nianwan Mati Temple. I'll ask Wang Lizheng to introduce me to him."

Mati Temple is a large temple. During the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Yang Jian's sister became a nun here and ordered the construction of a royal temple. The people called it Huanggu Temple. Now that the Sui Dynasty's Huanggu is long gone, the temple has been transformed into Mati Temple, which was built by the order of the Tang Emperor.

Legend has it that Li Yuan, on his way from Chang'an to Mount Zhongnan hunting, stopped by Nianzhuang and tethered his horse. Severely thirsty, his horse's hooves dug out a spring. Later, Li Yuan led his army into Chang'an and commissioned the construction of the Mati Temple. This temple boasted thousands of acres of land, numerous monks, and an endless treasury for lending money and grain, a stark contrast to the previously abandoned Wuji Temple.

The head of Mati Temple is responsible for all matters related to the farmland belonging to Mati Temple, including the management of field boundaries, farm buildings, furniture, oxen, hired workers, as well as the collection of rent from tenants. He has great power and is commonly known as the head of the lower house.

Li Yi planned to start with the head of the lower house. If he could get this deacon monk under his wing, would the supply of bean curd sheets and fried tofu be a problem? He could even get the right to supply soy products like tofu, vegetarian chicken, and thousand sheets in the future.

Sanniang immediately said, "I can set up the stall at the bridge head by myself. You can go directly to Nianwan to handle your important matter. Yours is more important."

"It's okay. I'll set up the stall with you first. We can go to Nianwan later."

Eat and chat, it's relaxing and comfortable.

After dinner, Xiuzhi washed the pot and washed the dishes, while Lanxiang and her brother went to burn hot pepper and mugwort to smoke out mosquitoes, and the Menshuai brothers followed behind. Li Yi and Sanniang continued to discuss the business partnership.

The evening breeze blows,

Li Yi found that the way the big yellow-haired girl looked at him seemed to be getting more and more wrong, becoming more and more bold and passionate.
"Ah, I ate too much today. I need to go for a walk to digest it. You don't have to stay up all night tonight. Go to bed early and get up early so that you can have enough energy to set up the stall tomorrow."

Li Yi left the courtyard and walked on the country road, breathing a sigh of relief. This girl was a little too much for him to handle.

(End of this chapter)