Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 132 Is it sweet? It's sweet, that's all that matters!

"Okay, if you're out having fun, try to have some fun."

Lin Zhou popped a milk candy into Xiao'e's mouth: "Don't think about those unhappy things. I know that seeing him reminds you of your father."

"Not exactly."

Xiao'e sat next to Lin Zhou, hugging her knees, with a sweet milk candy in her mouth. As always, she gently smoothed the candy wrapper in her palm and carefully put it in her purse.

While everyone else's purses were filled with various little trinkets from girls' homes, Xiao'e's purse was filled with a whole bag of White Rabbit candy wrappers.

Lin Zhou stepped forward and laughed, ruffling her ponytail into a messy pile: "Still keeping it as a collection?"

"What my brother gives me, I can't take away even a little bit."

Xiao'e raised her head, her eyes squinting in the backlight, and made a sucking sound as she sucked on a candy: "All these years, all the sweetness I've had has come from my brother, but he doesn't want me."

"Your mother—" Lin Zhou pointed at her, "Why are you so stubborn?"

Xiao'e rolled her eyes but didn't answer him. She just kept looking down and fiddling with the candy wrapper in her hand, muttering to herself, "Well, it's fine. Anyway, I don't plan to get married. I'll just eat and drink your food for the rest of my life."

"That's a good idea. Dating is so boring. I'll take you to find a model in a while."

Zhao Ji, who was not far away, kept trying to join in, but Xiao'e's attitude towards him was extremely cold, almost as if he were invisible. Meanwhile, he was chatting happily with Lu You, but every time he looked over, he could see Xiao'e sitting there interacting with Lin Zhou.

That agonizing feeling of being torn apart filled him with pain, but he had no right to ask, since he was not the one who protected her, neither then nor now.

Just then, Hongliu suddenly complained that her legs were sore, slumped onto Lin Zhou's back, and wrapped her arms around his neck: "Take me to collect cow dung!"

"What are you picking up?" Lin Zhou turned his head to the side. "No, I was just chatting with Xiao'e. You don't need to do this, really."

"Collecting cow dung! I remember when I was a kid, Yangti and I would go out to collect cow dung whenever we had nothing to do. We would dry it and store it up, so we could use it to heat the stove in the winter."

"You're a princess." Xiao'e looked at her in surprise: "Even a princess has to collect cow dung?"

"I can't explain this to you southern barbarians." Hongliu straightened up and explained, "The far north is bitterly cold. Whether it's ordinary people or nobles, everyone has to start stockpiling from spring. One woodshed is enough for you, but we need sixteen woodsheds. Three of them are specifically set aside to store cow and horse dung for emergencies, because you don't know whether this winter will be long or short, warm or cold."

Lin Zhou looked up at her blankly: "Then why not just fill it up completely?"

"Expensive." Hongliu sat down next to Lin Zhou, leaning against his shoulder. "You haven't been to the North, so you don't know how tough the North is. After late autumn, people can't go into the mountains anymore. First, it's cold, and second, bears and tigers can't find food and have to come down from the mountains to hunt. And trees don't mature in a year or two. The timber is cut down bit by bit, and the further away it goes, the more expensive it becomes. Even a family like mine can't afford to wait that long. So no matter what, we have to stock up. Even though our thirteen woodsheds are already full, we still have to stock up."

At this point, Hongliu looked up and sighed, "What you call a good snowfall that promises a bumper harvest, in my family it means every inch of snow is a life."

At this moment, Xiao'e tilted her head and looked at Hongliu, who also squinted at her. Lin Zhou tilted his head and glanced at their eyes: "You two aren't about to kiss, are you?"

Hongliu chuckled and patted Lin Zhou on the shoulder, then stood up and reached out to grab Xiao'e's hand: "Come on, come with me to get the mutton. I can't stand people who don't work."

"Weren't you just going to pick up cow dung?"

"It doesn't matter. As long as you take her away from you, whether she's a cow or not is irrelevant."

Actually, although they fought, they had a pretty good chat. In fact, their situations were quite similar. One was Yue Fei's daughter and the other was Yue Fei's granddaughter. Although their fathers were enemies on the battlefield, Yue Fei was awesome precisely because of this.

Even the Jurchens, who were arrogant even when facing the emperor, would add the title "Marshal" after Yue Fei's name as a respectful term. The people who disrespected Yue Fei the least were precisely those whom Yue Fei protected.

So Xiao'e was very careful here. When she arrived at the Jin people's place, even the Prince Rui had to talk to her alone. Even the Queen Consort couldn't just talk to Xiao'e casually.

The reason is simple: they had all been beaten by Xiao'e's father, and the beatings were quite severe.

Lin Zhou continued grilling skewers, and the aroma had already attracted many people to stop and watch from a distance. After all, many spices were missing from legitimate barbecue and braised food stalls these days. Let's not even talk about chili peppers; just consider black pepper. At that time, black pepper was still subject to a "monopoly," meaning that, like salt, it was not allowed to be sold privately. The annual yield of black pepper from trial cultivation in Guangzhou was less than a hundred catties, which led to high demand but insufficient supply, causing the price to soar higher than silver. One tael of silver could only be exchanged for five qian of black pepper.

Lin Zhou sprinkled pepper powder as if it were free —

Another thing is sugar. The way these Song people watched Lin Zhou and his group eat sugar was roughly the same as how Lin Zhou watched Americans eat sugar. Actually, sugar wasn't expensive at the time, and there were plenty of vendors selling it on the roadside. But the problem was that most of them were selling maltose rather than granulated sugar, and many people had never even seen granulated sugar before.

Lin Zhou had set out a bunch of all kinds of sweets and candies, which even attracted bees. Some children would sneak over, and the girls, being soft-hearted, would stuff a piece of candy into the child's mouth. When the child went back and told others, that would solidify the claim of extravagance.

Everyone rushed over to see whose young master it was, and they saw Zhao Gongzi, one of the four young masters of Lin'an City.

As for Young Master Zhao, although he is called a prince, everyone knows that as long as the emperor doesn't have any more children in recent years, he is basically the crown prince.

And the person hanging out with this young master was none other than Lin Zhou, who had been bullying the weak and acting arrogantly during this period. Although his reputation among the lower class and the upper class was extremely polarized, not many miserable people could make it on this spring outing.

So in the southern part of the city, he was practically the embodiment of Guanyin Bodhisattva, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and salvation. But in this place, he was the tyrant who forcibly took a woman and bullied the orphan of his wife's family.

How could the highly praised Young Master Zhao be associating with such a person?

Absurd! Utterly absurd!

Those who recognized them walked away quickly. Lin Zhou didn't care, since he had been known for his foul odor for a long time. On the contrary, Zhao Ji looked at the strange expressions of the people around him and asked in surprise.

Why do all these people look like that?

Lu You laughed heartily: "It is naturally despicable for the Prince to travel hand in hand with two traitors. I just wonder if the Prince still cherishes his own reputation."

Zhao smiled and shook his head: "Most people in the world are ignorant, it doesn't matter."

As he spoke, he glanced at Xiao'e out of the corner of his eye, but quickly looked back: "Is what Wu Guan said just now true? Will the Jin Kingdom's northern expedition fail?"

"Eighty or ninety percent." Lu You continued with a serious expression, "If we rely solely on the various tribes of the grasslands, we will naturally be unable to resist the elite forces of the Jin Dynasty. After all, Wanyan Zongbi is no ordinary person. However, there are people in the court supporting the Mongols, so the outcome is uncertain."

Upon hearing this, Zhao's ears perked up immediately: "Hmm? Who do you think is so blatantly defying Qin Hui's wishes?"

Lu You smiled slightly, raised his head to look at the sky: "Your Highness, think about it, how many people in the court have such confidence and ability to not fear Qin Hui?"

"Han Shizhong".

Zhao Fen placed his fists on his knees: "But if the Jin Kingdom is defeated, they will surely turn to our Great Song for their revenge."

"He wants it and we'll just give it to him?" Lu You chuckled, his face suddenly filled with murderous intent. "Given the current state of the Jin Dynasty, the ruler is powerless, and the court is controlled by his relatives, one being Wanyan Zongbi, and the other Wanyan Liang. If Wanyan Zongbi suffers a major defeat this time—"

"Wanyan Liang—" Zhao Ji's eyes twitched slightly: "Marshal Han has always looked down on Wanyan Liang, thinking that he is too young and only has Wuzhu in his heart. But in my opinion, Wanyan Liang is far more capable than Wanyan Zongbi. He is only twenty-three or twenty-four years old, but he can already stand on equal footing with a minister of Emperor Taizu like Wanyan Zongbi."

"Yes, Brother Lin said the same thing. He said that the Song Dynasty has only one chance right now, which is to take advantage of this period of transition between the old and the new, break the treaty, send troops north, attack Shandong, and force the Jin people out of the pass."

Zhao Ji glanced intently at Lin Zhou, who was stuffing a large piece of meat into Xiao'e's mouth in the distance, then turned back with a hint of suspicion in his eyes: "Brother Lin, does he know about these things?"

Lu You nodded slightly: "I understand a little, but he also said that his views are only superficial. Besides, we are just people who discuss politics, and our words carry little weight. In the end, we still need someone like the Prince who can control the government."

These words were like a pole thrust into Zhao, sending him soaring into the sky that he couldn't fall back down. He had no ability to control the government; he was still only at the stage of listening to and learning about politics.

"But—" Zhao Fen looked troubled. "But I don't know what to do—"

Lu You suddenly became rambling. He shifted his position closer to Zhao Ji, gently lifted his clothes, took out a small book, and said in a tone like, "Brother, do you want some books?", "I have a book here."

After saying that, he handed over the small notebook that Li Han had given to Lin Zhou: "Brother Lin lent it to me, and now the Prince and I are looking at it. But please be very, very careful, Prince, and make sure no one else discovers it."

"Why—?"

"The art of slaying dragons!" Lu You's voice was sinister, revealing a hint of murderous intent: "If anyone discovers that the Prince has been studying the art of slaying dragons so early on, hehe—"

Zhao straightened up immediately. He carefully observed his surroundings, then quickly stuffed the booklet into his pocket. He then let out a long sigh, feigning composure: "I'm a little hungry."

"I presume the roasted meat for my brother is ready. Your Highness, please."

"please."

At the very moment Zhao Ji stood up, a quick glance back revealed that Hong Liu and Xiao E were dragging Lin Zhou across the grass.

Zhao Ji's eyes, however, held an intense resentment. He even wished he were the one being pulled across the grass; it was their favorite game back then, and he was always the one being dragged like that.

"Damn it! You two bastards! You got covered in cow dung!" Lin Zhou shouted in his loud voice, "Fuck! I'm covered in it!"

Zhao Ji was taken aback, then thought to himself: it wouldn't hurt to delay it later—

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