Meishan Su family, Su Yun is the most virtuous

Chapter 21 Chen Jichang is here!
Ah Hui was talking but his hands did not stop. He cleaned the big pot, put rice in it, lit the fire and simmered it, and then quickly prepared the shad.

Because this place was cleaned up yesterday, there is still rice, flour, oil, salt, and many seasonings, and even a few cans of pickles, so it is not difficult to make a delicious meal.

While cooking, Ah Hui listened to Su Yun talking about official affairs. He was very interested, but still a little confused: "Ah Yun, why are you telling me this?"

Su Yun laughed and said, "If a person wants to get out of his predicament, he needs to have an understanding beyond his own environment, otherwise he will be stuck in the original predicament for the rest of his life.

Listen more and learn more, it will be helpful to you in the future."

Ah Hui smiled and said, "I listened to all this, but it just gave me more topics to talk about with the villagers in the future. It's time to go fishing, so it's probably useless."

Su Yun did not comment.

Ah Hui cooked quickly. By noon, the fish soup had turned milky white, the rice was steamed, and he had scooped out a few plates of pickles. The meal was ready.

Su Shi, Su Mai and Zhu Ada came to eat together. Su Shi drank a bowl of fish soup and said with emotion: "I haven't eaten fish for many days. I didn't know that fish soup is so delicious."

Su Yun smiled and said, "Uncle, I think Ah Hui is quite good at cooking. Do you want to keep Ah Hui and help us cook for a while?"

Su Shi smiled and said, "You decide on this matter."

Ah Hui said a little awkwardly: "I still have to go fishing."

Su Yun smiled and said, "How much money can you make from fishing? Not only will I compensate you for your losses from fishing, I will also give you double your salary."

Ah Hui suddenly became happy.

Ah Hui stayed here and went back to visit his mother every day. He spent the rest of his time in Lingao Pavilion, which was not far from his home anyway.

On the second day, Lingao Pavilion welcomed its first guest after changing its owner.

The visitor was the person who had written to me before. His name was Chen Xu, with the courtesy name Jichang. You may not be familiar with this name, but if I tell you the story behind this person, you may all be familiar with it. This story is called - The Lion Roars of Hedong.

Chen Xu came alone, wearing Taoist robes and riding a skinny horse.

He has a calm aura about him, not like a young master from a wealthy family, but more like a hermit who practices Buddhism in seclusion.

When old friends meet, they are particularly cordial. When Su Shi and Chen Xu met, they had countless things to talk about.

Su Yun smiled when he saw it, and then took Ah Hui to prepare food for the guests.

First, he went to Ahui village to buy chickens, ducks and geese. Then he went to Ahui's home to catch a few fish. He also asked some farmers to go to the mountains to pick bamboo shoots, mushrooms, wild vegetables, etc., and only then did he prepare a table of delicious dishes.

It is only now that spring has arrived and there have been a few spring rains that we have wild vegetables, mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Otherwise, we would only be able to eat pickles.

Su Yun bought dozens of chickens, ducks and geese, and took Zhu Ada and Tian Asan to set up a chicken coop, a duck coop and a goose coop in the leeward side of Lingao Pavilion.

As for why they have to be tied separately, it is because we are afraid that they will fight. If they bite each other to death, it will be a big loss.

Su Shi and Chen Xu passed by, and Su Shi was surprised and asked, "Su Yun, why do you make so many hoops and so many chickens, ducks and geese?"

Su Yun pointed at the chickens, ducks and geese and said with a smile, "Mr. Chen must finish eating these chickens, ducks and geese before you can leave." Su Shi and Chen Xu looked at each other and laughed.

Chen Xu really settled down there with peace of mind. He and Su Shi were friends since childhood.

The two had known each other when Su Shi was an official in Fengxiang, and Chen Xu's father Chen Gongbi was Su Shi's superior.

The two had a very good relationship. Chen Xu was Su Shi's best friend when he was in Huangzhou, and perhaps also his best friend in his life.

The reason why the two can become good friends is that they have similar personalities.

Don’t be fooled by Chen Xu’s plain Taoist robe and indifferent expression, as if he is a person from otherworldly world.

When he was young, he was of a frivolous character, fond of wine and swords, and spent money like dirt.

Once, when he returned to his hometown in Sichuan, he brought two beautiful maids with him. He asked them to dress in green scarves, jade belts, red boots, and military uniforms. He rode on horses to travel around. Whenever he came to a beautiful place, he would stay there for several days.

This incident became a strange story in the conservative small town, and Chen Xu was regarded as a prodigal son by his father.

When Su Shi met him in the mountains, he and Prefect Chen were at odds with each other.

But the two young men had similar personalities and hit it off right away. They rode side by side, holding the reins, and discussed the use of troops and the successes and failures of ancient and modern times, praising each other as heroes of the time.

More than a decade has passed, and the former knight who drank and fencing, and the young man who wandered around with prostitutes, have become hermits in the mountains who study Taoism and seek immortality. Only that vigorous look is still faintly revealed between his brows.

Every day Su Shi and Chen Xu talked about everything under the sun. When they were happy, they would drink. When they cried, they would also drink. Sometimes they would go out for a walk in the middle of the night with candlelight. Sometimes they would go out for a walk in the mountains and rivers in a boat.

Everything else would be fine, but if they got drunk and wanted to go for a cruise on the river by themselves, Su Yun would not let them do that.

Instead, he asked Ah Hui to rent a boat from someone in the village who had a slightly larger boat, then called Zhu A Da and Tian Asan, asked Ah Hui to follow them, and let the boat owner steer the boat, only then he felt at ease.

Su Yun was in charge of all the logistical work at home, and in his free time he would listen to Su Shi and Chen Xu chatting away.

Su Shi did not treat Su Yun as a child and sometimes asked Su Yun questions. Later, Su Yun did not hide his shortcomings and started chatting with the two of them about all sorts of things.

If they were talking about poetry, songs, and essays, Su Shi would naturally crush Su Yun, but if they were talking about mountains, with Su Yun's knowledge of later generations, as well as the strange things he had played with and the many things he had experienced personally, Su Yun was simply a dimensionality reduction attack.

No matter what Su and Chen were talking about, Su Yun was always able to join in the conversation, and often invited Su Shi and Chen Xu, oh no, later even Su Mai, A Hui, Zhu A Da, Tian Asan and others to come and listen, because what Su Yun said was so interesting!
During the ten days or so, the most common words between Su Shi and Chen Yun were: Listening to Su Yun's talk is better than reading for ten years.

Su Yun did not regard Su Shi and Chen Xu as his elders. In fact, his psychological age was not much different from that of the two. To some extent, people who have been tested by nihilism will have deeper and older thoughts and psychological age.

Because they often think about the meaning of life, whether human life has meaning, what is the difference between humans and ants, and what is the value of marriage and childbirth...

It is naturally meaningless for a normal person to think about these things, but it does make a person's thinking depth different from that of ordinary people.

Su Yun likes to chat nonsense with people like Su Shi and Chen Xu because they are closer to each other spiritually.

(End of this chapter)