The leisurely life of the Qin people

Chapter 97 Ambition (Bonus Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)
Zhang Liang remained seated by the Yi River, basking in the warmth of the sun. As the sun began to set, its reflection shone in the waters of the Yi River.

Before this, Zhang Liang had never seen anyone disassemble or break down these classical texts for children to learn.

It's like crumbling a pancake and feeding it to children so they can easily digest it.

Mr. Luli only needs to lower his head slightly to see the sunset reflected on the river.

The towering Yishan Mountain was beautiful in the sunset. Mr. Luli asked, "Do you know what happened to those scholars from Qi and Lu who went to Qin?"

Zhang Liang knew that some of the scholars from Qi and Lu had been sent to Shangjun, where they were said to live near the Great Wall.

However, Zhang Liang had never personally visited the other scholars from Qilu in Xianyang to see how they fared.

Mr. Lu explained: "The First Emperor gave the scholars from Qi and Lu in Xianyang houses, generous food and clothing, official positions, and respectability, but those scholars from Qi and Lu still gave the First Emperor a lot of advice."

“In the past, Chunyu Yue spoke in the Qin court, and Li Si became Prince Fusu’s teacher. However, Prince Fusu should not listen to only one side of the story. But so many years have passed, and Prince Fusu has rarely interacted with the scholars from Qi and Lu, led by Chunyu Yue…”

Zhang Liang remained silent throughout what Master Luli had said.

Cui Huanggong said, “This young master Fusu is quite wise. That young master probably understood from the beginning that even if the First Emperor gained the world, he would not receive a word of congratulations from the scholars of Qi and Lu. For young master Fusu, it would be better to give it up.”

Zhang Liang studied in various places from a young age. He studied under the great sage Cui Huanggong and also learned from Master Luli.

Listening to the two old men's words again, Zhang Liang realized that even someone as powerful as the one who unified the six kingdoms had things he couldn't do.

Zhang Liang sat quietly to the side, listening to the two great sages comment on the First Emperor and Prince Fusu.

Just as he had thought, Cui Huanggong also felt that Prince Fusu was a person who could hide his ambitions.

……

At this time, the Guanzhong Plain was covered in heavy snow, and inside the schoolhouse in Jingye County, a pot of tofu pudding was being cooked.

Zhang Han and Prince Gao watched Shusun Tong's actions with bated breath.

Shusun Tong picked up a wooden spoon, scooped out a spoonful of tofu pudding, and then watched it drip into the bucket.

While observing the appearance of the tofu pudding, Shusun Tong kept repeating in a low voice, "Watch the pudding, add the sauce, watch the pudding, add the sauce..."

No one knows how many times he read it, but in the eyes of Prince Gao and Zhang Han, Shusun Tong was doing something very mysterious, and this thing was both solemn and magical.

After reading it aloud, Shusun Tong slowly dripped a small spoonful of brine into the bucket.

All we can do now is wait.

Both Zhang Han and the prince had expectant yet serious expressions.

After a long while, the tofu pudding in the bucket remained unchanged.

Shusun Tong held the scroll of secret recipes and looked at it repeatedly, puzzled.

Zhang Han checked again to make sure the tofu in the bucket was unchanged, and said, "Is there something wrong with it?"

Shusun Tong really wanted to eat some more tofu, but he only got the secret recipe and didn't know why it hadn't worked.

Outside, the snow was still falling heavily. Shusun Tong walked to the eaves, sat down, and quietly watched the snow.

After sitting for an unknown amount of time, Shusun Tong fell asleep.

"Teacher! Teacher!"

Hearing someone calling his name, Shusun Tong groggily awoke. He saw Gongzi Gao, composed himself, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Teacher, I've made tofu."

"what?"

Shusun Tong, his eyes full of doubt, followed Gongzi Gao into the house and saw a piece of tofu that had been unmolded. The tofu was a bit rough, but it was indeed tofu.

"Have you read the instructions for 'looking at the flowers and ordering the sauce'?"

Gongzi Gao's sleeves were still rolled up, and he shook his head with a smile.

Shusun Tong was so angry that his beard trembled slightly. He knew that the secret recipe was written by Zhang Cang. He said in a low voice, "How dare Zhang Cang deceive this old man?"

To be honest, Zhang Cang really didn't deceive Shusun Tong; it was dictated by Tian An. Zhang Cang wrote down the secret recipe based on Tian An's dictation, and Tian An did indeed say to keep reciting the recipe while observing the flowers and adding the brine. As for the reason why, Zhang Cang had no idea, since he didn't know how to make tofu.

At this moment, Zhang Cang was sitting in Zhangtai Palace, toasting the First Emperor with Prime Minister Li Si.

Fusu stood outside the Zhangtai Palace, drew his bow and released an arrow into the distance. The arrow pierced through the dense, falling snowflakes and did not land on the distant target.

Fusu tried twice more and finally realized that his talent was mediocre. He handed the bow back to the guards in front of the palace and walked into the main hall.

The main hall of Zhangtai Palace is very large, so you can only feel the warmth emanating from the stove when you walk to your seat.

Tofu became the main dish at this banquet.

Ever since Tian An started researching ways to eat tofu, he's become completely obsessed.

Fusu liked to eat tofu stewed with millet. He looked at his father, who was eating tofu. His father was sitting upright, taking a bite of tofu and chewing it carefully.

"Father, this is made by grinding the newly harvested autumn millet from Weinan into powder and cooking it with tofu into a soup, with chopped green onions and ginger added."

Ying Zheng nodded in satisfaction.

Li Si echoed, "Eating ginger in winter is very good. I think it should be given to the officials at the beginning of winter."

"it is good."

The people of Qin celebrated the Beginning of Winter and had four solar terms.

Upon hearing the First Emperor's reply, Li Si smiled broadly again, raised his wine bowl, and said, "I should congratulate him."

Zhang Cang was still chewing on a pickled radish when he saw the Prime Minister raise his wine bowl. He hurriedly picked up his own wine bowl and joined the Prime Minister in toasting the First Emperor.

Outside the hall, snow was still falling heavily, but inside the hall it was very quiet.

Upon tasting the warm wine, Ying Zheng said, "Very good."

After drinking a bowl of wine, a palace maid immediately took a spoon and refilled the Prime Minister and Imperial Censor Zhang's cups.

Li Si raised the refilled wine bowl and said, "Your subject toasts you, my lord."

Zhang Cang said, "Your subject respects you, young master."

"Respectfully to both teachers, Fusu."

Then, Tian An brought over a bowl of pancakes. The pancakes were very thin and made from millet. They were only sprinkled with a suitable amount of salt, and they tasted very delicious.

Ying Zheng took the pancake, put the tofu inside, rolled it up, and then added some chopped green onions.

Seeing that his father was moving slowly, Fusu handed the cake he had wrapped to his father.

Seeing this, Ying Zheng stopped adding vegetables to the pancake and handed his own pancake to his son. He took the pancake from his son, took a bite, and chewed it.

Zhang Cang's way of eating was much simpler. He didn't add any vegetables to the pancake, but ate it bite by bite, then bite by bite of tofu.

The ingredients are very simple; there's not much meat even today, just like a regular home-cooked meal.

Li Si then told the First Emperor about the interesting things that happened in Xianyang.

Fusu also overheard that Chunyu Yue and his wife were not getting along, and that his wife had left Xianyang with their child in a fit of anger.

Chunyu Yue's wife was a noblewoman from the former Qi region, and her family was quite wealthy. She left in a carriage, but once his wife left, Chunyu Yue lost his source of income.

Upon hearing this, Ying Zheng smiled but said nothing more.

At today's banquet, the group tacitly avoided discussing politics and listened to Li Si tell jokes about Chunyu Yue.

The court has suspended its court sessions; this is how it should be, and we should properly prepare for the winter.

……

P.S.: Here's a little extra chapter, please vote with your monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)