Through the troubled times and famine, I just want to farm peacefully

Yun San and Yun Qi had been sitting in the living room waiting for a while. When they saw Su Kunliang and the manager come in, they quickly stood up and saluted.

"Master Su, how are you?"

Su Kunliang returned the greeting, "Thanks to Master Yun San and Master Yun Qi for their concern. I am doing fine."

After greeting each other, Yun San took out a letter from his bosom and presented it with both hands, "This is a letter that Master Su asked me to bring to you."

Su Kunliang took the letter and put it in his sleeve pocket, "Thank you!"

"Master Su, you're welcome!" Yun San pointed at the boxes on the ground and continued, "This is our city lord's annual gift to Master Su. I hope you won't despise it."

"No, no, it's Su who is unworthy of this gift and it would be disrespectful to refuse it." Su Kunliang looked ashamed.

Yun San said frankly, "Master Su, please don't be like this. These are Longtan's specialties. They are a token of the city lord's respect for you."

Su Kunliang nodded and said, "You two have come from afar, why don't you have a quick meal here before leaving?"

"No need to bother, we have important things to do, so we'll take our leave now!"

Yun San and the other man stood up and said goodbye to Su Kunliang.

Su Kunliang tried to persuade him again and again, but he could not persuade him anymore and had to send him to the gate.

Zhu Jinhui returned from shopping with her servants and saw Su Kunliang standing at the gate looking at two figures walking away at the other end of the street.

She thought someone from the old house had come again, so she quickly walked to Su Kunliang's side, frowned, and asked, "Master, who's here?"

Su Kunliang retracted his gaze and said, "It was Yunzhi who sent someone to deliver a letter back."

"Where is it? Let me see." Zhu Jinhui said excitedly.

"Let's go home and talk about it later."

Su Kunliang glanced around at the people who were hiding and peeking through the cracks in the door, and felt unhappy. The couple went into the house and the servants immediately closed the door.

Back in the study, Su Kunliang opened the letters and found one page written specifically to Zhu Jinhui.

Zhu Jinhui took the letter and sat on the chair to read it. After reading just a few lines, she burst into tears.

After reading the letter, Su Kunliang fell silent. He sat quietly in the study, staring at the shelves full of books in a daze. He didn't even know when Zhu Jinhui left.

Su Yunzhi told him in a letter that only after arriving in Longtan did he realize that what he had learned before was so narrow.

Everyone knows that studying is for the purpose of self-cultivation, family management, governance of the country and peace in the world, and for the honor and rise of the family.

But what he thinks more about now is that studying is about understanding the great principles and benefiting the people, and transcending personal gain.

Looking at all the ancient books on the bookshelf that had traveled thousands of miles from Jiancheng, Su Kunliang was confused.

As a family heir, he was more concerned about how the family heritage could be preserved, continued, and made famous amidst the raging war.

Besides this, what else can he do?

"Master, master."

Finally, Zhu Jinhui couldn't help but interrupt him.

Su Kunliang raised his eyelids to look at her. Seeing his dejected look, Zhu Jinhui sighed helplessly.

"Master, please come out and take a look at the things in the boxes outside. I have never seen many of them before."

Scanning the boxes one by one, Su Kunliang looked at the thoughtful notes left in each box, which contained Yuanbao brown sugar, fermented black beans and salt.

He tried each one and couldn't help but sigh inwardly that it was incredible how Lin Yinan and the others could make these things in such a short time.

"Master, do you want to send some to the old house?" Zhu Jinhui is the most filial to the elderly in his family.

Su Kunliang said, "Pick up some of each and send them to my parents."

"Where's Ruer?"

Su Kunliang thought for a moment and said, "When you go back to her parents' home on the second day of the Chinese New Year, pick some up as a return gift for her. You don't need to give her the salt."

Zhu Jinhui was very happy because his arrangement coincided with her own idea.

Looking at everything Su Yunzhi wrote about Longtan in the letter, Su Kunliang planned to go to Longtan after the New Year no matter what.

Yun San and Yun Qi went to Zuixianlou. In addition to Deng Kang and his son, there was one more person.

"Please take your seats, gentlemen." Deng Kang stood up and greeted them considerately.

As the two sat down, Deng Shifa considerately served them tea and asked, "What are your names, sirs?"

"My name is Yun San."

"My name is Yun Qi."

After hearing the two men readily give their names, Deng Kang exchanged a subtle glance with the other person sitting there.

Yun San and Yun Qi's eyes flickered slightly, but they pretended not to know.

Deng Kang said with a smile on his face, "Let me introduce you two. This is my brother-in-law, Lord Lu Changsheng, and this is my son."

After an exchange of greetings, the shopkeeper brought the waiter to serve the food.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Deng Kang readily paid the balance and the deposit for the next batch of goods.

"My two gentlemen, why don't you stay here for a few days before returning?" Deng Kang invited warmly.

Yun San had a faint smile on his stern face, "Thank you, Patriarch Deng, for your hospitality! We have finished what we need to do, and we will leave today. We have to go back to celebrate the New Year, so we won't stay any longer."

Deng Kang said politely, "Then I must stay for two days next time."

"Easy to say, easy to say."

Yun San and Yun Qi left Zuixianlou and went straight to the dock.

Looking at the backs of the two people leaving, Lu Changsheng said in a deep voice, "Brother, these two people are light and nimble, they must be very skilled in martial arts."

"The name is so casual, and he looks like a house slave." Deng Kang murmured.

Lu Changsheng immediately denied it, "They are not servants. Their eyes are filled with murderous aura that can make people shudder. This kind of aura can only be possessed by people who have been on the battlefield."

"Uncle, you said they are soldiers?" Deng Shifa asked puzzledly.

"possible!"

Deng Kang thought for a moment and said, "It seems that the people in Longtan should not be underestimated."

Lu Changsheng stared into the distance with his eyebrows slightly furrowed, in deep thought. What he didn't say was that, judging from the names of these two people, they looked more like the secret guards trained by the aristocratic families in Shangjing at great expense.

Then the three of them took a carriage to the warehouse to check the batch of salt.

Longtan

The New Year’s goods are almost ready. The whole family gets together to clean the house and put up window decorations, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new, and the New Year atmosphere is full.

This year was their first year in Nanman Prefecture. They managed to grow two crops of rice, so that everyone did not go hungry. It was a bumper year.

The houses of the Yun family and the Lin family are next to each other. Old Mrs. Zhao brought her two daughters-in-law, while Mother Yun brought the three daughters-in-law of the Yun family to worship at the door.

This is the day to send the Kitchen God to heaven. Cooked meat, sesame candy and wine are placed on the altar. Yunmu and the sister-in-law keep muttering to themselves.

Everyone is looking forward to the coming year being better than this year!

Yunmu was making sesame candy with her two sisters-in-law. Considering the consumption capacity of Longtan people, the few shops in the county town did not sell these small cakes. Therefore, if you want to eat something, you have to make it yourself.

Sesame candy is an important offering for worship, and Yunmu had prepared the necessary raw materials earlier.

To make sesame candy, you must first remove sand and impurities from raw materials such as wheat and glutinous rice, wash them clean, and soak them in cold water for two to three hours.

The wheat is germinated and then chopped for later use. The soaked glutinous rice should be cooked into glutinous rice. After cooling, it is mixed with chopped malt and fermented and saccharified into maltose.

Then shell the sesame seeds, rinse them to remove the empty shells, and finally fry them.