Travel back to ancient times and open a Sichuan restaurant

"Looking for Aunt Mei?"

Feng Ning, the eldest son of the Feng family, was teaching his younger brother and second sister in the study when he heard a servant come to report that Aunt Mei's brother was coming.

"I remember that Aunt Mei's brother said yesterday that he would go back to Yunzhou today. Could he be here to say goodbye?" he thought to himself, but Aunt Mei was not at home at this time. Early this morning, his mother took several aunts to the temple to burn incense.

He pondered for a moment, asked his younger brother and sister to practice calligraphy seriously in the study, and went out to greet them.

There was a loud thunder in the sky, and just as he walked into the reception hall, it began to rain. The rain had been going on for dozens of days, and it was intermittent and very annoying.

Zhao Cunliang, who was sitting in the hall nervously drinking tea, stood up immediately when he saw someone coming in. "I am Zhao Cunliang, and I have the honor to meet Master Feng."

As soon as Feng Ning saw the person, he felt something was wrong. This was not Aunt Mei's brother.

He frowned slightly and looked at the man who claimed to be Aunt Mei's distant cousin with a scrutinizing gaze.

*

The rain has not stopped since morning. Chen Dongzhi and his men hid in a small, uninhabited house at the foot of the mountain.

"Brother Duan, if the rain continues until night, we will have to spend the night here." After taking a look at the sky outside, Chen Dongzhi felt that the rain would not stop for a while.

"Let's see first. If it doesn't work, we can sleep here for one night and set off early tomorrow." Master Duan has been traveling for so many years and has some understanding of the weather. He estimated that the rain would continue until midnight, so he asked his men to start a fire and cook.

It quickly got dark and the rain got heavier. Everyone started a fire and set up a pot to prepare dinner.

At this moment, the sound of horse hooves suddenly came from outside, and the voice of someone talking mixed with the sound of rain came in.

There was a knock on the door. Chen Dongzhi went out and pushed open the dilapidated door. A gray-haired old woman came in and asked them in a loud voice if they were the owners of the house and if they could stay in for one night.

After asking how many people there were, Chen Dongzhi asked her to wait a moment. The empty house next door was used by them to store goods, and it would take time to vacate it.

After going in and talking to Master Duan and the others, except for a few people who stayed behind to make a fire and cook, everyone else went out and moved all the goods to the current room.

"Okay, come in!" Chen Dongzhi shouted to the old woman who was still waiting at the door.

I originally thought there were just a few people, but it turned out that the other party helped several noble ladies, who were dressed very richly, down from the carriage.

Several people were surrounded by maids and servants and entered the empty room next door, followed by a dozen guards.

Escort Master Duan looked around without revealing a word, and waited until the other party closed the door before saying, "This must be a wealthy family who went out and happened to encounter rain and couldn't come back. I remember there is a Yunyin Temple not far from here - it's really a grand occasion."

Chen Dongzhi glanced at it casually and didn't take it seriously. He took out the shorts and vest that his wife had given him before he left, and changed into them in a random corner in the house. He felt uncomfortable with his wet body.

"Hey! What is this?" Escort Duan turned around and saw the big shorts and old man's vest that Chen Dongzhi was wearing. He was immediately surprised and looked around him. "Where did you buy this? It's comfortable to wear in summer, right? Tell me and ask your sister-in-law to buy me a few pieces."

Others also gathered around, laughing and touching Chen Dongzhi's underpants and vest. He couldn't dodge and was touched several times.

The noise of the fight spread to the next door. A maid serving Mrs. Feng pouted in dissatisfaction, "What's wrong with these country people? They have no manners at all. Don't they know there are people next door? And they are so loud. I'll go teach them a lesson!"

"Okay." Mrs. Feng said helplessly, "It's good enough that they are willing to give us an empty room. Why are you still arguing with them?"

She ignored the angry woman and turned to ask the concubines, "How is it? Are your clothes wet?"

Aunt Mei was a little embarrassed. Her clothes were the wettest and now they were all sticking to her body.

Seeing her embarrassment, Mrs. Feng asked someone to bring a tinderbox and pile up firewood to start a fire.

But something even more embarrassing happened. The few tinderboxes we brought were all wet and we couldn't light the fire.

"Why don't we go and borrow some light from next door?" Aunt Qing suggested.

Then he asked a maid to go and borrow a lighter. The uneducated maid next door volunteered to borrow it.

There was a knock on the door, and everyone stood aside. They were all holding bowls and it was difficult to open the door. Chen Dongzhi, who was closest to the door, opened it casually and saw that it was the person next door. "What's the matter?"

The old woman looked at them through the crack in the door, looking them up and down. She raised her chin slightly as she spoke, "Do you have any tinder? The ones we brought are all wet and unusable."

Chen Dongzhi felt that this old woman was a little weird, so he threw a tinderbox to her and was about to close the door.

In the end, the woman suddenly grabbed the door and whispered to the people in the room, "Do you know who's next door? It's the wife and concubines of our Wuzhou prefect Feng! Be careful with your words! Speak softly, or you will disturb the nobles. I will not forgive you!"

After saying this, he walked away with his chin up, leaving everyone in the room looking at each other in bewilderment.

Chen Dongzhi's eyes darkened. Was the person in the next room the supporter of Boss Zhao? The wife of the prefect, and even his concubine were there?

After dinner, everyone took turns to keep watch.

While everyone was dozing off, he slowed down his pace, walked to the door of the next room, and started a conversation with a guard.

*

After getting what he wanted to know, he didn't stay for long. He nodded to the man and went back to take over.

Before daybreak, people from the Feng family came and took the prefect's wife and several concubines back home.

Chen Dongzhi and others were also preparing to set off. Escort Master Duan glanced at the next door, which had been cleaned up and did not look like anyone had ever lived there. He muttered, "Rich families are so particular," and he also shouted and rode away.

Three days later, the group returned to Nanzhou with the goods. At this moment, they saw someone hawking goods on the street. Chen Dongzhi turned his head and saw that it was lychees.

He became interested, so he let the others go first and got off the horse to ask the vendor how much the lychees were.

Seeing that the visitor was riding a big horse, the vendor smiled more attentively and said, "Fifty coins a pound, you can try one."

Chen Dongzhi picked one up and tasted it. It was indeed sweet, juicy, thick and had a small core. He asked for ten kilograms of it and prepared to take it home for his wife and mother to try.

When he brought it back to the inn, Master Duan and the others teased him, "You are the only one who loves his wife. What if your sister-in-law knew that I didn't bring back such a rare thing and blamed me?"

"Brother Chen, which street did you buy this from? I'll go and take a look too!" Dafeng on the side was eager to buy a few pounds to take back.

Escort Master Duan grabbed Dafeng's neck and said, "Come on, come on, I'll go with you and buy some for my wife to try."

A few people also went to buy it. They all thought it was a good idea and bought some back for their families to try.

But when he set out on his return journey the next day, Chen Dongzhi discovered that the lychees that were still fresh yesterday had turned a little black.

On the third day, the lychee, which was originally only a little black, turned completely black, and the skin became very dry, black and brown.

When he got home, the ten kilograms of lychees were completely rotten. Sitting in the yard of his home, Chen Dongzhi looked at the basket of lychees and fell into deep thought.

Zhong Ruyi told him not to think about it and went to collect the clothes drying in the yard. "These lychees just can't last long. Forget about it. How about you bring back a lychee seedling next time and eat as many as you want in the future?"

Chen Dongzhi just kept collecting clothes and didn't say anything. He just felt that he was short-sighted. He didn't even know that something as delicate as lychees could not be kept overnight. It was such a waste of money.

Fortunately, he was not the only one who bought it, so he felt a little relieved.