Crossing the famine, I am a poor fish, and my descendants have to work hard

After the enlightenment, they reviewed on their own while Zhao Yuanzhen was thinking about things.

We should be able to reach Neiqiu the day after tomorrow morning, and she wanted to investigate the den, but she was afraid that she would not be able to complete the investigation due to time constraints.

After thinking about it, she decided to ride the horse first. This was also the main reason why she bought the horse. Then they met outside Neiqiu City.

She told her family about her idea.

Let them be alert. If she doesn't see them outside Neiqiu City the day after tomorrow, she will go out to look for them. If there is any problem, leave a signal.

Anyway, I can scan it myself, so I don't have to worry about losing contact.

The family members were worried and wanted to go with him, but they were afraid of burdening Zhao Yuanzhen. In the end, they had to give instructions again and again.

Before Zhao Yuanzhen left, she left some ingredients for Qian Xiaohui.

He also carefully instructed a few people to pay attention to safety and protect themselves. If necessary, the carriage could be abandoned, but no one must be hurt.

Then he went out and said goodbye to his sons, and went to the old house to find Zhang Sandao.

"Dad, I plan to go to Neiqiu first. We will gather in the city the day after tomorrow. Please be careful. Then please tell the village chief." Zhao Yuanzhen felt that he had to tell the village chief.

"Okay, go ahead and be careful on the road. I'll tell my second uncle." Zhang Sandao knew that the second uncle's daughter was a capable person and she had already made up her mind, so he didn't stop her.

Zhao Yuanzhen then took the sword, the whip, carried a small backpack, and led the horse away.

When he reached the official road, he mounted his horse, walked around the convoy, and headed quickly forward.

There are still many refugees on the road.

Zhao Yuanzhen was riding very fast on the official road.

She tried to arrive a day early.

Except for stopping at noon to deal with some personal issues and feed the horse some grass and beans to rest, Zhao Yuanzhen was on the road all the time.

By 7 o'clock in the evening, it was completely dark. She found a place to stop and began to feed the horses and rest.

If she hadn't been afraid that the horse couldn't hold on, she would have wanted to travel overnight.

The place she chose was rather remote.

I bought a bowl of braised pork rice and my favorite milk tea and started eating slowly.

After eating, I went to the river to wash up. I found a sturdy tree, tied the horse, climbed up the tree, and then entered the space.

She prepared to sleep in the space. She used the boxes in the space to make a bed, took a few quilts and spread them out, and then began to rest.

She can hear the sounds outside in her space.

She was not sleeping very soundly. At about four in the morning, she heard footsteps outside.

She left the space and looked from the tree. She saw a few people walking towards the horse timidly.

I guess he saw the horse and didn't see her on the tree, so he had some bad thoughts.

Zhao Yuanzhen looked at the sky and saw that it was slowly getting brighter.

She leaped down with the sword in hand, mounted the horse accurately, and leaned over to untie the reins tied to the tree.

With his legs clamped around the horse's belly, his left hand holding the reins and the red cherry sword, he whipped the horse with his right hand. The horse then stood up with its front hooves, neighed, and then ran away.

The person who came to steal the horse only saw the horse's butt before he could even see the face of the person who jumped off.

"I told you to hurry up, look someone is coming," one of them muttered.

"Are you stupid? Didn't you see what she is holding?" The other one rolled his eyes and turned away.

Zhao Yuanzhen ran a distance, looked around and saw that there were no people around, so he slowed down his horse.

I found a water source to wash up.

Hiss. It's really cold. The temperature was already low in the early morning, and now I washed my face with cold water.

I woke up instantly.

She took out her backpack and took out a donkey meat hot pot and started eating. She ate three of them before she was full. She also drank a cup of hot soy milk.

After digesting it slowly for a while, I set off again.

If we keep going, we should be able to reach Neiqiu County in the morning.

Sure enough, at around 9 o'clock in the morning, we saw the city wall of Neiqiu from afar.

Zhao Yuanzhen dismounted at the city gate and put away his sword early. He took out his household registration and lined up to enter the city.

Another 10 cents is the city entrance fee.

After Zhao Yuanzhen entered the city, he found an inn to stay in. He then handed the horse to the waiter and asked him to help feed it.

According to the location provided by the traffickers, it was in the backyard of a brothel. The brothel was bustling with people coming and going every day, who would have known that such a sinful place was hidden in the backyard.

Zhao Yuanzhen went out carrying the basket on her back.

She strolled leisurely on the street. How to get into the brothel?

It was unrealistic for a woman to dress up as a man, not at her height and age. She didn't even have the tools to pinch her Adam's apple.

Still have to think of other ways.

She found a teahouse diagonally opposite the brothel, asked for a seat by the window on the second floor, ordered a pot of tea, and some snacks.

Drinking tea, eating snacks, and observing the brothel opposite.

It was past ten in the morning, and the brothel had not yet opened for business. It was still closed.

She was just looking at the structure of the building.

This is a two-story courtyard house. The two-story building in front is the main building where the sign is located. There are two rows of small courtyards on both sides. It is a bit like a small Chinese villa.

The second floor is more than 80 square meters in total, with a small yard. The yard is not big, about square meters. White walls and red tiles. The decoration is very thoughtful.

There are more than 20 small courtyards on both sides. There is a row of houses next to the wall at the back, with only a gate on the right side near the wall. The rest are houses.

In the middle is a small garden with rockeries, a lotus pond, and various flowers, plants, and trees, giving the garden a feeling of winding paths leading to secluded places.

It's closed now and no one is seen walking around.

Zhao Yuanzhen drank tea, paid the bill and left.

He wandered around casually with the basket on his back, and finally walked to the back street of the brothel.

The back streets are quieter.

To the west, the gate was also tightly closed.

The gate was probably built for traffic, so it was quite large, about 3 meters wide.

This wall is also built very high, about 3 meters.

Now it seems that the only way to enter is through this door or the door of the main building. Other places are full of houses and it is impossible to get in.

After turning left and right, I returned to the main street.

We found a restaurant and decided to have lunch.

After walking around for a long time, I found the largest restaurant.

Be luxurious too.

It was dinner time and there was no room left in the lobby.

The waiter led her to a small private room on the second floor.

Zhao Yuanzhen took the menu and looked through it.

"For the appetizer, order a carved plum ball and a fruit platter. For the main course, order a ginger and black bean sauce, a hand-washing crab, a five-treasure sashimi, a ginger and vinegar raw snail, a Jiangsheng, and a lamb tongue skewer. Tell the kitchen to make half a portion of each, and I'll pay for it."

After ordering the dishes, Zhao Yuanzhen gave instructions to the waiter.

I can't finish it by myself, but I want to try more.

The waiter was surprised. He had no idea that this woman, who was dressed simply and carrying a small basket on her back, could be so generous.

This is more than what most young men order.

The waiter responded enthusiastically without saying anything more.

Then he gave the kitchen a menu and told them what Zhao Yuanzhen had told him.

The chef in the kitchen is quite weird. There are always people complaining about the lack of vegetables, but this is the first time someone complains about the large number of vegetables and asks to put less.

But since it was the customer's request, no matter how strange it was, the cook still started to prepare it according to the request.

The waiter quickly brewed a pot of water and brought it in.

The appetizers were delivered.

These appetizers are all prepared in advance. You just need to take them.

Zhao Yuanzhen drank tea and ate appetizers.

This carved plum ball is a candied fruit. Zhao Yuanzhen used to study in Colorful Yunnan and ate it when she went to Dali. The Dali ones are carved plums. She has loved eating them since then.

There are also poems recorded in later generations: "The small green plum on the fingertips, skillfully turned into a jade chrysanthemum, soaked in honey and tasted delicious, I wonder if it is a fairy flower that fell into the world."

Although the words do not have much artistic conception, they can serve as a proof of the historical spread of carved plum blossoms.

Wash the plums and carve them into various patterns with a knife. Some are thorny balls, some are round balls. This one is a round ball.

Then soak the carved plums in honey and other juices. It is a delicious pre-meal preserves.

It tastes sour and sweet, with the fragrance of plum and the smoothness of honey.

Even with tea, you won't feel sick of it. Zhao Yuanzhen ate a lot.

Fruit slices are seasonal fruits that are washed, cut and arranged on a plate.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, the dishes started to arrive.

Zhao Yuanzhen had eaten similar dishes in other times, but was more curious about this ginger sauce.

I asked the waiter and found out that it was made from pig's trotters.

Wash the pig's trotters, put them in a pot with cold water, add onion, ginger and wine to remove the blood and fishy smell, then take them out and add various seasonings to cook until they are soft and boneless. Remove all the bones and cut the pig's trotters into strips.

Put it in a container and add the remaining soup from stewing pig's trotters. After mixing, leave the container overnight to let it solidify.

Then chop the fermented black beans into small pieces and stir-fry until fragrant, add them to the bowl, and then add various seasonings.

Take out the solidified pig's trotter jelly and cut it into small pieces. Put it on a plate and pour the ginger and fermented black beans into the plate.

It's a bit like the pig skin jelly of later generations.

Zhao Yuanzhen tasted it and found it tasted good and not too greasy, probably because all the oil had been cooked away.

She tasted them one by one, without ordering any staple food, and ate these delicacies slowly with tea.

Suddenly someone came into the private room next door.

"It's so rare that we finally have the son of our county magistrate. It's my great honor." A pretentious voice came in.

"Brother Wang, that's not right. Everyone in Neiqiu County knows your talent. It is our honor to sit at the same table with such a talented person."

Then came all kinds of compliments coming and going.

As Zhao Yuanzhen listened, a plan came to her mind. The more she thought about it, the more feasible it seemed.

She was in no hurry to leave, and after finishing her meal she slowly sipped her tea, listening to the conversation in the private room next door.

The man opposite ate and drank for almost three hours, during which he made all kinds of sarcastic poems, followed by all kinds of flattery and praise.

Zhao Yuanzhen was very upset when she heard this. When she felt that she needed to order a cold drink to increase her patience, their drinking party was finally about to end.

Zhao Yuanzhen asked the waiter to settle the bill.

A total of 16 taels of silver.

After paying the money, she went out carrying her small backpack.