Starting from a thatched cottage, the farmer embarked on the road to wealth through imperial examina

As soon as Liu Dianli finished speaking and was about to look at the county magistrate's face, he heard the county magistrate asking a question.

“How many cans did he send?”

Liu Dianli thought that the county magistrate suspected that he had embezzled the money, so he quickly replied.

"Four cans were delivered in total."

"What about the rest?"

When Wu Hongchang heard the word "four cans", he was delighted, but Liu Dianli's next words poured a bucket of cold water on him.

"The scholar from the Ye family said that it was for four masters, so I delivered it to the masters' houses respectively."

Seeing the county magistrate waving at him, Liu Dianli was confused and hurriedly retreated.

At the same time, every family in Wanshou County received return gifts from Ye Changyan today.

At the home of Lian Shoucheng, the owner of Lianji Cloth Shop, several grandsons started fighting over some oily chicken mushrooms.

In the home of Sun Youde, the owner of Dexin Hall, the old lady who had always had a light diet, unexpectedly ate up the entire jar of fried chicken mushrooms with her three-year-old great-grandson as if it were a snack.

When the head shopkeeper of Lin's Pawn Shop handed the oily chicken mushroom to the boss Lin Zhengqing, the Sixth Aunt happened to be present. Lin Zhengqing gave it to the Sixth Aunt. The Sixth Aunt gave the oily chicken mushroom to her own children as a snack. However, her own children ate the delicious food and showed off in front of the children from other rooms. This stirred up a hornet's nest. The ladies of several rooms found Lin Zhengqing and started making a fuss. The children even fought over the mushroom and got bruised and battered.

……

Ye Changyan's return gift caused quite a stir in the homes of many wealthy gentry in Wanshou County.

The next day, Ye Changyan, who was completely unaware of the turmoil in the homes of the gentry and wealthy families in the county town, was pushing a cart with Wulang to deliver return gifts to the gentry living outside the county town and the prominent families in the surrounding areas.

Early in the morning, some people headed towards Shanglin Village.

These people were the servants and stewards of the family that ate the gift from Ye Changyan yesterday. They were all ordered by the master of the family to find out the news about the delicacies in the pottery jar.

But all these people came to nothing. Ye Changyan and Wulang went to return the gifts, while Lian and Erniu went to the mountains to pick mushrooms.

As luck would have it, today, after Ye Xiaozheng had dried the mushrooms, he went to the village to find someone who was good at bamboo weaving. He planned to ask someone to weave some more bamboo plaques and sieves, as the ones at home were not enough.

In this era, even the residents in the county town had no entertainment activities. After dinner, people mostly sat together in twos and threes and chatted about daily life. Yesterday, the news that several wealthy families in the county town were in chaos spread like wildfire.

Soon, several outrageous versions of the story emerged.

For example, the old lady of the Lian family was mean, especially to her grandchildren, and the grandchildren fought over snacks.

The old lady of Dexin Hall was so greedy that she stole all the snacks of her three-year-old great-grandson.

Lin Zhengqing favored the Sixth Aunt and only gave her the snacks he bought, which caused a fight among his wives and concubines, causing unrest in the family.

……

These are not too outrageous. There are even more outrageous rumors that are spreading at a rapid pace.

Zhong Yunfeng, who had been checking the account books in the accounting office for the whole day, walked out of the office exhausted and heard two clerks whispering to each other happily.

"Lin Zhengqing is already old, and he has taken in a sixth concubine. This is really a mess."

Zhong Yunfeng happened to overhear this and thought, hasn't the Sixth Concubine been married for several years? What's the fuss?

"What are you talking about?"

Zhong Yunfeng's sudden voice startled the two guys.

The two waiters talked hesitantly for a long time before Zhong Yunfeng understood the general idea. Then he found something strange and called the waiter to ask him in detail.

You wouldn't know if you didn't ask. Once you asked, you would be shocked. You had only been in the accounting office for most of the day, and so many outrageous rumors were spreading in this county.

Wait, Zhong Yunfeng seemed to suddenly grasp a clue in his mind.

These wealthy families had a great deal of trouble over some snacks, and it seemed that one of them was fighting over a clay jar.

Pottery jar? Pottery jar? Zhong Yunfeng suddenly remembered that Ye Changyan gave him a pottery jar yesterday.

Zhong Yunfeng cast his eyes towards the table and saw the shabby-looking pottery jar placed there.

Zhong Yunfeng picked up the jar, scraped off the wax seal, and smelled a fragrance. He opened the lid and the strong aroma hit his nose.

There was something burnt in the jar, soaked in a liquid that looked like grease. It didn't look very good.

Zhong Yunfeng tried to pick up a piece and put it into his mouth. Suddenly, a strong and fresh fragrance filled his entire mouth. He bit it with his teeth and it was quite chewy. He continued to chew it and it became chewier and chewier. However, it did not have the taste of woody, but was quite delicious.

Zhong Yunfeng didn't even realize that he was sucking his fingers unconsciously.

Soon, Zhong Yunfeng had eaten most of the contents of the shabby-looking pottery jar. He couldn't stop eating anymore. He suddenly thought of what Ye Changyan said yesterday.

Zhong Yunfeng quickly closed the lid of the pottery jar, held the jar carefully, and ordered people to prepare the carriage quickly, and rushed to Yuzhou City overnight.

The Ye Changyan brothers traveled around most of the area today, which gave Ye Changyan a preliminary understanding of the local customs and folkways of the area.

In the evening, the two brothers tiredly pushed the cart back to Shanglin Village and returned the cart to the headman's house.

When they got home, Erniu had already prepared dinner. She said to Ye Changyan with some pride.

"Brother, I cooked dinner with a new iron pot. It is much better than the original pot."

Ye Changyan was really tired. He didn't say anything extra and just gave his sister a warm smile.

"Hurry up and eat. I'm tired and hungry. I need to eat quickly and go to bed."

Wulang, who was beside him, walked towards the main room dejectedly.

“Wash your hands first!”

Although exhausted, Ye Changyan still shouted to Wulang.

Wulang hung his head, walked back and went to wash his hands.

Soon, Erniu put the food on the table, a large plate of stir-fried porcini mushrooms and a pot of white radish soup.

The whole family sat around the table, ready to eat. Wulang picked up the bowl and scooped half a bowl of carrot soup into his own bowl.

"Hi~ha!"

After taking a sip of hot soup, Wulang felt that he was finally alive.

"Have you ground the mushroom strips that we fried yesterday?"

"It's all ground, brother, wait a minute, I'll bring it over for you to have a look."

Erniu went towards the millstone with the bowl she had just picked up, and soon came back with a clay basin.

"Brother, do you think this will work? Mom and I ground it several times before it became this fine."

When Ye Changyan took it, he smelled a faint, natural mushroom flavor. He nodded to Erniu, then looked at Wulang.

"Wulang, I'll show you a trick."