I have been farming since I crossed over.

On the 25th day of the twelfth lunar month, Yang Mingxi and her family did not go up the mountain again. Instead, they prepared meals for the guests at home. Although not many people would eat this meal, the Yang family attached great importance to it and wanted to make it better than the banquet for Yang Mingmo's wedding.

The dishes they finally decided on were the four hot dishes Yang Mingmo had had at her wedding last time: braised roe deer, boiled fish, chicken stewed with potatoes, and spicy rabbit. They couldn't decide on the other dishes.

Old Man Yang didn't even bother asking his sons for their opinions. He went straight to Yang Mingxi and said, "Girl Xi, help your seventh uncle look at the dishes for the banquet. After your second sister's last banquet, I don't know what dish could be better than that one, even a little bit better. I can't think of anything better. Your uncles and aunts' dishes are even worse. So I came to you for advice. Once we decide on the dishes for the banquet, just make sure to have the same ones."

"Grandpa, I want to know one thing. What do you mean by good? Is it just that the food tastes good, or is it that the food is rare? I need to know this so that I can prepare dishes according to your needs."

"There is also this saying. The villagers think everything is good as long as it's meat. But last time we had eight dishes, six of them had meat. It can't all be meat. That's not good either." Old Man Yang said sadly.

"Then let's think about the dishes!" Yang Mingxi looked at Old Man Yang, waiting for his reply.

"Okay, tell me what you think, Xi girl."

"Let's change the cold dishes this time to poached chicken and cold rabbit. These can be prepared in advance and served directly when the time comes. I can teach Fourth Aunt-in-law (it's the Fourth House's turn to cook these days) how to make them." Yang Mingxi said.

Old Man Yang heard the names of two unfamiliar dishes and wanted to eat them. The cold dishes were decided, but since the ingredients of the hot dishes were used, the hot dishes had to be changed as well.

"The cold dishes sound delicious. We can order these two. But the cold dishes use the ingredients of the hot dishes. What should we do with the hot dishes?" Old Man Yang looked at Yang Mingxi and asked.

"Grandpa, do we have any pickled vegetables at home?" Yang Mingxi asked.

"Yes, your sister pickled two large jars of it before she got married. It should be ready to eat now."

"Then, Grandpa, let's make pickled fish with the fish meat." Yang Mingxi said.

"Okay, you are the chef this time. The food you cook is better than others." Old man Yang said bluntly.

The final dishes for the banquet were: braised roe deer, pickled fish, steamed pork ribs with rice flour, and a stewed mixed pot. Cold dishes included poached chicken and cold rabbit. Dessert was braised pumpkin, and the dried vegetables were fried crispy pork.

Old Man Yang looked at the dishes his granddaughter mentioned, called a few daughters-in-law to help, asked Yang Mingxi for some guidance, and prepared the guest banquet for Yang Laoqi's wedding.

The men weren't idle either. A few days ago, Yang Mingxi had instructed Yang Minghu to build ridges around the rice paddies and dry them in the sun two or three days before planting them. Only then would the paddies be suitable for planting. So, Yang Mingyu, along with the men from the Yang family, his uncle from the Wu family, and the villagers, went over today to build ridges around the rice paddies, each one about 1 feet wide, to make it easier to cover them with tarpaulins.

The seedling fields were quickly piled up into ridges, and the ditches were filled with water. They were left there to dry for a day or two, just in time for the seedlings to be sown after the banquet.

The process of Yang Laoqi's wedding was very simple, no different from that of other families. Since everyone had to prepare to sow rice seedlings, there were no new tricks.

After Yang Laoqi's banquet, everyone came to the rice seedling field together. Yang Mingxi took advantage of the morning to go to Qingshui County, took out the rice in the space, packed it in ordinary bamboo baskets, and brought back a full cart of rice seeds.

When they arrived at the rice seedling field, Yang Mingxi asked everyone to bring down the baskets. When they opened them, they saw that they were full of rice with green sprouts. The grains were plump and very cute.

Yang Mingxi taught everyone to first spread a thin layer of rice seeds, then cover it with a layer of soil, use bamboo to build a bow at a certain distance above the ridge, and finally cover it with oilcloth.

During this period, just make sure the water in the ridges does not dry up, and then remove the tarpaulin after the fifteenth day of the lunar year.

The Yang family was busy sowing seedlings. In the Qianhuang Mountains next to Changshan Village, several men in black gathered together and rarely talked about their master, because their master had gone into the mountains alone and said he would not come out until the fifteenth day of the lunar year, so they could have a good New Year.

The leader of the secret guards fell into deep thought. His master had been becoming increasingly difficult to understand recently. For example, a few days ago, his cousin had invited him to a banquet, and after the cousin had gone out for a while, the master, with a sullen face, was about to leave. However, he stood up, glanced out the window, and hurried out, not allowing the secret guards to follow him.

It took him a while to come back. His expression changed again. He was obviously in a better mood and spoke more casually to his cousin. He finally looked a bit like the playboy he used to be.

Their master, a man of great ability, had always, due to family reasons, acted like a dandy, in order to confuse the old master's rivals. As expected, the old master was framed and demoted to a commoner. The entire General of the Cavalry's mansion was sealed off, and all personnel were stationed at a farm outside the capital, guarded by the Imperial Guard. The eldest granddaughter of the General of the Cavalry, now the Consort, interceded, allowing one of the General's men to be sent to the desolate Thousand Desolation Mountains, three thousand miles away, to arrange for lodging. Three months later, everyone in the General's mansion, lightly armed, journeyed alone to the Thousand Desolation Mountains. Their fate depended entirely on the ability of the sent man. No one was allowed to rescue, rob, or kill them in any way, and no one or any force was allowed to disturb the family's lives in the Thousand Desolation Mountains. The last man allowed out was the youngest grandson of the General of the Cavalry, his own master, Lu Jintang, who spent his days idling, cockfighting, and horse racing.

My master was traveling alone on foot, accompanied only by the five secret guards assigned by the master, all of whom were dispatched. My mission was to find capable soldiers who could build houses; another was to appease the generals of the cavalry army who had been implicated.

In short, the five secret guards had no idea how the master came to Qianhuang Mountain. Anyway, when they arrived, they were the first to find someone and bring them to Qianhuang Mountain. The master had already chosen a place to build a house, marked it, and built a row of seven or eight small wooden houses, and stored some food, vegetables and meat. When they arrived, there were already signs of life in Qianhuang Mountain.

However, the master had changed his usual dandy demeanor and became depressed and gloomy. It wasn't until he met the young couple from the next village that he became angry. When he saw them chatting affectionately, he would disrupt them and even steal their grilled fish. This kind of childish behavior is really unparalleled.

The black-clad leader of the secret guards was still lost in thought when a certain master, who had reportedly gone deep into the mountains to celebrate the Lunar New Year, infiltrated the back hall of the county government office and engaged in conversation with a young man. There were only two people in the back hall: Lu Jintang, who had just infiltrated, and Tang Jiahang, the newly appointed magistrate of Qingshui County. He was the eldest son of the granddaughter of the General of the Cavalry. His father was currently the Minister of War. He had just won the top spot in the imperial examination and had requested a transfer to a distant post, becoming the seventh-rank magistrate of Qingshui County.

The two of them clearly had nothing to talk about, so they just sat there in silence. A long time passed before the new magistrate of Qingshui County finally spoke: "When do you plan to pick up your grandparents, little uncle?"

Lu Jintang didn't even lift his eyelids, as if he was asleep.