You are unlucky and I am tough

Cheng Li was the person in the village who had the most contact with Master Yuan. In addition to some trivial matters, he also found a woman to cook lunch and dinner for the two masters.

However, there has been a troublesome thing recently. Master Yuan is quite particular about food and has a straightforward personality. He directly said that the woman in charge of cooking is not a good cook.

He had an old servant with him, who would go to the county restaurant from time to time to buy some dishes and bring them back.

Cheng Lizheng felt very embarrassed. Others came to teach, but they had to pay for their own meals.

But most women in the village are only good at cooking food, and they cannot make good dishes even if they have good ingredients.

For Master Yuan, who came from a relatively well-off family in the county, this was indeed a difficult situation for him.

There are women with good cooking skills in the village, but they all have their own businesses and definitely won't come to the school to cook for the teacher.

After changing several chefs, their cooking skills were still mediocre. Master Yuan told him to stop and just make do with the food. If it didn't work, he could ask the old servant to go to the county to buy some.

Hearing Cheng Shuang say that she wanted to ask Master Yuan to teach Xiao Si calligraphy and painting, Cheng Lizheng gave them an idea. If they could be responsible for Master Yuan's two meals a day, perhaps he would be willing to accept Xiao Si.

The food at Cheng Shuang's house is definitely one of the best in the village, and Cheng Guqiu's cooking skills are comparable to those of a restaurant chef.

In addition, Cheng Shuang always has creative ideas about cooking. Under her guidance, not only Cheng Guqiu, but also the two servants in charge of the kitchen at home have made great progress in cooking skills.

After getting this useful information, the two of them were not in a hurry to look for anyone. They asked the head of the village and the person in charge of cooking to tell them that they didn't need to prepare lunch today.

Then he returned home and wrote a list of ingredients for Aunt Peng, asking her to go to the county to buy them.

Aunt Peng had been at the Wei family for a few months, and she had often watched the family members read and write. As a result, she had learned quite a few words, and could recognize half of the words for the ingredients on the menu.

Wei Xinyi taught her a few more times, and after she recognized them all, she left.

The two went to the pond. Xiao Si was actually painting the surrounding scenery in the pavilion, while Lin Zelan was fishing and there was a stove next to him making tea.

After asking, I found out that it was too early for Xiao Si to copy the works of masters at his level. After all, he was too young. After trying, he felt it was not working and gave up. He decided to practice more and try again after improving his painting skills.

The two of them went over to take a look and saw a rough outline of the surrounding scenery on a piece of white paper.

The waterfall, the pond, the attic, the viewing pavilion, the small bridge and the flowing water, as well as the two albizzia trees nearby and Lin Ze who was fishing were all painted on.

There were five or six paint dishes on the table, in blue, red, green, yellow and white. Cheng Shuang had bought the paints from a roadside vendor two months ago, but the colors were all mixed by Xiao Si himself, as Master Shen had taught him.

Cheng Shuang remembered that she didn't buy much of each kind of paint, but now it seems like there are still quite a lot, which means that the child really has little chance to paint in the academy.

Xiao Si was conscientiously painting the stones, and the two men did not disturb him and ran to the pond to catch fish.

Thinking that fishing with a fishing rod was too slow, Wei Qinglang simply used a scoop net and caught a black carp and a grass carp.

There was actually a grass carp in Lin Zelan's bucket, so she asked them to take it back.

Cheng Shuang was feeling depressed as she held the fish. A patient had already caught a fish, but she couldn't.

I brought the fish home and soon bought the ingredients.

Cheng Shuang took the vegetable basket to the field. Some beans had already grown in the vegetable garden. She picked a handful, and also picked some water spinach and three cucumbers.

Today's menu: steamed rice with bacon, braised fish in black bean sauce, baked spare ribs in casserole, stir-fried beef with beans, spicy and sour shredded potatoes, stewed beef brisket with potatoes, water spinach with garlic sauce, and smashed cucumber.

Cheng Guqiu knew that this meal was for Xiao Si to become his apprentice, so he said he would cook himself, and Cheng Shuang would just be responsible for telling him what to do.

After an hour of hard work, one dish after another, delicious and fragrant, came out of the pot.

Wei Qinglang brought two food boxes and put all the dishes in them.

Xiao Si also ran back to have lunch. Cheng Shuang took the painting he had been drawing for the whole morning and went to find Master Yuan with Wei Qinglang.

The children at the school had finished their classes and went home for dinner. Master Yuan was pacing back and forth at the door with the book "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" in his hand, frowning and thinking seriously about something.

The two of them went straight over, and Cheng Shuang saw Master Yuan up close for the first time. He was in his fifties, with average looks but a strong scholarly air, and his overall temperament was rather elegant.

It does give people a similar feeling to Master Shen.

"Friend Wei is here." Master Yuan was delighted to see Wei Qinglang, stroking his beard and saying, "It just so happens that I've been wanting to make a hand-cranked fan that can be added with ice cubes, and I was thinking of asking you to help me look at the blueprints."

"There's no rush to look at the blueprints. I'm here to bring you lunch today," Wei Qinglang said as he introduced Cheng Shuang to him. "Sir, this is my wife, Cheng."

Cheng Shuang folded her hands and placed them naturally at her waist, bowing slightly, "How are you, sir?"

Master Yuan quickly returned the greeting and asked in confusion, "Why are you the ones delivering food today?"

Wei Qinglang got straight to the point, "To be honest, my husband and I have something to ask of you."

Master Yuan was puzzled. "I am just a teacher. What can you ask of me?"

Wei Qinglang smiled and said, "Sir, please take a seat. Let's sit down and talk."

The table in the main hall was moved to the yard, and another student named Yang from Yangjia Village was called out to take a seat.

The two brought out the dishes one by one. Master Yuan drooled at the aroma and asked, "Which restaurant did you order these dishes from?"

Wei Qinglang said, "These dishes are not available in the restaurant. They are made by my family."

"Isn't this too much?" Master Yang was a little reserved. He had just heard Wei Qinglang say that he had something to ask for, so he said, "I'll grab a bowl and put some food in to eat inside. I won't disturb you guys."

"I'll serve you some food."

Cheng Shuang filled a bowl of steamed rice with bacon for both Master Yang, who was very considerate, and Master Yuan's old servant, and also put some of each dish into a large bowl, asking them to take it into the house to eat.

After Master Yang and the others entered the room, the three of them sat down.

Although Cheng Shuang is a woman, with Wei Qinglang as her husband, no one will say anything about her if she eats at the same table with an older man from outside the family.

Master Yuan had not eaten well since he came to the village. The last time he had a full meal was the day before yesterday when his old servant went to the restaurant and bought two dishes.

He couldn't wait to pick up a piece of fish with his chopsticks. "Hmm, the fish is smooth and tender, with a unique aroma. Madam Cheng is a great cook."

Cheng Shuang didn't explain that she didn't make it. She smiled and said, "As long as you like it, sir, please try this sparerib."

The ribs were marinated and stewed until they were soft and boneless, with smooth texture and a hint of spiciness. Master Yuan ate three pieces in a row and asked how they were cooked.

Wei Qinglang was responsible for explaining the cooking methods and introduced one by one the dishes made with ingredients that Master Yuan had never seen before.

After tasting every dish on the table, Master Yuan was already half full and in a very happy mood. He said, "Friend Wei, what can I help you with? Tell me."

Given the sincerity of this meal, it would not be difficult for him to agree.

Wei Qinglang looked at Cheng Shuang, who quickly put down her chopsticks, took out Xiao Si's painting from her arms, and handed it over with both hands.

"Sir, please take a look at this painting first."

Master Yuan opened it with curiosity and looked at it carefully.

"The brushstrokes are childish, so it must be a child's painting. However, it's clear that this child has a talent for painting."

Cheng Shuang smiled happily after hearing the praise.

Wei Qinglang said, "My brother-in-law is six years old this year. He has some talent in calligraphy and painting and is currently studying at Chongwenguan."

"It's just that this child has no talent for studying and only likes calligraphy and painting. Being in Chongwenguan has actually suppressed his talent, so we two are thinking of finding him a teacher who understands calligraphy and painting, so that he won't go to a private school in the city."

Master Yuan understood and stroked his beard, "Young Master Wei, do you mean to let me be your teacher?"

He did like calligraphy and painting, and had some accomplishments in them. When he was young, he liked figure painting, and when he got older, he preferred painting landscapes, flowers, birds, fish and insects.

His calligraphy is also somewhat famous, and some people would come to him to ask him to write plaques for restaurants and shops.

Wei Qinglang nodded. "That's right, sir, are you willing?"

"I heard that you are good at calligraphy and painting. If you can accept my brother, our family will take care of your meals in the village in the future." Cheng Shuang added.

Master Yuan seemed to be lost in thought. It was truly a gifted child for a six-year-old to be able to reach this level of skill. He looked at the painting in his hand and then at the table of food in front of him.

"I promise that I will cook many dishes for you that you have never eaten before." Seeing him frown, Cheng Shuang immediately continued.

"You two have guessed that I'm a glutton!"

Master Yuan smiled and shook his head. "Well, I've been teaching for over twenty years, and I've only taught classics, history, and philosophy. I've never accepted a student who's interested in calligraphy and painting, so I'll make an exception and accept one today."

The two were overjoyed and quickly stood up to express their gratitude solemnly.

After the meal, the matter was completely settled. The two told the news to the head of the village and took Xiao Si to formally meet Master Yuan.

In the afternoon, Cheng Shuang went to fumigate Lin Zelan. It took her nearly an hour to finish. She woke the sleeping man up and told him that if he wanted to take a bath later tonight, she packed up the medicine box and went back.

As soon as I went out, I looked up and saw a man in a blue and white scholar's robe walking towards me.

Cheng Shuang wondered why Zhao Xiuwen came back. Didn’t he live in the academy in the city?