My father is Jiajing

Chapter 106: Poor to the point of eating pickles

After Meng Chong burped, he rubbed his swollen belly and smiled a smile that was uglier than crying. "My Lord, it's still a little bitter."

When Zhu Zaigui heard what Meng Chong said, he couldn't help but wonder. A lot of sugar had already been added, and if more was added, it would really be too much.

Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but pick up a bowl of the green tea drink he had just prepared and took a sip. After taking a sip of the green tea in his mouth, Zhu Zaigui also savored the taste.

It’s a bit bitter, but where is the problem?
How should we control the ratio of tea powder and sugar?
At this moment Zhu Zaigui couldn't help but feel a headache. He had originally wanted to make the bottled green tea beverage that was popular before he traveled through time, but he never expected that the process would be so difficult.

Not to mention how it tastes now, the first step of grinding the tea powder took Zhu Zaigui a lot of effort. Otherwise, if the green tea beverage was made with the initially ground tea powder, tiny tea residues could be seen in the tea soup with the naked eye.

Therefore, in order to make the tea residue invisible, Zhu Zaigui had to improve the grinding process and gave extremely high rewards to the craftsmen who made tea powder.

Now the tea powder has finally become finer, and there is no longer any tea residue floating in the liquid, but the taste is still not neutralized well, and there is always an indescribable feeling.

The taste is so different from the green tea that Zhu Zaigui drank for 2.5 yuan a bottle before he traveled through time. It tastes so bad that it's like the oolong tea that costs 4 yuan a bottle.

This flavor is really hard to come by.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was still an era of relatively scarce material life, even for princes and nobles.

Therefore, sweets are the king of this era. If you really want to be creative and create a bland oolong tea drink, there is a high probability that it will not be popular in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, what flavor of tea can't these nobles get? Why spend so much money to drink a tea drink that is not much different from the usual brewed tea, or even tastes worse?

Therefore, it would be impossible for Zhu Zaigui to push such an immature beverage to the market.

Otherwise, wouldn’t this sign that has been in place for almost a year be ruined?
Zhu Zaiqi gritted his teeth and said, "Try again! This time, don't stick to tea powder and sugar. You can also try other seasonings and spices, such as honey, fruit nectar, etc. I don't believe that I can't come up with a hit beverage."

Zhu Zaigui picked up the "Tea" volume from the Yongle Encyclopedia and began to read it, hoping to find inspiration from the wisdom of his ancestors.

But unfortunately, although the wisdom of our ancestors was extremely profound, it was still within expectations.

If you really want to create the kind of best-selling bottled green tea that exists in later generations, you still have to conduct a lot of trial and error experiments.

Faced with such a result, Meng Chong had no choice but to continue adjusting the proportions according to Zhu Zaigui's requirements and continue to experiment with adding more ingredients according to Zhu Zaigui's requirements.

But even so, Meng Chong had no complaints.

Because Meng Chong knew very well that the reason he was able to do these things was because of Zhu Zaigui's selfless trust in him.

People like Teng Xiang, Chen Hong, Li Fang and others who came later were far behind. When it came to getting access to core secrets, they were always one step away from knowing them, or even could not know them at all.

So under this special trust, Meng Chong was willing to drink even if he was full.

Zhu Zaigui read the book for a while, and then thought that Gao Gong was going to give a lecture today, so he said, "You can try it here first, I have to go to class. You can just taste the drinks made from these experiments, don't be stupid and drink them all at once. If you keep drinking like this, you will die of fullness sooner or later!"

Although Zhu Zaigui's words were very impolite, Meng Chong was deeply moved.

Meng Chong replied: "I will remember this."

Zhu Zaiqi hummed, "Okay, then you can continue the experiment here. I'm leaving now."

Zhu Zaigui left here and went to the study in the front yard. Not long after Zhu Zaigui arrived at the study, Gao Gong arrived.

When Zhu Zaigui saw Gao Gong coming, he stood up and went to the door to greet him, "Mr. Gao."

When Gao Gong saw Zhu Zaigui coming to greet him, he also hurriedly bowed and said, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you."

Zhu Zaigui smiled cordially and said, "Please come in quickly, sir. We have been waiting for a long time."

Gao Gong was very happy to see Zhu Zaigui's enthusiastic and studious attitude. It was a great blessing in life to have such a student who respected teachers and was eager to learn.

After the two of them sat down in the study, Zhu Zaigui seemed to suddenly think of someone.

Zhu Zaigui asked, "How is Hai Rui now?"

Gao Gong replied: "Hai Rui is now the Minister of Revenue. I heard that he is planning to bring my mother and wife over. I wonder how he will live in the capital after he brings them over."

At this point, Gao Gong couldn't help but sigh. As a veteran Beijinger for many years, Gao Gong knew too well the difficulties of the capital. It was unimaginable for him to bring his mother and wife over and rely on that meager salary.

When Zhu Zaigui heard this, he uttered a thoughtful "Oh", "Hai Rui is truly filial to be able to take my mother home."

Gao Gong said: "It is true that he is very filial, but the cost of living in the capital is extremely high. What will he do with two more mouths to feed?"

Zhu Zaigui was helpless and said, "It's OK. I'm not a man who gives money away. Even if I dare to give it away, he may not dare to take it back. So he has to solve his problem by himself."

"But from what I understand, I think since Hai Rui took my mother and wife here, he would definitely not let them sit idle. Maybe they will have to weave cloth at home to supplement the family income."

"When his mother and his wife really arrive, you will send him some rice, flour, grain, oil and a few pounds of meat on my behalf. Otherwise, he and his family will probably have to eat pickles in the capital."

When Gao Gong heard what Zhu Zaigui said, he couldn't help but sigh, this Hai Rui is really a weirdo!

If this happened to an ordinary official in Beijing, how could he possibly live in such poverty?
At the very least, they could eat meat a few times a month. Now, after hearing what Prince Yu said, Hai Rui might really have to live on steamed buns and pickles with his whole family in the capital.

Gao Gong said: "I will remember this."

Zhu Zaigui also nodded, "Just treat Hai Rui with a normal attitude. He is a stubborn person and doesn't like to take advantage of others. He won't accept even if you give him a lot. So it's better to be normal. If he wants to give money, let him pay. If he wants to pay it back, let him pay it back. Anyway, don't force him."

Gao Gong also responded with deep agreement. He had been in contact with Hai Rui quite a lot during this period, and Hai Rui was indeed as Zhu Zaigui said. Sometimes when the two of them were eating out together, Hai Rui, who was already so poor that he could barely afford to eat, would actually rush to pay the bill. It was really hard to tell what he was thinking.

However, it was also because of this that Gao Gong felt that Hai Rui was an open and sincere person, without the materialism and selfishness of ordinary people, and was a friend worthy of close friendship.

It's just that sometimes, because of his personality and his views on things, Gao Gong also felt that Hai Rui's character was a bit screwed up, but overall he could still tolerate it.

Therefore, with Zhu Zaigui's instructions and appreciation, Gao Gong tolerated Hai Rui a little. Otherwise, with his temper, he and Hai Rui would have been at loggerheads over certain matters.

Of course, this is a temper that is directed at things, not people, so from a certain perspective, Gao Gong, who has a hot temper, can be considered a lovely person.

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Asking for monthly ticket

(End of this chapter)