A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 73 Ordinary Meal
Zhang Kang couldn't help clapping his hands this time, and quickly turned around and left:
"With such a large reward, it's inevitable that someone will be blinded by the profit and take the initiative to jump out and claim that the cow was killed, not died of old age."

In a closed-door environment, where there are no witnesses, it is highly likely that the perpetrator of the crime will come forward to file a complaint.

Song Xuan had another subtext that he didn't say.

That's the person who wronged you, but he knows how wronged you are better than you do!

"Shi Er Lang is really smart."

Song Xuan naturally chased forward:
"Zhang Tuiguan, when this case is solved, you have to sell me more of that old man's beef. I haven't had much beef in a while."

Zhang Kang stopped, turned around, shook his head, pointed at Song Xuan helplessly without saying a word.

People say you are one of the three evils in Lema Town.

It’s really not unfair to you!

It seems like you've had a lot of beef!
"Shi Er Lang, please stop talking about bad ideas. You clearly have a great idea, and I won't allow you to belittle yourself like that."

After saying this, Zhang Kang threw back his sleeves and walked forward excitedly like Zhu Bajie.

Even the former child prodigy, Prefect Yan, could not come up with a good solution to this case.

"Official Zhang, I'll save some food for you later."

"No need, I'll be back soon. I don't trust others to pass on messages about this kind of thing."

Zhang Kang left without looking back.

He racked his brains but couldn't think of a way to break the deadlock.

Was stumped for a day.

If no solution is found, the cow will starve to death and there will be no result.

The murderer was allowed to go unpunished.

Thanks to Song Xuan's deliberate action of luring the poisonous scorpion and others to attack that night, Zhang Kang chose to try his luck.

Hey.

Finally, he came up with a good idea!

Reporting is equivalent to surrendering in disguise.

Song Xuan stood at the door and watched Zhang Kang go away.

He had seen many bad things like this in the countryside.

Laughing at people who have nothing and hating people who have something is a very common thing.

There will always be various minor frictions.

The relationship between the two sides suddenly turned into hatred.

After Zhang Fangping finished using the restroom, he saw Song Xuan standing at the door and walked over:
"Twelfth Brother, is Magistrate Zhang leaving now?"

"He'll be back for dinner soon."

Zhang Fangping lowered his voice:
"I just saw that Brother Bao was sweating profusely, and even his hair was emitting wisps of white smoke. It seems that Zhang Tuiguan put quite a lot of pressure on him just now!"

"After all, Zhang Tuiguan passed the imperial examination a few years ago, so he must be more familiar with how to answer questions than those who passed it earlier. This kind of guidance is something that many students desire but cannot get."

"If you ask me, Brother Bao is lucky to have caught up."

"Then he is indeed lucky to have met Brother Twelve." Zhang Fangping chuckled a few times.

This gave him a concrete understanding that he was quite strong in studying!

Song Xuan feels that many people will forget most of the knowledge points after taking the exam.

In particular, the imperial examinations were quite simple in the past. Starting from Emperor Taizu of Song, officials were appointed on a large scale to fill various positions.

Over the years, emperors have grown old and died one after another.

The scholar-officials were not that tired, lived longer, and stayed in office longer.

This has led to a large number of officials not retiring, further exacerbating the phenomenon of redundant officials.

"Twelfth Brother, Brother Bao is considered a genius in Luzhou. Why is he not as good as he used to be when he came to us?"

Listening to Zhang Fangping's rather complacent words, Song Xuan also smiled. There are local academic geniuses all over the country. If you really try to find them, there will always be someone more talented.

As for Zhang Fangping, who was beside him, he had the ability to remember everything he saw. There was no other scholar in the entire Song Dynasty who could match him.

Sometimes, hard work is nothing compared to talent.

“Sometimes the differences between people are greater than those between people and pigs.”

Zhang Fangping was once again stunned by Song Xuan's remarks.

The gift of genius is so unreasonable.

By lunchtime, Bao Zheng was already as exhausted as if he had fallen into the water.

At this time, he didn't care about his image. He took off the student's clothes and wiped them with a towel before sitting at the dining table.

I felt a little exhausted.

But no one sympathized with him, except Song Xuan's buddy. Everyone present had either passed the imperial examination or was preparing to take it, and everyone had to go through this process.

Who knows that you, who are not studying hard at this time, are studying like crazy behind others’ backs?

At this time, Zhang Kang held the bowl, picked up a piece of Dongpo pork and ate it with rice, and his eyes immediately lit up.

It tastes so good.

After he put several mouthfuls of rice into his mouth, he asked:

"Shi Er Lang, what kind of meat is this? It's really delicious."

"Pork meat." Song Xuan replied.

A castrated pig is called a "tun", and an intact pig is called a "shu".

At this time, pigs in the Northern Song Dynasty had not yet been castrated on a large scale.

It was not until the late reign of Emperor Huizong of Song that large-scale castration began.

In the city of Bianjing, pigs to be slaughtered entered through the Nanxun Gate every day from morning to night.

Another example is that Su Shi, who was penniless, could later afford some cheap pork or lamb ribs, and improved the way of eating them. These foods were then gradually accepted by the literati.

Otherwise, the smell of pig alone is enough to discourage many people.

In other words, the lower-class people are lucky enough to have meat to eat, and they don’t care whether it tastes good or not.

After all, many people are reluctant to buy condiments to satisfy their appetite.

Pork is now considered "cheap meat" and not many people are willing to buy it.

The main meat of the upper class nobles is still mutton, which is why Captain Ding and his men were sent away with just a few skewers of mutton.

Do you really think that everyone can afford to eat mutton and be willing to add so many spices?
In addition, ordinary people do not have enough cooking oil, and oil is needed for cooking. Most people eat boiled or steamed food.

There are very few foodies like Su Dongpo who try to make food taste better in different ways.

The most important thing for ordinary people in the Song Dynasty is to fill their stomachs and continue to work to survive. It doesn’t matter if the food tastes bad, it is more economical to buy some food.

Zhang Kang stood there in a daze. He picked up another piece of pork and smelled it carefully. There was indeed no strong smell.

"I chose pork belly with less fat, soaked it in cold water for a long time, and added a lot of spices to reduce the fishy smell as much as possible."

Song Xuan also picked up a piece, and also picked up some pickled cabbage (Chinese cabbage, which was officially called Chinese cabbage in the Song Dynasty):

"Besides, this isn't my first time making it, so I'm already very skilled at it. Judge Zhang, you can eat it without worry."

"The cooking methods of Shi Er Lang's family are truly sophisticated."

Zhang Kang exclaimed in praise, no wonder Song Xuan didn't want to eat at a restaurant outside.

This kind of craftsmanship is certainly not as good as those in restaurants outside.

"Just satisfy everyone's appetite. If you ask for too much, forget it."

Song Xuan actually wanted to eat hot pot, but it would take a long time for chili peppers to be introduced to the world.

Zhang Kang shook his head: "If I could eat this kind of food every day, even a god wouldn't trade it for it. Even the government wouldn't be so extravagant."

(End of this chapter)