Chapter 146 (1/2)
Chapter 146
Chapter 146 - Imperial Envoy
The imperial envoy wasn’t very interested in this and replied faintly, “What kind of delicious food can one buy for one copper coin? This rumor sounds a bit exaggerated . ”
The overseer had eaten the Yu Family’s braised food before . Although he thought it was quite delicious, he didn’t have the guts to foolishly rebuke the imperial envoy . He smiled flatteringly, “The lord is right! In addition, that food is made of pig head meat, pig offal, pig blood and other ingredients that other people wouldn’t touch . With your lordly status, you absolutely would disdain eating this!”
“You can’t say something like that!” The imperial envoy rubbed at the short beard under his chin, and his eyes became misty . He apparently was reminiscing about his past .
Silence prevailed for a long time before he finally continued, “In those days, I was with my master defending the borders from our enemies . We had been besieged by them for more than ten days . We not only ate tree bark and gra.s.s but also dirt! I remember once, when the situation got really bad and people were at their limits, I infiltrated the enemy’s camp with my younger martial brother and stole the pig head that they had used as a sacrifice to the G.o.ds . We roasted it at campfire on the mountains . For the soldiers who hadn’t eaten anything good for the past several days, eating a small piece of pig head meat was even more delicious than eating any exotic delicacy nowadays . . . ”
The supervisor hurriedly interjected, “General, you are wise and brilliant . Since you were able to survive such a terrible time, you absolutely will have a lot of fortune and blessings coming your way now!”
The imperial envoy burst out into straightforward laughter, “Whether or not I have future blessings coming my way, I don’t really care! I’m extremely happy today, do you know why? I finally found my master and younger martial brother, who I had lost touch with for over thirty years!”
“Congratulations, my lord, congratulations, my lord! This is absolutely a fortunate event!!” The overseer seized the opportunity to flatter the man .
The lord imperial envoy faced the docks that was flanked on each side with simple and crude looking buildings . He commented, “Did you already finish discussing the compensation that will be given to those whose shacks will be demolished? The emperor himself has said that the construction of the port is an important matter that will benefit both the country and his people . We absolutely cannot do anything that will make the commoners complain and resent this!”
“The emperor is a wise ruler who loves the commoners as his own children . This lowly one admires him adoringly…” The supervisor hastily expressed his feelings of loyalty .
The imperial envoy ignored his attempts at flattery and continued, “Save your breath on these empty phrases! Less talk and more action! The harbor pathway needs to be widened by at least double its current width and the shacks on both sides need to be torn down! I already have the money for compensating the people with me, so you need to discuss this carefully with the commoners…”
“Yes, yes! This lowly one will absolutely do this in such a way that you will be satisfied!” The supervisor nodded his head furiously, as if he was trying to pound garlic paste with his chin .
The imperial envoy waved his hand and strolled forward as he said, “It’s not enough to make me satisfied, you need to make sure the commoners are pleased too! Naturally, those who wish to gouge us should not be given full rein! Li Li, you should provide your a.s.sistance to…”
“This lowly one’s surname is Liang!” The overseer bowed and nodded his head with a bright smile on his face .
“Okay! You should a.s.sist Supervisor Liang with this matter!” The lord imperial envoy inspected the situation around the docks as he slowly walked towards the coast .
The number of people queuing up at the braised food sellers slowly decreased . Seemingly unawaringly, the imperial envoy and his subordinate arrived at Old Liu’s noodle stand .
Old Liu and his wife trembled in fear when they saw the man wearing an official’s robe . They were so frightened that they couldn’t talk .
“Old couple, don’t be scared! I noticed that your business is quite good so I wanted to buy a bowl of noodles to try…” In front of the obviously scared old couple, the lord imperial envoy did his best to relax his rough and frightening looking face into a genial smile . Unfortunately, the opposite effect occurred . His attempt at squeezing out a smile made him look even more fierce and threatening .
“Eh? Aren’t you . . . aren’t you Brother Han’s martial uncle?!” When Xiaocao saw that there were only four to five people left in line, she felt like she could finally take a breather . A familiar voice had hit her ears, so she twisted around to look . Ah! This large and brawny man who was wearing an official’s robes with a qilin embroidered on it was Fang Zizhen, who they had met by chance at the prefectural city . Why was he at the docks? And also wearing an official’s robes at that?
The lord imperial envoy, Fang Zizhen, looked calmly over . Eh? Wasn’t this the younger daughter of the sworn brother of his martial brother? The little girl who was named Xiaocao? He looked a bit closer at her, aiyo! Maybe his eyes were blurry, but there were surprisingly two Yu Xiaocao’s in front of him…
“My lord, you’re not seeing things! They are actually twins!” Unbeknownst to him, Fang Zizhen had actually said his thoughts out loud .
Fang Zizhen looked at the copper pot in front of the two sisters . The contents of the pot bubbled furiously and a strong, fragrant smell continuously flowed into the air . He chuckled, “Ah Xiaocao! Apparently the famous one copper coin per portion of braised food at the docks is the product of your family’s skills ah!”
There wasn’t a lot of braised food left in the pot . Xiaocao smiled sincerely at him, “Yup! General Fang, do you want to try some?”
Originally, Fang Zizhen was not hungry, but after smelling the tantalizing aroma of the food, he couldn’t help but smack his lips a bit, “Okay ah! Then I’ll try some…”
Fang Zizhen’s other subordinate, Wu Yun, quietly reminded him, “Lord, this food is made of pig intestines and offal . We don’t know if they’ve been cleaned properly, so you can’t possibly eat this!”