The Fourteenth Chapter: Liu Doutou's Test

  The ox cart climbed up the slope, Yun Zheng ran behind, the old ox today is considered to have made a contribution, can't be too cruel to it. Back to the original place, Lai Ba suddenly came out and hugged the daughter on the ox cart carefully looked at her, seeing that his daughter seemed to have stopped coughing, happily hugging the child and constantly kissing her, Yun Zheng was just watching by the side, smiling, feeling very comfortable herself.

  Unload the saddle bags from the ox cart, pour out half of the copper coins inside, put them in your own money bag and hand it to Lai Ba, patting his chest and saying: "In the future, if you want to buy something, just make a triangular mark on this big stone, I will come over. It's settled, I need some benefits too. I also have to support my brother."

  After finishing, she stuffed the little girl's medicine into Lai Ba's arms, repeated the doctor's orders, and then hurriedly drove the ox cart in the direction of the construction site. From a distance, she heard Lai Ba shouting loudly: "I'll find you next time."

  Yun Zheng returned to the construction site with a big smile on his face. The woman who helped with cooking had been waiting eagerly and quickly came over to lend a hand when she saw Yun Zheng return. She was delighted to find that there was a lot more unhusked rice today, and after hearing Yun Zheng's explanation, she became even happier. What's the fuss about? It's just that there are some stones in the unhusked rice, but they can be picked out later. The three of them can each get a dou of fine rice.

  Pig liver is to be left for Yun Er to supplement vitamins, otherwise this child will get night blindness. Pig intestines, pig heart, and pig waist are to be served at night when inviting elderly relatives and taking care of their own villagers for a drink. As for the pig lungs, they are to be left for Yun San, poor Yun San has never seen meat since following his two brothers.

  Found a big pot to cook together, the mountain has plenty of spices, wild pepper, and cassia are everywhere, cinnamon is not lacking here either. The only regret is that I couldn't find star anise. Then smashed two large pieces of ginger and threw them in, it's fine like this, mountain people can get by with just a handful of salt, this is already quite particular.

  Yun Zheng sat alone by the stove, cooking his own meat dishes, feeling extremely satisfied. This was the most satisfying day since he arrived in Song Dynasty. He saved a child, earned some money, and even got so much meat, good things happened.

  Liu Doutou arrived, looking very pleased with himself. He saw Yun Zheng alone by the stove, cooking something that smelled delicious. Curious, he opened the lid and took a look, then burst out laughing. He found a stick to poke at the top half of the pork loin, discovered it was cooked, and started eating it with gusto, sizzling and crackling away. After finishing the pork loin, he sat down by the stove, leaning against its warmth, and rummaged through his pockets for a long time before pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. He said to Yun Zheng: "You bragged a lot yesterday, so I'll just humor you today. Today, I got a difficult question from Old Master Scribe. If you can answer it correctly, I'll take care of your examination affairs for you. If not, here's three taels of silver for you to live comfortably."

  After finishing, he handed the paper to Yun Zheng. Yun Zheng glanced at it and said to Liu Du: "Liu, next time find some more difficult questions, I've already solved this one."

  One rooster, worth five yuan, one hen, worth three yuan, three chicks, worth one yuan. With 100 yuan, you can buy 100 chickens. How many roosters, hens and chicks are there? There are three solutions:

  1) Four roosters, eighteen hens, seventy-eight chicks;

  2) Eight roosters, eleven hens, eighty-one chicks;

  3) Twelve roosters, four hens, eighty-four chicks.

  After finishing, he was worried that Liu would not remember, so he went back to his own broken desk, wrote down the three groups of numbers, handed them to Liu, and then scooped out a piece of sausage from the pot with his chopsticks. He cut it off with his small knife and took a bite, feeling that it tasted extremely good, probably because he hadn't eaten meat for a long time. He couldn't help but scoop up another piece of sausage and continue eating.

  Liu Dutou was shouting "ah ah ah" in his mouth, Yun Zheng finished eating the pig intestines and turned back to Liu Dutou to explain: "In the future, don't use the questions that my master has used before to test me, find some more difficult ones. However, our Dou Sha County should not have any difficult questions."

  "Do you know the answer?" Liu Dou finally wasn't too surprised anymore. If he had known beforehand, there wouldn't have been anything strange about it.

  "Don't be too happy yet, in our Dou Sha County, I haven't seen many unfamiliar questions. You'd better put in some effort to find some difficult ones. If you can't find any, please ask the county magistrate to help you find some. If our county produces a prodigy, it will bring honor to your face. Supporting and guiding the next generation is a good reputation that cannot be escaped."

  Liu Dutou chewed on the pig intestines, nodding repeatedly to Yun Zheng and said: "I'll go back and have the old master review your answers. He's a renowned scholar in our Dou Sha County, and when the county magistrate comes down, he'll be the one to count on. However, looking at your calm and composed demeanor, I'm sure your answers won't be wrong. And there's another good thing I want to tell you - the method of building the pool that you mentioned has been agreed upon by County Lord, who even pointed at Dou Sha Guan saying that those soldiers are just a bunch of drunkards, not as insightful as our county's Dutou. Don't be fooled, County Lord really praised your elder brother, but I didn't say it was your idea, I said it was mine. In the future, don't let it slip out, or others will laugh at you."

  The pig intestines were a bit salty, so he went to the big pot and scooped out two bowls of egg drop soup, giving one to Old Liu and drinking one himself. Hearing Old Liu refer to him as "Old Brother" in such an impolite manner, he decided to play along: "You take credit for this achievement, that's fine. This matter is beneficial to you, but not at all beneficial to me. If a scholar knows even military strategy, they'll become an outcast among scholars, and it won't be easy to get along with others in the future. Don't worry, I'm already dodging and hiding as fast as I can - who has the time to come forward? Remember my words: from now on, I'll be a registered scholar at Donghua Gate."

  As soon as Yun Zheng mentioned the East Huamen, Liu Doutou became uneasy all over. This time, Yun Zheng pulled Liu Doutou to sit down and said: "After you've seen my skills, you won't be surprised anymore. I'm going to pass through each barrier one by one, and finally rely on my skills to enter the Eastern Capital Bianjing City. Later, when you arrive at Kaifeng Prefecture, remember to come find me. You still have a younger brother like me serving as an official in Kaifeng Prefecture."

  Liu Dutou's bowl nearly slipped from his hands, and after a long while he said to Yun Zheng: "In the future, don't always bring up Donghua Gate, it makes my heart skip a beat."

  After finishing speaking, seeing that there was no one around, he quietly stuffed three small silver ingots into Yun Zheng's hand and whispered: "This is five taels of silver, hide it well, don't let anyone else see it."

  Yun Zheng's wrist turned, and the silver ingot had already been put away in his sleeve. This skill made Liu Tou extremely envious, and he gave Yun Zheng a thumbs up, saying: "You little scoundrel, if you don't become an official in the future, it would be a waste of this skill. Are you saying that scholars like you all have this skill?"

  Yun Zheng knew that the five taels of silver were given by Liu Doutou as hush money. If he didn't accept it, Liu would be uneasy. Only if he accepted it, would Liu be able to calmly and rightfully take credit for renovating the water pool. It was a win-win situation, why not do it?