Chapter 38: How to Eat a Wild Goose
“I’m already here. If you go to my house to propose marriage tomorrow, wouldn’t that be a bit redundant?” Zhao An wanted to say something romantic, but his mouth felt as if it were stuffed with cotton, and he could only say something trivial.
But you can’t judge a book by its cover. Some things Zhao An couldn’t say, but Hu Sheng could say them directly. “Nothing I do for you is redundant. I wish I could give you the whole world, but I can’t. I can only follow the ancient custom and give you a pair of wild geese to witness our feelings. I hope we can also be as steadfast as wild geese, always deeply in love with each other.”
Zhao An almost screamed. Was this person really born in ancient times? Why did sweet nothings come so easily to his lips?
At this moment, he just wanted to kiss the person in front of him. But thinking that there were others watching, he felt a little embarrassed.
Just as Zhao An stood on his tiptoes and then retreated, Hu Sheng pinched his chin and kissed him deeply.
In reality, who would dare to watch? Li Dake had been dragged to the kitchen by his wife before he could even grab his beloved chessboard.
Zhao An was kissed until he was breathless, still trying to control the initiative. But he was still dazed. When the kiss ended, he had to look at Hu Sheng with suspicion.
Although he didn’t care whether the other party had experience, Hu Sheng had personally told him that he was his first man. But thinking of their first experience, Hu Sheng had been so considerate and gentle, it was really suspicious.
If he had been deceived, a misty layer of tears appeared in Zhao An’s eyes, and he bit Hu Sheng’s shoulder hard. “Even if I find out you’ve lied to me, I don’t think I’m willing to leave you,” he said, giving up on himself and speaking his heart.
Seeing that Zhao An was about to cry, Hu Sheng quickly wiped away the tears from the corners of his eyes and said with heartache, “What did I lie to you about?”
“You~” he couldn’t quite say it. But meeting Hu Sheng’s concerned gaze, he finally gritted his teeth and said it. “Why are you so skilled?”
Hu Sheng’s mouth opened slightly. He chuckled and kissed the corner of his eye. “Didn’t I tell you? I was always being watched when I was a child. In order not to be taken advantage of, I could only let myself learn more.”
Now it was Zhao An’s turn to feel heartache. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have doubted you.”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s good that we’ve talked it out,” Hu Sheng said, kissing Zhao An again. “Do you want me to take you to see that pair of wild geese?”
“Yes,” Zhao An agreed. Hu Sheng took his hand and led him outside. The three people hiding in the kitchen finally came out, each clutching their chests. At their age, they really couldn’t stand such excitement.
The wild geese were outside their house, in a cage next to it. Zhao An looked at them carefully for a few moments before he was sure that they were really wild geese and not ducks. Their necks were thicker, and their wings were more powerful.
After observing for a long time, the first question Zhao An asked was, “How do you eat this?”
“Braised or charcoal-grilled. Wild goose tastes similar to duck. It has a gamey taste, so it’s not suitable for plain cooking.” Hu Sheng was quite experienced in this, because when he was on the northern frontier, he had often hunted wild geese for a treat.
As they were discussing whether to kill the wild geese to eat at Zhao An’s house tomorrow, Sister-in-law Zhang had already made the first dish, scrambled eggs with green onions, followed by a plate of blanched shrimp and two small green vegetable dishes.
Tonight’s dinner was already quite good. Since those several thousand people had come up the mountain, even the food Hu Sheng could eat had become less. Although the strength of several thousand people was very powerful, feeding several thousand mouths was really not easy.
After dinner, the sun had not yet completely set, but it was just the right time to plant the sweet potato vines in the twilight, without needing to light torches.
When Zhao An and Hu Sheng came to the mountain, the three hundred people assigned to the A-squad were each planting a handful of cut sweet potato vines in the ground. Because there were so many people, it didn’t even take a ke for all the sweet potato vines that Zhao An had carried up to be planted in the soil. At a glance, it looked like about ten mu of land had been planted.
Of course, just planting the sweet potato vines in the soil was not enough. Taking advantage of the last bit of light before it got dark, the people of the A-squad carried crude wooden buckets made directly from tree roots and trunks to the nearby mountain stream, each fetching a bucket of water to water these sweet potato vines.
After all those people had left, Zhao An took Hu Sheng’s hand and walked slowly through the field.
According to Zhao An’s calculations, the improved sweet potato seeds he had developed should be able to yield at least two thousand jin per mu. Although it couldn’t compare to the super-improved varieties of later generations with a yield of ten thousand jin per mu, it was already a very excellent variety compared to the current sweet potatoes with a maximum yield of only seven or eight hundred jin.
Everyone only saw Hu Sheng taking Zhao An for a stroll in the fields, as if they were taking a walk after dinner. But they didn’t know that where Zhao An had walked, the newly planted sweet potatoes were exuding a lush vitality.
Only Hu Sheng, who knew something in advance, carefully observed the slightly wilted sweet potato vines. The leaves were still wilted, but the roots near the soil had already turned a vibrant green. He believed that by tomorrow morning’s breeze, these sweet potato vines would all turn into lush green seedlings.
It didn’t take long to walk around the ten mu of land, but it was already completely dark. Hu Sheng took Zhao An’s hand. “Do you want me to take you flying?”
Zhao An automatically wrapped his arms around Hu Sheng’s neck. “Aren’t you going to my house to propose marriage tomorrow? You might as well just take me home.”
Hu Sheng said very firmly, “No.” Then he nuzzled the top of Zhao An’s head. “I’ve been sleeping alone for a while now, and I always have trouble sleeping. Since you’ve already come to my stronghold, how could I let you go so easily?”
In fact, Zhao An didn’t want to leave either. In fact, he also found it difficult to sleep alone. So, of course, some happy and welcome things happened that night.
Then it was the next morning. Hu Sheng, with a dozen of his close brothers, each carrying a heavy load, followed Zhao An and his two companions down the mountain.
Hu Sheng and his men walked very fast. Even though each of them was carrying a hundred or so jin of heavy objects, they still had to stop from time to time to wait for Zhao An and his companions, who were only carrying empty baskets.
However, the speed of going down the mountain was much faster than when they had come up. On one hand, the speed of going downhill was naturally faster than going uphill, and they had no load. On the other hand, when Hu Sheng and his men walked in front, they would trample down the thorns and plants to make a temporary path for them.
This time, when Zhao An left, he had taken Hai Bo and Qin Tong with him. The villagers, under the leadership of Liu Huan, still persisted in their morning training.
But when they saw Zhao An and his group coming down from the mountain, a villager immediately asked him where he had been last night.
Zhao An glanced at the wild goose on one side of Hu Sheng’s shoulder pole and said with a smile to the old aunt who had come up to ask, “I went to give a betrothal gift to my partner. I’ll distribute some wedding candy to the village tomorrow. But my partner’s family lives in the mountains, and we’re having the wedding there, so I can’t invite everyone to a meal.”
The old aunt looked at this son of a prime minister, who was actually marrying a girl from the mountains and not holding the wedding in the village. A strange look flashed in her eyes, but she quickly suppressed it. She was afraid that Zhao An was just acting on a whim, and that one day he would meet a good girl and would not hesitate to abandon this woman from the mountains, just like Chen Shimei in the opera.
Now, the village’s kiln and strawberry seedlings all depended on Zhao An. Even if she knew that Zhao An was going to deceive someone into marriage, this old woman didn’t say much and just said with a smile, “Then I’ll be waiting to eat the Eldest Young Master’s wedding candy.”
Zhao An also smiled and had no intention of introducing Hu Sheng to them. On one hand, it was a matter of acceptance; on the other, he was not too familiar with most of the people in the village. He only planned to tell a few people in the village whom he was more familiar with, such as Liu Huan and Liu Hu, and the few pottery kiln workers he had hired, about his marriage to Hu Sheng.
But after telling these people, the news would probably spread throughout the village. But Zhao An believed that even if these people gossiped in private, they wouldn’t dare to say anything in front of him.
But what he wanted was this feeling of everyone knowing but having to keep it to themselves.
Leading a large group of onlookers to his own gate, Li Dake, as the guest of honor, stood up and read the marriage certificate and the dowry list to Zhao An. Because the marriage certificate began with some ornate parallel prose, Zhao An never quite understood which day the wedding was. The villagers also didn’t understand much, but were amazed at the precious dowry items they had displayed.
Only Scholar Zhao, who had followed behind, heard that the person marrying Zhao An was named “Hu Sheng.” It didn’t sound like a good woman’s name. Could it be this Young Master Hu’s sister, a woman with Hu blood?
Although her dowry was very generous, Scholar Zhao still frowned. He wanted to go forward and say a few words, but his sleeve was pulled by Liu Huan.
He turned his head and saw Liu Huan’s fake smile. “Scholar, don’t ruin a good thing. As the saying goes, it’s better to tear down a temple than to ruin a marriage. And that Young Master Hu, you know how formidable he is. The walls of your house are not as hard as Zhao Tongming’s, and your old bones are even softer. Don’t be a fool.”
If Scholar Zhao hadn’t understood Liu Huan’s sarcastic remark about his soft bones, he wouldn’t have been worthy of studying for so many years. But although he dared to talk back to Liu Huan, after a glance at Hu Sheng, he didn’t dare to say much.
There was another person present who had heard Hu Sheng’s name, and that was of course Liu Huan. He had actually been a classmate of Scholar Zhao’s, but unfortunately, his family’s foundation was too thin, and he could only study for four years before he had to go home to farm. In his youth, he had also been a peddler for a few years and had gained some knowledge.
So the person marrying Young Master Zhao was this Young Master Hu in front of him? Two men. Liu Huan shivered, but he didn’t dare to say much.
He could only follow the villagers in cheering for the magnificent dowry items, such as the red gold crown. Although these country bumpkins had seen some silver recently, they had never seen such a large lump of gold.
In addition, not to mention the silks and satins, there was even a full set of kitchen utensils made of fine steel. To use such good steel, which could shine like silver in the sunlight, to make kitchen utensils was simply a waste of natural resources, but it was still worthy of envy and cheers.
After the last item, a pair of concentric twin fish pendants, was read, Li Dake smiled and stuffed the dowry list into Zhao An’s hand. Then he waved his hand at the people behind him. “Set off the firecrackers!”
