Chapter 9

"Li Dongzhu is also a remarkable person." Gao Lishi watched Li Yi's actions and smiled, patting Li Yi's shoulder.

"Agreed, General Gao, please wait a moment." Li Yi put away the documents and ran back to his house.

When he returned, he had a small jar in his hand, which he handed to Gao Lishi.

He said, "Spicy meat sauce, not much left, I kept half at home. I'll make more later."

Gao Lishi chuckled, took it happily, and said, "Since Li Dongzhu is so generous, I can't take it for free. Would you like to keep a few attendants to manage the estate?"

Gao Lishi turned around, bringing many people, including palace maids and eunuchs.

"Can we not keep them?" Li Yi asked straightforwardly.

"Of course!" Gao Lishi nodded.

"Then keep them, two men and two women." Li Yi agreed.

He thought Gao Lishi wanted to plant people, but since he said it was fine not to, it wasn't, so he decided to let them stay, allowing them to be planted.

Gao Lishi picked two eunuchs and two maids, and the four chosen people had complex expressions.

Seeing this, Li Yi said to Gao Lishi, "General Gao, how about rotating them, sending four new ones every ten days, so there's a comparison?"

Gao Lishi instantly understood; this young master was upset.

The four people didn't want to stay, so the young master's idea was to rotate them.

Once they realize the benefits of staying, they won't be able to stay, and must be replaced.

He found it most interesting that the young master was bargaining and making decisions.

"Agreed!" Gao Lishi nodded, unable to refuse, as the young master was someone the emperor favored.

The four people still had complex expressions.

They realized that Li Yi seemed to want to give them benefits.

After the matter was settled, Gao Lishi and his group left.

Li Yi said to the four people, "The women are called Taohong and Cuiliu, the men are called Qingsong and Heyan. Write your names on your chests. In the future, the names will remain the same when rotating."

The two maids and two eunuchs nodded in agreement.

The four male servants and four female servants, along with the steward, were very nervous.

These were people from the palace, and the struggles in the palace were known to be brutal.

Could they compete with people who had survived in such an environment?

"A Da, A Er, A San, A Si, and Meilan, Zhuzhu, you explain the estate's matters to them, but don't tell them the soy sauce recipe."

Li Yi instructed his people.

"Yes, Master." The eight people responded simultaneously.

This sentence indicated that the eight of them had more power than the four rotating people.

The four people didn't mind; after all, it was only ten days, a single period, and they could return.

That night, they had hotpot, with the estate's people, excluding ten tenant farmers.

The tenant farmers ate beef tendon separately, which was marinated.

Li Yi and fourteen others had hotpot with mutton and wild vegetables.

He also prepared the cow's organs, like tripe, and served them with the remaining spicy sauce and garlic sauce.

The main dish was noodles, or what was now called tangbing.

Pre-cut wide noodles were ready to be added to the hotpot at the end.

The two maids and two eunuchs were stunned by the meal.

How could it be so delicious? Did they eat this every day on the estate?

That night, the four new people crowded into a small room, with no extra space.

In the morning, the steward led them to clean the woodshed and a coal shed that was now empty.

Others went to the city to buy things, like silk and jewelry.

Li Yi decided to make new clothes for his people, beautiful ones.

With the status of contributing to the royal family, could they afford to look shabby?

They also needed to buy cattle and horses.

Ducks and geese were bought to be raised in the river as the weather warmed.

Money flowed out like a stream.

Li Yi wasn't worried because he would sell soy sauce the next day, only 200 pounds a day, at a higher price.

The increase would depend on the bidding.

It was an auction.

Ten pounds per jar, the highest bidder wins.

If you're dissatisfied, you can't do anything; he was contributing to the emperor, and Gao Lishi was his liaison.

Li Yi felt he had reached the peak of his life, and the next step was to extend his lifespan.

He couldn't let his life peak and then disappear.

When the people who went to the city returned at noon, they first slaughtered a sheep for dinner, as there wasn't enough time to prepare it now.

Lunch was fried rice with eggs, with diced carrots, a lavish meal, thanks to their wealth.

Served with pickled vegetables and wild vegetable soup, with floating soybean oil.

Even the forty-two students were included.

Everyone on the estate, big and small, male and female, was overjoyed.

There was actually fried rice with so much oil.

Everyone was moved, and Li Yi was even more moved.

What great employees, satisfied with just a plate of fried rice.

Thinking back... no, not thinking, it would only bring tears.

The maids and eunuchs brought new bedding to the rooms and were again amazed during the meal.

What kind of estate was this? The master didn't seem to care about money.

He said it was the transition between spring and summer, and they should nourish their bodies.

So, they bought many sheep, picked one to slaughter, which was now cooking in the pot.

The four of them had lived well in the palace.

They never imagined a meal with so much oil and eggs for fried rice.

The students didn't say anything, but after eating, they went back to study.

The students who taught the children now had rulers, which they didn't have before.

Because Li Yi said it was the time of the year when food was scarce, and the gentlemen should eat at the estate.

So, the students who only taught before found small wooden boards to use as rulers, ready to discipline the children.

***

"Big Brother, Third Brother, you're here just in time, we're about to have mutton soup."

In the evening, Li Yi saw the two brothers arrive and greeted them happily.

"Yi's mutton soup must be delicious, Third Brother, don't you think?" Li Chengqi smiled at Li Longji.

Li Longji saw the palace maids and eunuchs, squinted his eyes, and said, "Yi, we helped you with a local tribute, you must cook us something delicious."

"Big Brother, Third Brother, just wait and see, I'll make you water-burst tripe." Li Yi agreed and decided to exchange a bit more chili powder.

His lifespan had increased again, probably due to his brothers helping promote lime water for seed soaking, composting, and using phosphate rock.

This wasn't a one-time increase; the more people used it, the more his lifespan would grow.

It increased by 530 hours.

The four female servants knew the master's brothers were powerful and brought tea and dried fruits.

The two eunuchs and two maids from the palace were now very regretful, wishing they could go back and not rotate.

How could it be like this? How could it be so different?

Could they stay without rotating?

Returning to the Inner Attendant Province was so difficult.

Now, on the estate, with so few people, it was so simple.

Why? Why were the emperor and Song Wang treating a young man from the estate as a brother?

The four people were infinitely regretful but tried to act as if they didn't recognize the emperor and Song Wang.

They knew that if they spoke, they would die, and their families would suffer.

Li Yi went to the kitchen and exchanged another pound of chili powder, the kind that couldn't be planted.

One-third became chili oil, one-third became spicy salt, and one-third was kept.

He set up the wok, stir-fried mutton, braised sheep's head, stir-fried sheep's organs, hand-torn mutton, scallion tofu, and water-burst tripe.

Three large plates of each, the braised sheep's head was a single serving, the others were stir-fried sheep liver.

Three large plates of each, shared among the estate's people.

Others ate together, while Li Yi, Li Longji, and Li Chengqi had a separate small table.

Chili salt, chili oil, pepper, sesame sauce, soy sauce, and vinegar were all set.

Several stir-fried dishes left Li Longji and Li Chengqi speechless, how were these dishes made?

They looked at each other, speechless.

The meaning was, they had eaten a lot of mutton, but never like this.

How could it be so fragrant, making them hungry just by the smell?

The imperial kitchen should be ashamed; compare their dishes to what was on the table.

The steward, Song De, and the eight servants were used to it; the master often cooked delicious meals and taught them.

But today's dishes were new, especially the mutton.

The last time they ate mutton, it was stewed or in hotpot, which was also delicious.

The four people from the palace wanted to cry, feeling they had missed out on life, wasted their youth, and lost the world.

The master could cook such delicious dishes himself? Was this fair?

The two maids looked at each other, encouraging each other to speak.

For example, "Master, can we not rotate?"

But no one spoke; at this moment, the emperor would be angry, what right did the maids have to speak?

The most terrifying was if the emperor asked why.

The master would explain, and the emperor would think.

Ah, I'm here and very happy, but you're not? Fine, I'll make you happy.

"This is delicious, Yi." Li Chengqi picked the best part of the water-burst tripe, dipped it in soy sauce, sesame sauce, and chili oil, and praised it.

Li Longji looked at the four people from the palace and said to Li Yi, "Yi, there's a hierarchy, eating together..."

The steward and the four men and four women stopped eating, ready to move, as he was right.

Li Yi also put down his chopsticks and said seriously, "Third Brother, when I first came, I bought them, and they worked hard, never betraying me."

"Now that life is better, and the estate is stable, I eat alone, and it feels empty."

"Today, it's easy to send them away, but Big Brother and Third Brother, aren't you afraid that one day I'll be rich and look down on you?"

"Poor friends should not be forgotten, and a wife in poverty should not be abandoned."

Li Yi's words left everyone silent.

"Master." The steward, Song De, left his seat and knelt down.

"Master." The other eight people followed, touching the ground with their heads.

Li Longji's chopsticks trembled, his heart pounding.

Li Yi said to the nine people, "In the future, don't listen to guests, and if you hear something, pretend you didn't. Get up and work hard, or I'll scold you."

"Yes, Master, get up, get up. No rules." Song De stood up and told the other eight.

The eight people wiped their tears, sat back down, and looked at Li Yi occasionally.

"Yi, I was wrong, Third Brother." Li Longji stood up, bowed to everyone.

"No need, Third Brother, I was just saying." Li Yi stood up, pressed down Li Longji's hand, and sat back down.

The four people from the palace were not just sad, but wanted to die.

What did we miss? The master treats his servants like people.

"Poor friends should not be forgotten, and a wife in poverty should not be abandoned." Li Chengqi repeated, his eyes red.

He looked at his third brother enviously; his current empress was a wife in poverty.

And a very capable one; at least half of the third brother's success was due to his wife.

Seeing everyone's emotions, Li Yi quickly changed the subject, his voice becoming low.

"Speaking of mutton, even if you don't eat it often, you know a bit about it, but few people think much about it."

"The more precious the delicacy, the more ordinary it often looks, because it's right there."

"When iron and fire intertwine, the meat's flavor blossoms, and whoever can stir-fry it at the right time can appreciate its beauty and subtlety."

"Like this stir-fried mutton, the scallions are spicy, but it's precisely because of their spiciness that they better neutralize the mutton's gamey smell..."

"When the texture of the mutton changes from fatty to lean on the tongue, the simple pleasure of eating gradually elevates, and people no longer seek just to fill their stomachs..."

The surroundings fell silent again, everyone stunned.

The group listened to Li Yi, swallowing saliva continuously.

No need to eat or smell; just listening was enough.