The Great Qin Empire---Qin Li

The feud between Heifu's family and the village head started seven years ago when his eldest brother Zhong married a girl from a neighboring village that the village head's son liked...

However, now is not the time to worry about the family. The two of them didn't eat in the morning and were hungry for most of the day. They were already hungry. After passing a crossroads, Ji Ying's eyes lit up and pointed to the front and said, "We are at the restaurant!"

A restaurant is a place for pedestrians to eat and rest. Anlu County is a major north-south transportation route with frequent vehicles and ships. Although there are post stations and guesthouses outside the city, restaurants are also indispensable in the city.

However, this restaurant is a bit simple, with a thatched roof and white walls. There is only a cloth flag with the word "food" hanging listlessly on the pole. There are a few wooden tables in the store, which are not even painted. There are rough straw mats next to the tables. It is also deserted inside, with only five or six people eating.

"It's New Year's Day, everyone goes home to reunite, only the soldiers and merchants who have no other choice will make do here..."

Ji Ying was still angry. He had served in Anlu County twice and was familiar with this place. He invited Hei Fu to go into the restaurant, kneeled on the straw mat by the door, slapped the wooden table, and shouted: "Store owner, do you have millet porridge?"

The store owner of this restaurant was a middle-aged man with a sallow complexion. He came over slowly after hearing the call.

Because of the special national conditions of Qin, whether it was an inn or a restaurant, the two major industries of food and accommodation were all taken care of by the government, so the store owner was not very enthusiastic about greeting guests. It was like the public-owned restaurants during the Cultural Revolution. Have you ever seen a waiter who would smile and make money for the government?

Seeing that Ji Ying was just a small soldier and Hei Fu was just a public official, the shopkeeper immediately looked down on them and said coldly: "We do have millet soup, but the price is..."

He looked them up and down, and pointed out that they were wearing brown clothes and straw sandals, and they didn't look like rich people. Maybe they were here to cheat for food and drink.

Ji Ying was waiting for him to ask this question! He laughed immediately: "Why, are you afraid that we won't pay after eating?" As he said that, he opened the bag in his hand and slapped a bunch of half-liang coins on the table! Crackling!

The shopkeeper was slightly surprised to see that there were thousands of coins, and he looked suspicious and asked: "Where did you get all this money?" If Ji Ying hesitated, he would have planned to report him to the authorities!

"Don't worry, the money is legitimate!"

Ji Ying stood up and said loudly: "We have captured the thief and just received the reward at the official temple!"

He shouted deliberately, as if he wanted all the diners in the store to hear.

Sure enough, the few customers in the store looked over here and began to point fingers at the two.

The owner was a little surprised and looked up and down at the skinny Ji Ying: "Are you the Heifu who fought three people alone and captured the thief?"

Has this matter spread outside?

Ji Ying shook his head and pointed at Hei Fu, saying, "How can I have such ability? Hei Fu is this gentleman!"

The owner was amazed and bowed to Hei Fu, saying, "These days, this story has been circulating in Anlu County. It is said that you are eight feet tall, strong and muscular, and you can subdue thieves with your bare hands like a three-year-old baby. I didn't expect to see a warrior today. He is indeed strong and handsome!"

"What a warrior!"

Several diners in the restaurant also clapped and cheered. Hei Fu could only smile awkwardly and bowed to thank them.

"I just did what I should do. It's not worth mentioning. It's not worth mentioning."

"You can't say that." The shop owner suddenly became enthusiastic and said with a smile: "We Qin people value meritorious service the most. Please wait for a moment. I will cook the millet soup myself and add more meat to serve the warriors!"

The shop owner's arrogance at first and then respect caught Heifu off guard. And judging from his appearance, it was not because of his new title of Gongshi, but because of his heartfelt admiration for him.

But think about it, people of this era admire warriors very much. Not to mention Yu Rang, Nie Zheng and other chivalrous assassins respected by the world, let's say that in Anlu County, the most admired by young people is a "tiger-killing hero" in Yunmeng Township, who is famous throughout the county because he shot a tiger in the mountains.

In this way, he captured three thieves alone and took the sword with his bare hands. It is also a miracle, which can indeed make people in the county talk about it for a long time.

Ji Ying smiled at Hei Fu, which meant, what do you think, brother, I helped you become famous...

Hei Fu shook his head helplessly. In fact, he also understood that people in this era, regardless of their status, pursued only two things in life: one was wealth and the other was fame. In the eyes of rural farmers like Ji Ying, if you have fame, you have to talk about it and enjoy the feeling of being praised.

But now Hei Fu has only made a small contribution and gained a little fame. He can brag about it in this small county town, but in the context of the great era of "Six Kings are gone, and the world is one", what is it?

He has a different vision from Ji Ying and others, so naturally he has different ideas.

While waiting for food, Hei Fu has been thinking about what "Shu Ju" is. He was embarrassed to ask, for fear of making a joke of not knowing that October 1st is a New Year's joke, so he could only understand it literally.

After the millet is peeled, people in the north call it yellow rice, or soft rice; Ju, is meat soup. Shuju, should be a meat porridge made of millet and meat.

When the food was served, it was indeed like this. The owner did not break his promise. A lot of fat meat was added to the steaming meat porridge, which greatly increased Ji Ying's appetite, but Heifu shook his head after taking a bite.

Accustomed to all kinds of delicious food in the future, he always felt that the crudely made food of this era was bland and tasteless. Moreover, the suspicious meat in the meat porridge, which was not sure whether it was pork or dog meat, had a fishy smell that made him want to vomit. Just to fill his stomach and not embarrass the owner who was watching them eagerly, he had to swallow it in small mouthfuls and praised it for being delicious...

After returning to this era, in addition to the language and writing, there were three other things that Heifu found most difficult to adapt to.

First, without underwear under the crotch, the wind blows the buttocks cold, and when sitting with legs apart, the black weapon below will be exposed accidentally, not to mention how embarrassing it is. Otherwise, why do you think people in this era have to kneel with legs together?

Second, there are only one or two pieces of clothes all year round, and there is no way to change and wash them frequently. After a long time, whether it is others or oneself, there is an unpleasant smell of sweat. You know, in this era of low productivity, clothes are not cheap. When people die, they even write the better clothes as real estate in their suicide notes...

Third, it is food.

"It would be nice if I could eat a bowl of rice noodles or buns."

Hei Fu thought so and licked his lips.

But he knew that this was just a foolish dream. Although the mill had appeared in the north at this time, it seemed that it had not spread to Nanjun, which was embarrassing. At present, the main way to remove the husk in Qin State is pounding. There is also a torture specially set up for criminal women, also called pounding. They have to pound rice all day long. You can imagine how tiring this job is.

"When I return home after serving, I will have money and free time. I must try to prepare something that can satisfy my taste buds." Hei Fu did not seek anything else, just for his own stomach.

Ji Ying was very satisfied. He wolfed down the pottery bowl, drank the millet porridge in big mouthfuls, and chewed the greasy fat. In this era, poverty limited everyone's imagination. In the eyes of ordinary people, a rich life means being able to eat fat meat (gao) and fine rice (liang).

Thinking of this, Hei Fu looked back at his life of more than 20 years in his previous life. Although he was a loser, he was already a "rich son" in the Warring States and Qin Dynasty.

Of course, with meat, how can there be no wine?

While eating, Ji Ying sighed, "It would be nice to have millet wine. People are not allowed to drink together on weekdays. In previous years, they only looked forward to the New Year and the La Festival, when they could drink a little with their fellow villagers, but now..."

The wine that the Qin people drank during the New Year was also brewed with millet, called millet wine. But as far as Hei Fu knows, the people had no chance to drink it on weekdays, because the strict prohibition of alcohol in Qin was unprecedented and unparalleled!

Since Shang Yang, because brewing wine wastes food, people are also prone to make trouble after drinking, so Qin deliberately raised the price of wine tenfold! It is equivalent to the heavy tax on tobacco and alcohol in later generations. As a result, in Anlu County, only officials or wealthy families can afford to drink alcohol.

Even restaurants are not allowed to sell alcohol. Otherwise, why do you think that wine shops and restaurants in other countries become "restaurants" in Qin? It's very simple, this place doesn't sell alcohol!

You may say, isn't it just rice wine? What's so difficult about farmers brewing it themselves?

However, Shang Yang had already considered this point. The Qin State clearly stipulated in the "Land Law" that "people living in farmhouses are not allowed to sell wine. The farm stewards and the assistants strictly prohibit it. Those who disobey will be punished!"

So the people can only drink wine secretly, for fear of being reported. As for drinking in public, it is only allowed on the first day of October and the La Festival. It's the New Year, so people have to have fun.

Hei Fu was not interested in the millet wine that was as light as a drink, and smiled and didn't care.

At this time, he suddenly heard a pair of people who looked like merchants talking about something behind him.

"People from Guanzhong said that the king has issued a letter to send troops to attack Yan!"

Hearing these keywords, Hei Fu's ears couldn't help but stand up!

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