During the reign of Ming Hongzhi, in HT County, an exclamation came from a pending courtyard: "Father, are you back?"

Su Zifang looked at the place where the voice came from.

A young man in his twenties respectfully bowed deeply, squatted down, pressed his hands together on the ground, left hand on top and right hand down, knelt first on his left leg, then on his right leg, and bowed his head to the ground. Repeat it three times before looking up in the direction of the door.

There stood a middle-aged Confucian with a resolute expression, dressed in green clothes and wearing a square scarf. The lip and jaw beards have been repaired, and they look particularly majestic.

This should be Song Xu, right?

That young man was probably his son Song Gongwang.

"Gongwang, get up, I haven't seen you for a few months, and you are more stable than I thought. ”

Song Xu opened his mouth to confirm Su Zifang's guess.

"It's all up to my father's teachings. Hearing this, the young man got up and stepped forward to support the figure at the door.

"No way, ahem, I'm not that weak yet. ”

Before the words fell, he coughed several times in a row, "Ahem, the distance of this visit is not much, cough, so, I came back early." ”

"Father!" Su Gongwang exclaimed.

"I occasionally feel cold on the road, cough, you can just grab a few pairs of medicine. Ahem, I'm going to record the recipe I've found this time. ”

Song Xu waved his hand and motioned to Song Gongwang to leave him alone.

Song Gongwang saw Song Xu insisting like this, and the consolation that came to his mouth was swallowed back into his stomach.

He knew Song Xu's character, and since he had already said it, he would definitely not change, shook his head and hurried to find the familiar Lang Zhong to prescribe medicine.

Su Zifang didn't follow.

Compared with the life of the common people in the middle of the Ming Dynasty, he is now more concerned about this person who single-handedly changed the history of ancient Chinese food.

Song Xu watched his son leave, and without delay, he took off the burden on his body and walked into the study.

In the study, the huge bookshelves were full, and the shelves were full of books, Su Zifang glanced at them a few times, and only recognized them as books on health, planting, and animal husbandry, and he couldn't understand the content at all.

Song Xu sat back at the table, carefully sandwiched smooth pieces of wood into the spread out books, closed them all and set them aside. Then spread out the baggage and took out the two yellowed ancient books hidden in them.

Holding it in his hand and carefully flipping through it.

"Ahem!"

"Ahem!"

For a while, in addition to the sound of flipping books in the house, it was the sound of Song Xu coughing.

Su Zifang walked around the study and found that most of the books in the house were related to cooking, brewing, planting, and animal husbandry, and he couldn't help but admire.

People who can devote themselves to the study of agriculture in an era when everything is inferior and only high in reading is definitely a real heart for the world.

When Su Zifang looked at the study, Song Xu suddenly moved.

He placed the book in his hand on the side of the table, and carefully took out a knife of rice paper from behind him, on which a stack was already full of handwriting.

Song Xu put aside the rice paper with the words written on it and pressed it with a paperweight, and began to transcribe the contents of the book he had just taken out on the latest paper.

"Pomfret should be soup, spicy cooking, frying, bad, and sunburst. ”

Su Zifang looked at it, turned his head to look at the rice paper placed on the side, and on the top was written "Zhuyu Mountain House Miscellaneous".

He didn't dare to imagine that a food book that recorded more than 100 kinds of beverage preparation methods, more than 400 kinds of vegetable recipes, and nearly 100 kinds of flour and flour products was actually completed under such conditions.

Song Xu couldn't see Su Zifang's shock.

It was as if there was nothing but a book to be copied and a piece of paper to be copied in front of him.

"Father, it's time to take your medicine. ”

Song Gongwang pushed the door in, holding a bowl of brown medicinal soup in his hand, and his voice was very soft, for fear of disturbing Song Xu. However, Song Xu continued to transcribe as if he hadn't heard it.

The pen in his hand walked the dragon and snake, and lines of pine ink handwriting appeared on the rice paper.

"Totoaba ......"

"Salmon ......"

"Mullet ......"

The names of the ingredients were written down one by one, and the applicable practices were listed one by one, and Song Xu was completely immersed in his own world.

"Father, it's time to take medicine!" Song Gongwang walked to the table and put down the medicinal soup, reminding him again.

"Ahem, ahem!" Song Xu stopped his movements and coughed twice. Raised his eyes to look at Song Gongwang, revealing joy.

"Gongwang, you see, my father borrowed a rare book from a private collector this time, which has all kinds of cooking methods for fish, turtles and snails, which is the most complete book I have seen in recent years. ”

Song Xu raised his hand excitedly and wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Song Gongwang first.

"Father, you have copied thousands of these books on medicine, food, and farming, when will it be the first one?

"You have been out four times this year in order to copy books, the first time you hurt your leg, the second time you hurt your waist, and now you are finally recuperating, and you are getting caught up in the cold, I am really worried about what you mean ....... ”

Song Gongwang was halfway through speaking, realizing that what he said was inappropriate, he closed his mouth and lowered his head and stood at the table waiting for a lecture.

......

After a long time, Song Gongwang heard Song Xu's voice sound.

"Gongwang. You've grown up!"

Song Xu looked at the medicinal soup in his hand, picked it up and drank it all after trying the temperature.

"The Father knows what you're thinking. ”

"Are you wondering, why did my father not want to take the test to gain fame, why did he leave the books of the sages to read these small agricultural techniques, why did he choose to study livestock?"

"The child doesn't dare. Song Gongwang instantly lowered his head to argue, but his fluttering eyes still betrayed his hesitation.

"My father asked you, Wei Zheng, the famous minister of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, has a famous saying, do you know?"

"Can water carry a boat or capsize a boat?"

"That's right. Song Xu put down the medicine bowl, pointed to the bookshelf behind him, pointed to the books spread out on the table, pointed to the neatly stacked rice paper under the paperweight, and pointed to the brush whose ink had not dried.

"What is a boat? What is a river, what is a river, and what is a water?"

"Dale is benevolent and peaceful, and Xiaole has no worries about food and clothing. ”

"The life of the people is actually much simpler than you think, if you have clothes to wear and food, the world will be peaceful. ”

"My father knows that you think you are a scholar and are unwilling to follow me to travel around the world, but you don't know that this world is not in the temple after all, but the people of the world. ”

Su Zifang has heard these theories many times, and listening to them again is only to deepen his memory.

But here in Song Gongwang, Song Xu's words were tantamount to thunder on the ground, and there were some deviations from the life he had always dreamed of, which made him a little distracted.

"Since you want to be an official and do things for the people, then my father will ask you a few questions. ”

"If you are the county magistrate of Huating, can you know the distribution of fields and soils in Huating, the number of paddy fields, the number of farmers, and the number of fishermen?"

"I'm ......" Song Gongwang wanted to speak and stopped.

"You don't know!" Song Xu shook his head.

"For my father, I will ask you again, if you are the magistrate of Huating County, how should you arrange the farming affairs in this spring and summer? When should the guinea dogs and poultry be fed, and when should they be slaughtered?"

"I ......" Song Gongwang swallowed his saliva and replied wordlessly.

"You still don't know. Song Xu's tone became depressed.

"So, you know, the hope of the Father?"