The mountain road is rugged, one person rides a donkey leisurely, and the other walks steadily in coarse linen clothes.

It is Yeming and Song Cheng, and now Song Cheng is wearing a cheap coarse cloth shirt, but he is more generous than before, and although he treats Yeming with respect, he no longer has the previous flattery.

"Old Song, along the way, you have done a lot of good things, so you are not afraid of exhausting your blessings?"

Yeming took the gourd and wanted to take a sip of wine, but found that the wine had been drunk, which was a bit disappointing.

Song Cheng said with a smile: "Since Mr. Yang said that I am a person with great fortune, it must not be so easy to consume the fortune."

Anyway, I didn't have a lot of money before, and as long as I ended up getting better than before, I was satisfied. ”

"Then aren't you afraid of losing money? Maybe the income will not be as good as before. ”

"It doesn't matter, I have a lot of talent and fame, no matter how bad I am, I can survive, and it won't be worse than now."

"Are you connotating Yang?"

"Haha, don't dare, you are my gold lord and hope, how dare I confront you?"

The two of them walked with laughter and laughter, and the road ahead became more and more difficult, and it seemed that they had gone deep into the mountains and forests.

Ye Ming suddenly raised his eyebrows, opened his eyes, and looked into the depths of the mountains and forests.

Tear Ling, who was lying on the donkey's back, also stood up and stared over there.

When Song Cheng saw this, he also looked at it, but he didn't find it.

"Mr. Yang, is there any situation?"

Yeming got off the donkey, pointed to the stone beside him, and said:

"Sit down, take a break, and have something to eat."

During this time, following Yeming, Song Cheng also knew that Yeming would never do meaningless things, so he sat down and took out two cakes from the package he carried, and the two of them ate one by one.

Yeming took out the gourd on his waist several times and wanted to drink some wine, but he didn't pour it out.

It's gone, it's really gone.

The meal was very tasteless.

Halfway through the bread, I heard movement in the woods opposite, and the sound of human voices and monkeys.

Song Cheng subconsciously became vigilant, but seeing that Yeming had no reaction, he knew that it shouldn't be a big problem.

Soon, the group of people on the opposite side appeared.

It is a group of hunters with knives and bows on their backs.

The group of hunters caught five monkeys, all alive, two dead monkeys, and three jars of monkey wine.

Yeming, who smelled the aroma of wine, stopped eating the cake and "looked" at the group of people.

The hunters also looked at the two of them with some vigilance, and saw that they seemed to be passing by, and they didn't bring weapons, so they were relieved.

A group of people left the mountains and forests along the road, and Yeming also rode on a donkey and walked together.

It seems that the hunters are also going to the county seat, and they happen to be on the same road as Yeming.

Nightlight said to the leader of the hunters:

"Big brother, what are you doing with so many monkeys?"

When the hunter leader heard this, he looked at Yeming with some surprise:

"Why, you don't know?"

"We came from out of town, and we don't know."

The hunter leader said: "It's nothing, the magistrate of Wuhou County likes to eat monkey brains recently, preferably live monkey brains, and specially ordered to arrest them."

One can only be exchanged for five taels of silver!

Now all the hunters in the vicinity who have some ability, either in groups or alone, are catching monkeys in this monkey mountain. ”

"I see."

Ye Ming nodded in understanding, looked at the monkey wine they were carrying, and asked,

"Do you sell monkey wine?"

"If you don't sell it, this monkey wine will also be used by the county magistrate, and depending on the quality of the wine, it can also be exchanged for some silver, and it can also be used to deduct taxes."

The Hunter Leader explained.

"Does this Wuhou Zhixian like to eat it very much?"

Yeming asked again.

Another hunter laughed:

"It's not just that I like to eat, but in this door, the county magistrate can be regarded as having a trick, and there are some ways to eat that we can't think of with mud legs.

Let's just say that before this, in order to eat fresh bird's nest, the county magistrate searched for the whole county, and also sent special people to form a bird's nest team, so that no swallows in the county dared to build nests......

And the year before last, the magistrate wanted to eat snake soup......"

Obviously, the hunters are very clear about some things about the prefect, and it can even be said that they are acting specifically to satisfy the prefect's taste to some extent.

After listening to them for a long time, Song Cheng couldn't help but ask:

"Then how about this Wuhou magistrate as an official?"

When the hunters heard this, they looked at each other and kept silent.

Song Cheng knew just by looking at their expressions that this county magistrate was an official.

Yeming doesn't seem to be able to look at the atmosphere, obviously cold, and he is still eagerly asking other questions.

When the hunters saw this, they also didn't say a word.

It didn't take long for the scene to be enthusiastic again.

Ye Ming was talking, and suddenly said to Song Cheng:

"Old Song, open the umbrella."

Song Cheng looked up at the sky a little puzzled, and there was no sign that it was going to rain, but he still chose to listen to the night and spread the umbrella.

Not long after the umbrella was opened, the roar of monkeys suddenly sounded in the mountains and forests.

The faces of the hunters changed slightly, and one said:

"Oh no, the monkey is here."

As he spoke, a stone flew out of the woods and struck a man in the shoulder, and the hunter who had struck him screamed in pain.

Soon, a group of monkeys appeared around, and these monkeys kept barking at the crowd, picking up stones, wood, etc., from the ground, and smashing them at the hunters.

Several monkeys caught by the hunters also began to bark and seemed to communicate with the monkeys around them.

The hunters were besieged, and the leader drew his bow directly and shot an arrow at a monkey.

The monkey screamed, fell under the tree, and was killed instantly.

This did not frighten the monkeys around them, but made the monkeys excited, throwing things and smashing people.

The hunters fought back with their bows while retreating along the mountain road with the monkeys in their hands.

The monkeys in the mountains pursued, constantly attacking with various things.

Song Cheng held an umbrella and covered himself and Yeming, admiring Yeming's foresight.

"Mr. Yang, these monkeys are here to seek revenge, why did they fight us together, and we didn't provoke them."

Yeming didn't panic at all, and hit a flying stone aside with a bamboo stick, and said:

"Who brought us closer to the hunters? This is called a fire at the city gate – and it affects the fish in the pond. ”

Hearing this, Song Cheng nodded, but he was not afraid, although the momentum of these monkeys was terrifying, it was not enough to really threaten them.

It wasn't until the hunters were out of the mountain that the monkeys had to give up, roaring there, and many of the monkeys peed in the direction of the hunters as a sign of anger.

"Oh, these brutes are so annoying, I have one of my faces and teeth knocked out."

A hunter covered his swollen face and angrily slapped the captured monkey.

The monkey had long since lost his energy, and he only looked at him angrily when he was beaten.

"Okay, don't kill it, it's worthless if you kill it."

The leader of the hunters was also beaten with a blue nose and swollen face, but he still told the brothers not to abuse the monkeys.

Not long after leaving the Ape Mountain, everyone walked to the official road, and the road was much better.

Because taking the official road often has to take a long detour, so Yeming and the two of them only walked on Ape Mountain, but they didn't expect to see such a good show halfway.

The group went all the way to the outside of Wuhou County.

Wuhou County is the fief of Wuhou in ancient times, so it is called Wuhou County.

Of course, there is no one in this dynasty to seal the Marquis of Wu, and the biggest one here is the magistrate, and there is no one else.

The guards at the gates of the city saw that the hunters had returned with five live monkeys, and their eyes widened.

That's twenty-five taels of silver, and this group of hunters has made a lot of money!

In the spirit of watching the excitement, the two of them followed the hunters to the outside of the county government and watched them hand over the monkeys to the people of the county office.

After a period of tax collection and conversion in the county accounting office, five live monkeys, two dead monkeys, plus three jars of monkey wine, a total of thirty-one taels of silver.

After the silver was counted, the account office counted the various taxes and used the silver to offset the taxes.

After some calculation, the hunters only got three taels of silver, and the rest was all included in the tax.

The hunters were disappointed, but they paid off.

Besides, the people don't fight with the officials, and it's better to have a little silver than nothing.

"Hunters risk their lives for just a little silver?"

Song Cheng was a little angry watching from the sidelines.

It's too dark, so exaggerated that there are taxes?

Three taels of silver were divided by a dozen hunters, and the income was indeed a little less.

The hunters calculated that they could only go to Ape Mountain again in a few days and catch a few more monkeys.

The only hope now is that the magistrate will not get tired of eating monkey brains so quickly, don't catch the monkey by then, but he can't get the money, then he will smash it all in his hands.

The hunters' fears were not unfounded, as similar things had happened before.

After separating from the hunters, Song Cheng was pondering where to rest tonight, when he heard someone from the yamen shouting:

"Tomorrow morning, the county magistrate will hold the county's fourth food competition this year, please prepare the chefs, and the people can also go to the county office tomorrow morning to compete outside the competition!"

As the man shouted along the road, everyone got the news.

Song Cheng found that the enthusiasm of ordinary people was not high, and families with cooks rushed to tell each other as if they had heard some great news.

As soon as I inquired, I found out that it was a food competition, but in fact, it was the county magistrate who was choosing a chef.

For ordinary people, it's just a matter of watching the excitement.

But for those cooks, it's different.

As long as you can become the chef of the magistrate, the status will rise all of a sudden, and the most important thing is that you will be appreciated by the magistrate, not to mention anything else, even if the family has a way to live, the harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes will have nothing to do with your family, and the days will be much better than now.

Hearing that it was this, Song Cheng didn't care much about it.

Yeming suddenly asked:

"Old Song, you used to open a roadside hotel, you should be able to cook, right?"

"I can make a few home-cooked stir-fries, and it's no problem to eat and drink by myself, but if you want to get into the eyes of the local magistrate, I'm afraid it's not easy."

Song Cheng knew what Yeming's question meant, but he also knew that he was not a professional chef, how could he be better than the chef in this county?

Ye Ming said with a smile: "You just have to sign up, tomorrow's competition, use my special seasoning, and keep this county master as your guest." ”

When Song Cheng heard this, he didn't question Ye Ming's ability, but just said:

"This person is a local parent official, but he only cares about his own pleasure, and he doesn't care about the life and death of ordinary people, so let me go and be a cook for him?

Don't go! ”

"Old Song, I know your intentions, let you be a cook, but not really a cook, mainly to be an internal response, what do you think?"

"Guilty? What does Mr. Yang want to do? ”

"Keep it secret for now, okay. Old Song, go to the county government to sign up! ”

Yeming pushed Song Cheng to sign up for the competition.

I didn't expect that the county government registration actually had an assessment, at least to cook a dish on the spot.

Song Cheng made a donkey meat fire on the spot, and the master who ate it nodded slightly.

Song Cheng was immediately given the qualification to participate in the competition tomorrow.

After winning the qualification, Song Cheng was still a little proud, this didn't use the special seasoning provided by Yeming, it was purely based on his own cooking skills!

Who knew that as soon as he came out of the county office, he was kicked on the ass by a donkey's hooves and fell to the ground.

"Oops~~"

Song Cheng was in pain and covered his buttocks, but he didn't expect the donkey, who had always been honest, to kick himself.

"Mr. Yang, what are you doing here, why are you kicking me?"

Tear Ling on the side rolled her eyes at him and turned her head away.

Ye Ming smiled: "Don't you know the reason? ”

Song Cheng was stunned for a moment, and then realized what the problem was.

Donkey meat is burned!

......