Among the twelve people at the table, Mei Siyuan and eight of his entourage set off from Yinyang County, Fuzhou in the dark, and they had been riding for a long time, and they were already hungry. At the banquet, Mei Siyuan toasted everyone with wine, and everyone picked up chopsticks and ate hard. Zhu Youyuan and the old housekeeper were accompanying the banquet, and naturally they couldn't help but use chopsticks frequently to attract food. Here is only the old man, looking at everyone in the seat, looking at the cups and plates, stretching out his head and opening his eyes, like sitting on pins and needles. When Mei Siyuan saw it, he seemed to have a conjecture in his heart, and said with a smile, "Brother Lao, why don't you move the dishes and chopsticks?"

The old man was swallowing his saliva when he suddenly heard the high-ranking official ask, and hurriedly wanted to answer. He wanted to have a tight throat, but poured saliva into his nose, choking him and sneezing. When his breath was a little smoother, he said with a stunned smile, "I'm not hungry! I'm not hungry!" he said, but his eyes couldn't help but glance at the various meat delicacies on the plate during the banquet, and thought to himself, "Ouch, my Emperor Mother! Where are there so many good meat and vegetables in this world!" The old man seemed to notice that Mei Siyuan seemed to see his embarrassment, and said again, "Hehe, I'm not hungry!"

Mei Siyuan is such a smart character, naturally thinking that most of them are self-consciously humble, sitting at the same table with everyone, how dare they eat and drink recklessly, and they are restraining themselves. Nai scolded the guards on the side with a smile, "Ren Bao, just take care of your own food! I will pick up a few dishes for the old brother!" Xue Ren Bun is Mei Siyuan, the youngest of the four guards transferred from Qingxi, is dealing with the big pork knuckle on the plate at the moment. Suddenly, when he heard the adult call his name, his chopsticks flicked, and he almost threw a big elbow off the plate. At this time, he got up embarrassedly, and forcefully tore off a chicken leg on the crispy chicken in the left front plate, sandwiched the big chicken leg between the two chopsticks, and put it in the old bowl. The old man stared at the chicken leg tightly, for fear that it would fall halfway. Fortunately, the chicken leg landed firmly in his bowl. The moment the chicken leg fell, the old man's body was shocked, and he was about to reach out to get it. His hand reached the edge of the bowl, suddenly stopped, shrunk under the table, and smiled awkwardly at the crowd.

"Brother Lao, you are casual, there are not so many rules for eating and drinking in private here. Seeing this, Mei Siyuan didn't mind at all, and said to him warmly.

The old man realized that this group of officials seemed to be very tight, and his heart was much more relaxed at the moment, looking at the chicken legs in the bowl, he felt that it was really difficult to withstand the temptation, hehe smiled, "I, hehe, then I'll eat some, eat some!" After speaking, he grabbed the chopsticks on the side of the bowl and ate it. Without a few breaths, a big chicken leg was almost finished, and Mei Siyuan gestured to Xue Renbao. Xue Renbao got the secret order, and put several large pieces of stewed beef tendon into the old man's bowl. "Uh-huh!" the old man couldn't speak, only made a "uh-huh" sound.

"Uh~uh!", the old man's stomach really couldn't fit it, and he burped a few times. Although his stomach was full, he was dissatisfied in his heart, and he was still reluctant to stare at a table of leftovers, "Hey, there are still so many meat and vegetables left! There are still most of the garlic ducks on that plate, and the stewed beef bones haven't been touched much! The roast suckling pig in the middle, I'm afraid that there are more than a dozen catties of cooked meat, tsk, alas! It's a pity that the mother-in-law and the two babies are not there!"

Mei Siyuan watched all this carefully from the sidelines. This old man was dressed in rags, his face was withered, and his big hands were covered with cracks and calluses, and he was really the most real poor man. Although he has experienced the decline of his family and a difficult career, he has never had to worry about food and clothing. At this moment, although he received the second rank, he hung a first-grade job and served a first-grade salary, with 6,500 taels of silver every year, which was even more brocade clothes and food. The daily life of these lower-class people is really different from their own, and they feel compassion for a while.

"Mr. Zhu, can you give me these leftovers?" At this time, everyone had finished eating, and they were sitting next to the dining room for a short rest.

"Ouch, Xiaomin is not well entertained, this, this, Xiaomin will send someone to prepare another table of wine and food!" Zhu Youyuan hurriedly stood up from his seat, looked panicked, and said that this adult had never eaten enough, or he didn't like the meal.

Seeing this, Mei Siyuan knew that Zhu Youyuan had misunderstood him, so he immediately got up and said with a smile, "Mr. misunderstood." This old brother wants to come and still have young and old at home, I want to do a favor, so it is better to send all the leftover dishes to this old man's family. ”

Only then did Zhu Youyuan come to his senses and said with a smile, "Oh, oh, that's how it is! That's naturally good! Naturally, it's good! Xiaomin will ask someone to send all the food to the old man's family while it's still hot!" After speaking, he resigned and went down to make arrangements. The old man was thinking in his heart, but after listening to the answer between the official and the owner, he originally said his heart, and he was not excited for a while, and his eyes were clothed, and he was about to shed tears, "Mother-in-law, baby, you can also have a meal today!"

"Brother Lao, can you take a step to speak?" Mei Siyuan looked at the old man and called.

The old man didn't know what to do, he stood in place stupidly, scratched his head, and replied with a smirk, "Hehe."

Mei Siyuan shook his head helplessly and smiled, "Brother, come and talk." ”

The old man understood this, and happily agreed, "Hey!" and walked quickly to the tea case.

"Do you know what I'm doing?" asked Mei Siyuan.

"I don't know, I just know that you are a great and good official!" replied with a smirk.

Mei Siyuan received such a funny answer from the old man, and felt very satisfied, and said, "I am the official in charge of salt in this Dahua Dynasty, you have really helped me a lot in finding this salt mine in this blind mountain, I will definitely thank you well!"

"My lord. Even if I do this little favor, I eat so many meals in the dining room today, and you have to send food to my mother-in-law and baby, I don't want to go!"

"Big brother, what do you think is the most important thing to live here?" Mei Si was grateful from the heart that he had found the salt mine, and he might solve the danger of tens of millions of people running out of salt in the future, so he wanted to reward him.

The old man was stunned for a while, and replied in disappointment, "If you want to say the most important, it is naturally the field." ”