Chapter 110 (Part 1): The Culinary Tycoon

Lord Cai’s Purpose

A group of people walked across several ridges and arrived at the field where Chang Le and his group were located.

Yu Qingze introduced himself to Grandpa Chang, Jiabao, and the others, as they didn’t know the Deputy County Magistrate. Chang Le and the others stood up and bowed to the three adults.

Lord Cai quickly said, “No need for formalities. This isn’t the yamen (government office). Let’s continue with our work.”

Jiabao walked over and called out, “Yifu.”

“Yes,” Lord Cai happily responded, watching Jiabao working hard and wiping the sweat off his forehead. He asked, “Are you tired?”

Jiabao shook his head, smiled, and said, “Not really. Well then, yifu, I’ll go back to work. We need to finish harvesting this field in the morning.”

“Alright, go ahead,” Lord Cai replied.

Watching Jiabao competently cutting the crops now, Lord Cai sighed and said, “After not seeing him for a few months, he has become even more sensible.”

Yu Qingze smiled and replied, “Yes, now he is like the little accountant of the shop, capable and responsible.”

Lord Cai laughed heartily and then asked, “Do we have any extra sickles? Let’s also do some cutting.”

Yu Qingze raised an eyebrow in surprise and asked, “You want to join too?”

Lord Cai nodded and asked in return, “What’s wrong? Don’t think I can do it?”

“No, I’ll go get the sickles,” Yu Qingze touched his nose, walked over to the crops he had been cutting, took his own sickle, and then went to the manure bin at the edge of the field, taking two spare sickles with him.

Yu Qingze handed his used sickle to Lord Cai and said, “This one has been used, so it’s sharper.”

Lord Cai handed the sickle to Luo Mingda.

Translated on ho lo lo novels dot com.

Luo Mingda was stunned for a moment and pointed at himself, saying, “Me?”

Lord Cai nodded and said, “Give it a try. You are the local official of Tongshan, so you should know how the people under your jurisdiction live and work. Experience it for yourself, come on.”

Saying that, Lord Cai didn’t give Luo Mingda a chance to refuse and forcefully handed the sickle to him.

Luo Mingda: …

“Sir, how about I do it instead? Lord Luo has never done this before…” The Deputy County Magistrate quickly spoke up.

“Don’t worry, here’s yours.” Lord Cai handed another sickle to the Deputy County Magistrate.

Deputy County Magistrate: …

“Alright, let’s get started,” Lord Cai took off his outer robe and handed it to his attendant. Then he rolled up his sleeves, preparing to join the action.

Seeing that the prefect was going to participate, Luo Mingda and the Deputy County Magistrate had no choice but to take off their outer robes as well. Following Lord Cai’s example, they rolled up their sleeves and walked up to the rice crops.

“Do you need me to demonstrate for you?” Yu Qingze asked.

“You demonstrate for them,” Lord Cai said as he squatted down directly and started cutting the crops on the side that Yu Qingze had already cut. His movements were quite skillful.

Seeing that Lord Cai was doing fine, Yu Qingze turned his attention to Luo Mingda and the Deputy County Magistrate.

Luo Mingda handed the sickle in his hand to Yu Qingze.

Yu Qingze smiled and accepted it, demonstrating to them while explaining.

Afterward, Luo Mingda frowned and squatted down, imitating Yu Qingze’s actions. He used his left hand to hold the stalks and exerted force with his right hand.

Swish—

On the first attempt, he didn’t cut it completely. He furrowed his brows and exerted more force, finally cutting it, but the force was too strong. He stumbled backward and almost ended up sitting on the ground.

However, when Luo Mingda looked at the cut stalk, he chuckled and then moved on to cut the next one…

Yu Qingze watched from the side and chuckled, speaking up to remind him, “Sir, you can place the sickle a bit lower.”

“Oh, like this?” Luo Mingda heard the suggestion and cut a stalk a bit closer to the ground.

“Yes, that’s better,” Yu Qingze confirmed.

Upon hearing that the three adults were going to cut the crops, Jiabao and Chang Hao secretly looked over and couldn’t help but laugh as they watched.

Yu Qingze walked over and lightly tapped each of them on the head, saying, “What are you looking at? Start cutting.”

The two of them rubbed their foreheads and laughed, then continued cutting.

While they weren’t paying attention, the other villagers in the nearby fields were curiously watching. It was quite rare to see the city officials come to the fields to cut crops.

Lord Cai’s two attendants held the clothes of the three officials and walked over to Jiabao and Chang Hao. They took the sickles from their hands and squatted down to start cutting.

Jiabao and Chang Hao watched the two attendants, who swiftly and skillfully cut the crops much faster than them. The two of them poured some water to drink and sat on the field ridge to rest.

It was still early, not yet noon. Yu Qingze thought about the issue of lunch. With six additional people, the food at home might not be enough.

He walked over and discussed with Grandpa Chang. They decided to buy a fish from the old man by the river and slaughter a chicken. Along with the vegetables they already had at home, it should be enough.

After cutting for about fifteen minutes, Lord Cai felt tired from squatting and stood up to stretch.

Yu Qingze walked over and said, “Sir, let me do it.”

Lord Cai handed the sickle to Yu Qingze and said, “Then you do it. I’m cutting too slowly.”

Yu Qingze took the sickle and whispered to Lord Cai as he cut, “Sir, aren’t you afraid that Young Master Luo will throw a tantrum?”

Lord Cai squatted down and sighed, also speaking in a low voice, “His father wrote to me, asking me to help manage him. Sigh, his nature isn’t bad, but he’s accustomed to indulging in leisure and never thinks about serious matters.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Qingze sighed as well and asked, “Did you bring him here specifically for him to experience it?”

Lord Cai shook his head and said, “No, that’s just a side benefit. I received a letter from Wei’er saying that when they came to visit before, Chang Hao told Luo Mingda that you had introduced several new crops and even a foot-operated threshing machine. I wanted to come and see. The people are living in hardship. If there’s any way to increase grain production and income, to let them have enough to eat, I’m willing to give it a try. Master Sun is someone I found in Yunzhou who has ideas in this field, so I brought him along.”

Hearing this, Yu Qingze said, “I see. When we return, I’ll take you to see. There’s something called potatoes that has already been grown in the northern region and has shown results. We can grow it here too. We’ve already grown it for one season. I was planning to grow it for another season and wait until we have more sweet potatoes. Then I’ll mobilize the villagers to grow it together. It’s especially filling, and it’s mainly harvested in the winter and spring seasons. By the time we finish harvesting, it will be time to plant them, which will nicely connect with the spring rice planting.”

Lord Cai happily exclaimed, “So that means we can plant an extra season in the field?”

“Yes,” Yu Qingze nodded and said, “The survival rate of this crop seems to be good. It can be used for cooking, steaming, or stewing, just like sweet potatoes. The taste is quite good. I’ll make it for you to taste at noon.”

“That’s fantastic!” Lord Cai stood up excitedly and said, “Keep cutting, and once we’re done, we’ll go back and take a look. I’ll go talk to Master Sun first.”

Saying that, he went to find Master Sun.

With the assistance of Lord Cai’s two attendants, the cutting of the crops became much faster.

Luo Mingda and the Deputy County Magistrate were not cutting quickly, but of course, Yu Qingze didn’t expect much from them. After about two quarters of an hour, Yu Qingze asked Jiabao and Chang Hao to take over the sickles from the two officials.

Luo Mingda stood up with dirty hands, especially his right hand that held the sickle, with mud on his knuckles. However, when he turned to look at the small patch of rice he had cut behind him, even though it was somewhat crooked and unevenly placed, he inexplicably felt a sense of accomplishment. What was going on?

He chuckled, lifted his arm, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

“Sir, there is water in the ditch at the edge of the field. You can wash your hands there,” Yu Qingze reminded them.

Luo Mingda and the Deputy County Magistrate went to wash their hands.

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Thandar: Part two will be password protected. Please find the pw below.