At this time, Ying Xiaozheng was already ten years old.
The historical Qin Shihuang was very tall. Ying Xiaozheng was much better nourished than the historical Qin Shihuang, and he stood out among his peers.
Because he was too busy coming to Nanjun, his diet changed from beef, mutton, pork and poultry to fish, shrimp and plenty of fresh vegetables, making his meal healthier. The baby fat on his face that Zhu Xiang loved so much finally disappeared.
If Ying Xiaozheng hadn't thought it was too hot and hadn't grown his hair, he could have easily passed off as a boy of twelve or thirteen.
If he put on a serious face and said he was fourteen or fifteen years old, people would believe him.
Having an uncle who raised him like a little pig made Ying Xiaozheng a whole generation older than the other princes of the same age in the seven countries.
Fortunately, he had Lian Po, Bai Qi and Li Mu watching over him, so he exercised a lot, otherwise Zhu Xiang's feeding method might have really produced a piglet.
Zhu Xiang looked at his nephew quietly, and the look of Qin Shi Huang seemed to appear in his eyes.
In history, Qin Shi Huang ascended the throne at the age of thirteen, and his appearance was roughly the same as Zheng Er's today.
Ying Xiaozheng: "Crunch, crunch?"
He saw Zhu Xiang looking at him and handed him the handkerchief wrapped in raw garlic.
Zhu Xiang: “…”
No, the historical Qin Shi Huang would never chew raw garlic.
Ying Xiaozheng: "Uncle doesn't want to eat?"
Zhu Xiang: "Eat."
He peeled a piece of garlic and put it in his mouth: "Just eat one piece. Eating too much will give you heartburn."
Ying Xiaozheng said: "I have a tooth and the root of my tooth hurts. Bian Que said that eating garlic can help relieve toothache."
The old man who inherited the name of Bian Que that Zhu Xiang met in Wujun followed Zhu Xiang back to Xianyang to see King Zhaoxiang of Qin off to his final resting place. After that, he introduced his disciple to King Zhu of Qin and returned to Wujun to continue his research on schistosomiasis and other parasitic diseases.
After Zhu Xiang and his family of three came to Wujun, Bian Que naturally became their "family doctor".
He is old now and it is difficult for him to travel far away. He is now at home organizing materials, writing medical books, teaching students, and doing experiments, which is just enough for him to treat Zhu Xiang's family of three.
"Raw garlic does have the effect of suppressing toothache." Zhu Xiang remembered this effect of garlic.
Ying Xiaozheng said: "Not only that, whenever I feel a little uncomfortable, I immediately eat a few garlic cloves, sweat a lot, and feel better immediately."
Ying Xiaozheng drank some tea to dilute the spicy taste in his mouth and continued, "If you still feel uncomfortable, drink ginger water and eat scallions with sauce."
Zhu Xiang gave a smile that Ying Xiaozheng couldn't understand.
Who taught Zheng'er to eat garlic and green onions as fruit? Oh, it was me.
When going to Shu County, Zhu Xiang was worried that Ying Xiaozheng would get sick, so he asked him to try eating raw garlic and onions.
Unexpectedly, Ying Xiaozheng quickly accepted the taste and thought it was delicious. He quickly got used to it. Now, if he doesn't taste it every few days, he feels uncomfortable.
Mix mashed garlic with soy sauce and eat it with boiled eggs, boiled meat or steamed shrimps, but even Zhu Xiang was shocked when he dipped it in green onions.
Dipping green onions in mashed garlic, what a cool way to eat it
If Ying Xiaozheng eats like this, even if he drinks light tea or scented tea to freshen his breath at any time, he will inevitably have a strong smell for a while after eating.
Zhu Xiang and Xue Ji didn't care, as long as Zheng'er was healthy.
But the courtiers who will face Zheng Er in the future...
Uh, who dares to say that the King of Qin tastes like garlic and onions in his mouth
Now leeks are the most important vegetable in the north. When the first leeks are cut, the King of Qin and his ministers all have a mouth full of the smell of leeks, and they are used to it.
Nowadays, some people don’t even have the habit of brushing their teeth, so it is very normal to have a bad taste in the mouth.
It seems that there is nothing wrong with my son Zheng'er.
Shaanxi people love to eat raw garlic, and Zheng'er is a pure Shaanxi handsome boy.
Zhu Xiang quickly changed his attitude from "Shocked! The Qin Shi Huang's baby has a lot of garlic in his mouth!" to "It's normal for Zheng'er to be like this."
It’s okay. In the future, he will lead the fashion trend of Xianyang nobles chewing raw garlic and make the people of Shaanxi fall in love with chewing raw garlic in advance. Then there will be no problem.
"Uncle, you must be thinking about something very strange." Ying Xiaozheng finished eating the last clove of garlic, took a sip of tea, and then took out a bag of dried fish from his sleeve and started to eat it with a slurry.
Zhu Xiang immediately reached out and snatched half of Ying Xiaozheng's dried fish.
He only eats one piece of raw garlic, but he eats more dried fish.
These small dried fish are all sea fish. After washing, they are gutted and the internal organs removed, the water is drained, marinated with pepper and salt for an hour, and then dried.
When you want to eat it, you can pan-fry it or smoke it with cypress branches. Each flavor has its own unique flavor.
After Zhu Xiang improved the Dong'ou fishermen's method of drying fish, Li Mu learned how to make dried fish and shrimp, and even caught an octopus and made dried octopus.
Li Mu brought some salt and pepper dried fish to Ying Xiaozheng once, and Ying Xiaozheng fell in love with the taste. Now, all kinds of salt and pepper seafood snacks have become Ying Xiaozheng's favorite to fill his stomach when handling official business.
"My aunt also made me a lot of dried vegetables, dried mushrooms and preserved fruits, saying that I wanted to combine meat and vegetables." Ying Xiaozheng held a small dried fish in his mouth, looking hopeless, "It's really disgusting."
Zhu Xiang said, "Don't be picky. If you don't like dried vegetables, dried mushrooms, and preserved fruits, just eat fresh ones."
Ying Xiaozheng said: "I eat fresh vegetables for three meals a day."
Ying Xiaozheng said: "Okay, uncle, you must have a good talk with aunt, I would rather eat fruit."
Zhu Xiang laughed: "Okay." How bad were the dried vegetables and mushrooms made by Xue Ji? Zheng Er was forced to complain to him.
Zhu Xiang arrived at Meng Wu's residence, but Meng Wu was not there.
He could not wait any longer, and seeing that Li Mu and Wang Jian were fighting fiercely in Baiyue, he also went south to "suppress the bandits."
There are few Baiyue people, and it is unknown whether he can find any trace of the mountain people after entering the mountains.
Even if he couldn't find it, the mountains were lush with vegetation in early summer, and there were many prey. He took the Qin army to hunt, and this expedition would not be a loss, and he could just treat it as a military exercise.
Ying Xiaozheng maliciously guessed: "I think Meng Wu went there just to hunt."
Nowadays, the chief officer guarding a county is in charge of both military and political affairs, and his power is almost the same as that of a feudal lord. It is common for the county magistrate to be unable to control his temper and lead his troops to hunt in the name of suppressing bandits.
Zhu Xiang said, "With you here, he wouldn't dare to do that. But Zheng'er, don't you call me Uncle Mengwu?"
Ying Xiaozheng said, "It's not that I don't want to call them, it's that they don't dare to recognize me. The teacher said that I am already ten years old and can no longer be treated as a child. These uncles will become my subjects in the future, so they should respect me now."
Ying Xiaozheng paused and added, "But even if you become the King of Qin, you can still call me 'teacher'. I wonder if Uncle Lin will be angry if this happens."
Zhu Xiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Why is he angry? You call Li Mu teacher, and you call him Lin Qing? You can also call him Sir."
Ying Xiaozheng smiled and said, "No, I'll just call him Lin Qing and make him angry. Uncle Cai won't get angry no matter what."
"Your uncle Cai has a good temper, treat him well." Zhu Xiang said, "Among my close friends, only your uncle Cai is the most reliable."
Ying Xiaozheng complained in his heart, Uncle, how dare you say that
"The teacher said that when I become the King of Qin in the future, I'd better not call him teacher anymore. He can be cautious in his words and deeds, but the Li family members may not have foresight." Ying Xiaozheng said, "The teacher actually started to teach me how to be a king?"
Zhu Xiang said: "Li Mu's ability in domestic affairs is not necessarily worse than his ability in leading troops in battle."
Ying Xiaozheng said: "Oh? Then can I let Uncle Cai and Teacher take turns to be the Prime Minister?"
Zhu Xiang said: "Add Lin Li, and the three of them can take turns in the position of prime minister and chancellor, so that they can check and balance each other. It just so happens that the three of them have different ideas about governing."
Even if they are close friends, they have different governing philosophies and different families behind them, so they will restrain each other in the court.
Ying Xiaozheng said disdainfully, "No. I always feel that Uncle Lin being the prime minister will bring shame to the Qin State."
Zhu Xiang laughed.
But even though Ying Xiaozheng dislikes Lin Zhi now, apart from Zhu Xiang and Xue Ji, the person closest to him now is Lin Zhi, and he treats Lin Zhi as half of his own. Lin Zhi's position in Ying Xiaozheng's heart is probably higher than Zichu's.
The two chatted while changing clothes. Zhu Xiang was a little tired, but after changing clothes and washing up, he regained consciousness.
When he saw a bamboo forest in the courtyard of Meng Wu's mansion, he immediately went to dig bamboo shoots with great interest.
Although spring bamboo shoots are delicious, the bamboo shoots that are everywhere in the bamboo forest in early summer will not taste bad either.
Although there are many bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest in early summer, they will all grow up after a rain, and we have to wait a long time before we can eat new bamboo shoots.
Although the sky is gloomy now, it has not rained in Eyi for half a month, and the bamboo shoots in the bamboo forest have not yet sprouted. It is the time to eat bamboo shoots.
After Zhu Xiang finished digging the bamboo shoots, he piled up bamboo leaves and bamboo joints to make a fire. He took out half of the new bamboo shoots with shells and buried them in the fire to stew them. He then sliced the other half and made a soup with water shield.
This is how Zhu Xiang was taught to eat when he was on a business trip with a colleague, who also told him two anecdotes.
The first one, bamboo shoots stewed with bamboo leaves, is called "Banglinxian", and the second one, water shield and bamboo shoot soup, is called "Yudaigeng". Both are "literati dishes" in "Shan Jia Qing Gong". The former seems to be related to Su Shi and his cousin Wen Tong who "has a plan in mind".
It doesn’t seem surprising at all that the food is related to Master Dongpo.
While making bamboo shoots, Zhu Xiang wanted to tell Ying Xiaozheng the story of Master Dongpo.
But he pondered for a long time in his mind. Even if Su Dongpo was changed to a scholar-official of a small country in the Spring and Autumn Period, it was really difficult to explain how Su Dongpo was demoted to a barbarian land that is now uninhabited, promoting culture and education, and looking for delicious food. If it was just a scholar traveling around, the story would lose its interest, so he had to give up.
Zhu Xiang felt regretful, but fortunately the bamboo shoots were delicious, which made up for his regret.
After hearing Zhu Xiang's elegant evaluation of the bamboo shoot cooking method, Ying Xiaozheng first commented that it was "delicious", and then added, "I still think that bamboo shoots and meat mixed together are more delicious."
Zhu Xiang almost spit out bamboo shoots.
Well, Mr. Dongpo was furious. Mixing bamboo shoots with meat is like a villain destroying a gentleman! Heresy!
"Okay, what kind of meat dish with bamboo shoots do you want to eat?" Zhu Xiang asked.
Ying Xiaozheng ordered the dishes immediately: "Bamboo shoots roasted chicken, bamboo shoots roasted beef, bamboo shoots roasted..."
Zhu Xiang stopped him: "Wait, bamboo shoots and beef? Shouldn't Qin prohibit the private slaughter of oxen?"
Ying Xiaozheng blinked his eyes and said, "What does the cow that the teacher bought from Dong'ou have to do with oxen for farming?"
Zhu Xiang was speechless: "Zheng'er, this is Nanjun. How can Li Mu send the cattle he robbed from Dong'ou to Eyi? Besides, how come I don't know that Dong'ou is good at raising cattle?"
Dong'ou has not yet started to promote ox-plowing!
Ying Xiaozheng blinked again: "There are also wild buffaloes in the mountains. Maybe Uncle Meng caught them from the mountains."
Zhu Xiang: “…”
Little Ying Xiaozheng, who broke the law knowingly, now you call Meng Wu "Uncle"? !
(End of this chapter)