Chapter Fifty Crisis

  Underneath was a small ditch, at this time the sky was already noon, but the spring water was still very cold, especially with some gravel underneath, which made people feel sore. Deng Xiaosan lay in the ditch, but didn't dare to move. Through the gaps in the grass on the edge of the ditch, you could vaguely see the official road, but it wasn't very clear. Fortunately, the ditch was not too far from the official road, and with the wind blowing, some sounds could still be heard.

  On the official road, there were four men in brown clothes sitting on a pile of withered grass, eating something. On the trees beside them, four strong horses were tied up, each with a package on their back. The waists of the four men also had waist knives.

  He thought of a way, his two legs couldn't outrun the four-legged horse. Deng Xiaosan thought to himself.

  For several days, Deng Xiaosan had been hiding during the day and traveling at night. The little dry food he had hastily brought with him was already gone, and now his stomach was growling with hunger. When this man got hungry, his sense of smell became particularly keen, and even a slight whiff of food would seem especially strong. Deng Xiaosan couldn't help but swallow his saliva.

  After waiting for a moment, the four men still didn't show any intention of getting up. Deng Xiaosan secretly cursed his bad luck. Earlier, he had been too flustered and rolled all the way into this ditch. If only he had been more alert and run to the woods on the other side of the official road earlier, he wouldn't be suffering like this now.

  After waiting for a while, the four men still showed no signs of leaving, but a faint snoring sound came over. Deng Xiaosan carefully opened a small gap to take a look, and found that the four men were all leaning against the tree and had fallen asleep.

  Heaven helps me! Deng Xiaosan was overjoyed. He recognized these four men, they were the four brothers, the guardians of the main house, who were said to have been rescued from prison by the master, and were originally bandits, each one a ruthless killer, who had killed people and set fires as if it were their daily routine. All four of them shared the surname Liang, they were ruthless, but Deng Xiaosan knew that they had a weakness, which was that they loved to sleep, in the past when they were idle, the four brothers would either drink wine or go out to visit brothels, or else they would sleep at home. Now once they fell asleep, nothing could stir them, not even thunder, and they wouldn't wake up for at least half a day.

  Slowly, Deng Xiaosan picked up a small stone from under his body and tossed it with one hand. The stone landed on the ground about twenty or so steps away from the Liang family's four brothers, making a not-too-loud noise. He then cocked his ear to listen carefully, but didn't hear any movement. He parted the grass again to take a look, and saw that the four brothers were still asleep. Only then did Deng Xiaosan feel at ease, getting up while crouching low, circling around in a big arc to come to the side of the four horses that were tied up. He wasn't worried about startling the horses because these horses were usually taken care of by him and were very affectionate towards him. Upon seeing Deng Xiaosan, the four horses all swished their tails, turned their heads over to nuzzle his hand, and kept making snorting noises. Fortunately, the four horses also understood Deng Xiaosan's gestures and didn't neigh, or else they would have been in trouble.

  Undo the reins of a horse, Deng Xiaosan thought for a moment and simply untied the reins of the other three horses. He jumped onto the horse, lightly lifted the reins, and the horse followed Deng Xiaosan's command, running along the edge of the official road in small steps, its hooves treading on the grass, making almost no sound. The other three horses also followed closely behind, running for dozens of feet before Deng Xiaosan shook the reins, and the strong horse under him suddenly burst into a frantic gallop, with the three horses behind immediately following closely. They ran for about 20-30 miles before Deng Xiaosan slowed down the horse, rummaged through the packages on the horse's back, and found some dry rations to devour on the horseback.

  In the Fulaiguan Inn, Wang Kuang still sat in the corner as usual, sipping tea and nibbling on a small plate of fried peanuts. He smiled as he listened to the other diners' boastful chatter. Since Wang Kuang's high-profile appearance, this seat had become his exclusive spot. Other diners who didn't have any valuable stories to share usually didn't dare sit nearby, but they would intentionally or unintentionally lean towards his table. Who could guarantee that their seemingly ordinary anecdotes wouldn't be of interest to the young master? As a result, the scene in the Fulaiguan Inn's main hall was quite bizarre. The window seats, which were usually the most sought after in other inns and restaurants, were now sparsely occupied by only two or three people. In contrast, the seats further away from the windows were packed, with even the two tables closest to Wang Kuang, which normally seated four people, now squeezed with five or six diners. If an out-of-town diner didn't know what was going on, they would be startled upon entering - could it be that the feng shui near the window was bad or the view wasn't good?

  "Second Brother, you're so idle." Wang Kuang was lowering his head to grab peanuts from the plate when he heard a soft laugh beside him. No need to look, just by the sound of the voice, it was Xiao Mi Mi who had arrived.

  Since Wang Ling returned from Chang'an last summer and brought back the praise of the officials of the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Works, Wang Kuang and Lin Xuanmiao have been on fire. Lin Ming has become the magistrate of Jian'an County as he wished, while Zhang Xiancheng is still serving as the county magistrate.

  Lin Xuanmiao was a clever person and naturally knew that his father, Lin, could become the county magistrate. The iron cabinet, now known as the "Great General's Cabinet," which Wang Kuang had presented, had made a great contribution to this. Moreover, last year, Wang Kuang had also presented sweet potatoes, and according to Wang Kuang's words, sweet potatoes did not occupy arable land and could supplement food in times of disaster. It was foreseeable that his father would achieve another great merit, and the day when he would become an official in Chang'an was just around the corner. However, this had to wait until the trial cultivation was successful this year. Originally, it wasn't necessary to go through so much trouble, as the sweet potatoes were already grown on the land of Sunjiacun, and there was no need for trial cultivation. But Wang Kuang refused to report it, and the reason was simple: if he reported it, the nearby Youfen workshop would be exposed, which was something Wang Kuang did not want. He still wanted to make a profit before large-scale planting of chili peppers. Moreover, the current Youfen workshop also had a 30% stake in the Lin family, so County Magistrate Lin also accepted Wang Kuang's words and endured for another year, waiting until autumn this year to report again. After all, it was only after becoming the county magistrate that he could not make further progress in a short period of time, unless he had made great contributions to opening up new territories. Therefore, since Wang Kuang presented sweet potatoes and allowed the Lin family to participate in the production of Youfen, Lin Xuanmiao and Wang Kuang had become close friends, often going to Fuli Inn together. According to County Magistrate Lin's words, it was just a matter of getting closer to Wang Erlang, and looking at the momentum of Fuli Inn, who knows when Wang Jiayu would give them another big surprise?

  So, over the past six months, Wang Kuang and Lin Xuanmiao have become increasingly familiar with each other. In private, Wang Kuang often calls Lin Xuanmiao "Little Miao", which is a joke about how he was used as a shield by his younger sister at first. Lin Xuanmiao doesn't show weakness either, and somehow starts calling Wang Kuang "Dogzi". However, both of them still know to give each other some face in public, so Wang Kuang still calls Lin Xuanmiao "Young Master" and Lin Xuanmiao still calls Wang Kuang "Second Brother".

  Look, the young master of the county's respected family has arrived. The diners who were just loudly discussing and laughing beside him immediately lowered their voices. Those who knew what was good for them quickly retreated to a distant place to sit down. They didn't dare sit shoulder to shoulder with Lin Da, the great talent.

  "What's wrong? Hungry again?" Wang Kuang threw the peanuts in his hand into his mouth, crunching and munching for a few seconds, then swallowed them beautifully, took another sip of tea, before speaking up.

  "So I've always been a toad in your eyes?" Lin Xuanmu sat down on the stool that Wang Kuang had found, and without hesitation, snatched the peanuts from in front of Wang Kuang and shoveled a handful into his mouth.

  "Look at the way you're eating, if it's not gluttony then what is it? Your family can't make this peanut dish? Why do you have to come here to eat it? Speak up, don't beat around the bush, but don't mention the chili sauce, we can't keep up with production right now and can only sell it in Jian'an.

  Last year, Wang Kuang planted several hectares of land in Wang Village, with about a thousand pepper plants. From summer to autumn, he harvested nearly a thousand kilograms of peppers, including five or six hundred kilograms of red peppers. Except for leaving some seeds behind, Wang Kuang divided all the red peppers into two types according to a ratio of three kilograms of peppers to one kilogram of garlic heads. One type was ground into sauce using a stone mill, and the other was chopped into sauce using a special flat shovel (similar to Sha Wujing's weapon, but with a straight blade) and then mixed with wine and salt. After being dried in the sun for several days, they were filled into jars, which were sealed with red mud. Each jar contained about one kilogram of sauce, and there were four or five hundred jars of each type of pepper sauce. Except for what was kept for use at the inn, the rest were sold, and Lin's mansion also received ten jars."

  Wang Kuang set the price of chili sauce at 50 cents per can, which was a high price that made many people hesitant. However, when foodies found out that the new loach soup's spiciness came from adding chili sauce, sales skyrocketed. The other two inns also bought dozens of cans in one go. In less than a month, over 600 cans of chili sauce were sold out. Sun Ming was grinning from ear to ear for days and would often wake up laughing in the middle of the night. Over 600 cans at 30 cents each was a huge profit, far surpassing what the inn normally made in a year. Not to mention how happy he was when he ate Wang Kuang's stir-fried pumpkin seeds in autumn. Last year's harvest wasn't much, only a dozen or so kilograms, and Sun Ming had given two kilograms each to County Magistrate Lin and Historian Huang, keeping the rest for his family and inn staff to eat. But this year was a bumper crop, with several hectares of pumpkins planted next to the sweet potato field. He estimated that they would harvest over 100 kilograms of pumpkin seeds in autumn, which would bring in another handsome sum.

  Lin Xuanmiao was indeed here for the chili sauce, last year he got ten jars of chili sauce, Lin County only left one jar for himself, and the rest were sent to Chang'an. These nine jars of chili sauce, after being given as gifts, made Lin's business even more prosperous. Many officials even hinted that if this chili sauce could be sent regularly, they would also give Lin's family more convenience. As it was already late spring, according to Lin County's speculation, the chilies should have been planted by now. For the sake of Lin's business, he was also very concerned and often dispatched Lin Xuanmiao to gather information, hoping that by autumn, Lin's family could get a share of the profits.

  Lin Xuanmu smiled awkwardly, just about to speak, when Sun Er hastily walked in from behind, his face gloomy, and whispered a few words into Wang Kuang's ear. Wang Kuang's expression changed greatly, and without even greeting Lin Xuanmu, he got up and headed towards the backyard.

  Division -

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