Chapter 24: The Paradigm of a Spendthrift Son

  Jiang Feng only had Tie Dan, who was stunned, by his side. He naturally didn't dare to express any opinions. After the burial, this Jin Yiwei from the capital, who seemed a bit "crazy" in the eyes of the fishermen and the soldiers of the Thousand Households Battalion, bought dozens of pigs and built a large pigpen at the burial site.

  The pig was given to the family he was staying with for almost nothing after being raised in the iron egg for two days. The pigsty was naturally smelly, and the seaweed buried underneath had been completely polluted by the pig's feces and could no longer be used. Jiang Feng heard that the old people in the village were using him as a cautionary tale to educate children, saying that he was a prodigal son who would buy pigs without even eating them when he had two coins.

  In the fifth year of Jiajing in October, Zhao Xiucan returned to Tianjin Wei with a rented boat. He transported 7,000 catties of goods, which required a large cargo ship rather than a small supply ship. Many merchants during the Ming Dynasty used large cargo ships for north-south transportation.

  The dried cuttlefish were loaded onto the ship in bags, and Jiang Feng and his party boarded the ship amidst the contemptuous gazes of all the people in the fishing village, leaving Yantai behind, leaving a "foolish move of a prodigal son" that could be talked about for many years to come.

  The ship with a full sail on the sea was not slow, Jiang Feng sat at the bow, letting the sea breeze blow on his face, feeling extremely carefree and relaxed. Looking back, the port of Qianhu Island in Yantai had become a small dot, almost disappearing below the sea level. Zhao Xiuzai and Tie Dan felt something was wrong, both staring tensely at Jiang Feng from behind.

  Jiang Feng suddenly burst out laughing without warning, his shoulders shaking violently, the sound loud and frightening. Zhao Xiuzai's heart skipped a beat as he thought of Jiang Feng's unreasonable behavior in Yantai, wondering if his master had gone mad.

  Zhao Xiuciai also couldn't care about the distinction between superior and inferior anymore, and hastily ran to the bow of the boat to grab Jiang Feng, who was laughing wildly there, and asked anxiously:

  "Master, master, what's wrong with you?"

  Jiang Feng's uncontrollable laughter didn't stop even when Zhao Xiuzai panicked, and he didn't even wipe away the tears that streamed out from his eyes due to laughing too hard. Instead, he patted Zhao Xiuzai's shoulder forcefully and shouted loudly:

  "Old Zhao, we've struck it rich, we've struck it rich."

  Speaking of which, he actually picked up the frail Zhao Xiuzai and spun him around in circles, shouting loudly:

  "Got rich！！！！！"

  Far out on the surface of the sea, several ship captains in the fleet looked at Jiang Feng with sympathetic expressions, as if he had gone mad. Zhao Xiuzai felt a pang in his heart and thought that his young master might have really lost his mind. A madman is most afraid of others going against his wishes, so he could only suppress his sorrowful emotions and follow Jiang Feng, saying:

  "We've struck it rich, we've struck it rich."

  Now Jiang Feng's ears were filled with echoes of a piece of historical news that his teacher had told him in class when he was in vocational school.

  The chefs of Fuzhou possess exceptional skills, and their dishes are deeply loved by gourmets. Even the emperor in the imperial palace appreciates the culinary art of Fuzhou's chefs. During the mid-Ming dynasty, Fuzhou's chefs began to cook for the emperor in the palace, earning recognition. Legend has it that the secret ingredient used by Fuzhou's chefs is dried and ground sea intestines from the Fuzhou sea area, which are placed in a pouch and secretly added to dishes during cooking, serving as a flavor enhancer.

  Later historians have no records of this matter, except for occasional mentions in folk tales, but biology has made a description of it.

  Abalone, scientific name is Haliotis discus, Yantai and Penglai County coastal areas have a small amount of production. It is a kind of long cylindrical soft-bodied animal. It is a rare biological species along the coast of our country. The characteristic of this soft-bodied organism is that after drying, more than 90% of its composition is glutamic acid, which is the monosodium glutamate we eat now.

  According to local records from the Ming dynasty, this species was subjected to destructive fishing in the early 15th century.

  Now Yantai coastal area has specially designated a protected area for this rare species...

  Watching dozens of large trucks transporting the dried sea intestines out of the port, Jiang Feng felt a slight relief in his heart. In the suburbs of Beijing, Zhao Xiucan had already purchased some houses there to store these things that seemed useless to others. After venting the kind of madness that had been suppressed for a long time at sea.

  Next, Jiang Feng found himself having to explain to Zhao Xiucan that he wasn't crazy, but this kind of thing often has a strange circle: the more you explain that your mind is fine, the less the people who care about you will believe it, and there might even be an opposite effect.

  Originally, the three of them had hired a large cart and were slowly following the convoy. They found a roadside food stall and sat down to rest.

  Here is right next to the official road, and there are quite a few traveling merchants coming and going, so this stall doesn't look too shabby. Jiang Feng directly ordered a few roasted buns and two bowls of vegetable soup. You can't expect to eat anything too exquisite in a place like this, but the vegetable soup has some floating oil droplets, and it seems to be simmered with spinach, and there's quite a lot of it.

  Zhao Xiūcái secretly sighed in his heart, thinking that his master was indeed mentally abnormal. Although they hadn't spent much time together, he knew that Jiang Feng was quite particular about food and drink. Even when they were in the village in Yantai, he was very particular about what to eat, insisting on fresh fish and shrimp cooked just right.

  I didn't expect to be drinking such a simple and crude soup on this stall now, it seems that it's really difficult. Jiang Feng, sitting opposite Zhao Xiuzai, who was forcing a smile, felt a bit awkward, thinking that you really think I've gone crazy, he took out a piece of dried sea intestine.

  Jiang Feng held it in his hand and shook it a little, smiling and saying:

  "Hey Old Zhao, recognize this thing?"

  Zhao Xiūcái let out a bitter laugh, thinking to himself: I've been dealing with this thing in the fishing village for over ten days now, and my body still faintly smells of fish. He nodded and said:

  "Master, don't tease me, how could a student not recognize this?"

  Jiang Feng gently broke off a piece and placed it on his dagger, using the scabbard to crush it into powder. He then put a small amount of the powder from the blade onto Zhao Xiucan's bowl and chuckled, saying:

  "Lao Zhao, have a sip of this soup and try it."

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