Chapter 37: The Low-Priced Mansion

  Xiao Jiading suddenly came to his senses, hastily covering up with a smile, saying: "Come on! Let's raise our glasses, today we have the chance to meet, for this one fate let's drink a cup!"

  Several people did it. Loulan hurriedly hugged the wine jar and poured wine for everyone.

  Xiao Jiading took a piece of mutton and slowly chewed it, looking at Loulan in admiration: "Good! Good craftsmanship! This mutton is extremely well-made, not a bit gamey, and full of fragrance!"

  Loulan was delighted and smiled: "Thank you for your praise, young master!"

  Xiao Jiading picked up a few more dishes with his chopsticks, and they were all delicious.

  Yu Gui smiled and said: "If you think Lou Lan's craftsmanship is okay, then please come to our small store more often."

  "That's something that was bound to happen, you didn't invite me, but I would have come anyway!" Xiao Jiading said with a mouthful of food, smiling and chuckling.

  Yu Gui was overjoyed and hastily said to Lou Lan, "Daughter, quickly offer a toast to Mr. Xiao! If it weren't for Mr. Xiao, how could we have gotten that head of cattle back? Our small eatery would not have been able to stay open. Speaking of which, Mr. Xiao is our great benefactor!"

  Loulan raised a bowl of wine and said to Xiao Jiading: "Young master, Loulan respects you!"

  Xiao Jiading also held up his wine glass and gazed at her: "Being able to drink with a great beauty, it's exhilarating! Cheers!"

  After finishing speaking, he took a big mouthful. He put down his cup and found that Lou Lan had not put it down yet, still tilting her neck to drink until she finished the whole bowl of wine before putting it down.

  Xiao Jiading exclaimed: "Good wine capacity! I didn't expect Loulan girl to have such a good wine capacity! I'll finish it too!" He picked up the remaining wine and drank it all in one gulp.

  Loulan hastily poured wine again.

  Xiao Jiading said: "This afternoon I still have to go to court, can't drink too much, just three bowls."

  These three bowls add up to almost a catty. So, after these three cups of wine went down, Xiao Jia Ding had some intoxication.

  Zhu Haixin's drinking capacity was no match for Xiao Jia Ding's. He had already reached a state of 60-70% drunkenness, and his words were starting to slur as his tongue felt slightly swollen.

  Xiao Jiading said to Loulan, "The dishes you've made are all very tasty, but unfortunately there's no chili peppers! If only you added some chili peppers, that would be perfect!"

  "Pepper? What's pepper? Is it delicious?"

  Chili peppers were introduced into China during the Ming dynasty and naturally did not exist in the Tang dynasty.

  Xiao Jiading said: "It's a seasoning for stir-fries, adding it makes the dish spicier, tastes great and is appetizing, goes well with rice."

  Xiao Jia Ding's favorite dish was Sichuan cuisine, and when it came to chili peppers, he couldn't help but salivate. Unfortunately, the Tang Dynasty didn't have chili peppers. Suddenly, an idea struck him - wasn't there a small packet of chili pepper seeds among the things he brought with him from his journey? Why not try growing them himself? Although he had no experience in gardening, his father loved it and had converted their rooftop garden into a vegetable patch. He had watched his father work the land and sometimes helped out, so growing chili peppers shouldn't be too difficult. If they really grew, that would be a real treat!

  His thinking didn't just stop at the mouth, he went on to think that Jian Nan Road is Shu land, which is modern-day Sichuan. The people of Sichuan love to eat chili peppers, and it can be said that most dishes have chili peppers in them. During the Ming Dynasty, chili peppers were introduced from the coast into China, but they didn't affect the direction of coastal cuisine. Instead, they became very popular in the southwestern regions of Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan, becoming an important part of the seasoning for dishes. The people of Sichuan like to eat spicy food, which he had already experienced after crossing over into the Tang Dynasty. The local dishes were also mainly spicy, but at that time, the spiciness wasn't from chili peppers, but rather from ginger and garlic, which were used heavily in cooking. If his own chili pepper dish was successful, it would definitely be very popular, and he would make a fortune!

  Xiao Jiading thought of a way to make a lot of money and was very happy. However, as an official living in the government office, he had no place to plant it. He also didn't trust others to do it for him, so he could only wait until later.

  Xiao Jiading ate another piece of mutton and felt that although Loulan had made it very well, unfortunately, it lacked a bit of cumin. If he added cumin and made it roasted mutton, it would be even more comfortable. He asked Loulan: "By the way, why didn't you add cumin to the mutton?"

  "What's going on?" Several people were stunned and looked at each other in confusion.

  Won't it? Doesn't even Ziran know? Is it that this hasn't been transmitted to China yet? Xiao Jiading gestured and spoke for half a day, when suddenly Loulan's eyes lit up, saying a sentence in the Western Regions language, with a pronunciation similar to Ziran's, looking at him inquiringly.

  Is this title of "Zhilan" a transliteration from the Western Regions language? Xiao Jiading hastily nodded and asked, "Do you know?"

  Loulan nodded and said: "We have it in our hometown, a medicine for heart and mouth pain."

  Xiao Jiading said with a strange tone: "Medicine? You guys are taking cumin as medicine?"

  "Is it? Isn't it?"

  "Is there anything for sale in Yizhou?"

  Loulan shook her head: "I don't know, ask the pharmacy to find out."

  "Alright, go to the pharmacy right away and ask if they have it. If they do, buy some back and I'll teach you a new dish!"

  Loulan agreed and went out. There was a pharmacy not far from their street. Soon, she came back with a small package of cumin. Xiaojia Ding opened it and found that it was indeed the right thing. It turned out that during the Tang Dynasty, cumin had already been introduced to China, but not as a seasoning for food, but as a medicinal herb. This medicinal herb was even recorded in the Tang Dynasty's Chinese medicine book "Tang Bencao".

  Xiao Jiading took advantage of his drunkenness and stood up, saying to Lou Lan: "Let's go to the kitchen, I'll teach you."

  Zhu Haixin was not interested in stir-frying and said, "Big brother, I won't go then."

  "No need!" Xiao Jiading followed Loulan out, and Zhu Haixin saw Yu Gui and Xiao Lao Han also wanted to follow, so he smiled and blocked them, saying: "You two don't go together, let them be alone for a while. The three of us will drink!"

  Xiao Jiading and Loulan came to the kitchen, Xiao Jiading had never made roasted lamb skewers before, but he hadn't eaten pork or seen a pig run either? He loved eating Xinjiang lamb skewers, so he learned from that style, sprinkled cumin on it and then grilled it. Soon, the aroma came out.

  Loulan was a master of cooking and as soon as she smelled this flavor, she knew it was good stuff. She exclaimed with joy: "It must be delicious."

  Xiao Jia Ding handed a skewer of roasted lamb to Lou Lan: "Here, try some!"

  Loulan took a small bite, chewed for a few mouthfuls, and those beautiful blue eyes were filled with excited colors! Delightedly said: "It's so delicious! It's too good to eat! I didn't know mutton could be cooked like this! Thank you for teaching me, Xiao Shao."

  Xiao Jiading couldn't help but laugh at her way of addressing herself, and took out the roasted mutton: "Come on! Have a taste!"

  Several people ate and all of them praised it repeatedly.

  Yu Gui was extremely excited and said: "This is a great thing! If our snack shop can make it and sell it, many people will come to eat!"

  Xiao Jiading listened and quickly thought of using it in his own snack shop, and couldn't help but nod his head in approval.

  Zhu Haixin ate with relish and asked, "Is there still some left?"

  Xiao Jiading had only roasted a few strings, and Loulan immediately said: "I'll go roast some more!"

  After a while, Loulan came back with several strings of cumin lamb skewers. Xiao Jiading took one and ate it, praising: "Your roasting is even better than mine, your apprentice is impressive, the student surpasses the master!"

  This Loulan was a Hu woman from the Western Regions, and people from the Western Regions loved to barbecue beef and mutton. She was naturally skilled at barbecuing lamb, but it was Xiao Jia Ding who told her the secret of adding cumin, and when she incorporated this into her own barbecuing techniques, she became far superior to Xiao Jia Ding, an amateur who had never even barbecued before.

  Xiao Jiading said, "If you're preparing to sell roasted lamb skewers, I'll tell you about a specialized tool for roasting lamb skewers! If you make one according to this design, it will be even better." After that, he asked Loulan to bring paper and pen, and drew a rough sketch of the rack used for roasting lamb skewers from memory. He explained to Loulan how to use it, and Loulan quickly understood.

  After finishing dinner, it was almost time for the afternoon shift. Xiao Jiading and Zhu Haixin bid farewell and headed to the government office.

  As soon as he arrived at the gate, he saw a book clerk from the household department coming over with a stout man, who was all smiles and bowed to Xiao Jiateng, saying: "Xiao Zhiyi!"

  Xiao Jiading knew he was from the household department. Yesterday, Deng County Magistrate took him to various places in the government office, saw this clerk, who was also from the household department, but there were too many people and he didn't remember his name. He hurriedly cupped his hands and said: "Hello! Is there something I can help you with?"

  "There's something, heh heh, let's talk about it over there, okay?" The clerk pointed to the side of the yamen and glanced at Zhu Haisheng. Zhu Haisheng immediately knew that they didn't want him to hear what they were saying. So he said to Xiao Jiading: "I'll go in first!"

  Xiao Jiading nodded, and followed the clerk and the fat man to one side. The clerk introduced: "This is my uncle, who is the head of Huayuan Township. His name is Lu Desheng."

  Xiao Jiading knew that in the Tang Dynasty, counties were divided into two levels: townships and villages. The leaders of the townships and villages were called township heads and village heads respectively. Township heads were also known as elderlies. One county had four to ten townships, with varying numbers of villages under each township. Lu Desheng, the township head of Huayuan Township, was one such leader. He cupped his hands in greeting: "Nice to meet you! Do you two have business with me?"

  Naruo Xiang glanced at the entrance of the government office, smiled and said: "It's almost time to go to court, let's make it brief. I heard that Xiao Zhii wants to buy a house, coincidentally, I have a house just next to the county government office. It was just built not long ago and hasn't been occupied yet. It has three entrances, with more than 30 rooms of varying sizes. I wonder if Xiao Zhii is interested?"

  Xiao Jiading said: "It's so big? Isn't it expensive?"

  "In a hurry to use the money, so I asked for a very cheap price, only ten yen."

  "Only ten taels of silver?" Xiao Jiading's eyes widened, the mansion in Apricot Flower Alley had only ten rooms, two courtyards. Yet it was priced at over forty taels, this mansion of Lu Xiangzheng's was six or seven times larger, it should be worth at least one hundred and twenty taels. Subtracting the cost of ten taels, it would be equivalent to giving himself one hundred and ten taels for free, that's equivalent to five million five hundred thousand yuan! Isn't this being too generous?