Chapter 20 Refusal (Seeking Recommendation Tickets)

  "In the Five Dynasties period, there were no talents as outstanding and elegant as yours, but the country was in a state of turmoil, with constant changes and wars, and the people suffered. Therefore, the way of Confucius emphasizes moral transformation, not talent or emotions. Although this person has talent and energy, he is reckless, cunning, greedy for wealth and beauty, and once used by the court, the harm will be even more severe than that of Gao Xi. Moreover, mathematics is only a minor art, and the ability to make instruments is just a clever trick. If this trend continues, there will be more people learning from him, using flattery as a skill and cleverness as an ability, and the country will be ruined."

  Zhao Kuangyi said that it is worth a thousand pieces of gold to buy bones, to show that the country can attract talent, and it cannot be said that this is not correct. Zhao Pu said that he attaches importance to Confucian moral education, and this also cannot be said to be incorrect. The biggest problem facing the Song Dynasty at present is not about moving south or north, nor is it about economy and population, but rather how to put an end to the chaos of changing dynasties every decade or so. Therefore, Zhao Pu's emphasis on moral education is secondly because of Confucianism, and the three main principles of Confucianism are for serving the ruler.

  "Xue Qing, what do you think?"

  Xue Zhuzheng thought to himself, "You three are a family of one ruler and two ministers when the door is open, but when it's closed, you're just a family. One asks, one answers, one says yes, one says no, why should I get involved?" However, Zhao Kuangyin asked him, so he had to respond. He raised his teeth: "Your Majesty, in my humble opinion, official titles are the country's honor, and cannot be taken lightly. Talent is the country's foundation, and also cannot be ignored. Therefore, I think it can be used, but not reused. The young master of the Song family is still young, he has a talent for mathematics, why not transfer him to the Imperial Academy as a lecturer?"

  Doctor of Imperial Academy

  The country was newly established, and the rules were not yet perfect. For example, Lyu Yuqing was Zhao Kuangyin's confidant, and Li Chuyu killed people and ate human flesh in Jinghu and Hunan, making a mess. Lyu Yuqing went to comfort them with merit, and at just over 30 years old, he was promoted to participate in government affairs. The Imperial Academy was the same, with two supervisors, one of whom had to be an official or a court official on duty. There were also several lecturers, without fixed personnel, teaching the children of nobles the Nine Classics, Five Classics, Three Rituals, Three Commentaries, and Ming Laws. Other subjects like poetry, music, arithmetic, etc., were not regularly established.

  It is easy to confuse the lecturer with the storyteller in the tile house, so the common people often call them doctors. In the end, they simply changed to this official position of doctor. The national lecturer is a doctor, and the national doctor is a lecturer, a high-level special-grade teacher!

  "If it's as Director Zhao said, won't it corrupt the sons of officials?" Lyu Yuqing raised an objection.

  "So be it," said Zhao Kuangyin. A small doctor, what's precious about him? Not even worth issuing an imperial edict, just send a eunuch to pass on the message.

  ……

  The Dragon Boat Festival is coming.

  Elder sister, fifth sister and seventh sister all invited Song Jiu to celebrate the festival. In the past, Song Jiu would go, most often to elder sister's home, but now he doesn't go. This year on Spring Festival New Year's Day, he only visited three sisters' homes for a short while before returning.

  A big family with old and young members, going out together.

  All the tenants have their families, only Zhu San and Song Jiu are two bachelors, discussing how to spend the holiday together. The students were on vacation for three days, which was decided by Song Jiu, and after three math problems, Song Jiu gradually regained some face.

  Then Song Jiu returned with a big bag of ingredients, while Zhu San followed behind him with a worried expression.

  The ingredients are great, two big eels weighing up to three catties, absolutely naturally grown, equivalent to half a catty of mutton and one catty of pork.

  It's not surprising that Song Jiu also bought a big turtle weighing over 4 catties, 2 catties of grass shrimp, each head weighing over 1 or 2 liang, and even deliberately asked someone to catch a few water snakes weighing over half a catty in advance, as well as a fathead fish weighing 6 or 7 catties.

  No worries about having too much food, with six households and over a dozen people in the house, everyone is struggling to make ends meet, no matter how much they produce, it can all be consumed.

  Merry Christmas, gotta act like it's Christmas.

  But Zhu San followed behind, worried. He was a northerner, and while he could eat fish and shrimp, and dared to eat them, this black turtle was edible, wasn't it? And not even disgusting? This slimy eel was considered a delicacy? Especially these few snakes.

  Zhu San said: "Song Xian Di, let's go back and buy a catty of mutton again. I'll pay for it."

  "You don't understand, mutton is very smelly, but this river fish is fresh and delicious. If you want to buy mutton, you can do it yourself and cook it."

  Zhu San heard that he was allowed to take action and burn, and he was overjoyed.

  Originally, Song Jiu couldn't cook. Every time his sister came over and saw him cooking, she would be very sad. It scared Song Jiu so much that he didn't dare to show off his skills in front of her again.

  As the school opened, Song Jiu's cooking skills became more refined after practice, and his dishes became increasingly delicious. The two PhDs would complain to their wives as soon as they returned home, saying that their wives' cooking was not even comparable to a big man like him.

  Back home, first get the snake out, this northerner is afraid of it, don't scare the neighbor's kid. Not even eaten yet, saw Song Jiu peeling the snake skin, Zhu San ran to the corner and started dry heaving. After finally recovering, saw Song Jiu handling the eel, his hands were bloody and had some sticky liquid on them, and he ran to the corner again to dry heave. Until Song Jiu handled the river shrimp, he came over to help.

  Two people were busy dealing with the ingredients, and customers kept coming over. First, it was Big Sister who came over, whose family had recently refused Song Jiu's offer. Big Sister saw a plate of snake meat placed in a blue dish, and although some brave Beijing locals had started eating eel, no one seemed to dare eat the snake meat yet. Big Sister picked up the meat with her hand and asked: "What kind of meat is this?"

  Zhu San was pinching the shrimp intestines and didn't even lift his head: "It's meat peeled from a few snakes."

  Big sister was so scared that her face turned pale and she hit Song Jiu's head: "What are you doing, can snakes be eaten?"

  Ran away in fright.

  Wu Jie came to call yesterday, but didn't come today. Qi Jie came instead and helped with some chores. She replaced Song Jiu's chrysanthemum and iris at the door, and hung Zhong Kui's portrait on the gate. Then she went home. However, they made an appointment with Da Jie Fu and his family for the three families to watch the dragon boat together on the riverbank in the afternoon.

  Firecrackers exploded in the distance.

  They started using gunpowder to make firecrackers, but the proportion of saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur was not accurate, so the explosive force was insufficient, and when they were set off, they only made a dull sound, like the sound of firecrackers that had gotten damp in later times. However, relatively speaking, they were safer, with fewer accidents occurring. They were better than those of the Tang Dynasty, which did not have firecrackers; to drive out evil spirits, people would burn bamboo, which would produce a loud cracking sound and create a festive atmosphere.

  Song Jiu started washing his hands and prepared to cook dinner.

  Here comes another guest.

  Cui'er didn't stand on ceremony this time and came in. This kid was too rude, without any etiquette, he directly rushed in, and Yu Ping couldn't stop him.

  Song Jiu turned his head and looked: "Cui Er, was that fragrant breeze blowing you here?"

  "The fragrance is outside the door."

  Song Jiu walked out of the kitchen and saw Yu Ping standing at the door with a smile, scratching his head and saying: "Yu Niangzi, how come you have time to visit my humble abode today?"

  "The people of the capital are all celebrating the festival, but our house is quiet and deserted, so I'll just take a walk."

  Zhu San raised his head and said happily: "That's great, we'll spend the holiday together."

  Song Jiu knocked on his head and said in a low voice: "Don't forget the little girl who was engaged to you at your old home."

  Seeing Song Jiu preparing to cook, Yu Ping wanted to help. Zhu San said: "Yu Niangzi, you don't need to intervene, the dishes he makes are delicious, I guarantee that after eating today, you will never forget for a lifetime."

  Saying that, he glanced at the plate of chopped snake meat with his eyes and said heavily: "It will be very hard to forget."

  Song Jiu started cooking, and his culinary skills were quite particular. He would carefully select ingredients, oil, seasonings, and cooking time, as well as employ other techniques, such as pounding the bones of a fish with a stone before deep-frying it. As long as he didn't mess up, the dish would turn out fragrant, crispy, and tender. When cooking a fathead fish, he would add peppercorns and yellow wine to the head, no matter how expensive the peppercorns were. He would marinate the fish slices in a mixture of cornstarch, egg whites, salt, and Shaoxing wine before boiling them, which made the fish tender without making the soup salty. Song Jiu tried to teach Zhu San, thinking it wouldn't be fair if he was the only one cooking. However, Zhu San was a true foodie who only knew how to eat but not cook, and no amount of teaching could change that.

  A man who is fully focused on his work will be attractive. When the beauty arrives, Zhu San will take over all the miscellaneous tasks, and Yu Ping will sit on the stone bench with her hands supporting her cheeks to watch.

  Cui'er said disdainfully: "What's the big deal about a grown man cooking?"

  "It will make my wife happy, and when the family is harmonious, everything will prosper!" Song Jiu replied from the kitchen. In the Song Dynasty, there was also some feminism, and Xia Gong, a dignified emperor's teacher, was a typical example of a hen-pecked husband. The phrase "River East Lion Roar" also originated in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, if a man with a good reputation cooks for his wife to make her happy, even if the family is not harmonious, it will become harmonious. Yu Ping thought to herself: I don't know if he will have such lovely thoughts after getting married. Cui Er wanted to refute, but Yu Ping stopped her and said in a low voice: "Cui Er, his three sisters got married and didn't cook themselves, who would cook for them?"

  "Yes, he is as pitiful as his wife."

  Yu Ping's eyes dimmed with sorrow, she was born not long ago, the Khitan entered the Central Plains, and then withdrew to the north, her father was captured by the Khitan, her mother soon left the world, and she was sold to a brothel by her uncle since childhood. In terms of her background, she is more pitiful than Song Jiu. However, after a while, her little nose wrinkled up, the first fragrance came out, it was the smell of salted pork and braised turtle. Cui Er also smelled it, sniffing the fragrance in the air: "Niangzi, it smells even better than those regular shops."

  First, the first dish was served, fragrant crispy eel segments. Next came two shrimp dishes, scallion oil shrimp and saltwater shrimp. Song Jiuyi had originally planned to make a drunken shrimp, but fearing that Zhu San would vomit again and spoil everyone's appetite, he made two traditional dishes instead.

  A dish was brought up, wanting to stimulate people's appetite, it must be fragrant and flavorful. Song Jiuyi also placed purple perilla leaves, tangerine peels, and coriander on the edge of the plate, making each dish look colorful and appetizing. The two of them came from afar, having not eaten anything in the morning, Cui'er couldn't help but sneak a shrimp into her mouth when Zhu San went back to busy himself, then said: "It's really delicious, wife, you try some too."

  "Stop sneaking food, we haven't even lit incense or set off firecrackers yet."

  Jade lotus bud puckers up in joy.

  Zhu San brought up the fourth dish, Peach Juice Snake Block. The eel was placed somewhere obvious, but Cui'er didn't dare to eat it without trying it first. However, when the snake meat had its skin peeled off, she couldn't recognize it. Zhu San said, "This is the real delicacy."

  "Really fake?" Cuier stared at the plate, which was filled with diced yellow peaches from last year's storage, replacing canned yellow peaches. The yellow was peach flesh, and the white was snake meat, topped with a layer of carrot flowers, red, yellow, and white alternating, lightly wrapped in a layer of starch, at least looking very good. She stole another piece and put it in her mouth, immediately tasting the freshness of the snake meat and the fragrance of the peach flesh, saying: "It's really delicious!"

  Zhu San saw Cui Er secretly eating snake meat in the kitchen and couldn't help but laugh to herself. Upon hearing this, she felt suspicious and wondered if it was really delicious.

  Then fish slice soup and fish head soup, braised abalone with salted meat were also brought up.

  Zhu San went to fetch firecrackers to set off. At this time, the fourth batch of guests arrived. A small yellow gate stood at the door and asked: "Is this Song Jiulang's home?"

  Song Jiudao said: "Yes, may I ask the imperial attendant..."

  Song received the imperial edict.

  Song Jiufu received the imperial decree, which cannot be considered a real imperial decree, but only an ordinary appointment edict. "Appointing Song Jiufu, a scholar from Kuangji Alley in the capital city, as a lecturer at the Imperial Academy, to take office immediately, by order of the Emperor."

  "I obey the edict." But Song Jiuzi stood up and asked, "May I ask, eunuch, if the court appoints my son or promotes my son, what will happen if he does not accept the imperial decree?"

  "What's the worst that could happen? On the contrary, it's a noble and glorious thing."

  Song Jiuxiang went to the back, took out a silver ingot, and stuffed it into the eunuch's sleeve. This was not considered bribery, but a routine practice. Unless Song Jiuxiang would send the whole cart of silver to the imperial palace, he said: "Palace attendant, please go back and convey the message that this edict cannot be accepted."