Chapter Nineteen Sparrow

  "Second Master, the cucumbers and calabazas have all bloomed!" a young servant ran over shouting loudly, causing a flock of sparrows pecking at food on the snowy ground to suddenly fly away.

  "Zhao Xin, you've come at just the right time! You scared away all the sparrows!" Zhao Zhan said with a scowl, standing up from behind the stone and throwing away the rope in frustration. Yesterday's heavy snow had cleared up today, and Zhao Zhan had swept out a patch of empty ground in the garden, scattered some wheat, and set up a trap using a bamboo basket to catch sparrows.

  "Second Master, I didn't mean to!" Zhao Xin said in a low voice, bowing his head and rubbing the hem of his garment.

  "Never mind, but you'll have to share two less at noon!" Zhao Yi said with a wave of his hand, showing magnanimity. Zhao Xin nodded vigorously, without any sign of fear, knowing that Second Master was kind-hearted and wouldn't shortchange him.

  "Alas, what are we waiting for? Carrying the bag, aren't the cucumbers in bloom yet? I'm going, everything has to be taken care of by me!" Zhao Yi shook his head and pointed at the cloth bag on the ground, which was already half full of sparrows. He had really caught a lot this morning. Zhao Xin stuck out his tongue and carried the bag behind him.

  After these days, Zhao Ye adapted to his current body and seemed to have really "become" a child again, no longer worrying about it. He treated it as reliving a happy childhood, spending every day eating, drinking, sleeping, and playing in various ways, making up for past regrets. Only when he saw Xi did he feel a bit down, the sudden change of Wang Ye made him a bit unaccustomed, and Cui followed closely behind.

  These days have been cold, and in order to keep warm, several stoves were lit in the house. The warm air hit people's faces in the heated room, and the few young servants working inside only wore thin jackets, but they were still sweating profusely. When Zhao Yi came in, they hastily paid their respects, and Zhao Yi helped him take off his fur coat.

  "Second Master, the cucumbers and calabazas have all bloomed," Zhao Ren said. "I heard the gardener say that they had tried growing them in a greenhouse before, but although they bloomed, they didn't produce any fruit. The blossoms were useless!"

  "Cut, that's useless, we can't produce any melons!" Zhao said disdainfully. In ancient times, people didn't understand that without bees and butterflies to pollinate the flowers, they would only bloom but not bear fruit. "Have you prepared the brushes I asked for?"

  "Second Master, I'm ready!" Zhao Ren said, hastily handing over a rabbit hair brush.

  "Come closer, everyone, and watch how I do it!" Zhao Tie took the brush and beckoned to the others to gather around. He dipped the brush in one flower and dotted a few strokes on another.

  "Second Master, what's going on?" Zhao Yi asked in puzzlement.

  "The flowers are divided into male and female, this is a male flower, the one with small yellow cucumbers is a female flower. If it doesn't get pollinated, it will fall off quickly. Remember that one male flower can only pollinate three female flowers at most, don't overdo it, got it?" Zhao explained.

  "Oh, we understand, but why didn't Second Master use this method in summer, and still managed to grow melons?" Zhao Yi asked again.

  "Goodness, you're so silly! Have you ever seen bees and butterflies in winter? You're doing their work for them now!" Zhao Ke said with a gentle tap on his head using a brush pen. Zhao Yi rubbed his head and chuckled.

  "Second Master, we all understand, you rest, we'll handle it!" Zhao Ren said with a smile.

  "Alright, this is the best time for pollination, it must be done before noon, and if we finish early, I'll cook a good meal to reward everyone!" Zhao said to the crowd. "Zhao Xin, help me out, take care of those sparrows for me, Xian Yu go to the kitchen to get some oil, salt and seasonings, and make sure to bring more oil!"

  "Great!" He replied with a joyful and painful expression, licking his lips. The pork made by the king last time was really delicious, and today he personally took action to satisfy his hunger again.

  "Second Master, you've caught quite a few!" Zhao Xin exclaimed as he poured out the contents of the bag, revealing over a hundred sparrows, big and small, all with their necks twisted off.

  "People die for wealth, birds perish for food; they stake their lives to satisfy their appetites!" Zhao Zhan said, pulling out a dagger from his waist. If his grandfather knew that Zhao Zhan was using the dagger worth over a hundred taels of silver for this purpose, who knows what he would say? But he didn't care, treating the dagger as if it were meant to be stained with blood.

  He picked up a sparrow, lightly cut open a small incision on its abdomen, broke off the claws, and with two small hands, he quickly stripped off the sparrow's "clothes". Then, he swiftly chopped off its head, used his knife to split open its belly, cleaned out the internal organs, and casually tossed them into a pre-dug pit. The meat was placed in a basin.

  Zhao Xin was surprised by Wang Ye's skilled skinning, cleaning the internal organs, and neat movements. Even his hands didn't have a single drop of blood on them, not like a novice at all. "Second Master, do you often do this?" he asked curiously as he squatted down.

  "Hehe, I didn't have that opportunity, maybe it's innate!" Zhao Xiao said with a smile, this is the craftsmanship of my previous life, but I also can't say that I learned it in my last life."

  "Second Master, I'll give it a try too!" Zhao Xin said, pulling out a small knife from his bosom.

  "Alright, go slow, don't hurt your hand!" Zhao Che said. Zhao Xin nodded and drew out his knife. Suddenly, Zhao Che noticed that although the knife was short and small, it was very exquisite. The silver hilt was wrapped with golden threads, and on the dark green scabbard were inlaid two pieces of white jade. The style was like the small knives carried by some ethnic minorities in Northwest China to cut meat when eating.

  "Second Master, why can't I get it right?" Zhao Xin imitated Zhao Che's actions to catch the sparrow, but ended up with his hands covered in blood and the sparrow broken into pieces.

  "You're so clumsy!" Zhao said, putting down the knife and grabbing his hand to teach him. "You should cut from here, with a light hand, just enough to scratch the sparrow's skin, don't hurt the meat!"

  "Second Master, let go." Zhao Xin suddenly became bashful, his face turning crimson. Only then did Zhao Yi notice that the small hand in his palm had long and slender fingers, like a bunch of scallions, and was smooth to the touch, just like a girl's hand.

  "Ah, fake girl!" Zhao Chu said with a snort, releasing his grip.

  "Second Master, what did you say?" Zhao Xin didn't understand what he meant, but also knew it wasn't anything good, and asked with a flushed face.

  "You're like a little girl, not a man!"

  "Second Master, you're talking nonsense! I'm just a man!" Zhao Xin suddenly stood up and said, his eyes wide with anger.

  "You're just like Xian Xi, you won't" Zhao Che suddenly found the little guy quite interesting and teased him by saying.

  "Second Master, you're bullying me!" Zhao Xin's eyes reddened and tears fell.

  "Zhao Xin, don't be rude to Second Master!" Jian Xi scolded with a straight face as he brought over the things Zhao Xin had asked for, accompanied by a small yellow gatekeeper.

  "Don't be surprised, I'm just joking with him, right Zhao Xin?" Zhao Yan said with a stifled smile.

  "I'm just a lowly servant, how dare I mess with Second Master?" Zhao Xin said with a pout, but his expression was no longer angry.

  "Alright, I was wrong, you're a man, not a woman, that's settled then!"

  "Hmph, that's more like it!" Zhao Xin said with a cold hum, his tone crisp and sharp, not at all like a young servant, but rather similar to the young mistress when she was being playful.

  Zhao Xin learned quickly, and in a short while, he mastered the technique. The two of them sped up, and by the time Zhao Ren and others finished sprinkling powder, they had already cleaned up all the sparrows. They all gathered around, wondering how Zhao Ke would handle it.

  Zhao Yi used seasonings to marinate the cleaned sparrows, then ordered Zhao Xin to put a pot on the fire, pour in oil. "Second Master, I brought all the oil from the kitchen, you poured it all into the pot at once?" Ji Nana asked with a puzzled expression.

  "Oh, the more oil used in frying, the better it tastes!" Zhao Ye smiled and replied. In these days, he had been in and out of the kitchen many times and understood that in this era, oil was still a relatively precious thing. Oil was mainly used for lighting, cooking was mostly steaming and boiling, and only occasionally used for stir-frying. Although the food was healthy, it made Zhao Ye, who had traveled through time, feel somewhat unaccustomed to eating it.

  The oil had melted, and Zhao Zhe dipped the marinated sparrows in flour one by one before putting them into the pot. Before long, a tempting aroma wafted through the warm room, making everyone around involuntarily lick their lips and swallow their saliva.

  "Try it, Jian Xi. Is it delicious?" Zhao Yan picked up a fried sparrow with his chopsticks and brought it to his eyes.

  "Second Master, you haven't eaten yet, it's not proper for me to eat first!" Seeing the crispy fried sparrows, he stretched out his hand and then withdrew it, saying with difficulty.

  "Cut it out, this time let's be serious. If you don't eat, then forget it!" Zhao Yi said disdainfully, handing the sparrow to Zhao Xin, who busily and hastily took it over, not thinking that this good thing would fall on his own head.

  "Don't just focus on eating, is it delicious or not?!" Zhao Yong asked anxiously, swallowing his saliva.

  "Even the bones are chewed together, it's delicious like that!" said Zhao Yan.

  "What's your business?" The others were anxious and followed Zhao Xincheng, muttering to themselves.

  "It's delicious, really delicious! I haven't had something this good in a long time!" Zhao Xinyu licked his lips with the tip of his tongue and said with relish.

  "Cut, Second Master's cooking can't be bad, no need to taste it!" Xī said with a sour tone, regretting that he had missed the opportunity to take the first bite earlier.

  "Make way, I'll throw the sparrows into the pot and fry them for you!" The people surrounding Zhao Xing dispersed, only to reassemble around the oil cauldron, their eyes fixed greedily on the sparrows tumbling about in the boiling oil.

  "Alright, one person at a time, stop crowding around me, I can't work like this!" Zhao Yan said helplessly as he ladled out a portion into a bowl. The crowd cheered and those with quick hands had already grabbed some, not caring about burning their mouths, and began to savor the food with relish.

  "Damn it, next time I'll make sure you learn your lesson!" Seeing Xi holding the frame, his hands were slow and he only managed to grab a sparrow leg as thick as a toothpick. The excited young servants grumbled in discontent.

  Zhao Che knew that he was still in the warm room, and the kitchen had sent his lunch over together with him. He washed his hands in the water channel, and then wiped them on his body. As he took the rice bowl from Xian Xi, he suddenly found that all the young servants were hiding to one side, squatting on the ground surrounding the dish plate, ready to eat. Here, only he was left alone, and Zhao Che's face turned cold with curiosity as he walked over there.