After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Chapter 1271: Chapter 1238: Chow Down

Everyone is waiting for Fu Tinghan to start the meal. Fu Tinghan doesn’t linger. As soon as everyone in the camp is seated, he grabs an iron trumpet and yells to the crowd, "Dinner—"

Tens of thousands shout in unison, and chopsticks promptly reach for the dish with seven parts fat and three parts lean. It’s the most eye-catching dish at the New Year’s feast!

Fu Tinghan also grabs a piece of the dish. Previously, he wouldn’t eat such fatty meat, but in this era, meat is too scarce. Now, seeing even all-fat meat makes people’s mouths water.

Fu Chang has never seen such a nephew, watching in a daze. It’s hard for him to connect this loud, meat-devouring person with his refined nephew.

Fu Hong also watches in a daze, hesitating a moment before reaching with his chopsticks for a piece.

Beside them, Cao Ping chuckles, "Third Lord is eating pork too?"

Fu Hong smiles at him and starts eating in large mouthfuls. His tightly closed eyes open in surprise as he tells everyone, "It’s quite delicious."

Cao Ping: "It’s your prejudice against pork. Nowadays, pigs are different. They’re not raised under toilets anymore but have separate pig pens and are fed vegetables, rice bran, wheat bran, and various wild herbs. I’ve heard in Ru Nan County they even use mugwort to feed them. Wouldn’t these pigs be like medicine pigs?"

Before Zhao Hanzhang’s vigorous promotion of pigs, they were raised next to or under toilets, and pig pens were seldom cleaned. Those who’ve seen the pigs’ living conditions wouldn’t want to eat their meat, let alone the aristocracy. Pork wasn’t even qualified to enter the home.

That’s why officials thought Zhao Hanzhang allowing pork into the palace was an insult to the emperor.

It was a filthy thing that most scholars disdained to eat, and she even purchased it for the palace.

If she hadn’t eaten pork continuously for three months, opposition would have been fiercer.

But ordinary people don’t have such prejudice, especially now when pig farming conditions and processes have improved. Cao Ping had even been dragged to study pig farming.

Around the campfire, everyone is enthusiastically devouring their food. The firelight shines on everyone’s faces, warming the air. It cleverly keeps the dishes on the ground at a manageable temperature.

Tonight’s dishes are bountiful; besides the main dish, there are pig bone stewed with yellow beans, cabbage with pork, radish with pork, radish with lamb, and a big basket of steamed buns.

Everyone is holding a bun in one hand and chopsticks in the other, quickly grabbing dishes, sweating profusely and feeling elated.

Tonight, the main dish and pig bone stewed with yellow beans are the crowd favorites.

That big bone barely has any meat, but the stewed yellow beans are extremely tasty, with an oily sheen on the soup that entices people to eat.

"I didn’t expect yellow beans to taste so good. When I return home, I’ll also buy pig bones to stew with yellow beans."

The most common thing in a farmer’s household should be soybeans.

Fu Tinghan also finds the yellow beans delicious, so he ladles some soup and beans into his bowl to savor them slowly. The group around this campfire is much more leisurely; while eating, they can chat, "Will the work be completed in twenty days?"

Fu Tinghan: "At the current pace, theoretically, it’s possible."

Cao Ping sighs, "I haven’t spent New Year’s with my family for two years."

Fu Tinghan thinks for a moment, then says, "You can celebrate the next festival. If progress is smooth, you can return to the capital for Lantern Festival and report."

Cao Ping hurriedly waves it off saying, "I was just speaking casually, not requesting leave. There are 123,000 laborers and 80,000 soldiers here. None of them plan to return. Especially the soldiers; they’ve been following the Great General south and north without knowing how many years it’s been since they’ve returned home to reunite. How dare I complain in this situation?"

Fu Tinghan: "I understand you’re not complaining. Missing family is human nature."

Fu Tinghan suddenly asks, "Doctor Cao, do you have a family?"

Fu Chang: "...Doctor Cao’s son is already eight years old."

Fu Tinghan looks at Cao Ping, astonished and incredulous.

Cao Ping smiles proudly, his eyes narrowed, "I had my eldest son at sixteen. Not everyone is like Shen Ruhui, unable to find a wife."

Sixty miles away, as Shen Ruhui is vigorously gnawing on steamed buns in the camp, he sneezes. He tightens his clothes; is he catching a cold?

He looks up at the sparse stars in the sky and says to Shen Xian, "The sky darkens quickly. It’s only 5 p.m., but it’s already dark. Winter is really cold. Once everyone is full, let them return to the tents to sleep. Don’t wander around outside; they might catch a cold."

Shen Xian: "Sir, it’s just the beginning. Everyone still wants to sing and dance around the campfire. Today is New Year’s, shouldn’t we stay up till 9 p.m.?"

"That’s too late. Didn’t you see me sneezing? I think by 7 p.m., it should be enough."

Shen Xian: "Didn’t you sneeze because you were too close to the fire, choking?"

Shen Xian suggests he sit by the campfire with the others, "It’s warm and lively. As one of the hosts, how could you hide here eating?"

Shen Ruhui: "They are annoying, a bunch of men, smelly and chatty. The Chief of Staff ordered a bath, and the laborers listened. Only they, because of their positions, were lazy and didn’t follow. With any little stir in court, rumors spread everywhere."

Shen Xian: "You dislike them introducing you to girls, probing your preferences, don’t you?"

Shen Ruhui: "...Shen Xian, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut sometimes. Don’t always say things your lord doesn’t want to hear."

Shen Xian: "You just asked me to be honest this morning. Thankfully, you only have me as a servant; otherwise, with such changing orders, the household would disperse sooner or later."

Shen Ruhui: ...So angry.

He ends up being dragged by Shen Xian to the big campfire. Sure enough, everyone gets excited when they see Shen Ruhui, quickly standing to offer him a seat. He sits down, and someone says, "Doctor Shen, these are socks sent by my wife, made of cashmere, very warm when worn to sleep."

Shen Ruhui glances and says, "Not bad."

"Doctor Shen should marry too, so someone can knit socks for you."

He knew it.

Shen Ruhui says calmly, "I’ll write to the Great General about starting a workshop dedicated to weaving cashmere socks. This way, the northern wool will have a purpose. Not only can herders earn more, but it can stabilize the Xiongnu and Xianbei tribes."

Everyone: ...

People gradually put down their chopsticks and pat their full bellies. Someone suggests dancing and singing, so Shen Ruhui is once again pulled out, as the host sets an example first.

Unlike later times when minority groups are good at singing and dancing while Han people can only clap, in this era, Han people can also step and dance, regardless of status.

Moreover, the higher the status, the better they sing and dance.

Emperors and clan leaders from aristocratic families have held hands and danced together; who wouldn’t have some talent?

But Shen Ruhui doesn’t have much to express at the moment, so he declines. Instead, he pulls out a bulletin, instructing Shen Xian to fetch a trumpet, "I won’t embarrass myself; let’s read a letter from the Great General."