Volume 2: Eagle vs. Dragon Chapter 20: Shocked by the Inner Zen
"I used to think that Fujian's Kung Fu tea was bitter like medicine, but today I tasted it again and found it to be truly unique."
The words Wu Xiaojiu brought back made Wu Chengjian and Zhou Yijin understand Cai Qinghua's attitude towards the Wu family - this sentence was openly about Kung Fu tea, but its implicit meaning was a recognition of Wu Chengjian's strength and skills. At least Cai Qinghua was no longer the arrogant and condescending attitude that he had when the two sides met for the second time, looking down on the Wu family like ants.
"It's not a gift or charity, but cooperation." Wu Chengjian said with a smile: "That's something to talk about."
"Don't get too carried away." Zhou Yijin said, "Even if we cooperate, we are only talking to 'Master Cai', not the Governor."
"Don't worry," Wu Chengjian said with a smile, "I still have this self-awareness."
Master Cai had agreed to come over in the evening, so Wu Chengjian did not go back to Xiguan. He stayed on the Huacha the whole day, but did not enter the cabin of Tan Sanniang. Instead, he fished on the deck all day.
At night, Wu Chengjian picked out the fattest and largest ones to treat Cai Qinghua. Tan Sanniang wanted to wash her hands and make fish soup. Wu Chengjian said, "Who are you now? If you were my wife, it would be understandable for the hostess to make soup for the guests. But if you are just a retired courtesan, are you preparing to make a new debut?"
When Tan Sanniang heard this, her chest heaved and she covered her face and went back to the cabin.
Zhou Yijin frowned and said, “Even if you are in a bad mood, you still want to stab Sanniang. This is too much.”
In fact, Wu Chengjian regretted what he said in his heart. Besides being angry with Tan Sanniang, he also wanted to provoke her to get angry. However, he also knew that he had said too much, so he was thinking about going into the cabin to apologize. At this moment, someone on the water in the distance raised a light as a signal.
Zhou Yijin said: "Here it comes!"
Wu Chengjian had no choice but to follow Zhou Yijin and walk over quickly, standing by the side of the ship to greet them.
On the Hua Cha, the lights were bright and the torches flickered in the sea breeze, making the deck very bright.
The spacious deck was empty. Apart from the three hosts and guests, there were only Wu Qi and Wu Xiaojiu serving. Wu Xiaojiu was mixing the drinks while Wu Qi was fiddling with the barbecue rack.
Cai Qinghua glanced at it and said with a smile: "Hao Guan is now powerful in Xiguan and rich enough to rival a country. It's too shabby to treat me to this."
Zhou Yijin smiled and said, "Although there aren't many props tonight, they are not ordinary items. Take this bronze grill for example, it's a 2,000-year-old artifact. If you're not a wealthy person, you really can't afford this to cook barbecue."
Cai Qinghua walked forward to take a look and saw that the grill Wu Qi was using was divided into two layers. Fish and shrimp were grilling on the upper layer, while charcoal fire was placed on the lower layer. The edge of the grill was black with green. The black was traces of smoke, and the green was the thousand-year-old copper rust.
"Two thousand years?" Cai Qinghua wiped off a bit of the rust, tasted it carefully and nodded: "Is it an ancient artifact from the Qin and Han dynasties?"
Zhou Yijin said: "Although this bronze furnace is not an exquisite gold and stone treasure when it was placed two thousand years ago, it is indeed an ancient artifact used by Zhao Tuo, the King of Nanyue."
Zhao Tuo was a general of Qin Shihuang and the first pioneer of China in Guangdong, Guangxi and Vietnam. He founded a country and proclaimed himself emperor in the early Han Dynasty. Before the territory was incorporated into the Han Dynasty, it was two thousand miles from east to west, including today's Guangdong, Guangxi, Vietnam, as well as part of Yunnan, Guizhou and Hunan. He outlived six generations of emperors (Qin Shihuang, Xiang Yu, Han Gao, Emperor Hui, Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing), and could be called the true emperor of six generations. He lived until the time of Emperor Wu of Han and died at the age of over 100. He had a legendary life. He was not only a great contributor to China's expansion of two thousand miles to the south, but also the founder of the Three Yue (Guangdong, Guangxi and Vietnam) into civilization.
Cai Qinghua pointed and laughed, "What about these fish? Are they one thousand years old or two thousand years old?"
Zhou Yijin said: "The fish are fresh. Haoguan spent the whole day today and caught 17 or 18 fish. These are the biggest ones."
Cai Qinghua clapped his hands and said, "Yihehang's daily income these days is more than ten thousand taels of silver! These three fish took Haoguan a whole day to catch, and each one costs three thousand gold!"
The three of them laughed at the same time.
They sat down amid laughter. Wu Chengjian's men all had one or two unique skills. Wu Qi's barbecue skills were also exceptional. When three grilled fish were served, the aroma had already made people salivate before they started eating.
This Baietan Lake had already become a part of the Pearl River when the handsome young man named A Pu lived there. But in Wu Chengjian's time, it was the place where the river and the sea met, and the hydrological conditions were very complicated. The fish caught by Wu Chengjian included both freshwater fish and saltwater fish, and these three fish also came from two rivers and one sea.
Zhou Yijin asked Cai Qinghua to choose, saying, "Freshwater fish are more tender, while saltwater fish are firmer. Master, you should eat a freshwater fish, as you are more accustomed to it."
Cai Qinghua said, "No, it's not easy to come to Guangdong, so of course I have to eat sea fish."
There is naturally nothing wrong with Wu Chengjian and Zhou Yijin.
One advantage of sea fish is that they generally don't have many small bones, so you don't need to pick out the bones when eating them. Cai Qinghua ate half a fish and washed it down with half a glass of wine poured by Wu Xiaojiu. He said, "This sea fish is really different from the fish in rivers and lakes. It grows well and grills well. In this remote place, eating grilled seafood and drinking wine, what else is missing in life? No wonder you, Yijin, are so happy that you don't want to leave."
Using the fish caught by Wu Chengjian himself to lead the way was a sign of respect. Next came grilled shrimps, grilled crabs, grilled octopus, grilled corn, grilled sweet potatoes... a combination of meat and vegetables. After eating one thing, another came after another, and Cai Qinghua's tongue was numb from eating so much.
Finally, Tan Sanniang brought Bihe over and took out three bowls of boat porridge from the plate held by Bihe. She said in a friendly manner, "The smell of barbecue is too strong. Sir, have some more porridge to clear your stomach."
Cai Qinghua recognized Tan Sanniang. When she took the boat porridge, she bowed slightly to thank the hostess. When Tan Sanniang handed it to Wu Chengjian, Wu Chengjian looked at her. She pretended not to see him, but did not act rudely. She bowed to Cai Qinghua and left.
This boat porridge is a specialty snack of the people living on the water in Guangzhou. It is made with sashimi, lean meat, fried dough sticks, peanuts, chopped green onions, shredded eggs, shredded jellyfish, shredded squid, etc. It is made by pouring boiling white porridge over the ingredients. It has the smoothness of white porridge and the freshness of all the ingredients. Although there are many ingredients, they do not take away the original flavor of the porridge. It tastes light and not greasy, hence the name.
Cai Qinghua drank half a bowl of boat porridge, praised it, and said with a smile: "I am full of wine and meat, the light porridge refreshes the stomach, the sea breeze is blowing, and the beauty is by my side. This is the life that even a god would not change. Although Beijing is under the feet of the emperor, the good things I can enjoy are not as good as those in Guangdong. It's a pity that I am in the whirlpool. If I want to live such a leisurely life, I don't know how long I can wait."
Wu Chengjian said, "Beijing has its own uniqueness, and Guangdong has its own advantages. If Master Cai likes something, just let me know and we will have whatever good stuff we want."
Cai Qinghua said with a smile: "It's not too much to eat a fish and a bowl of porridge from you tonight. If you want anything else, I won't be able to explain it to the Grand Duke."
Zhou Yijin waved his hand slightly, Wu Qi covered the charcoal fire, and left with Wu Xiaojiu. Only three people were left on the huge deck. Zhou Yijin moved the covered copper stove closer, using the heat from the copper stove to offset the cold sea breeze.
Wu Chengjian said, "In order to protect himself, Wu Chengjian did not dare to follow the orders of the Grand Marquis, but he never leaked any information from the Grand Marquis from the beginning to the end. Wu Chengjian has no disrespect for the Grand Marquis, but the Wu family had no choice but to make this choice. I can only ask the Grand Marquis to understand the difficulties of merchants like us."
Cai Qinghua asked, "Are you worried that I will come to question you tonight?"
Wu Chengjian said, "We old Cantonese are idle people with no ambitions. Merchants in Xiguan only want to have enough food and clothing and worry-free children and grandchildren. The gods in the sky are fighting, and any thunderbolt is not something that we small people in the south can withstand. The Grand Marquis is the prince's teacher, and perhaps the emperor's teacher in the future. He is at the peak of the emperor, so he naturally has a broad vision and a broad mind. I think he can understand the situation below and will not embarrass us small merchants because of such a small matter."
Cai Qinghua chuckled, "Merchants are merchants, but being modest is too much. A prefectural general and a second-rank official can be dismissed at will. Such power is not something that an ordinary governor can achieve."
Wu Chengjian said in a serious tone, "Master, you are wrong! The general of Huizhou was dismissed for corruption. What does it have to do with my Wu family? These are just rumors spread by outsiders. Master Cai is a wise man. I think he will not believe such groundless rumors."
Although getting rid of Duan Longjiang in one fell swoop was indeed one of Wu Chengjian's major moves, many officials and heroes in the underworld of Nanyue were also terrified by Hao Guan because of this incident. However, if Wu Chengjian was complacent about this matter, Cai Qinghua would look down on him. Now, seeing him trying his best to clear himself, he felt that this boy was extraordinary.
He suddenly lowered his voice and said, "The Grand Master may soon become the Imperial Master."
Zhou Yijin was baking something with his hands suspended over a copper stove. When he heard this, both of his hands froze.
Cai Qinghua's words were too sudden, and the news itself was too shocking!
It is impossible that Zhu Gui wanted to be the imperial tutor because Emperor Qianlong wanted to invite him to be his teacher. Emperor Qianlong was already in his eighties, older than Zhu Gui. How could he possibly invite Zhu Gui to be his teacher? For Zhu Gui to become the "imperial tutor", the only way was for the fifteenth son of the emperor, Yongyan, to ascend the throne!
Could it be that Emperor Qianlong was about to die?
Cai Qinghua stared at Wu Chengjian and was surprised to see that Wu Chengjian looked calm. "You...you also received the news?"
Wu Chengjian whispered, "Is this... a step towards inner meditation?"
Zhou Yijin's heart skipped a beat, and he thought, "It's not that the old emperor has passed away, but that he has abdicated? Where did Haoguan get this information?"
Cai Qinghua pointed at Wu Chengjian and was speechless for a long time. This kid in front of him was really surprising!
He had intended to shock Wu Chengjian with this news today, but unexpectedly he ended up being shocked instead.
