There are always some things in the world that people cannot afford.

For example, if the power is overwhelming, even the emperor will find it difficult to buy health with money when his health is no longer good.

When officials lament that they no longer have youth, they want youth but cannot get it no matter how powerful they are.

The poor are even more miserable. They want to fulfill all their wishes, but they lack money.

Children's wishes are very real, they are immediate wishes, and they are easy to realize, but adults often ignore them; as they grow older, most people will have more and more wishes, become more and more greedy, and become less and less happy.

.Only a few people enjoy the little surprises in life again and again, and are as happy as flowers and butterflies in spring.

Because they know how to control their desires to the lowest point. As long as they do this, there will be surprises beyond survival, and no one will be unhappy.

But it is very difficult to achieve this step, at least not many people can do it.

Fan Chunren is undoubtedly a very strange person in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty. His happiness comes from his family tradition. As long as he has a delicious meal and an afternoon's rest, he can feel more comfortable.

But even people like Fan Chunren have good intentions.

Eat meat.

Eat expensive and delicious meat.

In the Song Dynasty, there were only two types of meat that met this requirement, mutton and chicken.

Not to mention mutton, the favorite meat of the Song Dynasty people is moderately priced, a little more expensive than boiled meat, but not much more expensive. Not to mention the outrageous price of beef.

As for chicken, there are special objections to Chinese people.

This starts with the five elements.

Do you think it's a bit ridiculous, but that's what the ancients were like. They would first determine the five elements at every turn. This is very important and relates to fate and fortune.

Among the five elements, the chicken belongs to gold. The golden rooster croaks the dawn and is a favored creature facing the first ray of sunshine. The chicken naturally has magical nourishing effects because the whole body of the chicken is full of yang energy. And yang energy is the most important thing for people.

characteristics of life. This is also the reason why among the meats, only chickens and eggs are specially provided for women during confinement.

Secondly, chicken has five virtues.

The one who wears a crown on his head is Wen; the one who refuses to do anything with his feet is Wu; the one who calls out to each other when seeing food is Yi; the one who dares to fight when approaching is brave; the one who keeps up with the times in the morning is trustworthy.

These five virtues include almost all the advantages of a benevolent gentleman and are the highest pursuit of a gentleman. They echo all the beautiful visions of scholars.

There is also the taste of chicken, which is delicious and can be made with only salt. In particular, chicken is different from other animal meats and does not have any peculiar smell.

It has the top performance of ingredients, has the supreme symbol of morality, and has the magical effect of nourishment. I wonder, what animal in the world can compare with the nobility of chicken?

When it was almost dark, Li Yun hurried over, carrying a long wooden stick on his shoulder, with a row of little roosters with their feet tied on it. They were jolted until they rolled their eyes.

Then Li Yun carried about ten chickens and ran to Li Kui, flattering him: "Second brother, let's eat chicken tomorrow."

"Change it, it's troublesome to do." Li Kui didn't want to do it at all. Killing chickens is very tiring, mainly removing the hair, marinating, and finally cooking it, which requires a lot of patience. But with patience, Li Kui and Li Yun

Not much at all.

Li Yun gritted his teeth and said, "I'll kill him. Second brother just needs to help me do it."

"Okay." Li Kui touched his chin and looked back and forth over a dozen half-dead chickens. He thought to himself: "What should I eat?"

Chicken soup is nourishing and mainly tastes delicious. However, it is obviously not suitable for eating in the examination room. If you really have to simmer the chicken soup in the examination room with a charcoal stove, you don't take the imperial examination seriously. Besides, all the students taking the imperial examination eat it.

He drank the dry food and rolled his eyes while choking. Scholars are not big-minded. If they meet two shameless people drinking chicken soup and irritating people, wouldn't they be red-eyed?

Li Kui and Li Yun have already offended all the scholars in Yishui County. If they offend all the scholars in Yizhou, the fun will be great. They can't go on to offend all the scholars in the world, right?

Roast chicken tends to get cold after it is cooked. When it gets cold, the taste will be greatly reduced, and such good ingredients will be wasted.

Let's just make clay baked chicken. I've been craving for it lately, but I'm just too lazy to make it. Having made up his mind, Li Kui said to Li Yun: "Eat clay baked chicken? I've been craving it lately, but I'm just too lazy to make it. And there's one benefit to clay baked chicken.

Even if it is wrapped in a thick jacket, you can still have steaming braised chicken even at noon."

Li Yun blinked his eyes, swallowed secretly, and asked carefully: "Is it better than salt-baked chicken?"

"Have you never eaten it?" Li Kui remembered cooking it for Su Shi in Yangzhou. The main reason was that the price was too expensive. Su Shi, who suddenly had a seizure and wanted to be thrifty and run the house, rejected the treatment of being a home-cooked dish in the Su family. He slapped his forehead and said with a smile: "I forgot.

, it’s a beggar’s chicken. However, the clay-baked chicken is similar, except that it lacks the eight treasures in the chicken. But the taste is more pure. I guarantee that you will never forget it if you eat it once.”

Li Yun's eyes lit up and he said loudly: "Let's make clay-baked chicken and eat it in front of Lao Fan tomorrow. He will be so greedy!"

Su Shi is delicious. As long as it is delicious food, he has the intention of getting tired of it. Why did he stumble over chicken? The main reason is that Su Shi has no money.

It is said that scholars spend a lot of money. Pens, ink, paper and inkstones are a big expense; visiting relatives and friends is a big expense; and maybe buying a family property. But Su Shi basically had no such expenses in Yangzhou.

. Pens, inks, paper and inkstones were given to me, and cars were sent to pick them up when visiting relatives and friends. Even if I bought a family property, Yangzhou was a place where guests lived, and the Su family's house was rented from the government.

The main reason was that Su Shi had a brain twitch and discovered that he had written a lot of poems and articles in recent years but had not published them. He was very dissatisfied with his slackness. He printed a collection of essays at his own expense and gave them to friends and relatives. Even students had the opportunity to get one.

Tao Laosu's newly released collection of essays almost bankrupted his old man just for this expense.

Fan Chunren is also delicious. Due to his family's stingy tradition, he often refuses to eat or wear clothes. His stingy character is famous in both the government and the public, but no one laughs at him. Lao Fan, who is usually reluctant to eat mutton, has two major problems in his life.

Like, fried small fish and chicken.

Li Yun didn't dare to let Li Kui cook the fried fish dish, otherwise he would get beaten. It was too troublesome, and it didn't taste as good as the meat.

It doesn't fit Li Kui's character.

The second is eating chicken. Why does chicken have a lower status than small fish here in Fan Chunren? The main reason is that chicken is too expensive, and eating it will ruin the family and make you feel sad.

For Fan Chunren, chicken is definitely a luxury item, and even if he is sick, he may not be willing to eat it.

The next day, early morning.

Jie Qian and Xie Wan unexpectedly appeared at the door of Liu's house. It seemed that they were waiting for Li Kui and Li Yun to take the exam together. It was a strange feeling. What was even stranger was that except for yesterday, these two people did not bring weapons to the exam room.

, today they carry weapons on their bodies again. It is hard to imagine that they are actually candidates taking the exam.

The moment they saw Li Yun come out of the door, the two brothers were a little excited, showing signs of being like scumbags who gathered together to commit suicide.

Li Kui raised his eyes and looked at Jie Qian and Xie Wan. For a long time, neither of them said a word, but Li Kui's gaze made him feel uncomfortable in his heart.

"Why didn't you say anything today?" Li Kui couldn't help but be a little curious. Yesterday he looked very proud. Why do you look so decadent today? In the past few days, he had said to Li Kui arrogantly: "Li Kui, your examination room is not here.

here!"

The two brothers looked at each other, and finally the eldest brother Jie Qian sighed and said, "We were kicked out of the inn."

"Why?"

"No money." Jie Qian looked up sadly at the spider webs in the corner of the house, which looked like a dilapidated winter wilderness with no trace of life in sight.

Li Yun blinked and looked at Li Kui, not knowing what to say. He originally thought that yesterday's meal had made the two brothers realize their mistakes and determined to change their past, so they would repay each other. Unexpectedly, this

The two guys were actually kicked out, had no place to live, and wanted to rely on him, which made him quite speechless.

Jie Wan explained: "Brother Li, actually we brought enough money, mainly to build weapons, and then we spent all the money. We have no relatives or friends in Linyi City, and we have no close friends among the students rushing to take the exam.

I am a generous friend, and I asked Brother Li to help me lend some money to us. When I go home, I will definitely pay back double the amount."

"What weapon was fired?"

Li Kui asked curiously.

He thought these two people were quite interesting. In terms of personality, they were more interesting than all the scholars he had met who were rushing to take the exam. They were also simple-minded and not as good at specializing or pedantic as scholars.

Xie Qian raised the big iron gun in his hand and said, "This iron gun cost us all our money, three hundred guan."

Good guy, he is a rich man.

There is no doubt that people who can spend three hundred guan to build a handy weapon are rare in the Song Dynasty. Many generals' weapons are not as good as those of these two brothers.

"When you came out of the inn, didn't the shopkeeper and the waiter stop you and asked you to take your luggage out?" Li Kui asked curiously.

Jie Wanjie scratched his neck, held up the purple gold hammer, and shouted: "Do they dare?"

Well, if you encounter such stupid young people when opening a store and doing business, you can only admit that you are unlucky. Indeed, no one dares to stop these brothers. If someone is hurt, wouldn't it be a big mistake?

"Why don't you pawn the iron gun in the blacksmith shop? If you can't pawn a hundred guan, fifty guan will do, right? Even if you can't get 50 guan, what about twenty or thirty guan? In this way, since you have food and accommodation in an inn

With the money, you can still pay for your trip back home. Wouldn’t it be better to ask your family to send money to redeem the iron gun when you get home?"

The method Li Kui said was undoubtedly the most suitable method for solving thousands and tens of thousands. Of course, he also saw that the two brothers really didn't seem to be short of money.

It was mainly because I spent money lavishly and didn't plan for expenses such as tolls that I fell into a dilemma.

Unexpectedly, after Li Kui finished speaking, Xie Qian seemed to have been greatly insulted and shouted: "How can we pawn the weapons in our hands when we have guns? We, the warriors, can't even keep the weapons in our hands. How dare we protect our home and country?"

?”

"That's right!" Jie Wan also quite agreed.

Li Kui thinks that a man of God who can say, "There is a man with a gun," should not be a bad person.

Li Kui gave way and shouted into the yard: "Uncle Liu, there are two friends who are rushing to take the exam and need to live in the house. Is that okay?"

Early in the morning, Butler Liu heard a servant say that there were two unidentified men standing at the door. As the steward of the Liu family, he was naturally thinking about it. Hearing Li Kui's call, he ran out immediately. He smiled at Li Kui.

He said: "Master Li, it doesn't matter. Since you are a guest of Master Li, you are also a guest of my Liu family. Why don't you invite me over quickly?"

Although Jie Wan didn't hear that Li Kui wanted to lend them money, he certainly wouldn't care about a small amount of money if he could live in the Liu Mansion. He excitedly ran to the horse-tethering post next to him, shouting as he ran: "I'll go and tie the horse."

Bring it here."
Chapter completed!