Chapter 84 Chili for Elixir

Since the beginning of winter this year, the long-awaited heavy snows have come one after another, and the whole world has been covered with snow.

There has been a severe drought for many years, and now there is heavy snow. Apart from people, there is nothing to eat anymore.

Originally there were a few honest people like Ergouzi who gathered together and were unwilling to rebel.

But come this winter, these people who did not rebel became the prey pursued by the major forces, and eventually they all became the food of others.

There was far from enough food, and the major rebel forces could only attack each other frequently.

War can constantly eliminate the weak, and the remaining ones will become stronger and stronger.

So recently there have been several battles to destroy the country in the small Anchang County.

The good king of Snake Creek Village successively eliminated King Kun of Shangtouling Village, King Mi of Xiapo Town, and King Feitian of Wumutian Village.

For a time, he was extremely prosperous, and those who initially followed him in rebellion were now granted the title of marquis, prime minister, and became high officials.

Ahu, Ergouzi's only tenant, finally failed to withstand the temptation and wanted to join the good king.

"My boss, thank you very much for your care over the past few years. If I become a marquis or prime minister in the future and become a successful person, I will definitely support my boss to repay today's kindness."

At the foot of Shekou Mountain, before Ahu left, he came to say goodbye to Ergouzi and made a beautiful promise.

"Have you really made up your mind? If you fail, are you going to confiscate your family and kill all the nine clans?"

“My father gave up his life in exchange for a piece of land for our family, but it was only an extra acre of land, and our life was no better than before.

I also want to take a gamble, a bigger bet. If it succeeds, I will turn around and my children and grandchildren will no longer have to farm.

If you lose the bet, just die, and you can still lie down and rest for a few days. "

When Ahu said this, he seemed free and bold.

Ergouzi is just his boss, not his master. He cannot decide the fate of others, let alone prevent others from dreaming of promotion and wealth.

"Well, I wish you success as soon as possible!"

"Thank you, boss!"

Ahu turned around and saw Huang Fugui, who was forging iron.

Huang Fugui stood by with a fire stick, hesitating to speak, obviously very moved.

"Huang Fugui is willing to kill himself and dare to bring down the emperor. Do you want to take a gamble together?"

Ji Cang, who had been standing next to Er Gouzi, couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth when he heard these bold words, but he still said nothing.

Huang Fugui was indeed very moved.

"I……"

"You are not allowed to go. If you dare to go, I will break both of your legs."

Before Huang Fugui could answer, Huang Laocai appeared from the side and stopped his son's thoughts.

"Our ancestors in the Huang family have gone back eighteen generations, and none of us has been blessed with such wealth and honor. You should follow Mr. Zhang in a down-to-earth manner and work safely."

Huang Fugui still wanted to speak, but his father pulled him away and ran away.

When Er Gouzi saw Huang Laocai and his son leaving, he remembered that it was almost the end of the year and he still owed the Huang family 110 taels of silver.

"Brother Ji, it's getting cold. Do you want me to sew you a big cotton-padded jacket?"

"Need not!"

Himekura shook his head.

"This dress of yours has a lot of holes. Do you want me to take it to you, wash it, and sew it up?"

Since the first meeting, several months have passed. Hime Cang has been wearing this dress and has never changed it.

Ergouzi rarely cared about Ji Cang's daily life.

"No, I'm fine now."

Ji Cang shook his head and rejected Er Gouzi's kindness again.

"This is my robe. It is warm in winter and cool in summer. It is not stained by dust."

When Er Gouzi heard this, his eyes lit up green.

He had long noticed that Ji Cang's clothes were unusual and wanted to get them to take a look at.

"So this is the legendary robe. It should be very expensive, right?"

He had read in books that the Dharma robe was just like a magic weapon, woven with various spiritual threads, with some dust-proof, fire-proof and other formations woven on it.

Each robe is expensive to make.

When ordinary cultivators save some money, they first buy themselves a magic weapon. If they have extra money, they can buy luxury items such as robes.

"I don't know if it's expensive or not. When I go out, my family just grabs a few changes of clothes."

"It's a pity that my storage magic weapon exploded during the battle, otherwise I could give you a few pieces."

Ji Cang said it calmly, as if his family had many such robes.

Ergouzi couldn't guess what kind of family this guy belonged to. Was he a high official in the county government or the state government?

"Then when are you going home?"

"I'm not in a hurry. I'll go back by myself after my injury, or my family will send someone to pick me up."

"Oh, just take good care of yourself. If you need anything, just ask me. Don't be polite. Treat this place as your own home."

Ergouzi gave another instruction, and then rode the goose up the mountain.

The last one, Yu Shan, who said he wanted to treat this place as his home, was still working shirtless in the snow.

Seeing Yushan shirtless, Ergouzi felt apologetic and forgot to ask someone to sew a piece of clothing for him.

Yu Shan had already cooked a pot of spiritual rice for Er Gouzi and fried a fish.

Not to mention, Yu Shan’s cooking skills are getting better and better.

This fish is seared on the outside and tender on the inside, with an attractive aroma.

Ergouzi ate three bowls of spiritual rice in one go, chewing up even the fish bones and swallowing them.

Then he patted his belly with satisfaction and walked out of the stone house.

"Haoshan, thank you for your hard work. You should also take a rest and cook something for yourself."

"Okay, I'm not tired. I'll eat after finishing this work."

Yushan's ideological awareness is getting higher and higher, and Ergouzi feels relieved.

After being busy for a while and finishing all the chores in his hands, Yushan found some leftovers from yesterday in the kitchen.

Holding a large bowl, he sat on a big stone at the door, eating cold rice in big mouthfuls, and eating it very deliciously.

People are like this. When you have spiritual pursuits, your thoughts can be sublimated.

Even if you eat bran and chew grass roots, you will get great spiritual satisfaction.

This kind of spiritual satisfaction is far from ordinary material satisfaction.

Yushan is in this situation now. With spiritual pursuits, he is full of energy every day.

"Don't just eat, there are some wild vegetable leaves here."

Ergouzi picked up a basin of black wild vegetable leaves with concern and put it in front of Yushan.

"I tell you, you are living much better now than I did back then."

Ergouzi looked back on the past and couldn't help talking to Yushan about many things in the past.

"I used to work every day, and I couldn't even eat enough porridge, and I often had to steal pig food."

"You can eat dry rice now, and you can be full every meal. This kind of life is only for landlords and rich people."

"I have realized that when people are young, they must suffer more."

"So I said that suffering is a blessing. Every bit of suffering you suffer today will become wealth in the future. This is how I got through it..."

There are only two of them on the top of the mountain. Er Gouzi has nothing to do every day, and he can't chat with Daye, so he can only chat with Yushan.

The two chat for a while every day, and most of the time it is Er Gouzi who talks and Yushan who listens.

Er Gouzi is a martial arts scholar, not a serious scholar, and he doesn't have much profound knowledge.

He can only talk to Yushan about some of his past sufferings and his own superficial insights.

There is no one else on the top of the mountain. Yushan is probably bored, and he seems to like listening. He is getting more and more energetic every day, and he hasn't run away for a long time.

"I'm full. I'm going to work first. The tribute peppers in the field are already red. I must pick them all today."

Yushan finished a big bowl of rice, put the bowl down, and went to work again with a bamboo basket.

The tribute peppers he planted have already produced the first batch of peppers, like little red fingers pointing to the sky.

But Ergouzi is afraid of spicy food. The last time he and Sima Yi ate chopped pepper fish head, he almost cried because of the spiciness.

Now the county town is surrounded by the eighteen rebel kings, and it can't be sold on the black market. It's really worrying to find a market.

Suddenly, it seems that there is a wealthy family living at the foot of the mountain.

I don't know if he will eat it. Although I can't receive cash, I can save a few IOUs and collect debts slowly in the future.

He should learn more from Huang Laocai, who can collect more than one hundred taels of silver every year. In such a chaotic era, he lives a very comfortable life.

Thinking of this, he took a few more red peppers and flew to the foot of the mountain on a big goose.

"Ji Cang, are you afraid of spicy food?"

"Chili pepper?"

When Ji Cang mentioned chili pepper, he seemed to be in high spirits, even a little excited.

"We Ji family members are not afraid of anything, especially spicy food. If we don't even dare to eat chili pepper, how can we achieve great things!"

"So you are not afraid of spicy food."

Er Gouzi was delighted, and finally found a market.

As for Ji Cang's perverse theory about eating chili pepper, he didn't believe a word of it.

"Of course I'm not afraid of spicy food. If you have any chili pepper, just bring it out. It's best if it can kill me with spicy food."

"Anchang County's specialty, Chaotian Gong chili pepper, how about it?"

Er Gouzi said, taking out a bright red chili pepper.

"It's really the Chaotian Gong chili pepper from Anchang County."

Ji Cang took the chili pepper and smelled it, then took a bite and chewed it carefully in his mouth.

After a few bites, he ate a red chili pepper raw.

"Ah..."

"It's so good..."

"This chili is authentic! I haven't eaten it for a long time."

"Do you have any more chili? I'll write you an IOU."

Ji Cang knew Er Gou's hobby, and in order to make it easier to write an IOU, he recently bought a set of pens, ink, paper and inkstone.

At this time, he had already picked up the pen and was ready to write.

It seems that Ji Cang is indeed a chili fanatic.

Er Gou likes people like Ji Cang who are straightforward and don't need to talk nonsense.

"Of course I still have chili."

"But I don't want to pay for the chili. Do you have any other valuable items?"

Every time Ji Cang wrote an IOU, he was very generous and paid back a hundred times.

But Er Gou is afraid of spicy food and doesn't like to eat chili. It's useless to pay him 100 times the amount of chili.

Ji Cang fell into deep thought. If it were before, he didn't have much knowledge, and he didn't know what was more valuable in his home.

Now, after being asked by Er Gou, he was reflecting on what was worthless in his home?

After thinking for a while, he finally spoke.

"How about I compensate you with spiritual medicine?"

"Okay! What spiritual medicine do you use?"

Er Gouzi agreed immediately. Spiritual medicine is a good thing. It can be used to make pills, or you can go directly to the government's alchemy room to exchange for pills.

He learned the inheritance of Baihe Zhenren in vain. At present, he has neither spiritual medicine nor alchemy furnace. Nothing.

"You are in the Qi training stage now, so I will compensate you with the spirit gathering grass. For a pound of pepper, I will give you a mature spirit gathering grass. How about it?"

"Okay!"

Er Gouzi is not sure about the price of the spirit gathering grass, but with Ji Cang's heroic style, he should not let himself suffer a loss.

"I have about 10 kilograms of chili peppers. Please write the IOU first and I'll bring it to you later."

The two of them happily completed another transaction, and Er Gouzi received an IOU for the spiritual medicine.

In addition to selling to Ji Cang, Er Gouzi was also thinking about other uses of chili peppers.

Once, some chili peppers accidentally got into his eyes, which gave him inspiration.

He boiled several pots of very strong chili pepper water and poured them into the bamboo tube.

If you ride on the back of Dabai and spray chili pepper water into the eyes of the enemy below, it must be very cool.

For this reason, Er Gouzi has done many experiments, riding on the back of the goose to spray water down.

This must be done under certain weather conditions, otherwise it will be blown into the eyes of himself and the goose by the wind.

He himself has the consciousness to close his eyes, but he doesn't know if the goose has it, and he hasn't figured it out yet.

On this day, he rode the goose in the sky again, practicing throwing stones below, and saw a beggar walking towards Shekou Mountain.

This beggar looked familiar, as if he had seen it often at the entrance of Huichun Hall before.

He immediately descended from the sky to the beggar.

"Master Zhang, please save Master Sima, he has been captured by the rebels..."

After the beggar finished speaking, he fainted.