During the Hongzhi period of the Ming Dynasty, in ht County, an exclamation came from a pending courtyard: "Father, are you back?"

Su Zifang looked towards the place where the sound came from.

A young man in his twenties bowed deeply respectfully, squatted down, and pressed his hands on the ground, with his left hand on top and his right hand on the bottom. He knelt first on his left leg, then on his right leg, and kowtowed with his head on the ground. He repeated this three times before looking up.

Towards the door.

There stood a middle-aged Confucian scholar with a resolute expression, dressed in green clothes and a square turban. His lips and chin had been trimmed, making him look particularly majestic.

This should be Song Xu, right?

That young man was probably his son Song Gongwang.

"Gongwang, get up! I haven't seen you for a few months, you are more stable than I thought."

Song Xu opened his mouth and confirmed Su Zifang's guess.

"It all depends on father's teachings." The young man stood up after hearing this and stepped forward to support the figure at the door.

"It's okay, cough, I'm not that weak yet."

Before he finished speaking, he coughed several times again, "Ahem, the distance for this visit is not very long, ahem, so I came back early."

"Father!" Su Gongwang exclaimed.

"I caught a cold occasionally on the road, cough. Just go and grab some medicine. Ahem, I also want to record the prescriptions I found this time."

Song Xu waved his hand, signaling Song Gongwang to leave him alone.

When Song Gongwang saw Song Xu's persistence, he swallowed back the words of comfort that were on his lips.

He knew that Song Xu's character would never change since he had already spoken it out. He shook his head and walked quickly to find a familiar doctor to prescribe medicine.

Su Zifang did not follow him.

Compared with the lives of the people in the mid-Ming Dynasty, he is now more concerned about the man who single-handedly changed the history of ancient Chinese food.

Song Xu watched his son leave, and without delay, he took off his baggage and walked into the study.

In the study room, the huge bookshelves were full of books, and the books were spread out on the desks. Su Zifang glanced at them and only recognized books on health care, planting, and animal husbandry, but he could not understand the contents at all.

Song Xu sat back at the table, first carefully sandwiched smooth wood pieces among the open books, closed them all and put them aside. Then he spread out the bundle and took out the two yellowed ancient books hidden among them.

He held it in his hand and read through it carefully.

"cough!"

"Ahem!"

Suddenly, the only sound in the room was the sound of books being turned over and the sound of Song Xu coughing.

Su Zifang walked around the study room and found that most of the books in the room were related to cooking, brewing, planting, and animal husbandry. He couldn't help but admire them.

Those who can devote themselves to the study of agriculture in an era when everything is considered low-class and the only good thing is to study well, is definitely a person who truly cares about the world.

When Su Zifang was looking at the study, Song Xu suddenly moved.

He put the book in his hand on the edge of the table and carefully took out a knife of rice paper from behind, a pile of which was already covered with writing.

Song Xu put the written rice paper aside and pressed it with a paperweight, and began to copy the contents of the book he just took out on the latest paper.

"Pomfret is best cooked in soup, cooked in spicy food, fried in oil, grated in a sauce, and cooked in the sun."

Su Zifang saw it and turned to look at the rice paper placed on one side. The top of the book was written "Zhuyu Shanfang Miscellaneous Department".

He couldn't imagine that a food book that recorded more than 100 beverage preparation methods, more than 400 vegetable recipes, and nearly 100 kinds of flour products was actually completed under such conditions.

Song Xu couldn't see Su Zifang's shock.

It seemed that there was only a book to be copied and a piece of paper in front of him, and nothing else.

"Father, it's time to take medicine."

Song Gongwang pushed open the door and entered, holding a bowl of brown medicinal soup in his hand. His voice was very soft, fearing to disturb Song Xu. However, Song Xu continued to copy and read as if he had not heard.

The pen in his hand moves like a dragon and a snake, and lines of pine ink writing appear on the rice paper.

"Totoaba..."

"Salmon……"

"Mullet..."

The names of the ingredients were written down one by one, and the applicable methods were listed one by one. Song Xu was completely immersed in his own world.

"Father! It's time to take medicine!" Song Gongwang walked to the table, put down the medicine soup, and reminded him again.

"Cough! Cough!" Song Xu stopped and coughed twice. He looked up at Song Gongwang, showing joy.

"Gongwang, look, my father borrowed a rare book from a private collector this time. It contains cooking methods for various fish, turtles, and snails. It is the most comprehensive book I have seen in recent years. The owner knows that my father,

It only costs half a pound to borrow ten days."

Song Xu raised her hands excitedly and wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Song Gongwang.

"Father, you have copied thousands of these books on medicine, food, and farming. When will they be finished? Do we have to copy one for every farm book in the world?"

"You have gone out four times this year in order to copy books. The first time you hurt your leg, the second time you hurt your waist. Now that you have finally recovered, you are caught in the cold again. I am really worried about what you mean..."

Halfway through his words, Song Gongwang realized that what he said was inappropriate, closed his mouth and stood by the table with his head down, waiting for the lecture.

…

After a long time, Song Gongwang heard Song Xu's voice.

"Gongwang, you have grown up!"

Song Xu looked at the medicinal soup at hand, picked it up, tested the temperature, and drank it all in one gulp.

"Father knows what you are thinking."

"You're thinking, why doesn't my father want to get a job? Why did he leave the books of sages to read these little tricks of farming? Why did he choose to study livestock?"

"I don't dare, kid." Song Gongwang lowered his head to argue for a moment, but his wandering eyes still betrayed his hesitation.

"My father asked you, do you know a famous saying by Wei Zheng, the famous Zhenguan prime minister in the Tang Dynasty?"

"Water can carry a boat or capsize it?"

"That's right." Song Xu put down the medicine bowl, pointed to the bookshelf behind him, pointed to the books spread out on the table, pointed to the neatly stacked rice paper under the paperweight, and pointed to the brush with still wet ink.

"What is a boat? The country! What is water? The people!"

"Great happiness leads to benevolent government, and small happiness has no worries about food and clothing."

"People's lives are actually much simpler than you think. If they have clothes to wear and food to eat, the world will be peaceful."

"Father, I know that you think you are a scholar and are not willing to travel with me to various places. But you don't know that this world is not about temples, but the common people."

Su Zi has listened to these theories many times, and listening to them again only deepens his memory.

But here at Song Gongwang, Song Xu's words were like thunder on the ground. They were somewhat different from the life he had always dreamed of, making him a little distracted.

"Since you want to be an official and do things for the people, my father will ask you a few questions."

"If you are the county magistrate of Huating, do you know the distribution of fields in Huating? How many paddy fields are there? How many farmers are there? How many fishermen are there?"

"I..." Song Gongwang stopped talking.

"You don't know!" Song Xu shook his head.

"As a father, I ask you again, if you were the magistrate of Huating County, how should you arrange the spring and summer farming? When should the dolphins, dogs and poultry be fed? When should they be put out for slaughter?"

"I..." Song Gongwang swallowed his saliva and was speechless in reply.

"You still don't know." Song Xu's tone became low.
Chapter completed!