On the table next to it, there are three washed chicken legs.
He added half a pot of cold water to the pot, sprinkled in a little salt, stood up, and threw the chicken legs on the table into the iron pot.
Today is the Spring Festival. For the people of the Ming Dynasty, it is not only a day of reunion, but also a day of worshiping their deceased relatives.
Wang San's first seven, because they were busy tracking down the murderer, did not burn paper for him.
Today, Xiao Chen plans to cook a chicken drumstick to pay homage to Wang San's soul.
Wang San doesn't drink alcohol or eat meat. He only has a special liking for chicken legs.
Looking at the water gradually rising in the pot, Xiao Chen's thoughts seemed to go back to the time when the three of them were still wandering in the village.
The three hungry people wandered to a town near the village. Looking at the oily and burnt chicken drumsticks in the deli shop, they shed tears all over their clothes.
"Do you want to eat chicken legs?" Wang San, the oldest, glanced at Xiao Chen and Xiao Lizi beside him and asked slyly.
"Think." Xiao Lizi licked his lips.
"I want to, too." Xiao Chen stared at the chicken drumsticks in the window without looking back.
"Later, I will pretend to go to buy and lure the shopkeeper away. You will wait for an opportunity to steal three from inside."
Wang San said softly.
Xiao Lizi shook his head: "The shopkeeper is right there watching, we don't dare to steal."
"Don't steal the cooked chicken legs. Did you see that there is a basket of raw chicken legs under the counter behind the shopkeeper?" Wang San said and couldn't help but lick his lips again.
"How do you eat it raw?" Xiao Chen asked in a low voice.
"You don't care about this. As long as you steal it, I will take you to cook it."
"Okay. Let's go steal."
They had been hungry for three or four days in a row, and the three of them had no food except some wild fruits from the fields.
Wang San, who was covered in rags, deliberately hummed a ditty and walked to the door of the delicatessen.
"Shopkeeper, how do you sell this roast chicken?"
The shopkeeper who was busy at work heard the sound and thought it was a guest. He excitedly put down the work in his hands and looked up, only to see Wang San in ragged clothes.
"Go, go, go, don't go to the roadside to pick up some leaves to satisfy your hunger. Can you afford this roast chicken?"
The shopkeeper waved his hand and got ready to work again.
"Yeah, you still look down on people. I just don't have the money to buy it. Can't I just ask?"
Wang San raised his voice.
"Go away, keep delaying my business here, or I won't break your legs." The shopkeeper roared at Wang San.
"I won't leave. This street doesn't belong to your home. What am I doing to you if I stand here?"
Seeing the confident Wang San and taking a look at his tattered clothes, the shopkeeper immediately became furious.
He wiped his hands on his waist, rushed out of the counter, and punched Wang San in the face.
Wang San, who was still a child, was already skin and bones due to long-term hunger. He could not withstand the punch from the shopkeeper and was knocked to the ground.
He seemed to feel uncomfortable, so he stepped forward and started kicking with his feet.
Taking advantage of this moment, Xiao Lizi rushed into the house, picked up three chicken drumsticks, put them in his arms, turned around and ran out.
Seeing Wang San who had no power to fight back, Xiao Chen didn't know where he got the courage. He rushed forward, hugged the shopkeeper's thigh, and gave him a mouthful.
The shopkeeper became angry and turned around to chase Xiao Chen.
Wang San took the opportunity to get up from the ground and ran away.
During the round at the end of the street, Wang San's eyes were pitch black and faintly bloodshot.
Ignoring the pain on his face, Wang San looked at Xiao Lizi: "Did you succeed?"
"Yeah." Xiao Lizi nodded and took out three washed raw chicken legs from his arms.
"I lured all the shopkeepers out, why don't you take the familiar ones?" Wang San reached out and knocked Little Plum on the head.
"You said, let us go in and survive." Xiao Lizi said weakly.
"Oh. It's raw. I'll take you to cook the chicken legs."
In a ruined temple three miles away, three stones supported a broken pot with a huge gap on the edge.
The half-cooked chicken legs had already been picked up by three people, leaving only the bones.
"How do you know you can cook chicken legs here?" Little Plum asked, licking the bones.
"Because, I have cooked alone before. Hahaha." Wang San, with his green eyes and tattered clothes, laughing out loud, looked particularly funny.
Looking at Xiao Lizi and Xiao Chen who were a little unhappy, Wang San stopped laughing.
"You were too young to walk such a long way back then. I promise that whenever there is delicious food in the future, you two will have a share."
...
In the house, the water in the black pot had already boiled. Three cooked chicken legs were floating on the water.
Pick up the chicken legs, put them in a bowl, and place them under the big locust tree outside the door. Xiao Chen lit three incense sticks in his hand and inserted them in front of the bowl.
"Brother Wang, today is the Chinese New Year. Here are the chicken legs for you, me, and Xiao Lizi. You can eat them all today."
Captain Duan Tianming looked at Xiao Chen kneeling on the cold ground from the window. He wanted to go up and persuade him, but stopped his action.
In Dongchang, Lin Shangli sat down on the chair under the portrait of Yue Fei and let out a long breath.
Today, Ming Chengzu's uncharacteristic behavior really shocked him.
According to his many years of experience in observing people, Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty probably felt that he had entered his twilight years and became suspicious.
Accompanying a confident emperor, Lin Shangli found 10,000 non-repetitive ways to make him happy.
But facing an emperor who began to doubt everyone around him, Lin Shangli began to feel inexplicably afraid.
He was really afraid that due to an accident that day, Long Yan would be displeased, and the Chief of Ceremonies would be in charge of printing the title of eunuch. He didn't want it, but he was afraid that when the time came, he would not be able to keep the title.
Thinking about getting along with the emperor today, the sweat on Lin Shangli's forehead began to flow down again.
When he reported that he had arrested the governor of Changping and implicated the Jinyi Guards and Yanqing Guards, the emperor actually changed the subject.
Although he wanted to handle the case strictly, he was also dissatisfied with Dongchang.
If I don't mention this matter today and take the initiative to report it in a few days, the emperor may be so pleased that he even praises me.
If you think about it carefully, I blame myself.
The emperor established the East Police Factory in order to catch all the remaining people with ulterior motives in the Jinyi Guards. To capture all the people in the court who were half-hearted about the emperor.
But it took some time for the Dongchang to be established. If Xiao Chen, who was in the Thirteenth Battle, hadn't discovered Ni Duan from Wang San's accidental death, he would still be living in panic.
Those with evil intentions cannot expose their shameful deeds to the public.
Lin Shangli picked up the tea bowl on the table and took a long sip. He seemed to have a deep hatred for the tea bowl.
In the newly established Dongjishi Factory, thousands or hundreds of households were all transferred from Jinyiwei intact.
If an organization wants to become truly strong, it must cultivate its own talents and cultivate its own talents who have feelings for the organization and a sense of belonging.
Thinking of this, Xiao Chen's face appeared in Lin Shangli's mind.
Although this Xiao Chen is only a school captain, his ability is enough to match that of a hundred households. Therefore, I issued him a special plum blossom order that allows an ordinary school captain to enjoy the treatment of a hundred households.
Since the Thousands of Punishers assigned by Jinyiwei are not so reassuring to use, why not train Xiao Chen to be the only Thousands of Punishers?
"Little plum."
"The slave is here."
Hearing the call from the factory master, Xiao Lizi hurriedly walked out from behind the screen.
"Today is the Chinese New Year. Didn't you go see your hair?"
Lin Shangli looked at Xiao Lizi strangely.
"Mr. Factory Master, are you talking about Xiao Chen from the Thirteenth Battle?"
"Well, apart from him, what else do you think about?"
"No more, except for Xiao Chen, it's Eunuch Wang. Unfortunately, Eunuch Wang's first seven days have already passed."
When Wang San was mentioned, Xiao Lizi drooped his head.
"This Wang San has passed the first seven years, look at my memory." Lin Shangli patted his head with his right hand.
"Let bygones be bygones. Today is the Chinese New Year, which is also the first year since the founding of our East Factory. I will tell you to go down and have a dinner in the factory tonight, and call the captain of the Thirteenth Army, together with Xiao Chen, over."
"Yes, I will take care of it now." Xiao Lizi shook the whisk in his hand and bowed out.
The Dongji Bureau is the highest secret service agency directly under the emperor. The only thing it has no shortage of is money.
Lin Shangli, who was used to seeing the dishes in the imperial dining room, even sneered at the chicken, duck, beef, mutton and other ingredients.
This New Year's dinner in Dongchang is probably unparalleled by anyone in the entire capital except the Emperor.
A large lobster over a foot long, with long tentacles raised, was lying in the middle of the round table, waiting for people to take their chopsticks.
One of the precious king crabs was placed on the plate in front of each person sitting.
There were also many weird seafoods that Xiao Chen couldn't even name, lying on the table in strange shapes.
Lin Shangli, who was sitting at the top, smiled and took out a transparent glass bottle from a rectangular wooden box next to him.
The liquid inside glowed red under the candlelight.
"Do you know what this is?"
Lin Shangli looked at the faces of the people sitting with a mysterious expression on his face.
Xiao Chen shook his head.
Duan Tianming, the commander of the Thirteenth Army, also shook his head.
Glancing at Little Plum sitting at the bottom, Lin Shangli said: "Little Plum, tell them."
Little Plum stood up: "This is the wine that Eunuch Zheng brought back from the West."
Raising his right hand, Lin Shangli motioned for Xiao Lizi to sit down and said: "Eunuch Zheng brought back ten bottles of this wine and gave them all to the emperor. This bottle was given to me by the emperor. As for me, I took it out.
, share it with everyone.”
"We are really flattered that the Emperor gave us the wine and the factory master shared it with us."
Xiao Chen stood up in a hurry to thank him, and took advantage of the situation to kick Duan Shixiong, who was still sitting there with a silly smile, under the table.
Duan Shixiong was also a person who had seen the world and reacted immediately.
"To have such great love from Mr. Dongchang, my subordinates will definitely devote themselves to Dongchang till death."
"It's unlucky to celebrate the Chinese New Year with anything that doesn't die. Just a bottle of wine. If it tastes good, I'll go to the emperor later to ask for a bottle and bring it back to you so you can taste it slowly."
As he said that, he squeezed it gently with his right hand and pulled out the cork with less than a minute of leakage out with a "bang" sound.
"Little plum, come and fill it up for everyone."
Just when Lin Shangli was about to open the bottle, Xiao Lizi had already stood up and walked behind the factory owner.
At this moment, he took the bottle and first poured a full glass into the transparent glass cup in front of Lin Shangli.
Looking at the bright red wine in the glass cup, for some reason, the word "blood" came to Xiao Chen's mind.
As the saying goes, "If you show courtesy for nothing, you are either committing adultery or stealing."
The high-ranking Governor of Dongjishi Factory has no need to be so flattering to his lowest subordinates.
