Spring comes to the desperate place

Chapter 283 It smells so good

Song Chunlin thought that this flower-viewing banquet was simply for appreciating flowers, but he didn't expect that they would not only appreciate the flowers, but also compose poems about them. Song Chunlin sat in his seat terrified, thinking to himself, "Please don't let him be chosen, as how can a poor student like him compose poems?"

So Song Chunlin pretended to be a quail in his seat. Gu Fengyue seemed to see through his guilty conscience and kept laughing with his head down, not forgetting to pick up food for him.

Song Chunlin glared at him angrily: "Don't laugh, I still want that bamboo shoot."

Gu Fengyue picked up a piece of bamboo shoots for him with chopsticks. Of course, there were no bamboo shoots in the capital at this season. The bamboo shoots they ate today were bought by Mrs. An Huaibo from the south. The spring bamboo shoots were fresh and tender, and they were stewed with the bacon pickled before winter. It became a famous modern dish: Yan Du Xian.

The flavor of pickled pork with preserved vegetables is naturally delicious. In the chilly spring, drinking a bowl of it will warm your stomach and body.

Mrs. An Huaibo looked at the interaction between the young couple with a smile on her face. She called the servants over and served another pot of pickled pork with preserved vegetables to the table of Song Chunlin and his friends.

"Feng Yue, your wife is really good at eating. This pickled pork with preserved vegetables is the best dish on the table."

The ladies below also teased the two of them: "The Grand Marshal really loves his wife. He has already started to serve her before she even enters the house. Young Master Song is so lucky."

Gu Fengyue put down his chopsticks and looked at the person who was speaking: "I am the lucky one. If Chunlin hadn't followed me to the border, I wouldn't have been able to come back safe and sound. I was also favored by the emperor and was given the position of Grand Marshal. In the final analysis, these are all the blessings brought to me by Chunlin, and I am the one who knows how to enjoy the blessings."

Upon hearing this, Madam An Huaibo immediately responded, "You two are both blessed people, but Chunlin is too young, and Fengyue is really a little impatient."

Everyone laughed: "What's the big deal? Aren't there a lot of people who arrange marriages for their children?"

"I heard that the prince's marriage is about to be decided. I wonder which young man or daughter the lady is going to marry?"

Mrs. An Huaibo showed little interest in this and just said that everything was up to An Huaibo. Everyone present knew that he was not close to the child he left behind.

Gu Fengyue was also explaining to Song Chunlin at this moment: "An Huaibo's previous wife left him a legitimate son. A few years ago, after the coming-of-age ceremony, An Huaibo asked the emperor to confer the title of Crown Prince."

Song Chunlin seemed to have never seen the prince. He recalled what Madam An Huaibo had just said and asked Gu Fengyue, "Where are Madam An Huaibo's own children?"

Gu Fengyue was about to answer when a group of people came to the door with a lot of noise. Mrs. An Huaibo was a little unhappy at first, but when she heard the familiar voice, she began to feel a headache.

"Little Daddy~Little Daddy! I heard that you hired that national archer. Where is he? Where is he?" An Huaibo's second son Yan Qing ran over noisily. He heard his voice before he saw him.

Gu Fengyue shrugged: "Speaking of Cao Cao, here comes Cao Cao. Look, the tallest and strongest one is Lady An Huaibo's first child, Yan Qing."

Song Chunlin looked in the direction of the voice and immediately found the tallest and strongest man mentioned by Gu Fengyue in the crowd.

Uh……

As expected, he was the tallest and strongest. Song Chunlin watched the little giant running towards Mrs. An Huaibo like a gust of wind. Mrs. An Huaibo looked impatient.

"How many times have I told you to follow the rules? There are so many guests here, and you are so impatient. How can I, your father, put my face aside?"

Mrs. An Huaibo looked at her big son with a headache. When she looked up, she saw that he was indeed a big son.

Song Chunlin looked at Mrs. An Huaibo and the nearly two-meter-tall burly man in front of him in shock, thinking that Mrs. An Huaibo looked petite and quiet, but she could actually give birth to such a big... no, a son.

He pointed at the man, his voice trembling: "Isn't this what you mean? You call this the tallest and strongest? Isn't he a giant?"

Gu Fengyue: “…That makes sense.”

At this time, Yan Qing had already run towards them. Song Chunlin even felt that the floor was shaking because of his movements. He secretly wondered in his heart that this slap from Yan Qing should be able to kill him, right?

"Are you the sharpshooter who protects the country? You look skinny, but can you really pull the bowstring? You are not lying." Yan Qing's tone did not contain sarcasm, but pure curiosity.

Song Chunlin didn't have a bow and arrow, so he asked the other party if he had one. The outcome would be clear if he pulled the bow once.

Yan Qing readily had someone bring a bow and arrow to him and said, "Here, I heard that you never miss a shot, and I've wanted to see it for a long time."

Mrs. An Huaibo had already had the place cleared, the flower pots in the middle removed, and the drinks and dishes replaced with tea and cakes, and everyone sat down and waited to watch the fun.

Song Chunlin walked out of his seat and bowed to Mrs. An Huaibo first: "Excuse me for showing off my ugliness."

Mrs. An Huaibo made a gesture of invitation, and her servants swiftly brought a target. Song Chunlin first pulled the bowstring to try the feel. It was not as good as his compound bow, but it was okay. The center of the bull's eye was only a dozen steps away from him, and Song Chunlin was still confident about this distance.

He drew his bow and shot an arrow, which hit the bull's eye. Everyone present was silent for a moment, and then burst into cheers.

Mrs. An Huaibo smiled and said to her son beside her: "Look, he has real skills."

Yan Qing was still somewhat skeptical. He walked over and circled around Song Chunlin several times. Song Chunlin felt dizzy and almost slapped him away.

"Tsk tsk, that's weird. You don't look like someone with such great strength. I deliberately brought a 25-stone bow and arrow, but you pulled it open in no time. You are so strong, so strong that you don't even look like a human."

Song Chunlin was silent. Okay, just assume that he was praising himself for now.

"I've tried it, why don't you try it too? You're so big, you can't be worse than me, right?"

Yan Qing was really provoked and patted his chest and said that there was no way he could lose to a little kid. Song Chunlin handed him the bow and arrow with a smile. Yan Qing did not hesitate. He did not even need to change his position. He just stood there, drew the bow and shot the arrow in one go, and hit the center of the bull's eye as well.

Song Chunlin was truly amazed, he did not expect Yan Qing's archery skills to be so amazing. To put it bluntly, his own archery skills were simply cheating with his mental power. Without the aiming of his mental power, he would not be able to hit the target every time. But Yan Qing was the one who could truly hit the target every time.

Mrs. An Huaibo looked at her son with a smile. He just smiled and did not respond to the compliments from others.

Song Chunlin thought this banquet was quite interesting. Before leaving, Yan Qing asked him if he could go to his sharpshooter training camp.

"Sharpshooter Training Camp? What is this? I don't know. Do I have this thing?" Song Chunlin began to doubt himself deeply. He was sure that he had never established such a training camp.

Yan Qing: "Yes, that's what your archers said. They said you set up a training camp for them and trained them every day. Now their archery and physical skills are much better than before, isn't it?"

Song Chunlin was ashamed, he was just training those archers according to the training methods of modern soldiers, and he didn't even give their army a name, so that's how those archers promoted him outside?

What sharpshooter training camp? The name sounds very childish. Every time Yan Qing mentioned it, Song Chunlin would dig out a magic fairy castle with his toes.

"I didn't know that's what they call themselves...Okay, if you like, you can come over, but the training is very hard. Can you stick with it?"

"I'm sure I can."

Well, since the other party insisted, Song Chunlin could only accept him reluctantly. He hoped that this young master could really persevere.

After seeing off the guests, Mrs. An Huaibo had time to ask Yan Qing who told him that Song Chunlin was here.

"It's my eldest brother. He said that the sharpshooter who protects the country that I've been thinking about is right in our house. Little daddy, you are really amazing. You really got him when you said you would."

Looking at her innocent son, Mrs. An Huaibo sighed. She held her son's hand and told him, "When you go to the military camp of that young master Song, you are not allowed to act like a little boy like before, okay? You must listen to the words of that young master Song and your cousin, okay?"

Yan Qing didn't understand, but he always listened to his little daddy. He was stupid, so what his little daddy said must be right.

So the next day Yan Qing was packed up by his father and sent to the military camp. Song Chunlin saw from afar a moving mountain of bundles running towards him.

"Fuck, why did you come here carrying so many things on your back? Where's your carriage? Did it leave you behind?" Song Chunlin couldn't help but use his mental power to look at the road he came from, and found no traces of a carriage shaft, so he asked Yan Qing in confusion.

Yan Qing said as a matter of course: "Of course I came here alone. My little daddy said that only those who endure hardships can become successful. I came to the military camp to gain experience, not to enjoy life. Naturally, I can't live a luxurious life like before. From today on, everything of mine will depend on myself."

Song Chunlin was shocked. This Lady An Huaibo was indeed very courageous. He certainly could not let her down as a loving father, right? So on the first day Yan Qing arrived at the military camp, he ran ten kilometers carrying his luggage.

Ten kilometers is not too far, but the prerequisite is that Yan Qing had already walked all the way from the capital with his luggage before coming here. By the time he finished running ten kilometers, he found that his legs were no longer his own legs.

Hearing Yan Qing wailing in the dormitory, a group of people who were looking for trouble gathered together and made bets on how long this young man could hold out.

"I bet on ten days."

"Only ten days? I bet on three days!"

After three days of action, others gave that person a thumbs up.

"You'd better be the one to be ruthless. I'll be conservative and give it a month."

"Are you guys too optimistic about him? The intensity of our training here is not comparable to that in the military camp. Can he bear it?"

"Can't bear it? That's his own fault. I heard that he asked Young Master Song to let him in. Now that he's in, if he doesn't stay for a month and leaves after three or four days, wouldn't that be a slap in his own face?"

After careful consideration, everyone felt that it made sense, so they changed the bail to one month, or two months.

Yan Qing didn't know that no one had high hopes for him. He was so tired that he didn't even bother to make his bed. He just collapsed on the bed and didn't even want to get up when someone called him to eat.

When the people who lived with him saw him like this, they pulled him out of the bed with force.

"Hurry up, hurry up, we have braised pork trotters and sweet and sour spare ribs today. If you go too late, there will be no good meat left."

"That's right. Young Master Song always says that people are made of iron and rice is made of steel. If you don't eat for a meal, you will be very hungry. You should eat well when it's time to eat. Go, go, go. I'm almost starving to death."

Yan Qing didn't know what steel was, but the braised pork trotters and sweet and sour spareribs they mentioned sounded delicious, so he perked up and followed everyone to the cafeteria.

The current canteen was renovated by Song Chunlin in a modern style. There is a low wall between the kitchen and the lobby. The soldiers line up obediently in front of the meal window with wooden trays.

Yan Qing followed the instructions of her roommate, got a clean plate, and joined the queue.

The meal was served quite quickly. Yan Qing took his portion of food and sat down. Because he was tall and strong, the lady who served him a meal gave him a full plate of food. The rice and vegetables were piled up like a small mountain.

The people sitting at the same table with him told him to eat faster: "The chef in this cafeteria was specially trained by Young Master Song. His cooking skills are simply amazing. Come and try it. It's no worse than the one in your Earl's Mansion."

Yan Qing sniffed it suspiciously and found it tasted really good. He first tried a piece of sweet and sour spareribs. It was the first time he tasted sweet and sour spareribs and he immediately fell in love with the unique taste.

The braised pork trotters were stewed until they were soft and boneless, and the fat melted in the mouth. It seemed that potatoes were also added to the mixture.

Yan Qing was born in an earl's mansion. Although the mansion had bought potatoes and sweet potatoes, since noble families were not short of food, there were not many ways to eat potatoes in their mansion. The most common way was to boil a few in water in the morning and eat them with other side dishes.

This was the first time he had seen potatoes stewed with meat. He took a bite with the mentality of giving it a try and found that it was completely different from potatoes boiled in plain water.

The big potatoes were full of meat flavor and were cooked just right. They were soft inside but still kept their shape on the outside, and they tasted even crispier than the meat.

Yan Qing's eyes were shining when he finished eating. It seemed that he had made the right decision to come to the military camp this time. How could he eat such delicious food in the mansion? He was indeed very foresighted for this delicious meal. His elder brother actually suspected that the other party's contribution was fake. His elder brother was the fool. He must hold Song Chunlin's thigh tightly and never let go.

Song Chunlin himself had not expected that to conquer Yan Qing, all he needed was a meal of braised pork trotters and sweet and sour spare ribs. That night he went to see Yan Qing, who was sleeping soundly on the bed. He really took things as they came.