Chapter 8: Bathing and food

He looked down on the prostration worms. Yun Ye felt that bending the knees was used to facilitate walking, not to kneel. Zhang and He no longer used the usual squat, but instead prostrated themselves on the ground, sobbing in their mouths. Zhang Cheng was a little envious and quickly replied for the two women: “The young master is compassionate and cannot bear to see the suffering of the poor. The skills he teaches must be top-notch. Zhang Cheng thanks the young master on behalf of the two brothers for teaching them.”

After finally dragging the two women up, and hearing Zhang Cheng say that they had to bow again, Yun Ye’s head was spinning. He chased Zhang Cheng away with a few punches and kicks, and said to the two women, “Some snacks. You saw the lamb just now. It’s no different from anyone else. There are some tips in between. Watch carefully.” He took the freshly washed pine stick, peeled off the outer skin, and threw it into the meat pot. He covered it and continued to cook. He turned back and winked at the two women: “Don’t tell anyone. This is your secret, and it is also the secret of cooking a good pot of lamb. I won’t say why, because you won’t understand it. Now I’ll teach you how to make pancakes.”

He pulled the dough out of the wooden bucket, kneaded it for a few moments, rolled it out, sprinkled it with chopped green onions, then rolled it into a ball, rolled it out again, and a green onion pancake was formed. He smeared the large stone slab on the fire with mutton fat, saw the green smoke rising, and spread the pancake on it. Twenty pancakes were spread on one stone slab, and the rich fragrance filled the air for a while. It was quiet all around. Looking back, Cheng Chumo’s huge bull’s eye was right behind Yun Ye’s head, snorting and drooling, and he couldn’t wait to take a piece and eat it right now. Not only him, none of these bastards were working, they all surrounded him.

Cheng Chumo saw Yun Ye’s displeased face and swallowed his saliva, driving everyone away: “Work, work, Yun Gongzi is making delicious food to reward everyone, let’s work harder and get 300 catties of salt out.” The soldiers turned and laughed and went back to work.

As the sun set, the exhausted soldiers hurried to the dining area, only to see six giant wooden barrels lined up. Yun Ye was standing next to the barrels, stirring the brown solution in the barrels with a wooden stick. Cheng Chumo was chewing a scallion cake in his mouth and pouring the finely ground mineral powder into another barrel.

“What are you doing, Sergeant? Are you making salt too?”

“Making salt? This is for bathing. You’re all filthy as pigs, covered in lice and fleas. You’re lucky you haven’t caught an epidemic. Listen up. One by one, you’ll all bathe in the barrel before you eat.

The soldiers thought that Yun Ye was used to eating and drinking, and that he couldn’t eat without bathing, so they didn’t have any objections. They didn’t know that from time to time, there were small creatures crawling on their beards, hair, and collars, which was creepy to look at. Still eating? Yun Ye thought, can I eat? If these small creatures are allowed to run rampant, and there are a few infectious diseases, won’t a large number of people die?

In this era of ineffective antibiotics, Yun Ye really didn’t want to die young. After consulting with Cheng Chumo, he took out a wooden bucket of salt to use for bathing. He just didn’t think that Yun Ye could prevent epidemics by bathing. For the sake of his brother, he just let him fool around. After all, it was just a bath, not a beheading.

“Brothers, look carefully. This is a matter of life and death. It is not unreasonable, and it is not a waste of time. There is a lot of knowledge in this, so I won’t explain it. This bath must be taken this way.” After saying that, Yun Ye was the first to jump in with his clothes on.

Cheng Chumo jumped into another wooden tub. As brothers, we don’t just jump into wooden tubs, we jump into the sea of fire. I, Cheng, am so loyal.

Yun Ye soaked in the water for five whole minutes, holding his breath, and then jumped out of the water with a splash, giving the surrounding soldiers a lecture: “Everyone goes in and soaks for a cup of tea. The hair must also be soaked. Do you hear me?”

Yun Ye saw that these guys were answering weakly, obviously trying to get out of it, so he shouted, “Don’t think I’m joking. If anyone still has lice or fleas three days later, I will whip them for every one I find. I have already asked the school captain for a military order, so don’t make a mistake.”

I don’t care about them. They’ll thank me when they realize the benefits. I watched them soak in the strong salt water one by one. Yun Ye ran to the river as fast as he could. The salt water stung his sensitive parts and it hurt too much. Cheng Chumo, that bastard, had already run away.

The scene by the river was spectacular. Three hundred men, wrapped only in newly cut loincloths, squatted by the fire, holding large bowls of scallion pancakes and nibbling on mutton. No one spoke, and all I could hear was the sound of soup slurping.

Yun Ye felt that he must have been mistaken. The fire brigade and the two women had been making 3,000 pancakes for half a day, and they had disappeared without a trace. Yun Ye could only eat two of the pancakes, and then he ate a piece of lamb, and his stomach was about to burst. And these guys were still full of resentment, saying that they weren’t full, and they were burping and holding their stomachs, saying that there was too little food, and that tomorrow they would go hunting and they would definitely bring back all the sheep in Longyou. Lamb should be eaten this way to taste good. The lamb I ate before was all wasted. This bread is delicious. How come my wife can’t make such delicious bread? I’m going to beat her up when I get home.

Two women covered their faces and carried a large basket over, which contained dandelions, ground bones and other wild vegetables that help digestion and detoxification, and are the best of the wild vegetables.

Yun Ye took two and put them in his mouth and chewed them. Eating too much meat a day can cause gastrointestinal disease. Tea is the best, but there is none, so he had to eat grass. Cheng Chumo saw Yun Ye eating, so of course he did the same. He grabbed a handful of grass and ate it. He didn’t want to tell them why, so he just did it. He didn’t want to ask them why. He didn’t see Cheng Chumo leading the troops, so he just went up with a few punches. Wangcai is a good boy. He never asks questions. When he sees me eating grass, he comes over and rolls two in the basket and eats them. He is the closest to me.

After a busy day, it seems that these guys’ energy has not been exhausted. One or two of them stare at the moon and doze off.

The oldest of the men strokes his long, weathered beard and softly sings a song. It takes a while to understand the lyrics: “I am leaving, the willows are swaying, I am returning, the snow is falling.” These two lines are repeated over and over again. After years of war, there is finally hope that the chaos will be settled. Everyone is tired of the disorderly life of the chaos. After so many battles, they are full of longing and fear for a stable life. I wonder if my friends and relatives from the past are still safe. When I left, it was the best time of the year, with the willows in full bloom. You held my hand and wouldn’t let me go. This year I’m back, but why is it snowing so heavily?

Yun Ye knew that the original meaning was not so interpreted, but at this moment, he really couldn’t think of a more appropriate meaning. For the first time, he touched the spiritual world of the Tang Dynasty. Yun Ye even thought that he was already a native of the Tang Dynasty. Otherwise, why would his heart hurt so much? But fame is only achieved on the battlefield. New recruits will be thrilled by this, but not veterans. The lucky ones who have crawled out of the pile of dead bodies will never trade their lives for these intangible things. Seeing their families alive is their greatest desire.

Yun Ye lay on his back on the blanket, staring at the moon, while Cheng Chumo was happily pulling the zipper on his sleeping bag back and forth over and over again. He really couldn’t understand how this little thing could be pulled apart and the two rows of small teeth would close by themselves, and it was quite sturdy.

Yun Ye’s engineer’s shovel has been used by him several times. This strange and unique weapon can be used for cutting, digging, sawing, and can also be folded up and carried on the back. It is a handy weapon for marching outside. The steel is even better than his own hundred-refined horizontal knife. When the two collide, sparks fly. The shovel is fine, but the horizontal knife is cracked open. Cheng Chumo’s eyes almost fell out. The horizontal The knife was given to him by his father on his 15th birthday. It was worth a thousand pieces of gold and he had always loved it like a treasure. At first, he slept with it in his arms. He had used it to cut off the precious blades of many young men in Chang’an. Cheng Chumo’s reputation as the bravest soldier in the army was partly due to this precious knife. Now, it was no match for a shovel. According to Yun Ye, this shovel was used to dig the ground.

Thinking about this, he had the urge to hit his head against a tree. This guy has so many treasures, one long and one short. The two daggers are like cutting iron into mud. The surface of the knife is covered with layers of snowflake patterns, like a blooming pear blossom. The handle is made of a treasure that looks like jade but is not jade. Inside, there is a lotus flower growing, and it is not just how it grows. He actually used such a treasure to cut meat, and after cutting it, he casually washed it with water, wiped it with a cloth, and threw it in a bag. For this reason, Cheng Chumo pinched Yun Ye’s neck and questioned him for a long time. He only forgave Yun Ye’s profligate behavior after taking away the larger treasure knife.

Cheng Chumo never understood why Yun Ye used black glass, which was hard to come by, to make small pieces of exquisite workmanship. He even attached it to a box below. The only flaw was that there were two holes on the side, but he didn’t know what they were for. When he asked Yun Ye, he wouldn’t say, but he wouldn’t let him scratch the black glass off. A beautiful little box contained a beautiful pearl flower, which was used by women. It was unknown what kind of gem it had, but it was there. It was wrapped in nothing, just like a gem growing on silver. When the light of the fire shone on it, the gem seemed to come to life and shine brightly.

Oh my god, Cheng Chumo completely collapsed. Who is this brother of his? He has so many treasures, but he treats them like dirt. He casually gives away the secret formula for making salt, which is more important than his life, and he randomly rummages through his belongings, which are worth a lot of money. He gives away the precious sword he likes at will, drinks only fine wine, eats only delicious food, gets angry when others are dirty, and uses bowls and chopsticks only after they have been boiled in the pot with water. This is a real gentleman in distress. Even the prince and princesses don’t have such high standards. He has a pony behind him, but it’s not a pony, it’s Master Pony. Not only does it not work, it also has a bad temper. It bites whoever it wants. Now it won’t eat any bread without being fried in oil. After eating the bread, it has to chew some tender grass. The famous wine in the capital that Yun Ye doesn’t drink is all fed to him. At night, he has to sleep in a tent. Other horses sleep standing up, but he sleeps lying down. I have to ask, otherwise I won’t feel at ease.

“Brother, who is your teacher? You are extraordinary, and you saved me from the disaster in Longyou. Now that the report has been sent, I believe His Majesty will surely reward you. After you collect enough salt, this great achievement will be a done deal. Tell me about your teacher!”

Yun Ye sighed and told a lie, which needed to be supported by countless lies. Well, let’s get this lie over with today and put an end to it: “When I was young, I was ignorant and I only remember growing up in my teacher’s arms. He said that a master and apprentice were no different from a father and son. My teacher often said that I was the evil spirit in his life. If it weren’t for me, he would have left this world years ago and achieved great freedom. He told me that life is like a drifting leaf in the rivers and lakes, that we meet by chance and part when our fates are over. We don’t have to see life and death as a rebirth, but rather as a journey. He and I are both travelers on the road, seeing different scenery and tasting different lives. Now it’s time to part ways, and if we have the chance, we may meet again. This sentence left me puzzled. My master is already dead, and his body has been burned to ashes according to his will. How can we meet again?

“Your master was a fairy?”

“My master was a qigong practitioner, but he hated the idea of ghosts and gods.”

“Does your master beat you? My father used to beat me a lot, but not so much now. Sometimes I don’t even want to recognize him.”

Cheng Chumo’s childish language made Yun Ye’s heart ache. He began to truly believe in himself. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, he usually pretended to be a school captain to show his father and subordinates that he was a qualified officer. He had already been to the battlefield twice, and Yun Ye believed that he was still a little scared.

Although he had longed to show himself on the battlefield since childhood, and had seen the cruelty of the battlefield in various film and television works, being on the battlefield in person must be another kind of experience.

It was clear that he was lonely. The children of the noble families had to bear more responsibilities. If you want to gain something, you must lose something else. This is the equivalent. Yun Ye secretly vowed in his heart that he would never deceive him again about this one thing. His entire origin could only be known by heaven.

The two women sat quietly beside Yun Ye. In their eyes, Yun Ye was still a half-grown child. Although he was smart and although he was an official, the sadness in his eyes still made them feel maternal. They didn’t feel qualified to comfort him, so they sat close to him so that he wouldn’t feel too lonely.

Cheng Chumo stopped talking. He was not a talkative person anyway. He believed his brother and could feel his sadness. He was just there to keep him company.