Everyone in the Xiao household was stuffed, yet none could bear to put down their chopsticks—the food was simply too delicious.
Especially the half‑grown children, who ate every grain of rice in their bowls without leaving a single one.
Tonight’s dishes differed from the Marquis’s New Year feast; though New Year’s offered more variety, it never had this much meat.
Wen Qingwan looked at the man who could barely stand; she had clearly overthought—his fief was prosperous.
And he merely happened to own a few villages, with ten thousand households of wounded soldiers, that’s all!
In her previous life as empress, when she assisted Zhao Jue with memorials, she never saw any record of Xiao Jin as a Marquis of ten thousand households.
Inside the dense forest it was like a tropical rainforest; because of the natural hot springs below nourishing it, the whole area was completely different from the icy world outside North Mountain.
The plants, trees, and flowers growing here were not suited to a glacial climate; perhaps because of the climate, many things here grew larger than ordinary ones.
The four moved through the forest; after discarding what he carried, Xia Chen held only a pistol, feeling rather at ease.
Having bought what each person wanted, everyone went together to the meat stall to buy meat.
There were several meat stalls in the county town, both in the East Market and the West Market. Since they sold goods in the East Market, they bought meat there as well.
The best fat for rendering lard is pork back fat, the most sought‑after cut, but it was already gone when they arrived. So they had to buy meat with both fat and lean, then trim off the fat at home to render oil.
At this moment, Jiang Mengyue still had no idea that trouble was about to arrive, as she was preoccupied with worries about Jin Jingxiu.
She had once thought Jin Jingxiu was like a dog she kept—summoned at a wave of her hand. But Jin Jingxiu had thrown down the house deed and left coldly, and to this day had never come back to her.
Jiang Mengyue tugged at her handkerchief, her expression dark.
The terrain of Liaozhou City was excellent, with only two gates front and back, and a moat dug around it. Once the gates were shut and the bridges withdrawn, attacking it became difficult.
Since ancient times, in siege warfare, when spiritual cultivation was equal, it required five times the troops to take a city.
In terms of troops, Liaozhou City was said to have one hundred thousand, but earlier Hua Yan and Hua Wu had already transferred away sixty thousand.
“No blame! Ever since marrying my wife, I’ve realized I can’t I can’t keep wasting my life anymore.” Xiao Jin’s low voice carried helplessness.
He had originally wanted to shut the door and live out the days peacefully with his little girl.
The life and death of others in the marquis’s household had nothing to do with him!
