Ch28.1 - A Fief That Contained All Five Vices (Part One)

Cui QiChao took half a month’s rest in an apartment given to him by LJJ Company, but for him, coming back to the reality plane was like a kind of torture, and he took comfort in filling Lin Lin’s office full of green plants.

Usually, for the sake of ensuring the mental safety of their actors, LJJ Company always gave them at least half a month’s time to rest. During this period, a psychologist would be hired to evaluate them and help them release all the virtual world’s influence if it was needed.

Half a month later, Cui QiChao sat in the studio again.

Lin Lin: “Mr. Cui, I wish you success in your work.” 

“Thank you.” Cui QiChao nodded to her gently, and the familiar statement of the staff travelled to his ears, “Preparation for plane transfer.”

“Three.”

“Two.”

“One!”

As the sense of weightlessness fell onto him, Cui QiChao called out again, “Geronimo!”

.

As the sky twisted and turned, Cui QiChao descended into a plane that looked to be around the Middle Ages. His setting was in Northumberland, a Baron’s territory with a total land area of around 40000 mu to 50000 mu, including the uncultivated land. The data here was automatically converted into the Chinese measurement by Cui QiChao.

He appeared to be inside of a castle made of stone and brick. It was built very high and filthy with grime, and the fireplace, tapestries and utensils in the room were far too simple for Cui QiChao’s preferences. To really add to the gloominess, there was only a small window opening, which made the atmosphere inside the castle very humid and caused one to feel very uncomfortable. 

Cui QiChao went over to the window to look outside. There were deep ditches surrounding the castle, and over by the fief was a large stretch of land, with only young seedlings sowed and occasionally with farm houses scattered about. The farmers who were toiling away in their fields appeared like little black spots in the distance. There was a river passing through the land and woods in the distance.

The only aspect that pleased Cui QiChao more than CU was solely that the area for farming was much larger in this plane…

Cui QiChao’s identity here was named Tristan. He had recently inherited the title of “Baron of Northumberland” after the original Baron of Northumberland died unexpectedly at a young age before he had time to have an heir. Therefore, according to the inheritance law, this territory belonged to his closest living relatives.

Among his closest relatives, Cui QiChao became a new Baron as he was a cousin to an archbishop and had the support of the church. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

Just like in his first plane, LJJ Company inputted the archbishop’s presence just for Cui QiChao. After all, this was only the second world Cui QiChao has experienced, and it’s also the first time that Cui QiChao’s program was going into the male genre.

Jel HlJtjb ibbxfv jgbecv, yea tf mbeivc’a olcv ktfgf WljbDjl kjr, cbg vlv tf xcbk ktfgf OAA jggjcufv la ab yf. Lf cb ibcufg kjcafv ab rajs lc atlr gbbw, yea ktfc tf kfca bea, j rfgnjca mjwf ab gfqbga. “Djgbc, atlr rfgo mjeuta j ilaafg bo xlaafcr jcv rfca atfw ab atf mjraif. Qtfc atf Obgv Uglfra rjk atfw, tf jrxfv lo tf mbeiv tjnf atf obgaecf bo tjnlcu sbe vfmlvf bc tbk ab vfji klat atfrf fnli jclwjir.”

“……” Cui QiChao was silent for a moment.

He knew what was going on with the “Lord Priest”. Although he had just arrived in Northumberland, the priest stationed here would be coming over to have dinner with him—but what did kittens have to do with evil animals? 

Just like when he was in CU, Cui QiChao didn’t necessarily have such detailed information to the extent that he knew there were no shepherd cats at that time. Now, he thought for a while before he realized that cats are neither companion animals nor working animals in this era, but were they instead evil animals that everyone chases and beats?

Moreover, Cui QiChao was deliberating. His XiaoBai wouldn’t be amongst those kittens, right??

“Lead the way, I’ll go have a look.” Cui QiChao said vaguely.

The servant nodded and took Cui QiChao to the hall of the main building. Cui QiChao went down the stairs and saw that the priest in long robes was lowering his head and playing with three two-month-old kittens using his feet. There were still some attendants around. 

As soon as they saw the new owner of the castle coming down, they all showed respect and saluted him, trying their best to appear on their best behaviors.

The priest, too, tucked his feet back in and said, “Baron, I just finished my prayer when I saw these kittens. It’s really bad luck.”

Because Cui QiChao had the support of the local church, and he had a good connection with the archbishop, the priest deliberately spoke to him with more affection and favor.

“That’s truly bad luck, William.” Cui QiChao said dryly, “Somebody, come. Put these evil creatures in my room. I will personally… abuse them.” 

Although the Baron’s phrasing of his sentences was slightly strange, nobody had any opinions against that.

The priest William initially hoped to step on these kittens’ legs together with the Baron, but unexpectedly, the Baron directly asked people to take the cats away and personally deal with them alone. The priest could only look sternly at the servant, thinking that the servant didn’t communicate with the Baron clearly—otherwise how could the Baron have unintentionally refused him?

Cui QiChao took a look at the cats, they were all different colors. There was one who was white, and that should be XiaoBai. The other one was orange, and there was also a sheriff-colored cat. That sheriff-colored cat was also seen as the evilest in the eyes of the priest, because it’s coloring was close to black.

The priest William was resentful. However, it was time for dinner and not the place to show it. 

It was an intimate meal between the Baron supported by the archbishop and the Lord Priest. The stewards and Knights of Northumberland did not eat together. The stewards managed the tax, farming, police service and so on for the Baron, while the Knights guarded the territory. When the Baron arrived last night, free of prior biases, they had already gone to bootlick the Baron to receive his favor.

In order to serve the priest and the new Baron well, the cook prepared for a long time and sifted the flour carefully to make white bread.

The cook took off the pieces of meat hanging in the kitchen and scalded them with boiling water. The meat, which had been hanging for seven days and had a little peculiar smell, immediately became clean.

The cook even used the expensive saffron spice and shredded swan meat to make a broth. The broth seeped into a beautiful golden color, and after garnishing it with a little pepper that was rarely seen and some dill, the broth looked very attractive. 

Purple-red carrot cubes were also served. Although the vegetables were not crucial, it made the dish look bright and full…

Cui QiChao’s expression became increasingly ugly as the dishes that the cook was proud of were brought out. He turned over the carrots and stabbed them—they were raw. He grudgingly chewed two pieces, only to feel that they still tasted like a tinge of dirt.

As for the broth, although the color of the broth was bright, the taste was the complete opposite. It had some of the saffron’s slightly stickily sweet taste. It wasn’t known what else the cook added, but it also tasted astringent. Mixed with some other flavors, it completely masked the taste of the meat of whatever animal it was that was used in the broth.

The white bread was coarse and tasteless. And it was such a tiny piece that Cui QiChao finished it in two bites. As for large pieces of pork, Cui QiChao felt like vomiting when he smelled it. Not only had he suspected that it had gone bad after being stored for a long time, but also, the meat of pigs that had not been castrated had a lingering foul smell. 

As for the wine, he didn’t want to taste the wine at all.

On the contrary, William, the priest, enjoyed the dishes with relish, and tasted all the dishes with the spices added into it. Observing the Baron, the priest seemed to tell that he had a bad appetite. After eating bread and a few mouthfuls of vegetables, he did not reach for his plate again. Instead, he was chewing on an apple baked with honey. It was an appetizer, but his expression doesn’t look like he enjoyed the food.

“Are you not well, sir?” William asked with concern, “I heard that you lived in the East with your family for a long time, and you just came back not long ago. Is it because you are not acclimatized to Northumberland’s climate yet?”

It’s not the climate, it’s the taste. Cui QiChao reluctantly smiled, “Ah, yes. Have you ever been to the east?” 

It may be because the LJJ Company found it unfeasible for him to descend out of nowhere, but the East they were speaking of was not a place with Chinese culture, and it was instead just a very far away place. In fact, it was located so far away that he was the only one in Northumberland to have been there.

Sure enough, William shook his head and said he would like to hear about the local cultures and customs there.

“It’s nothing much. It’s just that the food there is very delicious.” Cui QiChao now missed the first canteen very much. He thought that the food which the first canteen served before he made the improvement would still be 100 times more delicious than this food. At least the vegetables were grown using the modern selection breeding method… At least it was all cooked properly, and the meat was fresh and the seasoning tasted normal.

The nobles of the Middle Ages did lead better lives than his family’s XiaoBai. Of course, he was referring to XiaoBai from the previous virtual plane… 

William was a little suspicious. “This castle’s cook has made some of the best dishes I’ve ever tasted—it’s hard to imagine that there are better dishes in the world, and that those delicious dishes would cause Your Excellency to find it hard to accept these delicacies.”

Cui QiChao: “……”

Their conversation travelled to the ears of servants who kept their ears open and the cook who was eavesdropping against the wall. The cook turned her back and cried, shrouded in the attention of others. Ah, the new master doesn’t like her food, and he even found it hard to eat!

Like the priest, she didn’t think her food would be received so badly. She even thought her food would taste delicious. She thought it’s because the Baron’s taste had changed during his time in the East and he couldn’t accept her food. 

But in any case, what would happen to her in the end? She was likely to be replaced. At the thought of this, the cook felt that her future was shrouded with darkness.

After a long talk with the Baron, William vaguely felt that the Baron had been in the East for too long a time, and sometimes the words he used befuddled him.

Indeed, he felt that the young Baron might be a difficult person to get along with. He was domineering and always seemed to be someone who would overwhelm anyone lesser with his strong tongue, though that would be in line with an attitude of a noble youth. He believed that the only reason the other party even showed him face was because of his relationship with the church.

After the priest left, Cui QiChao asked for some goat’s milk, and pretended that he asked for it to drink it himself, and brought the milk back to his room. 

The three kittens were tethered in the corner of the room, but they were sleeping together. Cui QiChao went over with the goat’s milk in his hand and said in a low voice, “XiaoBai, XiaoBai?”

It wasn’t known whether the kittens were awakened by him or by the smell of goat’s milk.

The three kittens all crawled towards Cui QiChao. Cui QiChao held the white cat and said remorsefully, “XiaoBai…”

He regretted that he had the LJJ Company bring XiaoBai over,because he didn’t expect that this place would be so hostile to cats. 

The white cat hummed, trying to get its head close to the milk source in his other hand. It didn’t respond to Cui QiChao’s cry.

Cui QiChao was about to give the goat’s milk to it when he found that the black cat was lifting its paws and pulling the hem of his trousers, again and again. It was as if the cat was waving its paws.

“……?” An idea flashed in Cui QiChao’s heart and he said to the black cat suspiciously, “XiaoBai?”

The black cat: “Meow, meow, meow!” 

Cui QiChao: “……”

Cui QiChao: “Sit down.”

The black cat’s hind legs fell down immediately.

Cui QiChao: “Lie down.” 

The black cat’s front legs slid down and then it rolled onto its side, forming a standard lying down position.

Then it looked up at Cui QiChao bitterly.

Cui QiChao: “……”

Ch28.2 - A Fief That Contained All Five Vices (Part Two)

Cui QiChao placed the white cat down. What was wrong with the LJJ company? Although XiaoBai’s fur used to be black and white, it was mostly white. Its fur wasn’t completely black.

Now that there was another white cat beside it, Cui QiChao couldn’t force himself to shout the name “XiaoBai” to it.

Seeing that Cui QiChao recognized it, XiaoBai came forward and drank goat’s milk in the bowl.

It didn’t expect that Cui QiChao, the devil, would bring him to this virtual plane. Originally, it wanted to lose its temper, but XiaoBai’s experience today made it just want to gobble down the milk. It almost starved to death, or thought it was going to be trampled to death by these medieval people. 

When XiaoBai was full, it gave the rest of the goat’s milk to the other two chattering kittens.

“Well, I knew early on that they would change your data. I thought they would turn you into a cow or a horse…” Cui QiChao said softly. In that case, XiaoBai would be much more valuable, and it didn’t have to worry about being easily killed by someone.

All of XiaoBai’s fur stood on ends. It felt like shuddering.

Did Cui QiChao actually wanted it to be a cow or a horse?!

.

When the servants in the castle saw the Baron reappearing, one of his hands was clutching a rope, and the other end of the rope was tied around the neck of the black cat. They had no idea where the other two cats had gone or if they had been killed by the Baron.

To their surprise, the Lord would shake the rope from time to time, and then the kitten would lie down, roll, or even stand up and bow to the Lord!

Everyone sucked in a deep breath. Did the evil cat beg for mercy after being tortured by the Lord? 

But the Lord, their new Lord Baron, had a heart of stone. He did not give the cat a swift death, but led it all the time. It seemed that the Lord wanted to torture it for a long time for fun.

The Baron was someone blessed by the archbishop. Thus, he was not afraid of the cat. When the others saw the kitten bowing, they could not help but hide. They were a little afraid that if the Lord didn’t have enough fun playing with the kitten, he would also want to play with their pitiful selves.

After the Lord had enough fun, the Lord picked the cat up and placed it into his pocket, and the kitten that was barely alive stopped moving.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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However, there were still other ‘abnormal’ aspects about Cui QiChao.

——Cui QiChao asked the agricultural official about the situation of the crop cultivation in his territory.

The agricultural official began to explain to him. Northumberland, like most of the territories in the south, adopted the two-field system. Meaning, the land in the fief was divided into two parts, in which farming was conducted in turns. This year, one part of the farmland is planted on, while another part is left alone to restore the soil fertility.

Cui QiChao, “This isn’t good. It’s wasteful.” 

The agricultural official thought that the new Lord might be very, very ignorant about farming. He explained to Cui QiChao why they utilized the system. Currently, the Lord’s farmlands had obtained a good harvest this year. Even the wheat with the least yield could harvest more than 50 kilograms per mu every year.

If this year’s harvest was not optimal, the grain harvest would not even be enough for the next planting season. It was even possible that the farmlands would have nothing to harvest.

“But if we carry out continuous cultivation, we can’t restore the soil fertility. This would absolutely lead to the reduction in yield.” The agricultural official explained.

This was an appalling harvest to Cui QiChao. Even if Cui QiChao saw it in the data, he felt that the situation was very devastating. Not to mention the other aspects, the yield of Chinese farmers from the same era per mu was ten times higher than that of theirs. 

Cui QiChao, “There’s always a way. Our income wouldn’t be reduced. I’ve seen some people do it in the East.”

What was the cause of the poor output? Regardless of how they ploughed their crops, farming practices, or seed quality, the most essential component remaining would be the ‘farmland’ itself. People did not fertilize their farms throughout the Middle Ages.

It was true that fertilizers could only work to a limited extent, so the farmlands needed to be properly cultivated and not over cultivated. However, if there was no fertilization at all, no matter how fertile the land was, it would be easy for the yield to gradually decrease. It would be a great waste if he utilized their methods of farming.

Here, he should prioritize reasonable arrangements in farming. In this regard, the Chinese people had a rich experience. Anyway, Cui QiChao wouldn’t be surnamed Cui unless he planted all over his land. 

As soon as the agricultural official heard this, he knew that this young Lord insisted on farming all around his lands. Previously, someone had also done this. As a result, the soil fertility was exhausted. They planted crops for two years and allowed the soil to rest for three years. However, it was far less advanced than the two-field system.

The agricultural official was very suspicious when Cui QiChao said that the East had a way for the farmlands to not reduce its harvest. He doubted how much information the Lord knew, since he was so young. The official thought that the Easterner’s land was relatively fertile for now, but after several years, it would certainly become barren.

Alas, the noble lords were all absurd. He only dared to complain at the bottom of his heart.

Cui QiChao directly changed the topic, “Alright, share with me about the other stuff, like what crops are in the field and what kind of breeds they are.” 

The agricultural official replied honestly that March had just passed. Barley and oats were planted in the fields, and fruits, carrots, kales, parsnips and so on were planted in the gardens. It was worth mentioning that there was a lot of white soil in Northumberland, so oats would be planted more.

When the soil was mixed with white soil, oats and cabbage would still be able to grow. However, if more white soil were added, even oats would not be able to survive.

“Clay soil?” Cui QiChao asked again.

This led the agricultural official to understand that before inheriting Northumberland, the Lord did not manage the territory. “Yes, it’s hard to grow any crops on white soil.” 

Cui QiChao asked about what it looked like and found that the white soil mentioned by the agricultural official was saline alkali soil, probably because of the white precipitates on it.

It was difficult to grow crops in saline alkali soil. Oats and cabbage had high tolerance to drought and could grow in light saline alkali soil, but even these salt tolerant crops could not grow in medium and heavy saline alkali soil.

As the official went on, Cui QiChao became even more speechless.

What he’s troubled over was not only the saline soil, but the whole Northumberland. The land here wasn’t very big, but it had all kinds of vices. The water shortage here was caused by poor water conservancy facilities. There was also the problem of low crop yield, small seeds, slow growth of crops and the crops turning yellow caused by lack of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. 

No wonder a mu of land could only produce dozens of kilograms of wheat. Although other crops had yields higher than wheat, the yield was also limited. He vaguely knew that in modern times, it was normal for heavy physical workers to eat more than one jin of grain every day. If there were meat dishes in the meal, they might eat less. Based on this, how many people could afford to eat, given the production level of the grains here?

However, at this time, the people who truly relied on physical labour, the serfs, could not afford food. Most of the time, they could only eat wild vegetables and beans.

He had to improve this place, one step at a time. He decided to think about improving the soil first. Cui QiChao propped up his chin and thought, “Let someone bring my horse here, and show me all the plants in my territory, including weeds. For every type of land in my territory, including wasteland and woodland, dig a handful of soil back.”

Back in the ancient era, the divine farmer had tasted all kinds of grass and herbs. Now, he had to sample all the plants in his territory. 

The agricultural official’s mouth widened and said foolishly, “Ah…?”

Cui QiChao looked at the agricultural official with the look in his eyes, showing “Is your hearing impaired?“.

The agricultural official immediately shut up. He must admit that although the young Lord didn’t know much about farming, he was born in an aristocratic family and had a frightening aura. “Yes, my Lord. I’ll arrange it now.”

After talking to the agricultural official, Cui QiChao went to the kitchen. To be honest, he was still hungry. 

The kitchen was not so much a kitchen. It was more of a space that was slightly separated from the hall and was not completely independent.

When the cook saw Cui QiChao, she was afraid. Within a short period of time, word had spread all over the castle. The Baron was not only picky with his food, but also fond of abusing animals and had a tyrannical temper.

“Take it.” Cui QiChao placed the cat into the cook’s hand.

The cook was caught off guard and could only hold it. 

Cui QiChao circled around in the kitchen and asked the maid to take out all the preserved spices that were properly arranged and took a glimpse of them. Then he looked at each ingredient and finally said, “Do as I say.”

The cook was staring at the Lord. It took a while for her to react. The Lord didn’t eat much previously, but now he was hungry. However, he was probably dissatisfied with her craftsmanship, so he even directed how she should cook… She blushed and felt completely humiliated.

Cui QiChao stuffed XiaoBai back in his pocket and said, “Go wash your hands. You just touched the cat.”

During this era, most people didn’t favour hygiene. He noticed that the cook’s hands were not clean. However, the cook touched the evil black cat again. Under the Lord’s criticism, she had to wash her hands. After washing, Cui QiChao found that the cook’s hands were originally so white. Looking at her hands, he could not help feeling a little nauseous when he thought of what he had eaten at noon. 

The cook timidly stood in front of Cui QiChao and was told to take down the freshest piece of mutton. She wanted to say that the meat had not been hung up long enough, but she was shocked by the Lord’s cold face.

Under the command of Cui QiChao, the servants and maids were busy. Some were cutting meat, some were starting a fire, some were setting up the stove and some were preparing the seasoning. They put pepper, garlic and salt on the meat. After a while, they brushed it with olive oil. They were careful not to waste a drop of oil. Even so, the master’s face was still dissatisfied, which made them more careful.

Next, they prepared large clean cabbage leaves and spread them on wooden plates. Instead of slicing the meat on the table, they split it open and strung it together for baking.

The Lord watched them closely, not allowing any mistakes. Even the length of the mutton slice and the amount of firewood should be controlled. He ordered the maids to pour honey or add more oil on the barbecued meat. Trembling, the cook held a wooden bowl containing minced nutmeg and dill. She was waiting for the Lord to say when they could sprinkle it. 

As the mutton slowly turned from red to scorched yellow, the skin became crisp and greasy under the licking tongues of fire. The nutmeg was dancing along with the sizzling oil, sending out a very strong fragrance. The originally nervous servants were also trapped in a mysterious silence…

In the previous decades of their lives,They had never smelled such an enticing aroma of grilled meat. Now, it was something right in front of their eyes. Was it because of the spices they put in, as commanded by the Lord? This scent made all of their faces flushed—seriously, they felt that they had taken advantage of the Lord just by smelling this scent!

This sentiment strongly resonated with the cook in particular, unlike the others who didn’t know how to cook. She had previously cooked a lot of grilled meat and was once ordered by the prior wealthy master to add extra spices to marinate the meat in order to cover up the unpleasant smell of the meat. However, it had never produced such a wonderful result. Was this the gourmet food that the new Baron had tasted in the East?

Someone used a fork to push the barbecued meat down. It was placed on a wooden plate covered with cabbage. The surface of the meat was sprinkled with green dill powder, and pieces of tender, fragrant and hot roasted mutton were squeezed onto the plate. The oil spots fell on the green cabbage leaves, which made the dish even more attractive. 

As the cabbage leaves were slightly seared by the heat of the barbecued meat, the sound of people swallowing their saliva could be heard in the kitchen. Gulp.