Ch42.1 - The Indissoluble Fate With Pigs (Part One)

The weight of pigs had risen linearly since the Lord instructed the pig herder how to mix the pig feed, rising hundreds of grams every day. Although there were several reasons why the pigs couldn’t eat their fill, such as becoming unwell and exercising less, the effect was clear to everybody. The pigs’ mating season approached as their physical condition improved.

Because Cui QiChao didn’t purposefully avoid speaking about the pig feed in front of everyone, there were many farmers present. The farmers also raised chickens, pigs, sheep, and other animals. The incident was spread from one person to ten people, from ten people to hundreds of people. These people also went to mix some wet food for the livestock to eat. Then, the livestock grew meatier than they did previously. Moreover, Cui QiChao only said to mix raw materials, and this mixing of the feed was not particularly time-consuming. Everyone did it in passing when doing housework.

The pig herder was very unhappy. This could have been his family’s secret for raising pigs——Didn’t the Lord see that the agricultural official was in charge of the field of killing insects, and the cook also had a lot of secret recipes? They were all very proud.

As a result, now, the whole fief knew how to feed pigs. 

Moreover, out of trust in Cui QiChao, after a few days, a pig had difficulty giving birth and couldn’t push the piglet out. The pig herder was terribly anxious as he reported to the Lord, and was scolded by the steward, “You actually want the noble Lord to help you be a doctor for your pig? Are you possessed by the devil? ”

Pig herder: “I’m not! That, that is, I may lose a sow…”

Cui QiChao was gazing at the people who were pounding rice. He was a little speechless when he received the news. He didn’t conduct a lot of research on animal husbandry. It might be too difficult for him to assist with the delivery of piglets.

However, facing the expectant eyes of the pig herder, Cui QiChao could only reluctantly say, “…You try to touch the piglet in the pig’s belly and push it down to help it deliver.”

He just thought that when people had dystocia, some push their stomachs. They could only give medicine to a dead pig.

The pig herder nodded and even glanced at the steward. This “secret” was heard by him and the steward.

The steward looked at him fiercely, “What are you looking at?”

Did the pig herder think that it was great being a pig herder? Would the steward even covet it?? 

The pig herder ran back and gently groped on the sow’s stomach for a long time. He touched the piglet and pushed it gently. The pig hummed. Hearing the pig hum, he asked his son to press the sow and push the piglet with his two palms.

The pig herder’s son was frightened. “Father, what are you doing?”

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.

After pressing the pig’s belly, could the piglet still live?

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With the help of the pig herder, the pig screamed, and the piglet rolled out. The piglet’s nostrils were undulating. It was obviously still alive.

“It gave birth, gave birth, dad!” The son of the pig herder shouted excitedly. In the past, if the pig had difficulty giving birth, they had no other alternatives. It was all up to the pig to see if it could survive. At most, they could only paste some herbs when the pig was injured.

“I saw it!” The pig herder was also very excited. He looked at his bloody hand and touched the livestock several times. Livestock, livestock was their life. Thank the gods, thank the Lord.

When the pig gave birth to all the piglets, the piglets happily sucked milk from the pig’s tits. After the pig herder wiped his hands, he ran to the Lord to report the good news, while he let his son keep watch over the pigs and feed more water and forage to the weak sow. 

The pig herder wanted to kiss the Lord’s feet, “Thank you, Lord. You are so wise!”

Cui QiChao thought that a blind cat had really bumped into a dead mouse. He was truly ashamed, “Did the pig give birth to it?”

It was fine if the pig gave birth. But Cui QiChao truly didn’t know much about the postpartum care of livestock. Was it the same as humans, having low immunity and it wouldn’t be good for them to come into contact with cold water?

“The piglets were delivered, delivered.” The pig herder looked happy and said, “Milord, it was all due to your efforts that this sow gave birth to the piglets!” 

Cui QiChao: “????”

XiaoBai was likewise taken aback. The people of the Middle Ages were masters at flattery. When it noticed Cui QiChao’s normally high and haughty countenance had turned a shade of green, the cat’s belly was about to explode with laughter.

What might Cui QiChao possibly do? State unequivocally that whether or not this sow gave birth to piglets had nothing to do with him? He could only respond slowly, “It was primarily due to your assistance and the will of the sow. I merely offered you an idea.”

The Lord’s words were too polite. The pig herder said humbly, “It’s due to the illumination of your wisdom. I thank Milord.” 

These words sounded acceptable. Cui QiChao relaxed a little, “Mm, you can continue to take care of the sow and don’t feed it with water that is too cold.”

“Yes, I will keep this in mind. Thank you, Milord, for bestowing this teaching.” The pig herder, as if receiving an Emperor’s edict, respectfully retreated.

Cui QiChao and XiaoBai look at each other.

Cui QiChao: “……” 

XiaoBai: “……”

Cui QiChao knew that XiaoBai understood what had just happened, but pretended not to understand.

XiaoBai wanted to tell everyone all over the world what it had just understood, but it had to pretend not to know.

After a long time, one person and one cat went back to the kitchen silently. 

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Cui QiChao was highly respected here. The rice grains were pounded into white rice. The grains were not very big, but it still had the familiar taste. Cui QiChao asked the cook to take a container, put some clean and washed rice, and put an appropriate amount of water in it.

There was still a lot of pickled meat leftover from winter. He instructed the cook to chop some ham pieces and place them inside. Then add some minced garlic, onions, salt, and wild mushrooms before covering the lid and steaming directly with firewood.

Cui QiChao sighed deeply. He figured he’d just be this extravagant for this meal. In the future, he’d have to preserve some rice and use it to make porridge. 

The cook had never eaten rice. She squatted in a corner, asking curiously, “Lord, what’s the taste of rice? Why don’t we make it into bread?”

It was not as if rice couldn’t be made into bread, but…

Cui QiChao said, “It’s more delicious this way.”

The cook licked her lower lip unconsciously. Needless to say, which of the food that the Lord instructed her to cook was not delicious? 

Cui QiChao calculated that the time was almost up, so he asked her to remove the container, and not lift the lid for the time being, and let the rice simmer for a while.

XiaoBai could already smell the scent of rice, but it was not very interesting to eat today. It only cared about looking at Cui QiChao. Wow, if only it could bully Cui QiChao.

Cui QiChao placed a cloth around the lid and squeezed it open. A stream of steaming water droplets surged up to his face. Then he smelled rice, sausage, and other ingredients.

The cook smelled the strange and delicious aroma. Then Cui QiChao scooped out the rice with a small wooden shovel. A pile of rice, clear and jade white, was mixed with red and white sausage slices, green scallions, and light brown mushrooms. 

Cui QiChao handed the chef a small bowl. Because no one was present, the cook took up the bowl and ate it. Around this time in the Middle Ages, the only way to cook wheat was to make bread. Wheat was almost never steamed. When it was made into porridge, it contained many impurities, she was intrigued by the delicate flavor of rice after cooking.

Cui QiChao merely boiled a little portion of the rice. The husk was pure and free of impurities. The amount, temperature, and duration of the water were all ideal. The rice grains were tender but not sticky. They had a chewy texture and emitted the distinct aroma and sweetness of rice.

Even if one eats rice alone, they would be satisfied. Besides, there were vegetables in it. There were sausages and mushrooms in the cook’s small bowl of rice. The smooth mushrooms and salty sausage slices tasted better with rice. Sausage was originally an ingredient used to eat with rice. Although the cook didn’t understand this, she could still understand the suitability of it.

Cui QiChao also ate a bowl of sausage and mushroom rice with satisfaction. Due to the living conditions of the middle ages, he couldn’t sauté vegetables. This was already considered good for him. 

While eating, Cui QiChao also taught the cook, “Put more water and cook porridge…”

There wasn’t even a speck of rice left in the small pot of rice, except for a few bites left for the cat.

The cook was still licking her lips. The white bread was as fine as rice, but it couldn’t compare with rice. The Lord’s requirements were too high. There was still slight gluten in the white bread. But the rice was shelled and peeled clean. No wonder it was delicious and the taste was really sweet.

The Lord was the only one who knew how to have fun in life. Even the Lord, however, ate rice only on rare occasions. Who would go to such lengths to pound rice? This task was incredibly exhausting to complete. 

.

Cui QiChao was pleased with the rice and went out of his way to appreciate it. He packed a little and went back to his room. When the rice cooled off, some of the grains were stuck together and solidified, indicating that the rice’s quality was not exceptional.

He calmed himself and considered it thoroughly at this point. Indeed, because these rice grains had been kept for planting, they were slightly swollen. It was tasty. Because he hadn’t eaten it in a long time, he undoubtedly regarded it through rose-colored glasses.

The cook, needless to say, had never tasted rice. For her, the deliciousness of the dish was probably simply connected to how much work the cook used in grinding the rice. If wheat was boiled into wheat rice after all impurities were removed, the cook could have an overwhelming yearning for it. 

While eating the sausage and mushroom rice, XiaoBai evaluated Cui QiChao critically. At the thought of Cui QiChao’s expression when he was met with bad luck, it was so happy.

Cui QiChao casually scooped some and fed it to DaBai and DaJu. He was not willing to cook too much of this precious white rice. Each kitty could only eat a few mouthfuls of it. He could detect that XiaoBai was judging himself. It was fine if XiaoBai took a brief glance at him. But if XiaoBai looked at him for such a long time, wouldn’t Cui QiChao be clear what it was thinking about?

Wasn’t it just about the pig herder’s blunder in words? Cui QiChao didn’t want to make up some punishment, since he was merely embarrassed for a moment. On the contrary, it was XiaoBai who thought Cui QiChao didn’t know what exactly it was delighted about.

Cui QiChao stared at XiaoBai slowly and said coldly, “You eat too much. Sleep outside at night.” 

XiaoBai: “……”

It didn’t eat as much as that orange cat, okay??

Ch42.2 - The Indissoluble Fate With Pigs (Part Two)

The entire Northumberland was busy with ploughing all throughout spring. Although they didn’t have to take care of the Lord’s fallow land this year and only had to weed and fertilize, there were more vineyards, beet fields and other work to take care of. Therefore, the whole fief was bustling. 

It was at this time that the horse herder returned on horseback and yelled, “Bad news. I spot a group of strange soldiers approaching, wearing armor and holding weapons in their hands.”

Different from the previous false alarm where it had only been Raymond leading the team back, the horse herder saw clearly this time that these soldiers were from elsewhere. And they were moving at a rapid pace. If they didn’t hold any intention to attack Northumberland, then why would they act in such a manner?

The knights hurriedly reported it, while some trained serfs put on their rattan armor and quickly gathered together.

Cui QiChao heard that in their excitement, these serfs had trained in private on top of their usual training and even practiced the formation together when lining up to enter the toilet. In any case, rattan did not cost much, so he had asked these serfs to store their armor within their own homes. 

Among the serfs, rattan armor couldn’t compare with regular armor, but it was sturdy enough. If one had rattan armor at home, their next-door neighbors would be extremely envious of them. The rattan was quite light, so these proud serfs took their armor with them from time to time to show off whenever they could afford to slack off. This also saved them from leaving the armor at home and at risk of being damaged at the hands of the restless children there.

They quickly changed their clothes and crawled inside the ditch. They felt hesitant at the moment. Because of the numerous training sessions, everyone’s first reaction was to gather and arrange themselves into an array, but they were still uncertain of what they should do next.

It wasn’t until one of the serfs gritted their teeth and said, “The horse herder said that there are only a dozen soldiers. Such numbers won’t even be enough to deal with the knights, and there are so many of us. If we beat them first, the Lord will certainly reward us.”

Everyone cheered up. That was right. They lacked confidence, but with someone advocating to fight, everyone felt that that person was right.

It was a good thing they had come to this decision, because those soldiers did not even hope to be able to attack the castle. Instead, they planned to search through the farmers’ homes in the fief and grab whatever they can like coarse grain to fill their stomachs.

At first glance, one could tell that those heavily armed soldiers were professionals. Unlike the farmers that had turned to thievery, they were fully prepared and belonged to a class that was above the civilians.

Across the pasture, these people intended to trample on the cultivated land and head for the cottages.

This made the peasant soldiers feel even more indignant. They had begun sowing in some of those fields, and these people merely trampled on them. 

All of a sudden, the looting soldiers saw a group of people rushing out of the ditch. They were donned in strange yellow-brown armor and had farming tools in their hands. The soldiers couldn’t clearly distinguish their armor until they came closer. Their so-called armor seemed to be made of vines.

Although they were wearing rattan armour, their momentum wasn’t ordinary. Having gone through training, the peasant soldiers cried out threateningly. Their voices were loud, and they also maintained a certain formation when running, covering both flanks. It was obvious that they were adept at being soldiers.

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.

The soldiers revealed a strange expression. The armor made of vines rendered them almost unable to treat these people before them as serious opponents, but the momentum as they rushed to cut them down was somewhat frightening.

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These war horses hadn’t had good meals for a long time. The peasant soldiers first beat up the horses before pulling the soldiers down and beating them too. Their hearts were gradually filled with heroism, allowing them to ascend to the clouds…

In the eyes of future generations, disregarding the armors the soldiers were wearing, this looked like a ridiculous battle between villages. Furthermore, it could only be considered a small-scale brawl. And in fact, it might not even be a battle between villagers but just a battle between two groups. But for both of the parties involved, it was a bloody battle of equal strength!

The soldiers felt that they had encountered a mysterious Lord, while the peasant soldiers were confident in their skills. They only thought themselves to be a turtle that had managed to flip over as they had a face-off with their opponents.

After a bitter battle, the peasant soldiers had safety in numbers. The more they fought, the braver they became. And so, they finally won in the end. When the police arrived, they had already suppressed the invaders to the ground. 

The police officers only needed to tie up the soldiers with ropes. They looked at the rattan-armored soldiers with slight awe. Reasonably speaking, everyone was equal. They were chosen to become police officers amongst the farmers, but they didn’t catch up on the training together. They only witnessed the end of the battle. It was so shocking to them!

The police officers could not help but smile and greet their familiar yet unfamiliar comrades. This scene was seen by the soldiers, causing them to become more depressed. These people wearing rattan armor and holding farming tools really turned out to just be farmers. On their faces, there were still traces of a daze that showed that they thought they were in a fantasy. It would’ve made them feel better if these people claimed that they had long foreseen their plan to attack, and therefore the peasant soldiers ambushed them here.

“What are you looking at? Come on, you pigs.” After winning the battle, the peasant soldiers proudly struck the soldiers with a wooden stick. Their armor was also stripped off, resulting in the soldiers crying painfully.

The leader saw that the situation wasn’t good, so he shouted in a rush, “Misunderstanding, this is a misunderstanding! I’m the cousin of the Baron of Northumberland. I’m here to visit my cousin Tristan. Who would have known that you’d treat us as invaders?” 

Everyone was stunned at first. Even the most honest serfs showed a look of suspicion.

How could things be so coincidental? At the beginning, these people had stormed in with weapons in hand and trampled on their cultivated land. But now that he was caught, he was saying he was a relative of the Lord?

“I don’t believe it. Look, my underwear is embroidered with a family emblem. I really came to visit my relatives! You tell Tristan that I’m his cousin Gavin. We played together in Cabiburg! Our relationship couldn’t be better!” shouted the man who called himself Gavin. The more he talked, the more confident he became, as if he believed the nonsense spewing from his mouth.

Although everyone doubted his words, the matter still needed to be decided by the Lord. Before that, they couldn’t beat these prisoners of war as they liked. 

Even so, the peasant soldiers arrogantly helped escort the prisoners of war to the bottom of the highland. They wanted to tell everyone in the fief that they had subdued a group of invaders and protected their homes.

.

Cui QiChao was very happy when he heard that another group of invaders were caught in the castle. He also counted the number of people. There were more than a dozen people. Hm, not a lot.

Then he heard that a man had claimed to be his older cousin. 

Which older cousin would rob his younger cousin’s territory? Cui QiChao met them in the hall. He first said to the steward, “We should reward the serfs who fought and won the battle. Each family should be bestowed with a piglet.”

Steward: “…Oh.”

The steward recorded it with a numb face. Anyway, he had no way of resisting. It was the peasant soldiers who made contributions. Even back when they had yet to make any contributions, the Lord already rewarded them with food during training.

He had now learned to comfort himself. In any case, these farmers could defeat armed and armored soldiers. This was also great progress with regards to the territory’s prowess. 

Gavin’s mouth was wide open. Was his cousin so rich? He would just give piglets to the peasant soldiers who won the battle?

“C-cousin, it’s me. I’m your cousin Gavin! The long-legged Gavin!” Gavin immediately shouted, “You are Aunt Rose’s son. We played together in Cabiburg. You liked your elder cousin best, remember?”

Cui QiChao looked at Gavin. The steward also presented Gao Wen’s family emblem to Cui QiChao. Cui QiChao vaguely remembered that there might be such a person, but it didn’t matter much to him. This man belonged to the family of knights that was in a marriage alliance with their family. This Gavin should also be a knight, but it was too difficult to justify his behavior.

Gavin’s originally confident face somewhat faltered under Cui QiChao’s stare. In fact, he knew this was his younger cousin’s territory, but he really wanted to rob it at the beginning. Because a few fiefs were hit by disaster and had no harvest, Gavin had been robbing everywhere for a long time and staying in the fiefs of his relatives until he was driven away. Later, when everyone knew about Gavin’s behavior, no one wanted to welcome Gavin to their territories at all. So he had to find a way to rob other villages. 

Gavin and Cui QiChao weren’t close. They had only played together when they were children, and their relationship wasn’t as good as he had exaggerated. He initially hadn’t intended to reveal his true identity. He wanted to run away right after robbing. If he hadn’t been caught, he wouldn’t have the cheek to confess this here.

Cui QiChao was going to say, “I haven’t seen older cousin Gavin for a long time, but it seems impossible for you to be joking with me. It’s best for you to go to my field to grow vegetables.”

But at this time, two more people were taken in: one big and one small. The younger was only seven or eight years old. It was said that they were found snooping outside the pastures, so the horse herder called some people to catch them.

Gavin shot a look, and his expression changed. “Ah, younger cousin, this is your relative. Your elder cousin’s son Lance. Please don’t—” 

As he spoke, he paused, because finishing this sentence would expose his intentions to a certain extent.

If he had really come to visit his relative, why did he leave his attendant and his child outside the fief?

Lance was blond and blue-eyed, but his body was a little thin due to malnutrition. When he saw the situation, he cried, “Baron, don’t kill my father. You can cut off my head. My father just wanted to find me something to eat.”

Children would always act like children. In a hurry, he spit out Gavin’s purpose. There seemed to be no room for sophistry now. 

Cui QiChao listened but looked at Lance carefully. After a long time, he said faintly, “So you are my nephew Lance. Welcome to Northumberland. I haven’t seen my mother’s relatives in a long time. I think all this is a misunderstanding. Steward, let my cousin and my nephew go.”

Gavin’s mouth slowly opened. “Ah…?”

Cui QiChao shot him a look. The steward immediately came forward and untied the rope himself, but he only untied the rope on Gavin and Lance. The others waited, but Cui QiChao waved his hand and they were dragged down. Obviously, these people weren’t within the scope of the Lord’s bestowing of forgiveness toward his blood relatives.

The steward muttered that he didn’t expect the Lord’s benevolence to be so great. Or did the Lord perhaps cherish his memories of the past more fondly than his older cousin? 

Cui QiChao gently invited these people to sit next to him and asked about their recent situation as if nothing had happened.

Gavin didn’t understand what his younger cousin was meaning to do. In Gavin’s eyes, he felt that he was about to run out of luck. He could only harden his mind and tell Cui QiChao that he was traveling around.

“Then stay with me for a while.” Cui QiChao said, “You came just in time. It’s time to eat.”

When Cui QiChao spoke of eating, Gavin’s stomach growled, and he giggled, “Great, great, great. Younger cousin, you’re so generous.” 

The female servants brought up the food. When Gavin saw the food, his face had a peculiar expression. His cheap temper made him mutter, “Younger cousin, why is this apple raw? And why is the meat cut into pieces? Is Northumberland also experiencing a horrible harvest?”

Based on aristocratic etiquette, if a Lord had guests, they must arrange the most luxurious banquet. They should slap their guests’ faces until they had become too swollen to look imposing. This was unless Gavin had eaten so much that the Lord couldn’t stand him anymore, and they would then treat Gavin rudely, like in the other fiefs Gavin had visited.

An entire livestock wasn’t served, and the fruit was also raw, unlike what he was served in the other fiefs. How could this be considered an aristocratic life? It wasn’t only Gavin eating here. Even Cui QiChao’s stewards and the head of the knights were all having their meals here.

Although Gavin was poor, he still held a bit of pride. But he regretted that he was not a proper guest. He stared at Cui QiChao’s face with caution for fear that he would get angry. 

Cui QiChao paused and only looked at Gavin as if nothing had happened. He was thinking that Gavin appeared as if he could eat a lot. At this time, he went with the flow and said, “These are not prepared for my cousin. Come, let the cook roast a suckling pig filled with southern flavor.”

The so-called southern flavor was the recipe used before the Lord had improved it.

As soon as Gavin heard it, his saliva flowed. Heavens, a whole suckling pig! It seemed that his cousin was really aristocratic, modest, tolerant, and generous! Also commonly known as a fool!

Cui QiChao turned to Lance again and asked in a low voice, “Good nephew, what do you want to eat?” 

Lance looked timidly at him and then at his father. Very embarrassed, he looked down and said, “I will simply eat with your esteemed self.”

Gavin glanced at his son. He wasn’t in a situation to reprimand his son. He was really a silly boy who didn’t know how to pick between good and bad.