At the beginning, I was a rich female prisoner

Yu Yunxin did not respond to the prince but knelt at the feet of Eunuch Zhang to receive the Queen's decree.

Eunuch Zhang smiled and said, "The Queen heard that you have done a lot of good things in Wangshan County. These are all rewards from the Queen. Miss Yu, please accept the imperial edict quickly."

"Thank you, Her Majesty, for the reward." Yu Yunxin respectfully accepted the imperial decree.

There were three carriages behind Eunuch Zhang. The first one was loaded with silks and jewellery, the second one was loaded with rouge and powder for the nobles in the palace, and two boxes of silver totaling five thousand taels. The third one was full of seasonal fruits, some tea, precious medicinal materials, spices, etc. It must be said that the queen was really generous.

Eunuch Zhang said, "The Queen knows that you are afraid of Miss Yun Xin and that you are suffering from the climate here, so she sent you some medicinal herbs and the rouge and powder in the palace. These rouge and powder are all prepared by the imperial physicians of the Imperial Hospital, so you can use them without worry."

Wu Tongzhou, who was standing aside, was filled with jealousy when he saw so many boxes being carried into the back court. He then looked at the prince and an idea came to his mind. His daughter was a beauty. Although she was not as pretty as Magistrate Yu's daughter, she was now of marriageable age and the same age as the prince. If the prince could favor her, he would be extremely rich in the future.

Eunuch Zhang looked at the boxes of things being carried into the back hall and said, "It's getting late. I have to go back and report to the Queen."

"Eunuch Zhang, you have worked hard on the journey. My daughter Xiner has prepared some food for Eunuch Zhang to take on the journey." Yu Tinghai said.

"My Lord, I will respectfully obey your command." Mr. Zhang smiled and said that it was very hot outside and it would be better to rest for a while before leaving.

Yu Yunxin said, "It's hot now, I wrote a few recipes for the Queen, and I can ask the imperial chef to make some according to the recipes for the Queen to taste, which is also my token of my appreciation."

"You are a good girl. I will collect your recipe on behalf of the Queen." Eunuch Zhang walked into the back court with a smile.

Yu Yunxin and everyone else followed them into the county government office. There were no servants but only three maids in the back office. Fortunately, Lin Jingmo's guards served tea and some simple snacks to everyone.

"Lord Yu didn't expect it to be so frugal. The back hall is too simple! You don't even have a servant." Eunuch Zhang sighed after taking a look at the simple back hall.

Yu Tinghai smiled and said, "My official duties in Wangshan County are much easier than those in the capital. I don't need servants to serve me."

At this time, the prince looked at the decoration of the back court, which was very simple. He thought to himself that Yu Tinghai was really an honest official. It was just a pity that if he had not investigated the case of Duke Li, he could have taken him in. If he could win him over, the Lin family would also stand on his side. It was a pity that Yu Tinghai wanted justice for the world. He could give justice to the world but not to the dead Duke Li. If this was the case, he should not blame himself. He could only drive him away. It was a pity that Yu Tinghai was a man of great talent. But he set his eyes on Yu Yunxin again. The bright and lovely girl's back appeared in front of him. He thought of something again. Looking at Yu Yunxin's back, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

There were many people today. Lian Qiao picked a few women who could cook from the bandit wives who were imprisoned in the back yamen room and asked them to help. She also selected Qiu Yingying. After giving them a pill, she said, "The county magistrate said that if you work hard, you will be naturalized in the future."

When everyone heard this, they showed joy on their faces and asked, "Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course, our master was once the second-rank minister of the Ministry of Justice. Considering that you were forced to do this and have never committed murder or arson, we will give you a light sentence." Chunyu said, "Okay, come to the kitchen and help!"

After that, she took a few people to the kitchen and asked them to help. These dishes were the ones that Yu Yunxin knew she had received as a reward, so she wanted to entertain the adults who came with her. These people had higher official positions than her father, and they also brought the prince with them, so it had to be held as an official banquet. But now there was a drought in Nanling County. Although Yu Yunxin's diabolo and digging of ditches had alleviated the situation a lot these days, the banquet could not be extravagant or too simple. Yu Yunxin thought of some dishes and wrote them on the menu, and handed it to the two of them to prepare. Qiu Shuangze took a few soldiers into the woods over at Huyue Village to hunt.

Fortunately, except for the prefect and the Nanling County Governor, Tongzhou only needed to prepare a table of official banquet dishes, which was not a difficult task for them.

The banquet had roast duck, roast rabbit legs, braised food, and fish head soup. Yu Yunxin also prepared a dish of boiled cabbage. This dish did not exist in this era, so Yu Yunxin cooked it herself. Cut the fresh cabbage into lotus buds and garnish it with chicken and shrimp balls. This dish may seem simple, but the key is the soup. The cabbage must have enough juice. She combined the juice in the cabbage leaves and the water in the chicken soup. Before it was served, this dish was just an unopened lotus.

The prince looked at the boiled cabbage served by the guard and asked, "What is this dish? Is it a small cabbage and meatballs?"

"Your Highness, this is something called boiled cabbage that Miss Yu made herself." said the guard who served the dish.

"Isn't this ordinary cabbage? Is it cooked in boiling water?" Wu Tongzhou smiled as he looked at the dish.

But when the guards put it on the table, the prince moved it with chopsticks and the cabbage blossomed. The chicken paste was poured on the cabbage, like the lotus core of a lotus. Everyone exclaimed: "This cabbage is made into a lotus, it's really special."

The prince took a bite and tasted it. When the delicious soup flowed into his mouth, he said: "This dish is light in taste and fresh in flavor. It is delicious. I have never eaten any of the dishes on this table. It is really special. Who is the chef?"

Yu Tinghai said: "This is my daughter. Since she came to Wangshan County, she often cooks some special dishes."

"County Magistrate Yu, are you deliberately praising your daughter? These dishes require delicate knife skills. How could a girl cut such thin duck slices?" Wu Tongzhou said with some dissatisfaction.

Lin Dengyuan immediately replied, "Wu Tongzhou, you don't know, my cousin has a lot of internal strength and swordsmanship, how could she do this?"

"Master Dusi, I said it carelessly in a moment of haste. Please forgive me." When Wu Tongzhou heard this, Lin Dengyuan, who was sitting next to the prince, immediately realized that something was wrong and immediately replied.

Lin Jingmo sat aside. Although he had tasted Peking duck yesterday, he still ate it with relish today. After chewing the duck slices in his mouth, he looked at Wu Tongzhou and said, "Although County Magistrate Yu is the county magistrate, he is my brother-in-law and the only son-in-law of my first-rank general's mansion. In Nanling County, I don't want to see anyone using official rank to oppress others. The current emperor loves the people like his own children. If you hear bad things about your Wu family, don't blame me."

"Lord Lin Dusi, I know I will restrain my people. The bandits in Huyue Village were indeed at fault. Please give me a few days, Prince and Lord Lin Dusi, and I will give you an explanation." Wu Tongzhou said.

At this time, two women from Huyue Village were serving dishes and heard the general and the prince talking inside. They were so scared that their legs were shaking. Suddenly, a middle-aged woman knelt down and thought to herself, "We are from Yushan Village, Shangyang County. We were forced to become bandits. It was the Shangyang County Magistrate and Wu Jincai who occupied our village and land." Even though she was thinking about it, she stood up immediately and did not dare to shout. After they stood up, they immediately ran to the kitchen and told Qiu Yingying about it.

The noise outside was not loud, but it reached the ears of the prince and Lin Jingmo.

The prince smiled and said, "I heard about the incident with the bandits in Huyue Village yesterday. Was it County Magistrate Yu and Lord Lin who joined forces to wipe out Huyue Village in just one afternoon?"

"Your Highness, you are overpraising them. Their third in command has run away. I heard from the bandits that he was once a subordinate of Duke Li." Lin Jingmo said.

"Duke Li's entire army disappeared overnight. The secret guards I sent out did find out that the Shura Sect rose not long after the Li family was annihilated. They are in charge of the ghost markets in the capital and several southern states. It's a pity that there is no ghost market here, otherwise Lord Yu could go and investigate the ghost market. Duke Li did collude with Xiliang, otherwise why would he disband his family in advance? The Li family can be said to be a family that practices both martial arts and medicine." said the prince.

“Prince, it’s a pity that I am only a seventh-rank county magistrate now. I have no way of reaching out to the ghost markets in the capital, let alone the ghost markets in Jiangnan and Yuezhou.” Yu Tinghai replied.

"Okay, Lord Yu, you are only here temporarily. My father and I have told you to temper your temper here. Don't do anything too big and touch my father's reverse scale. Don't help people who are not worthy of your help. In two years, the Minister of Justice will still be yours." The prince said with a smile.

County Magistrate Yang of Wu Tongzhou, who was listening on the side, realized that he must not offend County Magistrate Yu when he heard this. He had to hold on to County Magistrate Yu's big legs so that he could fly with him in the future.

Especially after Wu Tongzhou heard him, he wanted to go to Shangyang County immediately to talk to Wu Jincai.

After they had enough food and drink, they chatted very little at the table. Before Zhang Gong left, Yu Yunxin prepared some snacks to take with him on the road and sent him out of Nanling County City, because she was going to Nanling County City to ask Yang Yunsheng for some things, of course, materials for making beer and some snacks. She decided to turn Huyue Village into a modern large square with accommodation, food, health care, entertainment, and other multi-functional squares.

The next day, the prince took the governor and several county magistrates to Sifu Mountain to see the diabolo water diversion and the nearby water conservancy projects. Because they were all men, Yu Yunxin could not go with them, so it was most appropriate for her to accompany Eunuch Zhang.

Before leaving, Eunuch Zhang said, "Don't worry, Miss Yu. We have agreed with the Imperial Kitchen that these recipes can only be used in the Imperial Kitchen and will not be used in other restaurants. I am waiting for you to open a big restaurant for me in the capital!"

Yu Yunxin smiled and said, "Thank you, Eunuch Zhang. I will definitely cook a few more dishes for you when I return to Beijing one day."

"Okay! Miss Yu, we will meet again later." After saying this, Eunuch Zhang parted with Yu Yunxin.

For convenience, she came to the library and changed into men's clothes. At this time, Yu Linshan went to the academy in Nanling County, and Yu Yunxin did not disturb the old man in blue during his lunch break. After changing her clothes, she went out and went directly to Yang Yunsheng's rice shop.

The one who entertained her was Jin Chen. As soon as he saw Yu Yunxin, he went up to her and said, "Our boss told us that he had something to do at the dock. If Mr. Yu has anything to say, just tell me directly."

"I just want him to sell me some wheat and find some medicinal herbs that I need. These herbs may be available in the Western Regions or India." Yu Yunxin said as she took out a list. She also drew the appearance of the herbs on purpose to avoid confusion among those with the same names.

Jin Chen took the list, glanced at it and said, "I'll notify the boss to send it to you in Wangshan County as soon as possible in the next two days."

"Okay, I'm not in a hurry. By the way, do you know where the best blacksmith shop is here?" Yu Yunxin asked.

"There is a blacksmith shop in the eastern part of Nanjun City. The owner's surname is Shan. I heard that the ironware made there is the best." Jin Chen replied.

"Thank you very much. I have something else to do, so I'll leave." Yu Yunxin was about to leave when Jin Chen stopped her and said, "Mr. Yu, what kind of ironware do you want to make? The blacksmith shops in the county are all busy making iron shovels. If you are confident, you can leave it to me."

"When Yu Yunxin heard that I wanted to make some special big iron pots, she said, "Okay! Anyway, I'm working with your boss, so take me to the study and I'll draw it." Yu Yunxin said.

"Mr. Yu, please follow me." After saying this, Jin Chen took Yu Yunxin to the study on the third floor.

The view here is wide and you can see half of the street nearby. The desk is filled with fine agarwood ink with a faint agarwood scent. There are more than a dozen brushes of different thicknesses on the brush holder.

There are nine square boxes of paint neatly placed under the pen holder, arranged in a grid with nine different colors.

"Mr. Yu, these pigments were collected by our boss with great effort. They are all minerals, cinnabar, three blues, red coral, shell powder, mica, and ochre." Jin Chen said.

Yu Yunxin took a look and asked, "Can you lend it to me?"

"Of course, I can lend anything I have to Miss Yu." Yang Yunsheng walked in from outside and said.

"Boss, you're back." Jin Chen said when he saw Yang Yunsheng.

"It's just a small thing at the dock. One of my cargo ships hit a reef when it was docking. Half of the wheat on the ship was soaked with water. I wanted to take it out to dry, but unfortunately there was no good place to dry it." Yang Yunsheng said.

"Boss Yang, can you sell me those waterlogged wheat?" Yu Yunxin said.

"What are you going to do with the water-soaked wheat?" Yang Yunsheng asked.

"Boss Yang, I can't tell you this right now. Just sell it to me." Yu Yunxin glanced at Yang Yunsheng and said with a smile, "But I have a big plan that I want to discuss with Boss Yang. I wonder if Boss Yang is interested?"

So Yu Yunxin told everyone that she was going to buy several hills in Huyue Village.

"What do you mean you want to buy Huyue Village?" Yang Yunsheng asked in surprise, "Miss Yu, if you bought a mountain in the Jiangnan area, I would have nothing to say, but there have been many natural disasters in Nanjun in recent years. What do you want Huyue Village for?"

Yu Yunxin walked to the desk and drew the geographical location of Huyue Village and said, "Boss Yang, you see, this is the necessary passage between Nanling County and the three counties. We can open an inn here and make a distinctive street. There are mountains and water there, and the scenery is not bad. Isn't the population of more than 300,000 in the entire Nanling County enough to make this place prosperous?"