“Tell me, what is both cheap and related to people’s livelihood that could be given as a new year gift to make everyone happy?”

Fu Tinghan: “You want to give new year gifts? Then giving rice, flour, grain, and oil would be good.”

He said, “Schools give these things for holidays year after year without decline, showing how popular they are.”

Zhao Hanzhang looked confused. “Are they popular?”

With this question from her, Fu Tinghan became uncertain. “They should be popular. Weren’t you happy when you received them?”

Perhaps because they were too common, received every Teachers’ Day and Mid-Autumn Festival, she never had strong feelings when receiving these benefits.

But applied to the present, everyone should be quite happy, right?

Zhao Hanzhang touched her chin. “The items don’t need to be many. Just distributing some rice, flour, and oil would work.”

Zhao Hanzhang suddenly remembered and slapped the table. “Right! Oil—soybean oil! Besides soybean oil, there are all kinds of bean products!”

This time her dispute with people at the banquet was precisely because of bean products, wasn’t it?

Zhao Hanzhang snorted. “I’ve decided. This new year, I’m giving soybean oil, tofu, bean powder, and I’ll also send some to Shangcai.”

They didn’t like bean products—well, she insisted on giving them.

Since the Wei dynasty, extravagant customs had gradually flourished in the Great Jin. People from aristocratic families and powerful clans could eat fine foods, so they absolutely wouldn’t eat coarse ones.

Under such circumstances, aristocratic families and powerful households increasingly looked down on coarse items like beans and millet, which evolved into looking down on the common people who ate coarse foods like beans and millet.

This was an abnormal chain of contempt. Of course, some people disagreed and conversely despised them.

But most people went with the trend. After all, they didn’t like eating beans either.

However, there was only so much suitable farmland in the world. The land conditions for planting rice and wheat were more demanding. Most importantly, human labor was limited!

Current planting methods were already sufficiently extensive, with very low yields.

This was partly due to seeds and fertilizer, but extensive farming was also a reason for low yields.

The planting method for beans was much simpler. Each bushel’s yield required much less labor than rice and wheat, so common folk preferred planting beans.

Soybeans, black beans, mung beans, red beans—all kinds of beans. They required little care yet could fill bellies. Though eating them as meals truly wasn’t very tasty.

Zhao Hanzhang deeply understood that her current labor was limited. Moreover, in the historical knowledge she had learned, the climate during this period was quite unpredictable. Whether wheat or rice, planting conditions were more demanding. In comparison, drought-resistant and resilient beans were easier to maintain a balanced harvest.

So she hoped common folk could develop the breadth of bean cuisine as much as possible, allowing people not only to eat their fill but also to eat reasonably well.

She had originally wanted to follow a top-down popularization model. After all, what those above favor, those below will pursue zealously. Many things, especially food and fashion, the common folk loved imitating and revering upper-class society.

However, she had now changed her mind. She would take the rural-surrounding-urban route.

Hmph, let them not eat it. It was their loss of good fortune. Wasn’t it just a trend?

With her as county magistrate taking the lead, plus organizing some activities, in a situation of empty bellies, she didn’t believe the common people wouldn’t take the bait—oh no, wouldn’t understand her good intentions.

Once they tasted the benefits of bean foods, oil presses, tofu stands, bean powder shops could all be established, solving many employment problems at once.

Economy—as long as it flowed, it came alive.

Fu Tinghan saw her pull out a sheet of paper and start writing a plan, muttering to herself, clearly still dwelling on the daytime incident.

He couldn’t help but laugh.

Zhu Chuan’s banquet was held in the Song family’s separate residence. His purpose was very simple: to sell a few of his accumulated woks and scrape together travel expenses home.

Ahem, of course, he couldn’t possibly tell others this purpose. How embarrassing that would be.

Besides that, he was genuinely hospitable and loved liveliness.

So he seriously prepared for this banquet, inviting many people—gentry from Xiping County itself, scholars, scholars still remaining in Xiping County, and even some relatively large merchants.

The Zhu Chuan family clan was substantial. Though in Shu, everyone had heard of them. Plus, he himself was witty and humorous, so everyone gave him face. After receiving invitations, they all indicated they would attend.

Even Zhao Cheng came to show respect.

Mind you, this one was even harder to invite than Zhao Ming.

Even Zhao clan members found him difficult to invite.

So the banquet was very lively.

Early that morning, Zhao Hanzhang changed into proper attire and was about to take Fu Tinghan and Chen Zhou. Just before leaving, thinking this trip was mainly for eating, she had someone fetch Zhao Erlang too.

Regarding Zhu Chuan, Zhao Hanzhang still had a favorable impression. Although he wasn’t as naive as Chen Zhou and truly negotiated back and forth when doing business with her, once he agreed to something, he was very generous and also cared about face (otherwise how were the woks bought?).

So to express her support for him, Zhao Hanzhang specially borrowed the household’s cook from Wang Shi and sent her to help him organize this banquet well.

Because she had infiltrated internal personnel, many dishes at this banquet featured bean products.

Not to mention the soybean oil used in every stir-fried dish, there was tofu, bean sprouts, fried tofu puffs made with soybean oil, tofu skin, and noodles, buns, and steamed bread made with bean powder—basically every bean-related dish Zhao Hanzhang could think of was present.

Oh, and there were fried beans, lamb tendons stewed with soybeans, pork bone and red bean soup…

Although Zhu Chuan had reviewed the menu, when he actually saw so many bean-related dishes laid out, he was still stunned.

At first, the guests didn’t notice. Only when dishes were brought before them for tasting, with servants explaining the cooking methods, did the guests gradually realize something was wrong.

Zhao Hanzhang was the county magistrate. Regardless of what people thought, within Xiping County, she was the boss!

So she and Zhu Chuan, the host, sat at the head. Fu Tinghan took Zhao Erlang to sit below, opposite Zhao Ming and Zhao Cheng.

Below them sat quite a few people in a row, and there were more in the garden pavilions. Since this was a banquet, the main focus was tasting dishes, so dishes were served one by one. After tasting one, the next was served.

Eating and eating, someone raised a question: “Why are there only beans? Even this beef is stir-fried with soybean oil.”

Zhu Chuan loved this dish most. Hearing this, he asked, “Isn’t it delicious? I think this dish is the best—the cook also added some ginger slices. It removes the gamey taste with a mild spiciness and has great texture.”

Seeing Zhao Hanzhang beside him looking at him, he specially explained to everyone: “This ox previously injured its leg. I deliberately kept it until last night before slaughtering it. The meat is still fresh.”

“The taste is acceptable, but why use soybean oil instead of beef tallow or lamb fat for cooking?”

Zhu Chuan said, “Beef is red meat. Vegetable oil is best. Why would we use animal fat?”

“But soybean oil is base,” the other person said. “Master Zhu, today’s banquet has too many bean items.”

Zhu Chuan frowned slightly.

Zhao Hanzhang then asked, “Is this tofu not tasty, or is this tofu skin not palatable? What’s wrong with the flavor?”

The other person hesitated before saying, “Too coarse.”

—