Chapter 46 Tiger Meat

"Prefect Tian, I hear Zhang Chen, courtesy name Chuyang, used to be your Tian family's live-in son-in-law." Liu Zongyuan, the Dengzhou prefectural judge, cast a look at Tian Xuewen that was neither a smile nor a frown. He certainly knew how to press all the wrong buttons.

Marching aggressively into Zhang Village, Liu Zongyuan had believed he could at least force Zhang Chen to cough up two hundred thousand taels of silver, leaving their prefectural yamen with a share of over seventy thousand taels.

Yet Zhang Chen proved eloquent and sharp-witted, completely immune to both soft and hard tactics. He was only willing to offer fifty thousand taels' worth of silk, satin, or copper blocks.

Since Shi Keren had relatives and friends serving as officials in the capital, and Qi Dazhi was Liu Lika's son-in-law, they had to be given a share of those silks, satins, or copper blocks. In the end, the Dengzhou Prefectural Yamen could at best secure a mere ten thousand taels' worth.

This fell woefully short of Liu Zongyuan's expectations, leaving him thoroughly displeased.

Since Liu Zongyuan was unhappy, he wanted to make Tian Xuewen miserable. "Old Tian, after your daughter Tian Yachun married Zhang Chen, she refused to share the bridal chamber with him, and by noon the very next day, she drove him out to Zhang Village."

"When Zhang Chen attended a literary gathering and happened to cross paths with your esteemed daughter, he recalled the beauty of their first encounter and, deeply moved, composed the first half of that exquisite *Mulan Ci*: 'If only life remained as fair as our first meeting; why must the autumn wind sorrowfully fan the painted fan? Men's hearts easily alter as seasons shift, yet they claim it is the human heart that changes so lightly.'"

Liu Zongyuan chuckled. "Zhang Chuyang's half-stanza of the *Mulan Ci* is spreading rapidly and will soon be the talk of the entire realm. Naturally, the story of your esteemed daughter Tian Yachun and her live-in son-in-law Zhang Chen is spreading just as fast. Word has it—or so they say—that quite a few people are ridiculing the Tian family for being blind to true talent and failing to recognize the brilliant scholar Zhang Chen."

A few days earlier, after being banished to Zhang Village, Zhang Chen had led the local militia to repel the Cishan bandit gang known as the Bald-Headed Strongmen. Then, at the literary gathering, he had composed that magnificent half of the *Mulan Ci*.

Blessed with striking good looks, Zhang Chen possessed both extraordinary talent and formidable capability.

Already, numerous voices were mocking the Tian family.

One could easily imagine that as news spread of Zhang Chen leading a mere eight hundred militia members to annihilate two thousand Japanese pirates on Zhifu Island and nine hundred sea bandits at Futou Village, the mockery directed at the Tian family would only multiply tenfold!

"Prefect Liu, you..." Caught off guard by the public humiliation, Tian Xuewen felt a mixture of hatred and fury, his eyes burning red with rage.

A prefectural judge was typically an official of the direct seventh rank. However, because Dengzhou City served as the seat of the Governor of Dengzhou and Laizhou, Liu Zongyuan held a higher-grade post as a direct sixth-rank official.

Since Liu Zongyuan outranked him, Tian Xuewen had no choice but to swallow his anger.

"Poetry is merely a trifling art, not worth a fig in true talent. I am nothing more than firewood for the stove. On our wedding day, I mocked Yachun's makeup for being terribly done, completely ruining such a fine outfit, and we had a massive row. It was only because she was stung with shame and anger that she refused to share the chamber with me and drove me out to Zhang Village. What married couple doesn't have their teeth occasionally bite their tongue?"

For the sake of Tian Yachun, his lover back in the twenty-first century, Zhang Chen decided to put in a good word for her.

Smiling faintly, Zhang Chen stepped into the living room.

"It is entirely normal for a husband and wife to quarrel and live apart for a time; outsiders are simply reading too much into it. My lords, the silks, satins, and copper blocks equivalent to fifty thousand taels of silver have been prepared. Let us eat first. Old Li Laowai and his son from our village hunted a tiger up in Cishan, so we shall dine on tiger meat today."

Cishan lay a dozen or so li to the northwest of Zhang Village, with barren fields, mountain forests, and rolling hills stretching between them. A small river also meandered from south to north through the area, emptying into the sea.

Hunters were almost universally poor, carrying little silver or coin when they ventured into the mountains. Consequently, bandits and outlaws mostly turned a blind eye when they crossed paths with hunters. This was why the hunters of Zhang Village dared to venture into Cishan to hunt.

Just yesterday, Li Laowai and his son had managed to bring down a tiger in the mountains. Moments ago, the father and his two sons had hauled the beast back.

Upon hearing the news, Zhang Chen had hurried over to Li Laowai's home and purchased the tiger outright with silver.

Coming from the twenty-first century, Zhang Chen had seen tigers in zoos, but he had never tasted tiger meat. Now that he had crossed over into the Great Ming dynasty, he wanted nothing more than to give it a try.

To think that Zhang Chen would actually speak up for his second daughter, Tian Yachun! A shred of goodwill toward Zhang Chen sparked in Tian Xuewen's heart. Defending Yachun like this showed that this young scion still held feelings for her, which meant Yachun's stubborn refusal to leave Zhang Village hadn't been in vain after all!

*A bit sour, tiger meat isn't even that good.* Qi Dazhi cursed inwardly. *After seizing forty thousand taels' worth of property from our Qishan Thousand-Household Office and Futou Village, this bastard Zhang Chen only coughs up fifty thousand taels' worth of textiles and copper. His heart is truly pitch-black!*

"The silks, satins, and copper are ready. Master Zhao..." Having no appetite for tiger meat and wishing to avoid laying eyes on Zhang Chen a moment longer, Liu Zongyuan was eager to leave Zhang Village.

"It has been a long time since I last tasted tiger meat. Prefect Liu, General Liu, let us sample this Cishan tiger today."

Zhao Chengzuan, the chief strategist to Deng-Lai Governor Sun Yuanhua, was the head of the investigation team and held Sun Yuanhua's absolute trust.

Since Zhao Chengzuan had decided to partake in the midday meal at Zhang Village, Liu Zongyuan, Liu Lika, Shi Keren, and the others had no choice but to stay for the meal.

*Utterly lacking in tact, these people actually decided to stay and eat!* Zhang Chen cursed inwardly. *I was just exchanging empty pleasantries, for goodness' sake! Well, whatever—Zhao Chengzuan must have business with me anyway.*

In the back kitchen of Zhang Chen's courtyard, veteran hunters from Zhang Village had already dressed the tiger carcass, setting aside the bones and blood as well.

At the fourth quarter of the noon hour, the banquet commenced.

Chef Wang from the Qi Family Restaurant on the front street presided as head chef, working alongside Zhang Chen's own cooks, Old Yang and Little Zhou, to prepare a grand all-tiger feast.

The dishes primarily featured savory profiles, emphasizing rich aromas and tender textures, prepared using steaming, boiling, stir-frying, and blanching techniques that made the meat easy to cook.

Zhang Chen and Qi Guoshu sat alongside Zhao Chengzuan, Liu Lika, Liu Zongyuan, Tian Xuewen, Shi Keren, Qi Dazhi, and Zhao Fuli.

With numerous dishes prepared from head to toe, inside and out, using every part of the tiger, Zhang Chen exchanged a few polite pleasantries with Zhao Chengzuan before diving right in with gusto, thoroughly enjoying the meal.

Midway through the feast, Zhao Chengzuan found an excuse to dismiss Tian Xuewen, Shi Keren, and Qi Dazhi. Clinking his wine cup with Qi Guoshu, he said, "Old Qi, I have some private matters to discuss with Zhang Chen. Why don't you step outside for a stroll?"

"Old Zhao, Uncle Guoshu is the village head of Zhang Village. I suspect whatever business you have with me is official anyway, so Uncle Qi doesn't need to leave. Just speak freely."

Zhang Chen took a sip of water. "You're after the technology for the flying-locust trench mortars and homemade hand grenades, aren't you? That's not a problem at all. As long as you provide Zhang Village with enough iron, we can hand over the manufacturing techniques for both to the Deng-Lai Governor's Yamen."

"Those trench mortars are basically oversized double-thundercrackers."

Liu Lika chuckled. "One can easily purchase your village's homemade hand grenades on the black market. They're just granulated black powder, iron shards, and iron nails packed into a small ceramic jar with a fuse sticking out. Zhang Chen, we don't need the technology for the mortars or the grenades."

Futou Village had formerly functioned as a black market, though it was far from the only one within Dengzhou Prefecture.

With eight hundred men in the Zhang Village militia, it was hardly surprising if an individual soldier secretly fenced a few grenades. More importantly, the Zhang Village arsenal employed hundreds of workers in the grenade workshop; it was only natural that someone might clandestinely sell a few pieces on the side.