In years of famine and drought, their village even rejected fatty meat.

Chapter 657 Justice

Li Qiao's face was filled with disbelief.

The Xia Kingdom had no concept of equality for all. In this feudal country, the lives of nobles were far more valuable than those of commoners, let alone a prince like the King of Qing.

It is no exaggeration to say that even the lives of tens of thousands of ordinary people are far less precious than the life of King Shangqing.

But Zheng Qiuyan told him that Chen Daozhi wanted to kill Qing Wang only because Qing Wang had killed a commoner woman named Lü Xiaoyu.

This completely shattered Li Qiao's worldview.

Compared to Li Qiao, Li Mingyuan was no less shocked, but Li Mingyuan focused more on the actions of the Green King.

"To allow commoner women to serve barbarians and to let them be brutally murdered by the barbarians, Xia Yuanying is truly worse than a pig or a dog!"

Li Mingyuan cursed angrily with a grim face. Back in the capital, he was already quite dissatisfied with Xia Yuanying's evil deeds and had repeatedly petitioned the late emperor, urging him to severely punish the Prince of Qing.

Unfortunately... although the late emperor could be considered a wise ruler, he also had the idea of ​​protecting one's own relatives, so it was obviously impossible for him to severely punish his own flesh and blood. Most of the time, he would just give them a verbal reprimand.

However, due to Li Mingyuan's repeated impeachments, Xia Yuanying has become much more restrained, but...

Li Mingyuan never expected that after leaving the capital, Xia Yuanying not only resurfaced but also became even more ruthless, causing immense suffering to the people of Qingzhou!

"Yes! That Green King is truly no different from a beast."

Zheng Qiuyan recalled the scenes from her time in the mass grave, a look of sorrow flashing in her eyes.

As a woman, she could empathize even more deeply with the experiences of Lü Xiaoyu and others—being humiliated by barbarians and then having her flesh devoured by them. Such an ordeal…

That's enough to chill any woman's heart.

But this is the reality for ordinary people in this world. Faced with the powerful and wealthy, they have no power to resist and can only let the powerful and wealthy bully them.

If it weren't for Chen Dao's impulsive actions, Lü Xiaoyu and the corpses left to be devoured by wild dogs in the mass grave would probably have had nowhere to seek justice.

"Chen Dao is quite a free-spirited person."

After a brief moment of shock, a hint of admiration flashed in Li Qiao's eyes. Martial artists should have courage and bravery, but when faced with powerful and influential people, very few would dare to draw their swords in anger.

Chen Dao... was one of the few people Li Qiao had ever met who dared to draw his sword against the powerful and wealthy.

Of course, the most important reason for Chen Dao drawing his sword was to uphold justice for the common people. He angrily drew his sword and killed the evil king. Such a deed is enough to make every person with a sense of justice admire him.

"Yes!"

Zheng Qiuyan nodded, Chen Dao's face flashing through her mind, and a smile unconsciously appeared on her lips: "Young Master Chen is the person I have ever met who cares most about the common people."

"Now that you mention it, I'm actually interested in meeting Chen Dao!"

Li Mingyuan said with a smile, "Those who know him well know that he is a person who cherishes the people very much. He has never sought fame or fortune in his official career, but only hoped that the people could live a better life."

Therefore, after hearing about Chen Dao's deeds, he couldn't help but develop a certain fondness for Chen Dao.

"There will be a chance."

Just as Zheng Qing was about to say something, the butler walked in, bowed, and reported, "Master, the banquet is ready!"

"I see!"

Zheng Qing waved for the butler to leave first, then said to Li Mingyuan, "Teacher, shall we eat first?"

"Row."

Li Mingyuan nodded.

So the four of them got up and left the living room, heading to the dining room not far away.

The dinner prepared by the Zheng family was not extravagant; there were no delicacies, but there was no shortage of meat.

Roast duck with a deep reddish-brown, translucent skin; fragrant chicken soup; steamed egg custard; stir-fried vegetables…

The tempting meat dishes made Li Qiao, a martial artist who rarely ate meat, unable to stop swallowing his saliva.

"I knew I'd get good food here with Brother Zheng!"

Li Qiao said with great satisfaction that for a high-level martial artist like him, eating meat was certainly not a difficult thing.

However, because he followed Li Mingyuan, and Li Mingyuan was always frugal, Li Qiao rarely got to eat meat, which is why he was so eager for the meat on the table.

"Brother Li and Teacher have come all this way, so I naturally want to treat them well."

Zheng Qing pulled out a chair for Li Mingyuan: "Teacher, please sit down."

Upon hearing this, Li Mingyuan sat down, glanced at the food on the table, and nodded in satisfaction. He had always opposed extravagance and waste, and Zheng Qing understood his habits, so she did not prepare any luxurious food. The food on the table was made with common chicken and duck available in the market.

A moment later, all four of them were seated.

Zheng Qing personally served Li Mingyuan a bowl of chicken soup, saying as she handed it to him, "Teacher, try this chicken soup made from yellow-feathered chicken. The meat of this yellow-feathered chicken is tender and soft, making it the most nourishing for stewing soup."

"Yellow-feathered chicken?"

Li Mingyuan asked with some surprise, "What breed of chicken is this yellow-feathered chicken?"

"Teacher, you may not know this, but this yellow-feathered chicken is one of the specialties of my Taicang County."

Zheng Qing explained, "This chicken grows extremely fast and is very large, so its price is relatively low. Even ordinary people in Taicang County can afford to buy a yellow-feathered chicken if they grit their teeth."

It grows extremely fast and is quite large?

Li Mingyuan was immediately taken aback. As someone who cared deeply about people's livelihoods, he naturally knew how remarkable these two advantages of the yellow-feathered chicken were.

They grow extremely fast and are large in size, which means that in the same amount of time, yellow-feathered chickens can grow more meat. If every household raised yellow-feathered chickens, wouldn't Taicang County have no shortage of meat?

"Besides the yellow-feathered chicken, the white-feathered duck is also a specialty of Taicang County."

Zheng Qing then pointed to the roast duck on the table and said, "White-feathered ducks have the same advantages as yellow-feathered chickens: they are large, grow quickly, and are even cheaper than yellow-feathered chickens when priced by weight."

Upon hearing this, Li Mingyuan couldn't help but look at the roast duck on the table that hadn't been cut yet. He noticed that the roast duck was indeed a size larger than a common duck, and after removing the feathers and roasting it, it would weigh about five or six pounds.

"Where did these yellow-feathered chickens and white-feathered ducks come from?"

Li Mingyuan couldn't help but ask curiously, "If all the people of Kyushu raised these yellow-feathered chickens and white-feathered ducks, wouldn't Kyushu never lack meat again?"

"Teacher, you're making some assumptions!"

Zheng Qing shook his head and said, "Teacher, do you think that if the methods for raising yellow-feathered chickens and white-feathered ducks really spread, it will truly benefit the people? Will they really be able to eat meat?"

Upon hearing this, Li Mingyuan fell silent.

Nowadays, people in various states are starving; there isn't enough grain to eat, let alone meat.

While these yellow-feathered chickens and white-feathered ducks certainly have many advantages, once their popularity spreads, the beneficiaries will definitely not be ordinary people, but rather powerful and wealthy families.