Everyone fell into thought.
A dock was a long embankment stretching from land into the water, where land and water met.
Earl Xingyi Liang Qu was from Pingyang in Nan Huai. Pingyang Prefecture bordered the Jianghuai Marshlands, where reeds grew lushly—one wharf every ten paces, one dock every hundred, one harbor every thousand.
The watery homeland had been deeply intertwined with Liang Qu's life. It was only natural that it became a place to eat and sleep.
But French fries...
"A kind of round tuber. Its stem is diamond-shaped and covered in fine hairs. It grows deep underground, similar to peanuts. The tubers are large, with thin yellow skin; one is enough to fill a person's stomach. They can be roasted or boiled, and with a light sprinkle of salt, they taste uniquely delicious. It's a pity..."
Liang Qu sighed.
He recalled seven years ago.
At the time, chili peppers and many spices had been brought in by the Western Army and had only just begun spreading through Da Shun, becoming a new flavor that replaced pepper. Seizing the opportunity, he had started a spicy hot pot business. It became wildly popular, and he made a modest profit.
Now, all manner of hot pots were commonplace in the Imperial Capital, but potatoes were still buried in some unknown nook or cranny. He had never seen them.
He missed them terribly. He did not know whether they even existed.
"Thin yellow skin, buried deep in the soil... Could the thing Junior Brother speaks of be a potato?"
"Hm?"
Liang Qu abruptly looked up. The one speaking was none other than his Senior Brother, Yang Xu!
He nodded eagerly.
"Yes, potatoes! Exactly, potatoes! Senior Brother, how do you... Right, Senior Brother, you were one of the pioneers of the Western Army! Does