During the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, a new prefect came to Huayin, surnamed Zhang Mingming. This day was the day Zhang Zhixian took office, and county mayor Wang Quan led a group of officials early on, waiting to be greeted outside the county yamen.
The man sitting on the donkey was in his fifties, wearing a cloth shirt, like an old man in the countryside. He squinted his eyes and seemed to be sleeping on back of the donkey, looking very funny. The accompanying servant came forward, saluted him, and asked, "Is this the Huayin County Office?" Wang Quan nodded, and the servant turned around and said to the man on the donkey, "My lord, we are here."
The man opened his eyes and said, "Ah, so fast?" Saying this, he took out a piece of paper from his bag and handed it to the servant, who then handed it over to the king. When the king looked at it, it turned out that the old man was the new county magistrate Zhang Yi, so he hurriedly brought someone forward to welcome him. Zhang Yi got off the back of the donkey and said, "Let's not talk about polite words." Zhang has been rushing for a long time in order to go to the office, and he is already hungry.
When Wang Quan heard this, he hurriedly said that the banquet had already been prepared. Who knew that Zhang Yi waved his hand and said that he would not eat the banquet, just get something casually, as long as it can be full.
After the meal, Zhang Yi asked Wang Quan if there were any local specialties. Wang Quan was a local, so he proudly introduced it, saying that the land here was vast and fertile, and the flow of the Yellow River slowed down here, forming a natural harbor. Therefore, the carp here was not only big, but also fresh and tender. The soup boiled with it had a mellow taste and a particularly delicious taste, which could be called a must in the world. Seeing that Zhang Yi was interested, Wang Quan hurriedly ordered people to fish and make soup. After a while, the Yellow River carp soup was made, and Zhang Yi took a bite of the fish and drank the soup, which really had a unique flavor.
Wang Quan fawned at this and said, "My lord, it tastes good, right? To tell you the truth, this Yellow River Carp Soup is the signature dish of the local restaurants. All the customers who ate it will not praise it."
Who knew that when Zhang Yi heard this, he actually slapped his chopsticks on the table and said, "Pass on my order, from now on, it is forbidden to catch carp in the Yellow River, and anyone who fishes and entertains guests will be punished with a felony." Wang Quan asked in surprise, "My lord, why is this?Zhang Yi said with a sullen face, "Why? Don't you know?Wang Quan boldly said, "My lord, the villain really doesn't know. Zhang Yi sneered and said, "If you don't know, then what do you want your county to do?"
When King Quan heard this, he immediately knelt on the ground in fright and said, "My lord, I understand. I'm going to issue an order to stop fishing." After saying that, he got up, took three steps and two steps before running out.
A few days later, Wang Quan accompanied Zhang Yi to investigate people's feelings and came to an apricot forest. At this time, it was the season when the apricots were ripe. The branches were yellow and covered with apricots the size of a child's fist, which was very gratifying.
Wang Quan said that the apricots produced here are big and sweet, and the apricots produced in other places are not comparable. Wang Quan asked someone to pick a few, and Zhang Yi took a bite.
After eating the apricots, Zhang Yi looked at the apricot forest and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "It's a pity, it's a pity..." Wang Quan didn't understand what it meant, but because of his last experience, he didn't dare to ask. After a while, Zhang Yi opened his mouth and said that such a large piece of fertile land needed to be planted into crops, and he didn't know how many people could be fed. Then he asked Wang Quan to cut down all the apricot trees and plant crops.
Although Wang Quan was very angry, he didn't dare to say anything. This county magistrate was too strange, he must be suffering from some disease, otherwise why didn't he like good things? Wang Quan wanted to try it and see if there was anything wrong with this county magistrate, so he told him: There is a local river that produces a small river shrimp, which is not much bigger than soybeans. When the people catch small river shrimp, they marinate it with vinegar, commonly known as "vinegar shrimp", which is a good seasoning for eating and drinking. Sure enough, Zhang Yi was interested when he heard it. In fact, this kind of river shrimp is small in size, has little meat, and tastes extremely bad. It can't be served on the table. It is a dish for poor families. Rich families or people with a little status disdain eating this kind of thing at all.
Wang Quan brought over the vinegar shrimp and let Zhang Yi taste it. Zhang Yi took a bite, and the taste was okay at first, but the more he chewed, the less tasty it became. Looking at Zhang Yi's frown slowly, Wang Quan's heart hung.
Unexpectedly, Zhang Yi put down his chopsticks, and even claimed that it was "good" and that Wang Quan had to prepare a lot for future guests. When Wang Quan heard that, he wiped the sweat on his forehead with his hand and muttered in his heart, "It's over, this county magistrate really has a quirk, does he like it or not..." Gradually, the local people also knew about Zhang Yi's quirks, and secretly called him "weird old man".