The general is coming back!
Not back to the Qingzhou camp, but back to the general's mansion!
The General's Mansion, which has been ownerless all year round, is boiling at this moment! The servants and maids worked hard without touching the floor, cleaning, sorting, inspecting and repairing, making sure that the entire general's mansion was in the most perfect condition before the general returned!
Everyone was preparing energetically, except for the housekeeper who wandered off and sighed from time to time.
Someone asked the steward what was wrong.
The housekeeper shook his head and turned to leave without saying a word, but he was muttering in his heart: Who is that Chinese girl...
…
After seven or eight days of this, Fu Tingye really came back.
In the deep night, the General and a group of his soldiers entered the city at high speed. He was riding lightly in plainclothes and was very low-key, but he could not conceal the fierce and powerful aura around him.
The gate of the General's Mansion opened, and the servants quickly led the horses to the stables. The road inside the gate was smooth and clean, and the lanterns on both sides were brightly lit, but there was no feeling of warmth. It only made the General's Mansion more solemn and solemn in the night.
Butler Zhao greeted Fu Tingye respectfully and led him all the way to the front hall and served him hot tea.
"The food is ready. General, should you eat first or take a shower and change clothes?"
Fu Tingye drank the hot tea in one sip, put down the tea cup, glanced around the door, and asked, "Where is she?"
Didn't she know about the big news of his return home? No matter what, you should come out to greet him.
Butler Zhao's heart skipped a beat. Although his face was still calm, he began to panic in his heart!
"I wonder...who is she that the General is talking about?" Butler Zhao pretended to be calm and replied.
Fu Tingye raised his eyebrows and looked at the butler who had lowered his eyebrows suspiciously, finally realizing that something was wrong.
"Hua Qingxue, she's not here?" Fu Tingye asked in a low tone, obviously feeling worried.
Butler Zhao began to sweat from behind, and reported truthfully: "General, I have never heard of this person in the house..."
Fu Tingye stood up suddenly!
All the servants inside and outside the front hall held their breath!
Butler Zhao was forced to bear someone's sharp gaze, and his scalp went numb! He was carrying it hard, not daring to raise his head!
Fu Tingye did not get angry...
He just stared at the housekeeper for a while, and then paced back and forth in the hall twice, very irritated!
Why isn't she here? ! Didn't those people send her to Panshui City? … How can this be? ! It's only an hour's journey, could something else happen
Fu Tingye frowned, summoned a soldier, and ordered him to go to the Qingzhou camp to inquire about the matter immediately.
How could a living person suddenly disappear like this? !
Fu Tingye lost his appetite and his mood was vaguely depressed.
Originally, on the way, I was thinking about telling Hua Qingxue what happened after the prince returned to Beijing, and I also imagined how she would look after hearing this. But now, she is not in the house at all!
"Prepare water, I want to take a bath and rest." Fu Tingye said a word and walked out of the front hall with a gloomy face.
Butler Zhao and the servants looked at each other and hurriedly lowered their heads to follow.
…
The sun was setting in the west and the sky was getting dark.
Without the sunshine, the temperature dropped suddenly. The cold caused fewer and fewer people on the street, and the shops and vendors also closed their stalls and went home.
Aunt Cao next door kindly advised Hua Qingxue: "Go back early. It will get late and it will be difficult to walk on the road. The New Year is approaching recently and business is not as good as before. It doesn't matter if we lose an hour."
Hua Qingxue smiled and nodded, stood up and started to close the stall.
Business was not very good today, only about ten bowls of tea were sold, and there was a lot left in the bucket. Hua Qingxue gave the remaining tea water to the uncles and aunts at the nearby stall, drinking it to warm her body.
During the period of setting up a stall, she gradually became familiar with the nearby stall owners, so she gave up the idea of going to Dongzheng Street. She felt that the current situation was quite good. She could rest at home in the morning and work at the stall in the afternoon to earn money. The sleep passed away, and I still felt particularly fulfilled.
With the help of Aunt Cao, Hua Qingxue piled everything on the cart, waved to everyone, and took the cart home slowly.
When I walked to Tongling Alley, I smelled the aroma of food wafting around, and felt inexplicably comfortable.
This kind of peaceful life can completely relax people, which is completely different from the tense days in Renqiu City.
Aunt He didn't know whether it was because she heard the sound of the cart's wheels, so she walked out of the yard to meet her, helped her push the cart into the yard, and unloaded the barrels, benches and other things on it.
As soon as the wooden barrel was taken out and it was empty, Aunt He knew that Hua Qingxue had distributed the tea randomly again. She couldn't help but sigh: "The tea you sell every day is not as much as the tea you give away. How can you make money in the long run... "
Hua Qingxue smiled casually, "Actually, I didn't give much away. Business has been bad recently. I only brewed half a barrel of each type of tea every day, and the tea is hard to sell overnight, so why not give it away as a favor?"
Aunt He still had a look of disapproval, feeling that this girl was too real-minded and would suffer losses when doing business.
Hua Qingxue smiled and took out the things given by other stall owners and said, "Don't worry, Auntie. Here, look, these are the cabbage given by Uncle Niu, the tofu given by Aunt Cao, and the sesame cakes given by Uncle Li... I feel like I It’s still profitable.”
Aunt He was helpless and funny at the same time. She sighed and had to give up.
After a while, he couldn't help but persuade her: "Since business has been bad recently, don't go out to the stall. It's freezing. The girl's family is most taboo about getting cold. It's better to think of other ways to make a living at home. You're still young. Know how to cherish, and it will be too late to regret it when you get older..."
"I understand." Hua Qingxue nodded with a smile, "I just thought that doing business should be persevering. It's not good to fish for three days and dry the nets for two days. However, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, and everyone is busy buying new year's goods. , tea is really not profitable."
When it comes to tea, the low-end point is to quench thirst, and the high-end point is to drink tea.
Hua Qingxue's tea is neither good nor bad. It can quench thirst, but it still has some flavor. It can't be compared with those famous teas, so this business can only make a living, but there is really no profit.
Seeing her calm look, Aunt He couldn't help but be stunned and asked, "What, you have an idea?"
Hua Qingxue nodded, "Well, I just don't know if it will work. I'll try it tomorrow."
…
The next day, Hua Qingxue did not get up early to make tea again. She went to the street and found the grain shop from last time.
The clerk in the grain store actually recognized her. When he saw her, he smiled and asked, "Girl, are you here to buy jade and wheat again?"
"Yes." Hua Qingxue nodded, stretched out her hand and pinched the corn cobs piled into a hill, which were hard.
"How much do you want?" The boy took the scale and prepared to weigh it.
Hua Qingxue smiled and said, "Sell them all to me."
"Huh?" The guy was dumbfounded, "All... all?"
Few people usually buy jade wheat. Although it is cheap, everyone prefers to eat fresh jade wheat. Sun-dried jade wheat is not very popular, so Hua Qingxue said she wanted them all, and the guy really ate them. shock!
The clerk at the grain store said kindly: "Girl, you want so much...are you planning to grind jade wheat flour? If you buy more, our mill behind the grain store can grind it for you cheaper."
Hua Qingxue smiled and shook her head, "No need to grind it into flour. I just want these dried corns. Can you help me deliver them home? I can't get them by myself."
"Okay! No problem!" The grain store clerk agreed, then turned around and quickly filled Hua Qingxue's bag with corn.
Hua Qingxue bought corn and wanted to make popcorn.
She has thought about it carefully. Popcorn is easy to make and the ingredients are easy to find. It only requires corn kernels and sugar. Of course, it would be better if there is butter, but she doesn’t know if they sell butter here...
If not, it doesn't matter, Hua Qingxue can extract it by herself, but it will be more troublesome.
—Popcorn is only fragrant when butter is added, so it’s worth the extra effort.
Hua Qingxue asked the waiter to help her bag the corn first, saying that she would come back later and she wanted to go somewhere else to see if she could buy fresh milk.
If you want to refine butter, you have to put the fresh milk into a container and stir continuously. Goat milk or cow's milk can be used. After stirring for hundreds of times, some white semi-solid will float on top of the milk. Use a sieve to remove the white oil and squeeze it dry. The moisture is then refined and becomes butter.
Although he knew the method, it was very tedious and troublesome to make. Hua Qingxue still hoped to find ready-made butter.
After shopping for a few streets, she actually bought it!
It is said that this butter was purchased from herders in the north. No one usually buys it, so there is not much in stock. There are only two large pieces of butter the size of bricks in the whole store.
Hua Qingxue checked the quality and found that the quality of the butter was particularly good and mellow. She was overjoyed and bought all the butter!
Anyway, the weather is cold now, so even if you buy a lot, you don’t have to worry about the butter melting.
Hua Qingxue returned home with butter and corn, and couldn't wait to get into the kitchen, wanting to try a pot first.
She added a small piece of butter to the pot, heated it slowly over low heat, then sprinkled a handful of corn kernels, spread them evenly over the bottom of the pot, and covered the pot with a lid.
After doing this, Hua Qingxue ran into the yard again, picked up two bricks, picked them up with a cloth, and pressed them on the pot lid. She was worried that the air pressure in the pot was too high and the pot lid would fly off!
Hua Qingxue added some firewood to the stove and the fire started to burn. After a while, she could hear a crackling sound coming from the pot, which was very pleasant.
She quickly lowered the fire, then held the pot lid with one hand and held the pot with the other, shaking it hard -
Shake and shake until my wrists are sore, and the crackling sound gradually becomes smaller.
Hua Qingxue waited patiently for the sound to almost completely disappear before opening the pot lid with confidence.
A burst of corn-flavored heat hit my face, it was so fragrant!
However, it wasn't finished yet. Hua Qingxue added a few spoonfuls of sugar to the pot, stirred it with a shovel, and waited until the sugar melted and spread on the popcorn. Only then did the plump popcorn come out of the pot!
—Sweet popcorn, done!
Hua Qingxue couldn't wait to try one. She was so lucky. It was a great success the first time she made it. It was fragrant and sweet!
She smiled and arched her eyebrows. At this moment, she heard the familiar sound of a cart rolling outside the courtyard gate. Hua Qingxue picked up a bowl of popcorn and ran out, "Auntie! I'll give you something delicious!"
As soon as she ran out of the kitchen, she saw a tall and sturdy man appearing at the door of the courtyard...