Jiang Yanyi was slightly annoyed and punched him on the chest.
Feng Shuo chuckled twice, and completely embraced her in his arms. He rested his chin on her shoulder and closed his eyes and said, "I heard that you gave the young lady of the An Mansion a bad idea?"
Jiang Yanyi said dissatisfiedly: "Mrs. An and General An have reconciled, how can this be considered a bad idea?"
Feng Shuo said, "The water in Yan Lake is deep. If something unexpected happens, it will be hard to explain to the An family."
He lifted Jiang Yanyi's chin with one hand, and rubbed her small, white chin with his rough fingers. "First cry, then make a scene, then hang yourself. Not all men in this world will fall for this. If An Yongyuan hadn't rushed over, how would you expect this couple to end up?"
Jiang Yanyi turned her head away from his hand and muttered softly, "I wouldn't dare to try this method on others. It's only because General An values Madam An that I think I can take the risk."
She looked up and saw that Feng Shuo seemed very tired, so she stood up, walked around behind him, put her ten soft fingers on his shoulders, and kneaded and massaged vigorously, "Life is only a few decades long. If we can be together well, why do we have to dwell on misunderstandings and suspicions?"
After Jiang Yanyi finished speaking, there was no sound from Feng Shuo for a long time. When she lowered her head, she found that he was leaning against the back of the chair with his eyes slightly closed. He had actually fallen asleep.
She walked to the front and touched the short, light blue stubble on Feng Shuo's chin with heartache.
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command have entrusted their lives to him. The money and food of Xizhou have to be supplied by Yuzhou and Hengzhou. The imperial court is pressing him step by step. Every step he takes now is like walking on a knife edge.
Jiang Yanyi found a thin blanket and put it on Feng Shuo. He bent down and kissed him on the lips, then tiptoed out of the study.
As soon as she walked out of the door, she ran into Xing Yao, who was holding a thick stack of official documents in his hands. When he saw Jiang Yanyi, he respectfully called out, "Miss Chu."
Jiang Yanyi put her index finger to her lips, signaling Xing Yao to keep his voice down. She turned her head and glanced into the room. Seeing that Feng Shuo showed no signs of waking up, she whispered to Xing Yao, "He's asleep. Let him take a nap."
Xing Yao sighed: "The prince hasn't slept for several nights."
Jiang Yanyi frowned and said, "How can we not sleep? Even a strong man can't stand it."
Xing Yao said helplessly: "The meal is also irregular. The prince has been upset recently, and we servants dare not persuade him too much."
Jiang Yanyi knew Feng Shuo's temper. If he said no, no one below would dare to say a word.
She glanced back at the door and said to Xing Yao, "I'll go back home and make some soup. I'll bring it over later and watch him drink it in person."
Xing Yao was overjoyed when he heard this, and bowed deeply to Jiang Yanyi: "Thank you, Miss Chu."
***
After the Gudong Soup Shop moved to Ruyi Building, Jiang Yanyi's original shop became idle. She tidied it up and started selling noodles and sauces in the shop. Because of its good location and previous reputation, this place became another instant noodle sales point.
The business in the store is stable, and Qiu Kui can take care of it alone. If anything happens, she can just shout into the yard and Chu Zhong will come out to help.
Jiang Yanyi had nothing to do before, so he made oden in the shop. He originally planned to cook it for himself, but the aroma of the marinade attracted passers-by, who asked if the shop had launched a new pot.
In the end, they ate half of the oden themselves and sold the other half.
When Qiu Kui was alone in the shop, there were not always people buying noodles and seasonings and sauces, mostly when they were bored. Jiang Yanyi now had to go to Ruyi Tower to look after it, and she was bored, so she begged Jiang Yanyi to let her sell oden.
The soup base of oden is modified by Jiang Yanyi using the old hot pot recipe. The braised ingredients are so fragrant that they make your mouth water.
It costs a lot of money to eat a meal of ancient soup, but most people are still willing to try a few skewers of oden.
Lotus root slices, potato slices, kelp knots, and tofu puffs were sold for two strings for one penny, while coriander meatballs and fish balls were sold for one penny per string. The income seemed to be small, but within a few days, it could be sold for a coin. The cost of the ingredients was only a little over a hundred coins, and the net profit was more than eight hundred coins.
Some clever vendors also started selling oden, but the taste was always disappointing, and their business was far from that of Jiang Yanyi's store.
When Jiang Yanyi returned, Qiu Kui was sitting on a small stool with a charcoal basin next to her and swollen kelp in another basin. She quickly rolled up the kelp and tied it into a knot. After she finished tying a knot on a piece of kelp, she cut off the small knots with scissors, washed them, put them on bamboo sticks, and put them into the iron pot on the stove to cook.
The aroma wafted out of the shop along with the hot steam, and diners came in from time to time.
Jiang Yanyi greeted Qiu Kui and went straight to the kitchen. Since the shop no longer sold pots, the ingredients in the kitchen would not be so complete. Jiang Yanyi looked around and planned to buy a chicken from Ma the butcher to stew chicken soup for Feng Shuo, and also send a bowl of soup to Chu Yangui.
But when she went to Ma the butcher's shop, she found out that all the chickens for the day had been sold out.
"Boss, look, here are two pigeons. It is said that 'one pigeon is better than nine chickens'. Pigeon stew is more nutritious than old hen soup!" Butcher Ma picked up two fat pigeons and showed them to Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi hesitated for a while and said, "Okay, please help me kill the pigeons."
It would be troublesome to kill the pigeon feathers and boil water to make soup.
"Okay!" Butcher Ma took the pigeon to the side and said while busying himself: "When your Ruyi Restaurant opened, it completely covered Laifu Restaurant. It is much farther from Ruyi Restaurant to my shop than before, but as long as you give me a message in advance, I can deliver the meat you need to Ruyi Restaurant. If you need meat, you can buy it from me!"
A few days ago, when Ruyilou's business was good, the kitchen ran out of fresh meat, so the staff went to a nearby butcher shop to buy some. Jiang Yanyi guessed that Ma the butcher heard that people in her shop went to buy meat somewhere else.
She said, "Of course, I have always bought meat from you. A few days ago, the meat we ordered was not enough, so we asked the waiter to buy it from the nearest place."
Butcher Ma grinned, wrapped the two pigeons in dry lotus leaves and handed them to Jiang Yanyi, "I hope your business will be more prosperous. Since your antique shop moved, the whole Duhufu Street has not been as lively as before."
Jiang Yanyi smiled and said, "You're flattering me."
When she took the wrapped pigeon, the butcher saw a woman walking across the street with bags in her hands and a veil on her head. He said in confusion, "That female itinerant doctor has a big appetite. Every day I see her buying a lot of food at the market."
Jiang Yanyi followed the butcher's gaze and felt that the female itinerant doctor's back looked familiar. She said, "Maybe there is someone else at home."
Butcher Ma shook his head and said, "My wife caught a cold a few days ago. I heard that this female itinerant doctor is very good at scraping. I even took my wife there. She is a widow who lives alone and rarely goes out."
Speaking of scraping, Jiang Yanyi thought of the female doctor who had scraped him before, the one who just walked past.
If what she was holding were all food, it would probably be enough for seven or eight people.
After hearing what the butcher Jingma said, Jiang Yanyi also felt it was a bit strange.
She picked up the pigeon and wanted to follow the female itinerant doctor to have a look, but in the blink of an eye, the female itinerant doctor disappeared from the market. Jiang Yanyi thought that she still had to make soup for Feng Shuo, so she had to go back to the shop first.
To be fair, Jiang Yanyi doesn't really like using the ancient flint. When it is rubbed, it smells like saltpeter, which is very pungent.
After the fire is lit, scoop cold water into the pot, put the two pigeons in first, pour a spoonful of hot water to blanch them, to remove the fishy smell and cook out the blood foam.
Pigeons are a top-grade tonic. They not only nourish the brain and kidneys, but also regulate blood sugar in the human body. They are a great tonic for Feng Shuo, who has been working hard recently, and Chu Yangui, who is studying hard.
After boiling away the blood, Jiang Yanyi picked up the two pigeons, put them into a casserole, added water, ginger slices, and then tied the green onions into a knot and put them in, then stewed them in a small stove.
While waiting for the water to boil, she took out a few dried red dates and removed the cores with a knife, soaked the mushrooms in hot water, and cut a few slices of yam and Astragalus membranaceus.
After the soup in the casserole boiled, all the processed ingredients were put in, along with a spoonful of wolfberry, a few cinnamon sticks, and a few codonopsis roots.
Pigeon soup is a medicinal food. Adding these medicinal ingredients not only enhances the taste of the soup but also doubles its nutritional value.
After simmering on low heat for an hour, the lid of the casserole was opened, and the fragrance of pigeon meat mixed with the aroma of various mushrooms and medicinal herbs wafted out. Jiang Yanyi felt that just smelling the aroma could prolong his life.
She scooped a bowl with a spoon and tasted it. The soup was very fresh, but the taste was combined with mushrooms and medicinal herbs, and it was more of a light yet mellow aroma. Paired with fat but not greasy pigeon meat, drinking such a soup was really a pleasure.
Jiang Yanyi nodded with satisfaction, divided the pigeon soup into two bowls, and sent one bowl to Chu Yangui. When Duke Chen, who was teaching Chu Yangui in the room, saw that it was pigeon soup, he even said that he was in for a treat as well.
Jiang Yanyi personally delivered the remaining can to Feng Shuo.
When she entered the room, Feng Shuo was already dealing with official documents. Perhaps he had encountered some difficult problem, for he was looking at the documents in his hand with a frown on his face.
Jiang Yanyi calmly placed the soup bowl on his desk. Feng Shuo raised his head and smiled: "You're here."
Jiang Yanyi served him some soup: "How did you know I would come?"
Feng Shuo put down his pen and asked, "Is there anything else in this mansion that I don't know?"
He took the bowl of soup and drank it all in one gulp.
Jiang Yanyi didn't think he had lost weight before, but after Xing Yao said that, now she felt that Feng Shuo had lost weight no matter how she looked at him.
She scooped the pigeon meat, which had been stewed until it was so tender that the flesh and bones could be separated at the touch, into his bowl: "Eat more meat, it will nourish you."
Pigeons often fly in the sky. Their meat is firmer and more elastic than chicken, and it tastes delicious.
After drinking a bowl of soup, Feng Shuo felt that all the fatigue of the past few days was swept away.
Jiang Yanyi asked him, "What's bothering you that makes you frown like this?"
Feng Shuo said: "More and more refugees are pouring into Xizhou City. Now Xizhou City is full of good and bad people. Last night, someone even tried to break into the prison and kidnap Jiang Yanxi."
Jiang Yanyi said, "Choose the lesser of two evils. Why not just close the city gates?"
Feng Shuo pinched his brows and said, "I'm worried that the new emperor has sneaked into the city. Just in case, you should bring more people with you when you go out these days. I will find you a maid who knows martial arts later."
He had been anxious to propose marriage earlier because he wanted to settle the marriage so that he wouldn't have to ask others to send him a woman.
But he still underestimated how much the new emperor valued Jiang Yanxi. If the new emperor sneaked into Xizhou City, Jiang Yanyi would become a sitting duck.
The author has something to say: When I was writing about pigeon soup, I felt inexplicably terrified. (terrified.jpg)
Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2021-01-13 23:59:57~2021-01-14 23:59:37~
Thanks to the little angel who threw the rocket launcher: pp 1;
Thanks to the little angel who threw the grenade: Brother Mei, hehehe 1;
Thanks to the little angel who cast mines: 2 for grumpy kungie; 1 for the beautiful scenery and delicious food;
Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: Irene 30 bottles; Galahard 29 bottles; Lu Jia Nu, Little Fox, Little Pig 10 bottles; Yuan Yuanxi26, A Little Flower 5 bottles; Yun Shen Yi Meng 3 bottles;
Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!