When Jiang Yanyi placed the contract with the merchants' handprints in front of Feng Shuo, Feng Shuo raised his eyebrows in surprise: "You are getting more and more capable."
Jiang Yanyi raised his chin and snorted, "I've got the money for you. I'll wait for you to build the school."
Feng Shuo put down the deed and said, "I'll give it to Song Bozhou later."
Song Bozhou was the recorder of Xizhou. After the fall of Xie Zhizhou, he had been in charge of the Xizhou government office. Naturally, matters such as building private schools and benefiting the people's livelihood were also under his charge.
Jiang Yanyi said: "After the academy is built, I want to erect a stone tablet in the academy and engrave the names of the merchants who contributed money to build the academy."
This move is to give merchants a little sweetness in terms of reputation. Everything needs to be done with both tension and relaxation.
Previously, the people from the Chamber of Commerce collected military supplies, and then she led the merchants to do the porcelain kiln business, allowing the merchants to make some money more or less. This time when she proposed to donate money to set up a private school, the merchants' opposition was not so fierce.
They already have the sweet treat of opening Ruyi Tower in Sishui City, and if she gives them another one, it’s just a matter of engraving a stone tablet, which will give the wealthy businessmen a wave of sugar-coated bullets. Why not do it
Furthermore, the construction of the private school would also be beneficial to Feng Shuo's reputation outside.
The world is in chaos now, and people in other states have trouble making a living, but children from poor families in Xizhou can go to school for free, and merchants also "spontaneously" contribute money to build private schools. It sounds like Xizhou is a paradise that can attract more merchants to bring wealth here, and it will also be beneficial for Fengshuo to recruit talents.
Feng Shuo naturally understood what Jiang Yanyi was thinking about. He said, "It's up to you. The merchants on the list who have invested can have their taxes reduced this year."
The government gave benefits on its own, which was different from Jiang Yanyi trying every means to give benefits to the wealthy businessmen. This was clearly telling the wealthy businessmen that if they responded to the government's decrees, the government would also give them preferential treatment in some aspects.
Jiang Yanyi nodded, stood up and said, "Then I'll go back first."
Feng Shuo looked at her with an ambiguous expression, "Leaving now?"
Jiang Yanyi wanted to tease him, so she took a few steps closer and leaned against his desk in a seductive pose, and asked him with seductive eyes, "What else?"
Feng Shuo didn't say anything, but suddenly pulled her into his arms, pressed his big hand on the back of her neck, and made her bury her head in his chest.
It was chilly in spring, and it often rained and snowed in Xizhou in late winter and early spring. Most people dared not change out of their winter clothes, but Feng Shuo only wore a brocade robe that he wore in early spring, and his figure looked tall and thin.
Jiang Yanyi was caught off guard and fell headfirst, the lip balm on his lips still imprinted on the collar of his snow-white shirt.
Feng Shuo's breathing was steady, but Jiang Yanyi could clearly feel his heartbeat quickening.
When she came to her senses and was about to struggle, she heard two dry coughs coming from the door.
Xing Yao's voice followed closely: "The Grand Concubine heard that Miss Chu came to the mansion, so she asked Miss Chu to come over and have a seat."
Feng Shuo held her neck with one hand, resting his chin on Jiang Yanyi's head, and said in a voice that was neither happy nor angry: "Got it, you can leave now."
Xing Yao knew that he might have caught his master doing something awkward, and was feeling very embarrassed. Upon receiving the order, he quickly left and considerately closed the door.
When Feng Shuo let go of his hand, Jiang Yanyi fumbled out of his arms like an ostrich, his face red as if blood was about to drip out.
It turns out that if you don't seek death, you won't die.
Even though Xing Yao had misunderstood them now, seeing Feng Shuo hugging her was still better than seeing her leaning on the desk and flirting with Feng Shuo...
Feng Shuo's narrow eyes were tinged with a smile, and he glanced at her and said, "Not going on?"
Jiang Yanyi was embarrassed and couldn't save face, so he could only pinch the soft flesh on the inside of his arm to vent his anger.
Feng Shuo had thick skin and didn't feel any pain. Instead, he laughed out loud at her embarrassment.
Jiang Yanyi was so embarrassed and angry that he turned around and walked out: "I'm going to see the Grand Concubine Dowager."
Feng Shuo closed the document in his hand and stood up: "I just happened to be free, so I'll go with you to see mother."
The bright red lip print on his snow-white collar was particularly eye-catching. Jiang Yanyi said, "Why don't you change your clothes?"
Feng Shuo replied with just one word: "Busy."
Jiang Yanyi had no choice but to turn back and wipe off the lip marks on his collar with a handkerchief dipped in some tea. During this time, Feng Shuo kept staring at her.
Although she was standing and Feng Shuo was sitting, Feng Shuo's gaze always made Jiang Yanyi feel an indescribable sense of oppression. She glared at him: "What are you looking at?"
Feng Shuo's voice was lazy and a bit ruffian: "Look at you."
"Then take your time to read it." Jiang Yanyi lowered his eyelids, hiding the ripples in his eyes caused by his words, and spoke in a calm manner.
After wiping the lip print, she was about to withdraw her hand, but Feng Shuo grabbed her wrist. From the back of her hand, her fingers were slender and white, like the roots of green onions, and her knuckles were not even clearly visible. However, there were some faint calluses on the palm and fingertips.
Feng Shuo gently rubbed the calluses on her palms, his voice was low and a little sticky, indescribably sexy, "How did you do it?"
Jiang Yanyi said, "I sharpened it when I was practicing with the crossbow."
Although the crossbow that Feng Shuo made for her was small, her palms became numb several times when she released arrows, and gradually calluses formed on them. She became more and more skilled in using the crossbow, and now she can hit the target from twenty steps away.
Feng Shuo didn't say anything. He stared at her hand for a moment before he gave her a hot kiss. His warm lips stayed on the thin callus on her palm for a long time without moving. "Does it hurt?"
“It hurts before calluses form, but after calluses appear, it doesn’t hurt anymore… Hmm…” Jiang Yanyi let out a low cry while speaking.
Feng Shuo kissed her palm heavily, and the hot and wet kiss lingered all the way to her fingertips and held them.
He closed his eyes, his long eyelashes drooping on his eyelids. He was such a cold man, but when he sucked and kissed her fingertips, his devotion was mixed with a hint of rationality and an aggressive desire that could no longer be restrained.
Jiang Yanyi was startled by his sudden action.
He seemed to know her critical point, and when she was about to pull her hand back, he let go first. His deep phoenix eyes were so calm that it made people's heart palpitate, as if a storm was about to come. He said, "Let's go and see mother."
If it weren't for his still magnetic and somewhat sticky voice, and his cold and serious demeanor, Jiang Yanyi would have suspected that everything that had just happened was just his own illusion.
***
When the two arrived at Mingtan Courtyard, the maid serving the Grand Empress Dowager said that the Grand Empress Dowager was in the small kitchen and said she wanted to make some snacks herself.
Jiang Yanyi had previously made pastries in the small kitchen of Mingtan Courtyard, so he went to help. Feng Shuo was a busy man. Although he had come to Mingtan Courtyard, important letters continued to be delivered to him, so he took the time to deal with these letters in the warm room.
The Grand Concubine Dowager did not wear fine clothes today. In order to make it easier to knead the dough, she lifted her wide sleeves high and fastened them with ties.
Seeing Jiang Yanyi, the Grand Empress Dowager smiled and said, "Look, I told you before that you should come to the mansion more often. When you come, Yannu will have time to visit me, an old woman. If you don't come, he will be very busy with official duties."
Jiang Yanyi didn't know how to respond to the teasing of the Grand Concubine Dowager. Fortunately, the Grand Concubine Dowager quickly changed the subject: "I'm old, my hands and feet are not as flexible as before. I've been busy making snacks for a long time, but they're still not ready."
Jiang Yanyi tied up his sleeves with laces and went over to help: "These tasks are all about practice makes perfect. You haven't done them for a long time, so you are just unfamiliar with them. What kind of snacks are you going to make?"
The Grand Empress Dowager said, "Fuxi said Yannu has a poor appetite recently. When he was young, he loved to eat Heyuesu. I plan to make some for him. The child has a heavy burden on his shoulders and has lost weight recently."
Jiang Yanyi thought of the bowl of crucian carp soup that Aunt Guo asked him to bring before she left, and his conscience suddenly pricked.
She said, "I have never learned how to make this dessert. Please come over and give me some instructions and I will make it."
The Grand Concubine Dowager said, "The kitchen is filthy, please don't ruin your nice clothes."
Jiang Yanyi washed his hands and started kneading the dough: "It's okay."
The Grand Concubine Dowager also noticed that Jiang Yanyi's technique of kneading noodles was much more experienced than hers, so she finally gave up her seat.
"After the dough is kneaded, add pork fat and shortening it twice." said the Grand Empress Dowager.
Jiang Yanyi kneaded the dough twice and felt that this dough seemed different from the one he usually used. It was particularly smooth when kneaded. He said, "This flour gets stronger quickly."
The cook at the side said with a smile: "The flour for the palace is shipped from the south. The flour that was tributed to the palace in previous years was also from Yuzhou."
Since it is a tribute, it must be top-notch in every way.
After the dough was crispy, she prepared the filling with sesame oil, osmanthus, sugar and kumquat cakes under the guidance of the Grand Concubine Dowager.
After the filling was prepared, the Grand Concubine tasted it and nodded, "It tastes just right. We have some pickled green plums from the previous year. We can add some more green plums."
The servants quickly found some green plums, removed the pits, crushed them, and mixed them into the stuffing.
Jiang Yanyi wrapped the filling in puff pastry, rolled it into an ellipsoidal shape, put it in a plate and put it in the oven to bake.
The dough is puffed twice because of the lard. After it is baked, the dough that is overlapped when kneading the dough separates. When it is broken open, there are even folds inside, one layer next to another, like lotus petals. The filling in the middle smells of osmanthus and the unique pleasant aroma of orange peel.
It is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Not only is the filling fragrant when you bite into it, but the sour and sweet taste of kumquat and green plum stimulates your taste buds, which increases your appetite.
The Grand Empress Dowager also asked the maid in the kitchen to cook a pot of soy milk. After the He Yue Su was ready, the Grand Empress Dowager not only asked the maid to take the He Yue Su to the warm room, but also prepared three parts of soy milk and added a lot of sugar to it.
Jiang Yanyi didn't like sweet things and thought that the Grand Concubine Dowager wanted them to drink soy milk. She wanted to add less sugar to her bowl, but she didn't want to offend the Grand Concubine Dowager, so she kept silent.
When several people entered the warm room, Feng Shuo had just finished giving instructions to Xing Yao. His brows were tightly furrowed, as if he had encountered some trouble.
Xing Yao also had a serious look on his face. After greeting Jiang Yanyi and the Grand Empress Dowager, he left in a hurry.
Although the Grand Concubine Dowager would occasionally have an attack, she was still aware of the current situation when she was awake. She asked Feng Shuo with some concern: "But what happened?"
"In this situation, is there any day when nothing happens?" Feng Shuo said lightly. When he saw the snacks the maid had put on the table, he was slightly startled: "He Yue Su?"
Those devastating memories flooded into Feng Shuo's mind, but his expression did not change, except that the corners of his lips tightened slightly.
He was not allowed to live in the palace of the Grand Empress Dowager after he was seven years old. After he entered the Imperial College, he was punished by not being allowed to eat for several days because he angered the late emperor. On the day when the punishment ended, it happened that the Grand Empress Dowager asked the palace maid to bring him a plate of He Yue Su. He ate it up in ravenous mouth. That night, he had a stomachache due to hunger for too long and overeating. He vomited and suffered a lot.
Later, when the Empress Dowager asked him about it, he was afraid of making her sad, so he just said that he ate the He Yue Su that day because he liked it.
When the Grand Concubine Dowager saw that Feng Shuo still recognized the He Yue Su, there was some joy and bitterness in her eyes: "My mother hasn't made this for many years, but the girl from the Chu family is very skillful. I only need to give her a few instructions and she will know how to make it. You can try it."
The maid placed three bowls of soy milk in front of Jiang Yanyi, Feng Shuo and the Grand Empress Dowager respectively.
Jiang Yanyi was just wondering if the soy milk should be eaten with He Yue Pastry, when he saw Feng Shuo picking up a silkworm pupa-like pastry with ebony ivory chopsticks and soaking it in the soy milk. After a while, he picked it up and ate it.
He seemed to be in a bad mood and did not express his opinion on the snack.
The Grand Concubine smiled and said to Jiang Yanyi: "It tastes better when soaked in soy milk than when eaten dry. Good boy, try it too."
It was the first time that Jiang Yanyi saw palace dim sum being eaten in this way. Curiously, he soaked a lotus moon cake in the bowl of soy milk. When the pastry was softened and he put it in his mouth, the taste was indeed amazing. The pastry became sweet and soft. When he ate the filling, the sourness inside was even more memorable due to the contrast of sweetness.
Jiang Yanyi praised: "It is worthy of being a snack from the palace. It tastes really good."
With this appetizer, Feng Shuo indeed ate half a bowl more than usual, but he was still worried.
The Grand Concubine Dowager thought that he was bothering about military affairs, so she kept them for dinner and asked Feng Shuo to go to the study to deal with his own affairs. She also asked Jiang Yanyi to visit her more often when she had time. Jiang Yanyi naturally agreed.
She and Feng Shuo left Mingtan Courtyard one after another. When they reached the Chuihua Gate, they found Feng Shuo standing by the door with his hands behind his back, as if waiting for her. Jiang Yanyi lifted her skirt and quickened her pace to walk over.
"What's wrong?" she asked.
Feng Shuo suppressed a hint of anger on his face: "Chi Qing and the treasures he brought out from the imperial mausoleum were all seized by the bandits in western Sichuan. I have to go to western Sichuan myself."
That group of bandits was more powerful than he expected, especially the bandit leader. It was rumored that he used the Overlord Spear to perfection. The imperial court sent several waves of troops to suppress the bandits, but all the generals died under his spear.
He couldn't just ignore Chi Qing's life or death. The treasure in the imperial mausoleum was related to the formation of the heavy cavalry and future military supplies. Even if he had to flatten the green forests in western Sichuan, he had to take the things back.
However, the discovery of the imperial mausoleum treasure remains a secret until now, and Chi Qing avoided being noticed when he led people to look for the treasure.
If he led a large army, it would not only alert the enemy, but also attract the attention of all forces. Therefore, he could only bring a small group of elite cavalry, and had to march secretly to reach western Sichuan as quickly as possible.
When Jiang Yanyi heard him say that Chi Qing and the treasure were robbed by bandits, he knew something was wrong and understood why he had been looking unhappy. He hurriedly said, "Then be careful on the road. Remember to wear the gold silk soft armor and the heart protection mirror..."
"Yan Yi." Feng Shuo suddenly interrupted her. His expression was very cold before, but when he heard her say this, his expression softened. He gently stroked her face with his rough fingertips.
"Um?"
It was not the first time that he called her like this, but Jiang Yanyi always felt that these two words seemed particularly different when spoken from his mouth today. Her ears felt a little numb because of his voice.
He hooked a strand of her hair with his fingertips and gently tucked it behind her ear, saying, "Don't worry, I can't bear to die before I marry you."
The author has something to say: The author is trying not to be short (wiping sweat)