When Jiang Yanyi learned that it was the soldiers from the neighboring mansion who drove Hu Baiwan away first, he thought of Feng Shuo, and for a moment, he felt a little complicated in his heart.
She still hasn't figured out what happened that day.
There was a huge gap between Feng Shuo's and my status, so it was impossible for me to have a good talk with him.
Jiang Yanyi still doesn't believe that Feng Shuo really likes her.
After all, apart from her face, her only decent cooking skills, and her true identity is still a big problem. What did Feng Shuo like about her
As for beauty, she is from a noble family, what kind of beauties has she not seen
In terms of cooking skills, she is indeed a good cook, but she can't be called a master. The palace has chefs.
When it comes to relationships, Jiang Yanyi never considers her cooking skills as a bargaining chip. In her previous life, she devoted herself to tinkering with her family's hot pot restaurant and had no time for love. She was only forced by her family to go on a blind date once.
During the blind date, the other party said that he was very satisfied with her because she could cook.
This made Jiang Yanyi very disgusted. It seemed that the other party went on a blind date just to find a free cook
Naturally, that blind date did not lead to any result. No matter how the gossips at home advised her, Jiang Yanyi never went on another blind date again and focused all her attention on the hot pot restaurant.
She didn't really want to think about her past life. Now that she was in another world, thinking about these things would only add to her sadness.
After coming to this strange world, if Feng Shuo hadn't suddenly done that a few days ago, she would have never thought about marriage. Her heart was indeed confused for a moment, but she quickly calmed down.
She knew very well that she and Feng Shuo were not the same kind of people.
After that day, Feng Shuo never showed up again. Perhaps he didn’t take what happened that day seriously at all.
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Yanyi put away all his thoughts and didn't want to think about these trivial things.
She reopened her shop only after the carpenter who was supposed to deliver the plaque came knocking on the door to deliver the plaque.
Mrs. Chen from the clothing store next door saw the fuss Hu Baiwan made that morning and warned her, "Big sister, you have to be careful in the future. Hu Baiwan is a scoundrel. He relies on his family's money to abuse girls."
"It just so happens that the tigress in his family is so unreasonable. Previously, there was a singing girl in Lai Fu Inn who was harassed by him several times. Without saying a word, the tigress in his family brought a group of vicious servants and dragged the girl to the street to beat her, saying that the girl seduced her man!"
Jiang Yanyi was stunned and asked, "Is there any law left?"
Madam Chen looked quite secretive. "Before the change in Xizhou, the government was all managed by the Hu family. Officials and businessmen colluded with each other and were in cahoots with each other. How could ordinary people like us fight against them? It is only now that Xizhou has a new general that the Hu family has become more restrained."
Seeing that Jiang Yanyi seemed frightened, she felt a little pity for him and said, "Don't be too scared. When the restaurant opens, just open later and close earlier every day. No matter how powerful the Hu family is, can they still rebel in front of everyone?"
Jiang Yanyi thanked him and turned around to close the door of his shop tightly.
Qiu Kui was a little scared: "Hua Hua, what if that group of people from this morning come again next time?"
Jiang Yanyi said calmly: "Maybe he thought we were easy to bully because we were the only two women in the store."
She gently stroked the custom-made "Jiang Ji Hotpot" plaque with her hand and had an idea in mind: "Let's hire two waiters, preferably ones who know some martial arts, so that even if someone comes to cause trouble in the future, we won't be afraid."
Some physical work can also be assigned to them.
Previously, Jiang Yanyi thought that since the store was not big, she and Qiu Kui could handle it, but what happened today made her realize the safety issue.
Qiu Kui said with a bitter face: "Where can we find such a person?"
Jiang Yanyi thought for a moment and said, "We don't have any connections, but Tou'er Zhao and Master Li have been in Huotouying for many years and have a wide network of contacts. When we open the store in a few days, Master Li and his friends will come over and I'll talk to Master Li about this."
Qiu Kui nodded vigorously: "Yes!"
Jiang Yanyi pinched her face, which had become much rounder recently, and said with a smile: "What are you afraid of? There are always more solutions than problems. This is just the beginning. When the store opens in the future, there will be many more people who will cause trouble like this!"
When Qiu Kui heard her say that something like this might happen again in the future, she became a little worried. But when she saw Jiang Yan's calm and composed look, she felt relieved for some reason. She said, "As long as Hua Hua is here, I'm not afraid!"
Feeling a little better, Jiang Yanyi prepared to go to the kitchen to try out the new oven he had hired to build a few days ago.
There is a small dam about half a meter wide outside the back door of the kitchen. The previous owner of the house had piled up a lot of debris here. After Jiang Yanyi cleared out the debris, he built an oven against the wall and also built a small stove for casseroles, clay pots and the like.
Occasionally, when making soup or something, it will taste better if you use a casserole, and using a small stove will also save firewood.
They lived on the street and had to spend money to buy firewood, charcoal and other things, so naturally they tried to save as much as possible.
Jiang Yanyi plans to make egg tarts to test the performance of this oven.
Xizhou is a border town of the Daxuan Dynasty. Since there are nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall, dairy products are not particularly rare here. Jiang Yanyi discovered that there is even butter for sale on the market.
In the past two days, she has found out that there is a shop called Yudaifang, which is located diagonally opposite Duhufu Street, that specializes in selling cow and sheep milk. However, she has to go there early every day to get it, as the fresh milk is supplied to the dignitaries nearby.
When Jiang Yanyi went shopping for groceries this morning, she bought a clay pot of fresh milk, which she estimated to be about one pound, and she also bought some butter.
Jiang Yanyi thinks that making egg tarts is simpler than making traditional dim sum.
She took flour, added butter and sugar, and mixed it with water to make the tart crust.
When the dough is kneaded, take a ball of butter and flatten it with a rolling pin. After rolling it flat, use the same method to flatten the dough, cover it with butter, fold the dough over like a quilt, and roll it flat again.
After repeatedly folding the dough and butter and rolling it flat three or four times, the thousand-layer egg tart crust is ready.
Jiang Yanyi rolled the dough into a cylinder like a steamed bun, and cut it into finger-thick pieces with a knife.
Because there was no tin foil, she directly put the dough into the pear-shaped porcelain bowl that she had ordered earlier, flattened the dough to make it fit snugly, and an egg tart crust was formed.
To make the egg tart liquid, just add a few eggs to fresh milk and mix well. If you like sweet food, you can add some sugar when preparing the liquid.
Jiang Yanyi cracked fewer eggs, not because he was reluctant to use them, but because he added too many eggs and the egg tart didn’t taste as tender.
Afraid that the temperature of the oven he built was not high enough and the ingredients would not be baked well, Jiang Yanyi only put six egg tarts in the oven when he first baked them.
Jiang Yanyi was afraid of not being able to control the temperature when making egg tarts using this primitive equipment, so he stayed in front of the oven.
Qiu Kui brought a small stool and sat next to her to accompany her. While eating pumpkin seeds, Jiang Yanyi told Qiu Kui about the plays and vernacular novels he had watched before.
Qiu Kui was so absorbed in listening that she held pumpkin seeds in her hand but didn't eat any for a long time. Occasionally, when Jiang Yanyi drank some water to moisten his throat, she couldn't wait and asked eagerly:
"What happened to the female generals of the Yang family later?"
A sweet, burnt aroma wafted from the oven. Jiang Yanyi didn't have time to answer Qiu Kui's question and quickly turned off the fire. "I'll tell you when I have time. I'll take out the egg tarts first, otherwise they'll all get burnt!"
This wood-burning oven is different from the ovens of later generations. Once the power is cut off, the inside of the oven will automatically cool down. However, the residual heat from the wood fire can be used to bake a few more sweet potatoes.
Jiang Yanyi protected his hands with a wet cloth before bringing out a few egg tarts.
The ones near the edge were a little burnt, but luckily not too bad.
The air was filled with a sweet and milky aroma. Jiang Yanyi waited until the egg tarts had cooled down a little, then picked one up and tasted it. The outer shell was crispy, while the inside was soft, tender and sweet, just the taste of the egg tarts in his memory.
Sweets really make people happy. Jiang Yanyi squinted his eyes in enjoyment.
Qiu Kui was craving for the egg tarts, but she also wanted to hear a story. While she was eating, her heart felt like it was being scratched by a cat’s claws. She held a mouthful of egg tart in her mouth and mumbled, “This cake is the best. It will make you rich. Where is the female general of the Yang family?”
Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "I think when the shop opens, I might as well just tell stories in the shop."
Qiu Kui finally finished an egg tart and nodded heavily: "I think it's okay!"
***
In the Protectorate, separated by a wall, Feng Shuo was handling official business in the pavilion in the west wing.
The sweet smell coming from the kitchen in the next yard made Xing Yao, who was standing nearby, couldn't help but sniff: "It smells so good."
Feng Shuo raised his eyes and glanced at him indifferently. Xing Yao quickly looked at his nose and mouth, pretending to be a wooden man.
Feng Shuo moved his nose slightly, smelling the strong fragrance that could not be ignored. His hand holding the pen paused slightly, and he asked in a concealing manner, "Where is Chu Changping now?"
Xing Yao said quickly, "The emperor has issued a ban. Now all the prefectures have tightened their checks on people entering and leaving the city. Third Master Chu and his followers are in the caravan and are still in Yuzhou. I'm afraid it will take some time for them to reach Xizhou."
The housekeeper Fu Xi is a shrewd man. That day, the girl from the neighboring Jiang family returned a carriage full of things to the mansion, and Feng Shuo had a gloomy face for several days. There was nothing he couldn't guess.
Originally, he thought that the girl was of low status, but now that he knew that she was born into a noble family, Fuxi hoped that the two of them could be together.
As he was refilling the tea, he said, "I noticed that the Majesty has not had a good appetite recently. The girl from the Jiang family next door seems to be good at cooking. I would like to ask her to come over and make some snacks for the Majesty."
Feng Shuo's eyes brightened for a moment, but he replied with a stern face: "You can take care of these trivial matters in the mansion."
Fuxi responded and retreated with a smile on his face.
Feng Shuo saw the smile on his face and felt annoyed for no reason, but he had no idea how to react. He even felt that Xing Yao beside him was annoying, so he said, "You leave too."
Xing Yao thought that it was his words "smells good" that made his master unhappy, and cursed himself inwardly for bringing up something that was not relevant. Knowing that his master couldn't bring himself to go to court now, he brought up this matter anyway. Fearing that he would be used as a punching bag again, he left in shame.
When there was no one in the west courtyard, Feng Shuo put down his brush and walked to the osmanthus tree with a bird cage hanging outside the pavilion. He frowned slightly and looked at the beautiful green-feathered parrot in the cage, and taught it to say, "Graceful lady."
The parrot tilted its head, its pupils round and round, looking silly and cute, as if it didn't understand what Feng Shuo was saying at all.
Feng Shuo patiently taught it again: "Graceful lady."
This time, the parrot tilted its head in a different direction and continued to stare at Feng Shuo with those silly eyes.
Feng Shuo was so angry that he lost his temper. Chi Qing even said that this parrot was smart. How was it smart
He threw a grain of Job's tears into the trough and cursed, "Silly bird."
This time the parrot was not stunned. It flapped its wings and jumped up and down on the cage: "Silly bird! Stupid bird!"
Feng Shuo raised his eyebrows and opened the door of the birdcage directly. The moment the parrot flapped its wings and flew out, he grabbed it in his palm.
The parrot seemed to know that its life was in someone's hands, and it spoke very tactfully: "My fair lady!"
Fu Xi, who had just returned, heard the parrot's loud voice as he stepped into the courtyard. When Feng Shuo looked at him murderously, he quickly retreated, but he couldn't hide the smile on his face.
Feng Shuo: “…”
He looked solemnly at the parrot in his hand, and the parrot quickly called out even louder: "My fair lady!"
The author has something to say: Feng Shuo: Kill this stupid bird!
Cats will have it too!
The housekeeper's name is Fuxi. In the previous chapter, it was typed as "Anfu". I got it mixed up with the name of the chief eunuch in the book about the queen (沧桑点烟.jpg)