The two doctors who came to the mansion to treat Jiang Yangui today were one doctor from the Feng Mansion and the other a military doctor. This matter also reached Liu's ears.
She murmured to the housekeeper in her courtyard: "It seems that the Third Master is highly valued by the King of Liaonan in Xizhou. Otherwise, how could such a dignified prince's mansion give her the face of a cousin of the Chu family?"
The housekeeper naturally picked out what Liu liked and said, "Yes, it's all thanks to the Third Master."
Liu felt bad when she thought about having to take care of this pair of encumbered siblings in the future. "It's also because the third brother's wife passed away early. If she were still alive, she wouldn't have asked the third master to take care of these trivial matters. The siblings now feel that they have the old lady as their backer, and they don't consider themselves outsiders at all. They don't think about it. They borrowed the name of the third master to ask for favors at the palace. They have used up all the favors so early. What will they do if they encounter problems in the future?"
"This favor is used more and more, and it must be used on the cutting edge. I don't know how to describe her! She is really the same as her mother, who only cares about her own comfort and doesn't care about the life and death of others."
"What sin have I committed? I've been married into the Chu family for so many years. It's fine that I have to serve my parents-in-law and husband, but in the early years, I had to please my sister-in-law everywhere. Now my sister-in-law has thrown a pair of children to me. I haven't taken good care of them at all. I'm afraid my parents-in-law will think that I'm treating them harshly. If I were a little cruel, I would learn from my second brother's wife and write a letter of divorce and go back to my parents' home!"
The housekeeper tried to persuade her: "Madam, don't think like that. If the second lady leaves, she will have no son to rely on, and she has no hope. You have not only two young ladies, but also the eldest young master is training with Young Master Chengmao in Yongzhou. The third master is capable, and his future will not be bad no matter what happens. The eldest young master is on good terms with Young Master Chengmao. You are different from the second lady, you have hope. If you leave, with the old lady's partiality, the two young ladies will suffer a lot!"
Liu said nothing more and just shed tears secretly.
Faced with this disaster, the first and second wives of the Chu family have always blamed Madam Jiang and her third wife, but they dared not say a single harsh word in front of Chu Changping, and did not dare to offend Chu Changping at all. After all, Chu Changping was the only one in the Chu family who served as an official in the court. Not to mention other things, just when it comes to their children's marriages, they still have to rely on Chu Changping to get to know better families.
No matter how much Liu complained in private, she still had the support of the two elders of the Chu family. After all, she was the eldest aunt, so she still had to put in some superficial efforts.
She asked the housekeeper in the yard to pick some nourishing herbs and send them to Jiang Yangui's yard.
***
After spending the past two days together, Jiang Yanyi has figured out Liu's temperament. This aunt is short-sighted, cunning, and often says one thing in public and another behind people's backs, but it's hard to say how vicious she is.
Every family has its own problems. People with children naturally have to plan for their own children. Jiang Yanyi never thought from the beginning that everyone in the Chu family would treat them like Chu Changping, nor did he take Liu's little thoughts to heart.
She now only hopes that Jiang Yangui's leg injury can heal quickly. His leg was injured in the kneecap. The medical level in ancient times was limited and surgery was not possible. The doctors said that even if his leg healed, he would probably have difficulty walking in the future.
Maybe because he had been lying in bed for too long, Jiang Yanyi discovered that his younger brother had a small appetite and was too thin compared to his peers.
She has been making medicinal food for Feng Shuo for so long, so she probably knows what ingredients are good for nourishing what.
Jiang Yangui injured his leg and needs to drink more bone soup.
While decocting medicine for Jiang Yangui, Jiang Yanyi ordered his servants to buy some fresh pork bones.
The Chu family was still managed by Liu, but the servants in the mansion were only those brought from the capital. Each courtyard was short of staff, and the kitchen was also a mess. After she boiled the medicine, she turned around and asked, only to find out that no one went to buy it. Everyone in the kitchen had their own excuses.
Jiang Yanyi knew that with Liu's temper, if she hit the kitchen staff now, Liu would probably think that she was overstepping her authority. If this got to Old Madam Chu's ears, the old lady would think that Liu was not good at discipline and that the servants neglected them, and the rift between the mother-in-law and the daughter-in-law would develop again.
Jiang Yanyi didn't care about what happened to Mrs. Liu, but Old Madam Chu was old, and she really couldn't bear to see her worrying about these trivial matters. If this matter got out of hand, Mr. Chu would have to quarrel with Old Madam Chu again, and she would be the one who would be sad.
After some consideration, Jiang Yanyi told Jiang Yangui that she would go back to the store to take a look, and on the way she bought some pork bones to make soup.
Now the business of the store is basically stable. When she went back, the store was full. The old scholar was telling a story, and the two of them didn't have time to say hello. But Qiu Kui cried when she saw Jiang Yanyi go back. She was afraid that she would go back to the Chu family and would not come to the store anymore. Jiang Yanyi comforted her and just said that she was staying at the Chu family temporarily.
Aunt Guo and Chef Yao were busy at the stove and couldn't leave, so Jiang Yanyi greeted them and asked them to continue with their work while he went to make bone soup.
There is a lot of blood in the bones. After washing them clean, you have to put them in a pot with cold water, add ginger and cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, heat them over low heat and blanch them again. This way, the blood can be cooked out and excess fat can be removed. When you make the soup, the bone soup will not be too greasy.
Jiang Yanyi put the processed pork bones in a casserole, added a large pot of water, threw in a few slices of ginger and scallions, and stewed them together.
To make pork bone soup, you must add enough water from the beginning. If you add water in the middle, the soup will not taste so fragrant. In order to make the calcium in the pork bones fully dissolve in the soup, she also added a little vinegar.
Jiang Yangui's injury was suitable for eating light food, so Jiang Yanyi didn't even add fennel and star anise as seasonings, just to make the bone soup have the original flavor.
Seeing that she was worried, Chef Yao thought that there were always some shady things going on in the houses of wealthy families. He deliberately said some funny things and led the topic to the store, hoping to make her happy. "Boss, if you come back a few days later, I'm afraid this store will be bankrupt. The soup recipe you gave me clearly has those ingredients, but the diners in the store don't buy it. They insist that it doesn't taste the same as before!"
Jiang Yanyi was peeling lotus roots and said with a smile, "Master Yao, please don't tease me with these words. I have been able to achieve so much these days thanks to you and Aunt Guo."
Seeing that she was in a better mood, Chef Yao continued, "I'll be honest with you. I really don't know how to make dim sum. Many customers have complained and asked why we don't sell dim sum in our store."
Jiang Yanyi said, "I can't leave the Chu family now. I have to take care of that before I can take care of the store."
Chef Yao nodded: "Filial piety comes first among all virtues. The shopkeeper is a filial person."
Jiang Yanyi just smiled and didn't answer. He changed the subject and asked, "By the way, where does the old man live now?"
Ever since the old scholar encountered danger last time, he didn’t dare to live in the south of the city anymore and rented a house somewhere else.
Jiang Yanyi had originally planned to bring Jiang Yangui to live with her, but her restaurant had many diners during the day and was very noisy, so it would be better for Jiang Yangui to rest, so she wanted to find a more comfortable place for him to live.
He was living in the Chu family, and his heart was heavy after all. However, if the two siblings moved out of the Chu family, the old lady would have to spend some effort. After all, if they moved out, the old lady Chu would probably think that she had not taken good care of them and let them suffer in the Chu family.
Jiang Yanyi felt a headache just thinking about the entanglement involved.
Yao, the chef, heard her question and said while shaking the big pot, "The old scholar rented a house near my home. Our location is not bad, so it won't cost much. If you want to see the house, you can ask the landlord."
The old scholar had worked with Chef Yao before, so they were old acquaintances. Now that the old scholar went home with him every day, it saved Yang Xiu and Bing Shao a lot of trouble.
Jiang Yanyi nodded: "I'll ask someone later."
This old store seems a bit small now. Jiang Yanyi plans to build a bigger store, and it would be nice to use this place as a residence.
She washed the peeled lotus root, cut it into sections and put it into a casserole to cook together. When she opened the lid, the aroma of the bone soup wafting out was already very tempting.
While the soup was boiling, the old scholar finished his second storytelling of the day. During the break, Jiang Yanyi told him the last few stories of A Dream of Red Mansions and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the old scholar just had to edit and polish them himself.
The casserole soup took nearly two hours to cook. The pork bones that Jiang Yanyi bought had stick bones, and the bone marrow inside was almost melted. The bone soup was thick and white, fresh and fragrant. The lean meat on the bones fell off with a light touch of chopsticks. The meat was delicate and tender, not dry at all.
The lotus root is also cooked until it is soft and can be split into two halves with a light poke of a wooden chopstick. Because lotus root has a high starch content, it has a thick texture when eaten.
She added a spoonful of salt and then poured the lotus root bone soup into the soup pot. Salt should be added at the end of the stew to ensure the tenderness of the meat. If salt is added too early, the moisture in the meat will be lost too quickly, and the meat will taste tough and a little dry after stewing.
The casserole was full of bone soup, but after it was cooked, it only filled two soup bowls. Jiang Yanyi thought that he could give one bowl to Jiang Yangui and the old lady respectively.
***
Jiang Yangui has always had a poor appetite, but he drank up all the bone soup tonight.
Jiang Yanyi was happy that he could eat now, so she asked him, "What do you want to eat tomorrow? I'll make it for you."
The fresh and rich bone soup warmed the throat all the way to the stomach. Jiang Yangui had a thin layer of sweat on his forehead because of eating. His beautiful eyes looked at Jiang Yanyi's hands holding the spoon. Those hands used to be fair and tender, but now because they were often busy in the kitchen, they didn't look as tender as before.
When she held the spoon, her five fingers were closed.
But Jiang Yangui remembered his elder sister's habit of holding the spoon, her little finger was always slightly raised.
An indescribable chill swept over his body, and he asked in a hoarse voice: "Sister, when did you learn how to make soup?"
The way he addressed her subtly changed from "Ajie" to "Sister".
Jiang Yanyi didn't realize that Chu Changping had already asked her about her cooking skills. She said, "After arriving at the military camp, I worked as a kitchen helper in the Fire Camp for a while, and I took a cook in the kitchen as my master. I was able to open my antique soup shop thanks to his help."
Jiang Yangui didn't know what he was thinking. He looked into Jiang Yanyi's calm and clear eyes and said, "Sister, you are a little different from before."
His elder sister has the same temperament as his mother, spoiled, impatient, stubborn, and sometimes does a lot of stupid things.
The person standing in front of him now clearly looked like his elder sister, but he felt a stranger in his heart.
His elder sister was not so calm when doing things. She was obviously the older sister, but he actually took care of her more.
After his mother passed away, it was his elder sister that supported him all the way to Xizhou. But after spending the past two days together, he could not find any trace of his elder sister in the person in front of him.
It was as if... there was a new person in this body.
Whenever Jiang Yangui thought of such a possibility, he felt as if he were in an ice cellar.
When Jiang Yanyi asked that question, she also became alert, but she didn't show it on her face. She just said sadly: "Yan Gui, if I live like before, I'm afraid you won't be able to see me now."
This sentence broke the doubts in Jiang Yangui's heart, and his eyes turned red almost instantly.
Jiang Yanyi said: "People always have to grow up. Sometimes we have to smooth out some edges and corners in order to live better."
Jiang Yangui slowly raised his head. His face was somewhat similar to Jiang Yanyi's. The corners of his eyes were red from tears. This look on a man was exquisite and somewhat evil. "Sister, one day, I will let you live freely like before, without fearing anyone."
Jiang Yanyi patted his head and said, "Okay, Sister will wait for that day."
After finally comforting this sensitive and fragile boy, Jiang Yanyi breathed a sigh of relief as he left Jiang Yangui's yard.
***
The next day, when she went to pay her respects to Old Madam Chu, the old lady held Jiang Yanyi's hand and kept praising her for the good bone soup she made last night.
Liu and her two daughters were listening at the side, feeling really unhappy. When Jiang Yanyi had the bone soup delivered yesterday, she was serving the old lady and naturally saw the delicious lotus root and bone soup.
She felt indignant. Jiang Yanyi had always been a spoiled child and had rarely been to the kitchen. She had only been in Xizhou for a short time, and it was unknown to her how she could cook such a rich and fragrant soup. Liu said she didn't believe anything.
When she was a girl, she seldom went into the kitchen. After she got married, she had to learn cooking in order to please her parents-in-law and win over her husband. Liu asked herself if she could make soups and stews that tasted so good.
Liu also felt that Chu Changping had helped Jiang Yanyi open her shop. After all, the shop assistants were originally people around Chu Changping.
Jiang Yanyi went back to the store yesterday and brought back two bowls of bone soup, which was obviously made by the store's chef. In order to curry favor with the old lady, she had the nerve to say that she made it herself!
Liu glanced at her two daughters. The eldest daughter was in a trance, while the youngest daughter swallowed her saliva several times when she heard the old lady talk about the taste of the bone soup.
Liu felt even more upset. Her two silly daughters really didn't know how to win favor at all!
She thought about how Madam Chu usually took good care of Jiang Yanyi and his sister, but rarely cared about her own children, and she felt increasingly aggrieved.
She said things faster than she thought, and she still had a smile on her face. "I heard that Ayi opened an antique soup shop. Did you go to the shop to make bone soup yesterday? When I was in Beijing, I wanted Shubao to learn how to make pastries. The chef in the kitchen taught her for a long time, but it was a pity that Shubao was not talented. If she could be even one-tenth as good as Ayi, I would be satisfied."
Liu's words sounded like she was praising Jiang Yanyi, but there were daggers hidden everywhere.
She said that Chu Shubao had learned to make pastries for a long time, and that Jiang Yanyi's soup was brought back from the antique soup shop. Doesn't that mean that the soup was most likely not made by Jiang Yanyi
Although Old Madam Chu loved Jiang Yanyi, she would feel a little disappointed if she knew that Jiang Yanyi claimed that he made a soup made by others in order to win her favor. She didn't want her child to go astray in such matters.
As expected, Madam Chu's smile was not as obvious as before, but she still did not say a word against Jiang Yanyi. She only said to Liu, "Shubao brought the embroidery to me yesterday. You have taught the child well."
When Liu received the compliment from Old Madam Chu on Chu Shubao, she was immediately delighted.
But she didn't want to give Jiang Yanyi a way out so easily, and said with a smile: "The soup yesterday was really delicious. Since Ah Yi has such a good skill, he should teach my aunt, so that my aunt can make soup for my mother and show her filial piety."
Liu thought she was smart, but her thoughts were written all over her face. Jiang Yanyi didn't expect that she would remember him just because he made a soup.
Her original intention was to show her filial piety to Old Madam Chu, but Liu's words caused Old Madam Chu to misunderstand her, and Jiang Yanyi felt uncomfortable.
She said cheerfully, "My cooking skills are not that great, but if my aunt wants to learn, we can make some bone soup for lunch."
Old Madam Chu was an experienced person and knew what Liu's words meant, but when she heard Jiang Yanyi agree so readily, she felt that the soup must have been made by her granddaughter.
In fact, even if the soup last night was not made by Jiang Yanyi, she would not blame her granddaughter. After all, Jiang Yanyi and his sister were all alone and helpless. They felt uneasy and had no one to rely on when they tried to please her like this. Madam Chu felt only heartache.
She glanced at Liu, then smiled and said to Jiang Yanyi, "It seems that I, an old woman, will have a good meal at noon again!"
The look from Old Madam Chu made Mrs. Liu look a little embarrassed.
She suddenly felt unsure. Jiang Yanyi agreed so readily. Could it be that she really made the soup herself
The author has something to say: Feng Hanhan: You will soon find out that she is not using Chu San’s face.
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