Instead, he changed the subject, "Taking advantage of the victory of the frontier army, we will also have a good New Year. I thought of some food for the New Year. You discussed it with Wenqing, and handed over the purchase list to Guanshi Qin."
So many things have happened in Liangzhou City, it is rare for Wen Lan to see that her mistress has the intention to cook delicious food, of course she is also very happy, Chu Lian just mentioned it, and Wen Lan couldn't wait to ask Chu Lian what happened It's time to make something delicious.
Even though he was in the remote city of Liangzhou, Chu Lian didn't want to just spend this new year. Anyway, he would definitely not be able to go back to the capital a year ago, so he might as well prepare carefully and spend this new year with He Changdi.
So in the next few days, Chu Lian took Wenqing Wenlan to make spring rolls, roll out dumpling wrappers, make dumplings, rice cakes, candied melons...
Time passed quickly, and in a blink of an eye it was Xiao'an, Chu Lian took Wenqing Wenlan to worship the Kitchen God, and then led the maids and Wu Lihan to eat around a table, at first Wenqing Wenlan refused to sit down, It wasn't until Chu Lian's face darkened that the two sat down awkwardly.
There are all kinds of food on the table in the main room, in the center is a pot of hot pot, with various ingredients on the side, thin slices of beef and mutton, tofu, clean haggis, dried vegetables, yuba, beef balls...
In order to prepare this authentic "Chongqing Hot Pot", Chu Lian and a few maids have been busy all day.
Except that there are no fresh vegetables, it is no different from the Chongqing hot pot eaten in modern times.
Soft rice wine suitable for women was warmed on the charcoal basin next to it, and Chu Lian instructed a few servant girls to do it.
There was a lively New Year's Eve scene in Hefu, even the outer courtyard had set up a few tables, led by Li Xing and several family generals.
However, Jing'anbo Mansion, which is far away in Shengjing City, is not so peaceful and lively.
At the end of November, Tongfang Miaozhen who was next to Uncle Jing'an was found to be pregnant.
On that day, Shizi's wife, Mrs. Zou, immediately lost her temper, smashed the teacup in her hand, and took Mother Qiao and the eldest maid beside her to make a fuss in Miaozhen's courtyard.
Miaozhen is almost given the drug to cause pregnancy.
Fortunately, the little maid beside her was Ji Ling, and hurriedly reported to Mrs. Liu Shi, Mrs. Jing'an, who was bedridden.
When Mrs. Liu heard this, she was furious, so she got up and went to Dalang's yard to stop Mrs. Zou.
Then she took Miaozhen back to her side to raise the baby.
It's just that he got up forcibly, and got really angry again. The body that Miraculous Doctor Miao had put so much effort into raising Liu Shi fell back to its original place in an instant.
After He Changqi returned to the mansion, Zou was so angry that he quarreled with him again.
He Dalang originally felt sorry for marrying his wife, but after being made such a fuss by Zou, the guilt immediately dissipated.
Zou was so angry that she brought her two sisters back to her natal family's Dingyuan Hou's residence for six or seven days, and was persuaded by her mother several times, and the old matriarch also sent someone to invite her, so she returned to Jing'anbo's residence.
Seeing that it was almost the beginning of the new year, the mansion would not be able to do without the director and head of the family, Mrs. Zou.
But at this time, Mrs. Zou suddenly picked up Joe. She was already full of anger, and the shops in Jing’anbo’s mansion didn’t make any money. It costs money.
On this day, she took her two daughters to Qingwei Hall to pay respects to the old lady.
Mrs. Zou took the six-year-old sister An and the four-year-old sister Lin, bent slightly and whispered in the daughters' ears: "Go and pay respects to the ancestors."
Sister An and Sister Lin trotted up to the old matriarch, and sweetly called "Old Ancestor".
The old lady touched the soft hair of the two girls kindly.
The old matriarch's face darkened when he took a closer look at the two little girls' attire.
"It's almost Chinese New Year, why don't you dress up your children well? At such a young age, you should wear bright and lively colors, and you should also wear small golden locks and pink pearls."
When Mrs. He mentioned it, everyone in the flower hall focused their eyes on the two young ladies. Their expressions were different.
Today, the two little girls are wearing half-worn plain jackets, and there is not even a single decorative silk flower on their little buns, and the gold bead collars they used to wear in the past have also been taken off. Looking at it this way, she looks like a rich lady in the uncle's house, and she is no different from a girl in an ordinary people's house.
In a few days it will be the new year, and the lady who is a legitimate daughter in the house is still dressed in such a shabby way, no wonder the old lady is not happy.
Mrs. Zou sat aside and waited for Mrs. He's words. She held the handkerchief in her hand and bowed her head without saying a word, as if she was too ashamed to speak. Mother Qiao who was standing behind Mrs. Zou couldn't see In the past, he said:
"I also ask the old lady to forgive me. The two sisters are the flesh that fell from our grandma. How could the grandma have the heart to treat them badly? It's just that the grandma is in charge of the family in recent years, and the money in her hands is really tight. But those outside We still need to use the place where money should be used, but we can’t make others look down on our uncle’s house. After all, the two sisters are the daughters of the eldest grandmother, and the expenses of the eldest house have been reduced, so the two sisters have to share some of it. "
As soon as Mother Qiao finished speaking, she knelt down by herself, as if admitting her mistake and accepting punishment, which made it difficult for the old lady to say anything.
Zou's eyes turned red, and she murmured, "Grandmother, it's the grandson's daughter-in-law who is incompetent. She didn't take care of this family well and made you worry about it."
Mrs. He frowned, although she became more and more displeased with this eldest grandson-in-law, but the eldest son took over the house before he turned 30, and he still felt indebted to her after all.
After thinking about it, the old lady still endured the sulking.
"Bring me the account books from the public school, and I'll see how much difference there is."
Zou, with her head down, was overjoyed, and hurriedly winked at Jinshui, the big maid behind her.
Not long after, the account book was fetched.
Mrs. He put the account book on the small table beside her, and waved at Mrs. Zou, "Go back and do your work. Leave this account book with me for now. You can come back tomorrow morning. Also, Sister An, Sister Lin is still young, even if our family can't open the pot, we can't wrong the child."
Mrs. Zou got up and took her two daughters and bowed to the old matriarch in fear, "Grandmother taught me that my daughter-in-law will definitely not behave like this again in the future."
"Okay, okay, let's go."
Mrs. Zou took her daughter and left, and returned to the courtyard of the big house.
Sister An and Sister Lin were sent to her own room by the wet nurse, and only Zou's most trusted Mother Qiao and the eldest maid, Jinshui, were left in the main room.
Mother Qiao offered a cup of tea to Mrs. Zou, "Grandma, is it really okay for you to do this? Now even if the third grandma is not in the house, the old lady will still be in charge of returning to Linju. I didn't agree before, but now How could you agree?"
Mrs. Zou snorted coldly, "This time I can't help the old lady, just watch!"
Although Mother Qiao disagreed with Zou's actions, she couldn't stop her, so she could only sigh inwardly.
Since the eldest son accepted Tong Fang, Zou's thinking became more and more extreme.
In fact, the family tradition of the Jing'anbo Mansion is considered good. Although He Changqi did not really take concubines when he was 30 and childless, as the family rules said, he is already 29 this year. It will be thirty, and they have been married for nearly ten years, and they only have two children, Sister An and Sister Lin.
Up to now, there is no male heir who can inherit the family in the entire Jing'an uncle's mansion, so the elders have to worry about whoever is let go.
It's all like this, Grandma still doesn't put her mind on her husband, and wants to win over the family wealth, Mother Qiao sighed in her heart.
But in Zou's eyes, there is a light of determination.
The old lady's only married daughter is coming back, she really wants to thank the person who revealed the news to her.
In the Qingwei Hall, Mrs. He was lying on the couch, holding the account book in her hand. The more she looked at it, the more angry she became, and in the end she wanted to tear up the account book in her hand.
Nanny Liu led Mu Xiang to do needlework beside her old lady. Seeing the old matriarch's frowning brows and gloomy expression, she quickly put down her needle and thread and walked to the old matriarch's side to comfort her, "What's wrong with the old matriarch?" , don’t get angry over these trivial matters.”
The old matriarch threw the account book in her hand aside, pointed at the account book, and sighed, "Look, this is not a trivial matter. You also know how much I paid when I handed over the family business to her. It's better now, than It turned out to have shrunk by half, but at the end of this year, there are not many shops that are profitable, no wonder she even has no money for New Year gifts!"
Nanny Liu picked up the account book and looked at it for a while, and frowned after a while, "No, why did you lose so much money. But, old lady, please calm down. It's not like you don't know, grandma is not a Stuff for doing business.”
"That's all, who told Dalang to be sorry for her! You go to the cabinet in the back and get my private property account book."
The old matriarch flipped through the private property account book in his hand, and clicked a few places, "Let the person in charge hand over these to Mrs. Zou."
Nanny Liu watched carefully, and pursed her lips when she heard the words, as if hesitating to speak.
Mrs. He glanced at her, "Why, why can't you say anything in front of me?"
"I don't dare, but I just think, you gave all these to the eldest grandma, sister Ying..."
Mrs. He was stunned, Sister Ying was Mrs. He's only daughter, she married Siyang far away, and many things happened before she got married, which made Mrs. He not have any contact with her biological daughter for many years.
I haven't seen her for many years, but Nanny Liu still maintains the habit of calling the former eldest lady of Jing'an House "Sister Ying".
Half a month ago, sister Ying wrote a letter, saying that her husband died of illness and her husband's family was in decline, and she wanted to take her daughter back to her mother's house for resettlement.
After all, so many years have passed, and her son-in-law is gone. After all, Sister Ying is Mrs. He's own daughter, so how could she really have the heart to ignore her for the rest of her life.
So the old matriarch was still soft-hearted after all, and went to the letter to send someone to bring sister Ying, mother and daughter to Shengjing for the New Year.
The old matriarch was stunned for a long time, as if lost in memory, and said after a long time: "Now that I have private property under my name, which shops are the most profitable?"
Madam Liu answered in a straightforward manner: "In addition to the two silk shops and the two grain shops, there is also a raw medicine shop. If you say that the most profitable one is the time-honored one you gave to the third grandma, it is Linju."