After dinner, Shen Pingyu left first.

The remaining four people stayed and talked for a while, discussing how to open a braised food store.

After midnight, they said goodbye and left.

Xie Qingyun and Xiao Huaiqi left first. Yan Qiushu walked Xiao Huaiting a few steps away. When they reached the courtyard gate, she smiled and said, "General Xiao, thank you for your support tonight."

Xiao Huaiting scratched his head, a little embarrassed: "Did you see it?"

Yan Qiushu tilted her head and smiled: "I did notice a little bit."

Besides, in order to avoid suspicion, Xiao Huaiting would not come to her place easily on weekdays. Today, he came here on his own initiative and brought Shen Pingyu with him. It was really not right.

Xiao Huaiting also laughed: "But Pingyu wasn't specially invited here to show his support!"

"Hmm?" Yan Qiushu raised her eyebrows, a little curious.

Xiao Huaiting folded his arms and sighed, "When I came here, Pingyu was just walking this way. He was hesitant and embarrassed to come over, so I just pulled him over. The Shen family has strict teachings and never pays attention to the appetite, but in fact, which child in my Xiao family doesn't love to eat?"

He raised his eyebrows: "When I was a kid... ahem..." He swallowed his words halfway through: "Just look at Dongdong and you'll see. Pingyu is naturally no exception. It's just that the Shen family's teachings made him a little embarrassed, and he needed someone to give him a way out. Believe it or not, this kid is laughing in his bed right now!"

He made himself laugh after he finished speaking, then stretched himself and said, "Okay, Miss Shu, I'm leaving first. I'll be busy for the next few days. See you later."

Yan Qiushu, who was left after listening to his words, recalled Shen Pingyu's mature temperament seriously, and finally shook her head.

It couldn't be what he said, because the child didn't show any sign of liking the food at all when he was eating it.

If it were Dongdong, he would definitely praise her and act cute, trying to coax her to give him more food.

So when Shen Ping met this child, he might really just eat something reluctantly out of respect for his elders.

The well-mannered and self-controlled young boy in Yan Qiushu's impression was now lying on the bed.

He slept in a proper position, his hands folded on his abdomen, his body lying flat on his back. The nanny then helped him cover himself with a blanket. Before the candlelight was extinguished, the nanny noticed the unconscious smile on the corner of the young boy's mouth and chuckled, "Master, are you in a good mood today?"

Shen Pingyu quickly restrained his emotions when he heard this, but the next second, he couldn't help but slightly raised a satisfied arc: "Yeah."

Then he secretly touched his belly with his little hand hidden in the quilt, which was round and bulging.

I accidentally ate too much today, and although the name of that thing is not very nice, it tastes really good.

No wonder Dongdong likes Aunt Yan so much!

"Do you still want me to study today?" asked the nanny.

Shen Pingyu nodded again. He left his parents at a young age. The Shen family had strict rules and he always slept alone. The busy schoolwork made him prone to insomnia when lying in bed. The nanny would read to him, and the sound of reading could make him feel at ease.

Seeing this, the nanny put down the curtain, moved closer to the candlelight, and began to read: "Today..."

It was just a short while after the nanny spoke that Shen Pingyu's half-open eyes had already closed. The satisfaction in his abdomen made him feel happy enough. When his stomach was busy, his mind was not as clear as before, and he didn't even think about his lessons.

Soon, he fell asleep!

the next day.

Winter has fully arrived.

When Yan Qiushu woke up and walked out of the room, she found that a thin layer of snow had fallen in some places within her sight.

Shui Yu said, "It only snowed a little this morning. It will snow heavily soon. You can have a snowball fight with us, young lady."

According to Xiao Huaiting's introduction, Yan Qiushu was brought here from Wucheng by him.

Wucheng is close to the water, with warm weather and little rain or snow.

She thought Yan Qiushu had never seen heavy snow, so she mentioned it specifically.

But it’s true.

When Yan Qiushu was a child, there was a lot of snow where she lived before, but the older she got, the less snow there was. By the time she grew up, it would only snow as thinly as this time.

As a result, she was looking forward to the snow.

It's just a little cold.

Yan Qiushu didn't want to go out that day and huddled in the room. The charcoal fire had already been burning and the temperature was much warmer than outside. She drank spicy soup in the morning and ate wontons at noon, lazily thinking about what to eat in the evening.

It wasn't until Dongdong, who hadn't been seen for two days, appeared in front of Yan Qiushu again.

The five-year-old boy pouted, almost crying. When he saw her, it was like seeing a relative. He felt extremely aggrieved: "Sister Shu! My uncle is so mean! He actually had someone bring me back!"

Yan Qiushu felt a little guilty after witnessing the whole process of Xiao Huaiting's promise to Shen Pingyu.

This person seemed to say this in order to coax Shen Pingyu into eating the food she cooked.

However, she hadn't expected Dongdong to react so strongly to Shen Pingyu. She said with amusement, "Is it really that scary? Is it scarier than you being the second emperor's grandson's study companion?"

Dongdong was speechless: "You don't understand..."

The second prince said that he felt aggrieved, but he didn't dare to do anything to him.

But Chen Pingyu is his biological brother, and he did not hold back when it was time to beat him. When he was punished to copy, his eyes were swollen from crying, but he still couldn't escape. The key point is that no one in his family protected him.

If the second prince dared to treat him like this, his uncle would have made a fuss long ago!

Yan Qiushu wanted to wipe his tears out of sympathy, but when she found that the child was just crying dryly, she laughed again: "You don't even have tears!"

Dongdong sniffed: "I didn't drink any water, so it can't flow out."

"Okay, here you go." Yan Qiushu asked Shui Yu to get some milk tea. "What did Ping Yu do to you? Tell me."

Let her see the fun.

Dongdong held the milk tea in his hand, sipped it, and tasted the sour and sweet orange flesh inside. He sighed like a little adult: "There's nothing wrong with him, he just has high expectations of me."

"He learned how to write an article himself, so he wants me to learn it and write it myself, even though I'm only in the introductory class!"

The introductory class lasts for two years, and the students will continue to advance to the next grade in the third year.

He wanted to take it step by step like this, and when he grew up a little, he would follow his uncle to learn martial arts instead of studying literature!

Yan Qiushu listened to him talking as he took a sip, and then she made a cup of milk tea. It tasted sweet, but she suddenly felt guilty. She had consumed too much sugar today!

She invented milk tea in order to avoid wasting milk. She uses the simplest method and drinks a cup every morning to keep herself energetic for the whole day.

But it also contains a lot of sugar.

She doesn't like sports and has never been able to control herself from drinking. Usually one cup in the morning is enough for her, and she only drinks a second cup occasionally when she can't help it, like now.

In order to prevent herself from focusing on guilt, Yan Qiushu tried hard to concentrate on listening to Dongdong's speech.

After listening, she thought for a moment and said, "Did you tell Pingyu that you don't like doing this?"

Dongdong immediately shouted, "I told you! I cried last time!"

Yan Qiushu coughed lightly and said, "You have to explain it nicely so that he will listen. After all, you are only five years old, too young. He might think you are being unreasonable."

Dongdong was shocked: "He is only nine years old!"

Yan Qiushu pinched his cheek lovingly: "Nine years old, almost twice as old as you, isn't that enough? Talk to him nicely, Pingyu is kind and will definitely understand."

Dongdong was very skeptical: "Really?"

"Really!" Yan Qiushu nodded vigorously. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Why don't we invite Ping Yu over for dinner tomorrow? You can eat and chat while we eat?"

"Why tomorrow?" Dongdong's eyes rolled, and he grasped the key point sharply, and asked expectantly: "Can't we do it today?"

Who would be willing to wait if you can eat it earlier?

Yan Qiushu helplessly spread her hands: "Because I need to prepare!"

Dongdong swallowed his saliva in anticipation and asked coquettishly, "Sister Shu, what delicious food are you going to make next?!"

Yan Qiushu smiled and said, "Barbecue!"

In the cold winter, heavy snow is falling.

This is the perfect time to eat barbecue!

But the biggest problem with barbecue is how to place the charcoal stove and how to make the barbecue iron plate safe and clean.

There was already a method of eating hot pot in ancient times, which can be borrowed, but it also needs to be modified because the bottom of the pot can sink, but charcoal grilling cannot, and a special iron plate must be made.

Yan Qiushu does what she thinks.

In fact, she wanted to eat hot pot more, but she preferred the rich and spicy beef oil hot pot. In this era, there was not enough chili, so she had never really tried it.

But barbecue does not require so much chili peppers. Other spices plus salt, peppercorns, etc. are basically enough.

However, you can't just eat one kind of meat for barbecue, so you have to prepare chicken, pork, lamb, etc. It's snowing now and the temperature is probably around zero degrees, so freeze the meat overnight so that you can cut it very thinly.

That night, Yan Qiushu took Dongdong to have a quick meal, and the next day she had someone cut the frozen meat. When the meat was still hard, it could be cut into thin slices and then sprinkled with various seasonings and marinated.

At noon, the Xiao family's housekeeper also made the improved barbecue pot she wanted.

There is an inverted iron hat in the middle, and the bottom of the iron hat is insulated with wood. On the top is a round iron sheet with a hollowed-out edge. The middle of the iron sheet is slightly protruding outward, and the iron sheet is polished very clean. It is fired according to the method of making a large iron pot, but the shape is different.

In order to prevent it from sticking to the pan, I used the method of opening the pan, smeared it with lard and left it overnight.

It comes with a large iron hook that you can simply remove when you want to change the charcoal.

This appearance is very close to a modern barbecue table.

Yan Qiushu was very satisfied and couldn't let it go, so she placed it in the restaurant to replace the original dining table.

When it was almost lunch time, Shui Yu asked what to do.

All she could think about was: barbecue!

Roasted eggplant is also fine!

Grilled shrimp would be even better!

"Girl?!" Shui Yu nudged her and asked in a slightly raised voice, "What do you want to eat later?"

Yan Qiushu apologized to the cute Dongdong in her heart, and then said decisively: "Let's have barbecue at noon!"

Shui Yu: “Ah?”

Yan Qiushu added: "It's boring to eat alone, call Aunt Xu and let's eat together!"

Once she made her decision, she was very decisive. After all, she had no other hobbies in her life except eating.

She didn't want to endure it if she had the conditions.

So in just a short time, the charcoal stove was lit, the iron rack was put on, and the meat to be grilled was also served.

The meat is thin and tender. A sizzling sound is heard on the iron plate. The thin slices of pork belly are fried until golden brown, and the fat quickly comes out. Surrounding them are slices of lamb and chicken.

No need to add extra oil, the chicken falls on the iron sheet and is instantly grilled to change color and slightly curl up.

The three of them sat around the stove, and the heat soon made their faces red. They didn't even have to use the charcoal stove, and they were warm before they could eat.

Yan Qiushu had been looking forward to it for a long time. Seeing that the meat was cooked, she couldn't wait to pick it up.

When she put it in her mouth, the meat, with the fat of pork belly, was very tender. After chewing it for a few times, the salty and fragrant taste with a hint of spicy flavor made her eyes narrow with joy.

After finishing a mouthful of meat, Yan Qiushu discovered that Shui Yu was still working hard to roast it, and there was not a single piece of meat on her plate.

The large black iron sheet was already filled with various roasted meats.

She passed the barbecued meat to them one by one and said, "Don't just grill it, eat it while it's hot."

"Well, thank you, young lady." Shui Yu pursed her lips and smiled, but still insisted on filling the empty iron plate with meat slices again before eating in small bites.

In addition to the seasonings used for marinating the meat, Yan Qiushu also prepared other seasonings, one of which was a dry ingredient with various spices and salt, and the other was a mixture of sesame oil and mashed garlic.

She picked up a piece of roasted pork belly, dipped it into the dry seasoning dish, and immediately the pork belly was covered with powder. When she put it in her mouth and took a bite, the dry seasoning relieved the greasiness of the pork belly, and the crispy texture softened in her mouth under the pressure of her teeth, with a mixture of fragrant, salty and spicy flavors.

Compared to the meat we usually eat, this is another kind of delicacy!

It's a bit novel, but also extremely satisfying.

He ate the meat with big mouthfuls. The meat was very tender. Shui Yu nodded immediately after finishing it: "Delicious!"

Aunt Xu was more reserved, but she also ate mouthful after mouthful, nodding her head as she heard the words, "Mm, delicious!"

"Then eat more!" Yan Qiushu said with a smile, but sometimes the meat was not satisfying if it was too thin, so she simply put two or three slices of meat together and dipped them in mashed garlic. This bite was full of the aroma of meat and garlic, and the taste increased exponentially!

After lunch which lasted more than half an hour, when I was packing up, I realized that it had started snowing outside without me noticing.

The ground was covered with a thin layer of white, and the snowflakes in the air were densely packed and falling one by one. The ancient buildings in front of us were covered with a layer of snow, which looked very beautiful.

Yan Qiushu stared at it for a long time, then rubbed her round belly and smiled with satisfaction.

At this time, after having eaten and drunk enough and with heavy snow falling, it is the best time for a lunch break!

A five-year-old child far away in the Imperial College was also looking at the snow outside the window with an expectant smile on his face.

Sister Shu must be preparing the barbecue for dinner now.

Slurp!

I don’t know what barbecue tastes like, but it sounds delicious!!!