Chapter 29 What does Grandma mean by this: Yu Lang slept very soundly, and was only awakened by the aroma of sour soup wafting in from outside. It was…

Yulang slept very soundly, and was awakened by the aroma of sour soup wafting in from outside. It was a sour fruit smell with a faint spiciness, unlike the usual smell of pickled vegetables and salted vegetables at home.

The room was quiet, and there was no one else around. Yu Lang sat on the edge of the bed, listening to the footsteps coming and going outside the gauze curtains. The dishes were placed on the table with a soft clatter, and the curtains were filled with a faint scent of rose dew, which mingled with the aroma of food. For no reason, Yu Lang felt a lump in his throat.

How could a real man so easily show his vulnerability in front of others? Yu Lang, who considered himself a true man, naturally thought so too.

Even though there was no one in the room, he still raised his hand and rubbed the corner of his eye hard, wiping away any non-existent moisture. He got up, grabbed a sandalwood-colored long robe and put it on, then slipped on his cloth shoes and left the room.

"What tricks did Grandma come up with today? I've never seen anything like it before."

"Sour soup hot pot. Yesterday, a cow was delivered from the estate. This morning, I asked Ningxiang to go and pick out some good pieces of meat. We're just waiting for this lunch."

When it comes to how to enjoy beef hot pot, Shen Wanqing suggests two top options: Chaoshan beef hot pot and Guizhou sour soup hot pot. Chaoshan hot pot is relatively easy to make; as long as the satay sauce is on point, it's guaranteed to be delicious.

Satay sauce originated from Southeast Asia. The satay sauce at Shen Wanqing's place is the most authentic one that the Shen family brought from Fuzhou. The thick sauce is mixed with warm water, and the whole house is filled with a spicy and fragrant aroma. If you smell it carefully, you can also smell a slight sweetness.

"There wasn't much sauce this year, probably because the weather was bad in Southeast Asia. There were only a few jars left at home, so I brought half of them over. Grandpa is in for a treat today."

"It smells good." The broth of the Chaoshan hot pot was simple, almost like a copper pot of water in Yu Lang's eyes. On the other hand, the red soup bubbling on the other side looked particularly tempting, especially with an indescribable smell that was strange yet attractive.

"It tastes like Litsea cubeba. This flavor was brought from my cook's family home. It's rare to find not only in Beijing but throughout the entire north. If you don't like it, just consider it a new experience. I won't make it again next time."

Shen Wanqing loves sour soup hot pot, and the original owner of this body also loves it. Despite her gentle and mild-mannered nature, she has a special fondness for sour soup with ginger lily that she has tried once. Every time she gets a sour soup hot pot, she frowns, but after a few days she will be clamoring for it again.

Shen Wanqing had secretly pondered this matter and felt that it must be fate that allowed her to be reborn into this body and live once.

She always felt that taste was inseparable from personality. Despite how gentle the original owner was, she knew that they both had a stubborn streak deep down because they shared the same tastes, and that their souls could resonate with each other.

"Why not do it? This smells pretty strong. What is Litsea cubeba? What does it look like?"

Perhaps because it hasn't gone through a generational shift yet, the flavor of this Litsea cubeba is even stronger than the one Shen Wanqing ate at the hot pot restaurant.

Yulang scooped the soup into a bowl, smelled it, but didn't dare to eat it. He could only put a little bit of the soup on his tongue with his chopsticks. It was so strong that he couldn't stand it. But after the smell dissipated, he couldn't help but take another bite.

Seeing Yu Lang frowning and struggling with himself, Shen Wanqing picked up a piece of beef with her chopsticks and put it into the clear broth copper pot. She was also stunned when he asked her what the Litsea cubeba actually looked like. From her past life to now, she had only been focused on eating, and she had never really cared which one was the Litsea cubeba.

"Whether you know or not, it's all the same," Shen Wanqing waved her hand dismissively, stopping Yu Lang from asking further, displaying a carefree attitude that said, "Eat it or not, it won't poison you anyway." Yu Lang couldn't help but laugh as he drank his soup, laughing like a madman.

However, Shen Wanqing wasn't so domineering as to completely disregard Yulang's appetite. Apart from the two hot pots, all the other dishes on the table were Yulang's favorites. The couple, who had been married for less than a month and had spent even less time together, actually enjoyed this meal quite a bit.

Whether the food suited his taste or not was, for Yu Lang, a matter of whether his family cared about him or not. Yu Lang enjoyed the meal, rinsed his mouth with the light tea brought by the maid, and then got up to retrieve the dagger the Crown Prince had bestowed upon him. He hadn't had a chance to show it to Shen Wanqing since returning.

To everyone's surprise, Shen Wanqing took the knife, examined it carefully, praised it, and then put it aside. Yu Lang couldn't help but tilt his head at her, his eyes conveying a clear message: You, my man! I! I just entered Yuqing Palace and received a reward from the Crown Prince. Shouldn't you flatter me a bit more?

"Sir, I really don't know much about swords and blades. I just know that what the Crown Prince has bestowed upon me must be something good. But I can't really explain why it's so good, and my praise doesn't quite hit the mark. I'd better say less."

Shen Wanqing spoke very sincerely, so sincerely that Yu Lang felt that his wife was a genuine person who didn't try to fool him with empty platitudes.

He was about to say it was okay if she didn't understand, and that he could take her to his private treasury when he had time, and find her a couple of weapon books so that maybe they could discuss swordsmanship together someday. But before he could finish speaking, Shen Wanqing's hand, which was extended to his chest, choked him back.

Shen Wanqing's hands were beautiful, her fingers were as white as jade, her nails were neatly trimmed, and her nail beds and fingertips had a slight pink tinge. Her knuckles were connected to her metacarpal bones, and her flesh and bones were well-proportioned. Yu Lang couldn't help but drift off into his own thoughts, recalling the feeling of her pressing tightly against his back at night.

"What does Grandma mean by this?"

"I gave you a purse the day I entered the palace. Now that I'm back, could you show it to me?"

It was perfectly normal for his new wife to prepare embroidery for him. She provided him with socks, insoles, sachets, and perfumes—basically everything that others had. Yu Lang didn't find it special at all; it would be laughable if he didn't.

When Shen Wanqing asked about the purse, his hands moved faster than his brain. He pulled the purse off and placed it in her palm before asking, dumbfounded, "Are you going to give me a different purse?"

"I've been busy these past few days and haven't had time to do any embroidery. If you want a new purse, please wait a little longer, sir."

Shen Wanqing opened her purse, took out the silver notes and loose silver coins inside, and spread them on the kang table between the two of them.

The silver and silver notes were specially prepared by Shen Wanqing. The large denominations of the silver notes were ten taels, and the small denominations were five taels, totaling one hundred taels for him. The remaining ten taels were in small silver coins, which filled a purse exactly.

On her first day working at Yuqing Palace, she knew she would have to spend money to pave the way. Shen Wanqing had prepared herself mentally, but after counting the few silver notes and the almost untouched loose silver coins in her hand three times, she still felt a sharp, throbbing headache.

"It took five days for the old man to spend eighty taels of silver on his first time working at Yuqing Palace."

As a Zuo Ling of the Plain Yellow Banner, Yu Lang's annual income was capped at three thousand taels. With the addition of his family's farmland, shops, and dividends, it amounted to a little over four thousand but less than five thousand taels.

It sounds like a lot, a lot that ordinary people would never see in their entire lives, but for a family like Hesheli's, they still have to be very careful with their money.

Every year at the end of the year, after collecting silver from various places, 3,500 taels were invariably given to the public treasury, and the remaining 1,500 and 500 taels were given to Niohuru's wife. She was also supporting Fangyi and Pusabao, and it was impossible for her to let the two children really live on only 5 taels a month. Eating more vegetables, making more clothes, buying more hair ornaments, all of these things cost money.

There's still a thousand taels left, which, divided over twelve months, amounts to a little over eighty taels per month. Adding the fifteen taels of silver I get each month from the public coffers, it's just enough for a hundred taels.

One hundred taels of silver was enough for Yu Lang to eat at a good restaurant in the capital for ten or so meals. He occasionally gambled, but he wasn't into it. If he didn't buy a knife, he could still have a little money left in his pocket at the end of the month.

Shen Wanqing never intended to talk to him about thrift and managing a household well; that was unrealistic for the men of the Hesheli family of the Plain Yellow Banner. There's no such thing as true empathy in this world; one can only understand something by experiencing it firsthand.

Just as poor people can only think of the Eastern Palace Empress making pancakes and the Western Palace Empress rolling scallions, it would be harsh and arrogant to expect Yulang to learn how to divide a tael of silver into eight petals.

“In the past, the old man only needed to eat his fill and his whole family wasn’t hungry. Now that I’m here, and who knows, maybe one day we’ll have another child. Isn’t this a bit too little money?”

"Hey, didn't Madam also say it's the first time? Those servants in the palace are all about money. How can I, a complete stranger, not bleed them dry?"

"So, I only complain that you don't have enough money, not that you spend too much."

In the past five days, besides paying her respects to her mother-in-law and great-grandmothers, Shen Wanqing's most important task, besides going to the west courtyard to annoy Shumulu, was to carefully take stock of her dowry.

Excluding the daily necessities and the rarely used items stored in the warehouse, as well as the two thousand taels of silver notes that couldn't be touched, I still had a total of one thousand five hundred taels of cash on hand. As for the dowry of farmland and shops, the rent would be collected at the end of the year, and I would only know the current market situation after the Mid-Autumn Festival, so I would ignore it for now.

“Although most of our major expenses are covered by the public funds, there are always some things that cannot be covered by the public funds. For example, the Mid-Autumn Festival gifts this year. Now that you have more colleagues than before, it should be our East Courtyard that handles the gift-giving for the festival. This sum of money cannot be covered by the public funds. What do you think we should do to prepare it?”

"This is my fault, I didn't think of that." Yu Lang patted his forehead and got up to leave. He rushed out and returned in a flash, carrying a small box. "I was so focused on giving people tips that I completely forgot about giving gifts."

"Here is five hundred taels. Please take it, Madam, and see how you can get through the Mid-Autumn Festival. We can discuss how to earn money after the festival."

Shen Wanqing accepted the box without any hesitation. She looked up at Yu Lang's eyes and, finding no sign of impatience, felt somewhat satisfied.

The fact that he didn't proactively suggest saving money in the future indicates that he doesn't intend to tighten his belt. However, he also didn't say that it's wrong for him to be so calculating; at least he understands the difficulties of managing a household and knows that money is important. He didn't contradict himself by complaining about being nagging or long-winded, which is quite good.

"Grandpa, quickly make a list of the families you need to give gifts to. I'll prepare the gifts this afternoon and have Changshun and Changlu take people to deliver them as soon as possible."

"Is it enough time this afternoon?"

“I have everything prepared: two boxes of eight-treasure pastries, two jars of osmanthus wine, a box of tea, and a bag of homemade dried cheese. Is that enough?”

"That's enough, that's enough. As long as it's the right thing to do and not impolite, it's fine."

Shen Wanqing prepared everything in sets, just like when she used to make bulk purchases for her work unit. If she was short, she could easily replenish the supplies; if there were leftovers, there would be no waste. She could simply share them with the people in the East Courtyard—it was a good deed, after all.

His colleagues all knew that Yulang had just finished his shift today. By sending out the holiday gifts in the last little bit of time before the holiday, he made it seem like his family valued the matter even more.

————————!!————————

I have to work on the schedule on Sunday, so tomorrow's update will be after 11 PM. After tomorrow, updates will be around 6 PM. If I'm late or need to take a day off, I'll let you know in advance.

A red envelope will be given away in the comments section of this chapter. Thank you all for your support! [Dog head carrying a rose][Dog head carrying a rose][Dog head carrying a rose]