Chapter 91. A few days after the gathering, Uncle Xue came again. (Note...)

A few days later, Uncle Xue came again.

According to him, the border conflict is currently escalating, and Su Lifeng will not be able to return to the capital for the time being.

However, Uncle Xue left his contact address, so it's likely that he will contact Jiang Zhenniang as soon as he returns to Beijing.

With such expectations, Jiang Zhenniang worked even harder, and in her spare time she would go around looking at houses: "When your elder brother returns in triumph, he will be of marriageable age."

“Then let him and your sister-in-law live in that house, so they won’t have to squeeze in with us anymore.”

“If my elder brother can return home in glory, his official rank might be promoted to another level. At that time, the court should reward him with an official residence, right?” Su Zhihan, who had recently been hosting banquets at the residences of sixth or seventh-rank officials, interjected upon hearing this.

"Oh dear! I've completely forgotten about that!" Jiang Zhenniang slapped her forehead, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught sight of Mr. Zhang leaving. She immediately began to sigh again.

"Why are you sighing..."

"To be honest, after I found out your older brother was still alive, I wanted to back out."

"?"

"It's about the pearls," Jiang Zhenniang tugged at Su Zhihan's sleeve and whispered, "Zhang Guanren is nowhere near as good as your elder brother!"

"You were praising Master Zhang the other day." Su Zhihan looked at Jiang Zhenniang and was speechless. "Besides, what if someone just likes the gentle and refined type?"

Su Zhihan remembered that the main reason her predecessor was able to be conscripted into the army was that everyone in the Su family was as thin as monkeys, except for Su Lifeng, who was as strong as a bear. He could beat the entire Su family with a stick and make them howl. He managed to keep the Manchus from taking Su's father to gamble, allowing Jiang Zhenniang and her predecessor to live a few years of peace.

Both in appearance and personality, he was a completely different type from Zhang Guanren.

"That's possible. She likes strong, muscular men! Besides, I didn't know your older brother was still alive at that time."

Jiang Zhenniang felt a pang of regret, lamenting that she wished Uncle Xue could have returned sooner.

Now that Pearl's family and Zhang Guanren's family have already arranged to have a matchmaking tea party in a few days, she shouldn't interfere at this time.

Su Zhihan ignored Jiang Zhenniang's grumbling and focused on managing the banquet business.

This continued for another half month, and it was now the twelfth lunar month. Pearl's family and Zhang Guanren's family went to look at each other's homes. Su Zhihan did not go, but Yao Lang and Jiang Zhenniang accompanied her.

The former felt quite hopeful, while the latter felt there were significant problems. Yao Lang advised that Master Zhang's family was of modest means, while Pearl's family had a substantial dowry, and since Master Zhang was fond of Pearl, they would be a perfect match.

"They seem like a match made in heaven to me."

"How much did Master Zhang give you to make you speak up for him like this?" Jiang Zhenniang was quite dissatisfied upon hearing this. She waved the embarrassed Yao Lang aside and then pulled Su Zhihan and Madam Lü aside for a long talk.

It turns out that when Zhang Guanren's parents first heard that she and Yao Lang were both merchants and that Pearl's family were servants, they acted like officials. But when they learned that Pearl's family came from the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion, their attitude immediately became obsequious. Their sycophantic behavior was truly despicable.

Jiang Zhenniang observed that Zhang Guanren's parents didn't seem like easy people to get along with.

"Such an appearance is truly despicable."

“That’s right.” Jiang Zhenniang quickly chimed in when she saw that Lu Shi agreed: “Moreover, his parents also said they wanted to go to the countryside with Master Zhang to enjoy a life of luxury, which would only make things more complicated.”

Yao Lang was about to speak up for him: "Master Zhang has just received his official position, it's only natural that his parents are pleased..."

"So, being so smug gives you the right to be so picky? If you acted like this before marriage, who knows what you'll be like after marriage?"

“A young woman has just gotten married and has to leave her parents to serve her in-laws. If she happens to encounter a terrible husband, she will have no one to complain to if she suffers any grievances.”

"Hey! If I'm as unlucky as you, and I haven't been able to have a child after being married for several years, wouldn't I be tormented to death?"

“That’s a young lady from the Marquis of Zhongyong’s mansion. How could Master Zhang and his parents do such a thing?”

"What do you mean?" Madam Lü was displeased, glancing sideways at Yao Lang: "Isn't that what she always does? Hmm? Could it be that you have money and now want to take a concubine? Should I go to the brokerage to find one for you?"

Su Zhihan made a fortune from catering, and Yao Lang also successfully entered the industry, making a small fortune and now signing two unpopular cooks to cook some of the lower-grade catering that Su Zhihan no longer looked down on.

Over the past few months, the Yao family has saved a lot of money. Yao Lang not only plans to buy a new house, but also discusses with Madam Lü about buying her maids and servants to take care of her.

Thinking of this, Lu's eyes blazed with fury.

Upon seeing Madam Lü's appearance, Yao Lang's previous enthusiasm for speaking up for Master Zhang vanished instantly, and he repeatedly said with a forced smile, "My dear wife, how could I dare to do such a thing?"

"If we've got the maid, let's buy two old women instead."

"Yes, yes, yes, we will do as you say, madam."

"And what happened in the end?" Su Zhihan asked.

"Pearl returned the teacup to Master Zhang, which means she didn't like it, otherwise why would Yao Lang be here to speak well of her?"

Jiang Zhenniang watched the Yao couple's antics with a smile. Only after the couple left did she pull Su Zhihan aside and whisper, "Didn't you say last time you wanted to invite Pearl and Yinghong to our house for a visit? When Pearl comes over, you can talk to her about your elder brother and test the waters."

Su Zhihan: "...Mother."

Jiang Zhenniang hadn't given up yet. Hearing this, she shamelessly said, "Look at that Master Zhang's parents, how can they compare to us? If Pearl were your sister-in-law, your mother would definitely treat her like my own daughter, and you would treat her like a sister, and your relationship with Yinghong would become even better... How wonderful!"

Jiang Zhenniang winked and said, "Remember that."

Su Zhihan took a deep breath and pushed Jiang Zhenniang out the door: "Okay, okay, I understand."

A few days later, Jiang's braised meat shop put up a sign that it would be closed the next day.

Su Zhihan ordered a whole lamb and several pounds of mutton from the butcher shop in advance, planning to have a gathering at her home with the shop's staff, as well as Pearl, Yinghong, Cao Daya and Cao's mother, Yao Lang and Lu Shi.

The next day, at the crack of dawn, Jiang Zhenniang got up. As soon as she pushed open the door, she found a thin layer of snow on the ground. The sky was gloomy, and snowflakes the size of rice grains swirled and fell one after another.

"Why did it suddenly snow?"

Jiang Zhenniang looked at the sky outside, put her hands together and prayed, "God bless us, may this year's snow not be like last year's, may it be auspicious snow!"

Last year's snow disaster was truly shocking.

Jiang Zhenniang sighed and went inside to call her daughter again.

Upon hearing that it had snowed, Su Zhihan rummaged through her trunk and pulled out her newly made cotton coat. She tucked her hands into her sleeves and leaned out to check the weather: "What a coincidence, it just so happens to snow today."

"I don't know if it will stop later."

"I don't know..." Jiang Zhenniang looked at the sky, unable to give a definite answer. After thinking for a moment, she smiled and said, "If it keeps snowing, we can eat on the wooden corridor and enjoy the snow scenery at the same time."

"If we're not going to put it down, we can move the things out later."

Su Zhihan thought it sounded good. After the servants went to the butcher shop to fetch the pre-ordered lamb and mutton, she led the people into the kitchen to prepare it.

These lambs are no ordinary lambs; they are Hotan lambs obtained from merchants from the Western Regions, and each one weighs about ten catties and costs about fifty strings of cash.

Even so, it was only because Su Zhihan was a regular customer of the butcher shop and spent a lot of money on her daily purchases, and because she learned about the butcher shop owner's purchase from someone else, that the butcher shop owner was willing to part with her.

When Jiang Zhenniang first heard this, she was shocked: "Such expensive mutton? We usually only use 30 to 50 coins a catty, and the more expensive ones are 100 coins."

That adds up to five strings of cash per catty!

Su Zhihan's hands kept moving as she inspected the mutton. She said to Jiang Zhenniang, "It's different. This kind of lamb is more tender than the local kind, and it doesn't have any gamey smell at all. The taste is extraordinary."

"If I hadn't used it once in Dali, I wouldn't have known that the butcher shop had such good ingredients."

"Furthermore, this is also an opportunity to knock on doors."

In the capital, connections are essential, and Su Zhihan encountered many difficulties when she first started purchasing ingredients.

Although Jiang Zhenniang had gained some experience in the Marquis's mansion beforehand, she had only spent a short time in the purchasing department. As a result, many shops were unwilling to sell their ingredients to her after she left the mansion.

On several occasions, Su Zhihan was unable to buy the ingredients she wanted. In fact, she was even looked down upon by several officials because of the low quality of the ingredients, and they gossiped about her behind her back.

For a long time, the rarest ingredient she had ever encountered was that piece of cured meat from the Dali Kingdom.

It wasn't until she served at official banquets more often and took larger orders that she was able to glean some insights into the business.

These top-quality ingredients are expensive and rare, requiring both connections and money. Su Zhihan not only discovered the connections but also had to spend money to convince the butcher to contact her next time he had good ingredients.

Su Zhihan explained it to Jiang Zhenniang in detail before she understood the intricacies of sourcing goods.

"So that's how it is. No wonder I saw you change the place to pick up the goods halfway through." Jiang Zhenniang had never expected such a strange thing. While muttering to herself, she piled up the offal that her daughter had taken out of the sheep's stomach and put it in a basin to wash with salt.

Meanwhile, Uncle Chai was processing the sheep's blood he brought back from the shop. After filtering it multiple times, he added eggs to solidify it, which could then be made into sheep's blood chicken cake or stir-fried sheep's blood, both of which are good appetizers.

On the other side, Su Zhihan also picked up the wooden sticks she had prepared in advance, skewered the lamb on the sticks, and then smeared the sauce she had prepared in advance on it, once, twice, three times... until the sauce evenly coated both the inside and outside of the lamb before she stopped.

While Su Zhihan was placing the lamb on the rack to drain the excess sauce, Cai's mother and the others prepared a heated kang (a traditional heated platform bed) in the yard, burning jujube wood in it until it was fully heated. Finally, they moved the lamb into the kang, carefully adjusted it, and roasted it repeatedly.

Finally, Su Zhihan placed the open flame on top of the lamb, then covered it with an iron pot, using the residual heat to slowly simmer the lamb.

After preparing the whole roasted lamb, Su Zhihan started preparing other appetizers to go with the drinks.

Soon, the laughter of Yao Lang and Madam Lü could be heard outside: "Madam Jiang, Madam Su—"

"We brought some good wine."

"Madam Jiang, it's been a long time!" Then, Cao Mama, Daya, Pearl, and Yinghong also arrived one after another.

The courtyard was immediately filled with laughter and chatter.

Everyone here knows how to cook, and seeing Su Zhihan busy running around, they felt bad and all came forward to help.

Yinghong and Cao Daya, for example, were particularly keen to show off their skills, and even went into the kitchen to tinker for a while.

Before anyone knew it, the snow had stopped, and the sun peeked out from behind the clouds. Seeing this, the shop assistants quickly moved the tables and chairs into the courtyard, while Cao Mama and the others brought out the dishes and placed them on the table.

People gradually emerged from the kitchen.

Soon, the courtyard was filled with various aromas. After the shop's waiters and servants set up tables and chairs in the courtyard and everyone finished their work, they gathered again in front of the simmering whole roasted lamb, inhaling the fragrance emanating from it.

"It smells so good!"

"Han-jie, how long does it take to roast a whole lamb?"

"It's almost done." Su Zhihan came out from inside and moved the iron pot away with a fork.

The aroma of fruitwood and mutton instantly burst forth, an extremely strong and domineering fragrance. Combined with the golden-brown crust and the fat dripping down the wooden stick, it was a visual and olfactory assault on everyone present.

Cao Daya couldn't help but swallow. Immediately afterwards, the sound of swallowing filled the air, and people could even faintly hear discussions coming from outside.

"Where does the fragrance come from?"

"Which shop makes this delicious food? It looks so tempting!"