Chapter 131 Chapter 131 Marriage. ...
1. Before marriage.
After paying the betrothal gifts, Song Jiaoniang's face was beaming, and she often went out to chat with the neighbors.
Lin Zhi didn't know about it at first, but Song Jiaoniang told her later, beaming with joy and feeling extremely proud: "Oh, look at how jealous they are, they're so angry!"
Song Jiaoniang specifically picked out those who loved to gossip and gossip about their own mothers-in-law and other women. She would start by talking about her own daughters and then about her future son-in-law. Finally, she would show concern for the other party's children's studies and marriages. Seeing their faces turn red, it felt so good!
Lin Zhi kneaded the dough in her hands and looked up at Song Jiaoniang with a look of confusion: "Mom! You've been showing off for half a month straight. Don't go anymore!"
"Well, I was just trying to show off." Song Jiaoniang put her hands on her hips, pouted, and complained to her daughter, "You didn't know how mean-spirited those people were when you were in the room the other day. They said such nasty things."
The Linzhi family never revealed their origins to outsiders, and Lin Sen, Tao Yingce, and even Lu San and others were also tight-lipped, so that the neighbors only knew that they were from other places and their accents were not like those of people around Bian Jing, but they didn't know where they came from specifically.
Ever since the Linzhi family moved in, there has been a lot of gossip from the neighbors, but Song Jiaoniang never took it seriously and just pretended not to hear.
But she didn't expect that her indifference would be seen as cowardice in their eyes. On the happy day of her daughter's engagement, their speculations became increasingly vulgar and vicious. The malicious intent that could not even be concealed made Song Jiaoniang unable to swallow this.
Lin Zhi had also heard some of what Da Niu and the others had said. Rubbing the dough in her hands, she said gently, "I'm not stopping you from going. I'm just asking you to be careful. Don't overdo it, piss them off, and end up getting resentful." Lin Sen, upon hearing this, agreed. "Sister Zhi is right. Even a rabbit bites when it's angry. Let's be merciful."
Song Jiaoniang thought so too. Her family's life was getting better and better, so why should she bother with those people?
So she agreed immediately, and then her eyes fell on the emerald green skin, with curiosity on her face: "Sister Zhi, are you making Qingtuan?"
"Yes." Lin Zhi nodded and replied, "The Qingming Festival is coming soon. I think there will be a lot of people ordering Qingtuan from our shop this year."
The wedding date for her and Shen Yan has not yet been set, and the Lin, Shen and Tao families have been picky about the date, insisting on choosing a perfect one.
Seeing the three families arguing endlessly, Lin Zhi was too lazy to intervene and simply prepared the food for the subsequent festival. "I want to prepare the styles and flavors first, so that the big girl and the others will have time to make it when the time comes."
The current Qingtuan does not only refer to glutinous rice dumplings made with mugwort, but is made from various wild vegetables in spring. In addition to mugwort, there are also mint, orange leaves, lotus leaves, mouse grass and wheat straw. The method is basically the same, which is to chop and stir to extract the juice, then mix it with glutinous rice dough, and wrap it with sweet or salty, meat or vegetarian fillings.
At the same time, as a convenient outdoor snack, it is not only carried with people during the Qingming Festival, but also during spring outings. There are many fruit shops in the city of Bianjing that sell it all year round.
Linzhi wants to launch it during the Qingming Festival. If it can win the hearts of diners, it may be possible to add a new star to its shop.
For the dough, she also used mint and orange leaves in addition to mugwort. Both leaves have a unique aroma and will bring different flavors to the qingtuan.
Of course, Linzhi did not ignore the needs of the literati. In addition to the three types mentioned above, it also selected tea, namely the Longfengtuan tea and Rizhu tea that were delivered earlier.
Needless to say, the former is the most top-notch cake tea at present. Its production process is extremely complex and delicate. A pound of cake tea is worth tens of thousands of coins. It is a tea specially used by the inner court and even officials. Ordinary people don't even have the chance to see it.
The latter is a rare stir-fried green tea, which is only available in a very small area. It was specially sent from Hangzhou by Madam Qi after she learned that Linzhi liked brewing tea more than starting tea.
The five types of dough made with different wild vegetables and tea leaves have slightly different colors.
Linzhi divides the kneaded dough into evenly sized pieces, and then stuffs them with fillings one by one, making them into the shapes of green plums, flowers and leaves, or round balls, or printing patterns with molds, and then steaming them.
Wait for a while and then take it out.
Linzhi opened the lid of the pot, and Song Jiaoniang came over. Because Linzhi used different wild grass juices and tea leaves, the green rice balls she made were also different shades of green. They looked like gradient colors, which was very beautiful.
"Be careful, it's hot." Lin Zhi saw Song Jiaoniang reaching out to take it and hurriedly reminded her.
Unfortunately, she was a step too slow. Song Jiaonian blew on the dough, yelling "It hurts and it's hot", and fiddled with the green rice dumpling with her left and right hands until the temperature of the skin reached a level that was acceptable to human hands. Only then did she gradually calm down.
Lin Sen was much more careful. He held the green ball in his palm, pinching the lotus leaf underneath. He sniffed the faint fragrance and his eyes lit up: "This one of mine is made of mugwort."
"My...hmm, such a strong tea aroma." Song Jiaoniang sniffed it and her eyes suddenly lit up.
Lin Zhi wiped her hands, picked up one, and said with a smile, "Mine smells minty, and it smells good too."
As they spoke, the three of them took a bite each.
Song Jiaoniang's eyes lit up, and she lowered her head to look at the green dumpling she had taken a bite of, with a mixture of green and white inside. "Hmm, this is stir-fried bamboo shoots with water spinach and dried tofu?"
Amaranth is one of the wild vegetables in spring. It has a crisp and sweet taste. When paired with spring bamboo shoots and dried tofu, your mouth will be filled with sweetness in one bite.
"Mine has mushroom and meat filling?" Lin Sen raised an eyebrow, surprised. The qingtuan in his hand was filled with minced meat and various chopped mushrooms. The salty, fragrant, and sweet flavors burst forth in his mouth with every bite.
The dish served in Nyingchi is the pork floss and salted egg yolk flavor, which has become a classic in later generations but is quite rare nowadays.
“Why are they all salty?”
"There are also sweet ones, you can try them." Lin Zhi said with a smile.
Sure enough, the couple later ate red bean paste and coconut-flavored mashed potato filling.
Lin Zhi not only asked the kitchen apprentice in the shop to taste it, but also packed it in boxes and sent it to Tao Mansion and Shen Mansion.
In Tao's house, everyone just praised a few words, but Chen Yan looked at the cakes in the box with tears in his eyes, and couldn't wait to pick up one and put it in his mouth.
Chew chew chew——
Chew chew chew——
Chew chew chew——
Manager Jiang looked at Chen Yan, who was crying, then looked at the exquisite Qingtuan. He was silent for a moment and asked, "My dear?"
Chen Yan: TT
He felt particularly aggrieved: "Hasn't the wedding date been set yet?"
"This..." Manager Jiang hesitated for a moment and replied, "My son-in-law said there are good days in May, June, and July..."
Chen Yan was dumbfounded: "May? June? Maybe even July!?"
Manager Jiang was helpless: "My dear, my aunt and uncle also want to choose a perfect day..."
Chen Yan said quietly, "Is it possible that by that time, life will be perfect, but I will be gone?"
Manager Jiang: “…”
2. Wedding.
Originally, the Lin, Shen, and Tao families were picky about the time, but they didn't expect Chen Yan to send people to inquire about the progress every day, and his words implied that the time was too long.
Regardless of what Lin Sen and his wife thought, Mr. Tao already disliked his nephew very much. He didn't dare to say it in front of his wife, so he went to the nanny in the house to gossip about him.
The nanny felt miserable. Even if she agreed, Mr. Tao would not be satisfied. Even if she disagreed, Mr. Tao would still not be satisfied.
In the end, even the nanny closed the door, claiming that she was sick, and sent Mr. Tao away.
Mr. Tao had no choice but to hold his nose and continue to discuss with his wife. Then he learned that Linzhi's family would start preparing for the reservation of various foods for the Dragon Boat Festival in April. At that time, they would have to go to the palace and the catering industry to prepare activities. If they wanted to find time to get married at that time... it would be a bit difficult.
Linzhi said that if March is not possible, then it will have to be postponed to after the Dragon Boat Festival or after the Chinese Valentine's Day.
As soon as these words came out, Chen Yan immediately became anxious.
Ever since he started preparing for the exam last year, Chen Yan hasn't seen Lin Zhi for several months due to the many rules of engagement nowadays. He has lost a lot of weight!
What if it's delayed until after the Dragon Boat Festival, or even after the Chinese Valentine's Day?! Chen Yan felt sick just thinking about it.
Therefore, under the strong proposal of both parties, the three families had to adjust the time and finally set the wedding in mid-to-late March.
Several days in advance, Lin Zhi Ji posted a notice confirming the closing date. Afterward, nine out of ten customers who came in knew about Lin Zhi's happy event and didn't forget to offer their congratulations.
Three days before the wedding, the Shen family asked the matchmaker, Madam Sun, to go to the Lin family with the wedding gifts as usual.
When they arrived at the Dali Temple Street, there were already quite a few people looking in. However, those gossipers from last time had been so dissuaded by Song Jiaoniang that they dared not leave the house. Those who stayed were just there to share in the good times, and when they saw Madam Sun and her group, they spoke only auspicious words.
The servant took the gift and led Mother Sun and her group into the house to sit down.
When Song Jiaoniang opened the gilded copper box, she saw that it was covered with Su brocade lining, on which were placed a gold-embroidered shawl, a flower bun and a flower fan, as well as a gold-painted lacquer box containing frankincense and myrrh, and a mother-of-pearl makeup box filled with the finest black ink and rose rouge.
After looking at the gifts, Song Jiaoniang hurriedly brought out the return gifts prepared by Lin Zhi and asked Mother Sun to send them to the Shen Mansion.
Next was the day of the wedding. Madam Liu specially asked for leave from the palace and personally led the servants of the Lin family to deliver the dowry to the Shen Mansion.
The Shen Mansion was already surrounded by the Tao family. Except for Mr. Tao and Mrs. Shen who knew clearly about the dowry of the Lin family, the other two families of Tao family knew about the dowry sent by Lin Zhi's family for the first time.
Seeing box after box of dowry being carried in, filled with exquisite silks and satins, all of which were top-quality items, they were also surprised.
"Isn't she a merchant girl?"
"I heard she was a cook... How come she had a dowry? It was so well-prepared, so...decent?"
What the Tao family could say was decent was that the dowry was of high quality - these things were the result of the great efforts of Lin Sen and Song Jiaoniang. Lin Sen had also purchased dowry items when he was in the Xi family, and he was also the manager of a silk and satin shop. Song Jiaoniang was not only a famous embroiderer, but also had followed the old lady since she was a child, and had seen many high-quality items in the Bo's Mansion.
Look, the dowry they prepared was all precious and exquisite, not just for show, which even made the other two branches of the Tao family who looked down on Linzhi change their attitude.
"Look at this dowry. Not to mention the real estate, the remaining items are probably worth a lot of money, perhaps a thousand strings of cash..."
"Tsk tsk, this is incredible." Tao Erlang's wife was a little jealous. "By this calculation, the dowry must be over 5,000 strings of cash!"
"Maybe he's a descendant of an official who's fallen on hard times?"
"No wonder the chefs kept alarming the Imperial Kitchen. I heard they were even planning to hire her as a lady-in-waiting."
When Madam Shen heard this, she couldn't help but interrupt and said, "Speaking of female officials, do you think this lady who is the guardian of the dowry looks familiar?"
Everyone's eyes fell on Madam Liu, and after a moment, someone exclaimed, "This person looks like the lady-in-waiting of the Empress Dowager?"
The wives of officials who had been to the palace for banquets or visited the empress dowager recognized him one after another, and the other wives gasped.
No one knew Madam Liu's past experiences, they just thought that the Lin family must have some background to be able to have a relationship with the female official.
Everyone can come to pledge the dowry!
Many people cast jealous and envious glances at Mrs. Shen. Last time, Tao Dalang married Qi, and this time, Shen Jialang married such a capable woman. It was truly enviable.
After Mrs. Shen remembered Madam Liu, she suddenly understood. However, facing the admiring looks from everyone, she naturally kept silent about the other party's origins and just smiled.
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