Chapter 107 (Spicy Hot Pot)
After lunch, the cheerful atmosphere quieted down.
Dongdong and his three children are fine, they can come over next time they have a holiday, but Chen Pingyu is different. This time he leaves and won't be back until the end of the year.
Yan Qiushu sighed: "I thought you could stay here for two more days, why are you leaving now?"
She brought her children to the kitchen. Although she had only lived here for a short time, she still made a lot of delicious food, some of which were made by her and some by the kitchen staff. Occasionally, if the guests liked the food, they would send people to buy it, saying that they thought the food here was better than the ones sold at the food festival.
Yan Qiushu thought that maybe it was because she made most of the seasonings here?
So now I am filling food for Shen Pingyu, filling the oil paper bags one after another.
Shen Pingyu followed her and helped her, feeling a little reluctant. After hearing this, he hesitated for two seconds, then stood on tiptoe and whispered in her ear, "Your Majesty is seriously ill. I want to go back to the Shen family and ask Grandpa and Second Grandpa to write an article to support Prince Chang."
The Shen family holds an exceptional status among the literati. Although they have never entered officialdom, their words are more effective than those of many high-ranking officials. This is especially true in ancient times, when teachers are considered the elders and hold a noble status. The articles they write are read by students, and the more people they are circulated, the greater the impact they have.
Yan Qiushu immediately understood. The Xiao family's actions in the past few months have become increasingly radical. Coupled with the successive incidents of the third prince and the sixth prince, everyone is getting anxious.
This will speed up the process of dynasty change.
Under this premise, Shen Pingyu naturally couldn't stay any longer.
Yan Qiushu smiled and continued to pretend, "Yeah, I know. I was just nagging a little. Oh, and some of it is for Zhou Zhaoqin. Is he doing well over there? I heard from him that he's living well over there. You even sent him food. You really take good care of him."
Shen Pingyu smiled and said, "Well, Aunt Yan said she would take care of him. Master Zou cooked the food, so I asked someone to send some every time."
But not only that, in Leping, the Shen family is the local tyrant. As the legitimate son, a little care from the future head of the Shen family is enough for Zhou Zhaoqin to make sure no one dares to mess with him there.
Not to mention that it is delivered every time.
Yan Qiushu said seriously: "Thank you Pingyu."
The young boy smiled and shook his head, indicating that he didn't need to worry about it.
Yan Qiushu packed everything up and asked Shui Yu to take it to the carriage. She held the children's hands and walked towards the carriage, muttering, "Oh, there's still a lot of potato flour left. You can take it too. The potato recipe is also on the paper..."
As she spoke, she walked to the side of the carriage. The curtain had been drawn and the coachman had placed a ladder, waiting for them to climb up. Yan Qiushu looked at the young boy in front of her who was respectfully saying goodbye to her, and pinched his little face skillfully.
Shen Pingyu frowned slightly, but did not move, letting her pinch him.
Yan Qiushu didn't feel comfortable pinching her for too long, so she let go after just two pinches and said with a smile, "Go ahead."
"Yeah!" Chen Ping met the carriage, and Dongdong and the others followed closely behind. After Xiao Pingsong sent his younger brother and sister up, he went up last. Then four heads popped out at the same time to say goodbye to Yan Qiushu. Wan'er was even more tearful: "Sister Shu, we are leaving. We will come to see you next time!"
Dongdong yelled at the top of his lungs, "Sister Shu, when can you marry my uncle? It's so tiring running back and forth like this~"
Yan Qiushu: "...Dongdong, you have no snacks left for the next ten days! I'm only giving them to Wan'er and Pingsong!"
Dongdong screamed suddenly and wanted to run down and hug her legs to admit his mistake.
But he was stopped by Xiao Pingsong. As the eldest of this generation, he was very sensible and comforted him: "It's okay, I can give you some of mine."
Dongdong was still choking with sobs.
That's different. These are the only snacks he has. His uncle doesn't allow anyone in the house to make delicious food for him. He can only eat what Sister Ashu sends him.
When the children come, the village becomes bustling with activity, and sometimes the noise is so loud that it gives people a headache.
But after the child left, she felt that the village was too quiet.
Even though Xiao Huaiya was here, she didn't come out often. It was quiet here and more suitable for staying at home.
Fortunately, more guests came to play soon. Yan Qiushu cheered up and entertained the guests. The disappointment of not having children to play with her was soon buried by the busyness.
Most of the people who come here are easy to get along with, and they basically come here to play for a day or half a day.
The scenery here is indeed beautiful, but it is not as convenient as Kyoto. The best thing is the food made by Yan Qiushu, but there are substitutes, so most people just eat for the sake of novelty.
Yan Qiushu is also a person who works for three days and rests for two days. She doesn't worry about performance and puts more energy into farming.
The potatoes and peppers were planted one after another and soon sprouted. She spent more time in the fields every day to check on them. These two things would be the food for Xiao Huaiting's army in the future, so she couldn't be careless!
Only when they are well fed will they have the strength to fight and avoid being trapped and dying.
At the same time, Shen Pingyu also returned to Leping with a bunch of food.
Because he was still worried about what Yan Qiushu had told him, he only rested for one night after returning. The next day, he came to the academy in the back mountain of Shen's house with a lot of bags.
After he was informed, he soon saw a little boy about the same height as Dongdong running over.
However, apart from their height, the two children had no other similarities, because he was very thin, and his little face, which used to be a little chubby, had become more oval-shaped. His eyebrows and eyes were more handsome than those of ordinary children, and he ran over with big eyes, which made the servant following him almost unable to keep up.
When he arrived in front of Shen Pingyu, Zhou Zhaoqin stopped and saluted: "Greetings, Senior Brother."
Shen Pingyu and he had the same teacher, but he was a nominal disciple, while the other party was a direct disciple and had entered the sect earlier, so he had to call him senior brother.
The reserved and indifferent young boy nodded casually, looked at him twice, and then looked at the servant beside him.
The servant hurried forward and handed all the packages in his hands to Zhou Zhaoqin's servant.
Shen Pingyu explained softly: "This is what Aunt Yan asked me to bring you. There are some snacks and some seasonings in it, but there is no place to cook in the academy, so I will ask Master Zou to make it for you later."
Zhou Zhaoqin was pleasantly surprised. His tried-to-be-serious face still revealed a joyful and excited expression. The corners of his tightly pursed lips couldn't help but turn upwards. "Thank you, Senior Brother, for bringing it here. Thank you, Sister Shu, too."
"You're welcome." Shen Pingyu smiled faintly.
Seeing that the coldness on his face had faded a little because of this smile, Zhou Zhaoqin wanted to ask something.
But before he could open his mouth, Shen Pingyu had already leaned forward: "I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. I'll send someone to bring lunch, so you don't have to go to the cafeteria."
"Yes." Zhou Zhaoqin nodded silently and watched Chen Pingyu go away. The little guy sighed precociously, looked in the direction of Kyoto, and pursed his little mouth regretfully.
But soon he smiled again.
It’s okay, he will see his senior brother again at lunch, and he can ask the same question then.
Because there is a teacher's class this morning, all the teacher's disciples will come to attend the class. Shen Family Academy is open in the morning and evening, so they will naturally eat in the cafeteria at noon.
"Dong——" After a bell sound, several sounds rang out in succession.
Zhou Zhaoqin's face changed. He told the servant to put the things in his dormitory and quickly ran to the classroom.
When he was in Kyoto, he had never been so panicked. He would study if he wanted to, and not study if he didn't want to. No one forced him. But after experiencing all this, he knew that no one would protect him for the rest of his life. He had to study. Only by reading could he gain wisdom, know how that group of people would treat him, and know how to live well without bringing trouble to those who protected him.
The daily class starts at Chenshi and ends after noon, for a total of two and a half hours. During this period, each teacher teaches for one hour, and half an hour in the middle is for them to rest.
The teacher was talking in class, and Zhou Zhaoqin was trying hard to take notes, while secretly looking at the sky outside, looking forward to the get out of class being over soon.
It wasn't until Mr. Shen Qingmin, the white-bearded teacher, finished his last point that he slammed his ruler on the table, and everyone shuddered. He smiled and said, "Okay, let's go eat. Eat more."
"Yes! Farewell, teacher!" All the students stood up, tall and short, old and young. The youngest was Zhou Zhaoqin, who was only six years old, and the oldest was a fifteen-year-old boy. All of them wore clothes of different colors representing different classes, bowed and bent over to see the teacher off.
After the teacher left, the students dispersed, but gathered in the cafeteria again.
When Zhou Zhaoqin arrived at the cafeteria, Shen Pingyu's servant was already waiting there. When he saw him coming, he immediately welcomed him inside.
The students in his class looked at him again and again with envy.
Zhou Zhaoqin sat there obediently without looking around, his face tense, waiting expectantly for the delicious food and his senior brother to appear.
Soon Shen Pingyu came over.
The waiter then served the dishes, placing two large, bright red bowls in front of the two. The contents of the bowls were a little different from the usual ones. As soon as they appeared, the bright red color was eye-catching. Their noses felt faintly stimulated, and their saliva began to flow.
"How is this made? Why does it look so spicy?" Zhou Zhaoqin couldn't help but ask curiously.
Each person received a portion. His portion contained less red, but not a small amount either. It contained various meatballs and vegetables he had eaten before, as well as brown and white noodles he had never eaten before. Some of the noodles were sticking out, completely surrounded by red. The occasional gaps showing the soup, which was also dark brown in color. The salty, fragrant, and spicy flavor hit his nose straight.
Chen Pingyu said, "This is the spicy hot pot that Aunt Yan mentioned. It uses the hot pot base she made. It requires a lot of chili peppers. The chili peppers were brought back by my uncle. She grew a lot and asked me to bring a lot back. It's not easy to cook hot pot in the academy now. I'll take you to eat it during the next holiday. The pot is hot while you eat it. This is to cook the food in advance and eat it directly."
He took out his chopsticks and handed them over: "Eat it."
"Thank you, senior brother." Zhou Zhaoqin took it with both hands, very politely, but when he picked up the chopsticks and took the first bite, he could no longer be polite.
So spicy!
The first thing he took a bite of was the Sanzi (fried dough sticks) inside. His mother didn't know what it was, but was curious because she had never seen it before. The Sanzi in the spicy hot pot had absorbed the salty and spicy soup, and when he took a bite, all the soup was squeezed out and landed on his lips and tongue.
Zhou Zhaoqin shuddered and his face turned red from the spiciness.
Shen Pingyu was stunned for a moment, and quickly served milk tea: "Eat slowly and drink some milk tea."
The Xiao family and the Shen family in Leping have already cooperated to open a food street there, and the response has been good. Now the food street has become one of the largest streets in Leping.
This time Zhou Zhaoqin didn't even have time to say thank you. He just took a gulp of the milk tea. Fortunately, he was only uncomfortable with the first sip, but he suppressed it after a while. He looked at his senior brother with tears in his eyes: "Thank you, senior brother."
"It's okay, it's my fault. I didn't consider that you can't eat such spicy food." Shen Pingyu apologized. Maybe he was like his grandmother, Mrs. Xiao, and he was born to love spicy food. He couldn't stop eating spicy strips the first time he ate them.
Nowadays, the spiciness of these dishes has actually been reduced a lot, not to mention that when it came to Zhou Zhaoqin, he even added a little more light chicken soup, but who would have thought that he would still be like this.
"Should I have someone make your chicken soup again and remove the chili oil?" Shen Pingyu asked.
But Zhou Zhaoqin quickly shook his head: "No, no! I can eat it, I like it too!"
Shen Pingyu didn't quite believe it.
Seeing this, Zhou Zhaoqin continued eating. This time he learned his lesson and ate the meatballs first. The beef balls were round and not very spicy, so he got used to it. He took a bite and the salty and spicy juice was not much left under the chewy texture of the beef balls. He could completely accept it and even liked it very much.
He really likes it. While eating it, his big eyes curved up, as if he was eating some delicious food.
Seeing this, Chen Ping felt relieved and said, "I'm glad you like it. What you just ate was Sanzi. The white noodles next to it are potato noodles. Aunt Yan made it before we came here. She used up all the remaining potatoes. We ate it all, and she asked me to take the extra ones back. Fortunately, they were not spoiled. The potatoes were brought back by His Royal Highness Prince Huai, and Aunt Yan got a share..."
As Zhou Zhaoqin listened to him, he forgot to chew the delicious food in his mouth and stared at him eagerly, hoping that he would say more.
But Chen Pingyu finished speaking quickly. He lowered his eyes in disappointment, picked up a strand of soft and tender potato flour, and put it into his mouth. It was slippery and delicious!
The more he ate, the more delicious it tasted. The spicy taste no longer made his lips and tongue uncomfortable. Instead, it was so spicy that he wanted to drool. He could only suppress it by eating more.
A bite of meatball, a bite of Sanzi, another bite of vermicelli, and finally a bite of crispy, tender and sweet mung bean sprouts. There was still a lot of soup in the big bowl, but the food inside was getting less and less.
Zhou Zhaoqin wiped the sweat off his face with a handkerchief, then picked up a piece of pork belly. The cooked pork belly was thin and tender, not greasy at all. Stimulated by the spicy taste, the only thing he could taste on his tongue was the fresh and tender texture.
With his appetite satisfied, Zhou Zhaoqin seemed to become a little bolder. He wiped his mouth, cleared his throat, and looked at the person opposite him.
Shen Pingyu was just like him, sweating profusely while eating. He happened to be taking a break at this moment, sipping milk tea.
He quickly asked, "Excuse me, Senior Brother, what is Sister Shu doing in Kyoto? I heard that she is engaged to your uncle and no longer lives in the Xiao family. So where does she live?"
Shen Pingyu explained to him: "She lives in a farm in the suburbs. She runs a farmhouse there. She says she's doing some small business. If people come to stay or buy something, she can make money. But I don't think her business is very good. I stayed there before I left, and no one came..."
He told what he had seen and heard that day.
There was no exaggeration, but there was also some sympathy. Without many customers, there would definitely be no money to be made.
Zhou Zhaoqin thought the same thing, frowning, "Then why does she still want to do business? Wasn't she living well in the Xiao family before?"
How tiring is business? And the social status is not good either.
Shen Pingyu thought for two seconds and said, “I heard that engaged men and women cannot live under the same roof, and Aunt Yan has no family, so she may be saving for a dowry.”
As he speculated, he also reminded himself of Aunt Yan's dowry. She was alone, so it was no wonder she wanted to start a business. Was it all for the dowry?! This made sense. After all, marrying into the Xiao family with too little dowry would surely make others laugh.
He thought about how much private money he had, which should be quite a bit, enough to buy a lot of things...
Zhou Zhaoqin was stunned for a moment, then asked in surprise, "Aunt Yan doesn't have a family? Where are her parents?"
Shen Pingyu said: "I heard that they are all dead. Now her mother's tablet is in Zhuangzi's ancestral hall."
Zhou Zhaoqin gripped the chopsticks tightly, lowered his head, looked at the spicy hot pot in front of him which was already a little cold, and quickly picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth, feeling sour in his heart.
It turns out that Sister Shu is also an orphan.
He whispered, "No wonder she wants to do business."
He remembered his mother saying that when his mother married his father, her grandfather gave her a lot of dowry. This was also the reason why his father always treated his mother well and did not let other concubines bully her.
Now, Sister Shu is just like him, without a father or a mother, and has to earn money for her dowry.
He pressed his chest and found a hard object hanging from his neck and resting on his chest, hidden by his clothes and invisible to others.
This was sent over some time ago by a man who claimed to be his father's adviser. He said it was the inheritance his father left him. I heard there was a lot of silver in it. I wonder if it's enough as a dowry for Sister Ashu?
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
