Chapter 212: Feather Duster
After the old man who was accompanying her for drinking finished his breakfast, Lin Xiaoyue returned to the kitchen with a tray.
Seeing her happy expression, Chen Yunyun asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there something good?"
Lin Xiaoyue put down the tray and said with a smile: "Dad just told me that he can go out tomorrow. This is really great!"
Chen Yunyun clapped her hands happily and said, "This is such a happy event. Should we make a few more dishes for lunch?"
Lin Xiaoyue asked curiously, "I plan to make a soup with wild delicacies and steam some meat patties. What do you want to make?"
Chen Yunyun thought for a moment and said, "How about we stir-fry some shredded potatoes and then kill a chicken to make soup? There are a lot of people in the bamboo courtyard now, so a chicken is enough for one meal."
Lin Xiaoyue was a little reluctant to part with them. She had bought those chickens for laying eggs. "I'm saving that whole flock for eggs! Besides, I've already made some soup, so there's no need to stew the chickens. There's still plenty of meat in the cellar, so I'll make some bacon for them! I'll marinate the meat with white wine this afternoon. Tomorrow, Dad can go to the fields, so I'll give him a change of pace."
Chen Yunyun smiled and said, "If you don't want to make soup, you can just stir-fry it! It's considered an early celebration for Uncle! Just now, when we were having breakfast, an adult came over and said that if we wanted to eat more, we could just have a few more dishes. Or should we kill a chicken?"
Lin Xiaoyue asked somewhat embarrassedly, "Did we cook too little? Which adult came over and said that?"
Chen Yunyun thought for a moment and said, "I heard Zhan Ying say before, someone called Guo Daxueshi. He said the food was a little lacking in oil and water, and it tasted bland to him."
Only then did Lin Xiaoyue realize that in order to take the empress dowager's diet into consideration, she had not paid attention to adding meat dishes to the adults.
"Oh, look at my brain, why didn't I think of it! I'll ask Zhan Ying to catch a chicken now, and we'll make stir-fried chicken with garlic sprouts for lunch. What do you think?" Lin Xiaoyue said, slapping her forehead in annoyance.
Chen Yunyun nodded and said, "Sure, stir-fried chicken with garlic sprouts is delicious!"
Lin Xiaoyue did what she said. She looked in the chicken coop for a long time, then caught a chicken that had not been ordered today and walked out of the coop.
"Zhan Ying, help me kill this chicken, I'll go boil some water!" Lin Xiaoyue threw the chicken to Zhan Ying, patted the chicken feathers off her hands and walked towards the kitchen.
Zhan Ying was stunned when he saw Lin Xiaoyue catching the chicken so quickly and efficiently!
This Miss Lin can really do anything!
He went into the kitchen and took a kitchen knife to cut the chicken's neck. The blood flowed into the porcelain bowl below. He didn't throw the chicken into the wooden basin until the blood had drained out.
"Miss Lin, is there anything else I can help you with?" Zhan Ying took a rag and wiped the chicken blood off his hands.
At this time, Lin Xiaoyue had already boiled a large pot of water. She thought about it and realized that she did have a lot of things to get from the cellar. With Zhan Ying's help, she could make fewer trips!
"Yunyun, please help me watch the water. Zhan Ying and I will go to the cellar to get something."
Chen Yunyun nodded and said, "Go ahead, I'll help you watch over it!"
Before leaving, Lin Xiaoyue looked at the ingredients available in the kitchen again, then took a sack and walked towards the cellar with Zhan Ying.
Vegetables are scarce in winter, so you must get cabbage and radishes, and a dozen or so sweet potatoes to make candied sweet potatoes. Also, take more meat and ribs, because everyone who comes is a guest. If you don't pay attention before, people may complain later that there is not enough oil or water.
"Zhan Ying, I'll take this bag of food, you take the rice and flour. There are a lot of people in the yard now, and they will eat a lot in a day. I guess if we take it today, we'll have to come down to get it again in three or four days. Fortunately, we stocked up a lot." Lin Xiaoyue carried a bag of food on her back and prepared to walk to the ground.
Zhan Ying took the sack from Lin Xiaoyue's hand and said, "Miss Lin, you go up first. I can carry these up by myself."
Seeing Zhan Ying carrying one bag in his left hand and two in his right hand, looking very relaxed, Lin Xiaoyue said, "Okay then, thank you for your hard work!"
As soon as she returned to the ground, Lin Xiaoyue saw Liang Jingyao waiting in the cellar.
"Brother Liang, have you spoken well to the Queen Mother? Do you want to stay here for lunch?" Lin Xiaoyue dusted off the dust on herself from the cellar.
Liang Jingyao smiled and removed the spider web hanging on Lin Xiaoyue's head, saying, "I'm not going to eat anymore. I came to tell you that I'm going back to the city gate. You can relax here and don't work too hard. I'll find some maids and servants to help in a few days, so you don't have to cook anymore."
Lin Xiaoyue nodded and said, "Well, thank you, Brother Liang! By the way, my father said that he feels like he will be able to go out of bed tomorrow. From now on, Yunyun and I won't need to boil medicine. That means we have one less thing to do, so Brother Liang, don't worry!"
Liang Jingyao said happily: "That's great, I will find time to come back tomorrow and bring a bottle of good wine for the old monster."
Lin Xiaoyue covered her mouth and smiled: "Okay, I'll tell Dad, he will definitely be very happy!"
Liang Jingyao looked at the sun climbing higher, reluctantly took Lin Xiaoyue's hand and said, "I'm leaving now. Take care of yourself!"
Because Liang Jingyao kept holding Lin Xiaoyue's hand and was reluctant to let go, Lin Xiaoyue walked all the way to the waterfall before walking back.
Back in the kitchen, the water in the big iron pot had already boiled, and Chen Yunyun was squatting on the ground plucking chicken feathers.
Lin Xiaoyue also found an empty spot and squatted down. "Shall we keep these chicken feathers? We can make feather dusters."
Chen Yunyun picked up a handful of chicken feathers floating on the water and looked at them. He said, "These are hen feathers. Usually, you need rooster feathers! And the feathers on the chicken's neck and wings are the best. A feather duster weighs about five taels of chicken feathers. How many chickens do you have to kill for this?"
Lin Xiaoyue was stunned for a moment. As a modern person, she had no idea there were so many things to pay attention to when using a feather duster! If she did that, she would have to kill all the roosters in her nest!
"Oh, what a waste! We can just make one and use it, we can use it to clean things anyway." Lin Xiaoyue clicked her tongue and complained.
Lin Xiaoyue said with a smile: "It's not impossible, but it might shed feathers easily. However, I heard that the feather dusters in the palace are more beautiful. At least they are selected from hundreds or even thousands of roosters."
Is there a beautiful feather duster in the palace? Lin Xiaoyue searched through the original owner's memories, but apart from silks, jewels, and delicacies from land and sea, she had no impression of a feather duster at all.
It seems that the original owner was once quite favored. It is understandable that the original owner had never seen such things that eunuchs and maids would hold.
Lin Xiaoyue quickly plucked the last few tiny chicken feathers, stood up and said, "Yunyun, take out the chicken feathers, wash them and dry them. We'll save them first. When we have enough, we can make feather dusters or cushions."
Chen Yunyun was persuaded by Lin Xiaoyue. She picked up the chicken feathers and put them in another wooden basin, then poured out the dirty water.
"Okay, I'll take it to the river to wash it. It will be clean in no time." Chen Yunyun picked up the wooden basin and prepared to go out.
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