Chapter 67 Braised Pig's Trotters No, no, why are you still..., old man?
Autumn is always a busy time, as most families are busy preparing for winter.
Gu Tusu and the men and children from the neighborhood have been knocking on the door at dawn these past few days, taking Shen Miao's three children, big and small, to the outer city mountain to "gather autumn"—picking pine needles, pine cones, and wild chestnuts.
Liu Douhua, carrying a bamboo basket in one hand and holding onto Xiang Jie'er, who had a small sickle at her waist and a burlap sack in her hand, kept showing off the silk flower she had just bought in her hair. Xiang Jie'er glanced at her smugness and said, "Don't cry if it gets damaged by tree branches when we go up the mountain."
The woman's sharp tongue infuriated Liu Douhua so much that she stomped her feet and ran away. Seeing this, Li Gou'er seized the opportunity to catch up, took out a handful of fried beans from his sleeve, and secretly stuffed them into Xiang Jie'er, Ji Ge'er, and Chen Chuan's hands, whispering, "My mother didn't fry much, so let's eat it."
But then the sharp-eyed Zeng boy spotted him again, and with a snotty nose running down his face, he rushed up to snatch it, and the group of children scattered like a flock of birds taking flight.
The autumn harvesting team, noisy and bustling, with the older ones leading the younger ones, marched towards the outer city in a grand procession.
As the weather turned cold, the price of firewood in the shops outside immediately doubled, and it was estimated that it would rise further in the future. In order to save money for their families, the men in the alley went to the mountains outside the city almost every day to carry firewood. Including Gu Tusu, they all became dark and thin from working so hard.
Because Shen Miao's family ran a shop selling grilled fish and roasted duck, they stocked up on firewood and charcoal during the summer, estimating that they would have no problem getting through the winter. However, since running a business requires a lot of money, she recently bought two large cartloads of firewood as a precaution. But by then, the price of firewood and charcoal had already gone up, and the two cartloads of firewood cost two strings of cash.
Everything became expensive in winter, and costs soared. Restaurants and taverns all started raising their prices, and Shenmiao also considered raising hers slightly, just to make up for the cost of firewood. Take perfume shops, for example, which use the most firewood; they raised their prices by ten coins as soon as autumn arrived, and Shenmiao and her family were almost unable to afford baths.
Fortunately, they didn't bathe often even when it was cold. They would just carry a basin of hot water and wipe themselves down, which was considered being clean and "fussy." The Zeng family in the alley didn't wash their hair or bathe all winter. They would wait until the beginning of spring, before the New Year, to go to the perfume shop for a thorough scrubbing.
It wasn't that their family was lazy or dirty; it was said that Grandpa Zeng had taken a bath in the winter, caught a cold, and died after a month. From then on, neither the adults nor the children in their family dared to bathe in the winter.
At this time of year, it's quite common for a cold to be fatal in winter.
As the weather grew colder and drier, Chen Miao gradually reduced the frequency of her baths. However, she still needed to fetch water to wipe herself down on a daily basis, and she also required Xiang Jie'er and A Tao not to be lazy. Girls were different from boys, and they had to pay special attention to keeping their bodies clean. After all, there was only one clinic in the entire city of Bianjing called "Zhang Xiaoniangzi's House" [Note] that specialized in treating women's illnesses, and she was almost always invited to treat the patients of high-ranking officials and nobles. Ordinary people could never find her.
Women have always had difficulty accessing medical care, and some minor ailments are hard to cure completely, so they need to take good care of themselves.
Every ten days or so, people would go to the perfume shop for a massage. The bathhouses in the Song Dynasty were divided into several large, open pools for men and women, with no partitions. Everyone, young and old, was completely naked in front of each other.
After a good bath, the bath lady scrubbed them thoroughly, turning them over and over. After the scrubbing, she would apply lard ointment. Shen Miao would drag Xiang Jie'er and A Tao along. Every time, they would be scrubbed until their eyes were glazed over, their bodies were steaming, their faces were shiny with oil, and they felt light as a feather when they walked. A bath like that would make them feel comfortable for a long time.
The old lady who did the bathing especially liked to scrub Xiangjie's back, saying that it was more effective at cleaning up little babies and that it would leave a layer of dust on the floor.
Besides stockpiling firewood and charcoal, Shenmiao also started stockpiling grains, wheat flour, pork, chicken, and some easily stored vegetables such as cabbage, radish, yam, and taro. Although money is flowing like water, once the heavy snow falls and the canal freezes, many things will be unavailable, so she has to stockpile them.
The cellar had become a natural refrigerator by then, and it was almost full.
In ancient times, it was not an easy task for ordinary people to get through the winter, even in the extremely wealthy city of Bianjing. The inner city was better off; it was rare to see people freezing or starving to death on the streets. But in the outer city, the poor families who lived in shacks by the water gates would have almost no elderly people left after a winter.
At this time, more and more people outside were selling their children in exchange for food.
Dwarf Toothpaste sat in the shop, munching on noodles with soybean paste, a bowl of hot mutton soup, and a side of pig's head with cucumber. He ate without even looking up.
He had just returned from buying people from out of town, and secretly sent a message to Atao about her mother. He had gone to Daming Prefecture again and bought a batch of people, almost all of them children. Even he couldn't stand them and shook his head, saying, "Sigh, life outside is tough. The busiest time for the people market is winter."
Atao, clutching a small silver hairpin her mother had saved for her, hid in the backyard and cried. Ya Bao said that Atao's mother had been worried about Atao and was overjoyed to learn that she had found a good employer in Bianjing. She then hurriedly took another hairpin, wrapped in layers of red cloth and hidden at the bottom of a trunk, and asked Ya Bao to bring it to Atao along with the hairpin.
Atao's mother said with guilt that when other families' daughters turned fifteen, their families would hold a banquet and a lively coming-of-age ceremony.
Only Ah Tao was pitiful; she was sold by Ah Tao herself when she came of age.
But she still saved up money to make a silver hairpin for Atao, with two plump, round little peaches at the top. Along with the hairpin came a message from Atao's mother, who hesitated for a long time with tears in her eyes: "Tell her to live well, not to worry about me, and never to come back."
Ya Bao relayed the message, finished the soup, vegetables, and meat, and then left.
Shen Miao saw him off and was about to turn back to the backyard to comfort A Tao. Although she felt sad, at least she had news of her mother. She would ask Ya Bao when he would go to Daming Prefecture again and ask him to deliver a message so that the two sides would not lose contact, which was a good thing.
Atao was stronger than she had imagined. As soon as Chen Miao went in, she had already wiped away her tears and came out to greet the guests as if nothing had happened.
Shen Miao looked up, his gaze falling on her hair, and smiled with relief.
She wore a peach-colored silver hairpin, clearly made of fine silver, which shimmered with a lustrous sheen in her dark hair.
Besides grain and firewood, Shen Miao also took her whole family to a cotton shop to buy dozens of kilograms of new cotton to stuff cotton-padded coats and sew quilts.
Tang Er and Fu Xing waved their hands, saying there was no need to buy them new cotton; buying some cheap old cotton would suffice.
How could Shen Miao do something like this, skimping on her employees' wages? After buying cotton and cutting fabric, she and A Tao planned to spend more than half a month making two thick, coarse cotton-padded coats for each person for the winter. Shen Miao also wanted to make the Lei Feng hats ahead of schedule, so they could be worn comfortably and warmly in the winter.
She was a little nervous about spending her first winter in ancient times. She often felt grateful that she had set up a stall early in the morning and worked late into the night to earn money when she first arrived in Bianjing. Although it was tiring, it allowed her to quickly save up her initial capital. Thanks to her acquaintance with the Xie family, she was able to close several big deals and collaborations, which allowed her business to slowly snowball and get better and better.
Otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to live such a comfortable and prosperous life.
In short, from stockpiling food and firewood to the smallest things like taking a bath, every family is putting in a lot of effort to ensure a safe winter.
The same was true in the Shen family courtyard today; as soon as the first frost appeared, everyone in the family sprang into action.
Shen Miao used a knife to cut the white cabbage in half, then cut each half into four pieces. When cutting, she made a slightly diagonal cut at the root to allow the cabbage to absorb the flavor. After that, she placed the cut white cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkled it with salt, and poured in water to cover the cabbage. She soaked it for at least two hours, until the cabbage was soft and wilted.
While she was soaking white cabbage, Tang Er and Fuxing were inside the house clearing the chimney and building the heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed). In Bianjing (Kaifeng), it goes without saying that when houses were built, carpenters and masons would leave chimneys, which would be connected to the kitchen. In spring and summer, these chimneys would be blocked to prevent the house from being filled with smoke.
Before it snows today, we will move the bed away and put it away, build the frame of the kang (heated brick bed) with adobe bricks and stones, and then lay adobe bricks on top as the kang surface. We will carefully seal the gaps in the kang with mud. In this way, the kang in the house will be ready.
The flue of the heated brick bed is connected to the stove in the kitchen, which can dry the adobe bricks in half a day and save a lot of firewood for heating in winter.
Tang Er was originally from Liaodong. He was quick and good at building kang (heated brick beds), and he smoothed the surface of the kang very well. In one morning, he and Fuxing built kangs for two rooms. After lunch, they continued working. There were six rooms in the house, and it would take two or three days to build all of them.
Atao, carrying a large basket, picked out the duck feathers. First, she picked out the large duck feathers, then looked at the small duck feathers and down. She pinched the stem with her fingers, gently pulled them out, and carefully put the down into a thick cloth bag with two layers sewn on it, so that it wouldn't blow away in the wind.
When the weather gets cold, two thick quilts are needed at night to keep warm, which makes it hard to breathe. Shen Miao thought of taking the quilt apart, taking out some of the cotton, and stuffing some duck feathers in. Duck feathers are easy to slip out and like to get into the cotton, so the feathers need to be wrapped in the middle of the cotton. The whole quilt was then sewn together with needle and thread.
We've accumulated over a dozen bags of duck feathers at home. We used to take them out from time to time to air them out and remove the smell, and now they'll come in handy.
Shen Miao then prepared the chili sauce, mashed garlic and ginger, added sugar, glutinous rice paste, and shrimp paste, and stirred it well. The marinade for the spicy white cabbage was ready. She glanced at the white cabbage soaking in the salt water in the basin. It still needed to soak for a while, so she also hurried over to help pick out the duck down. After picking for half a day, she had only managed to collect two bags. She was already dizzy and her shoulders ached from picking.
If I keep picking at it, I'll almost get cross-eyed!
Now she finally understood why down jackets were so expensive. Even with machines in later generations, the amount of down that could be picked out from duck feathers was still very limited. She calculated that at most, one pound of white duck feathers could yield six ounces of white down, and the feathers of mallard ducks were even less reliable, yielding only four ounces of gray down!
Her eyes and hands were aching from picking so many things, so she quickly told them to stop and let Atao get up and walk around for a while to rest, so as not to ruin her eyes.
After resting for a while, Atao sat down again and hurriedly picked out the down feathers. Shenmiao told her not to rush, but she tied up the bag full of down feathers, took another one, and continued to search for the feathers one by one: "I remember that Jige'er's autumn vacation only lasts until tomorrow, and the academy will open soon. I was thinking of filling him with a quilt and a coat to take with him. It's not as convenient for him at the academy as it is at home."
Yes, time flies. Ji-ge'er will be starting school again in the blink of an eye.
Shen Miao was taken aback and couldn't help but reach out and rub A Tao's face: "You are a more competent older sister than I am."
Atao tilted her head back and smiled, subconsciously touching the new, shiny silver hairpin in her hair: "Originally, I had no brothers or sisters, only my mother treated me well. Now, with you, everyone treats me well. I have nothing to repay you with, so I can only do my best to treat you and your family well as well as I can."
Shen Miao suddenly realized she'd been so busy she'd forgotten to keep track of the days, so she got up to look at the "Kitchen God Calendar" hanging on the wall. At that time, folk calendars were crudely drawn on straw paper, with hardly any words. They might depict the Kitchen God, a spring ox, or even include illustrations of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches and the Twenty-Four Solar Terms, making it easier for illiterate people to know the important agricultural seasons. She glanced at it; not only was Ji-ge'er starting school, but Ninth Brother was also going to take the imperial examinations!
The provincial examination is on the seventh day of the month, which is tomorrow, isn't it?
However, Ninth Brother has been busy with something these days and hasn't shown up. Shen Miao was a little disappointed. She specially made osmanthus cake, which means to get the osmanthus, and bought a few pairs of big pig trotters, which are already stewing. She also plans to make braised pig trotters and pig trotter jelly for Ninth Brother to eat - to get the name "Golden List of Trotters".
People really can't resist being nagged. In the evening, just as Shen Miao finished packing the kimchi into the earthenware jar and sealing it, Yan Shu excitedly ran in. He was carrying two baskets full of red persimmons: "Madam Shen, I brought you persimmons from Chunzhuang. Qilin and I picked them together!"
He ran in, the persimmons rolling all the way, and he hurriedly bent down to pick them up. Shen Miao also rushed out to help him pick them up: "Don't run, what's the rush? You'll fall!"
"I haven't been able to get used to Chef Fang's cooking at Chunzhuang these past few days. Madam Shen, look at me, haven't I lost weight?" Yan Shu's eyes welled up with tears as she thought about the Shen family's food.
As Shen Miao picked them up, she turned around to look at Yan Shu. Yan Shu had a round, chubby face, big eyes, and a flat nose. When he smiled, he was missing two upper front teeth. Hmm, he had lost some teeth in the few days she hadn't seen him.
No wonder he sounded a bit slurred when he spoke earlier.
As for weight... let alone thin, he's probably gained some weight; his face is so fleshy it bounces when he runs.
He scattered books and persimmons on the ground, still remembering to peek out for Sister Xiang.
"Xiang'er went up the mountain to collect pine cones, she'll be back in a bit. Yanshu, go inside and play with Zhuifeng and Leiting." Shen Miao waved her hand, "Keep an eye on Zhuifeng, don't let it lick the chicken's butt!"
"Okay! Got it!"
Shen Miao watched him go off to play, then noticed a persimmon had rolled to the threshold. She hurried over and was about to reach out when a piece of light blue bamboo-patterned silk sleeve fell in front of her. A slender, fair hand picked it up for her, and the sleeve wafted a cool, pine-scented scent. Ninth Brother's voice was as gentle as ever: "I'll do it."
Shen Miao straightened up and looked up.
Xie Qi appeared to have arrived on horseback, wearing a moon-white hooded cloak with an inch-long white fox fur trim along the edge of the hood. The soft, fluffy fur made his face appear even more gentle and serene.
He was still holding the reins in his hand, and a large horse's head peeked out from behind him. It was a tall, chestnut-colored horse, its big, wet eyes blinking as it looked at Shen Miao.
Xie Qi handed the persimmons to Shen Miao before turning to tie up the horse.
Shen Miao and Ma stared at each other for a while, then she asked curiously, "Ninth Brother, what kind of horse is this? It's so tall, is it the Liao horse that horse appraisers often talk about?"
"Its father is a Liao horse, and its mother is a Tatar horse."
Shen Miao gazed brightly at the beautiful horse. Xie Qi must really like it; the horse's mane was glossy and smooth, its eyelashes were long, and its hooves were neatly trimmed.
Xie Qi then said gently, "Hongji is a mare, very docile. You can pet her, Madam Chen. She never kicks anyone."
Shen Miao then tiptoed and reached out to stroke the horse's head. The horse even lowered its head slightly to let her stroke it, showing its gentle nature.
It was so tall, a head taller than her. This was the most beautiful horse Shen Miao had ever seen since arriving in Bianjing. No other horse, not even the ones the Xie family used to pull their carriages, were this tall. Those horses probably weren't even as tall as its neck.
In the Song Dynasty, the best Liao horses were equivalent to Rolls-Royces, Tatar horses were equivalent to Lamas, all kinds of local horses in the Song Dynasty were like BMWs, the big blue ox was like an Audi, and donkeys were probably only like Volkswagens.
After buying the land and starting the duck farm, Shen Miao also planned to spend money to buy two "Texas Donkey Volkswagen" to transport the ducks, which would be more convenient.
Shen Miao stroked it again and asked Tang Er to scoop some soaked black beans to feed the horse. These black beans were originally intended to be ground into black bean and peanut soy milk for the horse to drink tomorrow, but now they had to be given to this beautiful Rolls-Royce horse to eat first.
"Ninth Brother, come inside first, it's cold outside. Oh, by the way, I made you some osmanthus rice cakes, wishing you success in your exams! Aren't you going to the exam hall early tomorrow morning? I remember it starts at Chen Shi (7-9 AM)? Then let's stew some big pig's trotters for dinner tonight, to bring you good luck."
"Thank you for your concern, but there's really no need to go to all this trouble." Xie Qi didn't have high hopes, as there were still no certainties about what might happen this year, but her eyes still softened involuntarily as she listened.
Suddenly, a paw scratched his chest. Xie Qi suddenly remembered something and, as if by magic, pulled a chubby, solid calico cat from a hidden pocket in his cloak: "Madam Chen, I have some things going on at home, things are all messed up, and I have to go to the imperial examination, so I came here today to entrust the Qilin to you."
Shen Miao exclaimed in surprise, "Is this a Qilin?"
How can you be so fat!
She almost didn't recognize her as she passed by so quickly.
Xie Qi scratched the cat's head and walked inside, recounting, "Yes, Qilin still loves to drink goat milk. It eats three meals a day, sometimes fish paste mixed with shredded chicken, sometimes quail mixed with rabbit liver, and it also eats duck breast. Occasionally, when it catches a field mouse, Chef Fang will make it into jerky for it to chew on as a snack."
Shen Miao: "..."
She glanced at Zhui Feng, who was secretly staring at the chicken's bottom with its mouth wide open, having evaded Yan Shu's gaze. Then she looked at Lei Ting, who was gnawing on a big bone and eating leftover noodles. Finally, she turned her gaze back to the fat cat with a shiny, oily face in Xie Qi's arms.
Oh no, the fake heiress has been sent back to her poor family!
The Qilin entered the Shen family's residence. Xie Qi had just put it down when it turned its head and burrowed under the platform to hide. Zhui Feng curiously peeked out, only to be met with the Qilin's angry hiss, which sounded like a rattlesnake.
Xie Qi's face immediately showed the worry of an old father. Shen Miao had experience raising cats, so she asked him to come over and sit down and have a piece of sweet osmanthus cake: "It's okay, don't pull it away forcibly. Let it get used to it for a while, and it will come out when it feels at ease."
Osmanthus rice cake is made by soaking glutinous rice and regular rice in a 3:1 ratio, then grinding them into a fine rice paste, adding a little white sugar and stirring well, adding starter dough, letting it rise until it doubles in size, and when it is full of honeycomb holes, then sprinkling dried osmanthus flowers harvested from one's own yard in early autumn, and then steaming it.
Steam for a couple of quarters of an hour. Once the time is up, lift the lid of the steamer, and the fragrance of osmanthus will burst out.
Xie Qi rode his horse all the way from Chunzhuang, enduring a chilly ride. When Shen Miao handed him a triangular piece of osmanthus rice cake, the warmth reached his heart even before the aroma.
Xie Qiyuan didn't particularly like sweets, but this osmanthus rice cake had an extremely strong osmanthus flavor. It was soft, sweet, and had no other off-flavors. The texture was delicate, and it unexpectedly suited his taste very well.
This isn't anything new; Chef Fang has made it before, and bakeries outside sell it, but for some reason, I never thought it was any good.
"It's delicious." Xie Qi's eyes crinkled into a smile, and his hands and feet, which had been chilled by the cold wind all the way, warmed up. He ate a whole piece, and his mouth wasn't greasy at all. He asked with some curiosity, "It's more refreshing than the osmanthus cake sold outside. How did Madam Chen make it?"
Seeing that he was eating with relish, Shen Miao smiled and said, "It's nothing, I just added one less spoonful of sugar, thinking that the aroma of the rice wouldn't be overwhelmed by the sweetness. Pastry shops like to add more sugar to make the steamed rice more fragrant. But I think there are no fixed rules in cooking. Making choices is also an art of cooking. Sometimes it's better to give up something than to give up something else."
Xie Qi nodded blankly. Yes, cooking requires choices, and so does their family. In the past, they were too greedy, which led to their subordinates deceiving their superiors and oppressing the people.
Fortunately, it might not be too late.
Unaware that Xie Qi's thoughts had already wandered elsewhere, Shen Miao called out to Yan Shu and You Yu to come and eat osmanthus cake as well.
The two of them stood guard at the kitchen door like door gods, their eyes fixed on the large pig's trotters emitting a rich, meaty aroma. Only when Shen Miao called them did they reluctantly come over to eat the cakes.
The braised pig's trotters are still simmering on the stove over low heat.
To make braised pork trotters, after blanching, stir-fry them with spices until they turn slightly yellow; this will make the skin more fragrant. Then, add a splash of wine and soy sauce, followed by a spoonful of sugar, and continue stir-frying. Once the trotters are coated with the sauce, add enough hot water to cover them, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about half an hour, until the trotters are tender and the sauce is thick. Finally, add salt to taste, and it's ready.
After it got completely dark, a pot of braised pig's trotters was finally ready.
Shen Miao picked out a large one with tendons and first placed it on Xie Qi, who needed to pass the imperial examination with flying colors. Xie Qi looked at the huge pig's trotter in the bowl, initially unsure where to start eating, but the aroma was simply too wonderful.
So he put down his bundle, picked it up, and took a bite. The pig's trotter skin was soft, chewy, and had a satisfying "squelch" sound when he bit into it, with a wonderfully gelatinous texture.
The meat inside was stewed until incredibly tender, practically melting in your mouth after just a couple of chews, the rich, braised flavor instantly filling your mouth. Madam Shen's cooking never overpowers the spices; instead, it enhances the meaty aroma of the pig's trotters even more. After finishing one, Xie Qi couldn't resist taking another.
Even though I've eaten a lot of Shen Niangzi's cooking now, I still want to eat it again and again.
Xiangjie and her few monkey-like children went out to play for a day and came back with a big bag of pine needles and pine cones, as well as a bunch of thorny chestnuts.
They arrived at just the right time; they were just getting home to eat pig's trotters.
Now, Xiangjie and Yanshu have been eating pig's trotters until their faces are covered in grime, and they even suck their fingers clean after they finish eating!
After finishing their dinner, Xie Qi and Yan Shu took their leave and went home. That night, Shen Miao froze some pig's trotters, planning to make a garlic sauce to go with the porridge the next morning; it would surely be delicious.
The next day, because it was the day of the provincial examination, the streets became noisy before dawn, as everyone was seeing off the examinees. Yan Shu took Xie Qi in by himself, and afterwards, instead of returning to the Xie family, he skipped over to the Shen family for a free meal.
Seeing that he was alone, Shen Miao asked in surprise, "Yan Shu, why are you the only one taking Ninth Brother to the exam? This is..." Isn't that a bit too disrespectful?
That was the imperial examination!
Yan Shu shoveled at the hot, thick millet porridge, paired with a trembling, crystal-clear pig's trotter jelly. He picked up a piece with his chopsticks and put it in his mouth. It melted in his mouth with a "slurp." He swallowed it and said helplessly, "Madam and my husband both said that according to the usual practice, Ninth Brother might come back today, so they won't come to see him off."
Shen Miao: "..."
Poor Ninth Brother, his misfortune has driven his family to despair.
Even after finishing his breakfast, Yan Shu suddenly became reliable. He packed a bag of medicine and rushed to wait outside the examination hall, fearing that something bad might have happened to Ninth Brother. Unexpectedly, he pitifully stood outside in the wind all day, but Ninth Brother still didn't come out!
He was overjoyed and ran back to the Shen family to report the good news, then ran back to the Xie family to hitch up a carriage and go to Chunzhuang to report the good news.
Ninth Brother actually made it through the first day! He even took a moment to check the sun, and sure enough, the sun was still rising in the east. He became even more excited.
Could it be... that someone set fire to the Xie family's ancestral graves?
Shen Miao was also very happy. It seemed that eating pig's trotters before the exam was the right thing to do! Others were considered amazing only if they passed the exam and received the results, but for Ninth Brother, as long as he got through one day smoothly, he was considered to have turned his bad luck around!
Just as Yan Shu was hurrying towards Chunzhuang, a simple carriage with a lantern bearing the character "Xie" was slowly approaching Donghua Gate on the Imperial Street.
Wearing his green ninth-rank official robe, holding a thick memorial in his hands, with a bamboo tablet tucked into his leather belt, Xie's father was sweating profusely with nervousness. He asked Xi, who had accompanied him to bolster his courage, "Wife, will this really work? My legs are cramping, and I'm so scared I can hardly stand up."
Xi Shi was used to it, and patted his hand reassuringly: "Young master, don't be afraid. Ninth Brother is right. Without destruction, there can be no construction. Observing the situation is the best way. You should write a letter impeaching yourself for not managing the household properly, then kneel down and admit your guilt, begging the emperor to punish you severely, and then take off your official hat and leave. The emperor will surely remember your good deeds and the good deeds of the Xie family."
Finally, Xie's father mustered a little courage, clenched his fist, and nodded righteously: "Good, what my wife says is absolutely right. As long as it's for the safety of the family, I'm willing to give up this official position! Anyway, it's just a ninth-rank official. I've lived half my life like this, and I've had enough!"
When the carriage arrived at the palace gate, Xie's father lifted the curtain, looked at the Donghua Gate that was so close by, took a deep breath, then took another deep breath, and even looked back at Lady Xi, but he didn't get out of the carriage.
Unable to bear it any longer, Lady Xi kicked out: "Go now! Do you want to get ten more lashes before knocking on the palace gates again when it gets dark?"
With a bitter expression, Xie's father shuffled slowly to the palace gate, hesitantly offering his bamboo tablet to the emperor in request of an audience.
**
Because it was the day of the scientific expedition, Shenmiao's shop was unusually lively today. The soup noodles were selling like hotcakes, and the mutton soup was sold out in just half a day. After that, people started ordering grilled fish in broad daylight.
Everyone at Chenmiao Shop worked non-stop until it was almost dark. After the autumn sun had set behind the mountains and all the customers had been seen off, they finally collapsed on the bench in the shop to rest for a while.
As night fell, the air grew increasingly chilly. The streets outside were also deserted, not as bustling as they had been in the summer. Shen Miao was just about to go back and sew a cotton-padded coat when Old Man Liang arrived again.
This time he didn't wear plain clothes made of fine cloth.
He wore a black gauze turban with gold trim. He was dressed in a dark green official robe embroidered with cloud patterns, with wide sleeves that gleamed with silver thread. His demeanor was completely different from the previous two times.
Behind him followed a wide, unadorned carriage, with four blue-clad eunuchs carrying lanterns beside it.
When Liang Qian appeared in his attire, which represented that of a high-ranking eunuch in the palace, passersby in the cold wind quickly stepped aside to avoid him.
Fuxing and Tang Er were so frightened that they fell off their stools.
Liang Qian stepped over the threshold and bowed politely, saying, "Madam Chen, something has happened. The guests have already arrived. Please come with me to Yujin Garden to prepare for the banquet."
Shen Miao's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets in shock.
No, no, how can you have two faces, old man!
Where are the wealthy families living next to the Imperial Street? How did it become Yujin Garden? This Yujin Garden... isn't it... isn't it a royal garden?
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