Chapter 27 Chapter 27 The Terrifying Cicada Monster Roast Duck, Salt and Pepper Duck...
For Du Yourong, Yuan Shenji has always been a very good shield. He is young and promising but not interested in beauty. When they first met, he clearly expressed that he had no interest in his beautiful cousin.
This was exactly what Du Yourong wanted. She had a good family background, was beautiful, and would soon reach the age of marriage. If she didn't take some measures, her marriage would probably be decided immediately.
And this cousin did indeed block countless bad romantic opportunities for himself. As long as I show the slightest admiration for him in any situation, rumors will spread immediately.
This is actually harmless. In this dynasty, women have a noble status and the atmosphere is open. Yuan Shenji can harvest a large bunch of willow branches when walking on Ba Bridge. His love will not hurt the reputation of the Du family or himself.
But the effect of this rumor was obviously very good, and fewer young men from noble families were flocking to Du Yourong. After all, how could those young men from noble families who claimed to be noble and arrogant allow their future wives to be attached to a frontier military commander?
However, no matter how careful one is, there are times when one makes mistakes. That day, when he went to Taolin Temple outside the city to burn incense, the carriage was passing through the dense forests in the mountains, but for some reason a gust of wind just happened to blow open the carriage curtains. She tilted her head, revealing a pretty face that was just seen by Pei Yuan who was riding a horse into the mountains to hunt.
The next day, the official matchmaker hired by the Pei family entered the Du Mansion with a box full of betrothal gifts. The Hedong Pei family is a noble family. Pei Yuan himself is handsome and seems to have a bright future. Except that he seems to have an unclear cousin, he has no other shortcomings. But to outsiders this is not a disadvantage. There is no man who does not have three wives and four concubines.
This great "good thing" fell into her lap, and Minister Du had no choice but to accept it. He felt that he had gotten a good deal, and the marriage was actually arranged like this.
Her close friends thought that she liked Yuan Shenji, so they came to comfort her and said that the Pei family's son was also very good, and in terms of family background, he was even better than Yuan Shenji.
Du Yourong had no one to confide his sorrow to, and felt that there was no way forward, and even the gods and Buddhas in the sky were unwilling to protect him. The last desperate gamble would be to destroy his own reputation by causing chaos in the market and oppressing the common people.
She felt very sorry for Duan Zhiwei, so she secretly slipped a piece of gold foil to Duan Zhiwei.
Originally thought it would have some effect, after all, it is not a good reputation for a minister's daughter to bully an orphan girl. Unexpectedly, Pei Yuan actually sent someone to comfort her, indicating that the marriage would not be severed because of these rumors. Du Yourong was filled with depression, and his lover was nowhere to be found. He felt completely hopeless.
Du Yourong first encountered the cicada demon Qingyin on a full-moon summer night. She sat alone in the embroidery building, embroidering bamboo leaves on a piece of floating brocade. The maid went to the storehouse to get gold thread. Today, the moonlight was like clear frost. She glanced at the moon in the sky and sighed: "The moonlight tonight is so beautiful."
Unexpectedly, a clear and pleasant voice came from the mulberry tree in the yard, echoing: "Yes, it's a good day today."
She was so frightened that she thought she had met a ghost. After being anxious for half a day, she finally mustered up the courage to look outside the yard hesitantly. She saw the cicada demon leaning against the mulberry tree calmly. The cicada demon looked at her and smiled gently.
He said his name was Qingyin.
Here, Duan Zhiwei went to the Du Mansion with the Jinhua cat in his arms in a threatening manner, and came back dejectedly, followed by a cicada demon with his arms crossed, looking calm and composed.
Speaking of this, Duan Zhiwei became extremely angry. Madam Du had put in so much effort for this beloved monster that she was willing to sacrifice her own reputation. As for this cicada monster, although it is indeed a beautiful monster, he looks indifferent and aloof, as if everything is just Madam Du's wishful thinking.
Since ancient times, women have always been passionate and enthusiastic, while men have been unreliable. Now it seems that even male monsters are unreliable.
This morning, Duan Zhiwei was tidying up the newly bloomed osmanthus flowers on the old osmanthus tree in the backyard. The monster had a very sharp nose and said nonchalantly, "The mulberry tree in the Du Mansion has been here long enough. I will switch to the old osmanthus tree and stay there for a few days."
He is on vacation here. Look, is he speaking human language? Oh, sorry, he is a monster.
Aunt Duan was also very dissatisfied. What a shame it was to have a man lying leisurely on the osmanthus tree in her yard! She angrily found Duan Zhiwei and told him that this strange man must leave.
Duan Zhiwei: "That's a monster transformed from a cicada. If I chase him away, what if he gets violent?"
Aunt Duan had no choice but to give up.
As soon as the cicada demon arrived, she drank Duan Zhiwei's jar of Xinfeng wine without any worries, and then fell asleep on the osmanthus tree. He ignored them and they ignored him.
Duan Zhiwei felt that this cicada monster was really ungrateful. His heart was as cold as a snake, so I didn't want to bother with him.
The beginning of autumn is coming soon, so she has to go to the butcher shop and order a dozen ducks.
Unlike modern ducks, the ducks in Chang'an are raised by the Jing River. When they are hungry, they eat millet grains and earthworms. When they are free, they swim a few laps in the Jing River from time to time. The meat is plump and firm, and is the favorite of the people of Chang'an in autumn.
In this dynasty, there is already a method of cooking roast duck, called "roasting duck". The duck is allowed to drink the seasoning by itself, and then thrown into the oven to roast. However, this method is quite primitive, which makes Duan Zhiwei, a modern man, unable to accept it.
He ordered a dozen silver sticks from the blacksmith shop, and hung a dozen fat and strong ducks in a row on the bamboo poles for the diners to choose from. After the diners had made their choice, Duan Zhiwei threw the ducks into the stove and burned fruit wood underneath to roast them. The roasted ducks had a rich fruit wood aroma.
A food box contains roast duck slices neatly arranged, and comes with a small dish of minced garlic, shredded green onions, and cucumber strips. You can also cut the Hu pancake in half and put the roast duck in the middle to eat together.
Don't throw away the disassembled duck racks. Select a few pieces with large oil content, stir-fry them in a pan to release oil, sprinkle with coarse salt and peppercorns. The duck racks will become crispy and delicious after frying, and it is a quick dish to go with wine.
If the guests want a few more glasses of Xinfeng wine, they can also order a bowl of stomach-warming roast duck porridge, which contains not only duck bones but also finely shredded ginger. It tastes very fresh and sweet and can also warm the stomach.
There are so many ways to eat a duck. Pu Tao admires his wife very much. As expected, this roast duck is very popular. Reservations must be made in advance every day, otherwise it is impossible to buy it.
After a busy day, everyone in the restaurant was too tired to even lift a hand. Duan Zhiwei baked a few Hu pancakes and used the remaining duck bones and some green vegetables to cook a pot of soup as a dinner.
The soup was milky white and rich in flavor, and the addition of pickled radish cubes helped to relieve the greasiness. It was delicious when paired with the toasted, crispy Hu pancakes. Everyone finished eating in silence. Duan Zhiwei was not sure whether the cicada demon needed a sunset meal, so he went around to the osmanthus tree in the backyard to look for him.
After walking around for a while and not seeing anyone, Duan Zhiwei thought the cicada demon had left. She breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to go back to the front hall, but she heard a voice coming from the tree: "What do you want from me?"
She took a quick look in the moonlight and saw a cicada the size of a dustpan lying on the tree. Duan Zhiwei felt that she was mentally ill if she talked to a cicada, but since she was already there, she asked, "Do you cicada monsters need to eat evening food?"
“No need,” the cicada demon replied.
That's great, she thought to herself, and turned around to walk out, but she heard a voice from behind: "Give me a bowl of honey water, acacia honey or osmanthus honey will do."
I actually picked it.
Duan Zhiwei felt that Du Yourong must have something wrong with her brain. The world is so big that there are all kinds of strange things. Why did she have to fall in love with a cicada demon so wholeheartedly?
On the other hand, Du Yourong asked someone to get a portion of imperial medicine for wounds.
A few days ago, she went to worship, and for some reason she almost fell off the carriage. The maid Yunque quickly jumped under the carriage to serve as a cushion for her. She was fine, but Yunque's arm was rubbed by the solid ground, leaving a huge wound, and the blood was flowing profusely.
The best doctor in the market was invited, and the most expensive medicine for wounds was bought from the West Market, but Yunque's wound would not heal. Not only that, but recently the wound began to itch severely and caused bouts of pain.
Yunque has followed Du Yourong since childhood, and this time she was injured because of her, which made Du Yourong very ashamed. Today, she finally asked the princess for a bottle of imperial medicine, and hurried to Yunque's room to apply the medicine on her wound personally.
Yunque was sweating profusely from the pain, and when he saw Du Yourong, he quickly stood up to greet her, but Du Yourong stopped him, and then sat down beside the bed and applied medicine to Yunque himself.
The wound was red and swollen all around, and some unknown pus was oozing out, which looked very scary. Du Yourong was only worried about Yun Que's pain and did not despise her. She held her wrist and helped her apply medicine.
She soon realized something was wrong. Under her fingertips, the wound seemed to be alive, beating faintly up and down.
Yun Que suddenly cried out in pain. The wound on his arm suddenly swelled up, and it seemed as if something inside was trying to break through the skin and rush out.
Another maid, Huang Ying, screamed in fright, then she reacted and crawled out of the door to call for help.
Seeing that Yunque was about to faint from the pain, Du Yourong looked around, got a fruit knife from the table, gritted his teeth and cut open the swollen skin.
The expected blood did not flow. Instead, several black insects began to swell and grow at a speed visible to the naked eye under the nourishment of blood and flesh, and then spread their wings and flew out of the window.
Minister Du and Madam Liu rushed in, and the two old people held Du Yourong tightly in their arms. Du Yourong was already frightened and a little dazed, but unexpectedly, the guards guarding outside the courtyard suddenly let out a loud scream.
They came out of the house and saw several black winged insects circling in the sky above the courtyard, singing mournfully. The singing was simply the sound of mourning.
I went back to the house and looked at Yun Que. Her face was as pale as wax, and her eyes were staring blankly ahead, but she seemed to still be breathing.
After all, Minister Du was a third-rank official, so his mind was still somewhat stable. He quickly called his servant to get the token, and then he rode his horse to find the head of the ward to open the gate, and then quickly headed towards the Monster Catching Department.
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