Chapter 28 Chapter 28 Salted Egg Yolk from Gaoyou Du Jiayou...
At three o'clock in the morning, the first drum sounded at Shuntian Gate. The dark night faded away, and the sky in the east turned pale. Chang'an woke up from its slumber and resumed its bustling daytime life.
The big pot in front of the Duan Family Restaurant was already boiling with fragrant duck soup. Duan Zhiwei specially picked a few plump ducks and added scallion and ginger slices to slowly stew them. It had been stewing for more than an hour without interruption. The longer the soup was stewed, the more golden the color became and the richer the aroma became.
It is very suitable for cooking steamed buns or wontons, and is a nourishing choice for breakfast in autumn.
The restaurant business is good today and the store is too noisy. Duan Zhiwei sat alone on a small Huchuang near the restaurant door, pickling salted duck eggs.
A few days ago, she personally rode a donkey cart for most of the day and came to a family raising ducks by the Jing River. She stayed there for half an hour and carefully selected a basket of beautiful duck eggs with even green shells.
She ate a lot of duck eggs from Chang'an around the Dragon Boat Festival and was very dissatisfied. The egg whites were sticky, like chewing cotton wool, and the yolks inside were dry and powdery, not delicious at all.
Duan Zhiwei really likes Gaoyou's salted duck eggs. The egg whites are smooth and tender, while the yolks are oily and sandy. In the words of Mr. Wang Zengqi, "When you stick the tip of your chopsticks into the egg, red oil comes out."
Not only can the salted duck eggs be eaten with porridge, the egg yolks can also be used to make steamed meat patties, baked chicken wings, and golden custard crisps. There are hundreds of wonderful uses for them that are too numerous to count.
She was busy mixing the sweet wine lees and red mud and pouring a large jar of liquor into it, but Aunt Duan quickly ran out, lifting her skirt.
Duan Zhiwei was so busy that his arms were covered in red sand. Seeing Aunt Duan's expression of "sharing gossip" again, he interrupted her impatiently: "Aunt, I'm busy. If you have nothing to do, go to the backyard and wash the vegetables."
Aunt Duan was very anxious: "Oh my, this is a big news. Didn't you hear what the guests said? Last night, a demon appeared in the house of the Secretary of the Central Secretariat. The news was widely spread."
Duan Zhiwei's heart moved. Secretary of the Central Secretariat? Isn’t that Du Yourong’s home?
Madam Duan added, "Don't disbelieve me. After the curfew last night, Minister Du left the palace in person, woke up the head of the ward, signed a travel document and left the ward. Many people heard it."
Yes, in the quiet night of Chang'an, a person suddenly appeared speeding on Zhuque Street. The Jinwu Guards would definitely gather to investigate. With such a big scene, it would be difficult to avoid rumors.
But what exactly happened in the Du Mansion? Duan Zhiwei had a bad feeling.
She stood up and wanted to go to the backyard to find the cicada demon Qingyin to inquire, but someone got there first. Yuan Shenji, wearing his duty scarlet round-necked robe with lion pattern, strode towards the backyard of Duan's restaurant.
Duan Zhiwei hurried to follow.
When she ran in, Yuan Shenji's face was full of anger, and a cold knife was pressed against Qingyin's neck.
Duan Zhiwei was shocked and quickly stepped forward to stop him: "Captain, calm down, we can talk it out!"
Don't use a knife at every turn. If you really want to slay demons and monsters, you have to go out first. If you use a knife in the yard, how can I still do business?
Yuan Shenji stared at Qingyin and said, "Last night, several black cicada-like monsters flew out of the wound on the maid Yunque's arm and hovered over the Du Mansion all night, making mournful sounds."
Yunque struggled in agony for half a day. Doctors, Taoist priests, witches, and monks were all invited. They performed rituals and chanted scriptures, but to no avail. Now Yunque has died, and the Du residence is in chaos.
Qingyin put away her calm and composed performance, and for the first time, she looked serious and dignified: "As expected, she is here after all."
Yuan Shenji's knife was still sheathed, and after hearing what he said, he held the knife even harder: "You really do know something."
Qingyin pondered for a moment and then told about what he had seen and heard.
He once gave Du Yourong a talisman, who loved it very much and wore it all the time. The amulet contained his twenty years of magical power, and ordinary monsters didn't dare to get close to it.
Unexpectedly, a few months ago, Du Yourong went to the temple to burn incense, and came back to him in tears, saying that she almost fell down when she got off the carriage, and the amulet was cracked, and the maid Yunque also had a wound on her hand while saving her.
Qingyin was very surprised. She took the amulet and saw that the magical power on it had been broken by external forces. Du Yourong's "accidental fall" was not an accident, but a human factor. It was just blocked by the amulet and bounced back to the maid Yunque.
The black energy on Yunque became thicker day by day, but Qingyin had very little demonic power left and was unable to do anything about it.
Thinking that I had been guarding the mulberry tree in the embroidery building, the mastermind behind the scenes might not dare to carry out his plan. But he doesn't have much time left to force the mastermind behind the scenes to take action. He could only leave with Duan Zhiwei on the day she came to the embroidery building to let the mastermind behind the scenes lower his guard.
The person behind the scenes really took action that night, and the loyal maid Yunque died.
Qingyin thought for a moment and said, "I want to see Yunque's body with my own eyes."
The three of them got on the carriage together. Duan Zhiwei looked at Qingyin who was resting with her eyes closed and wanted to say something, but stopped himself after thinking for a while and asked, "Are you going to leave like this?"
You don't plan to date her, so just going over to meet her would only make Mrs. Du sad.
Qingyin ignored her.
Duan Zhiwei looked at him again: "How did you two fall in love with each other?"
Madam Du is so beautiful, how could she fall for you?
Duan Zhiwei wanted to say a few more words, but suddenly found that he couldn't open his mouth. It was obvious that Qingyin had cast some strange spell. Duan Zhiwei had no choice but to glare at him and shut his mouth silently.
Yuan Shenji saw her jumping up and down all the time and rarely got humiliated, which he found quite funny, but she glared at him as well.
Yunque's body was placed in the back room, waiting for the coroner from the Dali Temple to come and perform an autopsy. The people in the Du Mansion were very respectful to Yuan Shenji, and the three of them had smooth passage through the Mansion and reached the back wing.
Qingyin lifted the white cloth and saw Yunque lying there. Her once plump skin seemed to have been sucked dry by blood-sucking worms. Her flesh was wrinkled and shrunken into a ball. Her eyes were empty as she stared at the ceiling.
Duan Zhiwei was frightened, and Yuan Shenji took two steps to the side to block her sight.
Qingyin stretched out two fingers, pressed them on Yunque's forehead, and whispered a spell. A golden thread was transmitted from his hands to Yunque's forehead. Her body was covered with a layer of faint light. After a moment, a crack appeared on her forehead, and there seemed to be a winged black insect trying to escape from it.
Qingyin's eyes and hands were quick, and a spark flew out from the palm of his hand. The black insect must be very afraid of fire, and it fell to the ground immediately after being touched by the fire, and was crushed into a pile of gray-black powder.
He turned to Yuan Shenji and said, "This is not a demon, it's a Gu."
It is a man-made poison.
This poison is extremely vicious. It also appeared in the world several decades ago. At that time, all the members of the Niu family died within a year. When each person died, a black insect would hover in the sky all night, playing loud mourning music.
Duan Zhiwei covered his mouth. What a vicious plan. Even if Du Yourong escaped because of the amulet, he would eventually be implicated as a member of the Du family.
Qingyin turned to Yuan Shenji and said, "This poison needs to be placed in food for people to consume. Please ask Yourong's maid Huang Ying for me if she ate any snacks given by others before or after the incense burning that day."
Yuan Shenji quickly brought Huang Ying over. Huang Ying was also frightened last night. She was shaking and trying hard to recall what happened. Then she said, "That day when my wife went to burn incense, she ran into Lu Xianglan, the second daughter of Lu Qijulang. They drank a bowl of milk together in a teahouse. After returning home, it seemed that the Pei Mansion sent some more gifts, including a box of flower cakes."
Huang Ying thought for a moment and added, "It seems to be made by Pei Langjun's cousin Gao Die'er. She is from Mengshezhao, where flowers are said to bloom all year round. The filling of the cake she sent is pickled with rose sugar sauce, which is very novel. Madam likes it very much and even shares it with the maids."
But everyone knew what this cousin was thinking. She just wanted to marry into the Pei Mansion, so she came to please the mistress first. The maids felt sorry for Du Yourong and didn't eat a single bite of the flower cakes that were sent to her.
Du Yourong didn't care. She had no interest in the young master of the Pei family, and she didn't care if he had three concubines and six courtyards. So she finished half of the box of cakes by herself and gave the other half to Qingyin.
Duan Zhiwei jumped up and said, "No need to ask, it must be the cousin of the Pei family. First, she has a motive. Madam Du is gone, so maybe she can marry Mr. Pei. Second, Mr. Pei sent a box of flower cakes, but no one else ate them, only she did. Although Qingyin also ate them, he is a demon, so it doesn't count. Third, she is from Mengshezhao."
Mengshezhao is a tribe in the Erhai Lake area of Yunnan. Because it is located at the southernmost tip, it is also called Nanzhao Kingdom. The people there seem to be very good at casting poisons.
As for who told him this, Duan Zhiwei said that this is how it is portrayed in TV dramas and novels.
She felt that the logic of her reasoning was rigorous and consistent, and even if Di Gong were still alive, he would stroke her beard and praise her.
Duan Zhiwei looked at Yuan Shenji, who turned his head away as if trying to hold back his laughter. She then looked at Qingyin, who simply rolled his eyes at her.
The maid Huang Ying had just gone to Du Yourong to confirm the food that was eaten during the incense burning ceremony that day, and now she came over again: "Madam also remembers that the food outside that day was just a bowl of yogurt and half a box of flower cakes, and the rest was made by the kitchen in the mansion. Madam is here now, let her tell you."
When Duan Zhiwei heard that Du Yourong was coming, she was actually looking forward to it. She was willing to watch from the side to see whether this couple would "hold hands and look into each other's eyes with tears" or have a big quarrel and go their separate ways.
Du Yourong lost her maid Yun Que, who was like a close friend to her, last night. She was frightened and managed to come here. When she saw Duan Zhiwei and the others, she was very confused: "Why are you here?"
Duan Zhiwei turned his head and saw Qingyin was nowhere to be seen. Pu Tao, dressed in green, walked up to Duan Zhiwei from behind and saluted Du Yourong with her hands crossed, saying, "My wife knows a little bit about magic, and she is here to help the Du family."
Duan Zhiwei: “…”
She just said, why Qingyin insisted that she come with her to the restaurant, it turned out that she didn't dare to meet Du Yourong in her true form, so she transformed herself into the appearance of Pu Tao.
But this guava looks weird no matter how you look at it. The real guava likes bright red clothes and hates dull moon white and green clothes the most. It will not embroider delicate bamboo leaves and dewdrop patterns on its sleeves.
What's more, Pu Tao likes to tell Duan Zhiwei with a silly smile that this is delicious, that is delicious too. The Pu Tao in front of him, with his hands crossed in greeting, has a calm and detached expression on his face, which is a sign of having experienced the vicissitudes of life. This expression would never appear on a child's face.
Duan Zhiwei felt very uncomfortable when he saw this, not to mention that a restaurant owner who was good at cooking suddenly turned into a Taoist priest who caught monsters. Du's second wife was not a fool, so how could she believe it?
Unexpectedly, Du Yourong looked at Pu Tao carefully, no, it was Qingyin pretending to be Pu Tao for a while, and then showed the first sincere smile in the past few days: "Then thank you for your help."
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