Chapter 41 Chapter 41 Countdown to the twelfth lunar month and send sincere greetings to the Kitchen God...
However, after seeing the beauty in the backyard, Yuan Shenji did not feel embarrassed about being exposed, but his expression turned cold instantly. His tightly pursed jaw was like a sharp cold knife, and his whole body exuded a cold and violent aura.
It was as if those were not beautiful women, but Turkic soldiers who attempted to invade the border.
When the beauties heard the sound, they all looked over.
I suspect it was painted by the goddess of Luochuan, with a skirt full of fragrant phoenixes and tulips. The complex exotic fragrance filling the courtyard made people dizzy. Duan Zhiwei looked carefully and found that there were exotic beauties among them. One of them was an Indian girl wearing a pink sari and a green shiny shawl. She was particularly eye-catching, with bronze skin, black and beautiful hair, and the look in her eyes when she looked at Duan Zhiwei was like mysterious amber.
I'm afraid even the saint's harem doesn't have such a lineup, Duan Zhiwei curled his lips secretly.
But a bright and beautiful girl in a light yellow gauze skirt and a high bun came over leisurely, bowed and said, "General, please don't be angry. My name is Yao Huang, and we are here just to help a good friend find a relative."
"Yao Huang?" Duan Zhiwei exclaimed. She remembered the Luoyang peony that Hua Sisi had strongly recommended to her. Although the appearance was not good, it was sold for half a string of coins.
Then he quietly stood on tiptoe and whispered in Yuan Shenji's ear: "These are flower demons."
Yao Huang shyly lifted her sleeves to half cover her face and said, "Alas, my appearance is not good, and I really can't stand appearing in front of others."
Duan Zhiwei fell silent after taking one look at her stunning appearance, and the others were speechless for a while.
It was Yuan Shenji who broke the silence first. He looked angry and asked in a deep voice, "How come there are old friends of yours in Yuan's courtyard?"
Duan Zhiwei muttered to the side, "That's not certain. What if Commandant Yuan imitates Emperor Wu and keeps a concubine in a golden house?"
As they were talking, Haidiye came to the □□ holding a pot of blue roses and wiping his tears, and told the girls: "We found her."
This pot of roses was placed in a valuable black jade pot, and it was obvious that it was worth a lot of money. However, the blue rose did not seem to have been carefully cared for. The leaves were slightly yellow, and the flowers were also wilting in the pot, almost dying.
Haidiye crossed his hands and bowed to Yuan Shenji carefully, saying, "I wonder if the general would allow me to take my sister away to recover from her injuries."
Duan Zhiwei was surprised: "Is this flower your sister?"
Haidiye then told the truth. The Arab Empire was rich in rose water. They collected large rose flowers, steamed them, and then put the liquid into glass bottles. This thing was very rare. Every year when the ten thousand dynasties came to pay tribute, they would present fifteen bottles to our dynasty.
The Haidiye sisters grew on a flower stand in the desert of the Arabs. They are rare blue roses that are rare in a century. It would be a waste to make rose water from them, so the gardener picked these two twin blue roses and carefully cultivated them.
Chang'an was a city with thousands of beautiful palaces and a place where all nations came to pay tribute. Countless foreign merchants and visitors rushed to Chang'an to transport Persian brocades and South China Sea pearls.
Even the Haidiye sisters, as treasures, could not escape such a fate. They wandered in the desert for several months with a group of Hu merchants and finally arrived in the magnificent Chang'an before the winter solstice court meeting.
Of these two pots of rare blue roses, one was given at the Winter Solstice Festival to the Prince's uncle's mansion, which had recently gained the emperor's favor. Because Haidiye had become a big problem and would cry every night, the Prince's uncle's mansion sent the flower to a flower shop and let the owner deal with it as he pleased.
The other pot was given as a reward to the most valiant and skilled general who came out on top in the winter hunt.
Duan Zhiwei understood, but this military commander did not know how to be gentle with women and did not understand elegant things. This delicate flower was just placed in the garden in the cold winter, relying on the elderly servant to water it every day. It was lucky enough not to wither.
Yuan Shenji didn't expect that a mere pot of flowers would have such a complicated story. Seeing that the flower was indeed withering, he felt guilty and could only say, "In this case, the flower will be returned to its original owner."
The flowers all thanked him and bowed, then dispersed. Duan Zhiwei saw a woman in a pink skirt, cold and aloof, with plum blossom makeup, and knew she was a plum blossom demon; and the one with a pure and elegant fragrance should be jasmine...
She was really curious about the Indian girl, so she asked Yao Huang about it. Yao Huang smiled and said, "That enthusiastic girl named Fantalihua, I really have to thank her... She helped us find out the news about Blue Rose in Daming Palace, and rushed from Taiye Lake through layers of patrols to meet here. It was not easy... That white lotus in the Ganges."
Everyone left, and only Yuan Shenji and Duan Zhiwei were left in the garden.
Duan Zhiwei recalled that he had just met Yuan Shenji in the corridor and that his attitude was not very good. Now he was alone with him and felt very awkward. He just bowed and went around behind him to slip away.
But I heard one sentence: "Madam Duan, please stay."
Duan Zhiwei knew that she couldn't get away, so she had to apologize for her bad attitude: "I know that Captain Yuan is definitely not that lustful..."
Before he finished speaking, Yuan Shenji left quickly and walked into a side room, then hurried out and handed her a glass bottle: "This bottle is also the rose water from the Winter Solstice Palace, for Madam Duan."
This glass bottle is green, clear as ice crystal, and the rose water inside is sealed with beeswax. I just heard from Haidiye that Daqin only has ten bottles a year. How can Duan Zhiwei accept such a valuable item? Just when he was about to refuse, he heard Yuan Shenji say:
"I heard that the imperial concubine in the palace used this water to mix perfume powder. I have no female relatives in my family, and my biological mother died young. I am grateful to Madam Duan for always allowing me to eat in the restaurant. This is a thank you gift. I hope you will not refuse it."
He spoke very sincerely and mentioned that his biological mother died young. Duan Zhiwei felt inexplicably distressed and could only thank him and put the glass bottle into her cross-body bag.
When Yuan Shenji saw her accept it, he smiled slightly.
It was already the cold winter of December. Duan Zhiwei saw that Yuan's house was so cold and quiet, with only him alone, so he couldn't help but raise his head and ask, "On New Year's Eve, would the commander be willing to come to the restaurant to have dinner together? If it's late and past curfew, we can gather in the hall to stay up together?"
Her face was slightly reddened by the winter wind, and of course she was not as charming as the plum blossom makeup that the plum blossom fairy had carefully put on, but Yuan Shenji thought she was very cute. He seemed to be afraid of scaring her, so he whispered, "Okay."
The old housekeeper came over to lead the donkey cart for Duan Zhiwei and sent her out. Duan Zhiwei also invited the old housekeeper to have dinner together on New Year's Eve, but the old housekeeper refused and said, "I am old and don't like to travel far. Thank you for inviting me."
He smiled naively, looked at Duan Zhiwei lovingly and said, "I hope Madam Duan will come to Yuan's house more often."
Duan Zhiwei had no choice but to nod in agreement, but she thought to herself that as the daughter of a merchant, it would not be proper for her to go to the residence of a fourth-rank official all day long unless it was absolutely necessary.
She got on the donkey cart and said goodbye to the old housekeeper politely.
The old housekeeper crossed his arms and bowed to her, saying, "Madam, please come often. I haven't seen the captain smile so happily in a long time."
Duan Zhiwei staggered and almost fell off the donkey cart.
It's ancient times now, how can we still hear the ancient version of "Young Master hasn't laughed so happily in a long time"?
Before reaching the entrance of the restaurant, I saw Pu Tao and a few other little girls chasing after a vendor selling glutinous rice candy in an alley in the cold winter.
Duan Zhiwei then remembered that the coldest time of the year was the time when glutinous rice candy was on the market.
This is because the sugar is made by stewing malt over a low fire, melting it, and boiling it into bright orange cubes that melt quickly in the summer. Therefore, this sugar is only sold in the winter.
Duan Zhiwei has eaten an advanced version of this candy in modern times, called "onion sugar", which is made by mixing white sugar, maltose, water and peanut oil together and boiling them into candy in the shape of thin tubes and long strips. This sugar is extremely white and has no residue. It melts in your mouth like snow.
Another way to eat it is sugar-scallion pancakes, which is to put sugar-scallion pancakes, sprinkle with sesame seeds and peanuts, and eat them together.
I heard that there are other ways to eat it, such as adding coriander and pickles, but Duan Zhiwei declined such requests.
After chasing for several streets, Pu Tao and his friends finally caught up with the vendor selling malt candy. The vendor struck two gongs and drums and began to distribute candy to the little girls.
Pu Tao got a piece and ate it happily. She turned around and saw Duan Zhiwei sitting on the donkey cart looking at her. She immediately ran over with the candy and said, "My lady, you are back!"
Duan Zhiwei carried her onto the donkey cart and took Pu Tao home. The child had indeed gained weight. Duan Zhiwei had developed great arm strength from working, but it was still difficult for him to hold her waist.
But looking at Pu Tao eating glutinous rice candy happily, Duan Zhiwei thought, forget it, for children, happiness is the most important thing.
The Kitchen God must be sent off at night on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month. For restaurants that rely on the stove for their livelihood, sending off the Kitchen God is an especially important custom. Even someone like Duan Zhiwei who has accepted modern ideas has to take it seriously.
Early in the morning, Duan Zhiwei cleaned the stove in the fire room several times. A Pan and Putao took a small Huchuang and sat in the sun to fold gold ingots. Zhen Hui also wanted to join in, but his hands were only good at writing and doing accounts, but they were bad at folding gold ingots. After being laughed at by the women, he went to clean the stove with a red face.
Aunt Duan went to the East Market early in the morning to queue up and buy some dough sticks. This candy is also called sugar ingots. Pu Tao loves this kind of candy the most. He immediately put down the work in his hands and reached out to eat it.
This time, Aunt Duan was generous and bought the more expensive kind of flower-shaped dough, which she added crushed peanuts to. The maltose was sticky to the teeth, and the peanuts were crispy, making the rambutan taste delicious.
Duan Zhiwei could have made this kind of chewy dough by herself, but because it was time-consuming and laborious to boil malt sugar, and she couldn't sell it in any fancy way, she decisively gave up.
Duan Zhiwei made some thank-you balls, which he could use to worship the Kitchen God and could also sell to others. The fillings included pork, shredded radish, and red bean paste. It was cold in the twelfth lunar month, and food was easy to preserve, so he put it by the well and covered it with gauze, and it could be eaten for half a month.
It is said that today is the day when the Kitchen God goes to heaven and will tell people about their mistakes. It is necessary to seal the Kitchen God's mouth with gum. Duan Zhiwei just picked up the plate of candy when Aunt Duan stopped him and said, "How can you seal the Kitchen God's mouth? Go and call Zhen Hui over."
Duan Zhiwei was quite dissatisfied when he heard that there was a custom that "women were not allowed to participate", but then he thought again, the Kitchen God is a male, and it was because of the difference between men and women, so he let it go.
Zhen Hui took the candy and sealed the Kitchen God's mouth. The incense burner, thank-you balls, dumplings and other offerings had already been placed in front of the incense table of the Kitchen God statue.
Aunt Duan poured wine in front of the portrait of the Kitchen God and led everyone in the restaurant to kneel down and pray, chanting "May the upper world speak of good things and the lower world keep us safe."
Then he kowtowed several times respectfully.
Light the old image of the Kitchen God together with the folded gold ingots on a red candle and then burn them in a copper basin. It was already past curfew, and normally Xuanyangfang would have been plunged into endless darkness.
However, every family was sending off the Kitchen God and burning gold and silver ingots. Faint lights of fire could be seen in every yard, illuminating the night sky of Chang'an into a sky full of smoke and flames, as bright as a sky full of colorful clouds.
Everyone had a pious look on their faces. Aunt Duan clasped her hands together, still muttering "Keep peace in the underworld", while Zhen Hui recited "Spring Examination..." It seemed that the wish was related to the imperial examination.
Duan Zhiwei stared at the night sky that seemed to be filled with colorful clouds. She wondered if Yuan Shenji was also looking at the burning red sky.
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