As Qiaoniang spoke, Gu Pingsheng stole glances at Gu Yaoniang.
Seeing Gu Yaoniang nod slightly, she knew that what Qiaoniang said must be in line with what she was thinking.
But Gu Pingsheng felt genuinely wronged: "Sister! That's really not what I meant!"
His face flushed red: "Isn't being an official a very tiring job? Husband and wife are one, Lady Xie's family is supportive, and her husband is capable, so why should she have to suffer like this! It's not that I think she's unworthy, it's that I think she doesn't need to!"
The other three people in the hall were somewhat stunned.
Therefore, Gu Pingsheng's meaning was not to belittle Xie Danqiu or think that she should not participate in the imperial examination; rather, he felt sorry for Xie Danqiu and thought that the imperial examination was very difficult and that she should not have to suffer this hardship.
For a moment, the hall fell silent, no one spoke.
Back at Tinglan Residence in the evening, Bishuang and Bizhu helped Yaoniang remove the hairpins and ornaments from her head. Bitao brought water into the room from outside and served Yaoniang as she washed and combed her hair.
Gu Yaoniang recalled that during the day, Lu Zhaoan and she waited together outside the examination hall. Gu Pingsheng was very happy to see the two of them when he came out and almost jumped over to Zhaocai.
Once they were in the car, the siblings sat facing each other. Gu Pingsheng then asked with a grin, "Sister, why are you with Second Brother Lu?"
As Gu Yaoniang pondered this, her face began to flush again.
The young maid, bewildered, exclaimed, "Wife! Why is your face suddenly so red?"
Gu Yaoniang came to her senses, but before she could speak, Bishuang hurriedly grabbed her wrist and took her pulse.
Seeing that Bishuang remained silent and pondered, Bizhu and Bitao grew anxious and urged, "What exactly happened?"
Bi Shuang looked suspicious: "There's nothing wrong with it."
But why is the lady's face so red and hot?
Bizhu couldn't help but become anxious: "Is it because you've been so focused on playing with your poison powder that you're not skilled enough to take a pulse?"
Bi Shuang wanted to refute, but the situation before her made her hesitate. Her pulse was clearly fine, so why did her wife look so strange?
Could it be that his face was poisoned with some kind of powder? But his pulse shouldn't be completely normal!
Bitao was on the verge of tears: "Such a big thing happened today, they definitely won't let it go since they didn't get the silver. My lady must have been poisoned by some kind of strange poison!"
Gu Yaoniang found it increasingly absurd as she listened, and finally found an opening to interject: "Is it possible... that I'm hot?"
The maids straightened their already thin clothes, their anxiety undiminished.
Gu Yaoniang simply said, "I'm fine! Don't overthink it, all of you. Especially you!"
She looked at Bitao and said, "Don't read so many tales of martial arts and legends!"
After the maids had all left, she began to ponder Gu Pingsheng's words again.
Xie Danqiu, do you look a little haggard?
Indeed, childbirth is extremely taxing on a woman's vital energy, and since she was premature, it must have been even more dangerous for her, and she suffered much more than others.
If she's still preoccupied with her studies during her postpartum period, her husband and mother-in-law certainly won't side with her.
It's understandable that she looked haggard.
I can only hope she passes the imperial examination with flying colors! After all, she is among the first batch of women to take the exam after the new policy was implemented. If she succeeds, it will tell all women in the world—if you want to, you can too.
The lotus pond near Fuxiang Pond, where Jinyulou is located, has always been used by Jinyulou. In the summer, almost all the lotus pods used by Jinyulou to make lotus seed dumplings are harvested from here.
More than a year ago, Gu Yaoniang found some high-quality crab seedlings from Yangcheng Lake and released them into this pond. However, she did not release them completely but instead put them in large fishing net boxes.
With flowing water, the crab larvae grow faster and won't escape, running around everywhere and making them difficult to catch.
It's September now, the season for eating crabs.
Gu Yaoniang ordered her men to scoop out the grown crabs.
The hairy crab has a green back and white belly, long, powerful, golden legs covered with golden hairs, and a slightly protruding navel.
All the crabs that were caught and brought over were female; the male crabs will have to wait a while longer.
The crabs were unusually lively and active, which made Gu Yaoniang feel somewhat frightened.
She had someone tie the hairy crabs with straw, put them in a pot, placed a slice of small yellow ginger from the southwest on each crab's belly, and then put the lid on.
She never left the stove, and the air gradually filled with the fishy smell of crabs.
That's the unique aroma of hairy crabs when they're cooked, with a faint hint of the spiciness of ginger slices.
After steaming for about half an incense stick's time, it should be fully cooked. Bizhu used a towel to protect her hands and lifted the steamer rack off the stove.
Gu Yaoniang lifted the lid, and the fresh aroma of the hairy crab wafted out, and a look of joy involuntarily crept onto her brow—it looked absolutely delicious!
Once it had cooled down a bit, Gu Yaoniang picked up a large hairy crab, placed it on a porcelain plate, and carefully pried open its belly with her hands, but she pouted slightly.
"It's still not as good as Yangcheng Lake!"
Gu Yaoniang was not very satisfied with the crabs she raised—they were not as plump and delicious as the hairy crabs from Yangcheng Lake.
These high-quality hairy crabs are certainly good for satisfying cravings, but they might not be enough to satisfy the gourmets in Shuojing City.
Does this mean that this year's hairy crabs will still have to be transported from Yangcheng Lake by fast horse?
Even though a huge sum of money was spent to transport the hairy crabs here, which solved the quality problem of the hairy crabs used by Jinyulou, there are still so many hairy crabs in the lotus pond downstairs. It took so much effort and money to raise them to this point.
Are you suggesting we just give up on it?
Wouldn't that result in a huge loss?
Just thinking about it made Gu Yaoniang feel a sharp pain in her heart.
While she stood there, looking troubled, Yu Erniang, who had been following her, suddenly had an idea: "My lady, I do have a way, but it will take some effort..."
"Tell me quickly!"
"Although our own farmed crabs aren't as plump, they have a rich and mellow flavor that rivals that of crabs from Yangcheng Lake. Why don't we separate the crab meat and roe and use them as a topping for our 'Bo Tuo' (a type of steamed bun)?"
Gu Yaoniang's eyes lit up: "That's not bad! The red silk buns in the restaurant now come with a shrimp roe topping, so we can add crab roe topping to this too!"
Suddenly she remembered something and hurriedly called to Bitao, "Bring me that box! The box containing the recipes that Lady Wang sent, let me take a look!"
Bitao quickly ran to get the box and handed it to Gu Yaoniang.
Gu Yaoniang rummaged through them for a while, and finally, her face lit up with a smile: "All done!"
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