The milky and sweet aroma was so rich that it wouldn't dissipate even after a while. Xu Yunlan even played dumb and tried to change the subject, "Zhizhi, why did you come here so suddenly? And what's that sweet smell? Did you eat something on the way here, so the smell lingered?"
"Staying home is so boring." Yang Zhizhi went over and sat on the bamboo chair, which creaked under her weight. She sighed and said, "That's why I came out to play with you. Yunlan, you don't know, I haven't been feeling well for a while. My mother asked a doctor to see me, and he said I was too fat. This won't work. I need to lose weight. My mother has been supervising me to lose weight lately. I eat boiled vegetables every day, no meat at all. I'm so hungry."
Yang Yunlan felt distressed and guilty after hearing this. She ate the delicious custard buns and lied to Zhizhi that she didn't eat anything.
After Zhizhi finished speaking, she took another breath. The milky aroma was still there. Zhizhi looked at Xu Yunlan solemnly, "Yunlan, you lied to me. You must have eaten something delicious. I can smell it. I didn't eat anything on the way here."
She wanted to eat it, but the maid was watching her. If she dared to eat it, the maid would go back and complain to her mother.
She has been eating so much vegetarian food these days that her eyes are popping out. She is really, really hungry.
Seeing that she couldn't hide it any longer, Xu Yunlan hurriedly said, "Okay, okay, I won't hide it from you."
She opened the small cabinet next to her, and there was only a fist-sized, milky white bun left on the white porcelain plate.
"This is a small bun?" Yang Zhizhi asked curiously, "Who makes buns so small? How come there are no wrinkles at all?"
Xu Yunlan smiled and said, "This isn't a steamed bun, but it's certainly a steamed bun. It's called a custard bun. There's one left. Have some."
Just eat one, it should be fine.
Yang Zhizhi's chubby, white hands pinched the custard bun. As soon as she took a bite, the custard-yellow liquid flowed out. She hurriedly caught it with her mouth. The filling inside was sweet, smooth and delicate. Yang Zhizhi squinted happily, "Yunlan, where did you buy this? It's sweet and has a rich milky aroma."
They usually don't drink cow's milk or goat's milk because it has a strong fishy smell.
But this custard bun has a milky aroma without any fishy smell.
Xu Yunlan touched the tip of her nose and said, "My father bought it. I don't know where he bought it from."
Of course she knew, she bought it from Miss Xu. But Miss Xu didn't make much, just enough for her family, and she only sold the extra to her family. Her breakfast these past few days was custard buns, bean porridge cooked at home, and a dish of pickled shredded radish.
This pickled shredded radish was also bought by Miss Xu’s family. It is actually made with radish. I don’t know why Miss Xu called it pickled shredded radish. It tastes crispy and appetizing.
Yang Zhizhi felt a little regretful and ate the custard bun carefully. Even though it was only the size of a fist, she was satisfied.
After finishing the meal, Yang Zhizhi kept wondering where she bought the custard buns. Was it from Qingfeng Bakery? Or Donglai Restaurant?
She thought the bun looked more like a pastry.
Xu Yunlan felt guilty and didn't dare to speak, but she was worried about Zhizhi.
Can she really lose weight by being a vegetarian? Will she end up eating too much and gaining even more weight? She really hopes Zhizhi can lose weight and have a healthy body.
It would be great if there were food that is both delicious and can help you lose weight.
Yang Zhizhi stayed at Xu's house until noon before going back. When she returned to the county government office, Yang Zhizhi told her mother, Wei, that she had eaten a custard bun at Yunlan's house, which was very delicious.
Wei looked at her daughter helplessly and said, "The doctor said you can't get any fatter."
She also felt sorry for her daughter, but for her daughter's health, she had to be cruel.
Yang Zhizhi acted coquettishly with Wei, "No way, I just wanted to show my filial piety to Daddy and Mom. The filling inside the custard buns will even flow out. They are not made of white sugar or brown sugar. The filling inside is custard yellow and has a milky aroma."
She praised the custard bun again.
Wei couldn't help but feel a little greedy after hearing this.
Later I thought I might as well buy some for everyone to try, as I have two sons at home.
The eldest son is already married, and the second son is only sixteen this year.
As a result, Wei asked her maid to go to Qingfeng Pastry Shop or Donglai Restaurant, but she couldn't find the snack called custard bun.
Later, it was County Magistrate Yang who asked Wei, and Wei told him that Zhizhi had eaten a kind of delicious small buns at Yunlan's place and couldn't forget it. She asked people to ask at Qingfeng Pastry Shop and Donglaiju, but they didn't sell it.
When County Magistrate Yang heard that his daughter had eaten the food at Xu Kongmu's house, he roughly guessed where she had bought it from.
It must have been bought from the chef who cooked at Xu's house during the Chinese New Year.
I just don't know who the cook is or how old he is.
Since they didn't even know the cook was living there, the matter was naturally dropped.
…
Gui had been recuperating at home for only eight or nine days when she stopped coughing, the ulcers under her armpits had healed, and some flesh had grown visibly. When Gui felt better, Wen took the time to take her to buy new clothes over the past two days. They also went to the government office to get the letter of release as a concubine stamped with the official seal. In fact, as long as she got the letter of release as a concubine, she would have no relationship with the Wen family, but getting the stamp from the government office made Wen feel more at ease.
After that, Gui helped to look after Feng'er and Yan'er every day, and lived an unprecedented leisurely and peaceful life.
The Wen family didn't send anyone to check.
It had been eight or nine days, and no one from the Pei family had come to cause trouble. Wen Yunling felt that something was not right.
She told her mother, Yue, about this. Yue frowned and said, "You don't care if they come to make trouble or not. If Concubine Gui leaves, then she's gone. Even if she didn't have tuberculosis, what's the point of her staying in the mansion? Besides, Concubine Gui herself agreed to leave after taking the letter of release and the money. I'm afraid they won't kick her out just for the money."
She really looked down on her own mother-in-law and didn't know why she bothered with her aunt. She never took her own aunt seriously.
Wen Yunling pursed her lips and said, "I was thinking that if Fourth Sister-in-law is good at cooking, we can let her be the chef when we open a restaurant in the future."
Mrs. Yue snorted and laughed. "Girl, how could you think your cooking skills could be better than the chef from Donglaiju who has been cooking for 20 to 30 years? You might as well find a way to poach the chef from Donglaiju."
Wen Yunling thought about it and it made sense. Even if Fourth Sister-in-law was a good cook, she could never catch up with the chef who had been in office at Donglaiju for twenty or thirty years.
Yue sighed, "You really should think about what kind of business you can do. And your grandparents, why don't they buy a few slaves to do the work and cook for you? Why do they have to let the third house do it?"
Aunt Bai was old and her eyesight was blurry, and sometimes there were small stones in the food she cooked. She even didn't wash the vegetables thoroughly, so there were spots of mud in her mouth when she ate them.
Bai Yi Niang's daughter-in-law was even more impressed by Bai Yi Niang's true skills. She scolded her for making unclean food with stones in it, and she apologized silently, but the food still tasted bad the next time.
Recently, their eldest wife has been going out to buy breakfast and dinner.
Wen Yunling also frowned. She also felt that it would be better to buy a few slaves. The third room couldn't even wash clothes cleanly.
…
As for Aunt Bai, she did not send anyone to inquire about Aunt Gui, for fear of exposing something.
However, the two grandsons were always running outside and had been to Guihua Lane several times. They had also seen Aunt Gui sitting in the yard basking in the sun. She no longer coughed and looked much better than when she was at the Wen family.
The two children already knew that Aunt Gui was forced to leave the Wen family by her grandfather because she had tuberculosis.
After hearing this, Aunt Bai patted her two grandchildren on the shoulders and said, "Brother Cheng, don't tell your grandparents. Just pretend you don't know. Maybe your Aunt Gui's tuberculosis isn't serious. She'll get better after a few days of rest."
The two children were both teenagers, and they didn't like the first and second wives, and they disliked their partial grandparents even more, so naturally they wouldn't tell them anything.
Meng is usually a taciturn person and is determined not to ask about trivial matters.
Wen Shuncheng and Wen Shungong have also been making money outside recently. They don't know how to do anything else. No one wants them to move goods at the dock because they think they are half-grown kids and can't do the work.
Both of them were already eleven or twelve years old, and no one who took pictures of beggars would take pictures of them, so they ran outside the county town and fished in small ditches, ponds, and rivers. They caught a lot of eels and came back to the town to sell them. In fact, Wen Shuncheng wanted to sell the eels to his fourth sister-in-law, because she was a fishmonger, but he didn't dare to disturb her, so he sold the eels to other restaurants.
Sometimes the harvest is good and the two of them can make dozens of coins a day.
Most of the money they earned was used to buy meat buns and secretly taken back to the third room to improve their family's diet, and the rest was saved for themselves.
Aunt Bai learned from her two grandsons that Aunt Gui was doing well, and she felt relieved.
…
After a few days, whether it was the Wen family, the Pei family, or all the families in the southwest, they all became a little uneasy.
Because news came from the north that there was a snow disaster in the north, which collapsed houses, killed many people, and froze many people to death. It is still snowing heavily in the north now. I am afraid that even crops cannot be planted in time. If they cannot be planted, there will be no crops to harvest in the autumn, and then there will be famine again. If there is a famine, it is the most frightening thing, and many people will starve to death.
It is also said that many people in the north have begun to flee famine.
When Xu Qinyu heard the news, she felt very uncomfortable. She was a little depressed while cooking fish balls and didn't talk to her fourth brother.
When it was almost cooked, he said to himself, "It would be great if we had crops like sweet potatoes and potatoes."
In ancient times, natural disasters were common, and whenever there was a natural disaster, there would be no harvest. Without a harvest, many people would naturally starve to death.
Sweet potatoes and potatoes are crops that can produce several thousand kilograms per mu, which is ten times higher than the yield of ordinary crops. They are not picky about the soil and are easy to grow. They can be harvested once a year in the north and twice in the south. They can be used as vegetables or as staple food. Even if there is a natural disaster, at least people will not starve to death with these.
As long as people don't die, we can always take it slowly.
Xu Qinyu knew that she was just talking and she had no way to find these crops.
The only thing she knows is cooking.
In fact, there are already some trade exchanges with other countries here. For example, some other dishes seem to have come from other countries, and spices such as pepper are also shipped back from other countries.
But probably it never crossed the sea, so there were no crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Pei Weixuan heard Yu Niang mumbling and asked, "What are the sweet potatoes that Yu Niang is talking about?"
Xu Qinyu looked up at her fourth brother and, nervously, made up an excuse. "I just saw it in a rare travelogue. It said there were some crops overseas that could yield several thousand kilograms per mu. I don't know if it's true. Fourth brother, if such crops really exist, then even in a disaster year, people wouldn't starve to death."
Pei Weixuan didn't say anything, but just looked at Yu Niang deeply.
He knew that there was no such travelogue, so where Yu Niang grew up, no one would starve to death even if there was a disaster?
Is it possible to find such crops by crossing the ocean?
"Does Yu Niang remember what the crops in the travelogue looked like?"
Xu Qinyu nodded, "I remember."
She didn't take it seriously and didn't think much about it. She just casually described the appearance of sweet potatoes, potatoes, and some other crops to her fourth brother.
Pei Weixuan kept all of this in mind.
Two days later, Pei Weixuan went to the mountains and released Bai Yu.
Xu Qinyu was a little reluctant to let Baiyu go, but she felt that Baiyu was better suited to stay in the mountains. In such a busy city, when Baiyu grew up, he would scare people, and she was afraid that the officials from the government would come to kill the giant python.
That night, everything was quiet and Pei Weixuan was fast asleep when three very light and short bird calls were heard outside the window.
Hearing the three short bird calls, Pei Weixuan opened his eyes.
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