A bowl of ginger tea was not enough to satisfy their hunger. Both of them had been running around in fear all day, and their stomachs were starving, so they were grumbling and clamoring for a sacrifice.
Xu Jiang touched her stomach and saw that Lou Yunchun also looked listless, so she pulled him up and went to the kitchen.
Lou Yunchun skillfully lit the fire, which made Xu Jiang want to laugh. She thought that he couldn't even cut a fish before, but now he could help her skillfully. She didn't know whether it was her fault or achievement.
"Where did you go today?"
Xu Jiang was pounding tea while preparing to make porridge. When she heard Lou Yunchun ask this, she looked up and smiled, "I thought you would be so bored until the end of time before asking."
Lou Yunchun picked up the tea leaves that had spilled on her hair and said, "I won't be bored like this anymore."
"Well, it's better not to be so depressed. It's my fault. If it were another woman, she would probably be so upset just trying to guess what you're thinking."
"There will be no other woman." If he had not met Xu Jiang, he might have spent his whole life traveling in the wild with the Taoist priest, ending his boring life.
Xu Jiang smiled happily for a long time before answering, "I went to Pingkangfang today."
Lou Yunchun frowned, "For Jiang Gu?"
"That's right." Xu Jiang then told him everything about Jiang Gu's poisoning, leaving out nothing. Finally, she asked, "What do you think Feng Miao meant?"
Lou Yunchun pondered for a moment and guessed, "Jiang Gu has no wealth and no future now, so it's not worth it to plot against him. However, the Jiang family's connections accumulated over generations could be put to good use."
The fire was burning brightly, so Lou Yunchun found a clay pot and placed it on the stove. He filled half of it with water and waited for the water to boil before putting the rice in.
"The Jiang family has such connections, why doesn't Jiang Gu use them himself?"
"Yes, but later that person was impeached and banished from the capital."
"Then wouldn't this network of contacts be just for show?"
"It's just a decoration for Jiang Gu, but not for Feng Miao."
Xu Jiang swept out the pounded tea leaves and set them aside. She then scooped up two handfuls of shelled peanuts and buried them in the ash, asking Lou Yunchun to watch over them to make sure they didn't become mushy. She then grabbed a handful each of sesame, walnuts, and pine nuts and continued pounding them into powder.
Her arms were sore from pounding the mortar, so she moved the stone mortar in front of Lou Yunchun. Lou Yunchun took it naturally and crushed the dried fruits one by one with the pestle.
Xu Jiang stared at him and continued to ask, "Jiang Gu himself can't use the Jiang family's connections, so why can Feng Miao?"
Lou Yunchun didn't answer, but asked, "Think about why Feng Miao asked you to compile a collection for Jiang Gu?"
"They want to use me to bring down the Imperial College and the Ministry of Rites." Xu Jiang was quick-witted. After Lou Yunchun pointed it out, she figured out the key point. "The mastermind behind the people who are helping Jiang Gu is Feng Miao. Am I right?"
Lou Yunchun looked at her with appreciation.
She felt pleased with herself and continued, "Feng Miao is using Jiang Gu's identity to seek his own interests. As long as the people behind him don't get involved, they'll be safe. And once Feng Miao drags them into this, their lives will be in jeopardy, and they'll have no choice but to obey his orders."
At this point, Xu Jiang suddenly realized, "He is using Jiang Gu as bait to control the court officials."
Lou Yunchun stopped and asked, "Is this enough?"
Xu Jiang took a look and nodded, "It's done." Then he took a bowl and swept out the dried fruit pieces. Then he said to Lou Yunchun, "The peanuts should be ready too."
Lou Yunchun went to pick the peanuts from the ash again. The peanuts were hot, so Lou Yunchun didn't let Xu Jiang touch them. He just asked her to spread her hands and catch the peanuts he peeled.
As he peeled the silk, he said, "He came to you, probably intending to use you to seize the Imperial College, just as he did with the other ministers. But he didn't expect you to be so cautious and see through his intentions, foiling his plan."
I think they felt that she was just a small bookstore and her publishing business was cut off by the Zhou family, so they used Jiang Gu's name and the Ministry of Revenue to hook her, a wild fish that had never seen the world.
It’s a pity that this wild fish is picky and won’t take the bait. Not only does it not take the bait, it also takes the bait away.
By the time all the peanuts were peeled, Lou Yunchun's hands were already too black to look at. "He poisoned them to silence them, so as to avoid exposing the secret agents he had arranged through Jiang Gu over the years."
"It's a lucky coincidence that Jiang Gu managed to spit out the poison. Otherwise, I'm afraid I would see him in the files of your Dali Temple."
The peanuts cooked in the wood ash were fragrant. Xu Jiang pinched off the crispy skins, revealing the plump white kernels, and fed two to Lou Yunchun. "Are they fragrant?"
Lou Yunchun nodded, "It smells good."
Xu Jiang also ate two, and they were indeed fragrant and crispy.
She crushed the peanut skins, blew off the skins, and put them into the stone mortar for Lou Yunchun to pound. When the water boiled, she washed the rice and added it to the pot. Then, under Lou Yunchun's disapproving gaze, she threw in two slices of ginger and let it all boil.
After the rice is cooked until it becomes crispy, remove half of it, leaving half rice and half soup, then pick out the ginger slices and simmer until it becomes thick before removing from the heat.
Finally, add the pounded tea powder, dried fruit powder and salt, mix well and serve.
Drinking porridge alone was not enough, so Xu Jiang also made a bowl of noodles with mushroom oil and added two plates of pickled celery and pickled radish to go with the porridge.
After everything was prepared, Xu Jiang was about to ask Lou Yunchun to set the table, but she saw a lot of carbon ash on his face. She burst into laughter, and then he caught her and pinched her face with his hand.
After washing, the two of them put the food in the restaurant and ate around the stove.
Xu Jiang served Lou Yunchun a bowl of porridge first and said, "Try it and see if it suits your taste."
Lou Yunchun took a sip and found it had the thickness of porridge, the bitterness of tea, and the oily fragrance of dried fruits. The three flavors combined into one, fragrant and mellow, extremely delicious.
"It's delicious." He thought for a moment and said, "Next time, I can replace the ginger with rock honey."
Xu Jiang was stunned.
After filling their stomachs, the two put away the dishes and then snuggled together to listen to the snow.
"If it is really as we guessed, Jiang Gu must leave the capital, and the sooner the better." Xu Jiang leaned on Lou Yunchun's shoulder, feeling her eyelids drooping.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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