The Xiao family's banquet was mainly for Dongdong's birthday, so the special banquet hall was at one end, but the scene for the children to play was at the other end. Yan Qiushu's gift was a birthday cake, but in this era, there was no sense of ritual such as blowing candles, so after this, when everything was almost done, she came down from the table and brought the water to deliver the birthday cake.

Who would have thought that by such a coincidence, I would run into someone the original owner knew?

She pursed her lips and turned her head away, her heart sinking.

Sure enough, the original owner's sister, Yan Qiuyuan, the heroine in the book, was walking towards her with her maid.

Both of them had veils on their faces, which blocked their features and made it difficult to see clearly.

The person who spoke was Yan Qiuyuan's personal maid. She smiled and said, "Miss, this is our first time at the Xiao Mansion. May I ask where the dressing room is?"

Yan Qiushu pointed in a direction.

She thanked him and left with Yan Qiuyuan. After taking only two steps, she suddenly turned around and asked with a smile, "May I know your name, young lady?"

Yan Qiushu raised her eyes slightly and looked at her without saying anything, wondering in her heart, could it be that he recognized her?

Yan Qiuyuan: "It's like this, I thought the girl looked familiar, as if I've seen her somewhere before, but I didn't know her name, so I asked."

Yan Qiushu breathed a sigh of relief and said, “Not really.”

She was very different from the original owner. The original owner was weak in character and learned the delicate and graceful demeanor of her aunt. She was a woman who could farm on her own before. There was no sign of weakness in her. Even her makeup and clothing styles were completely different. In order to prevent herself from being accidentally recognized, she deliberately put on makeup and changed her eyebrows.

So at this moment, she just shook her head indifferently and continued walking forward.

She can change her appearance, but she can’t change her voice for now, so she can only be an impolite person.

It's better than revealing one's true identity. The heroine of the otaku novel has a lot of thoughts in her mind, and she really doesn't want to provoke her.

Fortunately, her appearance did not make Yan Qiuyuan look embarrassed. As a concubine's daughter, her identity was often brought up and maliciously ridiculed, especially after she was engaged to the Prince of Jin, more people targeted her.

Now that this person is so rude, I'm afraid she is another woman who wants to embarrass the prince because she can't get his love.

No wonder she felt it looked familiar, it might be the same ugly face as those women!

Yan Qiuyuan snorted coldly and said gloomily: "Let's go!"

When her future husband takes the throne, no matter how noble their status is, won't they all have to kneel down and worship her? !

Yan Qiushu had no idea what the other person was thinking. After leaving, she quickened her pace and arrived at the small garden specially set aside for children to gather.

At this time, a dozen or so half-grown children and many servants gathered here to eat and drink.

Dong Dong, who was sitting in the main seat, looked towards the entrance eagerly. His expression also made others look at him. Zhou Zhaoqin was even more anxious and said, "Why hasn't Sister Shu come yet? I'm so hungry!"

"It's almost done!" Dong Dong pouted, "Didn't you guys eat so much?"

"None of them taste good." Zhou Zhaoqin said disdainfully.

He felt that his guess was correct. Sure enough, the food cooked by his sister Shu was the most delicious.

Dong Dong pouted. In fact, none of the friends he wanted to invite the most came. Those who came were people he was not familiar with. Even Jiang's cousins ​​did not come. He felt a little disappointed and a little impatient for being urged. Just when he was about to say something, he suddenly stood up and waved: "Sister Shu!"

The children also looked over. They knew that this sister named Ah Shu would bring them a lot of food, and their eyes immediately lit up as bright as the candles beside them.

Yan Qiushu suddenly felt extremely pressured. Such a group of children were staring at her. She hurriedly said, "Shui Yu, pass the cake over."

Shui Xuan walked over quickly and handed over a large round cake. The food box was also very large. After she placed it on the table and opened it, the children were amazed: "Wow! It looks good!"

I saw that the cake in the red food box was not yellow as Dongdong had said before, but colorful!

The big round cake is divided into different parts by different colored jams, including red cherry jam, pink peach jam, purple grape jam and so on.

The conditions were limited and the colors were somewhat similar, but for children who had never seen such a battle, it was definitely a surprise.

Especially the sweet milky flavor of the cake and the sweet and sour aroma of the jam made them drool.

Dong Dong was conscientiously cutting the cake with a wooden knife. A very noble-looking little boy next to him stared at Yan Qiushu for a while, as if he had confirmed something. He turned to Dong Dong and said domineeringly: "Xiao Pingzhou, give your sister Shu to me!"

Yan Qiushu: “?”

Dong Dong didn't even think about it: "No!"

Zhou Zhaoqin frowned slightly, and said as a matter of course: "Your Highness just wants to take your cook away. I will compensate you. I will ask the Emperor to give you a cook."

"Don't even think about it!" Dongdong was a little angry, with a sour face.

At this time, a voice broke the stalemate: "I think this is a good idea, Dongdong. A chef is exchanged for a cook. Your family is still at a disadvantage. After all, not every family can have a chef."

Everyone looked and saw a young man who looked somewhat similar to Zhou Zhaoqin walking slowly towards them with a smile on his lips, as if he was teasing the other person, or as if he was supporting Zhou Zhaoqin.

Moreover, the looks of the two men looking at her were filled with the same arrogance, or rather the man's more so, and the way they looked at Dong Dong was somewhat malicious.

With someone supporting him, Zhou Zhaoqin straightened his chest and felt more and more that he was right.

Dongdong's face was tense and he glared at the person in front of him angrily.

Yan Qiushu also wanted to curse. No wonder the third prince suffered such a terrible defeat in the plot, even bullying children!

She knew very well that the Third Prince was not targeting her this time. It was more like he was angry somewhere else and was looking for a place to vent his anger, so he just said a few words.

"I don't want Chu Yu! I only want Sister Ashu!" Dongdong said aggrievedly.

Fortunately, at this moment, another clear voice came out without any hesitation: "Third Prince, Miss Shu is not a cook, but my adopted sister!"

The Third Prince turned his head quickly to see Xiao Huai Ting walking towards him. When he got close to him, he spoke again meaningfully, "Your Highness, you are overthinking. I'm afraid you won't get what you want."

The Third Prince's expression turned cold and he looked at him slightly gloomily.

Xiao Huai Ting ignored her and walked straight to Yan Qiushu, picked up Dong Dong, and apologized to Yan Qiushu: "I'm sorry for making you feel wronged."

"No." Yan Qiushu shook his head. The situation was special and beyond his control.

This incident was just a fuse, and she just happened to encounter it.

Dong Dong immediately hugged Xiao Huai Ting's neck, buried his head and kept silent, but his shoulders could still be seen shaking, and he looked like he was crying in anger.

Yan Qiushu sighed with heartache.

Xiao Huai Ting's face also turned cold. The young general who was invincible on the battlefield looked at the father and son with an indifferent expression. After a few seconds, he looked away and looked at the manager in charge of the situation here. He said in a deep voice: "Aren't you going to eat the birthday cake? Why don't you come and cut the cake!"

The butler, who had been hiding and not daring to speak, stepped forward quickly and said, "Yes, I will cut it now."

Seeing this, the Third Prince's gloomy eyes swept over Yan Qiushu and fell on Xiao Huaiting, sneering: "So she is not the cook. If that's the case, then it must be a misunderstanding. But maybe this girl is willing to come to my house? After all, good birds choose the trees they roost in!"

He raised his eyebrows and smiled, "Miss Ah Shu, what do you think? This prince admires your cooking skills. If you are willing, this prince will invite you to the mansion with the treatment of a chef. You should know that following this prince is more promising than staying in the Xiao family."

Yan Qiushu lowered her eyes and smiled, "Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I am a lazy woman, so I will not bother Your Highness."

As soon as the words fell, Xiao Huaiting let out a mocking laugh: "Ha~"

At this moment, silence was better than words. Without saying a word, just a laugh, the Third Prince's face turned pale. He said gloomily, "In this case, the girl should stay in the Xiao Mansion and live and die with the Xiao family!"

The last few words he spoke were particularly sinister, as if he had already anticipated the death of the Xiao family.

After saying this, he took his son's hand and was about to walk out.

Zhou Zhaoqin pouted: "I won't leave!"

He hasn’t even had the delicious-looking cake yet!

The man's dark face seemed to become even darker. The next second he shook off his son's hand and walked out indifferently.

Zhou Zhaoqin was dumbfounded. He didn't expect his biological father to do this. He looked at the wet nurse helplessly. The wet nurse also had a pale face. Then he realized that his biological father was really angry.

He was panicking and couldn't control his expression: "Wow..."

The crying of the child actually broke the frozen atmosphere. Yan Qiushu's somewhat stiff face showed a hint of smile. Although the child was a little naughty, he was inexplicably funny.

She picked up a piece of cake and handed it over: "Okay, stop crying, please have some cake."

"Wuwu...hiccups..." Zhou Zhaoqin sobbed and opened his watery eyes. He first glanced at Yan Qiushu, and then stared straight at the cake. He was no longer crying, but he had just cried so hard that he hiccups.

He stretched out his chubby little hand very smoothly, took the cake, and took a sip of the small spoon on it.

"Hey! So sweet and delicious!"

After the rain, the sky cleared up. Zhou Zhaoqin's panic was soothed by the sweets. He ate two more bites and gave Yan Qiushu an embarrassed smile: "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Yan Qiushu smiled and urged the manager to distribute the cakes.

The other children who had no relatives around them were also a little scared. They looked at each other and didn't dare to say anything. Fortunately, the person in charge brought over the cake at this time.

As the children ate the sweets, the fear on their faces faded a lot.

The young man who had just ridiculed the enemy and left also looked at the child in his arms at this moment and said softly, "Dongdong, you haven't eaten your birthday cake yet, would you like to have a bite?"

Dongdong raised his head sobbing, his eyes, nose and mouth were all red, but after hearing this, he still nodded.

Children's emotions come and go quickly.

Everyone was a little scared at first because of the scary atmosphere between the two adults, but they soon became happy again after eating the sweets.

This cake is indeed delicious for children who have never eaten it before. The cake base is soft and delicious, and the jam on the cake is sour and sweet. Everyone is very satisfied with the meal.

The only thing I have tried is the Dongdong. Although I think it is delicious, it lacks the freshness and surprise, so I am still a little uninterested.

After all, they were only five years old. Even though they knew the difference in status, they did not expect it to be so huge.

It was also because the Third Prince's family did not know how to educate their children. Even if he was a real emperor, he would not have such an arrogant attitude for the sake of face and reputation. It was really a conceptual shock to him, a child who had been spoiled by two families.

Yan Qiushu rubbed his little head and said with a smile: "Dongdong, in addition to the birthday cake, I also prepared something delicious, but I need you to guess it correctly before I give it to you."

Dong Dong forced himself to cheer up and asked, "What is it?"

"It's something called egg pie." Yan Qiushu said with a smile: "You have to guess whether it is sweet or salty."

She deliberately emphasized the word "sweet".

Dongdong blinked, not understanding what was said. He bit his finger and thought for a while, then tried to say, "Salty..." As soon as one syllable came out, he felt a hit on the head. He quickly covered his head and glared at his uncle.

The boy said with a smile: "I'll give you another chance. Answer again. Sweet or salty?"

Dong Dong suddenly realized and said embarrassedly: "Sweet!"

Yan Qiushu smiled brightly: "Correct! Shuiyu, give it to me."

Shui Xuan immediately took the second food box from the person behind her. When she opened the box, the sweet smell, similar to that of cake but different in flavor, attracted the attention of other children. They saw palm-sized wooden bowls lying in the big food box.

There was a pool of solid egg custard in the wooden bowl, with some brown dots on the surface. Between it and the wooden bowl, there was a layer of extremely thin dough that looked extremely crispy.

This thing looks like a snack, but it also doesn't look like a snack.

Because there were other foods, each child could only have one egg tart, but Dongdong, as the birthday star, could have two.

When he encountered the fresh food, he was interrupted by a question from Yan Qiushu. His mind was no longer on the previous things. Instead, he stared at the egg pie intently and said in surprise: "Wow, Sister Shu, you are so awesome!"

Always doing things he has never seen before!

Dongdong was happy. He knew how to eat egg pie, so he reached over and took the egg pie out of the small bowl. Due to its fixed shape, it still remained in the shape of the bowl after being taken out. The outer ring was crispy, and the bottom was soft because of the egg pie liquid. When he took a bite, it was so crispy that it fell apart, and the sound of "crunch, crunch..." kept ringing in his ears.

The egg tart skin is a little tough and needs to be chewed twice. It has a slight salty taste in the sweetness, but the egg tart liquid is extremely sweet.

Sometimes the egg liquid is steamed too old, but the egg liquid with added milk sugar is sweet, soft and delicious, full of milk flavor, very delicate, especially the skin, which tastes particularly good.

“It’s delicious!”

"Hey, I ate a peach!"

"I have one too, so sweet..."

The other children were also served by the servants and had their share of egg tarts. Some of the egg tarts had some extra ingredients added to them. Those who ate them looked like they had won a prize. Their eyes sparkled and they couldn’t wait to show off to those around them.

Dongdong smacked his lips, not tasting any other flavor in his mouth. He was disappointed to find that he didn't get to eat it, so he quickly quickened his pace.

He ate one with a slurp and quickly went to eat the other one. Luckily, one of the two had something good. He tasted it carefully and confirmed it. He excitedly raised the egg tart and said to the other children, "I got one too! Guess what it is?"

The children were playing together, and as an adult, Yan Qiushu had completed her mission and chose to step away.

When she reached the exit, a slightly oppressive figure appeared beside her.

Yan Qiushu glanced at him, and the boy smiled at her and said softly, "I'm sorry for getting you into trouble today. He deliberately picked a fight with me because of my Xiao family."

Yan Qiushu curled her lips and shook her head: "It's okay, nothing happened to me."

Xiao Huai Ting breathed a sigh of relief and walked with her to the place where the front and back yards separated. He suddenly stopped, waved back Shui Yu and others, and whispered, "Don't take the Third Prince's words to heart. I dare not say anything else, but he will die faster than my Xiao family. As for the rest, even if I die, the Xiao family will not be harmed. You can live here in peace."

Yan Qiushu took a deep breath and suddenly looked up at him.

The young man smiled confidently, his eyes sparkling with stars, yet seemed to contain thousands of words.

He may have known his fate.

Because the plot is just as he said.

Xiao Waiting died in battle two years later. Before that, the third prince took the opportunity to force the emperor to abdicate because the army was taken away by Xiao Waiting. After the failure, he hanged himself. Three months later, the news of the great defeat at the border reached Kyoto. The infighting among the princes damaged the interests of the country and was against the will of heaven. The Prince of Jin summoned the old members of the Xiao family, and when the princes were covered with wounds from the fighting, he took control of the court in one fell swoop and ascended the throne as emperor.

Later, in order to appease the old members of the Xiao family, all the members of the Xiao family were given titles and countless rewards, but because there were no more adult males in the family, they only had titles but no real power.

But this was not a good thing. The Xiao family was overly stimulated, and even if there had been no war, they would not have lived long and would have died.

But now she is an outsider, so it is difficult for her to say much.

Even though Xiao Wai Ting seemed to trust her and was willing to say these words to reassure her, he actually didn't reveal anything. Even if she was a spy, he didn't know what evidence he had to prove his betrayal.

Yan Qiushu smiled back and was about to say goodbye when an idea suddenly occurred to her: "Wait!"

The boy who was about to say goodbye stopped and looked at her.

Yan Qiushu pursed her lips, lowered her eyes to avoid those bright eyes, and said slowly: "General Xiao, I accidentally overheard something about the third prince at home before. General Xiao, do you need to know?"

"Please speak." Xiao Waiting raised his eyebrows, quite curious.

Yan Qiushu said: "In order to provide the Third Prince with sufficient financial support, the Third Prince's wife's family lent money in Jinzhou!"

The governor of Jinzhou is the father-in-law of the third prince. There, he is very powerful. However, things will explode a year later. When his father-in-law gets into trouble, the third prince will also be exposed. Following the clues, he finds out many things. In the end, in order to avoid being held accountable, the third prince chooses to abdicate. Of course, he fails. The Prince of Jin learns about it in advance, and brings people to stop it. He is then deeply trusted by the emperor and gains some rights of the imperial guards.

Xiao Huaiting's expression changed slightly: "Is the news true?"

Yan Qiushu nodded affirmatively.

Xiao Waiting's lips moved, as if he wanted to ask for more details, but after looking at her, he smiled faintly: "Thank you for telling me."

Yan Qiushu frowned, said goodbye to him, and turned to go towards the inner courtyard.

But as they were walking, Yan Qiushu suddenly heard the nanny beside Wan'er coaxing the child: "Little Miss, don't cry. You won't be beautiful if you cry..."

The child who was being coaxed responded softly, with a heavy nasal tone and a hint of crying in his voice: "I don't want to cry either~"

As soon as she finished speaking, she couldn't help but started crying again.

Yan Qiushu stopped walking, and Shui Yu quickly stepped forward and said softly, "Miss, it's Miss Wan'er."

She nodded silently and walked towards the direction of the sound.

No wonder she didn't see Wan'er at the children's banquet just now. She thought the child didn't like such a noisy environment and went back first. She didn't expect to meet her here.

"Young lady, how about we go back first?" The nanny begged, "There are a lot of mosquitoes here, and you will be itchy soon."

Wan'er whispered, "No, mother will be sad!"

The nanny sighed, pounded her aching waist, stood up briefly and looked around. She spotted Yan Qiushu approaching and was immediately overjoyed: "Miss Yan!"

Yan Qiushu nodded and walked to Wan'er's side.

The little girl seemed a little embarrassed. When she noticed her coming, she took a peek and immediately buried her head in her legs, hugged her knees with her arms, and refused to raise her head.

She was hiding in a gazebo. Because it was Dongdong's birthday, the gazebo, which usually had no lights on, was now lit up, so her red, puffy ears could be clearly seen.

"What's wrong? Are you crying like a little cat and are you too embarrassed to see people?" Yan Qiushu asked softly.

Wan'er nodded gloomily: "Yeah!"

Yan Qiushu almost laughed out loud, this child is quiet and sensitive, but also very cute. When she looks at people, she always looks at them with her big eyes, which is very cute. She can now imagine that Wan'er must be pouting, not knowing whether to cry or not, feeling very aggrieved.

Her heart softened, and she glanced at her arms, which had been well-trained recently, and hugged her directly: "Since Wan'er doesn't want to go back to your mother, why don't you go to your sister's place to play?"

Then he exerted force, trying to pick the person up.

However, she overestimated her own strength and staggered two steps before getting off the ground and then putting it down again.

Wan'er, who was being held, clearly felt her helplessness. The moment she fell, she burst out laughing, then quickly covered her mouth to stop the laughter. When she covered her mouth, her tearful eyes were revealed.

Yan Qiushu gave up in dismay, rubbed her head with one hand, and stretched out the other hand: "Forget it, I don't have enough strength, you go by yourself."

Wan'er thought she would ask herself why she was crying, but after hearing this, she felt much more relaxed and actually stood up, and was led away by her.

The nanny who had been watching worriedly finally smiled and followed the two of them.

Back to the yard.

Yan Qiushu asked Shui Yu to light the candles and asked, "Wan'er, are you hungry? Do you want to eat something?"

Wan'er held her stomach and nodded: "Okay, thank you Sister Shu."

"You're welcome." Yan Qiushu rolled up her sleeves and started working.

The kitchen was bright and all the ingredients were neatly placed on the shelves. Next to the original shelves, there was a smaller shelf with various kitchen utensils on it. She had someone build it recently.

It’s not suitable to cook anything too greasy at night.

Drinking milk does help me sleep, but when the milk is delivered in the morning, it has already been used up, and I am worried that it will go bad and there will be nothing left by the evening.

At this moment, Yan Qiushu suddenly remembered that the kitchen was preparing chicken soup for the banquet in the evening.

She looked at Shui Yu and said, "Go to the kitchen and get me a can of chicken soup."

"Okay." Shui Yan ran over immediately.

Yan Qiushu looked at Wan'er who was sitting obediently in the chair and invited her, "Can I ask you for a favor?"

"What?" Wan'er stood up immediately. She didn't look very happy, but she was quite interested.

Yan Qiushu smiled and said, "I need a pair of clean scissors. Can you and Aunt Xu boil some water to disinfect the scissors?"

"Sure!" Wan'er responded crisply, trotting to the side of Nanny Xu and following her to get busy.

Yan Qiushu took a large iron basin, poured in flour and water, and began to knead the dough. This step required repeated pounding, and gradually the originally flocculent flour would be kneaded into a smooth dough. Taking the amount into consideration, the dough she made was slightly larger than an ordinary palm.

Once done, wait for a while.

Wan'er was still heating water to boil the scissors, which took quite a while.

In about a cup of tea's time, the dough was rested and the scissors were disinfected. Wan'er handed the scissors over through a clean cloth.

Yan Qiushu took it and said in surprise: "Thank you, Wan'er!"

Wan'er pursed her lips and smiled, put her hands behind her back, twisted her body, and looked extremely happy.

Children are like this. If you divert her attention, she will forget her sadness.

Yan Qiushu took the scissors, and when the light yellow chicken soup with a hint of oil in the big iron pot began to boil, she started cutting the dough with the scissors in front of her.

The smooth dough is cut into pointed ends and round in the middle with scissors, and falls into the boiling soup one by one, and then "floats" slightly and falls to the bottom of the soup.

But after cooking for a while, they began to float to the surface one by one. The light yellow chicken soup became slightly whiter because of the flour on the scissors noodles. It looked much thicker, but still formed a strong contrast with the off-white chicken soup noodles, as if little white fish kept jumping out of the water and were covered by the churning water.

The originally simple and delicious chicken soup also has a fragrance of flour.