Xu Qinyu could see that Ning Jie'er really knew nothing. The little girl was only eleven or twelve years old. She had always been a treasure in the hands of her parents, not to mention a princess. She had always been spoiled and lived a life of luxury. She was suddenly exiled to the southwest, so she must have felt a great psychological gap. It was a good thing that she still had the desire to live.

But in the end, Ning Jie'er is also a member of this family and she needs to contribute to it, otherwise she will never have a sense of belonging, which will not be good for her mental health in the long run.

But there's no rush, just take it slow.

Seeing Wen carrying water into the room and others going to the kitchen, Pei Jianing stood in the main room at a loss, not knowing what to do.

Xu Qinyu went into the kitchen, lit a fire and prepared to cook.

If you want to cook good food, an iron pot is also very important.

You can use pork skin or lard to cook. She was busy cooking and preparing the ingredients. Pei Weixuan led Brother Feng and Sister Yan to the main hall to move the purchased ingredients and cooking utensils to the kitchen. Seeing Sister Ning still standing in the main hall in a daze, he said calmly, "Sister Ning, help move the things to the kitchen."

Moving things was easy, Pei Jianing did not refuse, and followed him to the kitchen with the casserole in her arms.

Xu Qinyu started cooking and made a pot of pork ribs and taro rice. It was getting late and everyone was hungry, so they didn't have time to prepare vegetables and soup. The pork ribs and taro rice had both vegetables and rice, and tasted good.

This is easy to make. After washing the ribs, stir-fry the taro until fragrant and add seasoning. Then pour in an appropriate amount of water, bring to a boil, add the washed glutinous rice, and simmer until cooked.

While Xu Qinyu was cooking, Feng Ge'er and Yan Jie'er sat obediently beside the stove to keep warm, and Pei Weixuan also sat beside them to help watch the fire.

Xu Qinyu found that her cheap husband had excellent manners. Even in such a simple room, he sat upright with his back as straight as a pine tree.

When the fire was almost cooked, Xu Qinyu asked her adopted husband to turn down the fire in the stove and opened the lid of the pot. The rice inside was soaked in the soup of the pork ribs and taro, and it was slightly oily. The chopped green onions were sprinkled on it, which looked very tempting.

Not only were the family members overwhelmed by the fragrance, but even the neighbors could smell it, and several families came out to take a look.

"Whose family is making this evening meal? It smells so good."

"It smells so good, it's the smell of meat. We eat meat occasionally, but why can't we make something as delicious as this? It's so delicious that I can't stand it."

"It seems to be the house in front. There is still smoke coming out of her house. It was the house of the former Xia couple. Has it been rented out?"

"It looks like it's been rented out. I heard that her house costs three hundred coins, and she won't give a penny cheaper. People who can rent a house for three hundred coins can also afford to eat meat, but the meat smells a little too good."

Everyone was very greedy. They were all ordinary people. Some of them could not eat meat for a month, while others could eat it twice a month. But they had never known how meat could be cooked to be so delicious.

Even if one could not resist the aroma, no one would dare to knock on the door.

At Pei's house, Xu Qinyu had already called everyone to the kitchen to eat. There was a square table in the kitchen and there was still some residual heat in the stove, so it was quite warm, so they ate in the kitchen.

A large bowl of pork ribs and taro stewed rice was added to each person, and another portion was put in the food box, which was for Shao Ge'er.

Xu Qinyu said, "You guys eat first, I'll give this to Shao Ge'er."

"I'll go." Pei Weixuan stood up and took the food box from Xu Qinyu's hand. This place was different from the capital, and it was so late, so he would certainly not let Yu Niang go out alone.

Mrs. Wen was also worried that her son might get sick again after recovering from the fever. "I'll go. Xuan Ge'er and Yu Niang, you guys eat first."

As they were arguing, there was a knock on the door. Xu Qinyu went out to open the gate. It turned out to be a young boy of about thirteen or fourteen, wearing a gray jacket. The jacket looked quite thick and dark, but his eyes were bright. When he saw someone opening the door, he immediately smiled and said, "You must be the young lady of the Xu family. I am a servant of the Xia family. My wife asked me to come here to get the food box. I can smell the fragrance of what the young lady has cooked from far away." The fragrance was so overbearing that he couldn't help swallowing his saliva all the way.

Xu Qinyu knew the situation of the Xia family, and this young boy should be Xiao Cui's brother Zhuzi.

She smiled and said, "Today's dinner was late, so I made pork ribs stewed with rice."

As she was speaking, Wen came out with a lunch box. Zhuzi took the box and thanked them before leaving.

After Zhuzi left, the Pei family started to eat.

The pork ribs and taro braised rice, the pork ribs are not overcooked at all, the surface is crispy and the meat is tender inside, and the taro is full of soup, it tastes soft and sticky, and not choking at all. The rice is full of soup, and each grain is distinct. There is also a layer of crispy hot pot crust at the bottom of the pot, which is crispy and fragrant, and everyone likes to eat it.

The family ate their meal in silence. They finished a pot of pork ribs with rice, then washed up and went to bed.

Pei Weixuan was responsible for washing the pots and bowls. After dinner, he naturally took the responsibility of washing the dishes for the whole family.

Wen wanted to take on the job quickly, but Pei Weixuan just said no.

——————

There were six people in the family and only three rooms. Wen originally wanted to give the largest room on the left to Xuan Ge'er or Ning Jie'er, but neither of them agreed. In the end, Wen lived in the big room with Xuan Jie'er, Xu Qinyu and Ning Jie'er lived in the small room on the left side of the main hall, and Pei Weixuan lived in the room on the right side of the main hall with his younger brother Feng Ge'er.

In fact, the Pei family subconsciously did not regard Xu Qinyu and Pei Weixuan as real husband and wife. Although they were married, it was all forced by the new emperor. The girl was already implicated, so they could not force her. They would just wait and see. If the two children could really have feelings for each other, it would not be too late for them to become husband and wife.

When she woke up the next day, Xu Qinyu got dressed and left the warm bed. Ning Jie'er was still asleep, so she walked very carefully for fear of waking her up.

It was all white outside, the snow had piled up to my ankles, and it was still snowing.

Xu Qinyu couldn't help but feel a little worried. With such heavy snow, the wharf must be closed. It was too cold and the river would easily freeze, so the caravans couldn't continue to travel. If the wharf was really closed, the food stalls at the wharf would definitely be affected. There shouldn't be many people setting up stalls there. Would they have to wait until the spring after the New Year to set up stalls? But she quickly rejected the idea. The family only had eleven taels of silver left. If someone in the family got a headache or a fever again, these eleven taels of silver would definitely not be enough. Xu Qinyu planned to go and see after breakfast.

For breakfast, she planned to cook some red bean porridge. The porridge she cooked was fragrant, glutinous and sticky. It was made with red beans and glutinous rice. The red beans were soaked last night.

When the Xia family moved, they did not take the stove, wooden barrels, and basins with them.

The clay pot was bought yesterday, and the bean porridge was cooking on the stove. Xu Qinyu also lit the fire under the stove and prepared to cook pork fat.

Just as she lit the fire, there was movement at the kitchen door. She turned around and saw it was her cheap husband. He was wrapped in a navy blue long robe. The clothes were a bit ugly, but his face was as white as jade, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes. He was really handsome. Xu Qinyu couldn't help but take a few more glances. It was strange that although her cheap husband was weak, the chapped face he had during his exile was the least. After applying ointment for two days, it was almost healed.

She felt that the ointment made by her cheap husband was quite useful. After applying it for two or three days, the redness and swelling on her face from the freeze subsided, and the chapped skin also improved a lot. If she used it for another ten days or half a month, the chapped skin on her face and hands would definitely be completely healed.

"Fourth brother, why don't you sleep a little longer?" Xu Qinyu asked with a smile.

When she smiled, her eyes were crooked, which was a far cry from her previous bitter and resentful look.

Pei Weixuan came over and sat down next to the stove. "Now that you're awake, I'll help you light the fire."

"Thank you, Fourth Brother."

Xu Qinyu was not polite either. With someone helping to light the fire, she could do other things.

She first boiled a large pot of hot water and blanched the chopped lard in the water. This way the lard would be whiter, drier and taste better.

Wash the blanched lard and start boiling it. Add some water while boiling. After a lot of oil is boiled out, add a few star anise and peppercorns to enhance the flavor.

The whole house was filled with the aroma of lard.

Scoop the cooked lard into a ceramic pot, put the remaining oil residue on a plate and sprinkle some salt on it.

There is not much oil residue, otherwise you can make buns or dumplings with radish, both of which taste good.

Xu Qinyu twisted a piece of oil residue into her mouth. The burnt aroma overflowed. It was still crispy just out of the pan. She thought it tasted good, so she twisted a piece and stuffed it into Pei Weixuan's mouth. "Fourth brother, try it too."

The girl's soft fingertips touched his lips. Pei Weixuan froze and subconsciously chewed a few times before swallowing the oil residue in his mouth without even tasting it.

Xu Qinyu asked, "Fourth brother, how does the oil residue taste?"

Pei Weixuan lowered his eyes slightly, "Very good."

Xu Qinyu was very happy and put the oil residue aside so that she could eat it with the bean porridge later.

The oil on the bottom of the pot was not wasted and was used directly to fry the tofu.

The tofu she fried was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with a strong onion aroma.

The Pei family members also woke up and came to have breakfast.

Today, as usual, Zhuzi came to get breakfast and said to Xu Qinyu, "Shao'er loved the pork ribs braised rice made by Miss Xu. He ate a full bowl of it. Our wife and grandfather were very happy." He was embarrassed to tell Miss Xu that the rest of the pork ribs braised rice was eaten by his grandfather, who wanted to lick the bowl clean and said that he had never eaten such delicious food.

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "As long as Shao likes it."

After breakfast, Xu Qinyu went to the pier. If she wanted to start a food business, customer flow and customer source were very important. They helped her decide what food to make and where to make it.

What Xu Qinyu didn't expect was that there was still some business at the pier. Even though it was snowing heavily, there were some food stalls nearby. Because there were several large ships docked on the canal, she realized that there were two official ships that specialized in transporting coal and iron ore, and two ships belonging to merchant caravans, all of which were forced to stay here because of the heavy snow.

There were at least 20 to 30 people on one boat, and at least a hundred people on four boats, so the dock was quite lively.

In order to save money, the guys on these ships all live on the ship, but they certainly can't save on food. Being on a ship is very hard work, and it is unacceptable for them to not eat well.

If there were no heavy snow blocking the river on weekdays, there would be many small caravans and people coming to the dock to move goods, as well as people coming to deliver coal and iron ore. At that time, the flow of people would be really large, and it would be bustling and lively. Now it is still deserted.

Business at the pier is pretty good at the moment. There are actually not many food stalls, just one wonton stall, one steamed bun stall, and one noodle stall. Mainly because the weather is too cold and the snow is too heavy, other people don't want to go out to set up stalls, so even the shops and small vendors on the road have decreased a lot.

It was breakfast time and guests were waiting for their meals at several stalls. After getting their meals, they would go back to the boat to eat as they did not want to freeze here.

The guys on these boats all knew each other and were chatting.

"I've been eating the same food these past few days. It's a bit greasy and too bland."

These wontons, buns and noodles were still not greasy enough for them, and they felt hungry again not long after eating them.

"It's a bit bland indeed. It would be much better if I could have a pot of stewed meat. When can we make an appointment to have a good meal at the restaurant on West Street?"

"Forget it. Do you dare to go to the restaurants on East Street and West Street? Just two or three dishes cost one or two taels of silver. We can't afford it." Although the monthly salary of the fleet was higher than that of ordinary people, they still felt distressed that half a month's salary would be spent on one meal.

The restaurants on the South Street and North Street were cheaper, but a meal still cost several hundred dollars, and they couldn't afford it.

As they were talking, the wonton stall owner had already cooked several bowls of wontons, and several waiters returned to the boat with the bowls.

After listening to these words, Xu Qinyu gradually formed a general idea in her mind.