After listening to the manager's arrangements, Wang Ting pushed open the door of Lingtaoyuan against the cold wind. The faint sweet fragrance on the road instantly became stronger. As he walked closer, the three figures behind the kitchen door were particularly obvious.
All the consolations he had thought of on the way were in vain. After all, no one who left the family in grief could continue to eat and drink with a smile.
A feeling of powerlessness surged in his heart. He recalled everything he had seen and heard from yesterday to today. He inexplicably felt a little pity for Steward Wang. It seemed that the purpose of this young lady was to leave the farm.
Seeing him standing there in a daze, Si Li looked at him in surprise and pointed at the pile of sweet potatoes behind him, "If you want to eat them, roast them yourself."
"Here I come." Wang Ting picked up a pair of chopsticks and joined the fight for the plate of honey-roasted sweet potatoes.
None of them mentioned leaving the next day, but when they woke up the next morning, except Meng Taotao who was still doing morning lessons with her handwritten book, Xiao Que and Wang Ting had already packed their bags.
Wang Ting had obviously made long-term plans. The first thing he said when he saw Si Li was, "I think the Ma's shop is more suitable, but we need to build another house."
His analysis was correct, and he had no objection to Wang Ting following Si Li as arranged by Wang Guanshi. He was easy to use, and from what Xiao Que recounted about the past, it had nothing to do with his stepmother, so it was Wang Ting's choice whether to stay or not. But compared to staying as a servant, it was obviously more promising to be his steward on the farm, so his choice seemed a little strange.
"You're coming with me?" Si Li asked seriously, "Why?" Thinking of how much Wang Ting had done yesterday for Yicheng, he added cautiously, "Making money from gatherings like the Dharma Assembly is not a normal thing. It may not be higher than your salary on the farm."
Wang Ting nodded, "But I can't take care of the children on the farm."
Si Li understood what Wang Ting had not finished saying. She was both angry and amused. Did Wang Ting really think she would agree? Well, she would. The shop always needs some cleaners and waiters. Wang Ting's buy one get two free deal was definitely worth welcoming.
After finalizing the future team, Si Li asked Wang Ting to go to the city to find a horse butcher to finalize the contract and moving matters. The materials delivered to the kitchen in recent days had been packed up. Xiao Que moved one basket, and Si Li and Meng Taotao moved another basket together and sent it back to the kitchen.
Madam Li obviously hadn't received the news that Si Li was leaving. She looked at the things on the floor and asked in confusion, "Miss, what are you doing?"
Wiping the sweat off his face, Si Li said calmly, "I'm leaving now. Before I leave, I'd like to ask my wife for some advice on cooking. I can't afford to be too poor in the skills needed to make a living in the future."
She made a joke, but Lady Li did not laugh. There were many hidden messages in the words, so many that Lady Li could hardly understand them, but she was the cook on the Si family's farm, and she had been accustomed to obeying the requests of the master for several years. No matter how strange Si Li's request was, she could convince herself.
"I heard that the potatoes you sold were wolf-tooth potatoes? Please make them again."
There was still a maid in the kitchen, and Madam Li spoke vaguely. Not everyone knew what the young lady had done when she went out a few days ago. If a girl who had not yet married secretly went out to do business under the pretext of recuperating from illness, who knows what people with ulterior motives would think.
After Si Li started cooking, Madam Li cleared out the idle people in the kitchen. The maids stood in two or three places chatting, and no one noticed that one of them slowly retreated.
The upgraded cooking skills made Si Li more comfortable with the familiar process. The cutting of potato strips and the jumping of flames became a kind of enjoyment. The existence of the system reminder progress bar was harmoniously integrated into it, bringing a strange game-like experience. If it weren't for the fact that the use of seasonings always produced biased judgments, Si Li believed that the system prompts would definitely not be "ordinary".
Mrs. Li did not look at the wolf-tooth potatoes that had just been served. Her attention was still completely focused on Si Li's cooking process. She still remembered the cold cucumber salad she had made last time. It was unbelievable that her cooking skills had changed so much in such a short period of time.
But there are still some details that need attention.
"Miss, you have only been learning cooking for a short time. You are weak and lack arm and wrist strength. You can practice more by dropping water bowls and sandbags. The seasonings used in your dishes are bold and hot, which is different from my habits. You can only rely on yourself to explore." Madam Li thought for a while and shook her head. "If you can find a famous teacher to guide you, your achievements may not be inferior to Qiyun."
Famous teacher? With systematic teaching videos and mandatory progress bar teaching reminders, he should be considered a famous teacher, right?
Si Li smiled and thanked Madam Li. "When my shop becomes popular, I will come back and invite Madam Li to come over for a visit."
"Are you really leaving?" Madam Li was a little worried. "Someone came to your house yesterday..."
"After meeting you, I went to say goodbye to Manager Wang. I don't know anything else, except my cooking skills, so I won't stay on the manor and embarrass my mother." Si Li interrupted her words and sighed softly.
Looking at the girl's sad face, Madam Li couldn't say anything more.
Si Li decided to quit while he was ahead and, leaving Li Niang with a slight impression of being bullied, he said goodbye.
Perhaps because she was sure that Si Li would come back, or perhaps because she did not want to get involved in the disputes in the mansion, she said goodbye to Steward Wang very quickly. After confirming that Si Li was really leaving, Steward Wang stopped trying to stop her and instead hugged Si Li, "Be careful outside. If there is any trouble later, remember to have Wang Ting come back to deliver the message."
Wang Ting just came back from the capital. After hearing her words, he said helplessly, "You really worry too much."
Manager Wang glared at him and said, "You're nowhere to be seen so early in the morning. I think we should have someone else accompany the young lady. I'll feel more at ease then!" This was of course a joke. Si Li bowed and took Wang Ting out. When Manager Wang wasn't paying attention, she threw the purse she had stuffed into her sleeve onto a chair.
The purse was quite heavy, needless to say, it also contained the silver ingots that Steward Wang had mentioned yesterday. Si Li felt no psychological pressure to spend money from the Hua Si Mansion, but she could not let Steward Wang, who was kind to her, use his own money to subsidize her.
There was nothing much to clean up in Lingtaoyuan, so Si Li finally moved two food boxes that had been gathering dust in the corner for a long time into the car. Wang Ting drove the donkey cart slowly out of the farm gate.
The curtain of the donkey carriage was half-raised. Meng Taotao leaned against the spot with the best light to read a book. Si Li looked outside and suddenly realized something was wrong. This direction was directly to the capital. She asked, "Aren't you going to pick up your nephew?"
"It's like I haven't settled down yet." Wang Ting felt a little embarrassed.
That's right. The Ma family's shop has not been cleaned yet and the new house has not been built yet. It would be better for the children to stay in the tenant's house near the farm. But this is not the important thing. Si Li instructed, "Go to the farthest county and then go back. Don't go directly to the capital."
Wang Ting didn't ask any more questions. He drove the car, turned at the fork in the road, and drove away.
Si Li just wanted to add a layer of insurance to prevent someone from following her whereabouts. She calculated that the time was about right and asked Wang Ting to turn around and walk back to the main road. Ma's shop was far from the manor, and after taking a detour, it was already noon when they entered the city from the south gate.
From a distance, I could see Ma the butcher standing by the roadside, rubbing his hands as he looked around. The sign of the Ma family shop had been taken down, and the whole bungalow had a grayish feel. Next to the gate was a wooden cart pulled by an ox, with all the bedding and clothes tied up on it. It was obvious that it had been packed up since the royal court notified him, and I didn't know how long he had been waiting.
As soon as Si Li got off the car, she was welcomed into the house by the shopkeeper Ma. The Ma family shop had obviously been cleaned. Except for the mutton smell in the kitchen that would not go away for a while, it looked much cleaner than yesterday.
Perhaps the shop matter had been weighing on his mind for too long, and once it was resolved, the horse butcher's face was wiped away. After looking at the shop's status, the group returned to the front hall. The horse butcher waved a stack of papers in his hand and pointed to the wooden driveway outside, "Look, I've kept all the pots, pans, tables, chairs, and beds, and the deeds have been written. If there's no problem, I'll take your housekeeper to the government office to get the stamp!"
On the way, Meng Taotao explained in detail the procedure for transferring the shop. After signing the deed, the seller or buyer would take the deed to the government office to submit it and the previous title deed, and exchange it for a new title deed, and the whole process would be completed. She did not have to show up in the whole process, thus avoiding the trouble of being recognized by acquaintances of the Si family at the government office and terminating the plan of opening a shop prematurely.
Professional matters should be left to professionals. Si Li probably read the contract terms and handed it to Meng Taotao. After Meng Taotao read them one by one and nodded, Si Li took out the silver rewarded by the system, plus a little change in his purse, and made up enough money to buy the house and pay taxes. The current contract tax is 2%. After the three-day Buddhist meeting, apart from the money distributed to his own people, Si Li only earned two taels. Now that the money is paid, his purse is back to the level of ten taels of silver.
However, she was now a homeowner. Si Li asked Wang Ting and Ma Zhanggui to go to the government office to handle the formalities, and she and Meng Taotao unloaded the donkey cart together. When they left, they also moved a few quilts from the manor. Xiao Que held a quilt roll in each hand and pushed Si Li into the kitchen. "Miss, cook first, and you can rest after the meal!"
Whether to take a break or not is secondary. Si Li entered the kitchen and felt a little overwhelmed by the smell of mutton.
Lamb buns, scorpion hotpot, fat lamb rolls, grilled lamb kebabs... Si Li's brain, which was accustomed to gourmet food, automatically started to name the dishes, and it was difficult for her to stop her saliva from flowing.
The Ma family shop had all the necessary kitchen utensils. The keeper Ma had not lied and had even kept a lot of the commonly used cheap seasonings such as leftover salt and ginger. Of course, the most common thing was the pot.
The kitchen attached to the shop was not like the one in Lingtao Courtyard, which had a window and a door behind it. One window faced the chopping block, and the midday sun shone through, covering the whole body, making it indescribably comfortable. Si Li was basking in the sun for a while, and saw Meng Taotao coming out with a bucket, and shouted, "Taotao - first turn out the sign of the Buddhist Association, and wait for Wang Ting to come back and have him hang it outside!"
Meng Taotao paused and said in disbelief, "We just use cloth signs?"
"yes."
Si, the ruthless mission-completing machine, Li Li was very confident. It just so happened that the cloth sign of the Buddhist Association had all kinds of prices and discounts written on it, so it would be a waste not to use it.
Seeing her insistence, Meng Taotao resigned herself to going back to rummage through her luggage, feeling her eyelids throbbing. She was the first person to run a restaurant like a snack stand.
Lunch was simple to make. Si Li just found some flour, chopped up the roasted sweet potatoes that were left over from the morning, and cooked a pot of sweet potato porridge, under the pretext of sharing the joys and sorrows with everyone.
Sweet potatoes are sweet, so they are sweet, and hard work is bitter.
The half-cooked sweet potatoes tasted soft and juicy, and the batter soup was full of sweet sweet potato sugar, which was indeed very sweet. So Xiao Que believed Si Li's nonsense, and Wang Ting, who did not rush back, did not know that his diet had dropped sharply. Only Meng Taotao put forward constructive suggestions: "We passed by the South City Vegetable Market yesterday, I still remember the location, we can go and have a look in the afternoon."
The bowl of batter was soon empty, and Xiao Que took up half of it. If she hadn't remembered Wang Ting, she would have eaten up all the remaining batter.
Si Li didn't have the heart to burst Meng Taotao's fantasy.
According to the prices she had asked about before, they probably couldn't afford any good food. Now, after buying food, oil, sugar, chili peppers and other condiments with the ten taels of silver, and reserving a little for the renovation masons and carpenters, there really wasn't much left, otherwise she wouldn't have been so stingy that she didn't even ask a carpenter to make a sign.
Without the Sifu wool to be fleeced, the reality is so sad.
Fortunately, nowadays, few people eat potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn, the high-yield crops that the queen sent people to retrieve. As vegetables whose main function is to feed pigs, their prices are quite low due to people's discrimination. Si Li is not worried that the store that is about to open will have no vegetables to sell.
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The author has something to say:
In fact, drinking sweet potato porridge in the morning in winter is very delicious. My family used to eat it often in the morning and evening in autumn and winter. It is delicious except that it is troublesome to peel the sweet potato skin.