Chapter 93 Handwritten

"Okay, the box will be delivered to you as soon as possible. Just tell Songnian what style you want." Jian Bingde finally lowered his head and sighed, and he seemed to have aged a few years in an instant.

The young man standing behind him led the way. Si Li hesitated for a moment, handed the cube diagram drawn with charcoal on the road to Song Nian, and did not leave with him. He turned around and bowed deeply, "A Li cannot accompany you, please take care of your health, uncle and aunt."

When she looked up, Mrs. Jane had just taken the handkerchief away from her eyes, and there was a faint watery gleam.

Songnian led Si Li out of the main courtyard, and as they walked, they finalized the supply of the glass kiln. Si Li came with the mentality of making concessions, so naturally he agreed. When they were almost at the gate, the production of the glass box had been confirmed. Songnian went to the outside of the city to open the kiln today, and when the finished product was delivered tomorrow, they could sign the contract.

The young man smiled faintly, "Let's talk business. My cousin, you won't be offended by this, right?"

"Of course." This alienated feeling made Si Li relax. "Then I'll leave it to you."

The two had just said goodbye, Songnian asked someone to get the car seat, and Si Li was about to leave when she suddenly saw someone walking out quickly from the door.

Jian Qingya's breath was a little unstable. When she saw Si Li, she smiled subconsciously, "Little cousin!"

"Are you going out, cousin?" Si Li stopped and looked back in confusion. Jian Qingya had obviously walked all the way here quickly. She took a breath and said seriously, "If possible, come to our house more often. My parents like you very much."

Songnian led the servants to the side to avoid them temporarily. Si Li pursed her lips, and then she heard Jian Qingya say, "Even if you can't be as close as family, at least don't refuse. Besides, we are still friends, right?"

If she was really the original owner, she should be able to live happily with the Jian family, right? But she was not, but in the eyes of the Jian family, she was the original owner, a real mess.

Is it true that the only way to end this entanglement is to find a place to retreat? Si Li lowered her eyes and hummed softly, "I know, cousin, please go back."

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As soon as Si Li got off the carriage, he saw Wang Ting pacing at the back door and came to greet him quickly, "Boss, you are finally back. Someone ordered scorpion hotpot, and I was worried about how to keep them here!"

The scorpion hotpot was launched without much fanfare. Most regular customers ordered directly and rarely looked at the menu. New customers came because they were attracted by the restaurant’s reputation and did not trust the new dishes, let alone order. It was beyond Si Li’s expectation that the scorpion hotpot could be found among the various menus at Wanglaiju on the first day it was launched.

"Don't worry." Si Li took the apron he handed over and ordered in an orderly manner, "Send the glutinous rice balls and fried food platter first. The scorpion pot will take more than an hour to cook. Why don't you ask your friends and come back to eat in the afternoon? Sitting here past noon is really tiring."

Fortunately, Si Li had already prepared some scorpions in advance, so now all she had to do was reheat the mutton soup and stew it in the pot. Otherwise, it would take even longer.

As he spoke, Si Li stopped Ah Sheng who came with Wang Ting and asked him to buy two more sheep spines. Originally, the quality of cattle and sheep from the horseshoe cabinet was better, but because the demand from the trade house was unstable, Si Li only mentioned it when he got milk in the morning and had not yet officially placed an order for sheep bones from the horseshoe cabinet.

As soon as she stepped into the courtyard, Si Li saw Jiang Shizhi sitting upright. A plum tree next to him was about to bloom, and the green and white petals were trembling, which was quite cruel. Si Li's mouth twitched slightly, and she couldn't help but wonder if the green plum tree that bloomed early every year had been destroyed by this prodigal son before the flower viewing banquet at Prince Yue's Mansion began.

However, thinking of the flower viewing party, Si Li suddenly remembered the flower banquet invitation that Si Tang received that her stepmother mentioned yesterday. Many noble ladies in the capital received invitations, and if she was considered to have status, she should have one as well. But until now, everyone else has one but she doesn't. It's hard to tell what she feels in her heart.

"The plum blossoms hadn't bloomed yet yesterday, why did Shizhi bring me another one?" Si Li lowered her head and approached the plum branch to sniff it. When Jiang Shizhi handed the plum blossom to her, she stepped back and said with a smile, "I dare not accept this flower again. If it affects the flower viewing banquet, wouldn't I be a sinner? Or does Brother Shizhi think that I am not a good friend and don't want me to go to the flower viewing banquet to see it, so he gave me two branches first?"

The faint smile on Jiang Hengyun's lips froze, and he turned his head to glance at Zhong Liuru beside him.

As the Crown Prince's Chief Clerk, all the chores of the Eastern Palace and some of the Yue Palace passed through his hands. When his master saw what he was asking, he knew what he was asking, and he felt bitter for a moment. He thought that the note that was specifically addressed to Miss Si had already been sent to the Si Palace in the name of the Yue Prince, and later the note to Miss Si Er was sent to the Si Palace by the Yue Princess when she checked the guest list and found an omission, for the sake of the Si Chief Assistant. Now that Miss Si didn't get the note, it must be that the Si Palace was behind it, but he had to suffer. What kind of logic is this?

"Perhaps it was delayed in the middle, and it may not have been delivered to the keeper yet." Zhong Liuru did not specify where the delay was, but Jiang Hengyun already understood.

Jiang Hengyun pinched his brows and said, "If that's the case, I'll just write one for you. Why are you teasing me?"

Without waiting for Si Li to stop him, he spread out his sleeves and wrote in one go on the gold-sprinkled paper that Zhong Liuru, who seemed to have a treasure chest on his body, had unfolded.

"Happy today..."

After a complicated arrangement, the time and place of the invitation were written, and the names of the inviter and the invitee were written in the specially reserved space on the left. The unique calligraphy style combined with the special texture of the gold-sprinkled paper, if this was red paper instead of white paper, Si Li almost suspected that she was seeing a marriage certificate.

"This is too serious..." Si Li looked at it for a while, reluctantly looking away. As soon as she raised her head, she met Jiang Shizhi's half-smile.

"Please keep this invitation carefully." Jiang Shizhi's tone was very calm, but it made her feel guilty for no reason, as if her face was burning.

Just as he was about to find an excuse to refuse and leave, he saw Wang Ting, who had just gone to the front hall to appease the diners, coming back. "Boss, look--!" He raised the letter in his hand and was about to say something, but the subtle atmosphere in the courtyard made his words choke in his throat.

Jiang Hengyun glanced at them calmly, without much emotion, but it made people feel a chill down their spine.

Si Li felt relieved and went to meet him with a sigh of relief, "Who brought the letter?"

Under the high pressure from the Prince of Yue, Wang Ting did not dare to say a word. He directly handed the letter to Si Li and went back to the front hall in a flash.

When the envelope was opened, there were two pieces of letterhead inside. An invitation written on a fallen plum paper was similar to the invitation to the flower viewing party she had just seen. The graceful and beautiful handwriting was something Si Li had never seen before, and the words were very gentle. One is Mrs. Si's handwriting. The letter expresses in a "compromising manner" that if Si Li is unwilling to go home, the letter she helped to collect earlier will be sent to her, hoping that she will remember the sisterly love and send it to her during the banquet. Help Si Tang a lot.

Mrs. Si's attitude changed so quickly in the two letters before and after. She may have already known about the Nuomizi sales launched today. She knew about it so quickly, so she probably kept an eye on Lilaiju all the time. Knowing that her plan had failed, she decided to do the next best thing and wanted to show her kindness to win over Si Li.

It turned out that the invitation was really delivered, but it didn't reach her, and was withheld by Mrs. Si. Si Li felt a little embarrassed, and returned to the chessboard table in the courtyard. She solemnly pushed the invitation card with the ink still wet on it to Jiang Shizhi's hand, "My invitation has arrived, so I can't accept this one."

The invitation written by the Prince of Yue seemed to tell her that she was different from others in this man's heart. Si Li suppressed her fantasies and slight reluctance and released her fingers that were pressing on the invitation.

Jiang Hengyun held Si Li's wrist through her sleeve. Si Li was startled and tried to pull her hand away, but he gently but firmly pressed it down and put his hand back on the gold paper. Jiang Hengyun said calmly, "This note is given to you, and it is yours. There is no need to refuse. I personally think that the scenery of the Yuewang Mansion's plum garden is not as good as the green plums in your vase."

He stood up and left. Si Li stared at Jiang Shizhi's back, and could vaguely see the tip of his ear turned red. Her heartbeat was thumping in her ears, and she thought about what he had just said twice before she began to react.

Is this a disguised confession?

No, no, no, she is too imaginative!

Si Li threw away the random thoughts, put away the two pieces of letter paper sent by her stepmother, and was about to go to the kitchen when the little princess pulled her sleeve. A piece of gold-sprinkled paper refracted the sunlight on the fingertips of Princess Jinhe, and Jiang Rufei frowned, but there was a smile in her eyes, "It's from Ah Li."

For some unknown reason, Si Li did not trick the little princess into taking the invitation back when Jiang Shizhi was away. Instead, she reached out to take it and put it in her own room together with the other two pieces of letter paper.

Previously, she cooked a whole pot of lamb and scorpions for her family, which was very bold. This time, she cooked it in a small pot, but it was done with great care. Si Li tried to find the subtle feeling when she put the lamb spine in before, but she didn't find it. She could only regretfully follow the system prompts and complete the task step by step. The lamb and scorpion pot stewing time is quite long. Si Li cut the side dishes and added them to the pot at the right time. She also prepared tofu and cabbage for hot pot later, and just waited for it to be served.

The person guarding the hall was Jingzhao Yin Zhubu, who happened to be on leave. His ancestral home was outside the Great Wall, and he loved beef and mutton the most. Therefore, when he saw the new pot when he came and went today, he felt itchy and even didn't want to leave. He just wanted to eat the mutton.

The beauty of the shop owner, who had impressed him so much before, had been deeply engraved in his heart. After the debate with scholars at Wuweilou and the lectures at the academy, he knew that this was not just a beautiful woman that could be imagined, but a gourmet who deserved respect. Wanglaiju had given him too many surprises. The more novel things he had experienced before, the more he looked forward to the new vitality that this northern dish would bring to the table at Wanglaiju.

More than an hour seemed long but also short. The chief clerk had just tasted the wonderful combination of red bean paste fried with lard and the moist glutinous rice skin, and before he could come to his senses, a jar of wine and a small stove were placed in front of him.

There was a small pot about as long as an arm on the stove, with steam coming out from the lid. The moment the lid was opened, an alluring spicy aroma mixed with the familiar mutton fragrance wafted out.

"Scorpion and lamb hot pot, with free osmanthus wine and three side dishes. Please enjoy."

The moment he saw the scorpion, the chief clerk was somewhat disappointed. Although Wanglaiju had given him many gifts and the mutton was very tempting, he had to say that Wanglaiju was no longer as novel as before, as he had to spend five taels of silver to eat such an ordinary dish.

If ordinary people think that moving the stove to the table and cooking dishes all the time is innovative, it is really troublesome and ridiculous.

Feeling disappointed, the clerk picked up the first piece of severed spine. The half-cooked spinal cord was half exposed from the joint, still covered with reddish-brown soup. The fascia on the spine, stewed until soft, was covered with delicate mutton, and the melted mutton fat was attached to it, staining it with a fat sheen.

The chief clerk swallowed his saliva helplessly, sucked a mouthful of bone marrow, tore off the mutton strips along the joints, and the mutton wrapped in fat and soup fell into his mouth. The chief clerk could no longer utter the word "disappointment".

Spicy and fresh, numb and mellow, this scorpion hot pot is three times more flavorful than the one made by the master chef he had eaten outside the pass in the past. The chief clerk finished the three plates of vegetables given as a gift, and added an extra portion of frozen tofu to soak up all the soup. When he stood up to pay the bill, he felt his stomach was heavy.

After having a good meal and a good drink, he was in high spirits. He somehow remembered that a document he had submitted previously on the method of improving the file organization had been rejected by Shangguan just yesterday. He felt a little aggrieved, and regardless of the fact that he was still on leave, he rushed back to Jingzhao Prefecture, found the document, and went to find Jingzhao Yin with the roll in his hand.

On the way, a colleague smelled the aroma of wine and food on the chief clerk and frowned at him, "You have drunk wine, you should change your clothes and go find the master!"

Someone also noticed the letter in his hand and said, "Didn't I send it back to you yesterday? Why don't you wait a few days before sending it back? When you are in a good mood, maybe you can pass it."

What everyone said was sincere advice, but the chief clerk refused to listen. He avoided being stopped by his colleagues and knocked on the door of Jingzhao Yin.

"Oh no." The colleagues who had followed the chief clerk to the nearby area were shocked. They didn't expect that he would rush in without even asking for instructions.

The last minor official who was caught drinking by a senior official was apparently fined one month’s salary and had cold water poured over him to sober him up?

With this in mind, someone has already gone to look for a stove.

Sure enough, just two moments after the chief clerk entered the room, there was a loud bang of a stool falling over. The officials of Jingzhao Prefecture covered their faces and hid aside. They could already imagine the scene of the chief clerk being thrown out of the door by the police.

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There should be only one update today, no need to wait, my little cuties who are following the update~