Chapter 101 Chapter 101 Update.
It snowed all night, and the white snow was half a foot thick. Ji Feng wrapped herself up, wearing a cotton-padded jacket, and swept the yard with a tall broom.
She now felt that the county magistrate's mansion was quite good. They even gave her winter clothes made of cotton. Although they were made of coarse cloth, they kept her warm.
Their kang was also covered with a mattress and quilt with a white edge made of soap. The kang was heated, and the small iron kettle on the stove was filled with water. After a night, the hot water was just enough for washing faces.
There was a lacquered wooden couch on the floor, and next to it a plum blossom-shaped desk. This set was given to them by Mrs. Lai when she came to their house the day before and felt it was shabby, so she used her own old set.
Ji Feng was very happy. Their little room now had an extra place to kneel and sit. This couch was better than a mat because it did not need to touch the ground. It was made of lacquered wood with carved patterns. The table was even more exquisite. It was polished to a shine. On it were some dry steamed buns that were not eaten for breakfast. They were left for lunch and heated up on the stove to eat with wheat bran porridge.
This was what Ji Xu told them when she left. She would come back to the small kitchen to make dinner.
She harnessed an ox cart and left the city that day.
He was wearing a cotton-padded coat and a headscarf that covered his face and head tightly, leaving his eyes open to see the road. He drove to the north of the city in the wind and snow.
The abandoned iron furnace was covered with a layer of snow. The weather was so cold that even the children didn't play inside.
In the continuous black mines, you can still see moving laborers, each of them carrying a cage and the protruding iron ore on their backs. Their faces are expressionless due to the strong wind, their mouths are pursed, their eyes are squinted, and they slowly move towards the furnace that is emitting thick smoke.
A piece of ore fell down, and it was pitch black and as big as a garlic. It rolled to Ji Xu's feet. Ji Xu picked it up and finally had a solution to the garlic embroidery of Tian Shi.
The story goes back to when Mrs. Lai came back from outside and came to talk to them in the lower courtyard. Ji Xu invited her to sit on the kang and served her dried chestnuts and preserved dates.
Having accidentally kicked the shoe on the ground away, she picked it up and saw that the sole was as black as charcoal, with black flakes in the mud.
It was a sunny day, with no rain or snow, so it shouldn't have been trampled like this.
She immediately thought of the mines she had seen when she first entered the city. Now she looked at the ground. The white snow had fallen to the ground and was trampled black. The soles of her own shoes were also covered with a layer of black flakes.
"Who are you? Who asked you to come here?"
The iron officer with a sword, who was a burly man, pointed at her and shouted.
The mine and the furnace were surrounded by wooden fences taller than a person, with sharp edges that made climbing impossible.
Even the main entrance was blocked by barricades and there was a high watchtower beside the gate.
Ji Xu was just standing outside the barricades, but he was stopped. He said:
"I'm from out of town and have never seen such a dark mountain. It's very strange and I was staring at it for a while."
The iron official said, "This is a mine. You are not allowed to approach the iron smelting site!"
"Don't blame me, sir. I'm leaving now."
Ji Xu drove away as he spoke, while counting from beginning to end. There were more than ten mines of various sizes, and the laborers were innumerable.
If Tian is inside, I don’t know which mountain he is in.
On the way back, the snow was getting heavier. The ox cart had traveled with them for more than 3,000 miles and had been patched up all the way, looking like it was about to fall apart. Now it was slipping in the snow and was very difficult to drive on.
She went to the nearby Duting to avoid the snow. There were not many travelers staying there, but the kitchen was bustling with activity.
Ji Xu borrowed some iron tools to repair her ox cart. She saw large bamboo baskets filled with hot meals being carried out from the back door of their kitchen. Several large carts were loaded with food and carried out.
Ting's father happened to be sweeping the cowshed beside her, so she asked:
"Father Ting, where are those several carts of food being sent to?"
Tingfu raised his head towards the city and said, "Where else could it be? The mine in the north of the city provides food to seven or eight township and capital pavilions nearby. Ours is a relatively responsible small mine, not a large one."
"Is this still a small mine? Such a large amount of food is enough for a hundred people." Ji Xu said, knocking on the loose iron wheel hub, making a ding-dong sound.
"There aren't so many people. There are only fifty or sixty people working in the small mine. There's so much food because the county magistrate loves the people like his own children. He couldn't bear to see those laborers doing hard work and still not having enough to eat, so he ordered the cooks everywhere to prepare more food and not to withhold the food money." Ting's father said with respect in his words.
After hearing this, Ji Xu felt that this man was not as difficult to talk to as the iron official at the mine, so he said:
"Does Mr. Ting know any of the laborers there? I want to ask you about someone."
Ting's father said, "Most of those laborers are prisoners. How would I know them? Besides, not everyone can enter the mine. Even the cooks who deliver the food only deliver it to the door. If you want to ask about someone, we don't know where they are. You should ask the iron official."
Ji Xu thought of the cold-faced and ruthless official, and it was bound to be difficult to open his mouth.
Tian hinted that she was in the mine, but she hadn't committed any crime, so how could she become a criminal and be sent to the mine?
Besides, why would Mrs. Lai, a household slave in the county magistrate's mansion, go in and out of the mine? And those strong slaves who were bought by Mrs. Lai in the past but disappeared, she vaguely felt that they might have been sent to the mine. The iron official guarded them strictly, so there might be something fishy here.
She asked directly about Tian's whereabouts, which made people alert. They were afraid that Tian was not having a good time in there.
Because I had never spoken, even Mrs. Lai could only hint at it indirectly. She asked that day:
"The creeper embroidery on your headscarf is truly beautiful. Which maid in the mansion did this? I'd like to ask her for advice so I can make you a pair of shoes that are worth your while."
But I didn't get what I wanted, I only heard Mrs. Lai say:
"It's not the work of the maids in the mansion. It was given as a gift by an outsider. I don't know who made it. If you are so filial, you can make me some lamb stomach jerky during the holidays. That's enough."
She didn't dare to ask any more questions.
According to her observation, when Mrs. Lai returned home from outside, she would take out a bamboo scroll from her sleeve and lock it in a box beside the kang. However, she carried the key with her, and even the little maid who served her could not touch it.
As the New Year draws to a close, there are more and more banquets in the mansion. I heard that many people come here to ask for elixirs.
Ji Xu would cook mutton every now and then, and serve it in various ways, such as mutton soup, rotten mutton stomach, mutton bacon, etc.
She did rough work in the palace, such as pounding rice, making fire, and processing sheep offal in the kitchen, so she had also seen the eunuchs prepare these delicious dishes.
It is strange to say that Ji Xu was only about twelve years old at the time and did not know how to cook, but after seeing the Western Han Dynasty dishes prepared by the eunuch, he was able to remember them, as if he had this talent.
To this day, she can still remember the steps in her mind and make them exactly as they were.
On this day of the winter solstice, a banquet was held in the palace as usual. The county governor was the host and wanted to eat Qiang boiled mutton.
Qiang is a minority ethnic group in Northwest China, and Qiang cooking is a cooking method that came from Northwest China.
Place a stove with charcoal fire in it and a small copper pot on top. Take the sheep's brain and lamb leg meat, slice them into thin slices with a snowflake texture of fat and lean meat, and blanch them in boiling water in the copper pot. They taste fresh and tender. Some people also like to eat fresh lamb brain.
The Qiang way of eating boiled mutton is very similar to the hot pot mutton of later generations, and can be regarded as the ancestor.
Ji Xu then added a few dipping sauces, including sesame paste, chive sauce, fermented tofu, shrimp oil, and sesame oil, all of which she made herself, so that the sheep could have more than enough to eat.
Finding her mother was important, but she also had to keep her job as the cook in the kitchen, so she put all her energy into it and told the maids who came to pick up the food one by one how to prepare the sauce.
"Xu, the county magistrate said this mutton is excellent and ordered you to go to the front hall to receive your reward."
The maid serving in the front hall came to the small kitchen to call for help.
Ji Xu followed and saw that people were sitting on the floor at tables in the hall. At the head of the table was the governor of Zhuo County. He had a long beard and slightly high cheekbones, and he was toasting with others at the table.
"Come on, Brother Qi, let's get drunk tonight and go to Penglai to greet the gods!"
"Someone, bring the pills over!"
The county magistrate ordered that if the guests took the elixir while intoxicated, they would feel warm all over and feel more refreshed, and an expression of enjoyment appeared on their faces.
The one sitting at the table on the west side was the second master of this family. He was wearing loose clothes and a sorcerer's hat on his head. He was leaning on the table with an ear cup in his hand, his face was slightly flushed, and he looked drunk.
When the servant brought a pill to his side, he played with it for a while before swallowing it. He pointed at Ji Xu who had just entered and said:
"Come and serve me dinner."
As soon as he finished speaking, Ji Xu clearly felt that the two big maids behind him had unfriendly expressions. She clasped her hands and bowed, saying:
"I just came out of the kitchen and I'm greasy. I'm afraid I'll contaminate Second Master."
In fact, he came to the master to receive the reward, and the maid told him to change his clothes to be neat and decent so as not to offend the master. Even after hearing this, the second master still refused to change his words.
She could only move over silently, kneel down on the left side, pour him wine and cook the meat, and dip it in the sauce according to his instructions.
But the man didn't eat. Instead, he leaned on her and breathed heavily.
Although they seemed intimate on the outside, from Ji Xu's angle, he clearly saw him inserting his fingers into his throat.
Then he vomited in front of everyone, and the mat was covered with wine and the pills he had just taken.
"Will you serve?"
The big girl behind her asked, and when she saw her dip the meat in sesame sauce, she said,
"Second Master cannot eat sesame."
The people hurriedly helped the second master, who was breathing rapidly, back to the courtyard. In this way, Ji Xu lost his reward and retreated in disgrace.
The banquet was about to end. Mrs. Lai was waiting outside the hall. She had said that she would accompany the guests to the alchemy building to select elixirs after the banquet was over, but she had just drunk a cup of wine and wet her sleeves. She called her and said,
"Go to my room and bring me the crimson dress that's on the box."
When Ji Xu left, she took off her clothes and a bunch of keys fell out of her sleeve. She couldn't help but look at the locked camphorwood box. The bamboo book that Mrs. Lai brought back was locked inside.
"Mrs. Lai, the clothes are here."
Ji Xu held the running Mrs. Lai in her arms. She looked serious and quickly changed in the side room. Then she followed the county magistrate and the guest into the alchemy building. On the way, she touched the key on her sleeve and found it was still there.
After delivering the clothes, Ji Xu returned to the servants' quarters. Her mood improved, and she whispered to Ji Feng:
"Put on some warm clothes tomorrow and don't make any noise. Maybe we can see Mother then."
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