Chapter 164 Chapter 164 Update.
Yin, Tian, and Candou all got their bedding and slept in the west room with Jindou. There was a pile of food as high as a person at the entrance.
"No wonder she can steam so much rice, enough for us to eat. Her family has so much food, wow."
Tiandou couldn't help but touch it when he saw it. Jindou said:
"Don't always call them she or they, call them Madam or Miss."
Tiandou curled her lips and came in with Yindou and Candou, carrying bedding. On the kang window, there was a half-worn small bronze mirror, a small box containing a comb, a hairband, a silk flower, and a very exquisite small porcelain box.
Tian Dou took it and looked at it. "It smells strange. What's in it?"
Jindou hurriedly snatched it back and placed it beside his pillow like a treasure.
"It's the ointment the young lady gave me for frostbite."
"No wonder your hands are so chapped, my dear Jindou! Look at my hands, they're so chapped! Give me some too."
Jindou was reluctant to put it away. "It's already spring, and you're still applying this? This is for winter."
Yindou asked, "Were these also given by the young lady?"
"The silk flowers were bought by the young lady on the day of the Spring Festival, the bronze mirror was given by the lady, who sells them at home, and the hairband was bought by myself." Jindou said.
"purchase?"
Tian Dou was surprised and asked, "Where did you get the money? Did you steal it from her house?"
"Look at what you're saying. This is my own money. Madam would give me a few extra coins during festivals to add to the festive mood. I also have a monthly salary of fifty coins. It wasn't that much when I first came here. Later, I did better and better, so my salary increased."
The other three beans were all stunned by what they heard. They had always sold themselves into slavery and were at the mercy of their masters. They had endless work to do, and were beaten and scolded. They might be no different from animals, but as long as they had a full meal, they were much better off than many poor families outside. And they even got a monthly salary?
Even if Yindou served in the rice field envoy's house, she would not be treated this way. She said:
"I've only heard that the wealthy families in Maoling County only give their maids monthly wages. That's why they say it's better to be a maid in a rich family than a maid in a poor one. I never thought we have one too."
After blowing out the lights, the four of them fell asleep on the kang, talking about their time in their hometown, their mothers, grandfathers, brothers and sisters, and gradually fell asleep due to sleepiness.
The next morning, they got up with Jindou, borrowed Jindou's comb to comb their hair, tied two buns, and went to the kitchen, one next to the other.
Feng and Zhu squatted there brushing their teeth with pig-bristle toothbrushes, while Tian was combing her hair in the yard. She asked Jindou to teach them how to boil some water cakes for breakfast.
"Why."
Jindou happily agreed. They had compared their birthdays last night. She was the youngest of the four, and she was very proud to be able to teach them.
Yindou knew how to make water-inducing pancakes, but she was not familiar with the family's taste. She helped to knead the dough, and when it was time to season it, she watched Jindou do it.
I saw a spoonful of snow-white lard, a handful of dried shrimps, and two green cabbages being fished out of the boiling water. Two spoonfuls of bone soup hanging on the stove were scooped out, and thin water-drawn pancakes as thin as silk floated in the soup. Then a handful of green onions and coriander were added, and bowl after bowl was ready.
They were so greedy for the field beans and broad beans. They didn't know how to cook them and had never eaten them, so they just learned from them and helped wash the vegetables and light the fire.
These are also made at home, but the level of detail is different. The field beans are simply rinsed by the well and that's it.
"That won't work."
Ji Xu had just gotten up, wearing slippers and casual clothes, with his hair hanging down in a bun, squatting beside her. There was a pleasant fragrance, like the fragrance of some watercolor, and he taught her,
"If you eat the mud on it, you'll get a stomachache. And these yellow leaves should be picked off. They won't be wasted. You can save them to feed the chickens. Come on, try again."
Following her instructions, Tiandou also washed one.
"That's right. You're Tiandou, right? You're really smart. You can learn it in no time."
Then he asked her where she was from.
"I'm from Youzhou, I'm from Youzhou." Tian Dou said while washing vegetables with his head down.
"Which county in Youzhou are you from? I've been to Youzhou too."
When Tiandou came into the kitchen with the washed vegetables, Jindou said jokingly:
"Why does your face look like a monkey's butt?"
"snort."
Tian Dou put the dishes on the chopping board. The masters' water-infused cakes were all ready and taken away first, and then she made some for the four of them.
Jindou asked Tiandou to chop up the old vegetable stalks that people didn't eat, mix them with bran and noodle soup, and feed them to the chickens.
Tiandou knew how to do this. He chopped vegetables with an old hatchet and took a bowl of mixed vegetables to feed the chickens. Jindou thought about it and said:
"If you see eggs, pick them up. Last time, one broke and a chicken got addicted to it. It always likes to peck at the eggs and eat them. Pick them up so it doesn't break them. It would be a waste."
Tian Dou went and came back and said:
"These chickens are really well fed. They are shiny and slippery. Just this morning, we picked up eight eggs."
Jindou looked and saw that there were indeed eight. In fact, she was cautious and went to the chicken coop early in the morning to check, and that was the number.
Although the eggs were small, she was worried that she might still have the habit of stealing them, so the lady asked her to be a little more careful, which made her feel at ease.
"Put it in that bamboo basket."
Tian Dou did as he was told, and saw that the box was full of eggs, all laid by the chickens in the backyard. She could hide one and put it in her arms, and cook it to eat when no one was around.
"Hurry up and bring the food tray to the table so we can enjoy the hot Shuiyinbing!"
Jindou was calling, so Tiandou put down all the eggs and went back to have breakfast.
Afterwards, Jindou went to sell braised food again with her wheelbarrow. She was in charge of this and even knew how to braise it. If the weather was cold, she would braise it before going to bed every day, soak it in the marinade, and sell it in the morning. If it was hot, she couldn't keep it for that long, so she had to get up in the middle of the night and braise it and sell it immediately. Ji Xu had explained all this to her, and she did it very well.
Ji Xu rode out on his horse as usual;
Tian was going to send Feng and Zhu to school, and she also took Yin, Tian, and Candou with her. For several days, she taught them to sell snacks and sundries in Huai City. Tian said:
"Now that there are many people and things to do at home, and the restaurant is about to open again, I will hand over the stall in Huai City to one of you. Except when it is rainy, windy or snowy, come here every day to set up the stall. If you do a good job, you will get an extra 50 coins a month, just like Jindou is in charge of the stall in the store."
This is what I discussed with my daughter last night. Now that our family business has grown and our reputation has spread, everyone says that she is a wealthy family. It is not good to leave the house empty. Someone has to be left at home to prevent thieves from breaking in.
Moreover, her A Jiao felt sorry for her and said:
"The family has bought another woman, so it's time for me to enjoy a peaceful life. Let the maids take care of the outside affairs. I will give the Huai City place to the maid I choose."
Tian Dou's eyes lit up when she heard this. If she managed such a stall, would she still have to worry about having nothing to eat?
Look at these things called bowl cakes and plum blossom cakes, their prices are almost the same as mutton Hu pancakes. Besides, isn't running this stall just like running a money box?
Therefore, I was itching to learn it and followed Tian's instructions.
"Mirror for sale! Anyone who looks into this mirror will make progress in their studies. Anyone who buys this mirror will have a prosperous family, with five sons and four daughters, and become a duke or a king!"
Yindou was also hawking her wares, but when she saw an acquaintance's ox cart parked in front of her, her face turned cold.
"Isn't this Chai Nu? He stole my family's gold hairpin and came here to do business?"
The person who was speaking was the wife of the rice field messenger. She came here to send her child to elementary school. She originally wanted to buy a bronze mirror, but she saw the slave girl she had sold.
"I now have a new place called Silver Bean. I wonder if you didn't secretly take your gold hairpin to support your brothers on your mother's side. I don't want my husband's family to find out and think I stole it."
"How dare you, little whore, be so stubborn."
The woman was so ashamed and angry that she was about to slap her in the face in the street, but was stopped by Tian.
"Even though you are the wife of the rice paddy envoy, you can't hit my family. She has repeatedly said that she didn't steal, but you beat her and sold her. If you are still angry about this, report it to the authorities and investigate thoroughly."
The woman recognized that it was Tian, and knew that her family had become prosperous now that they had joined the Li family. She did not argue with her, but straightened her clothes and said:
"Mrs. Tian, be careful with these silver beans. Be careful not to steal your money box."
"If I stole it, I'll have maggots on my hands and I'll die a miserable death!"
Yindou's eyes turned red with anger, Tian said:
"My family's affairs don't need an outsider to worry about them."
Tian Dou, who was standing aside, thought: Yindou has dirty hands, as he was involved in stealing the gold hairpin; as for Candou, he is a bit dull, so I guess Huai City will have to be handed over to me, Tian Douer, to take care of him.
So he worked harder, learned how to make cakes, and memorized the prices of various groceries by the end of the day.
At night, she was willing to eat the hidden Hu pancake and gave a bite to Jindou, but Jindou thought her food was too dirty.
Unexpectedly, after a few days, Tian said:
"The one in Huai City, Yindou will go and take care of it in the future, while Tiandou and Candou will stay at home and learn how to do things from me."
"Thank you, Madam."
That was a job that involved handling money, and Yindou's eyes turned red with emotion. She held back her anger and did it to show others that she was not the thief!
Tian Dou was dumbfounded. She watched Jindou push the wheelbarrow and Yindou drive the ox cart, carrying Feng and Zhu, and go out in a grand manner. Ji Xu even went to the door to give them instructions, as if he treated them even better.
Tiandou was feeling bitter and depressed all day long. Broad Bean said:
"What's wrong with you? The food smells so good, and you're sighing."
"How am I inferior to them? Why are you and I left alone at home, chopping wood, watering the fields, and tending to the livestock? It's not as respectable as running a stall in the city."
"I prefer doing these things. It's more comfortable than doing things outside," said Broad Bean.
In the afternoon, Ji Xu came back and said:
"Tiandou, Broad Bean, come here, I will teach you how to cut vegetables and light a fire."
"Hey, here I come."
Tian Dou went there quickly, but only cut radishes. After cutting radishes at the counter for the entire afternoon, Tian Dou was puzzled.
"We can't eat these radishes at home."
"It's okay. It won't go bad if it's dried in the sun."
Ji Xu said,
"Once you've practiced well, come with me to work in the restaurant."
"Restaurant?"
Tiandou heard that it was in the prosperous area of Maoling County, Gao City, where the Lord of Yangcheng was leading a group of people to build a building.
"Can we go there too?"
"Once you've practiced well, you can help me in the kitchen and get paid monthly."
Ji Xu said, Tian Dou's mind and eyes were all occupied with this matter. He even dreamed of cutting radishes and muttering:
"Bend your left leg, straighten your right leg, straighten your back, straighten it..."
That day, Ji Xu harnessed the horses to a cart and brought back a man. He was carrying a lot of bags, wearing a half-worn linen short jacket, a headscarf on his head, and straw sandals on his feet. He looked very rustic.
After entering the door, he couldn't tell east from west and north from south, and said with a strange accent:
"My dear aunt, this place is really big!"
Seeing Jindou and Tiandou peeking out of the kitchen window, they burst out laughing and said:
"Where did this little mountain man come from?"
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