Chapter 206 Chapter 206 Update.
As soon as Ji Xu arrived home, Tian Shi pulled her into the room and sat her down. She kept talking from the moment she entered the room, saying:
"Oh, my dear daughter, look at you. You've received such a great joyous promotion, but you didn't even send a message back. These past few days, matchmakers have been knocking on our doorstep! Mother has been eyeing several families, but the best one, the one most compatible with you, is Gu Qiu, the Left Supervisor of the Imperial Guards. He has a good family background and a decent official position..."
Ji Xu also had some impression of Gu Qiu. When she was in the shelter, the Yu Lin guards didn't want to eat the food sent by the government office, so they asked her to make something delicious for them. The marrow cakes she baked for the imperial physician at that time had a fragrant smell that drifted to the Yu Lin guards.
Later, the Left Supervisor of the Imperial Guards came over and brought some ingredients, asking her to make something for his team to enjoy. This person was Gu Qiu, a very gentle and considerate person. Ji Xu also understood what was going on and said:
"Mother, please stop worrying about this. I am only serving as the official garrison commander of Tangguancheng. I have to serve for a year before I can be officially promoted. During this year, I must perform my duties conscientiously and without any mistakes.
This position was not easy to come by, and many people below me want to take advantage of me. If I am busy with marriage and marriage at this critical moment, they will not be able to take advantage of me. Even Tang Guanling, who promoted me, will think that my heart is loose. "
Nowadays, the families of the bride and groom attach great importance to wedding banquets. They like to hold them in a grand manner, and some even hold the banquet for several days, which all takes up time.
"That makes sense, but getting married isn't something that can happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. There's still the process of accepting the bride price, asking for the bride's name, fortune-telling, accepting the bride price, and choosing a wedding date before the final wedding. In my opinion, you should first meet with the man's family and see if they're satisfied. Only then can the rest of the process be planned."
We can also discuss setting the wedding date for a year from now so as not to delay my daughter's official career. If you refuse to even accept my daughter's marriage proposal, your marriage will be a mystery."
"As for Gu Qiu, I've already met him. I have no feelings for him, and there's no need for the two families to come and meet again. Mother, please reject matchmaker Cai as soon as possible, and don't let him find another family."
Ji Xu continued,
"Besides, what mother said is obviously complicated and requires a lot of effort. My career is unstable, so I have no intention of doing this."
When Tian heard this, her heart sank. Her daughter didn't have feelings for him and she couldn't force her. She also thought marriage was too complicated and only wanted to become an official.
But as a mother, she couldn't help but worry about her daughter's second half of life. At least the dowry had to be complete. In the past six months, the Ping'an Restaurant at home was booming and making some money, so she could prepare the dowry with all her heart. Apart from the set of gold headgear that she had asked a craftsman to make in the past six months, which she planned to add to the dowry, it was far from enough.
I heard that nowadays wealthy families will add a glass couch to their daughter's dowry, so her daughter naturally cannot be left out. They also need everything from carriages, boxes, bamboo chests to wooden clogs, shoes and socks... nothing can be left out.
The year is almost over, so she has to prepare everything quickly and secretly look for some good families. After the crucial year of her daughter's trial period is over, she will arrange to visit them.
On the day Ji Xu was at home, she taught Si Dou a new dish. Ping'an Restaurant would close for one day every ten days, which happened to be Ji Xu's day off, so she would test the cooking skills of the four of them at home and teach them some new dishes.
Among these four beans, broad beans have the highest talent. They can learn easily and do things well once taught.
In the blink of an eye, spring came, and Ji Yuan next door was about to give birth. It was a double blessing. She gave birth to twin boys, a boy and a girl, who looked like little pink balls. On the eve of the Shangsi Day on March 3rd, the family held a full-moon banquet. Because the weather was good, they were brought out to show everyone, and then they drank milk and fell asleep with their lips smacking. They were so adorable.
Of course, Tian didn't go, and Jin didn't invite her either. She heard about it from the neighbors.
This Jin was one step ahead of her in this matter.
On the third day of the third month, the Shangsi Festival, the weather was sunny and windy, and the flowers were blooming. Officials held a purification ceremony by the Wei River to wash away old dirt and get rid of bad luck. The civil and military officials then accompanied the imperial family on a hunting trip in the eastern suburbs. Naturally, the Taiguan, Tangguan, and Daoguan had to cook along the way.
Tang Guanling was old and did not go with him. He only selected a group of people from each room and asked Ji Xu to lead them to go to the eastern suburbs to serve as cooks for the emperor's family and the officials who accompanied him.
When setting out, Ji Xu rode alone in a carriage, with a mounted official leading the way in front and the food officials accompanying Tang Guan and his five chambers sitting in the carriage behind.
Zhou Ping glanced at her carriage, which was spacious and imposing, and had a vermilion wheel on one side. He felt dissatisfied and said,
"This position should have belonged to my aunt. The Dayuan envoy's praise for her was just a lucky coincidence. In terms of seniority, why should she be ahead of my aunt?"
Hua Shanren whispered to her:
"Shut up, you're fabricating my superiors. Even if you're convicted, I can't protect you."
As he said this, he glanced at Tang Guancheng's carriage above him and got on the front carriage. Zhou Ping then stopped muttering and got into the carriage he shared with other chefs.
In fact, she could sense that her aunt was also dissatisfied in her heart, but she just didn't show it in front of outsiders.
When we arrived at the East Suburb Villa, we saw the mountain streams, green forests, and clear spring scenery, which was very pleasant to look at. However, the mountains were very dangerous.
This villa was built specifically for hunting by the imperial family. It covers a vast area with steep and dangerous mountains, comparable to the Erqiao Mountains. The animals in the mountains are both naturally bred and raised by officials of the villa. There are even ferocious beasts such as tigers, leopards, bears and badgers. It all depends on who can hunt the most ferocious beast during the spring hunt.
The tents were set up on a flat open space at the foot of the mountain, with the imperial tent as the center and the tents spreading outward. This layout was arranged by Guanglu Xun, and there were soldiers specifically responsible for setting up the tents.
The canteen's tent was neither far nor near from the emperor's tent, about a mile away, and Ji Xu was directing the placement of cooking utensils.
The guide officer was directing the placement of the food that had been brought. The ropes of a supply cart were untied, and on it were some fine imperial rice, English flour, wheat flour, etc. Some kitchen maids carried them down one after another and placed them in the tent.
Jia Jiuzheng, the wine-maker in the wine-room, was directing the placement of the wine and cheese he had brought. He secretly glanced at the carriage from the guide's office next door. The flour on it must be used to make cakes for the soup official's office.
After the hunting competition was over, some officials would return with their hunted animals. The emperor would then order the eunuchs to butcher the animals and roast them for a feast for the officials in the tent.
As for the soup official, it is necessary to use the flour to bake hot naan, because there is a popular way of eating it from the Western Regions, which is to wrap the roasted meat in naan.
Jia Jiu was thinking about it when a kitchen maid was holding a bag of English noodles and almost let it go.
“Be careful!”
He took the opportunity to move forward and used the pin hidden in his palm to poke the horse's leg hard. There was a sharp neigh, and the horse in the front of the cart suddenly ran away out of control, even the kitchen maid who was standing on the cart to unload the goods was thrown off.
As the horses ran, bags of grain that had been untied but not yet unloaded from the cart fell off one by one.
"Get out of the way! Be careful!"
Jia Jiu was hiding the pin and pretending to wave to the officials in the distance, asking them to be careful of the horses that were running around.
"Oh no! The horse is frightened!"
Little Gourd pointed in surprise, Ji Xu looked at it, and saw that the cart was full of food for cooking. They were traveling light on this trip, and had a plan for everything, only bringing a little extra as a backup.
But now, the fallen grain bags rolled on the ground, and were scratched by gravel or tent nails. Some of them revealed the snow-white flour, which was covered with dust!
The frightened horse was still running wildly. There was a small river in the distance. Once the remaining flour bags on the cart were soaked by the river water, there would be no food left in Tang Guan's office, especially in the bakery and sub-bread rooms.
Zhou Ping looked at it, and turned around anxiously, blaming the kitchen maid who had just fallen:
"You clumsy thing! That's what we need for the bakery! This place is a hundred miles away from the Shaofu. If it gets dirty, you can't fly back and get it even if you have wings!"
Looking at the river flowing in the distance, her aunt Hua Shanren was also anxious. Suddenly, she saw a horse chasing after her. The horseman's back was thin, and he was riding the horse and whipping it very skillfully. The black official clothes were also bulged by the sudden wind, and the piled hair was flying.
Zhou Ping looked back and saw that Ji Xu, who was originally there, was gone. In that moment, he saw her catch up with the horse pulling the cart and climb onto its back.
But the horse was crazy, and it threw her body to the side, swaying and teetering. Zhou Ping was also worried when he saw this, and he gritted his teeth and said:
"Hold on to the stirrups!"
Ji Xu thought the same thing, but the stirrups were shaking and it was difficult for her to step on them, let alone sit up and hold the reins. She could only hold the horse's neck to steady herself.
"Give me your hand!"
As soon as Zhuang Gaiyi came out of the big tent, he saw Ji Xu in danger of falling off her horse. He rode his horse to catch up with her from the side and tried to lift her onto his horse with his arm.
As for the horse and carriage, they would have let it rush into the river and stop naturally, but Ji Xu held the horse tightly and said:
"Cut off the shaft!"
Zhuang Gaiyi understood her intention instantly, but the shaft of the cart was cut, the weight of the horse was reduced, and the speed would only increase, taking her into the water with it.
"Listen to me, cut off the shaft!"
Ji Xu looked and saw that he had a sword at his waist and the river was right in front of him. Zhuang Gaiyi's face darkened. He drew his sword and cut off the shaft of the cart. The cart stopped on the shore, and the food rushed forward due to inertia, but was blocked by the front board and did not fall into the water.
The horses that had left the cart also rushed into the water like arrows. Zhuang Gaiyi was whipping the horse to catch up, but saw water splashing in front of her. With a neigh, the horse raised its front hooves and was stopped by her in the middle of the river. She was inevitably wet, and when she looked back at the cart on the shore, she could still smile.
"Thank you very much."
She stroked the horse's neck, turned the horse and walked towards the shore, saying to him, but he looked gloomy and said:
"Do you know how deep this river is? There's a cliff just downstream! You shouldn't take such a risk!"
He took off his cloak, looked at the person in the distance, and could only hold it in his hands as if to vent his anger.
Ji Xu said:
"I'm confident I can stop it in the water. Besides, I used to pick water chestnuts when I was a kid, so I'm a good swimmer."
"Tang Guancheng, Tang Guancheng! My Lord, you are so majestic!"
Little Gourd came running from a distance, holding her cloak because he saw that she was wet. He was frightened by the man next to him who was wearing a cap, a wide belt, a sword, and had a gloomy aura, so he spoke in a low voice, but still jumped happily to Ji Xu's side.
Following her were people from the guide officer's office and the soup officer's office. Even Hua Shanren and Zhou Ping came. They glanced at her and busily checked the flour on the cart.
The Daoguan Cheng first saluted the Guanglu Xun who was on horseback, then bowed to Ji Xu and said:
"I am truly ashamed. My men failed to look after the horses properly, causing Tang Guancheng to risk his life to save this cart of grain."
Ji Xu's eyes fell on Jia Jiuzheng, who was coming forward from the crowd. The other party's eyes dodged for a moment. She already had a guess in her mind, and now she returned the greeting and said:
"I'm fine. As long as the things are safe, it will also help our Tang Guanchu."
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