Chapter 102 Zhongyuan What if I say I like you?
That day, Song Jin brought back two good news from the Ji family's old house.
One is that Ji Shubai decided to hire Lao Lu as his family's gardener, and have him go to the old house regularly to tend to the flowers and plants.
The other was on the Ghost Festival, when she had to go to the Chai family to cook, so naturally she would have to receive a reward of silver.
When the news came out, the happiest person was Lao Lu.
"Did Master Ji say this himself?"
"Yes, Master Ji said he wants you to go to his house to help with some work."
"Okay, okay, this is a favor. You know, Master Ji treats you differently after all."
Old Lu's face was radiant, as if he was not seeing himself going to the Ji family to tend to the flowers and plants, but seeing his daughter being carried into the Ji family in a sedan chair carried by eight people, to become the wife of a fifth-rank official.
He is going to be rich and his daughter is marrying into a wealthy family.
Only Song Jin was worried that the truth would be revealed. She didn't want to cause another misunderstanding like last time.
"Well, Dad, you are not allowed to talk nonsense when you go there. If Master Ji hears some unpleasant gossip and sends you back, I am afraid that I will be disliked too."
"I know, your father knows this. But speaking of it, the Ji family is not small. When I was at the Bai family, I saw that old Li, who was in charge of purchasing, could always make a lot of money every time he took advantage of the situation. I wonder if the Ji family needs to buy flowers, plants, soil and fertilizers, will we buy them, or will someone else do it?"
"Dad," Song Jin guessed what his father wanted to do, and couldn't help but say, "His family doesn't have any other gardeners, but you should cheat less. Lord Ji is in charge of collecting taxes, and he is very careful with silver and other things."
In the end, Song Jin was unable to stand in a morally noble position. She thought she would be noble once she had money.
In the days that followed, Song Jin continued her business as usual, but Ji Shubai gave her a new business, delivering milk tea to the government office.
The summer was hot and humid, and everyone was listless in the afternoon. Ji Shubai then remembered the milk tea that Song Jin had made for him at home that day, which made him energetic. So he sent an errand boy to buy a lot of it that day, and it turned out to be a stable business.
Song Jin was extremely grateful that the price of white sugar in Ming Dynasty had become cheaper, otherwise she would not dare to do this business.
Her father happily went to the Ji family every day. Sometimes one person was not enough, so he would bring a servant with him. Unfortunately, the two servants were not born as garden slaves, and they did things that were not to his liking, so he kept muttering about longevity.
"We should have brought Changsheng out in the first place. If he were here, I could also do the gardening business in the future. I could grow some flowers at home and sell them to a wealthy family. He is the most careful and grows the best flowers. He will definitely be able to sell them at a high price and can help me, unlike these two people."
Song Jin didn't like this about her father. He always found fault with him in front of others, as if he was so capable.
"Dad, this is easy. When you have earned enough money from Master Ji's family, you can go and redeem Changsheng."
Song Jin thought, I don't want your money, and you don't want my money. If you want someone, just go and find him/her yourself. She won't care even if you buy a house full of him/her.
However, his father was not happy: "That's true. How much money would it cost to redeem a person? The human traffickers could have bought more than a dozen children with that much money." [1]
Song Jin smiled lightly. As expected, everyone complains, but when it comes to spending money, everyone stops.
Song Jin was quite busy in the following days. In addition to making milk tea every day, fortunately there was something to supply to the government office in the afternoon. She began to prepare a menu for the Chai family, wanting to prepare something new.
Coincidentally, apples were already in season, and Song Jin couldn't help but think of her cocktail business. [2]
Her snack shop now serves ordinary customers, and she has given up on ice and juice, which are required for cocktails.
Most men drink for the spicy taste and dizzy feeling, and they use ice and juice to dilute the drink, for fear that the customer will scold them.
She couldn't afford the reputation of selling fake wine.
But if it is someone as rich and sophisticated as Mrs. Chai, it is not necessarily the case. She can package herself up, for example, the former Minister of Rites, Lord Pan, liked her very much.
The celebrity effect is the same everywhere.
For this cocktail, Song Jin prepared an apple-flavored syrup.
When she was making cocktails for Pan Sheng that day, she found that the pure fruit juice was not tasty enough, so she prepared apple syrup in advance for flavoring.
The syrup is easy to make.
Wash the apples, dry them, cut them into small pieces, put them into a small water-free jar, add white sugar, shake evenly and seal the jar. After a few days, the apple juice will be diluted and blend with the melted white sugar to become apple-flavored syrup.
Finally, just filter out the apple pomace to get pure syrup.
Her idea was very simple. She would bring some syrup, and the Chai family had ice, and then add some good wine. Then she would grind some apple meat and squeeze out the juice to mix it together. It would be an apple-flavored cocktail, which would be great for Mrs. Chai and Miss Pei.
However, what she didn't expect was that the bad guy Ji Shubai actually learned how to order dishes and ordered a stewed peas and the mandarin fish in soup that they had eaten that day.
When Song Jin heard the clerk coming over to deliver the message, he thought to himself, he has quite good taste and is a good eater, but why didn't he praise his fish that day, but instead scolded the bitter melon?
No matter what he thought in his heart, Song Jin agreed happily. No one can go against money.
On the day of the Ghost Festival, Song Jin packed up his things early in the morning and went to the Chai family accompanied by a servant and Chunyun.
Ji Shubai had already passed the message on, and the Chai family was already aware of it, so when the servants saw someone coming, they welcomed him in directly.
Song Jin went straight into the kitchen. To stew the peas, she had to make chicken soup first. She had to prepare everything well. Chunyun and Meng Qi followed her and helped.
After finishing the preparations, Song Jin sat in the kitchen in a daze, feeling depressed.
They are all holidays. Others are celebrating the festival, but she is in the kitchen. Does she really have to revolve around this stove for the rest of her life?
She felt very depressed.
People are like this, they always think that the grass is greener on the other side.
When I was a slave, I thought about getting rid of my slavery and starting my own business. When I really started my own business, I wanted to soar to the sky and become financially independent, just like Mr. Chai. When it was hot, I would take my wife and children to the lake to enjoy the breeze, which was so comfortable.
Song Jin sighed. When she thought about Ji Shubai chatting and laughing with Miss Pei inside while she was busy in the kitchen, she became mentally unbalanced and didn't want to go out to accompany Miss Pei.
A cook and a young lady, do you really think they are playing the West Chamber? Maybe it is a story about Yingying, and once their curiosity is satisfied, who will remember her? [3]
Song Jin was alone in the kitchen, thinking wildly. On the one hand, she was wondering what kind of Zhang Sheng and Yingying she and Miss Pei were. On the other hand, she was thinking that when she was at Ji's house, she had clearly eaten at the same table with them, but now, one of them was in the kitchen while the other was chatting and laughing in the inner courtyard. The sudden change of positions made her feel extremely annoyed.
If she had not been treated well before, she could have easily accepted it, but once a person is at the table, there is no reason for her to come down willingly.
Song Jin felt a lump in his throat, but Chunyun enthusiastically started to help make the milk tea.
She has helped Song Jin many times in the snack shop, and now she has become a master.
Perhaps, they are the same kind.
Song Jin shook his head, threw away those weird thoughts, and obediently washed and cut vegetables in the kitchen.
When Ji Shubai came, she actually didn't know and didn't have time to pay attention to him. She was busy all the time until the 4:00 p.m. when someone told her to go to the door, and she ran out.
There were a lot of people gathered at the gate of the Chai family today. Ji Shubai and Miss Pei were also there. Seeing her coming, Ji Shubai waved at her and motioned for her to follow him outside.
Song Jin didn't hesitate, she ran over and followed Ji Shubai. Ji Shubai pushed her forward so that she wouldn't be squeezed by the crowd and unable to see the street.
The route for the City God's travels is determined early, and offerings must be made to the god before he is invited out.
How to offer? Of course, they offer with silver. So the City God will go first to the door of the family that offers the most silver.
Chai Heng was wealthy and powerful, so he would naturally come here first. So Ji Shubai told them to wait here, and they would be able to wait until the City God went out for a trip, and they wouldn't have to squeeze in the crowd.
The procession of the City God was grand. Before Song Jin saw the procession, he could already hear the sounds of gongs and drums at the door. When the procession got closer, he could see the county magistrate leading the way, followed by a team of stilts, and behind them people dressed up as the emperor and ghosts, with colorful flags waving, lanterns fluttering, and banging and beating drums all the way. The expanding procession almost filled the road to the door, and it was very lively.
Song Jin just stood next to Ji Shubai and watched. He glanced at Miss Pei standing next to Madam Chai and couldn't help wondering why she was standing next to her.
She looked up at Ji Shubai. Ji Shubai, who was staring at the traveling group in a trance, seemed to notice her gaze and smiled at her.
"Why aren't you looking at the team? Isn't that what you wanted to see?"
Song Jin smiled at him, turned around and looked at the City God team again, but his mind was not focused, and a strange feeling surged in his heart.
She couldn't tell what it was exactly, so she fixed her eyes on the parade team, but she couldn't tell what she saw.
After the team had completely passed her, she quickly turned around and went in. Ji Shubai wanted to pull the person over to talk, but the person had already run away and she only caught nothing.
After Song Jin prepared the dishes according to the menu in the kitchen, she began to prepare her wine.
She chose a nice large white porcelain soup bowl and placed a large piece of ice at the bottom of the bowl to prevent it from melting too quickly.
Peel the apples, rub them into a paste on a stone slab, filter out the juice with gauze, and pour it on the ice.
The drink she chose was Shanxi Fenjiu, a spicy liquor. She poured half a bowl of it, then topped it with the apple syrup she brought and stirred it evenly with chopsticks.
The way of drinking also changed. From the usual method of filtering wine from a wine jug, it became a method of holding wine in a bamboo tube and placing it in a wide-mouthed cup.
This way of drinking is not like that of the people of the Ming Dynasty, but has some customs of the people of the Western Han Dynasty. Therefore, everyone became curious as soon as the drink was served, and Chai Heng called Song Jin over to ask him questions.
"What kind of wine is this?"
Song Jin smiled lightly: "This is a new drink made by our shop. It uses special syrup and fruit juice to reduce the spiciness of the wine. It is also iced, so it tastes more refreshing in summer. Would you like to try it, sir?"
There were no outsiders in the Chai family today, only Mrs. Chai Heng, Chai Ji Shubai and Miss Pei.
Chai Heng became curious and asked someone a question. She stood by the table and answered with a smile as usual.
This was something she was used to doing, but today, for some reason, she suddenly felt hot all over, her face flushed, and her back was almost soaked with sweat, as if a secret that she had hidden for a long time had been revealed.
Logically speaking, she had never concealed her identity as a cook from anyone, but for some reason, this scene today made her very uncomfortable. While answering the questions, she did not even look up at Ji Shubai and Miss Pei.
She didn't even want to look up at Chai Heng.
I don’t know if Ji Shubai saw her predicament, but after Chai Heng asked a few questions, he told someone to leave.
Song Jin ran away as if escaping.
Everyone finished the meal very quickly today, and no one asked for more dishes. Not long after, someone came to the kitchen to say that Lord Ji wanted to ask Song Jin to leave.
Song Jin stared at the pile of things and two people brought from the kitchen, and the man said, "Don't worry, Shopkeeper Lu, you won't lose any reward. I will arrange for someone to help send the things here back. Lord Ji wants you, go quickly."
As a last resort, Song Jin hurriedly gave the two people a few words and then went out with the man.
After Ji Shubai sent someone to invite Song Jin, he led Qingshan to wait in the sedan chair hall, but there was no sedan chair around him, and Miss Pei was nowhere to be found. When Song Jin came over, he saw him standing there alone.
"Master Ji, are you looking for me?"
Ji Shubai saw someone coming and smiled softly: "Well, go out for a walk with me."
And just like that, the three of them went out.
Song Jin felt weird walking beside him.
"Sir, why are you eating so fast today? Is the food not tasty?"
“The food is delicious.”
"Is the wine bad?"
"The wine tastes good, too."
"Then why did you finish eating so quickly?"
Ji Shubai didn't answer her and led her to a small ferry.
"Come aboard and cruise along the river with me."
Song Jin boarded the boat with full of doubts.
The boat was not big, and there were many people cruising the river today. The boatman had excellent skills and was able to shuttle between the various boats as usual. However, Song Jin was standing on the bow, shaky and unable to stand steadily, so he held on to the sail tightly.
"Why don't you see Miss Pei?"
Song Jin found that although he had invited Miss Pei today, the two of them kept a distance and there was no closeness between them. At this moment, even the person was nowhere to be seen.
"I asked Mrs. Chai to go boating with her."
"Mrs. Chai? Are they familiar with each other?"
Ji Shubai said calmly: "I'm not familiar with him. I asked Madam Chai to help invite someone over."
Song Jin didn't quite understand, so Ji Shubai explained it to her in detail.
He had no intention of inviting Miss Pei. If he invited someone, it would definitely cause misunderstanding among the other person's parents, so he asked Madam Chai to help invite her, and now he also asked her to accompany her to play.
Song Jin leaned against the awning, lowered his head in deep thought, and Ji Shubai kept a long enough distance from him.
At home, he didn't talk, and would leave after sitting for a while, asking her to stay for a meal. But she would talk so much that she missed the time, so she stayed for a meal. When he went out to play, he would also ask a wife to accompany him.
"Do you like Miss Pei very much?" Seeing that she didn't say anything, Ji Shubai thought that she was unhappy because she couldn't see Miss Pei.
"Yeah, I like it."
"What do you like about her?"
"Gentle, beautiful, and well-educated." Every word Song Jin said was sincere.
"Since you like it, why don't you become that kind of person yourself?"
Song Jin was stunned when he heard this. He looked at Ji Shubai with his big eyes, and suddenly smiled self-deprecatingly and asked:
"My Lord, what if I say I like you?"
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