Chapter 110: It's me who will be scolded when the time comes
That night, Song Jin lay on the bed and sighed. His ideals met reality and were shattered in an instant.
But this guilt didn't last long, as she had to start making preserved eggs.
She found several duck egg sellers in the market in advance and bought dozens of fresh duck eggs at a time. After cleaning the eggs and drying the shells, she was ready to start making preserved eggs.
Preserved eggs require lime and wood ash, fortunately there is no shortage of these things now. As for alkali, Song Jin used ash water instead.
Add a few ingredients together and add salt to make the outer coating.
As for the water for mixing the coating, you have to use tea water.
Song Jin chose to reuse the remaining tea leaves after making milk tea. He put all the tea leaves together, added a little water, and tried to make it as thick as possible. He then used it to stir the coating until it became a paste. He then put the duck eggs in, coated them evenly, and then applied a layer of dry wood ash on the outside.
At this point the preserved eggs are ready. Put them one by one into the jar, cover it and wait for a month before opening it.
Everyone in the shop would help Song Jin with whatever he wanted to do, but this month, Song Jin seemed to have a problem with wood ash and wanted to burn straw every time.
Looking at the fresh duck eggs wrapped in gray, everyone was worried, will this be okay?
However, Song Jin patted his chest and guaranteed: It will work.
While Song Jin was feeling confident, she was thinking that it was already October and there were not many fresh foods left in the winter, so she had to prepare some bacon so that she could stir-fry garlic sprouts, dried tofu, and cauliflower sprouts in the spring.
Everyone in the shop was familiar with this matter, so it was not new. She only decided on the quantity of meat.
Pork was cheap, only 20 wen per pound, cheaper than sugar. If you wanted to buy good pork belly, you would only have to pay a few more wen, so Song Jin had enough money.
In just over a month, the patio behind the Lu family's restaurant will probably be filled with bacon.
At the end of the month, Song Jin received Ji Shubai's letter as usual. The invitation was feudal and old-fashioned, but it carried a hint of excitement that crossed taboos. Song Jin went to the appointment with great joy.
However, as soon as she entered the door, she saw an unexpected person.
Miss Pei was sitting in the hall, and she looked like she was waiting for someone.
Feeling guilty, Song Jin didn't know whether to move forward or backward.
But Miss Pei saw Song Jin coming in, she stood up slowly and called out, "Miss Lu."
Unable to distinguish between joy and anger.
"Ms. Pei...Ms. Pei."
"I haven't seen you for a long time. After we parted on the Zhongyuan Festival, I thought I would never see you again."
"How...how could it be."
Song Jin walked up to her side and felt relieved when he saw her sweet smile.
"Miss Pei, are you here today to see Master Ji?"
"No, I'm waiting for you."
"Wait for me?" Song Jin was even more surprised, but Miss Pei had already walked in, so she had to follow.
"Miss Pei, I have to go in and pay my respects to Master Ji first. After I'm done paying my respects, I'll come out and talk to you, okay?"
"No need." Song Jin always felt that Miss Pei's words today were different from before. "I have already told Brother Ji that if you come, you can chat with me for a while before going to see him. Of course, if you are in a hurry, you can go first."
Song Jin could only say, "No hurry, no hurry, not at all."
I was already anxious to the point of bursting out.
Miss Pei took Song Jin to sit in the small garden, just like when they first met. Mother Chen brought tea over, and the two of them just sat there.
Miss Pei was in a good mood, unlike her usual quiet appearance, and asked a lot of questions about what Song Jin was busy with recently, and Song Jin answered them one by one. Until she mentioned storytelling, Miss Pei showed a strong curiosity and asked what book she was talking about.
Song Jin said frankly that he originally wanted to tell the story of "Water Margin", but was later criticized by Lord Ji and was told not to tell it, so he changed it to the foreign story "Romeo and Juliet".
Miss Pei became even more interested and said she wanted to listen.
Song Jin had never told a story so stiffly before. He told the story in a dry voice, as if he was being tortured. Miss Pei's initial enthusiasm gradually turned into boredom, her eyes fixed on the chrysanthemums blooming in the corner of the garden.
She remained silent until Song Jin finished speaking, which made Song Jin even less confident.
"Miss Pei, did I not tell a good story today?"
Miss Pei's eyes were glued to the chrysanthemums, and she asked stupidly, "According to you, Romeo and Juliet fell in love at first sight? The same was true for Zhang Sheng and Yingying, both fell in love at first sight."
When Song Jin heard this, he felt the same way. Whether it was Romeo and Juliet or Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying, if they didn't fall in love at first sight, it would be difficult for them to fall in love again later. There wouldn't be so many opportunities for them to fall in love over time, so those stories all talked about love at first sight.
Facing Miss Pei's question, Song Jin didn't know how to answer for a moment. Miss Pei, on the other hand, said something unprecedented: "According to this, ugly husbands and ugly women will never love anyone in this life?"
"ah?"
"If you ask me, there's nothing new about these books. Whether it's the books from our Ming Dynasty or your foreign countries, they're all made from the same mold. There's nothing new about them at all."
It's really new that Song Jin wanted Pan Jinlian to kill her husband. It's unprecedented. But if your brother Ji heard me telling you this, he would lock me up in jail and whip me twice. I haven't lived enough.
After Miss Pei finished speaking, she held her chin with her hand and sighed softly.
Song Jin guessed that she had something on her mind.
"What's wrong with you? Are you worried?"
Miss Pei asked back: "Where did you go on the Ghost Festival?"
Song Jin was stunned by this question. He felt betrayed and ashamed for sneaking into the occasion under the pretext of being a good friend, and then abandoning his friends to hang out with his crush and getting caught.
"I...we didn't go anywhere."
"So are you having a good time?"
Song Jin lowered his eyes. Is that happy?
"Forget it."
"Is it the kind of happiness that a book boy feels when he puts down his books and goes to school?"
"No......"
Eh? Why does this sound so familiar? Has anyone asked her this before?
Ji Shubai, this scheming guy, tried to tease her into confessing his love to her, but she was so stupid that she didn't react.
Real dog.
"That...didn't happen that day."
"Which day? Today?"
Song Jin was convinced. Wasn't this Miss Pei very gentle? Why was she so aggressive today? Was she feeling guilty?
"......No." Song Jin was rarely shy.
"So what do you guys talk about?"
"Why are you curious about this?"
"I'm just curious." Miss Pei had never swam across a river with a man alone since she was a child. The only person she had met alone was Ji Shubai, but that man was mute when he faced her. So she was extremely curious about what a man and a woman would do when they were sitting on a boat.
Are we chatting? What are we talking about? Or are we just sitting there in a daze like her?
"He...he asked me to learn from you."
"What do you want to learn from me?" Miss Pei was so surprised that she wanted to laugh.
"I will learn to be dignified and gentle like you."
This time Miss Pei really laughed out loud: "Don't believe him, he doesn't talk to me. If you imitate me, you will see a mute Brother Ji."
Seeing Miss Pei laugh, Song Jin let go and started laughing along with her, laughing so hard that he fell backwards. As a result, he saw Ji Shubai, dressed in green, at the end of the garden path.
Song Jin's smile got stuck in his throat and he almost choked. He stood up and saluted in a hurry.
Seeing this, Miss Pei hurriedly stood up, restrained her smile, and her former gentle appearance was fully revealed.
"Brother Ji..."
Ji Shubai approached from a distance: "What are you talking about? You look so happy?"
Song Jin pursed his lips. How to answer? I'm making fun of you.
"It was Miss Lu telling me a joke."
"Really? What joke is that? I want to hear it, too."
Ji Shubai sat on a stone bench, staring at Song Jin, which made her feel uneasy.
Now she felt guilty whenever she lied to Ji Shubai, but that didn't stop her from continuing to lie.
"What I just said was that there was a bear in the forest, and then it cut its nails. Guess what it became?"
"Nonsense, how can a bear trim its nails?"
It's really stupid, so stupid.
Song Jin glanced at Miss Pei, and seeing that she was also waiting for his answer, he didn't beat around the bush: "Then it became energy."
The scene suddenly became quiet, and neither of them reacted. Suddenly, Miss Pei covered her lips and smiled.
"Energy? A bear becomes energy after clipping its nails? Cluck, cluck, cluck——"
Ji Shubai also reacted at this moment, but still kept a straight face: "Ridiculous."
Song Jin was very frustrated by him, but he didn't care. However, Miss Pei stopped talking and laughing, and Song Jin felt that he was really spoiling the fun.
"Since you are all here, let's have lunch together."
"No, Brother Ji, I'd better go back and visit you another day."
Pei Danyang refused to have lunch, and Song Jin's heart was lifted again.
Everything was fine just now, but things changed as soon as Ji Shubai came out.
Men are really troublesome.
This time, Ji Shubai was polite and asked Song Jin to wait for him in the garden while he went to see Miss Pei off.
Song Jin was very bored and kicked stones with the toe of his shoes for fun.
She always felt that these two people were hiding something from her, but she didn't dare to ask, which made her very upset.
Not long after, Ji Shubai came back. He didn't mention anything about Miss Pei, but only asked Song Jin to go to the study together.
Ji Shubai is not a playful person. Although he is not old, he looks old. But because of this, Song Jin sometimes feels that he is more reliable.
"I have asked someone to look for the book you mentioned last time. They said it will be found in a month at most. I will definitely read it carefully when the time comes."
"What book?" Song Jin forgot for a moment.
"Jin Ping Mei, wasn't it you who recommended it?"
"I push..."
What did she push? She just mentioned it, and then he really wanted to go and see it. This is unacceptable. What if he thinks she has the potential to be Pan Jinlian?
"Sir, it's fine if you don't look at that. I just mentioned it casually. If you look at something else, it will be better for you as an official."
As soon as Miss Pei left, Song Jin relaxed. Seeing a row of books on the bookshelf, he rushed over and pulled out a copy of "Zizhi Tongjian".
"This, this is excellent."
It is very thick and can be read for more than half a year.
Unexpectedly, Ji Shubai chuckled, crossed his arms and said, "I thought you would scold Sima Guang as well."
"ah?"
"Why don't you despise me for being stubborn and conservative now?"
Song Jin smiled and said, "Being stubborn and conservative has its advantages."
You won’t be able to stand the new style either. The real author can’t be found, and I’ll be the one who gets scolded then.
"hypocritical."
Ji Shubai also relaxed and said with a smile: "If you like to watch it, take it home and watch it. We can discuss it together next time..."
"No, no, no—" Song Jin suddenly felt that the book was too hot and quickly stuffed it into the bookshelf: "No, no, I don't like reading it."
Ji Shubai became more and more curious about "Jin Ping Mei".
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