Chapter 201: Equisetum Lotus Leaf Feast
Su Ruojin was quite shocked and asked quickly, "Is there any technique for prospecting for gold in the letter?"
Hua Ping nodded.
"Really?"
Su Ruojin was really curious: "What method?"
Hua Ping looked at the young lady as if she were a fool, "How would I know such court secrets?"
Too.
Su Ruojin curled her lips and said, "I don't know what kind of instruments are used, but I have heard of folk remedies."
"What method?" Now it was Hua Ping's turn to be curious.
The so-called folk remedy was actually something Su Ruojin had seen on the Internet: "Have you heard of thorn grass?"
Hua Ping reached out to cover the young lady's mouth as if he had heard some important secret, and Su Ruojin leaned back in fear, "Uncle Hua, what are you doing?"
When Hua Ping heard Su Ruojin's scream, he realized that he had lost his composure. He quickly let go of her hand and looked around.
A few steps away, there was no one but Mao Ya, so he breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh my, my aunt, where did you hear this folk remedy from? If you tell anyone about it, you will be beheaded."
As a secret agent of the imperial court and investigating Lord Ye's case, Hua Ping actually knew a method of prospecting for gold - searching for gold through the herb Askonia.
Su Ruojin was frightened by Uncle Hua's ferocious look. She pushed his hand away and slapped her chest, "I can even find the map of the musket, so why can't I know about the thorn grass?"
"Aunt, you still keep talking." Hua Ping quickly told Su Er Niang to stop talking.
Su Ruojin frowned and continued, "I heard that there are two kinds of grass that look very similar to the horsetail grass. If you mistake them, you won't be able to find gold mines."
Oh my God! My little aunt even knew this. The enemy country just couldn't tell the difference between knotweed, horsetail and aralia, so they wrote a letter to ask Lord Ye. Then the letter was discovered and he was charged with treason.
Su Ruojin looked at Hua Ping, who was trying to hold back but wanted to respond to her, and her eyes widened, "No way!"
Hua Ping covered his mouth and nodded.
Things that can be easily seen on the modern Internet were actually top secret in ancient times?
Horsetail is a small fern. A large amount of literature proves that it likes to grow next to metal minerals. The richer the minerals, the more vigorous its growth will be. Therefore, there may be gold under the plant.
But there are two kinds of grass that look very similar to it, one is knotty grass and the other is horsetail grass. They are both knotty grasses and look very similar in appearance. If you have not studied them specifically, most people cannot tell them apart.
The stems of knotweed and horsetail are divided into rhizomes and aerial stems. There is only one kind of aerial stem of horsetail, which is hollow. Knotweed can be found everywhere, but horsetail and horsetail are mainly distributed in mountains, rivers and ridges. Once horsetail appears, there is a high probability that there are gold mines nearby.
Therefore, the thorn grass is also called the gold grass.
Hua Ping was convinced that the little aunt really knew everything.
The two of them were silent for a while before Hua Ping said, "I came here to ask you to help me figure out the clues of what happened back then, not to discuss the thorn grass with you."
Su Ruojin smiled, got back to the point, and continued to ask: "Who reported it?"
"A colleague of Lord Ye. After Lord Ye was killed, he was also taken to prison. The Dali Temple asked him how he knew Lord Ye was communicating with the enemy country. He said that when he was having a meal at a restaurant, someone slipped a small note into his mouth for some reason..."
Su Ruojin sneered, "The person who slipped the note must have known that this person and Lord Ye are not on good terms. If he knew that the note was slipped to this person, he would definitely report it."
"You're right." Hua Ping confirmed the young lady's guess. "The Dali Temple also checked the restaurant where this person worked. But that night, in addition to the waiters, waitresses, singers, and fruit sellers in the restaurant, there were hundreds of customers. The Dali Temple said they checked them all. Who knows if there was any leakage?"
Su Ruojin shook her head. "I think it's unlikely to be a guest. It should be a service-type person. Only they have the opportunity to come into contact with that colleague."
"The people you mentioned have all been interrogated more than three times by the Dali Temple. There were a few suspicious people, but they were later confirmed to have nothing to do with this matter."
"How come this thing suddenly appeared in the hands of that colleague?" Su Ruojin sneered: "Either the Dali Temple is incompetent, or this person is lying."
Hua Ping could only sigh when he was refuted: "That colleague insisted that someone gave it to him until he was sentenced to exile."
"Where were you exiled to, and how many years were you sentenced to?"
"Six years."
"Then you should be back."
Hua Ping shook his head: "Dead."
Su Ruojin suddenly thought of a question: "Did Shopkeeper Ye check everyone in the restaurant where that colleague had dinner?"
Hua Ping nodded, "Whether it's Honglu Temple, Lord Ye's interpersonal relationships in this life, or the people who came out of the restaurant when that colleague had dinner, as long as they can be found, Ye Huaizhen has checked it all."
"Wait..." Su Ruojin suddenly realized a problem, "According to what you said, Lord Ye is only the Minister of Honglu Temple. How does he know how to explore gold mines?"
"Lord Ye's friend is the head of the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Justice, and he often goes on business trips to explore for gold mines."
Su Ruojin: ...
"What about this friend?"
"Before Lord Ye's accident, he slipped down a mountain while prospecting in the south and died."
Su Ruojin was shocked. "Either it suddenly appeared out of nowhere, or the clues were cut off?"
Hua Ping nodded, "So whether it's Ye Huaizhen or me, we haven't found the mastermind after investigating for so long."
We will cut off the problem wherever we find it.
Su Ruojin shook her head and sighed, "So many people died. Either it was a huge conspiracy, or maybe Lord Ye accidentally saw some secrets, but he didn't realize that it was someone else's fatal secret, and someone else took his life. I didn't expect Lord Ye to die so violently, causing many people to die later."
Hua Ping was stunned when he heard this. "A shocking conspiracy?"
Su Ruojin turned around and asked: "Before and after Lord Ye's death, was there anything earth-shattering in the capital?"
When Lord Ye died, Hua Ping was already fifteen years old and had already entered the Royal Guards for training. He thought about it carefully and shook his head, "It seems not."
"That's the latter."
The latter? Hua Ping pondered over the young lady's words, "What secrets can be glimpsed?"
Su Ruojin spread her hands and said, "Who should I ask if you ask me?"
"What secrets can a Honglu Temple official see?"
Su Ruojin mixed the plots from the novels, movies and TV shows he read in later generations into his infinite imagination. "Maybe it has something to do with his profession. He saw someone meeting with someone from the diplomatic corps. Of course, in his mind, this person meeting with someone from the diplomatic corps was definitely not out of line, and it was not worth his attention. But this person might not be a simple person, and he was afraid that Lord Ye would let the cat out of the bag, so he used someone else's knife to kill him, which led to the series of events that followed."
For a moment, Hua Ping felt that he particularly agreed with the young lady's idea: "Then...then where should I start now?"
"Go find Shopkeeper Ye and ask her if his father said anything that seemed normal and didn't attract anyone's attention during the two months that the envoys were here. See if you can find any clues."
"Looking for Madam Ye?" Hua Ping was a little shy.
Su Ruojin couldn't help but smile, "Uncle Hua, you are almost thirty years old. If you are so shy, it will be strange for you to find a wife."
Hua Ping's face turned red.
Su Ruojin smiled mischievously, "You must have tried the proper case handling procedures and normal thinking over the years. If it still doesn't work, why not use what I said and go find Shopkeeper Ye quickly. While recalling the story with her about finding the murderer, you can also keep in touch with her. It's a win-win situation, isn't it?"
Huaping:......
Is this possible?
When Hua Ping came, he was confused, and when he left, he was hesitant.
Is this okay?
Anyway, they had been searching for so many years and still hadn't found it. Su Ruojin yawned three times in a row, patted her mouth with her hands, and decided to go to sleep.
The next day, it was the day agreed with Zhao Lan for the lotus leaf banquet. It was called a lotus leaf banquet, but it was actually just a few home-cooked dishes. Uncle Shutong was at home and helped buy the freshest ingredients early in the morning.
At about ten o'clock, Zhao Lan arrived, followed by Fan Yanjia, who had not been seen for a long time. He is now a juren, and when the imperial examination comes, he will probably pass the imperial examination and become a jinshi.
After paying respects to Zhao Lan, Su Ruojin couldn't help but joke, "How come Mr. Juren has time to come to my humble abode today?"
Fan Yanjia raised his head and laughed, "Ajin, you are going to make me laugh to death, and you are still talking about the Juren Master..."
Zhao Lan, who was left out: ...
A pair of sharp eyes glanced at the two of them quietly, and his face seemed to be covered with frost.
Shuangrui coughed lightly.
Fan Yanjia and Su Ruojin immediately received the hint, and they quickly stopped smiling and followed Zhao Lan seriously.
Fan Yanjia glanced at her and said, "I haven't seen you for a few months. Ah Jin has grown a lot taller."
"Brother Yan Jia has also grown a lot taller." He is almost catching up with Prince Zhao.
When Fan Yanjia saw Su Ruojin comparing him to Zhao Lan in front of him, he deliberately straightened his shoulders and smiled at her, as if to say, they are about the same height.
She nodded and said, "Yeah, that's almost it."
Zhao Lan seemed to sense something and turned around to look behind him.
As soon as the two saw him, they behaved themselves immediately, like mice seeing a cat.
Su Ruojin didn't dare to joke anymore, and quickly led the two to sit in the living room, and asked Mao Ya to serve tea, "Brother Yan Jia and the young prince, you sit down first, I'll go to the kitchen and have dinner soon."
The Su family moved into a bigger house, and they had maids and old women. Second Madam Su even cooked by herself. Fan Yanjia felt itchy and wanted to follow them, so he glanced at Zhao Lan.
Zhao Lan went up to him, with an attitude of "Do whatever you want, why do you care about me?"
Fan Yanjia smiled happily, "My father keeps me under a lot of pressure, and it's rare for me to come out and relax. I want to talk to Ah Jin. I hope the young prince doesn't mind if I follow him to the kitchen."
Zhao Lan glanced at him.
Fan Yanjia understood that this was an agreement, and he was so happy that he invited her, "It's boring for the little prince to sit alone, why don't you come with me."
Zhao Lan was waiting for this sentence. If this guy didn't say this, how would he be embarrassed? Fortunately, this guy was smart and spoke up.
The two handsome young men followed to the kitchen like little followers.
Su Ruojin didn't know that the two would follow her. She had already arrived in the kitchen. The lotus leaf glutinous rice was already steamed, and the fragrance was everywhere, which made people feel refreshed on such a hot summer day.
Fan Yanjia ran over, smelling the fragrance while looking at the large hand-cranked fan: "Ajin, why do I feel that your fan is cooler than the one in our house?"
"No?"
"have."
Li Xiuzhu was lighting a fire and fanning herself at the same time.
Fan Yanjia found that the girl who was making the fire didn't have to put in much effort, as the big fan made a lot of noise.
"Ajin, what's going on? Yours is less labor-intensive than the one in our mansion?"
Su Ruojin looked at him guiltily. This one at home was improved by Carpenter Zhang. He changed the torque. It seemed to be shaking slowly, but the length of the torque transmitted by the force shaft made it rotate faster when it reached the fan end.
But this is hard to explain, so she could only smile and say, "Then you can find someone to make a new one based on mine."
"That's what you said." Fan Yanjia was happy to get the confirmation, and hurried to her side to watch her cook.
Su Ruojin was making lotus leaf chicken. She had already cut the chicken open from the spine and taken out the internal organs, washed it, removed the middle bone, and smeared a little soy sauce on it. She had already heated up the wok, put in some oil and heated it until it was 50% hot, put in the chicken and fry it on both sides, then poured out the oil and put it in the casserole.
Put a little oil in the wok again, add the scallion, ginger, and chopped garlic and stir-fry briefly, then add water, salt, rice wine, soy sauce, sugar, etc., bring to a boil and pour into the casserole.
Boil the lotus leaves in boiling water and spread them in a baking pan. Collect the chicken into the thick sauce and wrap it in the lotus leaves. Put the baking pan into the pot and bake for half an hour. Take out and put it on a plate. Remove the lotus leaves and put the garlic slices and green onion segments on the chicken.
Pour the hot oil on the chicken and a delicious lotus leaf chicken is ready.
The fragrance is so strong that it goes straight into people's nostrils along with the wind from the fan.
Fan Yanjia couldn't help smacking his lips, "Ajin, why do the dishes you cook smell so good?"
"It smells good, so just eat more."
"That's for sure." Suddenly, Fan Yanjia felt a cool breeze blowing over him, and subconsciously looked at Prince Zhao. He saw him standing at the side of the kitchen door with his hands behind his back, as if looking at the sky through the corridor.
He chuckled, "Little prince, right?"
Zhao Lan turned his head and looked at him without saying anything.
The lotus leaf chicken was ready, and Su Ruojin quickly made the lotus leaf steamed pork ribs. While doing so, she asked, "Brother Yan Jia, why did you come with the young prince? Did you make an appointment?"
"Yes, I also went to the flower party at Prince Jin's mansion yesterday and stayed in his bedroom with him for a whole day."
Isn't it a blind date party? Su Ruojin turned her head to look at Zhao Lan outside the door, thinking, how can you have a blind date hiding in the room? She thought, it's really strange. But this is not her business, and she steamed the spareribs skillfully.
Steamed spareribs with lotus leaf is a famous traditional dish. The spareribs are wrapped with spiced rice flour and then with lotus leaves. They are steamed in a steamer until cooked. Open the lid of the steamer and turn over the lotus leaves to smell a fresh fragrance. The meat is delicious and tender.
Of course, in the hot summer, in addition to hot dishes, Su Ruojin also made lotus leaf herbal tea, three-diced shrimps, cold-mixed black fungus, tofu and winter melon soup, etc. The staple foods include hot lotus leaf glutinous rice and cold noodles.
Anyway, it can fill the stomach, cool down and stimulate the appetite, so a large table is set up.
After finishing her work, Su Ruojin went to her room to change her clothes while Chunxiao and Qiuyue were setting the table.
It was so hot that even with the fan on, I was still sweating.
The young lady's face was flushed with heat. Zhao Lan lowered his eyes and only thought about eating the meal made by the young lady. He didn't think about the suffering the young lady had endured, and his brows furrowed slightly.
Fan Yanjia looked up at the sky and said, "This damn weather is really hot. Thank you for your hard work, Ajin. Let's come back next time when the weather is not so hot."
Zhao Lan glanced at him dimly.
Fan Yanjia was confused by the look, "Isn't that right?"
Of course not, why should Ajin cook it for you?
Zhao Lan took a long step and walked straight away.
Fan Yanjia: …
What did I say wrong?
(End of this chapter)
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