Chapter 68 Ginseng in the Gift
The big meal last night didn't make Zhao Lan any closer, but unexpectedly the trip to Su's house actually brought them closer. Fan Yanjia was secretly happy, thank God, thank Su Erniang for the delicious food, his job as a study companion was finally easier.
Fan Yanjia smiled and said, "Okay, Zijin, but I'm not yet twenty years old and I don't have a given name, so you can just call me Yanjia!"
Zhao Lan nodded and said, "See you at the Imperial College tomorrow." He then pulled the reins and whipped the horse, and rode away in a cloud of dust.
Fan Yanjia: ...I thought the young prince was easy to serve, why did he just leave without even chatting?
The master and servant did not come to their senses until they could no longer see Zhao Lan, and then they slowly returned home.
After sending the two young masters away, the Su family's life finally returned to its own channel.
Su Ruojin was so tired that she lay down on the bed after washing up. Her mother pulled her up and said, "Ajin, you haven't seen the gifts that the young prince and Mr. Fan brought?"
"Hasn't the lamb leg been eaten?" Su Ruojin rolled over on the bed. She was thinking about the shop and had no time to pay attention to the gifts brought by the two middle school boys.
Cheng Yingzhen said, "There are also cakes, cloth, ginseng..."
"What?" Su Ruojin sat up suddenly. "How old is the ginseng?" It's a very tonic thing. It's just right for making black-bone chicken soup for mother.
Cheng Yingzhen was so amused by her daughter's impoliteness that she patted her and said, "Show it to your father. It's at least twenty years old."
It is an unchanging fact that the older the ginseng is, the better it is. There is a huge difference in the medicinal effects and value of ten-year-old ginseng and fifteen-year-old ginseng. If it is more than twenty years old, it is really valuable.
Su Ruojin clicked her tongue, "As expected of the Prince Jin's Mansion." They were generous in every way they spent.
Cheng Yingzhen patted her daughter again, "Although I have never learned how to be a householder, favors are always exchanged. We should return whatever others give us."
"There are 50-year-old and 100-year-old ginsengs, so 20-year-old ginsengs shouldn't be expensive, right?"
"If you keep talking nonsense, I'll really beat you up!"
"Mom!" Su Ruojin hugged her mother's arm, "As a gift to become a disciple, there is nothing else except a twenty-year-old ginseng. We will also treat them to two meals. The gift is complete!"
Cheng Yingzhen: ...cleared.
After all, she was just a child. Cheng Yingzhen returned to the bedroom from her daughter's room and asked her husband again, "Sir, is it okay to keep the ginseng?"
"Take it!" The gift of becoming a disciple has nothing to do with accepting gifts or bribes.
Cheng Yingzhen was relieved: "That's good."
When Mrs. Xu heard that her son's eyeballs had been tied up by the Princess of Jin and placed in front of her sister, she went to the Prince of Jin's Mansion to find her sister without even having lunch. However, she didn't even have a chance to enter as she was stopped outside the small gate of the Prince of Jin's Mansion. She was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan and kept asking people to send her sister to send her son home.
I waited until the sun went down but my sister still didn’t send her son out. It was all over. My sister couldn’t save Wang’er. What should I do… What should I do…
My nephew was tied up like a fat pig in front of Aunt Xu's housekeeping office, lying on the ground, baked by the sun from morning till sunset, until he was only left with his last breath.
Nanny Xu was sitting in the room. When she learned why her nephew was tied in front of her, she stuffed a rag into her nephew's mouth, saying that he dared to scream in the palace. He was really courting his death.
She was angry that her sister was causing trouble for her outside, and at the same time she was thinking about how to deal with it and what kind of opportunity she should find to rescue her nephew. If she couldn't save her nephew, what would be the consequences...
He kept thinking about it until dinner time, when he saw the maids and old women delivering food to the princess's main courtyard. He rolled his eyes and finally found an opportunity to save people.
Princess Jin had four maids in charge, one in charge of accounts, one in charge of miscellaneous affairs and personal relationships, one in charge of personnel and servants, and one in charge of food, clothing, housing and transportation. Madam Xu was the maid in charge of personnel and servants. To the servants in the palace, she had real power and was very popular. Someone gave her money to buy maids, and she could embezzle as much as she wanted from the monthly wages of the maids. Her illegal income in a year was much more than that of a small official in Beijing.
Standing at the door, she adjusted the attitude of a slave's servile loyalty to just the right level before tiptoeing to ask the maid at the door to inform.
Princess Jin was waiting for her youngest son. The dishes on the table had all gone cold, but she seemed not to notice. When she heard the maid's report, she raised her eyelids coldly with a serious face, which frightened the little girl so much that she dared not breathe.
I don’t know how my son is doing outside. I haven’t been home all day, and I don’t know if he has eaten. Will he be hungry again?
Seeing that the princess did not see her, Madam Xu took out her trump card and kowtowed to the hall, saying, "Princess, I have found a new recipe for an appetizer. It has a unique flavor and will surely suit the taste of the young prince."
When Princess Jin heard that Nanny Xu had a new recipe, her expression became less stern. "Let her in."
"Yes." The little girl cautiously retreated to the door, glanced at Madam Xu, and then let her in.
Princess Jin glanced coldly at Nanny Xu who came in, her look was fierce and intimidating.
In this kind of atmosphere, Mrs. Xu didn't dare to act fancy and just held up the recipe for crystal chicken with both hands.
The maidservant beside Princess Jin received the signal, stretched out her hand to take it, and presented it to Princess Jin with both hands. She looked down and saw that the method of preparing crystal chicken was very simple - steaming it in water, and the size of the chicken and the degree of heat were important. Generally, it took a quarter of an hour. If the steaming time was too long, the chicken would not be tender enough, and if the time was too short, it would not be cooked through.
She put the recipe on the table, her eyes slightly tightened, "Xu Suqiao——"
"The old slave is——"
"If it weren't for that pickled fish dish that allowed Lan'er to eat a little bit these years, would you still be by my side as a housekeeper?"
Aunt Xu was so frightened that she fell to her knees, knocking her head loudly: "I failed to discipline my sister, I deserve to die..."
The little girl at the door shouted back, "The young master is back!"
Princess Jin's impatient expression immediately turned into a loving mother's smile when she heard her youngest son was back: "Lan'er..."
Zhao Lan glanced at Mrs. Xu who was kneeling on the ground, curled her lips, and sat lazily next to her mother. "Mother, why haven't you eaten yet?"
"I'm waiting for you." After saying that, he turned around and immediately became stern, "Why don't you get out of here?"
"Yes, yes, I will get out of here immediately."
The princess didn't even give a little face to a steward. The servants knew that Xu Pozi was not favored by the princess. The position of steward was probably...
Mrs. Xu endured the humiliation and left the princess's dining hall.
Zhao Lan said slowly, "Why didn't mother sell her off?"
Princess Jin scolded him, "His man is the steward of your father, so he can be sold at will."
Zhao Lan drooped his eyelids and said, "The house they bought in Kangyuanfang is not even as expensive as that of a fifth-rank official. Isn't that too much?"
Why does Princess Jin like the youngest son? She usually keeps him by her side. He doesn't say a word, but he knows everything at once. He is simply a good heir to a noble family. It's a pity that he is not the crown prince, so he has to suffer.
(End of this chapter)
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