As dawn broke, Qingyan stepped out of her room and stood under the corridor, watching Yin practice Tai Chi. She had learned it from Fei Yanggu and his two sons, supposedly for health and wellness.
She summoned Su Lan and whispered a few words in her ear. The weather was getting hotter and hotter, but it hadn't rained yet. The humidity was very high in this kind of weather, so she prepared a lot of mung bean soup and red bean and barley porridge to get rid of the dampness.
"Little darling, what breakfast should we prepare?" Yin Genjue Luo Shi accompanied Yin, ready to help Little darling prepare the men's breakfast.
Since leaving home, Yin has experienced a leisurely life, with his three meals a day being prepared by Yin Genjue Luo Shi.
"No need, today's food was all made yesterday, and we've prepared the side dishes as well!" A few days ago, Qingyan bought a batch of vegetables and directly took Yingenjueluo Shi to pickle them together.
These are all foods that Yin and others like to eat most in winter.
Yin Genjueluo also went through a lot of trouble. The servants didn't prepare very good food, and Yin kept mentioning the Qingyan banquet.
“Sister-in-law, you can prepare it yourself every autumn, and my brother will appreciate it even more,” Qingyan said, leaning against Yingenjueluo.
Pickled vegetables are refreshing and quite different from the stews and other dishes prepared in the imperial kitchen.
"Great!" Yin Genjue Luo Shi brought back a small jar yesterday, and Yin already liked it very much even before it was fully pickled. "I told him that I pickle some every year, and the kimchi you mentioned is also excellent."
In winter, the royal family had very few fresh vegetables available, and even Emperor Kangxi could only eat stewed dishes.
Qingyan built a small greenhouse, which greatly increased the supply of vegetables. However, only some of those vegetables could be given to Kangxi, and some to Songkelierha.
"Moreover, the dried vegetables can be sent to you to add to the hot pot. And since my sister-in-law is going back, she can take Songkelierha with her to plant them. It's educational and fun, and it can also give her another skill. These are the little pleasures in life." The legal wife has very little entertainment. Apart from mingling with her sisters-in-law, she spends most of her time dealing with account books and official duties. Most of them grow flowers, and those can be done by gardeners.
"Hmm!" Lady Yin Genjue thought it was good. Not only did it look nice, but it also allowed them to eat fresh vegetables. If Yin saw it, he would definitely join in, and the couple would have one more topic to talk about.
Yin Genjue Luo Shi enjoyed being close to Qing Yan, and could learn a lot from her, which gave Qing Yan and Yin Genjue Luo Shi more topics to talk about.
In contrast, the other sisters-in-law were more concerned with the struggles among the female relatives, while Lady Yingenjueluo was much more indifferent to them. After witnessing the struggles among the concubines, Yin became more and more fond of visiting her courtyard, which brought Lady Yingenjueluo an unexpected joy.
"Let's go buy more vegetable seeds later, I've taken a liking to them too." Before, when Yin Genjue Luo Shi heard this, she would have thought these things were a bit dirty and messy, but now she found them very interesting. Presenting these as tribute in winter actually made Kangxi smile.
Qingyan nodded; it was actually better that the two of them left.
"Would elder brother agree?" Yin Genjueluo rarely went out, and Yin usually kept her entirely within his sphere of influence.
Yingenjueluo nodded. She had already prepared her clothes for going out. Last time, Qingyan's behavior made Yingenjueluo feel very ashamed.
In contrast, the Crown Princess always considered herself superior and thought she would never do such things, while Lady Li Jia did an excellent job, and the Crown Prince preferred to visit Lady Li Jia's courtyard.
After breakfast, Qingyan changed into a light blue casual outfit and left under his slightly worried gaze.
Inside the carriage, Qingyan and Lady Yingenjueluo ate fruit at the table, all of which Qingyan had bought.
"Little darling, these fruits are much fresher than those in the capital." When Yin Genjue Luo heard that Su Lan was making dried fruit for disaster relief, she discovered that Su Lan was a real expert at collecting them.
Each time they traveled to different places, everyone else's luggage was the same, but Xiao Guai's consumption was huge, so on the return trip, she actually had a lot more luggage.
She simply prepared those dishes based on local cuisine.
"Hehe, sister-in-law, you're right. These are all local delicacies. Besides, you can buy more dried seafood to take back with you. These are obviously of better quality than what you can buy outside," Qingyan suggested with a smile.
Yin Genjue Luo nodded. Songkelierha really liked the dried seafood here, and she also loved the seafood porridge made with dried shrimp.
"I'll go buy some later!" Madam Yin Genjue Luo had exchanged quite a few copper coins, which she would never need in the capital.
The carriage slowly came to a stop. First, the curtain was opened, and Qingyan and Lady Yingenjueluo got off the carriage together. Sulan and Yingmei came over. Yingmei was a shadow guard that Yin had specially trained for Lady Yingenjueluo during the southern tour.
On the street, it was mostly women who came out to buy things. There were many things for sale at the stalls on both sides, and some food was particularly attractive to the two of them.
At a fruit stand, Qingyan spent a lot of money and bought a lot of fresh imported fruits, including dragon fruit.
The seafood stalls next door sell all kinds of dried seafood, which are specially made by fishermen.
However, the stall owner didn't seem too concerned about business, chatting with the owner of the fruit stall next to him.
Qingyan stood in front of the seafood stall, looking at the dried seafood while listening to the two talking. Sulan and Yingmei were selecting seafood.
The seafood stall owner was a middle-aged man in his forties. Due to years of hard work, his face was dark and had many wrinkles.
"You know, we pulled another man dressed as a scholar from the beach, but the magistrate only sent a coroner to investigate and kept him silent!" the stall owner said in a low voice.
The fruit stand owner was a man of similar age. He looked around in surprise, and finding no one paying attention, he quickly tugged at the man's arm.
"Are you out of your mind to say something like that!" the fruit vendor warned. "Then why are you still selling dried seafood here? Hasn't your village been sealed off?"
The stall owner laughed: "I did give those yamen runners silver, two taels of silver. Other villages did too?"
The fruit stall owner quickly nodded and said, "Of course. It's said that this time it's unfair, and many people want to cause trouble. Didn't the higher-ups come to the south? They're suppressing it desperately, afraid that the higher-ups will find out."
Qingyan stood aside and let Sulan go over to negotiate the price.
Yingenjueluo watched Qingyan leave with a puzzled expression. Only after they were in the carriage did Qingyan tell her what he had overheard. Yingenjueluo secretly thought to herself that this was bad news, as it involved matters of officialdom, and Yin had been talking about it all along.
“Little darling, let’s go back and talk to them. The problem is very serious. No wonder those people sealed it up directly. If Father finds out, he will probably lose face, and those officials will be in even worse shape.” Yin Genjue Luo Shi was also annoyed. As soon as they came out, they found that the outside world was different from other places.
Qingyan gave a bitter smile. What was wrong with what Yin Genjueluo said?
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