Looking up and glancing outside, I saw the maids in the courtyard carrying several silk flowers into the yard one by one.
"Did they buy this from the peddler at the back door?"
"Yes, oh dear, why are you bothering with a few girls?"
Who cares about them? We can disguise ourselves as peddlers and go to the back gate of the Anbo Mansion! And this method is much better than making direct contact.
At least their own lord and lady wouldn't notice that a young-looking peddler appeared at the back gate of the Anbo Mansion that very afternoon.
Unfortunately, he went for three days in a row and did not encounter any of Xu Shaoqing's maids or manage to speak with any of the maids or servants in the Earl's mansion.
People would leave as soon as they finished buying their things, and before he could ask them a few more questions, the old woman at the gate would come out and scold him, telling the girl to go back while giving him a sidelong glare.
This tactic was completely unworkable, and Gu Ting was furious, having been a peddler for nothing.
His going out for three consecutive days was also reported to Lady Hou, and Lady Gao personally brought a lot of tonics to visit him.
After Gao left, Gu Ting dared not cause any more trouble and obediently stayed in his room to review his lessons, preparing to participate in next year's imperial examination.
This was probably because Gao jokingly told him not to run around and play around before he passed the imperial examinations.
A while ago, a madman appeared in Beijing who liked to go around hacking people to pieces and then run away.
The government is still arresting people all over the streets. If he goes out and accidentally gets slashed, ruining his appearance or injuring his hands and feet, he can forget about ever being able to take the civil service exam again.
Gu Ting thought that made sense, and fortunately the imperial examination was only a few months away.
After passing the exam, one will be a legitimate Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations). Wouldn't it be easier to negotiate and make peace then?
Madam Gao felt that it was strange that he had been coming and going at the same time every day for several days in a row, but she also sent someone to inquire and found out that the young lady of the Anbo Mansion had been at home these days.
We haven't found any leverage over him, but we still need to come up with a way to shut him down.
Fortunately, Madam Jiang was busy choosing a husband for her daughter, and once they changed their names and the marriage was officially settled, the Marquis's mansion wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.
If Gu Ting hadn't secretly met the girl and made things so awkward, he would have been qualified to propose marriage after passing the imperial examination.
Of course, they definitely wouldn't agree. The eldest daughter of the Earl's family is qualified to be the head wife of a clan.
But now, let alone trying to mediate, it's estimated that Madam Jiang would rather her daughter cut off her hair and become a nun than marry Xu Shaoqing to him.
…………………………
The lady was busy preparing soups and tonics for the prince every day to help him recover, but the prince was tired of them.
Aunt Sun then had another idea. Knowing that Wang Yan was good at making novel foods, she wanted to ask if she could make some novel and flavorful pastries.
If you present it at this opportune moment, you will not only receive a reward, but your wife will also value it even more.
So Aunt Sun called Wang Yan over again. After the two of them thought about it for a while, Wang Yan suddenly clapped her hands.
"Auntie, how about we make a sponge cake?"
"Chicken cake?"
Making sponge cake is very simple, requiring only three ingredients: eggs, flour, and sugar.
Crack the eggs into a bowl, add an appropriate amount of white sugar, and beat them just like you would cream egg whites. Keep beating until the egg mixture can be picked up with chopsticks.
Then sprinkle in dry flour, mix well, put it into small molds, and bake it in the oven in the large kitchen. After baking, it becomes the old-fashioned sponge cake that modern people used to eat.
Fatty Wang was also there watching Aunt Sun, so he gave him a packet to take back for Aunt Wang and Sister Ying to eat.
After all, this recipe was Wang Yan's idea, even though no one else knew it.
This method was also taught to the pastry chef in the kitchen, so when it came to stirring the eggs, Grandma Sun didn't have to lift a finger and did it very easily.
All we had to do was serve it up to them to receive the reward, and sure enough, the young master ate two.
Even the one sent to the old lady, she only ate with a cup of plain tea.
The lady was pleased and immediately offered her a reward: a turquoise ring, two gold ingots, and a packet of silver beans.
Having received so many rewards, Wang Yan lost interest in her monthly allowance and didn't take it home this month.
Instead, they gave the money to Granny Sun and asked her to make them a cicada soup.
Grandma Sun's ancestors were imperial chefs who used to cook porridge and soup for the emperor, so she is very experienced in making soup and porridge, and her mung bean and lily porridge is better than that of ordinary people.
Wang Yan had been longing to try the Jade Cicada Soup, a dish served at palace banquets, ever since she heard Aunt Sun mention it once.
Actually, I made this dish for the old lady's birthday last time, but she was busy eating shredded tripe and sliced tripe and missed it.
Select a good sea bass, debone and remove the skin with a Tang knife, and then slice it into thin slices with a Song knife.
This step is extremely demanding in terms of knife skills. The fish fillets must be sliced as thin as cicada wings, so translucent that when laid on paper, the words underneath can be clearly seen.
Choose yellow paper, spread the fish meat flat, and press it on to absorb the moisture.
Then they coat both sides of the fish slices with starch, specifically mung bean starch.
Find some dried bamboo shoots, ginger, and scallions, cut them into thin strips, chop the fish bones and put them in a clay pot with ginger, cooking wine, and water. Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
Once the fish soup turns white, filter out the fish residue, leaving only the clear broth. Pour it back into the pot, add the fish slices coated in flour, then add scallions, ginger, pepper, and salt for simple seasoning.
Wang Yan took a bite, and it was so delicious she wanted to swallow her tongue.
After distributing a bowl to each of my friends, I found a small clay pot and poured the rest of the food into it.
She has the day off tomorrow, so she came here today to beg Aunt Sun to make a pot of porridge so she could take it back to her mother and Yingjie.
When I went home on vacation last time, Yingjie said she wanted to drink porridge, but all we had at home was plain white porridge. What was so delicious about it?
Yingjie really loved this porridge; she drank three small bowls by herself.
"Sis, what else would you like to eat? I'll bring you some when I come back next month."
"They're all delicious, they're all delicious, I'd eat anything. Hahaha."
She enjoyed the porridge, and was even happier to see her younger sister. Yingjie was in a great mood today.
After dinner, the two sisters discussed and planned to take stock of the family's valuables.
Aunt Wang closed the window, hung a bed sheet inside, and brought over the small box containing money so the two of them could count it for fun.
There are currently six or seven gold ingots, a dozen or so silver ingots, five full purses of copper coins, a purse of silver coins, about ten silver hairpins, a purse of silver melon seeds, a purse of silver peanuts, half a purse of gold melon seeds, half a purse of silver beads, two pearl hairpins, a turquoise ring, five thin silver bracelets, and three wide bracelets.
These are the rewards the whole family has received over the past year, mainly brought back by the three children, with Wang Yan bringing back the majority.
Wang Xing and Wang Ying brought back a lot of gold and silver melon seeds, along with two gold ingots and monthly wages.
The rest were almost all brought back by Wang Yan. She made some snacks and split the reward money with Aunt Sun. She earned quite a lot in this short year.
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