"It's freezing! It's freezing!" Chunye and Chunyu went to the flower room and moved a few pots of daffodils. When they came back, they were stamping their feet and warming their hands with their breath.
The wind blew straight to their bones, carrying the patter of snowflakes. After a brief rest, the two turned and ran off again.
Finish the job in one go, then come straight to the teahouse to warm up for a day. Otherwise, if you work for a while and then rest, you'll get too cold and won't get proper rest.
Wang Yan got up and took a teapot to brew ginger and jujube tea for them, and would pour them a bowl when she came back later.
This weather is freezing! Let's wait a bit longer; it'll get better after the start of spring.
The next day, the second day of the Lunar New Year, Gu Ting brought Xu Shaoqing back to the Earl's residence, and she did enter the house.
It's the Lunar New Year, it wouldn't look good to refuse entry, especially since Xu Chen is still at the Earl's residence. But Jiang Shiyi has also returned to her parents' home with her entire family.
The two men sat there sheepishly for a while, then returned with their gifts.
After this visit, Gu Ting was completely disheartened; the Anbo family would no longer care about this daughter.
Xu Shaoqing was furious and wouldn't even let Guixiang go home to check on her. "Anyway, Granny Gui has already gone out with her, what are you going home for?"
Guixiang found it unbelievable; her mother had gone out, so why couldn't she go home?
My grandparents, father, and younger siblings—my whole family is at home. Why can't I go back and visit them?
However, he didn't dare to say it out loud, knowing that Xu Shaoqing was deliberately picking a fight.
Gui Xiang could only apologize to Xu Shaoqing and then follow the two of them back to the Marquis's residence.
Coincidentally, on the way back, I saw Guiqin. Now that she had redeemed herself, she was doing some embroidery at home and could earn a lot of money every month.
Xu Shaoqing asked her to lift the carriage curtain to let in some fresh air, and Guixiang immediately saw Guiqin.
The two were very excited to see each other, but Gui Xiang immediately remembered that they were in the carriage and her mistress was not in a good mood.
So he gave Guiqin a wink, and Guiqin immediately understood and turned to the side alley.
"What are you doing? You're taking so long to lift the curtain."
Gui Xiang quickly stepped aside, and Xu Shaoqing sat by the car window, looking at the vast expanse of snow-covered streets outside, and took a deep breath with melancholy.
…………………………
After the first month of the lunar calendar, in early February, Aunt Wang came to the side gate and called Fatty Wang and Wang Yan out to meet her.
After exchanging pleasantries, the group realized that life outside the mansion was going quite well. Wang Ying stayed home embroidering, earning a small tael of silver a month.
Wang Xing took a job as an acting accountant at a teahouse, earning 700 yuan a month. However, this job was temporary; he would have to return the money once the original accountant returned.
Because it was a temporary job, they found two accountants to fill in, so the wages were not high.
But Wang Xing wasn't worried; he was already thinking about what kind of small business he could start.
Wang Pangzi and Wang Yan are still living the same life in the mansion, doing quite well.
After exchanging pleasantries and information, Aunt Wang hurriedly returned home.
Fatty Wang went to the manager and returned the house in the backyard, moving all his belongings to that small courtyard as well.
Without taking up a room allocated by the manor, a steward of his rank would receive an extra fifty coins each month.
He and Wang Yan had never gone back. They had fifty coins, which wasn't much, but it was worth it for a good meal.
After meeting Aunt Wang, Wang Yan walked on happily.
When we were halfway there, we saw a woman kneeling on the ground in the direction of the lotus pond, as if she was begging a servant for something.
Wang Yan felt uneasy and was afraid of being implicated in her master's private affairs, so she quickly ran away.
After running past, I secretly peeked out from behind the archway and took a quick look.
To their surprise, the woman turned out to be Liu Xiang'er, and the person she was holding seemed to be Lin Mu.
From a distance, his expression was unclear; all she could see was the trees receding. Liu Xiang'er knelt and tried to pull him forward, but couldn't.
Wang Yan clicked her tongue twice, guessing that Liu Xiang'er still wanted to return to the main courtyard and probably didn't dare to offend Fang Li. So she went to Lin Mu to smooth things over.
But even if Brother Lin Mu is incredibly shrewd, he shouldn't get involved in this kind of thing. Liu Xiang'er has chosen the wrong person.
She didn't care about other people's business. Wang Yan quickened her pace and ran back to the yard.
Grandma Sun was preparing a small basket to take a few people to the river to pick willow leaves.
Last year, we picked willow catkins. As for willow leaf buds, they were delivered from the main kitchen last year, and Aunt Sun always felt they weren't fresh.
Upon hearing that they could go out to play, all the third-class maids in the courtyard gathered around.
Grandma Sun handed out baskets to each person and led a large group of people out of the mansion.
They picked only the newly sprouted tender willow buds, and each person picked a thin layer, filling the bottom of a basket.
When Aunt Sun saw this, she said, "That's enough, that's enough." It was still early, so she led everyone to eat a bowl of clove wontons before returning home.
The first thing I did after returning home was to soak the tender willow leaves I had picked in water, so I could make a dish of willow leaf chives the next day.
The next morning, the main kitchen delivered fresh, tender chives that had just been harvested that morning. Grandma Sun took out the soaked tender willow buds and squeezed out the water.
Boil a pot of spring water, add salt and vegetable oil, and use a strainer to blanch the blanched animals after the water boils.
After rinsing, squeeze out the excess water, add a little salt, a little vinegar, and a few drops of sesame oil, and mix well.
I looked through the fresh vegetables delivered from the main kitchen again, including a small basket of fresh chrysanthemum seedlings.
Let's make another chrysanthemum sprout decoction. Let's get some yam powder and licorice.
Boil licorice root in water, then add yam powder and blend into a smooth paste. Blanch chrysanthemum sprouts briefly.
Add the beaten dough to the batter and mix thoroughly. Shape into balls and fry in a pan with a little lard until golden brown and fragrant on both sides. This makes a pancake dish.
A bowl of yam soup, a bowl of congee, and two side dishes were prepared, which suited the First Madam's taste perfectly.
Chunyu and Chunque are not particularly fond of food, but when they tasted these two dishes in the kitchen, they praised them highly.
Each bite is bursting with a delicate fragrance; it's incredibly fresh and delicious.
Wang Yan also started scrambling to eat with the others. By the time Aunt Sun returned from the main room, the plate was already empty except for the portion she had saved for her.
He laughed and scolded, "You're all gluttons!"
"Hehe, it's because of Auntie's cooking that it's so delicious!"
Grandma Sun is easily flattered. Once she was praised, at lunchtime, she brought out two more dishes of freshly made spring delicacies to add to their meals.
Qingping and Qingyu also loved to eat it. "Auntie is so biased, she served it all to the younger sisters' table."
Grandma Sun smiled and said, "Yes, yes, we have them all." Then she brought over two more plates.
Chunxi didn't come over for dinner; she ate with Zhixue, Zhiju, and Granny Hua.
However, Aunt Sun had already sent over two plates of food. Seeing that the two of them were eating with relish, Zhiju pouted and reached for the braised pork shreds next to her with her chopsticks.
Those two idiots, ignoring the meat, went to eat a couple of bites of wild vegetables from the field!
Seeing how much they were enjoying their food, I couldn't resist sneaking a bite myself, and once I started eating, I couldn't stop.
Inside the room, several people were vying for the two dishes, but Zhiju couldn't win against the other two and pouted unhappily.
Zhiju didn't manage to get many bites, which made Chunxi very happy, and she even drank an extra bowl of soup during the meal.
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