"Father, the manor is so busy at the end of the year, why would they let you out to come find us?"
Fatty Wang sat on the quilt, slapped his thigh, and after he got into the carriage, Chaolu and the others took down the curtain separating the carriage.
Otherwise, with Fatty Wang there would be too little space in the front half of the room. As for those quilts, they could just be laid out on the floor and used as stools, which would be more comfortable than sitting on a soft stool.
"And you're still talking? Your father was almost kicked out of the manor by the steward this time. It was only thanks to Steward Rong's help that things were averted."
After finishing, he vividly described the scene to Wang Yan and the other woman.
"As soon as your letter arrived at the Marquis's residence, it was delivered directly to Lu Qi."
Lu Qi panicked immediately upon seeing this, and called your dad. The two of us quickly ran to Manager Rong's place to get the leave.
The problem is that even though your father came alone, it didn't work. Your letter clearly stated that you should try to raise the banner of the Marquis's mansion.
After reading the letter, Steward Rong went to consult with Lady Hou.
Lady Hou happened to be attending a banquet, so it was Granny Hua who nodded and had the steward of the Hou family's cloth shop write a letter for the Shen family to give to Father.
At this point, Fatty Wang clapped his hands again, "That's where the problem lies. We went to find the manager of our cloth shop, and he was very friendly. He wrote it up in less than fifteen minutes and even stamped it with his own seal."
But what a coincidence, we ran into the Third Young Master!
Wang Yan interrupted him, "Wait a minute, Father, haven't you been going to see our Lady of the Marquis so far? What does this have to do with the Third Young Master?"
Fatty Wang clicked his tongue and said, "Don't interrupt me. We're at the cloth shop. It's almost New Year's, and the Third Young Master is going to get a few bolts of silk from Songjiang to make clothes."
He recognized me, and then Lu Qi, who was in the kitchen, was also worried, so he went out of the mansion with his father.
When the third young master saw that we weren't busy in the kitchen during the New Year, he immediately got angry.
Pointing at Butler Rong, he said, "Let's kick the two of us out and sell them!"
"What?" Wang Ying couldn't help but interject. Why was the Third Young Master like this?
She and her brother have been working for the Third Young Master in the courtyard since they were young, for more than ten years, even though they have now left the mansion.
Why did the third young master treat his family this way? Isn't that a bit much?
Fatty Wang was almost speechless. "It's alright, it's alright, listen to Dad."
As he was speaking, the third young master tried to kick us, but Steward Rong wouldn't have any of that. He was just a second son from a branch of the family who had been separated from the main household.
He pulled me and Uncle Lu back and said that Granny Hua had sent us to collect our things.
Upon hearing this, the third young master immediately shut his mouth and stopped causing trouble.
However, because of this, Steward Rong granted his father an extra five days of leave.
We don't need to rush on our way back this time. If we come across any interesting places, we can spend a couple of days there.
Upon hearing that he was about to kick someone again, Wang Ying realized that he probably didn't really intend to sell her father and Uncle Lu. This guy's gone crazy again!
He might have been upset somewhere and wanted to vent his anger on his servants.
Who cares! At least I'm already out of the manor. Thinking of this, Wang Ying felt relieved and her mood improved.
When I lifted the carriage curtain, I saw that snowflakes were already falling heavily outside.
"It's snowing." As soon as these words were spoken, Wang Yan quickly peeked over and peered outside.
It wasn't a big deal; soon a thin layer of snow had accumulated on the ground, and it didn't affect walking at all.
So the carriage didn't stop, and everyone continued walking until they found an inn to rest.
After walking for another two hours, when they arrived at the inn, the snow had already piled up to two palm-widths thick.
A group of people got off the bus. They were staying at a proper inn. After arriving, the waiter led them to a private room with a heated wall.
First, warm yourself up. Instead of hot tea, you drink rice wine tea that has been brewed in a pot.
Each person had a bowl, and the hot rice wine warmed up quickly after drinking it. Although they hadn't felt particularly cold along the way.
Duck with scallions and peppers, stir-fried pork slices with sauerkraut, mutton and radish, lotus root stuffed with glutinous rice, duck-filled buns, shredded pork noodles, fragrant rice porridge, and goji berry sugar cake.
After a short while, the dishes were served one by one.
When Fatty Wang relaxes, he eats well, sleeps soundly, and eats heartily.
Of the three main dishes ordered, Wang Yan ate a duck bun and drank a bowl of porridge.
Aunt Wang and Wang Ying each ate a bowl of noodles and drank half a bowl of porridge.
The remaining staple food consisted of a plate of eight steamed buns, half a bowl of porridge, and half a bowl of noodles, which Fatty Wang cleaned up all by himself.
So he didn't eat much of the dishes, just some steamed buns and porridge. Then he slurped down two bowls of noodles, eating until he was stuffed.
They had eaten this dish of stuffed lotus root with glutinous rice before when they were in Lin'an.
This place is probably a legitimate restaurant, quite large, and offers dishes from various regions. So Chaolu ordered a dish for them.
Wash the glutinous rice, cut off the root of the lotus root, stuff it with the glutinous rice that has been soaked for five hours, and press it down firmly with chopsticks.
The cut-off lotus root ends should also be stuffed with glutinous rice, then replaced with a few bamboo skewers and secured with them.
Place the lotus root in a pot, pour in enough spring water to cover it, add brown sugar, yellow rock sugar, red dates, and dried osmanthus flowers, and simmer for half an hour.
Reduce the broth until thickened, then remove from the water, slice, and drizzle with osmanthus sauce. The honey-glazed glutinous rice lotus root is now ready.
Sweet and sticky, soft and delicious, it has the sweetness of honey and the rich fragrance of osmanthus. It is a well-known dessert in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang area.
The whole family loves this dish, but no one ate much; Chaolu only ordered one serving.
There are no lotus roots available this season; they are all taken from the freezer. Moreover, this dish is very time-consuming to make, and it costs two taels of silver per plate.
Chaolu was very disciplined and considered herself a servant, so she didn't eat with Aunt Wang and booked a private room next door instead.
However, Chaolu and the others did not suffer either; they basically ordered the same things as Aunt Wang.
Shen Jiamu instructed Chaolu and the others not to be too frugal with themselves along the way, and to spend money as needed.
However, even with this explanation, only one serving of the lotus root was ordered for Aunt Wang's family.
That's too expensive. You know, a mid-range feast with chicken, duck and fish in the capital only costs five taels of silver.
The key issue is that the food you're eating isn't in season. Preserving it under such conditions in ancient times was quite expensive and labor-intensive, naturally driving up the price.
Moreover, this place isn't in Lin'an, where prices are cheaper even in winter.
This place doesn't produce lotus roots much, so even in the summer they would go to the water towns in Jiangnan to transport large quantities by boat to store and sell.
However, Chaolu is a very perceptive girl, and her care for them along the way was truly heartwarming.
Sure enough, Wang Yan and the others kept refusing to eat, so they left eight or nine slices of lotus root uneaten from a plate that only had about a dozen slices.
Chaolu came over and asked Aunt Wang if she wanted to rest for a day before setting off again. After asking the question, she left and saw half a plate of osmanthus-flavored glutinous rice lotus root on the table.
A quick thought revealed that the two young ladies probably liked the food but were reluctant to eat it. However, a quarter of an hour later, the innkeeper brought over two more plates of glutinous rice lotus root, along with a pot of pear honey water.
After taking the maidservant, Aunt Wang turned to the two of them and said, "Now I understand why she's only a second-class maidservant. Young Master Shen still sent her to protect us on our way home."
Looking at the two who were only focused on eating, I finally understand why you two have been in that courtyard for so long and haven't made a name for yourselves.
Especially Wang Yan, who after three years was still only a third-class maid.
Hey, Wang Yan was unhappy with those words. "Then my sister is also second-class? I just didn't put my mind to it. If I had, I could have been first-class, let alone second-class."
"Hahaha, managing accounts, inventorying the storeroom, dispatching maids, and taking care of daily needs—which of these things are you capable of?"
Wang Yan proudly raised her head and said, "If I'm willing to learn, anything is fine!"
"Alright, alright, but you're no longer the girl who gets beaten and scolded in other people's courtyards. You're the young manager of our Wang family now."
Haha, Wang Yan laughed happily again after hearing this.
They plan to rest here for a day tomorrow, check the snow conditions, and familiarize themselves with the road conditions before continuing their journey.
But when the group went out to see the snow in the late afternoon, they heard two merchants from down below delivering vegetables and pigs from the town.
Wang Yan stared at the two people and heard them talking to the kitchen purchasing agent.
"Manager Lin, if you need a lot, we'll come and deliver it again this afternoon, but we won't come tomorrow."
There's a young man in our area who almost got buried in the snow today. We're worried that if the snow gets heavier tomorrow, it will be difficult to travel on the road when delivering vegetables and meat.
The forest steward was quite frightened. "How could they be buried so soon after it started snowing? Was there an avalanche?"
"Hey, where is this? Isn't this snow? There's a lot of snow piled up at the foot of the mountain on our side. There are no trees or anything to block it, so the snow just slides down."
The young man was so frightened he screamed and yelled! We were on this side of the mountain, and they were shouting on the other side. The sound was so loud that the snow on our side trembled when they heard it.
Manager Lin was speechless, but then he felt relieved. However, the two men sounded quite alarming. "Oh, is that young man alright?"
"What could possibly happen? There's only so little snow, barely enough to cover your ankles. They've probably already cleared it all and gone home."
"Oh," Manager Lin nodded, then looked at the sky. "Then you can send two more pigs this afternoon."
"Hey, manager, don't worry, I'll bring you two over this afternoon without fail."
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