In the height of summer, the lotus flowers in the pond in the mansion have gradually bloomed.
Lady Hou sent out invitations to the ladies of various households, requesting a lotus-viewing banquet.
The ladies of each household brought their daughters to the banquet, and the main kitchen of the Marquis's residence was bustling with activity.
Pastry chef Aunt Su and Aunt Sun are collaborating again, and this time the two of them have discussed and come up with several menus together.
The Fufeng Pavilion over the lotus pond was also prepared early on, even though the weather wasn't too hot.
However, the head steward also brought a group of servants, placing an ice basin every five steps and changing it every two hours.
So even at noon, it's still quite cool here at Fufeng Pavilion.
The ladies and young women all decided to have lunch here.
The main kitchen has prepared the following dishes for today: lotus leaf rice, lotus leaf chicken soup pancakes, lotus seed ice cream, and several other items.
All the lotus leaf-related dishes were made by Aunt Su.
Lotus leaf rice is made with steamed rice and side dishes including shiitake mushrooms, dried scallops, diced Chinese sausage, and green peas.
Heat oil in a pan, add all the side dishes and stir-fry until fully cooked. Then mix with rice, place on lotus leaves, tie them up and steam for 15 minutes.
To make lotus leaf chicken soup, wrap a whole chicken in a large lotus leaf, poke some holes in the surface with a bamboo skewer, and place it in a soup pot. Add some ginger to the pot to remove any fishy smell.
Chop some more lotus leaves, add a little water and grind them to extract the juice. Filter the juice through cheesecloth to remove the residue. Only keep the fresh lotus leaf juice.
The ground lotus leaf juice is mixed with flour to form a green dough, which is then shaped into small lotus leaf-shaped cakes. These are then boiled and removed from the pot.
The lotus leaf chicken soup, simmered in a clay pot, is poured over the flatbread, and a lotus leaf chicken soup flatbread is ready.
The dessert served after the meal was taught to me by Wang Yan and Aunt Sun.
Lotus leaf ice cream: Peel the lotus seeds from fresh lotus pods, remove the cores, steam for 15 minutes, add white sugar and milk, and grind into a fine paste.
Pour another bowl of milk, add an appropriate amount of cornstarch and stir well. Pour it into a pot, add the previously ground lotus seed paste, and stir slowly over low heat until it thickens and forms a dough.
Pour into a pre-prepared wooden mold, refrigerate in ice for 15 minutes, then remove and place on a white jade stemmed plate, drizzle with a layer of osmanthus honey.
Sweet and fragrant, the maids stood beside the ice basin, fanning the air with gentle breezes. Scooping up a spoonful of smooth and sweet lotus seed cake, it was truly delightful.
After the banquet, Aunt Su received about ten purses, which she and Aunt Sun split in half.
When visiting someone's home, the head maids of the ladies would prepare many purses well in advance, for the purpose of giving gifts.
They usually stuff a few silver peanuts or silver coins inside, but some generous people stuff small gold ingots inside.
The two purses that Aunt Su received contained two small gold ingots, and each one contained a small gold ingot.
It was given by the personal maids of the First Madam of the Anbo Mansion and the First Madam of the Puguo Mansion.
Jiang Shiyi also attended the banquet today, but he didn't bring Xu Shaoqing.
After all, she is now the legitimate daughter of my third brother's family and is already engaged. It would be inappropriate for her to come out with me for social events.
Xu Shaoqing is currently preparing for her wedding at home, embroidering her wedding dress.
When Zheng Jin, the second wife of the Marquis, heard that the wife of the Marquis of Anbo would be attending the banquet, she didn't even dare to come over to meet her and claimed to be ill and stayed home.
Madam Gao looked at Jiang Shiyi and sighed, "Your actions this time have truly taken me by surprise. When Granny Hua came to report, I thought I had misheard."
Jiang Shiyi's face seemed to be covered with a layer of cold frost. "Children and grandchildren have their own blessings. Her mind is made up."
Seeing this, Gao said no more.
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When Aunt Yang heard that the Anbo family had also come to the lotus appreciation banquet at the mansion, she was surprised to learn that they had also come.
I couldn't resist coming over; what if Xu Shaoqing came? I could see her beforehand, right?
Unexpectedly, when they reached the hanging flower gate and were about to head towards the east courtyard, they were stopped at the second gate.
The gatekeeper stood up to stop her, her back straight, her face full of smiles, but her words were resolute.
"Greetings to Auntie. We have distinguished guests today. The Second Madam specifically instructed that no one in our courtyard should go out and disturb them."
Aunt Yang shook the silk gauze fan with carved ribs in her hand and gave a cold rebuke.
"Move aside, I'm just going out for a stroll, I'm not going towards the lotus pond."
Unexpectedly, the gatekeeper was acting on Zheng's orders, and because guests were coming today, not even the maids and servants were allowed to leave the courtyards of the second branch of the family.
It was the same in all the courtyards. Even the lunch was delivered by two fast servants sent by the kitchen staff after Zijuan paid them a small fee.
Aunt Yang came partly because she wanted to see Xu Shaoqing. Another reason was that she guessed the Second Madam was doing this to guard against Xu Shaoqing and Gu Ting, and to prevent them from doing what they were told to do.
"If Madam really has something to do, please let this old servant inform Madam."
After saying that, the gatekeeper gave a wink to another woman on duty by the gate, and that woman walked away.
The gatekeeper was serious; she would never dare to openly oppose Zheng.
Aunt Yang's face flushed red, and she gave a dry laugh. "In that case, I'll go out another time."
After saying that, he left quickly without waiting for the old woman's reaction.
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After Jiang Shiyi returned from the banquet, Xu Shaoqing brought a bowl of lotus seed porridge and went to her mother's room with a smile.
Seeing her mother take the porridge, pick up a spoon, and scoop up a mouthful to put in her mouth, Xu Shaoqing asked shyly,
"Mother went to the Marquis's residence for a banquet today. Did you see the Second Madam?"
Jiang felt a mouthful of porridge stuck in her throat, unable to spit it out or swallow it down. She closed her eyes briefly.
"No, perhaps the Second Madam is ill. Gu Ting should be on duty at the Guanglu Temple today."
Not having learned anything about her beloved's current situation, Xu Shaoqing was slightly disappointed. She sat for a while longer before hurrying back to embroider her wedding dress. Then she took her leave.
Jiang forced a smile, suppressing a sob in her throat, and said, "Go quickly!"
After she left, her head maidservant stepped forward to serve her, carefully coaxing the mistress.
"Miss is so filial; she specially instructed the kitchen to cook lotus seed porridge."
This is because my wife has been out all day; she'll need a bowl of this to clear heat, detoxify, and not cause internal heat.
At this moment, a sob rose in Jiang's throat, tears welled in her eyes, and her voice was filled with sorrow. She asked the old woman Gui, who was standing to the side,
"Have you chosen the person who will accompany the young lady on her wedding day?"
Granny Gui stood to one side with her head down and hands clasped. Hearing the question, she raised her head and glanced at Madam Jiang.
"The choices are all made. Gui Xiang and Gui Lan were chosen as the first-class maids, along with Lin Mama, who serves the young lady. Two maids were chosen as the second-class maids, and none of the third-class maids went."
The number of people in the third young master's courtyard is not enough to bring everyone along.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "As for the dowry of fields, shops, silver, and banknotes, how much is it? It should be decided by the lady."
Jiang remained silent for a long time. After a while, she picked up her teacup and took a sip of strong tea.
"My third brother received 20% of our mother's dowry back then, and the family fortune he has accumulated over the years should be handed over to his heir."
"Qing'er's dowry will come from what Mother received back then; let's take thirty percent of it."
Granny Gui thought to herself, "Thirty percent? That's too little, isn't it? Back then, Third Master sold several shops in good locations to go to sea, and he also used some of the silver notes left by the old lady."
Of the remaining items, only two were in good condition, and both were located on less busy streets.
Needless to say, the estate money—with only 20%, the girl would only receive two small estates outside the city, 30,000 taels of silver notes, and two shops.
This is less than one-tenth of the dowry the Earl's family had originally prepared for the girl.
But Madam Jiang was determined. Not only that, she also replaced the two good shops that Granny Gui had given to the young lady.
They didn't give them the two good ones, only two small shops in the inner city that were actually remote and deserted. The monthly profit was only about ten taels.
On the surface, however, there is nothing wrong with it, which is why no one can find fault with it at all.
The adopted son of the third brother should be the one to receive the good things. It wouldn't be right for Xu Shaoqing to take all the good shops and estates at once.
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