Chapter 132

The manor that Jiang Yanyi bought was not located in a remote area. After buying it, someone was hired to renovate it. Now it looks as good as new.

On weekdays, a couple in their fifties were responsible for cleaning the manor.

Before leaving, Jiang Yanyi sent a message to the manor maid to prepare the room.

When they arrived, everything was ready.

The manor was surrounded by mountains and rivers. When you lift the curtains of the carriage and look out, you can see the fresh green of early spring. Farmers working in the fields would occasionally straighten up and look for a while when they saw a carriage passing by on the official road.

Children with pigtails curiously chased after the carriage, making noises or laughing, full of fresh air.

The carriage stopped in front of the manor, and the big dog tied at the gate immediately started barking. Mrs. Liu and her husband hurried out to greet them, "The boss is here."

Jiang Yanyi was in the same carriage as Madam An. After getting off the carriage, she helped Madam An. The dog barked loudly and rushed forward. The dog rope around its neck could hardly hold it. Madam An protected her belly and moved back to avoid it.

Jiang Yanyi took a half step forward to protect Madam An and said to the old man, "Uncle Liu, take the dog to the woodshed."

The old man responded quickly and took the barking dog away.

Chu Yangui, Chu Zhong, and Duke Chen were in the same carriage. Chu Zhong took down the wheelchair first, and then carried Chu Yangui down.

After entering the gate, there was no courtyard inside, but a long bluestone path. On both sides of the path, purple clouds were like clouds. After a closer look, I found that it was a patch of orchids. It was the season when orchids bloomed, and the air was filled with an elegant orchid fragrance.

Duke Chen had seen many beautiful mountains and rivers, and when he saw this orchid path, he couldn't help but praise it: "It's a wonderful place."

The old woman who led the way smiled and said: "These orchids were planted by the owner when the manor was renovated."

In late winter and early spring, orchids on the mountain are not rare in the countryside, but it took some effort to find this whole patch.

Madam An Shao said with a smile: "Yanyi is a person who understands elegance, unlike me, who is a vulgar person. If you really give me a piece of land, I don't know how to prepare it."

Jiang Yanyi said: "Don't tease me, I envy you for your leisurely life. General An has taken care of everything inside and outside the mansion, so you don't have to worry about it."

Several people talked and laughed as they walked through the Youlan Path.

At the end of the path was a crooked date tree, with wisteria flowers entwined on the tree. The whole tree was wrapped in garlands of flowers, with thousands of purple flower spikes hanging down, forming a natural arch. The ground was also covered with a layer of lavender fallen flowers, which made people reluctant to step on it.

When Jiang Yanyi passed by, he picked a bunch of wisteria flowers, brought it to his nose and sniffed it, saying: "Pick some and make wisteria cakes, and send one to the Grand Empress Dowager and Grandmother." When they

arrived in the yard, Mrs. Liu took a teapot and made tea for them: "There is nothing good in the countryside, but the water for making tea is the spring water that the old man brought back from the mountain early in the morning. It is said that it tastes better when making tea."

Jiang Yanyi and Mrs. An Shao had no knowledge of tea ceremony. They drank a cup of tea purely to quench their thirst. Only Duke Chen squinted his eyes in satisfaction.

After drinking tea, Duke Chen and Chu Yangui set up the chessboard and started playing chess. Since playing a game of chess with Feng Shuo during the New Year, Chu Yangui has now focused on chess.

It was still a while before noon, and Jiang Yanyi went to check on the peppers. Mrs. Chen and her husband took good care of the peppers, and they had already been planted in the field.

To avoid any accidents, the pepper fields were surrounded by fences made of thorn vines, and dogs were tied to the gates of the fences. If a stranger approached the pepper fields, the big dogs would bark wildly.

Jiang Yanyi smiled and said to Madam Chen, "You are so thoughtful."

"If it weren't for you, the shopkeeper, giving Dalang and me such a good job, and borrowing money to pay for my parents-in-law's medical treatment, our Chen family wouldn't be where we are today." Madam Chen also changed the way she addressed Jiang Yanyi, "Dalang and I are both rough people, and we can only repay you for your kindness by taking good care of the pepper fields."

Jiang Yanyi knew that letting her call her the same way as before might make Madam Chen uncomfortable, so she didn't dwell on the address and said, "Don't say that. You and I know each other, and I treated your father and mother and prescribed medicine for them. How can we not have this little bit of affection?" Madam

Chen felt embarrassed by what Jiang Yanyi said, and she grinned, feeling even more grateful in her heart.

She learned that Jiang Yanyi wanted to go to the fields to catch snails. She was familiar with the area, so she led Jiang Yanyi to the nearby paddy fields.

There was a lot of silt in the fields. When you stepped on it and lifted it up, the gray-black mud was all the way to your calves.

Jiang Yanyi was wearing a light-colored flowered skirt. She couldn't go to the fields to catch them herself, so she watched from the shore as several farmers called by Mrs. Chen helped catch snails.

After the snails were rinsed in a bucket of clean water, Jiang Yanyi picked out the snails that were big, round, and had thin shells. The difference in weight between the snails with more meat and the snails with less meat was obvious.

While picking snails, Jiang Yanyi asked the farmers, "I see you have a lot of snails here. Have you taken them to the market to sell?"

A simple-looking man replied, "These are green snails grown in the lotus fields. They are the most plump after the Mid-Autumn Festival. At that time, many wealthy families in Xizhou City eat snails. But we are all farmers, and we don't have that way. I couldn't find a wine shop to sell snails, so I had to carry a bucket of them on market days. "

Jiang Yanyi asked, "How much do you sell them for?"

The man said, "What kind of meat can there be in them? They won't make much money. A good-looking live snail costs only five cents per pound."

Farmers sell snails for five cents per pound, but if you buy snails from vendors at the market, you'll have to pay at least eight cents.

Jiang Yanyi knew what he was doing and picked up half a bucket of snails. When he was going back, Mrs. Chen wanted to ask a farmer to help deliver the snails to the farm, but she saw a skinny little girl following Jiang Yanyi, who lifted the bucket with one hand without any effort, so she took back the words that were on her lips.

Jiang Yanyi said to Chen Niangzi: "Before Qingming Festival, I will send people to the village to collect snails. The good ones are five copper coins per pound, and the inferior ones are four copper coins. Please send a message to the villagers."

Chen Niangzi was overjoyed when she heard it: "Shopkeeper, you are not doing business, you are a living Bodhisattva!"

Farmers have few idle months, and April is doubly busy.

① Farmers have to be busy with sowing for the whole year. Now, even if they know that someone is collecting snails in March and transporting them to the city to sell, I am afraid that few people have the time. But if Jiang Yanyi finds someone to collect them himself, how can the people in the village miss this great opportunity to make money?

In the countryside, it is very difficult for people to earn a few coins except for working hard in the fields.

When Jiang Yanyi returned to the manor, Mrs. Liu had already started a fire in the kitchen to cook. She took Huo Jianjia to take the snails over.

Mrs. An originally wanted to come to the kitchen to help, but she was suffering from morning sickness and couldn't stop vomiting when she smelled the fishy smell of oil. Jiang Yanyi asked her to go to the yard to have a good rest.

"The snails in March this year are as big as those after the Mid-Autumn Festival in previous years. Does the boss plan to fry these snails?" Mrs. Liu took a look at the snails in the bucket, and her face was almost wrinkled with laughter.

Jiang Yanyi added some salt into the bucket and said, "Spit out the sand for a day and do it tomorrow."

She turned around and saw the bacon washed by Mrs. Liu on the stove, and remembered the Chinese toon tree she saw on the way back: "This bacon will taste better if mixed with Chinese toon."

Mrs. Liu smiled and said, "There is a Chinese toon tree on the farm. I asked the old man to pick it. I'll kill an old hen and make soup later. What do you think, host?"

Jiang Yanyi said, "The lady who came with me has morning sickness and can't eat. Let's kill a duck and cook it with some sour radish to make duck soup."

"Okay." Mrs. Liu responded and went out.

Jiang Yanyi cut the washed bacon into palm-sized cubes, cooked until chopsticks could easily pierce the pig skin, picked it up, let it cool a little, and cut it into slices of appropriate thickness.

This piece of bacon is half fat and half lean, the lean meat is dark red, and the fat is light golden, which looks quite good.

After picking Chinese toon, Mr. Liu went to help his wife process the duck meat. Chinese

toon may contain trace toxins when used directly in cooking, so it must be blanched to remove the toxins.

Jiang Yanyi blanched the Chinese toon and cut it into small pieces. After the pot was heated, a small spoonful of sesame oil was placed along the edge of the pot. When the oil was hot, the bacon was fried. The bottom of the pot was moistened with oil, and the bacon did not stick to the pot at all after being put into the pot. After frying out some of the fat, the Chinese toon was poured in and stir-fried.

Chinese toon is very fragrant, and after being fried in hot oil, the fragrance overflows directly into the kitchen.

Jiang Yanyi added some rice wine and a small spoonful of salt, stir-fried evenly, and then removed from the pot. No other spices were used to prevent the original fragrance of bacon and Chinese toon from being covered.

Mrs. Liu had already cleaned the duck. Under Jiang Yanyi's guidance, Mrs. Liu blanched the duck to remove the blood, added ginger, cooking wine, star anise, and cinnamon, and stewed it for an hour before adding the chopped pickled radish. After boiling over high heat, turn to low heat and simmer for half an hour before serving.

During this period, several villagers who had heard Mrs. Chen's words, some brought a basket of spring bamboo shoots, some caught an old hen, and some picked up a dozen eggs... all came to the farm to give gifts to Jiang Yanyi, and thanked him profusely, asking when he would come to collect snails. Jiang Yanyi left one after another after giving them the confirmation.

Mrs. An smiled and said, "I finally understand what my grandmother often said about doing good deeds for business and you will have good fortune."

Jiang Yanyi said, "Most of the good fields in this village are planted with lotus roots. If the roads are better, using ox carts to pull the lotus roots to other places to sell is also a way."

Due to transportation restrictions, many things here can only be produced and sold locally.

Since there are spring bamboo shoots, a dish of bamboo shoots stewed with meat was added to the lunch.

Mr. Su Dongpo, the "glutton", once wrote a doggerel for bamboo shoots stewed with meat: No bamboo makes people vulgar, no meat makes people thin, neither vulgar nor thin, bamboo shoots stewed with pork.

Since it has won such praise from Mr. Dongpo, this bamboo shoots stewed with meat must be a great delicacy.

Spring bamboo shoots are fresh and tender, but they have a bitter taste. Jiang Yanyi first blanchs them in water to remove the bitter taste and cuts them into slices. Cut the pork, which is 70% lean and 30% fat, into small pieces and blanch it with ginger slices for later use.

Pour oil into the pot, add the meat first after the oil temperature rises, stir-fry until it changes color, then add salt, green onion, ginger, garlic, pepper, star anise, bay leaf, and add a spoonful of cooking wine. The pot immediately "sizzles" and steam rises. Jiang Yanyi quickly stir-frys it with a spatula.

When the aroma is fully integrated into the meat, sugar and soy sauce are added, and the brown sugar color is fried. Water is added and stewed for a quarter of an hour. When the meat is 70% cooked, bamboo shoots are added and stewed for another half a quarter of an hour to collect the juice. After serving, not only the meat but also the bamboo shoots are coated with a beautiful reddish brown color.

When the meal started, Jiang Yanyi asked Madam An to drink a bowl of sour radish and duck soup first to whet her appetite. Madam An was very satisfied with the meal and did not vomit again.

Duke Chen liked the bamboo shoot stewed meat the most and asked Jiang Yanyi to cook this dish often after returning home.

Chu Yangui was silent as usual at the dinner table, and basically only picked up the dish in front of him. Jiang Yanyi picked up two pieces of braised meat for him: "Yangui is growing up, eat more."

Chu Yangui's height has increased rapidly since he got older. His figure is still thin, but his shoulders are much wider than before. After his facial features have opened up, the outline of his face has become clearer, and he has the shadow of an adult man. His

legs can't walk like a normal person, but he can still get out of bed with the help of crutches, and most of the time he uses a wheelchair to get around.

When Jiang Yanyi was learning the crossbow, he also learned a set of swordsmanship from Chu Zhong. In his own words, he didn't expect to become famous, but just to strengthen his body.

Jiang Yanyi was a little skeptical that a rooster would get up after crowed three times and use a wheelchair to practice swordplay just to strengthen its body.

There was only so much she could do for Chu Yangui. She had already advised him indirectly. Jiang Yanyi had no control over what path he would take in the future.

Before going to bed that night, Jiang Yanyi saw that Madam An was looking at the moon in the yard in a daze. Knowing that she was probably missing An Yongyuan, she joked, "We've only been apart for one day, and you're already missing each other by the moon?"

Madam An smiled embarrassedly, "No matter how busy the general is, he will send someone to my yard to tell me so that I can rest early and don't have to wait for him. Sometimes he comes back late, and he doesn't want to disturb me, so he just comes to my bed to take a look, and then goes to sleep on the couch outside..."

Jiang Yanyi felt a little yearning after hearing this, but said, "Well, I wanted to stay You stayed for ten days or half a month, and you've been missing

someone for only one day. I'll send you back tomorrow." Madam An said with emotion, "I admire you, Yanyi, from the bottom of my heart. You are a capable person. You can make a way for yourself in this life without relying on anyone. I'm useless, so I can only miss my family and a person."

Jiang Yanyi said, "You miss him so much, but that person is worthy of your miss."

She rolled her eyes and suddenly asked, "Have you ever quarreled with General An?"

Madam An nodded.

Jiang Yanyi asked curiously, "Did you lower yourself to coax him, or did he coax you?"

Madam An Shao didn't know what she was thinking about, her face slowly turned red, and her voice was as soft as a mosquito's hum, "Both."

She knew that Jiang Yanyi and Feng Shuo were engaged, and thought that Jiang Yanyi might want to learn some advice from her. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "The general has a dull personality and doesn't talk much..."

Her face turned even redder, and finally she said, "Yanyi, you will marry the prince in the future, so just try to indulge in those things. If a man gets the sweetness in that matter, he will indulge women in other things."

Jiang Yanyi was just curious at first, but he didn't expect Madam An Shao to say such words, and his face turned red.

Madam An said uncomfortably: "Yanyi, I... I only tell you these things because I treat you as my own sister. It's really embarrassing."

Jiang Yanyi nodded quickly: "I know, I know."

Perhaps because the conversation before going to bed was too shocking, Jiang Yanyi had a dream for the first time that night.

In the dream, it was in the study of Feng Mansion. Feng Shuo held her hand and taught her calligraphy as before. He was always frivolous in front of her, and he kissed her face.

She raised her head to look at him, but her chin was clamped again, forcing her to look up and accept his kiss.

The pen, ink, paper and inkstone were all knocked over. He pressed her down on the desk. The instigator kissed her neck, and picked up a pen and handed it to her. His voice was low and hoarse: "Ayi, if you don't write well, you will be punished."

The ending tone with a hint of smile was very seductive, like a hook, hooking her soul.

Her hands were shaking so much that she could hardly hold the brush. There were tears in her eyes, but the corners of her eyes were an alluring crimson...

In the darkness, Feng Shuo suddenly opened his eyes. After a moment, his eyes adapted to the light and found that he was in the Yuzhou military tent. After slowly exhaling a breath of stale air, his breathing was still a little heavy.

He got up and washed his face casually with the cold water in the wooden basin, then he suppressed the romantic thoughts caused by the absurdity in his dream.

At his age, full of vigor and vitality, with someone in his heart, he had dreamed about Jiang Yanyi many times, but none of them could make him so moved.

Perhaps, he really missed her.

Feng Shuo was distracted for a moment when he looked at his reflection in the basin under the candlelight.

It was still early in the morning. When he walked out of the tent, the bonfire in the brazier was still burning, and only a line of gray and white was revealed in the distant sky.

"Your Highness." The guards in front of the big tent clasped their fists respectfully to him.

Feng Shuo said: "Bring Wuyun here."

He couldn't fall asleep now, so he might as well ride a horse and go out for a walk and patrol the camp.

The Yuzhou garrison had just fought with the imperial heavy cavalry. After the heavy cavalry under Han Tuo was decimated, only a few hundred men were left, and they were not able to fight against the imperial heavy cavalry at all.

Chu Changping was good at using troops, but facing the heavy cavalry that was unstoppable in front of the battle, he felt a bit powerless, as if "a good cook cannot cook without rice".

If Feng Shuo had not led his troops to rush in time and attacked the infantry formation behind the imperial army, causing the heavy cavalry to turn around, the gate of Yuzhou would have been captured.

Yuzhou, which had just experienced a hard battle, was exhausted from the inside out.

The soldiers who had just changed their posts did not have time to return to their tents and fell asleep leaning against the wall.

Wu Yun was humane, and the sound of horse hooves became lighter as he passed the city tower.

Feng Shuo looked at the city that had just experienced war, and his eyes became silent.

Military Doctor Hu also followed the army south this time. He stayed up all night to boil medicine for the wounded soldiers. He dozed off while watching the fire by the stove because he was too tired. He woke up with a fall. When he saw Feng Shuo, he quickly stood up and bowed, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

Feng Shuo said, "No need to be polite."

He glanced at the wounded soldiers who were either sleeping or groaning in pain in the large pharmacy in the camp, and asked, "What's the situation?"

Military Doctor Hu said, "We have brought all the medicine from all the pharmacies in Yuzhou City, and called all the doctors who can be used, but if it continues like this, I'm afraid there won't be enough medicine."

"What herbs are missing?"

Doctor Hu sighed and said, "The more hemostatic herbs such as pollen, Imperata root, Herba Cibotii, and Radix Sanguisorbae, the better."

Feng Shuo's face was cold: "I will send someone to Yuzhou to buy them."