Chapter 166
Yang Zheng was kidnapped. For Yang Zheng's reputation, the servants of the Xing'an Marquis' Mansion did not dare to make a big deal about it. They sent people to look for Yang Zheng's accomplices and sent people to the Chu family to ask for explanation.
The people of the Chu family and the Yang family did not find Chu Chengmao and Yang Zheng. Instead, Yang Zheng drove a carriage with Chu Chengmao, who was drunk and asleep, back to the city. Not only were the people of the Xing'an Marquis' Mansion dumbfounded, but the Chu family was also confused.
However, Yang Zheng said in person that the kidnapping was a misunderstanding. Even if the people of the Xing'an Marquis' Mansion wanted to make trouble again, they could not find a reason.
When the news reached the palace, Jiang Yanyi sighed with Feng Shuo while eating: "I didn't expect that my second brother looked old-fashioned, but he was actually an interesting person. He drove out of the city that day to take Princess Jiawu to Yanghu to watch the sunset."
Feng Shuo was eating, just looking at her and didn't say anything.
That evening, the eunuch on duty in the study came to tell Jiang Yanyi: "Your Majesty invites you to the Zhaixing Tower."
The Zhaixing Tower in the palace was built by the previous emperor. It is said that the previous emperor wanted to ascend to the throne of heaven from the Zhaixing Tower. The location of the Zhaixing Tower was calculated by a sorcerer and it was found to be a blessed place for immortals. Each step in the tower was paved with white jade, and the outside was covered with nine-colored double-eaved arches. In the sunlight, the glazed tiles on the arches seemed to be shrouded in a layer of golden light, majestic and sacred.
Jiang Yanyi didn't know whether the Zhaixing Tower was a blessed place for immortals, but the division of the stars in the sky could be seen clearly from the Zhaixing Tower. Every year, the officials of the Qintianjian would go up to the tower to observe the stars when they predicted the national fortune.
She wondered in her heart why Feng Shuo suddenly invited her to the Zhaixing Tower. She went to the appointment with full of doubts. The sedan chair stopped at the Zhaixing Tower. Looking at the towering building in front of her, Jiang Yanyi was very shocked by the ingenious ideas of the ancient architects.
Whether from the gorgeous appearance or the load-bearing capacity of the pavilion, it was unprecedented and unparalleled.
In the torrent of light, many skilled craftsmen emerged in all walks of life. Some built a platform that amazed the hundreds of years, some fired a piece of porcelain that was passed down through the ages, and some made a painting that was recorded in later generations...
Jiang Yanyi traveled from a different world thousands of years later, and always felt awe for these things full of ingenuity and wisdom.
Life in later generations is becoming more and more convenient and fast, but many things are not as good as in this generation. Perhaps it is because people are easily impetuous, and fewer and fewer people are willing to spend more than ten years to learn a skill. Those crafts that once amazed the world will eventually be slowly forgotten.
When I climbed up to the Zhaixing Tower, I felt that the wind blowing in my face was a little cool.
Jiang Yanyi saw Feng Shuo who was waiting here early. He didn't like to wear a golden dragon robe. The dragon robes sewed for him by the palace maids in the Shangyi Bureau were mostly black.
The wind blew in his face and poured into his wide sleeves. His hair and sleeves danced together, and the golden dragon on the lapel seemed to come alive.
"Why did you ask me to come here?" Jiang Yanyi walked forward slowly.
Feng Shuo didn't look back, but looked at the red sun that was gradually sinking above the mountain and said, "The sunset here is more beautiful than that in Yanghu Lake."
Jiang Yanyi was stunned for a moment before she realized that he asked her to come here just because she had praised Chu Chengmao for taking Yang Zheng to watch the sunset at the dinner table at noon.
She was a little amused.
It is undeniable that watching the sunset from the Zhaixing Tower is indeed beautiful.
The setting sun is fiery red but no longer glaring. The rays of light fall on the mountains in the distance and the houses in the near distance, so gentle that it makes people intoxicated.
The clouds in the sky seem to be burning, and the deep and shallow red is so magnificent that even famous painters cannot describe it with their brushes.
Jiang Yanyi turned her head to look at Feng Shuo. His handsome features were also shrouded in a layer of rosy clouds, and the golden dragon embroidery on his robe seemed to have turned dark red. Jiang Yanyi
always felt that the dark red set off Feng Shuo. His appearance was seductive but not ostentatious. The majesty of a superior accumulated between his brows was enough to make people ignore his appearance.
She walked over, stood on tiptoe, and kissed him lightly on the chin.
Feng Shuo lowered his eyes, kissed her back on the forehead, hugged her to watch the capital city at sunset, and said: "I won't accompany you to travel around the world and visit famous mountains and rivers, but we can watch the sunrise and sunset for decades."
Inadvertent words are always the most touching.
Jiang Yanyi used to think the word "life after life" was ridiculous, but after meeting Feng Shuo, she hoped that there would be reincarnation in the world and they could stay together forever.
Chu Chengmao and Yang Zheng's wedding date was set for mid-September.
The autumn tiger was raging, and the sun was even hotter than in July.
Yang Xiu led a caravan to search outside the pass and brought back a lot of strange seeds. Jiang Yanyi found cocoa beans and coffee beans among them, and finally had a way to make homemade cola.
She used cocoa beans, cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves to make cola soup, then added brewed coffee, and mixed them together. The color looked like cola, and it smelled a bit like cola, but it tasted like some kind of cold granules melted in water in the future. After adding the boiled caramel and squeezing lemon juice1, the taste was one step closer to cola, but it was still a long way off. 2
Because she only remembered these seasonings and not the specific proportions, Jiang Yanyi relied on smelling and tasting to constantly increase and decrease the proportions of the ingredients. In the end, she almost forgot what real cola tasted like.
The production of carbonated water did not take Jiang Yanyi much effort. The palace's wine had two sources: one was tribute from outside the palace, and the other was the wine brewed by the imperial brewer.
Jiang Yanyi asked the brewer to add a layer of partitions with small gaps to the fermenting wine barrels, put a bowl of water on the partitions, and then seal the wine barrels tightly, so that the carbon dioxide produced by brewing wine will be integrated into the water bowl to form carbonated water.
3 The cola with carbonated water and ice cubes tastes like that, but it is a little bit worse than the real cola.
Jiang Yanyi didn't have the taste of 100% original cola, and excitedly took the cola he experimented with to Feng Shuo to taste. Feng Shuo took a sip and frowned.
There is a burning sensation on the tip of the tongue when it enters the mouth, which is different from the burning sensation of strong liquor entering the throat. It is like the pain caused by the bursting of small bubbles on the tip of the tongue. The taste is a bit sour, but after a careful aftertaste, it seems sweet, which is indescribably strange.
Jiang Yanyi asked him excitedly: "How is it?"
Feng Shuo pursed his lips and savored the taste, and said: "I prefer to drink."
This result made Jiang Yanyi very frustrated. She asked Chenyu and other young palace maids to try it, but this thing looked black, and bubbles rolled in the cup, which was very similar to the legendary Jiu wine in the palace. After all, it is said that Jiu wine also made a "sizzling" sound and foamed when it was spilled on the ground.
One of the young palace maids drank it tremblingly and cried on the spot, which made Jiang Yanyi confused. Did the young palace maid cry?
The young maid burst into tears and said, "My queen, I don't want to die. I have old parents at home..."
So they thought the Coke was poisoned...
Jiang Yanyi's face was full of black lines. He raised his head and drank a glass of iced Coke. He said, "This is the fat house water developed by this palace. I asked you to try it out."
Although the maids didn't know why their queen named it "fat boy water", they were greatly relieved to know that his life was safe.
Jiang Yanyi drank Coke herself and felt that the drink was a bit turbid and not very clear. She tried it repeatedly and finally found that removing the cocoa beans would avoid turbidity and the subtle bitterness in the Coke would also disappear.
She was a little puzzled, thinking that she might have remembered it wrong, and maybe there were no cocoa beans in the ingredients of Coke.
Coke was constantly improving, and the maids in Chengde Palace often helped Jiang Yanyi taste it, and gradually they became fascinated by this kind of strange drink.
Jiang Yanyi made cola too often, and the brewer gradually ran out of carbonated water. Jiang Yanyi relied on the little chemistry knowledge that her high school chemistry teacher had forced upon her, and remembered that sulfuric acid reacted with limestone to produce a large amount of carbon dioxide. Sulfuric acid was called green alum in ancient times, and it was a medicinal material for treating typhoid fever. Jiang Yanyi asked someone to go to the Imperial Hospital to get green alum, and also ordered people to find a lot of limestone, and successfully collected carbon dioxide to make carbonated water. 4
After boiling cola soup many times, Jiang Yanyi also felt that the taste of the cola she made was always wrong. Could it be because she didn't use essential oils extracted from those raw materials?
Thanks to the fact that Zhou became the hub of trade between the Daxuan Dynasty and the surrounding countries, a caravan from the depths of the desert brought perfume to Daxuan. Yang Xiu is now mainly responsible for running the caravan. Bing Shao is nominally the front guard, but in fact he is convenient for communicating with Yang Xiu and then relaying the information to Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi is a one-track mind, so his brain is not very smart. When he heard that there was a caravan selling perfume in the state, his first reaction was not to pull the foreign caravan as soon as possible to monopolize the perfume market, but to let Yang Xiu contact the caravan and let them use new instruments and equipment to extract lemon oil, cinnamon oil and cassia oil, which are the flavors and seasonings for making cola. 5
In the world where Jiang Yanyi originally lived, perfume was first born in Egypt in the 15th century. She came here and opened up a precedent for foreign trade by exporting porcelain, and then caravans brought the perfume of the desert country back to the Great Xuan Dynasty.
It was an accidental opportunity. Yang Xiu went to contact the people of the perfume caravan, but not for the perfume in their hands, but to ask them to help develop and extract what Jiang Yanyi needed, and took this opportunity to make friends.
Later, merchants from all parties saw the dividends brought by perfume and rushed to cooperate with that caravan. Yang Xiu went to bid again, and the caravan directly chose Yang Xiu, an old acquaintance, to cooperate.
Jiang Yanyi drank Coke made from various extracted essences, and looked at the thick banknotes handed over by Yang Xiu, and was a little dumbfounded.
She had monopolized another field and made a lot of money without being seen.
The supply of perfume was limited, and the caravan had to travel a long way from the desert outside the Great Wall to transport it, which resulted in the ladies of the court in the Great Xuan Dynasty having to rely on their connections to bid for a small bottle.
Jiang Yanyi became the middleman of the supply, controlling all the perfumes in the entire Great Xuan Dynasty. At the wedding of Chu Chengmao and Yang Zheng, he was so rich that he gave Yang Zheng a bottle of perfume of various scents.
As the queen, her gift was placed on a red cloth tray and brought to the Chu Mansion by the eunuchs in the palace, and the people of the city gathered to watch.
The women attending the wedding banquet were so amazed by the number of perfumes that they couldn't help but say something sourly about Yang Zheng being lucky.
It is said that fortune and misfortune go hand in hand. Jiang Yanyi finally made a cola that tasted 90% similar to Coke, and made enough money from perfume. She was very happy, but then she was hit hard.
She took a lot of green alum from the Imperial Hospital, and ordered people to find limestone. Some palace maids who didn't know about it also said that she was messing with some strange bottles and jars every day. The ministers who had repeatedly tried to let Feng Shuo select the beauties but were blocked by Feng Shuo were very happy, because they
finally caught Jiang Yanyi. The rumor spread from one to ten, and from ten to a hundred. In the end, it turned out that Jiang Yanyi knew witchcraft and seduced Feng Shuo, which made him favor her.
Feng Shuo put the memorial impeaching Jiang Yanyi for refining the elixir in front of her, and Jiang Yanyi was stunned.
"I refine the elixir?" She looked confused.
Feng Shuo rubbed her head and said, "You have a good reputation among the people. Those old men have been unable to find any stains to discredit you. Now that they have this opportunity, they will not let it go."
Jiang Yanyi did not expect that she just wanted to drink a Coke, but she would get into such a big trouble.
It was disgusting to be framed. She originally thought that she was the only one in the palace, and there was no intrigue in the palace, so she did not strictly discipline the palace people. Now that such a thing happened, it was inevitable to rectify it.
Yang Zheng and Madam An Shao often went to the palace to accompany Jiang Yanyi. They had all drunk the Coke she made and knew the malicious intentions of those ministers who spread the rumors.
Yang Zheng was so angry that she slammed the table: "They said that Fatty Tea is a magical water that has been cast with evil spells. So it is a magical water? Didn't they say before that Your Majesty, you are refining the elixir? Now they are talking in a different tone, and they have the nerve to shout that they want to force their own daughter into the palace, and they have to use the name of thinking about the heirs of Your Majesty. This scholar opens his mouth and says that shit and urine are fragrant."
Madam An was not as outspoken as Yang Zheng, but she also said that An Yongyuan said that the ministers in the court used the fact that Feng Shuo had no heirs and Jiang Yanyi refined the magical water to live in the palace. Yang Zheng saw Madam An giving her the prescription and slapped her head, remembering that before she entered the palace, Madam Chu
also gave her a prescription and asked her to bring it to Jiang Yanyi. She quickly took it out from her sleeve pocket and said, "Grandmother also asked me to bring you a prescription." Jiang Yanyi was helpless with
two prescriptions for conditioning her body.
She and Feng Shuo had been married for less than a year, and they were not in a hurry. When the ministers submitted a memorial for the first time to select the beauty, Feng Shuo realized that the offspring was the reason why the ministers asked him to select the beauty, so he always wanted to have a child with Jiang Yanyi.
However, Jiang Yanyi's stomach was still not moving. The imperial physician came to check her pulse every now and then to regulate her body. She also paid great attention to nourishing her body with her diet. The imperial physician said that she was in good health. Feng Shuo had heard of men with infertility, so he asked the imperial physician to check Jiang Yanyi's pulse without her knowledge. The imperial physician said frankly that he was in good health and had no worries about having children.
He didn't know where he got this secret recipe from. Every time he tortured Jiang Yanyi, he would stay inside and refused to come out, saying that this would help her conceive. However, after trying many times, he still couldn't conceive.
Feng Shuo used tough measures to suppress the ministers who were making a fuss in the court. He was worried that Jiang Yanyi would be bored in the palace alone, so he asked her to go back to the Chu family to stay for a few days to relax.
Jiang Yanyi also wanted to go back to see Old Madam Chu so that she wouldn't worry about her.
Everything in the Chu family remained the same except for the addition of a mistress.
The eldest grandson of the Chu family, Chu Nian'an, was almost two years old. He was a chubby little boy who staggered when he walked, but loved to run around. The nanny followed him all day long, fearing that he would stumble or fall.
Old Madam Chu asked her to hold the chubby little Nian'an more, saying that if she had a chance to have a child, she might have one when she returned.
Jiang Yanyi didn't have excessive expectations for the child, but when she held the sweet and soft little chubby boy, saw him holding a piece of milk cake with his fat paws, and called her aunt in a baby voice with his big round eyes, her heart melted.
Xue looked at Chu Nian'an and smiled from ear to ear. Chu Nian'an was covered in cakes and pastries, but she didn't mind at all and took the child to him. She wiped Chu Nian'an's chubby paws carefully with her hand. It was obvious that she loved this child and raised him as her own.
Xue was always considerate in dealing with people. After Yang Zheng came into the family, she gave up the right to manage the family income and concentrated on helping Jiang Yanyi run the business. The financial income of the eldest wife now mainly depended on Xue. Liu and her son had no say in the Chu family and dared not treat Xue harshly anymore. Instead, they tried to curry favor
with her. Yang Zheng was also a person who treated others well if they were a little bit nice to her. She got along very well with Xue.
As soon as Chu Chengmao got married, Chu Shubao and Chu Jiabao also had to prepare for marriage. Old Madam Chu had a lot of things to worry about, but the two girls didn't worry about marriage. They just said that everything was up to the family. Privately, they focused on the rouge business.
Chu Shubao's rouge business grew bigger and bigger, and she opened several shops in the capital. Because of Jiang Yanyi's relationship, she got to know the Zhao family, who specialized in rouge, and became business allies with the Zhao family. When Jiang Yanyi returned to the Chu family this time, the two sisters told Jiang Yanyi a lot about business.
What Jiang Yanyi missed most was, of course, Chu Yangui.
After Madam Jiang left, she felt that this child could not find a sense of belonging.
She specifically asked Chenyu to pass a message to the gate, asking Chu Yangui to inform her when he returned from court, but Chu Yangui did not return home until dark, and only asked a waiter from the restaurant to come back and tell him that he had an appointment with several colleagues and would not be back for dinner.
Jiang Yanyi had dinner with the Chu family, and the Chu family all said that Feng Shuo asked Jiang Yanyi to come back just to relax her, so during the dinner, she did not mention a word about the court officials slandering her for pressuring Feng Shuo to select talents. In
the evening, Jiang Yanyi returned to her own courtyard, and then asked the secret guards assigned to her by Feng Shuo to check Chu Yangui's whereabouts.
Based on her understanding of Chu Yangui, Chu Yangui was not the kind of person who would make friends with others and make appointments to have dinner in a restaurant. Chu Yangui suddenly behaved abnormally at the height of the storm when she was impeached by the court officials. There must be a reason for it.
As soon as the midnight arrived, Chu Yangui's carriage returned to the Chu Mansion. When he entered the mansion, the gatekeeper said respectfully: "Fifth Young Master, the queen has returned to visit her relatives, and asked you to go to Zitan Garden."
Zitan Garden was the courtyard of Jiang Yanyi's Chu family.
Chu Yangui put one hand behind his back. The wide court robe made him look a little thin. The lantern hanging high in front of the mansion door cast a layer of dim soft light on his elegant face, making him look more gentle and harmless.
Chu Yangui nodded and said: "I know, I had a few drinks with my colleagues, and I smell of alcohol. I will go back to the courtyard to change clothes before going to see my sister."
The gatekeeper nodded repeatedly.
Chu Yangui walked a few steps and he looked up again, only to see a lot of blood on the sleeve that Chu Yangui was carrying behind him.
The blood was dotted, and it didn't look like Chu Yangui's blood, but someone else's blood sprayed on his sleeve.