Chapter 57: I opened a store exactly like yours...
Feng Shuo looked at her with a frown, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, nothing." Jiang Yanyi hurriedly picked up the book that had fallen on the ground.
Feng Shuo said bluntly: "What are you afraid of?"
Jiang Yanyi's face was almost wrinkled into a bun. She was about to say something, but suddenly heard a few faint cat calls coming from outside the house. The words on her lips turned into: "Does your mansion have cats?"
Feng Shuo said: "No, maybe it's because the weather has been cold recently, and the mansion has lit the floor dragon, and the wild cats nearby came to keep warm."
The kitchen doors and windows of Feng Mansion are locked at night. On weekdays, the servants also clean the kitchen very cleanly. There are no mice in the kitchen. In addition, the Grand Concubine does not like cats, so usually there is not even a cat hair in the mansion.
When he heard the cat calling, Feng Shuo felt a little strange.
Jiang Yanyi heard the cats' meows sounded very immature, and thought they were probably kittens. She said, "I'll go out and take a look."
She followed the sound and opened the fern bush outside Feng Shuo's house. Sure enough, she found a litter of newly born kittens at the fire wall of the ground dragon. There were about four or five kittens at a glance, some white, some orange, and some spotted, and all of them had not yet opened their eyes.
The mother cat was not there, and the kittens were probably hungry. They huddled together with their eyes closed, and cried with their heads tilted back. Their voices were immature and pitiful.
There was basically nothing to keep them warm except some fallen dead bamboo leaves. The only way for the kittens to survive was through the heat from the floor heating under the house, which also warmed the area outside the wall. There was the eaves above to provide shelter, and a fern cluster in front to block the wind.
Feng Shuo followed Jiang Yanyi in a cloak. When he saw the litter of kittens, he frowned: "Where did these kittens come from? Where is the mother cat?"
Jiang Yanyi said: "Maybe she went out to find food."
She looked at the sparse top of the asparagus fern bush and said worriedly: "If it snows, I'm afraid these kittens won't be able to survive here."
Feng Shuo glanced at her: "Do you want to raise them?"
Jiang Yanyi nodded, and looked at Feng Shuo with a bit of flattery: "I don't have a floor heating system there, so I'll move the kittens over there now. I'm afraid they will be frozen to death. And if the mother cat comes back and can't find the kittens, these kittens will have nothing to eat. Can they be kept here for the time being?"
Feng Shuo nodded prudently: "You can borrow this place to raise these little beasts, but I don't have the time to feed them."
Jiang Yanyi said immediately: "I will come here to feed them every day!"
The kittens still rely on the big cat for milk, and she only needs to bring some food to feed the big cat every day. When she thought that if all the kittens survived, she would have a lot of cats to pet, Jiang Yanyi's eyes were immediately filled with smiles.
When Feng Shuo heard her say that she would come to feed the cats every day, he curled his lips imperceptibly and said, "Okay."
Jiang Yanyi squatted in the asparagus fern bushes, reached out and gently touched a milky orange kitten. The kitten closed its eyes and raised its head, and made a long cry. Its mouth and nose were pink, and its two pitiful little ears were pressed against its head, only lightly covered with a layer of fur.
Jiang Yanyi's heart was almost melted, and he gently touched its head twice with his fingertips.
Feng Shuo seemed to be thinking about something when he saw this: "Do you like cats?"
Jiang Yanyi said: "Who wouldn't like such cute little things?"
She withdrew her hand and got out of the asparagus bush: "I'll go back and find some warm old clothes to make a nest for them."
Feng Shuo called her: "Do you have old clothes?"
This question really made Jiang Yanyi feel uncomfortable. She and Qiu Kui's clothes were just bought after they left the military camp. They didn't have any old clothes. Even the sheets and quilts were new. She felt a little sad to cut them up and make a nest for the kittens.
Feng Shuo saw that Jiang Yanyi was confused and couldn't answer, so he said, "I have some old clothes in my room."
The old clothes Feng Shuo gave to Jiang Yanyi was a cotton robe. The velvet inside the clothes was very warm. Jiang Yanyi went into the bamboo bushes again and spread the cotton robe in the cat's nest. When she came out, a strand of hair behind her ear was caught by the bamboo branches.
She was unaware of it and said happily, "I'll go back and make cat food!"
Feng Shuo stared at her cheeks, which had turned white and pink due to the busy work, his eyes dimmed, and suddenly reached out his hand behind her ear.
Jiang Yanyi subconsciously wanted to take a step back because of his hand, but she couldn't help it.
Feng Shuo brushed past her ears, causing a tingling sensation, and picked a dry bamboo leaf from her head.
Jiang Yanyi was stunned when she saw the dry leaf in his hand, and smiled embarrassedly: "Thank you."
Feng Shuo threw down the dry bamboo leaf and asked: "Do you have any special food for cats?"
Jiang Yanyi said: "Of course there is. The female cat just gave birth to cubs. I will go back to make something to stimulate the lactation of the female cat."
After she finished speaking, she found that Feng Shuo's expression was a little subtle. Jiang Yanyi realized that what she said just now was inappropriate. This was ancient times, and she was too straightforward.
Jiang Yanyi was immediately embarrassed and wanted to find a place to hide. Fortunately, Feng Shuo did not continue the topic.
She took the food box and was about to go back home when she thought of Aunt Guo again and asked, "By the way, is Aunt Guo okay?"
When she was rescued by Chu Changping that day, she was relieved to see Aunt Guo coming and she seemed to be uninjured. Later, she was distracted too much by the exposure of her identity. She had not come to Feng Mansion for the past few days to recuperate and had not had time to tell Feng Shuo about Aunt Guo.
She asked this, obviously not minding that Aunt Guo was someone he sent.
Feng Shuo said slowly: "The anniversary of her late husband's death is in these few days, and she asked for leave from me to go back to pay homage to her late husband."
Jiang Yanyi's heart sank, remembering the expression on Aunt Guo's face when she told her about her late husband. She asked: "Is Aunt Guo's late husband really a butcher?"
Feng Shuo nodded: "She was originally a maid in the family of Marquis Mu Wu, and the butcher was her fellow villager. Five years ago, the Mu family was raided, and she protected the two young masters of the Mu family and escaped. Her late husband died under the sword of the imperial guards in order to protect her."
Jiang Yanyi sighed, and felt that the original body seemed to have heard someone talk about the raid on the Mu family, and she had a faint impression of it in her mind.
She thought for a long time and finally remembered a name: "Is there a young man named Mu Xuanqing in the Mu family?"
Feng Shuo's eyes narrowed, and there was a trace of sadness in his eyes, and something else: "Do you know him?"
Jiang Yanyi shook her head: "No, I just suddenly remembered the second lady of the Xie family who promised to marry my cousin."
The Xie family was powerful, and the second lady of the Xie family was originally engaged to Mu Xuanqing, the son of Wu Hou. Who would have thought that such a big thing happened in the Mu family, and the marriage between the two families was naturally invalid. Others were afraid of being implicated by the Mu family, so they kept their distance from the second lady of the Xie family, the former fiancée of the son of Wu Hou.
The Xie family was worried about their daughter's marriage, but the families with equal status were unwilling to marry them because they were afraid of being involved with the Mu family. Those with lower status who came to ask for marriage were not good enough. Seeing that the second daughter Xie was already 29 years old and had become an old girl, the Xie family was even more worried.
Two years ago, her cousin Chu Chengmao was the second in the imperial examination and wanted to marry the second daughter Xie. At that time, Chu Changping was still the general of Yunzhou. Chu Chengmao was the best choice in terms of family background, character and appearance. The Xie family immediately agreed to the marriage.
Unexpectedly, it was the second daughter Xie who stood up and said no. She said that she was not worthy of Chu Chengmao, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that she was keeping her chastity for the prince of Wu Hou, Mu Xuanqing.
Feng Shuo had also heard about the affairs of the Chu and Xie families. When the cold wind blew, he subconsciously raised his hand and pressed the big scar that had been torn all the way to his shoulder blade. His expression was silent: "He originally had the opportunity to go back and marry the second lady Xie..."
Seeing his expression, Jiang Yanyi suddenly remembered what Chi Qing had told her before, that his brother had blocked the fatal axe for Feng Shuo, and that Aunt Guo was a maid of the Mu family, but now she was devoted to Feng Shuo...
She had a bold guess: Chi Qing, maybe he was the young master of the Mu family. His dead brother was Mu Xuanqing, the son of Wu Hou!
Jiang Yanyi was shocked by his own thoughts.
Feng Shuo might have understood what Jiang Yanyi was thinking, but he did not speak. He just looked up at the sky, his eyes were deep and distant, with an indescribable chill.
He stood in the cold wind, like a peak that no one could climb in the north.
"If even the lives of kings and princes are worthless, how can we live in the dawn?"
His voice was very light, but every word was as heavy as a thousand pounds.
Jiang Yanyi's heart trembled inexplicably. At this moment, she seemed to understand why hundreds of thousands of soldiers under his command believed in him, and the emperor was jealous of him.
When she returned to her own courtyard, Jiang Yanyi was still thinking about what Feng Shuo said in her mind. Her heart beat faster for some reason. She patted her face and secretly hated herself for being useless.
But the look and tone of Feng Shuo when he said that really touched her!
There is a saying that explains the word "like" well: "It starts with appearance, falls into talent, and is loyal to character." This is the first time she has seen his heart as a king since she met Feng Shuo.
Without the battle uniform, he was the noble young man who was willing to play Go with her and accompany her childishness; with the battle robe on, he was the King of Liaoning who shared life and death with his 200,000-strong army.
Jiang Yanyi had some subtle emotions in her heart. It seemed that she really liked Feng Shuo.
But to be fair, Jiang Yanyi couldn't find anything about herself that was worthy of Feng Shuo's liking.
She couldn't think of a reason why she was irreplaceable.
If the reason why Jiang Yanyi was entangled with Feng Shuo's liking for her before was to make herself sober-minded and stay away from him.
Now, what she was thinking about was how she could be on par with Feng Shuo if she was determined to walk this path with him.
In terms of feelings, Jiang Yanyi also felt that she was a little bit cautious. For example, now, she has been thinking, if there really is a day in the future when "time changes but the heart of the old friend", how can she maintain her last dignity.
Let's take a step back, even if Feng Shuo always treats her as before, but they are really together, the future will definitely be difficult. Feng Shuo is a vassal king, and if he wants to gain power, the most stable and close way is probably marriage.
If there really is such a day, Feng Shuo will have no way out, he can only keep going, because once he retreats, the countless people standing behind him will die. Compared with her status and the lives of hundreds of thousands of comrades behind him, how can he choose?
Jiang Yanyi was lost in thought while chopping the pork on the chopping board. The path she decided to take has changed, or she has to replan everything in the future.
She had to be strong to defend everything she wanted to protect.
"Huahua, the meat has been chopped into a paste." Qiu Kui stretched out her hand and waved it in front of Jiang Yanyi.
Jiang Yanyi came to her senses and used two knives to shovel and lift the meat on the chopping board into the plate beside her. "This is meat soup for cats. It doesn't matter if it is chopped finer."
Jiang Yanyi was busy with work in her previous life and never raised a cat, but this did not prevent her from raising cats online. She also watched a lot of videos of cat-raising experts making cat meals, so she had no problem in practice.
Local cats are much easier to raise than pet cats, and they are not so particular about food. However, the big cat now has to feed five kittens, and the body needs enough nutrition to produce enough milk.
The best ingredient for lactation is naturally crucian carp, but crucian carp is expensive, and when the weather gets cold, you may not be able to buy fresh ones on the market. So Jiang Yanyi used pork. She beat an egg and mixed it into the meat paste, put it into a pot of water and cooked it, then scooped it up with the soup.
Cats eat raw meat, so they naturally don’t have any requirements for the taste of food. It is said that salt is not good for cats’ kidneys, so Jiang Yanyi didn’t add any seasoning.
Qiu Kui sat behind the stove and asked, "What was Huahua thinking about just now?"
Jiang Yanyi was putting cat rice into a food box. After thinking for a while, he said, "Thinking about ways to make money."
"We have a lot of people now. When the store is open, buy more pots every day!" Qiu Kui thought Jiang Yanyi was worried that the store would have no income in the past few days.
Jiang Yanyi pursed her lips and smiled: "It's enough to make money from selling hot pots and have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of your life, but it's still a long way from being rich enough to rival a country!"
She couldn't handle the military power with her small body, and she couldn't get in touch with the political power. Only the way to control the economic chain seemed feasible.
Jiang Yanyi took the cooked cat rice to Feng Mansion and put it outside the cat's nest so that the mother cat could eat it as soon as she came back.
Because she was looking forward to the mother cat coming back soon, she stayed in Feng Shuo's room reading books all afternoon, and ran outside the house from time to time to see, but she never saw the mother cat. She couldn't help but worry. It would be bad if the mother cat didn't want this litter of kittens. It would be difficult for newborn kittens to survive without the mother cat.
Fortunately, the warmth of the floor dragon prevented the kittens from freezing. Jiang Yanyi reached out and touched them, and found that each kitten was warm, so she felt relieved.
When she came in from outside again, Feng Shuo was processing official documents at the desk. Seeing this, he couldn't help but say, "Are these little beasts worth your attention?"
Jiang Yanyi said, "They are not as caring as you, Your Majesty. Didn't you order people to put up those wind-blocking partitions under the eaves?"
Feng Shuo said expressionlessly, "It was put up by the servants in the yard. I don't know."
Jiang Yanyi was no longer surprised by his ability to lie with his eyes open.
Without his order, how could the servants in the yard have the courage to put partitions under the eaves.
It's not shameful to like cats. Why is this person so awkward?
Jiang Yanyi couldn't help but imagine that when the cats grew up, he would dislike them in front of others, but would sneak away to pet the cats like a thief behind others' backs. She couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Feng Shuo paused his writing hand and raised his eyebrows to look at her: "What are you laughing at?"
Jiang Yanyi sat by the window, holding the book and changed her posture to read: "Nothing, I'm laughing at the funny things written in the book."
Feng Shuo looked at her suspiciously, and didn't ask any more questions, but there was a little more warmth in his eyes.
He used to think she was timid, but now she is a little bolder, which is quite interesting.
Jiang Yanyi read the book for a while, and when she saw that it was getting late, she went home. When she went out, she happened to run into Xing Yao.
"Miss Jiang." Xing Yao saluted with a fist.
Jiang Yanyi nodded as a return gesture.
Xing Yao walked into the room quickly, and Jiang Yanyi couldn't help but turn her head to take a look. His face looked ugly, and she was afraid that there was something difficult.
They discussed important matters, and she didn't stay at the door for too long, and walked out of the house.
After Xing Yao entered the house, he clasped his fists and said, "Master, we have tried all the possible tortures, but still can't pry open Fan Yaonian's mouth."
The warmth in Feng Shuo's eyes faded away in an instant, and his eyes were as sharp as a knife: "This king will go to interrogate him personally."
Jiang Yanyi's hot pot restaurant was originally planned to resume business the next day, but that afternoon Chu Changping asked his confidant to bring news that there were still chaotic gangs in Xizhou City that had not been cleared out. In order to avoid accidents, she was asked to open the store two days later.
Making money is not as important as life. Jiang Yanyi knew that this matter was probably related to the assassination she encountered when she came back with Feng Shuo. She didn't dare to be careless, so she would still close the store for the next few days. However, she would soon have a cat, so the bacon could be smoked!
The next day after breakfast, Jiang Yanyi took cat food and Feng Shuo's medicinal food to Feng's house. She was surprised to find that the mother cat had returned and was lying in the cat's den. The meat soup on the plate beside her had been eaten clean.
However, the mother cat was very alert. When Jiang Yanyi approached, she jumped up and ran away. She climbed up the high wall not far away and looked at Jiang Yanyi, making a threatening growl.
This time, Jiang Yanyi did not dare to touch the warm and furry kittens in the cat's den. She put the cat food on the cat's den and left.
She went into the house to give the medicinal food to Feng Shuo. When she came out, she found that the mother cat had come down from the wall and was eating the meat soup.
Although the female cat is not friendly now, Jiang Yanyi still feels satisfied that she has successfully fed the cat.
You have to take your time when petting a cat!
After returning home, she took Yang Xiu and Bing Shao to the butcher Ma to buy a pig full of fat, and slaughtered two sheep to prepare smoked bacon and make bacon.
The butcher Ma asked with a smile: "Shopkeeper Jiang bought so much meat, is the restaurant open?"
"Not yet, it will open in a few days." Jiang Yanyi was selecting sausage casings for making bacon.
Butcher Ma hesitated for a while and asked, "Do you know that Lai Fu Restaurant has opened an antique soup shop? It is completely based on your shop. The bowls, plates, spoons and chopsticks are all custom-made. They also sell pots and roasted meats, and give away flower cakes and snacks!"
Jiang Yanyi paused while holding the sausage.