083. Oven

Since Rongse came, the Regent Palace has had many more kitchen utensils. As autumn approached and the weather got cooler, the palace added a new three-legged bronze tripod-like stove. The stove was in the shape of a pot, with horizontal bars inside. It looked very majestic, with carvings of flowers, birds, and fish heads on it, and the side rings also carved with flowers and vines, and a leopard and beast head with sharp fangs on top.

There is also a four-legged brass stove with an open mouth and no lid. It is also exquisitely carved and has a low base, like a long stove used for grilling skewers, with charcoal fire placed underneath.

——All came from the Dingbei Marquis Mansion.

Rongse didn't care much about the price of kitchen utensils in the past, as long as they were useful and easy to use. But when he saw these two heavy ovens, he couldn't help but sigh.

...If this happened in his previous world, both kitchen utensils would be antiques.

The cooking utensils are more valuable than gold. Rong Se could not help but circle around the two stoves several times before he clapped his hands and sighed, "If this fails, it will be unfair to these two treasures!"

Liang Shenyu didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he tidied up the slightly messy hair at Rong Se's temples. When she was in the mansion, Rong Se seldom tied her hair up as she thought it was troublesome, so she just used a jade hairpin to tie her hair up - the style was also that of Marquis Dingbei, today it was a blue jadeite with a cirrus cloud pattern.

"These are not treasures at all," Liang Shenyu said. "They are all old items from the old mansion, gathering dust in the capital. The nobles of the Jin Dynasty loved porcelain, especially celadon, and bronze vessels were only used in sacrifices."

"That's because they don't know how to use it." Rong Se held Liang Shenyu's neck with one hand, asking him to lower his head and peck his cheek lightly, and said with excitement: "I still have to do it. Wait and see tonight."

"Okay, I'll wait for you." Liang Shenyu lowered his head cooperatively, his eyes clearly showing indulgence, and he smiled with a hint of joking, "It's really unfair for you to be the regent king."

Rong Se, however, agreed with him and nodded seriously, saying, "If the Cao family and my eldest nephew don't commit suicide, it would be nice to be a leisurely prince. What I wanted to do most in the past was to be a leisurely prince. I wouldn't have to inherit the family business, get up early and go to bed late, or read those official documents. I just need to get money and live happily every day."

This is the truth.

Rongse used to really want to be a rich second-generation who lived a life of idleness and waiting for death. It would be even better if he had a brother. His brother would inherit the family business, and he could take the money and receive dividends and be a happy fool. It was simply an ideal in the world.

After saying that, Rong Se sighed softly: "If it were in a peaceful and prosperous era, there would be such an opportunity."

Liang Shenyu paused for a moment, lowered his head and whispered: "The Xiongnu no longer invades the border, and everyone in Jin thinks that it is a peaceful and prosperous era now. What kind of prosperity are you waiting for, my Lord?"

As he spoke, there was a hint of sneer between his handsome eyebrows, as if tiny frost had condensed.

Rong Se fell silent.

How could this be considered a prosperous age? Below the prosperous age was the unjust case of thirteen households in Jizhou, where the noble families controlled the government, sat in the temple, untouched by the dust, and looked down upon the common people from a high position.

However, the Xiongnu’s desire to destroy the Jin Dynasty never died.

"If the top beam is not straight, the bottom beam will be crooked." Rong Se said, "The emperor of the Jin Dynasty is of such character, how can the court be stable? If it is like this, the lower parts will be in chaos. And - the Xiongnu never submitted to us, they just retreated temporarily."

Liang Shenyu laughed softly.

"Your Highness is right. It's ridiculous that they think they can rest easy." Liang Shenyu summed it up in four words: "Fools are just talking nonsense."

The previous emperor Rong Xu did not want to fight the Xiongnu at all and wanted to negotiate peace many times. When the two armies fought and the Xiongnu was defeated, they should have surrendered or paid tribute during the peace talks. However, the Ministry of Rites simply asked the Xiongnu to withdraw without ceding any land or paying any compensation. They came to Dajin and killed people wantonly, and when they lost, they just patted their butts and left. The people of Dajin who died in vain and the generals who died in the battle became a joke.

"Rong Xu is just a piece of trash." Rong Se said indifferently, with disdain, "As for Rong Jing, it's a waste of his good name. Compared with his father, he is better than his father."

With such a tone, this sentence "the disciple surpasses the master" seems particularly ironic.

Rong Se was also puzzled as to how Rong Jing could perfectly inherit the shortcomings of his parents, Rong Xu's indecisiveness and weakness, and Empress Dowager Cao's viciousness and cruelty.

Picking local genes.

Also selectively enhanced.

.

Rongse asked the kitchen to buy four live ducks and clean them. When he arrived at the kitchen, four plump white-striped ducks were already on the chopping board.

Uncle Liu came forward with a smile, "Your Majesty, everything is ready. I marinated it for two hours as you ordered! Do you want to stew the duck today?"

"No stew." Rong Se denied, rolled up his sleeves and took out a small cloth bag from his waist.

Liu Bo held his breath, waiting to see what kind of seasoning it was, and then he saw the cloth bag that the prince opened was filled with needle and thread.

"This..." Uncle Liu was confused.

Lan Ying, who was watching, was puzzled. "Master, what are you doing with the needle and thread?"

"Sewing a duck." Rong Se spoke concisely and seriously, and then he really threaded the needle and carefully sewed up the incision in the duck's abdomen, and also sewed up the bleeding wound on the neck. Then he took a hollow tube, stuffed it into the duck's mouth, and began to blow air.

Blowing up ducks is not easy. You have to blow up the skin. Even with experience, it took Rong Se an hour to blow up four ducks. He felt dizzy and almost suffocated.

After the four ducks were skinned and marinated with green onions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and other seasonings, Rongse put rice wine, rice vinegar, sugar, honey and the preserved honey he had made directly into the pot, added clean water, and when the water boiled, put the ducks into the pot and blanched every inch of the skin. After the blanched duck skin shrunk and tightened, he wiped off the water on the duck skin and hung it in the yard under the sun to wait for the wind to dry.

After the duck skin was dried, Rong Se moved to the kitchen like a fish, set up a large pot, and heated the oil. Lan Ying followed him with four ducks in her hands, looking around curiously, "Fried duck?"

“No.”

Rong Se took a duck from her hand, hung it above the pot, and poured boiling oil on it with a rice ladle. With a sizzling sound, the duck skin began to turn golden brown visibly, and the hot oil made the duck skin smell delicious.

The four ducks were fried in oil one by one, with Rongse and Lanying carrying two each. The three-legged bronze stove sent by the Dingbei Marquis' Mansion was delivered to the stove room, while the other four-legged brass grill was in the Jinshanxuan.

"What is this?" Uncle Liu looked around the stove for a long time, but he still didn't understand what new tricks the prince was trying to play.

"Roast duck." Rong Se was looking forward to it. "You'll know when the duck comes out."

The charcoal was already burning in the oven, and four roast ducks were hanging inside. When the lid was closed, Rong Se heaved a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. Suddenly, an idea came to him, and he murmured, "This duck is not difficult to make. We should let Yun Chu take a look. It would be great if we could open a few roast duck restaurants in Beijing in conjunction with Fu Sheng Lou's bakery."

There are only a few chefs in Fu Sheng Lou. They would be so tired that they still wouldn't have time to make a few roast ducks in a day. It would be better to open a few joint stores and sell them separately. The pastries in this capital are just average. They are exquisite and beautiful, but there are only a few kinds of pastries and fruits. The desserts in his menu are unique in Jinjing, including sweet potato with sugar and bean paste. Add a roast duck store, the business will definitely be good!

As soon as he said it, Rong Se called Yun Chu to tell him his idea while the roast duck was still hot. Yun Chu pondered for a moment and said, "There are many shops in the palace that can be vacated. Don't worry, Your Majesty, I will take care of this matter."

Rong Se nodded, "It's best to find a pastry chef who has experience in this field, as it's easier for him to get started. As for making roast duck... find someone young and strong."

Thinking of the despair of blowing the duck just now, Rong Se still felt a tightness in his chest. He rubbed his chest and began to miss the air pump. He blurted out: "Zhong Yichuan's research institute has amazing equipment. I wonder if he can make me an air pump."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liang Shenyu, who had just returned from the martial arts training ground at the Jinbei Cavalry Camp, walked into the yard and asked with a smile, "What do you want Zhong Yichuan to do?"

Rong Se briefly explained to him how to make roast duck, and finally sighed: "If we blow more than ten or twenty ducks a day, everyone will faint."

Liang Shenyu thought for a moment and said, "If we just need to inject air, it should be OK if we modify the bellows a little bit. It's not difficult. I will go ask him in person tomorrow."

"Really?" Rong Se was extremely surprised, with joy showing in the corners of his eyes and eyebrows.

Liang Shenyu laughed, "Of course it's true, Zhong Yichuan is really a strange man. Today, the army has a new crossbow hidden under the armor and wrist guards. It is delicate and difficult to detect. In close combat, this hidden weapon will be of great use!"

Rong Se imagined that the hidden weapon hidden in the sleeve was indeed terrifying.

In the original novel, Zhong Yichuan also followed Liang Shenyu after the fall of the Qiu family. His arrival changed many developments. For example, Yu Qingzhou, who should have died long ago, is still alive and well, while Liu Chi, who was like a background board in the original novel, died instead.

Their ending had changed, and Rong Se knew that his own deadlock had almost been resolved, and the heavy sense of fate that had always weighed on him was gradually weakening.

Things are getting better little by little.

"You look so happy." Liang Shenyu pinched Rong Se's earlobe.

Rong Se came back to his senses suddenly and found that he and Liang Shenyu were the only ones left in the yard. The breeze rustled the branches and leaves, and it was quiet all around. This luxuriously decorated and well-renovated palace seemed like just a mansion when he first arrived, but at this moment, Rong Se already had a real sense of belonging.

"I'm so happy." Rong Se whispered to himself, "I never thought that I would be able to have this day..."

In the first half of his life, he kept telling himself to be optimistic and strong and never break down for anything. He lived like this relying on self-hypnosis for all these years. But when he was entangled by his so-called biological father again, Rong Se knew clearly that he would never be able to get rid of the quagmire in his life.

Fortunately, I have this day.

"Then from now on." Liang Shenyu held Rong Se's cheek with one hand and looked into his eyes. The gentleness and tenderness in his eyes were like spring breeze melting snow. "You can think of anything, and I will try my best to do everything for you."

Rong Se said nothing and buried herself in Liang Shenyu's arms.

He initially showed kindness to Liang Shenyu because he admired him, felt sorry for him, and also for his own life. But over time, the more he got to know him, the more he understood that the Jin Dynasty's God of War, as seen by outsiders, was actually an ordinary person who tossed and turned at night and had trouble sleeping.

But he remains a legend.

After a while, Rong Se's soft whisper drifted past in the wind.

"I will, too."