Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 545 each with their own minds

After Yuan Xi asked Sun Li to put all his luggage in the house, he said to him: "You have followed me, and you haven't had a good rest for many days. You can cook and go to bed early."

Sun Li heard this and said, "Do you want me to make something for you?"

Yuan Xi shook his head, "I'm not hungry yet, don't worry about me, I will let others do it when the time comes."

Seeing Yuan Xi's worried look, Sun Li knew that he was worried about Lu Lingqi, but he knew that he could not help much, so he went out immediately.

When he got to the kitchen, he found that there was a lot of rice and vegetables in it, and there were a few pieces of bacon hanging on the corners. He thought that these nobles were very rich. They couldn't eat in the city, but they had saved a lot of food!

He didn't know that this was prepared by Xiao Qiao to escape. After Lu Xun met at the dock, he remembered the relationship between Qiao Rui and Yuan Xi, so he did not confiscate the food, but sent it back.

Sun Li brought a bucket of water, poured most of it into the pot, and then poured several handfuls of rice into it.

In the Jianghuai region at the end of the Han Dynasty, rice was commonly grown. This was different from the northern wheat rice eating habit of retaining the bran. Because the Jiangnan region was relatively wealthy and had more rice production, the rice was often shelled for consumption.

The simplest method is to use a wooden pestle and stone mortar to shell the grain. In the early days, the pestle was lifted to pound the rice. Later, a foot lever was used, which improved the efficiency a lot. This shelling tool is called a grinder, which appeared around the Western Han Dynasty.

A more efficient shelling tool than the rice mill is the rice huller. The rice huller consists of two upper and lower fans. The upper part is raised, and one side is equipped with a crutch and a support frame. When a person holds the crutch and pulls it forward and back in place, the rice huller fan can rotate.Because the hulling body is lighter, it is only suitable for rice hulling. If wheat is hulled, stone grinding is required.

Sun Li had just seen rice hulls in the yard. Rice is usually kept in its shells and needs to be shelled in advance before eating. Sun Li found a few guards and took half an hour to take out a bag of rice.

He took another piece of bacon, washed it in the bucket, cut it into thin slices with a razor blade, and threw it directly into the pot. Then he found firewood and straw from the woodshed nearby and stuffed it into the stove, and ignited it with flint. After a while, the flames were in the stove. rise in.

Seeing that it would take half an hour for the rice in the pot to be cooked, he got bored of waiting, so he walked to the yard, pulled out the ring-headed knife from his waist and started chopping.

Unconsciously, he swung the knife hundreds of times. Sun Li felt that his body was sweating and he couldn't lift his hand. He was about to put the knife away when he caught a glimpse of a woman standing in the far corner and shouted: "Who? Do it?" What?"

The woman was Da Qiao. Seeing that Sun Li discovered him, she had no choice but to step out and bow to him, "General, this little lady just wants to cook. She doesn't mean to pry."

Da Qiao was also helpless. When she and Xiao Qiao escaped, they sent away most of the slaves in the family and took only two servants and two maids with them. As a result, after the boat was seized, they were all sent back.

Afterwards, Qiao Mansion was requisitioned by Yuan Xi. Lu Lingqi came over first to meet with Da Qiao. After a quick word, she went into the house to rest since her body and mood were not good.

When Yuan Xi came back, he found that Lu Lingqi was ill, so he asked Hua Tuo for diagnosis and treatment, and at the same time transferred two maids from the mansion to take care of Lu Lingqi. He had preconceived ideas and thought that based on the size of Qiao Mansion, there would be at least seven or eight maids. As a result, The two maids were transferred away, and there was no one around Xiao Qiao.

When it was time for dinner, Da Qiao saw that there was nothing he could do and he couldn't call his maid back. Fortunately, she usually made some dishes, so he went all the way to the kitchen, but he didn't expect to run into Sun Li.

After Sun Li listened, he saw that Daqiao had changed into clean clothes and had washed his head and face as Yuan Xi had ordered. His hair was still a little wet, so he said, "You know how to cook? Raise your head first." Come."

Da Qiao had no choice but to slowly raise her head. When Sun Li saw her face clearly, he was in a trance for a moment.

Over the years, he has worked as a personal guard with Yuan Xi and has met many noble women, many of whom are outstanding in appearance. Among them, Zhen Mi's appearance is the most outstanding, but the woman in front of him is the only one so far who can match his appearance. Comparable to Zhen Mi.

Compared with Zhen Mi's dignified and dignified appearance, the Da Qiao in front of her has gentle, delicate and delicate features, and has a different charm. It can be said that the spring orchids and autumn chrysanthemums are each good at winning.

Sun Li couldn't help but said: "I didn't expect Mr. Qiao to have a good daughter."

Da Qiao said softly: "General, have you met my father?"

Sun Li smiled and said, "I was present both times when Mr. Qiao was arrested."

Da Qiao was speechless. How could anyone have seen his father being arrested?

Sun Li was thinking about something else, "You said you can cook?"

"Young Master has had a bad appetite recently. If you have any special dishes, prepare two and send them to him."

Da Qiao's face turned pale after hearing this. Wasn't this the same as asking him to go to bed?
But thinking of Xiao Qiao, Da Qiao gritted his teeth and said softly: "I obey my orders."

Sun Li didn't notice anything strange about Da Qiao's expression. He returned to the stove, opened the lid of the pot, and saw that the rice in the pot was cooked. Then he filled a bowl with it, put it on the stove, and cooked it in a few seconds. Eating a bowl of rice.

He put the bowl on the stove and said, "When you're done, bring it directly to the young master." After that, he picked up the knife and went to find his subordinates to patrol around the house.

Da Qiao looked at the stove, bit his lip, found vegetables from the corner, washed them, and found a few eggs and put them aside.

She poured out all the rice in the pot, poured another ladle of water, cleaned the pot again, cut off a small piece of fat and threw it into the pot.

Soon, the fat oozed out with squeaking grease. Da Qiao broke the eggs into the pot, added a little salt, and stir-fried.Xiao Qiao held the konghou in the room and played it a few times, feeling a little distracted.

The konghou was introduced from the Western Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty. She and the Liu family liked it very much. The two often exchanged skills, but Xiao Qiao was obviously more talented in this way and soon surpassed the Liu family.

She became more and more irritable, threw the harp on the couch, and picked up the pipa. At this time, the pipa was called Han Pipa in later generations. In this world, it was named Hanzi of Qin, also known as Ruan Xian. The pipa in later generations was introduced from India in the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Later improved.

Xiao Qiao was playing the ball and wanted to cry for no reason. The fierce tiger obviously had evil intentions. How should he find a way to protect his sister?
At this moment, there was a knock on the door. Xiao Qiao was startled. He quickly wiped away his tears and walked to the door anxiously. Finally, he mustered up the courage to open the door, only to find that it was Da Qiao standing outside the door holding a wooden tray. , and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

She saw several bowls with rice and vegetables on the wooden tray that Daqiao was carrying, and said, "Why is sister here?"

Da Qiao said: "I asked my maid to cook some food. I wanted to have a word with you, so I came here myself."

"You eat your food. The house is not peaceful these days. Please stay closed at night and don't come out. I'll ask someone to clean up the dishes tomorrow."

Xiao Qiao nodded, and then heard Da Qiao ask: "Why are your eyes red?" Xiao Qiao quickly covered it up: "I'm confused, sister, won't you eat together?"

Da Qiao shook his head, "I've eaten." She put the wooden plate into Xiao Qiao's hand, then closed the door outside and said, "Remember, don't come out at night."

Xiao Qiao listened to Da Qiao's footsteps walking away and thought to herself, why is sister acting weird today?

She picked up the wooden chopsticks, picked up a mouthful of scrambled eggs and put it in her mouth. She thought to herself that the heat of the dish today was very good. Which maid made it?

Didn't the two of them go to take care of Mrs. Lu?

Yuan Xi stood up and wandered around the room for a while, looking at the bamboo slips with silk scrolls on the table. He felt his head was a little tired and his stomach was a little hungry.

But when he thought about Lu Lingqi's matter, he had no intention of eating. In this matter, he did not think enough.

It seems that even a warrior like Lu Lingqi cannot bear the cruelty of killing on this battlefield. The strange thing is that she doesn't feel that much discomfort until now. Does it mean that her heart is much harder than others?

Or is it because I keep talking about saving the people in the world, but in fact I don't regard them as living people, but as cold numbers, so I can take it so calmly?
Yuan Xi fell into deep thought, had he fought too many wars? In his eyes, the lives of soldiers required precise calculations and trade-offs in order to maximize benefits. Was this process itself destroying humanity?
And this state is what a lord must achieve?
Does his current change mean that he is becoming a qualified lord in the eyes of everyone?

He was sitting in front of the desk, unconsciously writing on the bamboo slips with the pen in his hand, when there was a gentle knock on the door.

Yuan Xi said without raising his head, "Come in."

When Da Qiao walked in with a steaming meal, he saw the fierce tiger, who was considered extremely terrifying by everyone, sitting motionless facing the bamboo slip in front of him, seemingly in a trance.

She closed the door gently and stood there holding the wooden plate, forcing herself to keep her slightly trembling hands steady.

Yuan Xi noticed that the person who came in had not spoken, so he raised his head and was suddenly startled.

He vaguely recognized that the woman standing at the door was one of the two men kneeling at the door before, but the woman had obviously gone through a lot of grooming, and even with light makeup, it was difficult to hide her attractive color.

He said aloud: "Are you Da Qiao?"

Da Qiao replied softly: "I am just a humble concubine. I have specially prepared wine and food to entertain the young master."

Yuan Xi saw that there was a jug of wine on the wooden plate and said, "You have troubled yourself, but I don't drink."

He stood up. When Da Qiao saw him, he involuntarily took a step back and pressed his vest against the door. Only then did Da Qiao wake up and take two steps forward with the wooden plate in hand.

Yuan Xi stretched out his hand and said, "Girl, you've worked hard, please take a seat."

After hearing this, Da Qiao bit his lip, and finally mustered up the courage to put the wooden plate on the table.

She looked at the mat next to her, clenched her hands in her sleeves, and then slowly went up and sat down.

Yuan Xi was attracted by the food on the wooden plate in front of him. There was a bowl of scrambled eggs, a bowl of shredded pork and fried celery, and a bowl of bacon and vegetable rice, all of which exuded a strong aroma.

He twitched his nose and smelled the smell of lard. He turned and smiled at Da Qiao and said, "The cook in the lady's house is quite knowledgeable."

Da Qiao's heart beat faster and faster, and she felt her throat was dry. After hesitating for a moment, she finally made up her mind and slowly opened the skirt of the dark clothes on her chest, revealing her fragrant shoulders as white as jade.

She said in a trembling voice: "I would like to recommend myself as a pillow, I hope the master will not dislike my beauty."

Yuan Xi was stunned, what's going on?
(End of this chapter)