Stepmother Shaoguang

Chapter 23 Summer Solstice
The cicadas have been singing for half a month, and the summer solstice has finally come.

On the day of the summer solstice, different regions have different customs. Some places are used to eating noodles on this day, while others eat summer solstice eggs and summer solstice soup.

He Shaoguang simmered the summer solstice eggs in a casserole early. In her hometown, she would add dried cuttlefish to the stew. The boiled eggs also smelled like the sea. He Shaoguang didn't like that very much.

But now in another time and space, and the old man is not there, He Shaoguang can't help but miss this nostalgic taste, and cook it according to his grandmother's method in his memory.

For the rest of the time, she was going to make cold noodles.

There are many kinds of cold noodles, and Huaiye Lengtao is one of them.There are also famous Yanji cold noodles and chicken shredded cold noodles. What He Shaoguang cooks today is Yanji cold noodles.

Put the boiled buckwheat noodles in cold water over and over again until it cools down, and then pour it into the beef broth prepared on the side.

The beef soup skimmed off all the froth, and served with very thinly sliced ​​beef. The beef was very fresh. The beef that was slaughtered this morning was still warm when it was delivered to the house.

Side dishes include spicy cabbage, apple slices, and cucumbers.

Sugar and rice vinegar are added to the soup base, and some people also add apple juice or pear juice. He Shaoguang also added some apple juice.Before eating, it was completely refrigerated in the ice cellar to cool down once.

When served, the soup is clear, sweet and sour.

The mansion also eats cold noodles today. The old lady ate cold noodles with sesame sauce. There was a table full of dishes. The cold noodles with sesame sauce were also delicately arranged on the plate. After two bites, the old lady couldn't eat anymore.

When she was a child, she also ate cold noodles with sesame sauce that the common people ate, and her father took her there. Although they were not as particular about the ingredients used by the cooks in the house, they had a rich flavor.

Small vendors can be seen everywhere on the street, ordinary people sitting along the street to feed their hunger, even cucumbers don’t need to be shredded and put in bowls, just hold one in each hand and chew on it.

A mouthful of noodles, a mouthful of cucumber, listening to the sound of storytelling coming from the teahouse next door, and the days when I shook my head, I remembered it as something in my previous life.

Unlike the one in front of me, beauty is beauty, and it is bland and tasteless.

In fact, it's not that the cooks in the mansion are bad, they are all trained in the big restaurant. It would be wrong to say that their skills are not good, at least He Shaoguang must think that they are not as good as them.

What the old lady lacks is the fireworks.

In order to thank Lu Xiaowen for the restaurant signboard he gave her, He Shaoguang asked someone to go to the front yard and invite him to eat together.

A small bowl of summer solstice eggs, a plate of fried crispy dried fish, soft marinated potatoes and taro, a few side dishes.

The staple food is cold noodles, and Lu Xiaowen's bowl is extra large.Red radish shreds, green cucumber shreds, sauce-colored stewed beef, and boiled eggs cut in half are neatly stacked in a bowl with ice scum, just looking at them to cool off the heat.

Lu Xiaowen is an authentic northerner. Although he also eats rice, he still prefers pasta.

Sometimes he doesn't understand why He Shaoguang, who grew up in the capital, often thinks about eating rice.

He Shaoguang, who has been a southerner for more than 20 years, has not realized this yet, but he is subconsciously used to rice as the staple food, and noodles are just a condiment, and eating it all at once is unbearable.

"It turned out to be sweet?" Lu Xiaowen took a sip under He Shaoguang's earnest gaze, a little unbelievable, "It tastes good, did you add sugar?"

"There is still some apple juice." He Shaoguang was proud.

"Well, it's not the same as the cold noodles in the capital, but it's very thirst-quenching." Just now he was sweating in the front, and came to her to eat after taking a bath and changing clothes. Even so, he felt hot on the road.

At this moment, the noodle soup soaked in ice eliminated the dryness and made him feel much more comfortable. This is what he told He Shaoguang.

It's really a big event. In July, Lu Xiaowen will go to war.

The last time he handed in the papers to the palace, the sage read it and kept it in his heart, so he didn't have an attack.

It's just that the Turks have changed frequently, and the people on the border are unbearable. There are also Turkic murders in Yanzhou.The officials were furious, and the main peace faction and the main war faction discussed for a few days, and finally the saint agreed and sent him to lead the [-] soldiers from the Xishan camp to the expedition.

First, General Longxiang Zuo Yicheng led [-] cavalry to go first, and the household department sent people to escort the food and grass behind. The army was reorganized for more than a month and set off in July.

"I'll be very busy this month, Mingyan, Mingzhen, and mother." Lu Xiaowen was a little embarrassed, these two children had nothing to do with her.

He Shaoguang felt a little strange. She was the mother of two children in name, and the stepmother was the same. He didn't ask her to be like his biological mother, but he still felt embarrassed.

"It's okay, there is still a nanny to take care of it, I won't be too tired."

When someone asks you for help, if your attitude is good enough, you will be more willing to help.

Lu Xiaowen played with the jade pot in his hand, and sighed: "The Turkic court has been at odds with us for many years. This time, the sage means that they will not dare to commit another crime within ten years. I won't come back too soon. What is your problem?" , I must find someone to take care of my mother, or write to me."

"If you don't want to enter the palace during the Qianqiu Festival, let your mother hand over a sign and ask the imperial doctor to come and show you. I will tell my mother these things before I leave."

"You don't have to worry about yourself, things in restaurants, or want to go out for a stroll, just take someone out."

After Lu Xiaowen finished speaking, he continued to work on the previous work. He Shaoguang was stunned, and after a while he realized that he was worried that he was not here, and the same thing happened last time when he went out of the house again!
This man can handle it.

Once it was confirmed that the war was going to start, the direction of the wind in the court was quickly unified, and everyone performed their duties, preparing for the war with the Turks.

The common people don't know the decision-making in the palace, but they can feel some signs.

For example, the price of food has increased, and the aristocratic family has to pay more tribute.

Xiao Chongdao knew the will of the sage, so naturally he also knew that Lu Xiaowen was going to lead the army. He hadn't told his daughter yet, for fear that she would be worried.

It's just that Xiao Yan has long been helping Xiao's mother to learn about the housekeeper. Looking at this month's account book, she found that the tribute payer has come again.

Xiao Yan is smart, she felt that something was wrong, after thinking about it, she guessed something, probably a war was about to happen.

It's just that she didn't know if Lu Xiaowen was going, so she went directly to the study and asked her father.

Xiao Chongdao's study has never set restrictions on Xiao Yan, entering and exiting at will.

Today, Xiao Yan wore a sky-blue fairy dress, with a pair of butterfly-shaped hairpins in golden silk with pearls attached to her head.

Different from fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls, 20-year-old Xiao Yan has long hair, her eyes and brows are full of style, very much like Concubine Xiao Shu.

However, compared with the Concubine Shu in the palace, she is less graceful and more youthful.

She came to the front yard casually and did not change any attire. The servants did not dare to look at her, and she lowered her head when she saluted.

My girls are great when they are fine, but as long as they are unhappy, it is normal to get angry at them, and I am afraid that they will be punished with a stick.

(End of this chapter)