No one can disturb my retirement life in the Red Mansion

Yuhang is the beginning of the canal from the south of the Yangtze River and the first stop of the Grand Canal. In fact, it is most convenient for them to enter from the sea. However, the Jia family is from Jinling. If the first stop in the south of the Yangtze River is not Jinling, people will criticize them.It was decided at the beginning that Jinling would then transfer to Yuhang, then go to Suzhou and head north, to Huai'an and transfer to Suzhou, then take Shangqiu, Luoyang and the Sui-Tang Grand Canal, and then visit the ancient capitals of Kaifeng and Luoyang.Xiong Er was planning to accompany the old lady around Yuhang, so he took the post car directly along the official road, passing through Xuzhou and Liaocheng to Beijing.

"You mean, the headquarters of Monk Tao is actually in Yuhang?" On the ship, Ou Mengmeng would still talk to Xiong Er about the case. Although she didn't have a granddaughter to give him, the old lady was still happy to talk about the conclusions he found together. of.However, after the conversation, he looked at Xiong Er, so he accompanied him to Yuhang not to accompany him at all, but actually for the case.This is a bit depressing.

"No, you don't need to check this. There were special people in Jingzhong who took care of these people before. After picking out the key points, they knew what to do." Xiong Er also knows how to look at the eyes. He understands it very well and dares to say that he wants to If she goes to help, the old lady can take her cane and beat him to death.

Ou Mengmeng nodded and took her hand off the cane with a little regret.Sitting on the boat, she had nothing to do every day. She couldn't beat her son every day, could she?

Amber was helpless and hurriedly gave the old lady a hot handkerchief so that she could wipe her hands.You can let the old lady and Xiong Er have some snacks together.Looking at the old lady's expression now, I can tell that she is a little disappointed, so she can only hurry up and know that she needs to eat snacks.Don't be angry!

Amber usually welcomes Xiong Er. She can see that when the old lady and her biological son are together, Xiong Er relaxes a lot. Therefore, in the old lady's heart, Xiong Er is the same as the eldest master and the second master. , is like a biological son.Others, including the so-called biological grandsons and cherished grandsons, have to withdraw a few feet away.So she was also very gentle to Xiong Er, and she was happy if she could treat the old lady well.

"Why do you want to eat snacks again?" Ou Mengmeng has long been exempted from the aristocratic behavior of three meals a day and a few snacks, but she only exempted herself, but not the girls. After all, they will marry other people in the future. The housekeeper has to manage the affairs of the house. If you marry into an ordinary family, it's fine, but if you marry into a wealthy family, then some details will be easy for people to see.This is why she ignores those details.

"Princess Tong'an saw that the water chestnuts sent from the shore were very fresh today, so she asked someone to make water chestnut cakes. Please try them." Amber smiled hurriedly and served flower cakes dyed in various colors, which looked very exciting. People like it.

This water chestnut cake is very simple to make. Peel the shells from the water chestnuts, take out the meat, break it into pieces and boil it with rock sugar. When it becomes thick, pour it into various patterns and dye it. This is the patterned water chestnut cake.It also tastes sweet and delicious.However, Ou Mengmeng was not a noble, so she directly asked Amber to pass the plate to Xiong Er.

Amber had no choice but to give the cake to Xiong Er, then brought up a small basket of washed and boiled water chestnuts and handed them to the old lady.

"Those girls have been locked up since they were born. They talk about wild things every day, but they actually don't understand anything." Ou Mengmeng happily took a water chestnut that looked like a beard. She happily opened it from the middle and bit the shell. , the water chestnut meat was squeezed into her mouth, and her mouth was full of pink fragrance. The old lady's eyes narrowed with joy.

Her hometown, Soochow, is located in the south of the Yangtze River. These were the snacks she had when she was a child. There is also a small one, which is really the kind of small water chestnut rice with thorns all over, and it is naturally sweet.When she was a child, there were hawkers on the street who used special knives to peel the shells, and she could watch them for a long time.Amber smiled and took out some more small water chestnut rice, which was cut separately for the old lady. "You should eat less, otherwise you won't be able to finish the meal later."

"The old lady likes to eat this." Xiong Er quickly put down the water chestnut cake, reached out and took out a few grains of water chestnut rice, and put it into his mouth.Nodding, "The old lady still knows how to eat. This one is really sweet."

"Have you seen "Cai Gen Tan"? In the past, the Jia family never tired of fine food, fine meat, and meat without seeing the meat. That was the dignity of the family at that time. Do you think the Jia family knows how to dress and eat?" Ou Mengmeng herself comes from an ordinary family. , so in the Jia family, she did not change many of the rules, but just tried her best to let them learn management. Sometimes she herself felt that she was like Wang Anshi in the Song Dynasty, who worked hard to increase revenue but did not know how to reduce expenditure.In the end, his reform ended in failure.Now she wants to ask the son of the princess. Although your Xiong family is not a wealthy family, the princess is. You can always learn something, right?

"If the Jia family doesn't know how, I'm afraid no one will know how to come to Beijing." Xiong Er lifted up the water chestnut rice and bit into a few more.It was obvious that he didn't understand. Also, Jia Mu was the daughter of Zhongshu Ling and the wife of the Duke of the country. She had been born in glory and wealth all her life. Of course she knew how to do it. How could he have thought that Jia Mu had changed the core? Pointing to the water chestnut, "Even if this thing is sent to the capital, it is still a rare and valuable thing. Only a person with a long life and a long life like the old lady can eat it so arrogantly."

The old lady was very skillful in eating, and eating it casually was actually much more expensive than eating water chestnut cake.There is rock sugar in the water chestnut cake, and you will be full after eating one piece.But if you eat water chestnuts like this, even an old lady like this can only eat a pound or two.

Amber couldn't help but widen her eyes. Can this person talk?He couldn't help but say: "Master Xiong Er, the old lady only eats fresh food like this when she comes to Jiangnan. In Beijing, except for what is produced in the village, the old lady has always been frugal."

"In the past four years or so, I have been very frugal, unlike before." Ou Mengmeng shook her head.She smiled, thinking about Jia Mu's life in her memory, which was not what ordinary people had. Look at the water chestnuts, and think about the fresh products like this on Jia Mu's table.At that time, Jia Mu's kitchen was really full of things that could fly in the sky, run underground, and swim in the water. If you could find them in the divine capital, you could find them in Jia Mu's kitchen.

"The imperial court has been going through a hundred years, and the trend of extravagance has gradually increased. The Jia family dare not say that they have been the first to bear the brunt, but in the past few decades, they have indeed been very tight on spending. I am afraid that the children will be like what is written in the book, why not eat meat too much. "Ou Mengmeng sighed softly, "Actually, in the past few years, I have also been advocating frugality. But I dare not cut off their expenses. It is hard to make people think that the girls of the Jia family do not understand the rules of the family. . He must have the air of a small family! So he is always in conflict."

"Actually, the old lady is not wrong. You have followed your own example. The girls in your house are actually more pragmatic than the women in ordinary families. As for some official ostentation, who can't do this?" This time Xiong Er understood the old lady. What the wife meant, he thought of the girl from before again, listening attentively to what he said about the store's decoration, management, and the food and drinks usually provided by the mansion. He also knew from her upbringing that he absolutely believed in the standards of the Jia family's girls. The girls under the old lady's upbringing will not be bad, and they will not raise a group of girls who are all petty like she said.

When I was a kid, I loved watching people open small water chestnut rice on the street. I chopped it bit by bit on a small wooden stake with a strange-looking knife. The water chestnut rice was wrapped in newspapers. It cost ten cents a pack. I bought it, and it seemed like there were I looked at my qualifications on the side and thought of discussing with my boss to let me try, but I never asked.