Red Mansion Huacai

Chapter 16 Little Things in the Room
tuk tuk-

The bright red fingernails painted with impatiens juice were tied around the wooden pestle, and they were pounded up and down rhythmically, and the garlic cloves inside gradually turned into minced garlic.

The hall was filled with the smell of garlic. Qingwen reached out and took out the sweat towel from her waist to wipe the sweat. Looking at Hong Yu's newly peeled garlic cloves, she suddenly felt soreness in her wrists.

Hongyu glanced at it and said, "Why don't you do it for me? None of the girls in the house have such long nails. No wonder it's hard to work."

Qingwen's heart was filled with anger, she dug out Hongyu's eyes, and said bitterly: "I don't want you to bother!"

Holding the wooden pestle tightly with both hands, pounding it up and down, the pungent smell of garlic became stronger and stronger.

In the study, Li Weijian seemed to have never smelled it. He cut pieces of paper of the same length according to the ruler he asked for, then folded the piece of paper in half and cut it, then folded it in half and cut it again. Five times, he finally got what he wanted. length.

Dashun followed the Ming system, so the length of the ruler naturally followed the Ming system.Li Weijian vaguely remembered that a foot in the Ming Dynasty was roughly between 31 and 32 centimeters, so he simply folded it five times and cut out the one centimeter he had in mind.

After you build the ruler later, you can ask the government to build the parts you want according to the scale.

The curtain was lifted, and Xiu Ying held the jar in one hand and the bundle in the other, gasping: "Young Master, I can afford it!"

Li Weijian put down the note and walked out of the study, took the object in Xiu Ying's hand, and said, "I asked you to tell Hai Ping, why did you follow me?"

Xiu Ying said: "Brother, I don't have any money at all. If I don't follow, I'm afraid I won't be able to buy it."

Li Weijian suddenly realized, and then smiled and said: "I forgot. Qingwen, just give the money to Xiu Ying later. You can't put money in when doing things for me without any benefit."

Qingwen responded, Xiuying had been depressed in the house for a few days, and then went out for a walk, feeling refreshed.

Seeing Qingwen pounding garlic, she volunteered to take over.Qingwen was just trying to be brave. She knew that Xiu Ying was not a scheming person, so she used the donkey under the slope to take over the work of pounding garlic. Then she went to the Nuan Pavilion to get the box and asked Xiu Ying how much money she had spent throwing it away. .

While pounding the garlic, Xiu Ying said in detail: "Young Master wants strong wine, one jar of boiling pot costs 150 coins, two glass jars cost 350 coins, total [-] coins."

Over here, Li Weijian first looked at the two glass bottles in the bag.However, the size of a can and vase-like shape costs 75 Wen, which is not cheap.But since Dashun can produce transparent glass, it shows that it has a certain level of chemical engineering, and the furnace temperature must exceed 1000 or two hundred degrees.

1000 two hundred degrees, this temperature is enough to make steel!
Looking at the jar of wine, it weighed about five kilograms. When the mud seal was opened, the smell of wine was overwhelming. It was estimated to be at least fifty degrees.

Dashun went to Liting in Liaodong to sweep the caves. Dong Mengwu, who had previously surrendered to Hou Jin, immediately imitated others.And because the Junggars have repeatedly invaded the east in the past few decades, the Eastern Mongolian princes simply accepted their favor and declared themselves vassals, so pots were burned all over the northern border.

In order to facilitate transportation and storage, the alcohol content of this Shaoguo wine is getting higher and higher.

Li Weijian secretly thought that the alcohol could be purified with slight modifications to the cooking pot.Pure alcohol is not expected, medical alcohol can still be used.

Xiu Ying was strong, but she smashed all the garlic cloves into soft paste with just one stick of incense.

Hongyu said: "Fourth Master, everything has been crushed into minced garlic."

Li Weijian stepped forward, poured the minced garlic into the prepared gauze, wrapped it, touched the smoke cage, and then carefully placed it on the edge.Said: "It needs to be dried for three hours, and then it is done."

He turned around and looked at the three maids with a smile: "Go get some hot water. I'll wash up and you guys can go have a rest."

The three maids agreed one after another, and Hongyu made a note in her mind that it was not yet the third watch, so wouldn't it be three hours before the third watch?She was pounding in her heart, thinking about going to bed early and getting up in the middle of the night.

Hongyu and Qingwen fetched hot water, helped Li Weijian wash up, and then everyone went to settle down.Li Weijian sat in the study again and wrote and drew. When he heard the beating of drums, he hurried to the fumigation cage and turned over several packets of gauze-wrapped minced garlic.

Pounding and drying are just the first two steps, followed by screening and soaking, and finally the odorless allicin stock solution can be extracted.This stock solution can be kept for two days at most. Over time, the disulfide and trisulfide compounds in it will lose their bactericidal effect.

He stayed in front of the desk for a while, and then sleepiness came over him. He yawned and couldn't help but mutter to himself. There really wasn't much entertainment at night these days. Ordinary rich people had to go to bed early and get up early like the common people.Even the Jia family would only have banquets at night on New Year's Day and call the troupe Gao Le.

After staying up for a while, he couldn't help being sleepy, so he went to the Nuan Pavilion and thought about it for a while. He always got up at the second watch to turn over the dried garlic paste.

In the West Wing.

Qingwen was sitting on the kang head, embroidering a handkerchief by candlelight. Most of the patterns on the handkerchief were embroidered with clouds, mirrors, flowers, water and moon.

Xiu Ying, the silly girl, was the least scheming. Seeing that Hong Yu had laid out the quilt and fell asleep early, the girl also got under the quilt.

After embroidering a lotus flower, Qingwen rubbed her sore eyes and couldn't help covering her mouth and yawning.Throwing the half-made handkerchief and needle and thread into the cage, Qingwen tiptoed to the ground, spread out the bedding, turned around and blew out the candle.

Just as he was about to get on the kang, he vaguely caught a glimpse of lights in the main room through the window.

Fourth Master hasn’t fallen asleep yet?At this time on weekdays, Fourth Master has already gone to bed. Did he forget to blow out the candle?
Walking out of water in winter is no joke!

Thinking in her mind, Qingwen put on her outer clothes, opened the door gently and walked quickly towards the main room.

The door to the main room was not bolted, Qingwen stepped in. Seeing that the candles were still lit in the Nuan Pavilion, she called out softly: "Fourth Master?"

There was no response inside, only Li Weijian's even breathing could be heard.

Qingwen secretly gritted her teeth, tightened her clothes, and tiptoed into the Nuan Pavilion. She saw Li Weijian lying in his clothes, with three candles lit on the candlestick beside him.

Qingwen was a little at a loss, and after thinking for a long time, she finally stepped forward and pushed Li Weijian gently: "Fourth Master? You have to take off your clothes if you want to sleep. Fourth Master?"

"Well..." Li Weijian opened his eyes and saw a small face that was particularly charming under the candlelight.After being in a daze for a while, I finally recognized Qingwen.

"Qingwen?"

Qingwen said: "Fourth Master has to take off his clothes when he wants to sleep, and it's not easy to keep the candle lit. In winter, the weather is dry and the water is gone."

Li Weijian stood up and asked, "What time is it?"

"It's probably almost the second watch."

Li Weijian said: "Don't worry, wait for the second update, you still have to turn the minced garlic over."

"Ah?" Qingwen asked: "Fourth Master... what did you do with this thing? How many times do you have to turn it over?"

"Dry it for three hours, turning it once every hour." Li Weijian smiled and said, "I just remembered that you finished pounding it. If I had known better, I would have done it in the daytime tomorrow."

Just at this time, the watchman from Shuntian Mansion passed by the back street. In the quiet night, the sound of banging could be heard far away.Li Weijian stood up, took off his shoes, and quickly turned over the cotton gauze bag on the fumigation cage.

Turning around, he saw Qingwen frowning and biting her lower lip. He smiled and asked, "What's wrong? Who provoked you again?"

Qingwen pursed her lips and said: "I know that the fourth master treats his servants well, but he doesn't treat his servants well. How could we sleep while the fourth master stayed up all night to watch? Wouldn't it spread out and make people think that the fourth master was with me?" No sense of superiority or inferiority?"

Li Weijian said: "I don't have much to do tomorrow, you guys still have to work for a day..."

"That doesn't make any sense!" Qingwen said nothing, and pushed Li Weijian to the window of Denuang Pavilion: "It's just a matter of staying up for a while. Fourth master, please go to sleep. I'll just watch."

"That's not good."

"It can only last another hour or so."

Li Weijian couldn't help but feel sleepy, and when he saw the stubbornness on Qingwen's face, he said, "Okay, I'll trouble you."

Qingwen said nothing more, watching Li Weijian take off his clothes, wearing only his middle coat and get into the quilt, and fell asleep soundly after a while.

Sitting next to the incense cage, Qingwen held the incense cheek in her hands and couldn't explain what was going on in her heart.At first, I just thought that Fourth Master Jian was very kind, very kind to others, and able to indulge his own little temper;

Yesterday, Qingwen was frightened when she heard that Fourth Master Jian had beaten up Uncle Xue who didn't know what he was talking about.She thought that Fourth Master Jian had lost his temper so violently. But when it happened just now, Qingwen just felt that it was ridiculous.How can anyone be considerate of a servant like this?
Fourth Master Jian is very good, too good.

Qingwen couldn't help but glance at the sleeping faces on the bed, thinking that it was her blessing to be in front of Fourth Master Jian.Think about it, no matter how good-tempered Second Master Laibao is, he can't do this, right?

It was cold in the night, so Qingwen tightened her clothes and felt sleepy. She remembered that she would stay up until three o'clock, so she got up and went to the study room, where she found a pencil and a blank piece of paper. She followed the appearance in her memory, crookedly I wrote a few words and marked them with the pinyin that Fourth Master had taught me.

She felt a little happy, thinking that she could recognize a dozen words in one day, and she might even be able to read books and newspapers in a few years.

The night was as cold as water, and the sound of banging came from the quiet night at midnight.She stood up hurriedly and turned over the cotton gauze bags.Seeing that the charcoal fire was somewhat extinguished, I fiddled with it again.

While she was busy, she suddenly heard the door creak, which made Qingwen jump in surprise!He quickly followed the sound and asked, "Who?"

The sound of footsteps was approaching, and the candlelight flickered, but it was Hongyu wearing clothes.

"Why is it you?" Qingwen asked.

Hongyu looked ugly and asked, "Why are you here?"

Qingwen said: "Before going to bed, I saw a candle burning in the fourth master's room. I was afraid that the fourth master would forget to blow out the candles after sleeping, so I came over to have a look. Who knew that the medicine that the fourth master made for Miss Lin would require a Time turns over time."

Qingwen looked slightly embarrassed, but she immediately felt confident.Falling in the eyes of Hongyu, she became Qingwen because of her guilty conscience.

Hongyu didn't listen to Qingwen's explanation and thought to herself that Qingwen was aloof and aloof, but she was scheming.Hong Yu calculated everything, thinking that if she came here at the right time, even if there was no drama, she would at least get a good result... but she was overtaken by Qingwen unexpectedly!

Hongyu's face changed, she suppressed the anger in her heart, sat down on the sofa beside her, and said: "You have been suffering for such a long time, why don't you go back and rest first, I will just take care of you here. Fourth Master It’s said that it takes three hours to dry, no more, no less, so it’s only half an hour.”

Qingwen said: "Don't worry, everyone stayed up late and can't sleep now. I'll just watch."

Hongyu's face lost its good expression, and she thought to herself: The fox's tail is exposed, this Qingwen is indeed a traitor!
There was no more words in the Nuan Pavilion. Qingwen sat on the stool and waited, while Hongyu simply fell asleep on the couch.After another half an hour, Qingwen took off several cotton gauze bags, turned around and saw that Hongyu had already fallen asleep on the bed.

Qingwen went over and called out a few times, but Hongyu just pretended to be asleep.Under the candlelight, Qingwen saw the red jade eyes moving back and forth under her eyelids. How could she not know that she was pretending to sleep?
You want me to get away and crawl into Fourth Master's bed?How could such a good master as the Fourth Master allow such a little hooves to get involved and tarnish his reputation?

Qingwen gritted her teeth, simply took off her shoes, stepped over Hongyu and lay down inside the soft cave.

Li Weijian fell asleep peacefully on the bed, and the two maids lying on the bed had their own thoughts and scolded each other bloody, and they fell asleep after half the fourth watch.

....................................

Early in the morning.

As soon as Li Weijian woke up, he stood up and stretched his muscles, and saw two maids hugging each other.

He was a little puzzled, thinking that Hongyu had remembered the time and came to take off the cotton gauze bag, but why did the two people not go back to the room, but crowded on the couch?
The charcoal fire in the fumigation cage was almost extinguished, and it was slightly cold in the thermal pavilion.Li Weijian didn't think about it, so he put on his clothes, then picked up the quilt and covered the two maids, and then moved his muscles and left the door.

It was just getting dark, and in the yard, Xiu Ying was standing in the middle holding two wooden knives uneasily.

Seeing Li Weijian coming out, she hurriedly came forward and said, "Sir, it's really strange. When I woke up, sister Hongyu and Qingwen were gone!"

"Oh, they are in my room."

"Huh? Why did they... run into the young master's room?" Xiu Ying stared at her big watery eyes, full of confusion.

Li Weijian couldn't help but reach out and flick Xiu Ying's smooth forehead, and said with a smile: "If you ask me, who should I ask? Why don't you wait until they wake up and ask them yourself?"

"Oh." Xiu Ying just has little experience, but she's not really stupid.A little later, she finally thought about it.

It doesn’t seem right!I was the first to follow the young master, why did the two others who came after him sneak into the young master's room first?

After Li Weijian had practiced pulling out tendons, the two of them were fighting with wooden knives. Xiu Ying, who was annoyed in her heart, unconsciously increased her strength.

The two fought dozens of moves, but suddenly Li Weijian was knocked open and Xiu Ying, who was thinking wildly, could just stab him with her sword.

Li Weijian's soul was so strong that he quickly shrank his head, but in the end it was a step too late.Even after Xiu Ying reacted and calmed down, the wooden knife still hit Li Weijian firmly on the shoulder.

"hiss……"

"Ah? Young Master!" Xiu Ying threw away her wooden knife and came over, almost crying in a hurry: "I, I..."

Li Weijian rubbed his shoulders twice, then angrily reached out and moved Xiu Ying's hair into a chicken coop.He said angrily: "You've lost your temper. I'll deduct your monthly payment next time!"

"Well... I won't do it next time!" Xiu Ying shrank her neck like a quail.

(End of this chapter)