Daughter of aristocratic family

Chapter 20 Winter Solstice
  As soon as her mother left, her father Zhao Cheng came and said, "Daughter."

"Daddy." Zhao Wangshu called sweetly.

Zhao Cheng asked similar questions to Zhao Li, and then told her, "People in the big house are all snobbish. Don't be stingy. Spend a little money and live a comfortable life. Everything is worth it."

"Dad, where did you get the money?" Zhao Wangshu pinched the purse he stuffed and asked curiously.

Zhao Cheng smiled and said: "Your father earned it by copying books, don't tell your grandma and your mother."

"Dad, there is no shortage of money at home. Please concentrate on reading and don't be distracted by other things." Zhao Wangshu said.

"Copying books is not a trivial matter. Not only can you practice calligraphy and memorize the contents of the book by copying books, but you can also make money. You can also have more books at home. You can count them all in one fell swoop. How great."

Zhao Wangshu smiled, "As long as it doesn't delay dad's studies."

"No delay." Zhao Cheng said with a smile.

When Zhao Chenggang, who was coaxed happily by his daughter, left, it was Zhao Yin who came to find his sister.

He also sends money to his sister, and he also makes money by copying books.

Looking at the three purses containing money in front of him, Zhao Wangshu smiled happily.

When Mrs. Zhao Cui came in to deliver the purse again, Zhao Wangshu couldn't laugh or cry. How afraid her family was that she would have no money to use!

"Put your purse away obediently. Grandma will take you to watch making glutinous rice cakes." Mrs. Zhao Cui said with a smile, thinking that her granddaughter was a child.

"Oh." Zhao Wangshu obediently put away his purse and followed Mrs. Zhao Cui to the vestibule of the ancestral hall.

The fog lingers in the front courtyard of the ancestral hall, and the aroma of glutinous rice floats in the wind. The farmers are steaming glutinous rice. The glutinous rice was soaked in water last night.

The glutinous rice is steamed and poured into a clean stone mortar.

Two strong men stood on both sides of the stone mortar, holding their mallets high and taking turns beating the glutinous rice in the stone mortar.

Every few moments, the village owner would turn over the glutinous rice balls in the stone mortar with a wooden shovel soaked in water.

Zhao Wangshu was watching this interestingly when Zhao Yuxiu and Zhao Yuying came over, "Sister Shu."

"Sister Xiu, sister Ying." Zhao Wangshu said with a smile.

"Yue'er, you are playing here, don't wander around." When Zhao Cui saw someone accompanying her, she went to chat with her sister-in-law on the other side.

As soon as Mrs. Zhao Cui walked away, Zhao Yuying couldn't wait to tell the two of them, "Sister Qing's house called a doctor last night. He said that he was overly frightened and was sick from fright."

"I didn't feel better on the carriage, so why did I get sick again at night? I couldn't be pretending to be sick," Zhao Yuxiu said.

"Reverse force." Zhao Wangshu said casually.

Zhao Yuxiu pouted, "She has enough stamina."

As the three of them chatted, the glutinous rice balls in the stone mortar were beaten until they were so viscous that no rice grains could be seen, becoming sticky and tough.

"Get up." The owner of the village shouted, and the strong men worked together to use the mallet in their hands to lift the ball-shaped glutinous rice cake and put it into the big wooden basin.

This first mortar of glutinous rice cake is mostly eaten by onlookers. Each person takes a ball of glutinous rice cake and sticks it with prepared white marshmallow or soybean flour to eat.

After a warm Winter Solstice Festival at home, the girls gathered at the ancestral hall the next day, waiting for the mansion's carriage to pick them up.

The carriage arrived at the place where the horse was frightened that day, and there was a crowd of people surrounding it again, not knowing what they were doing.

This time Zhao Shuqing took the initiative and said, "Let's get off the carriage and take a look."

Zhao Yuxiu asked directly: "Aren't you worried about bad guys this time?"

Hearing this, Zhao Shuqing blushed, pursed her lips, and didn't know how to answer.

"There are so many bad guys at the emperor's feet." Zhao Yujia smoothed things over and opened the car door, "Let's get out."

But before the girls could walk over, the group dispersed.

Then I saw a young man in black clothes, leading several men in navy blue attire, get on their horses and drive away. The coachman exclaimed: "It's Long Tingwei."

The Longting Guards are the emperor's personal guards and only take orders from the emperor.

The excitement was over, and the girls got into the carriage and continued on their way.

Go back to the mansion and see Mrs. Zhao.

Mrs. Zhao glanced at them, drooped her eyelids, and asked calmly: "Is everything okay at home?"

"Everything is fine at home. Thank you, old lady, for caring." Zhao Yujia replied.

"You guys have been free for two days. One day of practice, one day of practice, one day of not practicing Ten Sunsong. You already study at night compared to others, so you can't slack off."

The meaning of beating is really strong.

The girls stood up, Zhao Yujia bowed and said: "We will work hard and will not let down the old lady's expectations of us."

Mrs. Zhao twitched her lips and said, "I'll just listen. Okay, you have just come back from the village and you have worked hard. Go back to your room and rest."

"Yujia and the sisters won't disturb the old lady." Zhao Yujia knelt down and led Zhao Wangshu and the others back to the yard.

Although the girls did not go to school today, they were all gathered in the small living room.

As soon as they entered the courtyard, they were invited into the small warm room by the maid.

The person who asked the maids to wait there was Zhao Shuangzhi. The reason why Zhao Shuangzhi wanted to find them was to show off.

"Your Majesty has given me a box of new palace flowers. Take a look, do they look good?" Zhao Shuangzhi said proudly, holding the palace flowers on his temples.

"It's quite beautiful." Zhao Yujia said dryly.

"The old lady gave us a box of palace flowers. Each of us got three branches. If you like it, I can give you one." Zhao Shuangzhi said deliberately.

Zhao Yujia waved her hand, "No need."

"Okay, give me a branch." Zhao Wangshu said with a smile.

Zhao Shuangzhi was stunned. He didn't expect that Zhao Wangshu didn't follow common sense.

"What's wrong? I can't bear it!" Zhao Wangshu raised his eyebrows, "Why pretend to be generous if you can't bear it?"

After saying that, he turned around and walked out.

Zhao Yujia quickly smoothed things over, "Sister Zhi, we just came back from Zhuangzi. We are a little tired. Let's go back to the room to rest. If you have anything to say, we can talk about it tomorrow."

She slipped away quickly, and Zhao Shuhui and others immediately followed her out.

Seeing them leaving like this, Zhao Shuangzhi stamped his feet angrily.

That evening, when the girls were about to go to bed, Mrs. Zhao sent someone to send a message, "The weather is too cold. It's going to snow again. Girls, please stay in the yard to eat. Don't brave the wind and snow." He's come to the upper room."

Zhao Wangshu felt weird about Mrs. Zhao's sudden compassion. He always felt that the old lady was holding back some big tricks to punish those who were disobedient and insisted on going home for the holidays.

Facts have proved that Zhao Wangshu's sixth sense is quite sharp.

Mrs. Zhao had already decided that the girls would have three dishes for each meal, one meat, one vegetarian and one soup. If they wanted to eat better or want a few more dishes, they would pay for it and ask the kitchen to cook it.

The three dishes for lunch on consecutive days were braised meatballs, vegetarian stir-fried tofu skin and chicken skin soup, and the same three dishes for dinner.

Zhao Wangshu looked at the oily skin on the soup, frowned, and pondered for a moment, "Luzhi, take Bai Rong and Cheng Xiang around."

Let them go out and find out if other people's dishes are the same these days to confirm her guess.

Luzhi followed the order and went out for a walk with Bai Rong and Chengxiang. He came back and reported: "In addition to girls, Miss Jia, Miss Hui, Miss Qing, Miss Xiu and Miss Hua also have these dishes these days." Three kinds, the other girls’ dishes are different, and the old lady also gave each of them an extra dish.”

Knowing that it was just as she expected, Zhao Wangshu was extremely angry and laughed. Old Mrs. Zhao used such a simple and crude method to make things difficult for others, which showed that she was confident and had no kindness at all towards the girls.

(End of this chapter)