delicious little cook

Chapter 2 Be careful when walking in the middle of the night

When the girls from each house and courtyard came to get dinner, Zeng Zhu's barbecue was just finished. Together with other dishes, they were put into a hot food box and handed over to Xiaoqian to take away. Then everyone in the kitchen began to eat dinner.

Xiaoqian carried the food box along the corridors of the mansion, passed through layers of courtyards, and entered the Wenling Courtyard where the third young master Gu Yun lived through a corner door.

This is said to be a small courtyard, but it is also divided into two entrances, the front and the back. The courtyard is lined with trees and flowers are splendid, and the corner door is a small garden, which is located just behind the main house after entering.

Xiaoqian went around to the front door through the corridor through the mountains. A pair of beautiful sisters were waiting for her in the bright hall. They took the food box and took it to the green gauze cabinet. They filled the table with food, and then went to the study to invite the young master. eat.

Dressed in simple civilian clothes, the fourteen or fifteen-year-old Gu Yun walked into the Bisha cabinet, looked at the dishes on the table, wrinkled his nose, and looked disgusted.

"Young master, why don't you have a taste?" The eldest first-class girl, Meilun, stood by the table with chopsticks in one hand and a saucer in the other.

"Master, don't you want to try the barbecue you ordered?" Meilun's own sister, Meihuan, was holding a soup bowl and preparing to serve it.

"No, it's boring just looking at it." Gu Yun was at the age of voice change, his voice was slightly hoarse, and he waved his hand to signal the girls to take away the food, "Take it back, I'll go to the street to eat, and I will keep my filial piety in the mansion for three years. The level of the kitchen has declined, and buying so many apprentices is useless, and when the filial piety period is over and the banquets that should be held are over, they will all be replaced within the year."

"Master, you haven't eaten at home for several days, and today you are at home with great difficulty and go out to eat again. Madam should be nagging again, and master will be unhappy." Mei Lun urged.

"Let her nag, just to let her know that I am dissatisfied with the kitchen. If they love me, they will quickly replace me with some useful newcomers. The afternoon snacks are so sweet, and the kitchen has the face to push it to the warehouse, saying it is theirs. Because of the sugar, as a cook, you don’t even know the taste of the seasoning, so why are you a cook.”

Gu Yun left as soon as he said he would, without looking back.

The girls sighed, cleared the table hastily, and asked Xiaoqian to send it back to the kitchen.

-

Although the apprentices don't cook, their meals are included in the kitchen's daily share. Although they can't eat any good dishes, the staple food is to keep them full. They can eat with relish even with some fermented bean curd, so the apprentices never complain about this.

Everyone was eating when Xiaoqian came back with a food box.

She turned back so quickly, only to explain one thing, the third young master didn't like tonight's dishes, at most he took one look at the dishes and returned them.

Even the apprentices know that the third young master is a well-known naughty young master in the house. He loves to taste fresh flavors, but he is picky about food. Cooking for him in the kitchen is the most troublesome. I don't know which dish will offend him. He was dissatisfied, so he returned and scolded the kitchen again.

Now the three-year mourning period in the mansion is less than three months away. During the filial piety period, there are many restrictions including diet. The third young master has also grown from a child to a teenager. In addition, he has studied for many years and has become more sensible. He's not as picky as before, but every time he returns a meal, it still makes the kitchen a little bit jittery.

Wen Gushan and the stewards put down their bowls and chopsticks, and quickly came out to take the food box in Xiaoqian's hand. They opened it and found that they hadn't tasted a single bite. The roasted meat on the plate he specially named was still fragrant and hot, and everyone's appetite was whetted by the smell. However, the third young master didn't even eat a piece of shredded pork, and his chopsticks were clean.

"Miss Xiaoqian, why is Third Young Master so unhappy?"

"I don't know, the food box was brought in, and after a while, I took it out as it was and asked me to bring it back." Xiaoqian was just a second-class girl, and she had to listen to the Meilunmeihuan sisters on weekdays.

"Did the third young master tell us to do something else?"

"Don't bother, the young master has probably changed his clothes and left the house by this time, and went to eat on the street."

"The third young master went to the street to eat again!?" Wen Gushan and the stewards wrinkled their faces so much that they could wring bitter water out. The eldest son of the eldest son didn't like the cooking skills in the kitchen. This was a fatal crisis.

"Miss Xiaoqian, it's not long since the family took off their filial piety clothes and changed into casual clothes. The third young master always goes out to eat in the street, and people will gossip about it. Can you persuade the young master?" Wen Gushan suggested in a low voice.

"The third young master has many good teachers and friends to exchange studies with, besides his family study homework every day. The eldest lady feels sorry for the young master who works hard all day when he leaves early and returns late, but he still can't eat a few satisfying meals at home. Director Wen, this is not our job." Whether the servant girl can persuade the young master is a matter of what the eldest lady thinks."

After finishing speaking, Xiaoqian turned around and left. Wen Gushan, an old smoker, smelled so bad that she didn't want to say a word to him at all.

Wen Gushan sighed helplessly, took the food box into the pantry, put it on the small table where he ate, and called the stewards to sit down and eat together.

The stewards watched Wen Gushan pick the meat one bite at a time, but the four of them lost their appetite. Xiaoqian's words could not threaten Wen Gushan's status, but to the steward who was in charge of the spoon and the first-class cooks, it was very scary up.

The apprentices sitting in the yard eating saw this scene completely. The difficult-to-serve Third Young Master was an out-of-reach figure for them. Whether he was full or hungry was not their turn to worry about. The smell of meat is the most seductive, and you can eat a bowl of rice just by smelling it.

After the dinner time, the apprentices and handymen cleaned up the kitchen and cleaned the tableware, while the cooks and cooks went back to their small courtyards to rest, waiting for them to cook some tonics for the masters at the later supper time.

The daily supper is taken away by the maids in each house and courtyard from the first watch to the second watch, and then the kitchen is regarded as the end of the day's work. The apprentices and handymen have to clean up thoroughly before going back to sleep.

When no one is watching, the apprentices are more or less self-reliant and unwilling to work with the handymen to the end. As soon as the steward and the cooks and cooks leave, the apprentices will finish the simple and easy tasks first, and then Slap your ass and leave.

But Bai Kou didn't mind staying until the end. She carefully cleaned the roasting room, and sprinkled firewood ash on the ground where the oil dripped, so as not to accidentally hurt someone one day.

There are always some bullies among the handymen. The apprentices are lazy and do not work, so they bully Bai Kou, who is honest. When she comes out after cleaning the roasting room, all the handymen have run away, and the cleaned dishes are piled up in the utensil room. There was no water on the long table, and naturally it was not put back in the cupboard.

Bai Kou quietly went to the well to wash his hands, then dried the tableware one by one, and returned them to their original places.

After finishing this last finishing work, it was already past the second watch. Bai Kou yawned, blew out the candle, and in the dark, went out through the corner door of the kitchen, and stood in the alleyway lit by wind lamps.

The end of this narrow road is connected to a back door of the Duke’s Mansion. People come in and out from here from time to time during the day. When the sound of evening drums is heard in the city in the evening, the woman who guards the door will close the door and lock it, so even if you are mad The light of the wind lamp is not bright, but Bai Kou is not afraid at all.

Bai Kou closed the corner door, walked along the path towards the back door, and went back to the small courtyard where the apprentices lived to sleep.

After walking a hundred steps, seeing a turning fork in front of him, a dark figure came silently from the direction of the back door. Looking at the hem of his trousers, he was a man, and he was alone.

"Which big brother is on patrol at night? Thanks for your hard work, it's dark here, please step carefully."

The startled Bai Kou quickly pinched his palms, and instead of screaming, he greeted in a sweet voice. If it was a patrolling guard, it would be fine. He will push the boat along with the flow, so that he will not kill people first when they meet each other.

The dark figure was also obviously taken aback. He didn't expect that there were still people walking around at such a late hour, and he couldn't help chuckling when he heard the greeting that was deliberately flattering.

Hearing this laughter, Bai Kou rolled his eyes, his voice was slightly hoarse, it seemed that he was still in the age of changing his voice, just a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old?
"It's a clever girl, where does she work?"

"The servant girl is a kitchen apprentice."

"Oh? Just finished work?"

"Yes, just packed."

"You have more than 20 apprentices, why are you working alone?"

"The servant girl moves slowly."

"Didn't you get bullied?"

"Haven't been bullied yet."

The other party was silent for a while, and then Bai Kou saw the black figure continue to walk towards the front of the aisle, and only heard the man say something when the two of them were in the wrong position.

"then."

Bai Kou stretched out her hands subconsciously, and a tightly bound paper package landed in her palm without any mistake.

"You haven't seen any outsiders tonight."

"The servant girl is tired from work. She is boiling water in the kitchen to drink. She didn't hear anything and doesn't know anything."

Holding the paper bag, Bai Kou looked down at the tip of her shoe, not daring to raise her head to see what the other person looked like.

The black shadow boy didn't make another sound, and when Bai Kou straightened up, she was already the only one left in the long narrow alleyway.

Bai Kou pinched the paper bag, which seemed to contain something like snacks. She ran back to the kitchen courtyard, lit a candle, and sat by the well to open the paper bag. There were indeed four or five pieces of shortbread inside. Kou smiled and narrowed his eyes. He wolfed down the shortbread in two or three bites. The outer layer of oily skin was crispy, and the filling was salty and delicious. It was really a delicious little shortbread.

After the delicious supper was finished, Bai Kou didn't bother to think about the status of the guy who could come back through the back door in the middle of the night. She stood up and jumped twice, shaking the crumbs on the ground, The oiled paper wrapping the snacks was crumpled and thrown into the trash, the candlesticks were put back to their original places, all traces of abnormality were eliminated, and then they went back to sleep in the small courtyard contentedly.

(End of this chapter)