Chronicle of Farming in Muxianfu

Chapter 50
Mu Ai led the two of them into the small hall, Spring Equinox led Xia Zhi, saluted respectfully, served tea and snacks, Mu Ai remembered their origins, and thanked Liniang, "Speaking of which, I haven't thanked my sister-in-law for the gift. I have selected such a few right-hand assistants, most of the affairs in my house are handled by them, so I feel at ease when I am lazy."

Liniang was dragged by Muai to sit together on the soft couch just now, at this moment, he took her hand across the low table, "Sister, since you recognize us as brothers and sisters, it's all for us to do these small things for you. It should be. Speaking of thanks, today your elder brother and I mainly came to thank you. If I wasn’t afraid that Cheng’er would get wind and cold again, I would definitely bring him to kowtow to you. This time is too dangerous, if not My sister sent someone to deliver the elixir in time, I'm afraid Cheng'er..." She said this, remembering the anxiety and fear of those days, tears flowed down again, and Mu Ai quickly handed her the handkerchief.Xiao Heng also persuaded a few words, and Liniang reluctantly suppressed her tears, but she still held on to Mu Ai's hand, making her truly feel that this gentle and beautiful woman is sincere and sincere, and she is extremely grateful for her son's life her.Thinking of my childhood lack of wood ai, my eyes became sore, I hurriedly pretended to go to the corner to open the cabinet, but actually took out the jewelry box from the space and put it on the small table between the two of them. She smiled and said, "Sister-in-law, this is the jewelry you sent last time. It is too expensive, so I can't take it. You also said that I am your sister, and Cheng'er is my own nephew. My aunt My nephew cured the cold, it should be done, how can I charge the 'diagnosis fee'. Besides, before, you and the eldest brother have sent me enough things, sister, I really can't be so thick-skinned."

Liniang ignored her words, and resolutely pushed the box back in front of Mu Ai, with a serious face, "Sister, you know, I only have one child, Cheng'er, and he is my lifeblood. You will save him if you save him." Because it saved my life, no amount of these dead things is worth a life. Besides, my sister-in-law doesn’t lack such things as jewelry, and I keep them when I take them back, and I can’t wear them at home every day. Sister, you If you understand my sister-in-law's sincerity, then accept it."

Xiao Heng also said, "Your sister-in-law and I thought that Cheng'er was going to die this time. When you sent Ouyang's guards to arrive late at night, we even thought he was sent by the gods to save lives. Just keep it." , our friendship is for life, after the new year the weather is better, I will bring Cheng'er to kowtow to you."

Mu Ai was told by two people that he had no choice but to accept it.Xiao Heng took the account books between the two of them for the past two months, and calculated the money for sweet potatoes and sunflower seeds, as well as the previously agreed buyout fee of 20 taels for each new dish, plus 900 taels per catty for ginger and garlic. Two, a total of 100 taels.In the end, Xiao Heng insisted on counting the two dim sum recipes in the annual gift for 4000 taels, and adding them together made up [-] taels of silver.

This was much more than Mu Ai expected. She wanted to cut off half of it. Of course, Xiao Heng and his wife couldn’t agree. The recipe for the new dish was only 20 taels, which was ridiculously cheap. Earn at least two or three hundred taels a day.The owners of other restaurants tried their best to find out the origin of these new dishes, but they didn't have the slightest clue.If it wasn't for every dish, after the Cyclamen Restaurant monopolizes it for a month, the recipes will be made public, and they are even about to close down.Even if they tried their best, they couldn't guess that these new dishes that people can't get tired of eating were actually created by a widowed woman in a mountain village.

The three of them chatted again, and Liniang mentioned that Cheng'er had to eat a salted egg porridge every morning, and what was even more ridiculous was that he pretended to be ill to deceive others in order to drink a spoonful of honey.It made Mu Ai laugh too, and ordered Chun Equinox to write a recipe for pickled duck eggs to Liniang, and reminded her that children who eat too much honey will damage their teeth, but if a woman wakes up every day, use warm water Make a cup and drink it, and you can beautify yourself.Beauty is a topic that every woman never tires of talking about. As expected, Liniang immediately asked, and Mu Ai picked up some small beauty methods such as honey and pearl masks that she had seen before and explained them to her in simple terms.

Liniang also mentioned the new-style cloak and leather boots that Muai sent. She wore them to the banquet, and many people asked her where she got the new style. Look, the two of them got closer and closer as they talked, and the conversation was very lively for a while, but Xiao Heng was left on the sidelines, so he didn't mind anyway.

The autumnal equinox leads the summer solstice and the winter solstice, and they are nervously preparing the banquet in the kitchen. They are already familiar with new vegetables such as cucumber, eggplant, beans, and green beans. Although they haven’t cooked fish and shrimp a few times, they have to make it as it is. The three of them discussed it together and made it Seven dishes and one soup, vegetarian cucumber, bean stewed pork ribs, fried eggplant box, stuffed heart white jade, fresh vegetables, shredded beef with celery, boiled shrimp, braised fish and a bone soup.Once the dishes are ordered, everything will be easy to handle. The summer solstice and winter solstice help wash and chop vegetables, and the autumn equinox is responsible for cooking. They are busy and orderly.

In less than half an hour, Xia Zhi came to report that lunch was ready with an excited face.Mu Ai glared at her with a smile, and then ordered to put the food on the table.Just looking at the dishes, Mu Ai understood that the girls had carefully considered Liniang's taste, and the dishes were rather bland, so she raised her eyes appreciatively and glanced at the few people standing at the table serving them.Xiao Heng had eaten here several times before, and he was used to the novelty and exquisite food in Muai's mansion.Liniang didn't know about this. When she saw it today, she was really shocked. The food in her mansion was second to none in Kao City, but compared with this noodles, it was really inferior. Of course, she understood in her heart. The reason why the restaurant at home makes a lot of money every day.

The two praised them repeatedly while eating. Although they were very puzzled about these novel vegetables, they were smart enough not to ask.Mu Ai also seemed to have forgotten to explain why there are fresh vegetables to eat at this time, but while picking up vegetables for the two of them, he introduced what this is called, what is that called, and which types he plans to try to grow next year.

Xiao Heng became interested as soon as he heard it. If it wasn't for Mu Ai's persuasion, the first time planting needs to accumulate experience, he might soon have to buy a small village to plant new vegetables on a large scale.Well, he also knows that any new things here in Muai will be exclusively provided to Xiankelou, so he is not so impatient.The three of them ate and talked for a while, and the sun was setting in the west, so the two of them left and rushed back to the city. Mu Ai knew that they were thinking about their children, so she didn't have to stay, so she just gave them another A jar of honey and a large box of fresh vegetables. To be cautious, I didn’t take any exotic vegetables such as cucumbers, beans, and eggplants. They were just common ones such as leeks, celery, and spinach, but this also made Liniang very happy. She has always had a headache about what dishes to arrange for a few important guests from the family of family friends. Now that she has these green vegetables, the banquet will definitely be more brilliant.At the moment, he didn't refuse much, and accepted it happily.

Along the way, Xiao Fu concentrated on driving the carriage, reminding the empty cart following from time to time that the mountain road covered with half a foot of snow was extremely difficult.Xiao Heng and his wife half leaned in the car and chatted about each other. Of course, Mu Ai was the center of their conversation.Leaving aside Mu Ai's rescue of Cheng'er, just talking about her character, Liniang felt that she was very close to her.Mu Ai speaks and acts gracefully, not at all reserved like other women, but she is shrewd and tactful.Occasionally when she calmed down, there was a sense of coldness and alienation lingering all over her body, but as soon as she smiled, she immediately became extraordinarily friendly and warm.The entire courtyard was also built in a simple and elegant manner, solid and practical, and the servants under him were also diligent and polite, with joy in the corners of their eyes and brows. It was obvious that they had such expressions because they lived peacefully and steadily on weekdays.All of these made me, who is also a woman, admire me very much.Besides, those fresh vegetables are not available to everyone in this severe winter when the door is closed by heavy snow. Even His Majesty the King in the palace, I am afraid that if he wants to eat one, he has to be transported from the extreme south, but , in such a small mountain village, in the compound of a widowed woman, she actually ate it, and it was extremely delicious, which made her feel that Muai was very mysterious...

Thinking of this in her heart, Liniang's tone naturally brought it out, Xiao Heng smiled and answered, "I know, you are curious about our girl, but I am also curious, think about those fragrant rice , ginger, garlic, sweet potatoes, melon seeds, all kinds of new dishes, new snacks, Cheng'er's life-saving elixir, today's fresh vegetables, none of which we have seen before. Sometimes I suspect that she is a fairy sent by the gods , I even have a hunch that she will bring us more surprises in the future. However, as you may have seen, she is very cautious and doesn't like people to explore her, or she doesn't like to get too close to people .If I hadn't bought her fragrant rice at the beginning, and later offered to help, and gradually formed a friendship, I'm afraid, she would not have treated us so kindly. In the future, you should pay more attention, and everyone in the mansion Tell her, don't neglect her. The matter of Mrs. Chen must never happen again. Also, my father sent Mr. Zhang over, and he also has plans for new food. When the new year comes, we should start making preparations. Yes. I think my sister will not do things that are not sure. This fragrant rice will definitely be planted. She negotiated with me early on. No matter what rewards the court has, don’t mention her. I guess, the first is her She is a widowed woman, and she doesn't want to show off. Second, I'm afraid she wants to give me the credit. So, go back to the house, find a chance, and sort out all the people below. Just go to unnecessary trouble."

Liniang replied softly with a serious face. Even if her husband didn't mention this matter, she would have planned to clean up the manpower in the mansion a long time ago. It was about food, about her return to the waiting mansion, and about Cheng'er's future. How could it be taken lightly.

Let's talk about Mu Ai's side, leaning on the soft couch, looking at the New Year's gift list sent by Xiao Heng, picked out a few pieces of fabric, and asked Xia Zhi to send it to the old lady, and threw the rest to the Spring Equinox as usual. storage.Then he continued to live a lazy life, and occasionally went to the west courtyard to sit with grandma and Shuan Shuan for a while. Housekeeper Guo had already brought someone over to help clean the yard, and the things that should be arranged for the New Year were not left behind.Mu Ai gave the old lady 100 taels of silver, saying that it was a dividend for her from the sale of the experimental field, but the old lady refused, so she said that she would let the old lady keep her grandson and come back to buy things. Sure enough, the old lady happily accepted it. up.

In the twelfth lunar month, the old lady began to become anxious. At this time, after the young year, she would go to the entrance of the village to visit several times a day. Mu Ai was afraid that she would catch the cold, so she sent Qingfeng and Mingyue over during the day to replace her. She runs to the entrance of the village every half an hour.However, the Chinese New Year is two days away, and there is no news of the old lady's unscrupulous son...

Waking up early the next morning, Mu Ai was eating and remembered that the village would open the ancestral hall to worship the ancestors in the future. Although she is a woman, she does not need to go in and kowtow, but this is the first year that she came to the village by name, and the offerings for worship still have to be delivered. richer.According to the old lady of the West Courtyard, during the worship, people from poor families will give gold cakes (a traditional food steamed with corn flour and soybean noodles), and those from rich families will give a pheasant. Do your best to comfort the ancestors, and pray for the ancestors to bless the next year with good weather and a safe village.

(End of this chapter)