Reborn in the last years of Kangxi

Chapter 660 Set the storm nine rice dumplings ([-])
Rehe, Cao's other courtyard, under the porch of the east courtyard.

Cao Yong looked at the chessboard, shook his head and said: "It's 'three in a row' again! I understand it, this backgammon is the 'first hand' win. This has three losses and three wins, lady, do you still want to fight?"

Seeing that her husband was not interested, Chu Yu put down the chess pieces in her hand and said, "Why don't you take a rest first, and count the time, the wife will go to the palace to greet the Queen Mother, and she will be back soon. I don't know how the dinner is arranged in the kitchen. "

Cao Yong stood up and stretched himself, feeling lazy and indescribably comfortable.

He walked to the corner of the courtyard and looked at the sunflower seedlings inside, which were already half the height of a person.

"After all, it is later than the ones in Beijing. The sunflowers in the capital should have flower buds at this time." Cao Yong touched the leaves and said to Chu Yu.

Chu Yu heard her husband mention the capital city, and said: "Now that we've all left, only sister Zijing and sister-in-law Tian are left in the mansion. It's so deserted." While speaking, she had already stood up.

When Cao Yong saw it, he stepped forward to support him and said, "Tired of sitting? Want to take a stroll?"

"En." Chu Yu nodded, and said, "Sitting for a long time, I feel so bored, I want to see what God Bless and the others are doing."

Just now, when the husband and wife started playing chess, Qiniang took Tianyou and Hengsheng to the garden to play.Because there are a few maids and women watching, they are not afraid of bumping into each other.

When Cao Yong heard the words, he helped his wife, and the husband and wife went to the garden together.

Not far away, beside the swing, there are a few maidservants around, and the faint cry of a child can be heard.

After Chu Yu heard this, she couldn't help worrying, and her feet had already accelerated.

It was Tianyou who was crying, and Qiniang was beside her, scratching her ears and cheeks anxiously, coaxing her: "What's there to be afraid of? It's just a big vegetable bug. I saw this one. If you don't pay attention, it will be boiled into a vegetable, and it's just a topping." Meat, right? It tastes alive and tender, better than pork."

It was okay if she didn't persuade her, but when she persuaded her like this, Tianyou stretched out his little hand, covered his mouth, and cried even harder.

It turned out that Qiniang took Tianyou and Hang Seng to play in the garden and saw this small vegetable field.Qiniang brought their brothers over and showed them one by one, which one was Chinese cabbage, which one was radish seedling, which eggplant seedling and so on.

Tianyou and Hang Seng grew up in the inner house since they were young. Wherever they saw these people, they felt very novel.

Tianyou remembered what his grandfather had taught, "When we hoe the crops at noon, sweat drips down the crops into the soil", he pulled Qiniang and asked which ones were the seedlings and how to "hoe the crops".

Crops and vegetable fields are not the same thing at all, Qiniang can't help but shame him and ask him to pull the weeds in the vegetable field.

The maids and mother-in-law who followed her would stop her when they saw her.There are two reasons, it is not good to let young men do "chores", and I dare not let them make trouble in the "vegetable field" of grandpa and grandma.

Tianyou felt the novelty, and took the two of Hang Seng to pull weeds in the vegetable field.

Doing this for the first time, how can there be any discernment ability?Taking advantage of Qiniang's inattention, Tianyou had already pulled out several cabbages.

When Qiniang saw her, before she could say she was wrong, a cabbage worm the size of a little finger crawled from Cai's heart to Tianyou's hand.

Although I have seen some small ants, small bees and so on, but this is the first time Tianyou has seen such a big vegetable worm, his little face turned pale with fright, and he kept crying.

Cao Yong and Chu Yu approached and knew the reason, seeing the "culprit" in Hang Seng's hand, they couldn't laugh or cry.

Chu Yu touched his son's small head and said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, this one doesn't bite, isn't my brother also afraid?"

Seeing his parents coming, Tianyou felt a little embarrassed, stopped crying, and sobbed once and for all.

Hang Seng held up the vegetable worm and said, "Brother, this one doesn't bite. If it dares to scare my brother, my brother will eat it." As he spoke, he raised his head and was about to put it in his mouth.

Cao Yong quickly stopped him, even if he was brave enough to eat this, it would be a bit scary.

Hang Seng only thought that his father was interested in this bug, so he stretched out his hand and handed the bug to Cao Yong.

Cao Yong groaned secretly in his heart. In his previous life, when he was a child, he would cry when he saw bugs, because he was often teased by his sister-in-law.

Although I am not afraid now, but such a thing wriggling in the palm of my hand also makes my whole body numb.

But in front of his wife and children, there is no reason to show cowardice, Cao Yong can only use this fat vegetable worm as a toy, and said to Tianyou: "It looks fierce, it only eats cabbage and dew, and is a vegetarian. "

"Monk, Uncle Zhiran?" Tianyou said, seeing his father holding the worm and saying this, his eyes sparkling.

Where is this and where is it, Cao Yong can only admire the child's imagination is unconstrained and unconstrained.

The big vegetable worm lay in Cao Yong's hands for a while, and refused to settle down, wriggling and crawling.

Cao Yong's body was stiff, he smiled at Tianyou, and said, "It's so soft, it feels like brown sugar. Would you like to hold it for a while?"

It was rare for his father to have such a "gentle" tone, and Tianyou nodded in a strange way.

Cao Yong was overjoyed, and immediately stretched out his hand, and put the vegetable worm on Tianyou's palm.

Tianyou just woke up at this moment, looking at the green worm, his mouth cracked open, and he looked like he was about to cry again.

Cao Yong also couldn't bear it, coughed, and said: "Come out for a walk, this bug is also homesick, Hang Seng, help your brother put this bug back."

After hearing this, Tianyou looked at Hang Seng desperately as if he had found a savior.

Hang Seng picked up the worm and asked Cao Yong puzzledly: "Father, didn't Sister Qiniang say that this is better than pork, don't you want to eat it?"

Cao Yong pointed to the vegetable field and said, "It's so small, we'll eat it when it's bigger."

Hang Seng nodded his head vigorously, took a few steps forward, and put the vegetable worm in his hand back into a small cabbage.

When Tianyou heard his father and younger brother say they wanted to eat this, he tightly covered his mouth with his little hand and kept silent.

Seeing the interaction between father and son, Qiniang was very curious, she moved to Chuyu's side, and said in a low voice, "Grandma, princess, why does Qiniang look at Master Cao a bit lacking in confidence? Master God is afraid of bugs, who is he like?"

After hearing this, Chu Yu just laughed as she thought about the scene where her husband coaxed her son just now.

Hearing Qiniang's muttering, Cao Yong turned his head and knocked her on the head, saying: "In the future, you should be more careful when you make them mischievous. Look, they pulled out several good cabbages."

"Tender and tender, it can make soup." Qiniang replied unconvinced.

Cao Yong is really bored, seeing that Qiniang has already taken a step ahead of her, bringing Tianyou and the others to experience "farming", and she is also interested in training her son.

Especially these two little guys are picky eaters, and they are no less picky eaters than Cao Yong, the father.

Do not eat tofu, bean sprouts, cabbage, rapeseed, celery, Tianyou does not eat beef and mutton, Hang Seng does not eat duck or fish.

Seeing Tianyou and Hang Seng's dirty little hands, Chu Yu knelt down and wiped them.

Seeing this, Cao Yong asked his sons, "Is it hard work pulling weeds? Are you tired?"

"Not tired." The two shook their heads and replied in unison.

Cao Yong pointed to the vegetable field, and then asked: "What if we pull out all of them? Not only do we have to pull out the weeds, but we also have to bend down, catch insects one by one, and then take a water bottle to water them. wait."

Brothers, you look at me and I look at you, but there is no movement.

Cao Yong raised his eyebrows, and seeing Wu En beside him, he called her aside, and ordered in a low voice, "Take someone to walk down the street, pick a grocery store, and pick the grain with the lowest price to buy. A pickle shop, buy some of the cheapest rotten pickles."

Although Wu En didn't know Cao Yong's intention, but since Cao Yong ordered him, he complied and asked, "Master, how much do you buy for each item?"

"How much?" Cao Yong hesitated, followed his parents to Rehe one after another, and there were many people living in other courtyards here, with five or sixty people.

"Five buckets of food each, and two jars of pickles." Cao Yong thought for a while and said, "Go and find Zhang Yizhi's silver, and let him arrange a car to take you there."

Wu En responded and went, Cao Yong and Chu Yu took the children back to the east courtyard.

Chu Yu asked someone to change clothes for Tianyou and the others, and washed their hands. Qiniang also tidied up, and then brought two plates of pastry for them to eat.

Qiniang is gluttonous, with a smile on her face, she said while eating: "There are so many kinds of dim sum in the north. It's not like that in our side, most of them are things from the sea. Needless to say, fish and shrimps , all kinds of shellfish and crabs are very fat."

Tianyou and Hang Seng listened with gusto, but couldn't eat the pastry in their hands.

Tianyou took a bite and put it down, while Hang Seng took it in his mouth and broke it into fine pieces.

Cao Yong saw it and didn't say anything; Chu Yu frowned and said: "Don't waste things, be careful not to let grandfather see and dislike you, and teach you a lesson."

Tianyou carefully peeked at his father's face, seeing that he didn't mean to blame him, he acted like a baby to Chuyu, and said, "Mother, my son doesn't like sweets, he can't eat any more."

Hang Seng also laughed and said to Chu Yu, "Mother, break it into pieces, feed the fish..."

"Didn't you just say that 'hoeing' is not easy, and you don't know how to cherish food." Chu Yu blamed, pulled Cao Yong's sleeve, and said: "I also say a few words, so as to save them two naughty bastards from losing their memory. .”

The husband and wife have said about cherishing food more than once, but the children don't know the hardship of life, and they don't have the concept of cherishing and frugal at all.

Even Fang Qiniang, a half-grown child, knows this truth: "Grandma, the princess, the two young masters are well-clothed and well-fed, and they don't know the sufferings of the people. If you eat corn buns for a few days and drink vegetable porridge for a few days, you will know this truth." Dim sum is the delicacy in the world.”

Even Chu Yu had only heard what she said.

The children were excited and stayed in the room for a while, then Tianyou and Hang Seng encouraged Qiniang to go to the school grounds to compete with the Ren brothers.

Thinking about what Qiniang said just now, Chuyu hesitated for a moment, and said, "Erbo, why don't you wait for the sons to grow up, and take them out with you more. Even if you don't go to farm and study, you should know how to make a living. After all, if you are a kid, if you only know meat, then it is our sin as parents."

Cao Yong heard the words, nodded with a smile, and said: "It's hard for you, a mother, to think of these things. If it's another family, who loves too much, you won't give up until you get used to it."

"Even if I don't tell you, my son-in-law won't let my sons do that." Chu Yu looked at her husband with trust in her eyes.

In Cao Yong's heart, he was thinking about the "feast" menu for the evening.

Although it was afternoon, the sun was shining.

Chu Yu looked out the window, and said to Cao Yong: "My son-in-law, can you send someone to cut a watermelon and send it to the front yard? Play in the sun, don't let the heat pass."

Cao Yong shook his head and said: "Don't, don't fight in the future, good morals have to be cultivated from a young age. From today on, let them know that life is difficult."

When Chu Yu heard this, she couldn't help being surprised, and said, "It's a hot day, so the children can't be thirsty."

Cao Yong said: "It's cool and white, it's fine; the children outside are still drinking cold water from the well..."

*
On Rehe Street, Wu En was standing in front of a small grain shop with two noodle bags, followed by a ten-year-old girl named Qing'er.

"Sister, why don't you go to the shop across the street, how big is that shop?" Qing'er looked at the palm-sized door face and asked curiously.

Wu En said with a smile: "Master told me to pick the cheapest one, but the store is big and the customers are cheated, so things will be expensive."

At this time, someone behind him said: "Look, it seems that you have suffered a lot when you came out? Are you pretending to be a scholar?"

Wu En sighed helplessly, turned around, and said, "Master Man, Ancestor Man, didn't you come out for a stroll, then why are you following us?"

Standing in front of her was Cao Yong's servant Cao Xiaoman.

Because Cao Yong is on vacation, Xiaoman has no errands and is free.Hearing that Wu En was coming out, he followed the car and came out together.

Seeing Wu En's helpless appearance, Xiaoman hugged his chest and said, "Is it ungrateful? Forget who taught you Chinese back then. At that time, no one could stick their tongue straight, and I still cried when I said it?"

Seeing him talking about the embarrassing things when he was a child, Wu En said with a smile: "I have convinced you, how many times have I talked about it."

Xiao Man lowered his arms, with a smile on his face, and said: "Sister Wu En, I haven't asked yet, why did the uncle think of sending you out to buy this?" As he said, he pulled the pocket from Wu En's hand and said: "Buy What, tell my brother, my brother will buy it for you."

Seeing the two of them talking interestingly, Qing'er was beside her, pursing her lips and laughing.

Wu En was a little embarrassed, and said: "Master Man, after all, he is older than when he was a child. From now on, the titles of 'brother' and 'sister' will be eliminated."

"What's the matter? Do you still want me to call you sister? Even if grandma wants to praise you and give you Changyue money, your age is still there. If you want me to call you sister, don't even think about it." Xiaoman was confused , did not feel that there was anything inappropriate.

Although they are all servants of the Cao family, Xiaoman's identity is different from others.

It is true that he is the son of the Cao family, but he is also one of the only two families in the mansion whose surname was given by the ancestors of the Cao family.

His grandfather, Cao Fu, was the chief housekeeper in the south of the Cao family, and now he has a house in the outer city for the elderly. Most of the affairs are decided by Cao Yuan; his father, Cao Fang, has been with Cao Yong since more than ten years ago, and he is a man who can be used by Cao Yong.

Cao Xiaoman himself was seven years old and worked as a school boy for Cao Yong for more than ten years.Many of his aunts and cousins ​​are also married to other families in the mansion, and one of the cousin's husbands is Zheng Hu, one of the external stewards of the Cao family.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that as long as there are no errands, Xiao Man will inherit his father and grandparents and become the chief steward of the Cao Mansion as long as he is old enough.

In the past two years, it's not just one or two people who have been thinking about proposing to Xiaoman.

It was Cao Fu who pressed him, saying that since he was working for the master, there was no reason for him to enjoy the blessings early for his own benefit, and he asked his grandson to wait until he was twenty, and the masters would not point out anyone before talking about marriage.

The girls in the inner house know that their uncle is not interested in beauty, and the eldest grandmother has a noble status, so even if they want to take concubines, there will be a row of big girls like Xicai in front.

No one dared to risk their relationship and dream of flying up to the branches and turning into a phoenix. Instead, they inquired about this in private, and talked about the situation of the steward.

Cao Xiaoman is the sweet pastry in their mouths.

Because Cao Xiaoman was familiar with Wu En, he also attracted many people's attention, for fear that Wu En would get the moon first, and Wu En could not laugh or cry.

That's why Wu En said these things that need to be avoided, because he was afraid of drawing out right and wrong words.

At this moment, Xiaoman has already entered the grocery store.Wu En had no choice but to follow Qing'er with him.

The shop was small in the first place, with two layers of wooden planks and a lot of dustpans for beans, and underneath were sacks for grain, all with their mouths open.

Seeing half of the strangers, with dark faces and slightly pungent moldy rice, Xiaoman couldn't help frowning, turned back to Wu En, and said, "Why do you buy things here?"

There was only an old man in his fifties in the shop, and he didn't know if he was a clerk or an owner.

Seeing the guests, the old man stepped forward and asked, "Miss, young master, do you want to buy rice or noodles?"

Xiao Man wanted to ask Wu En to change places, but Wu En had already stepped forward, looked at the rice noodles on display, and asked: "Shopkeeper, which is the cheapest rice and noodles in this shop?

Although Wu En is a girl, but because she was by Zijing's side since she was a child, and by the side of Cao Yong and his wife when she grew up, her food and clothing expenses follow the example of a second-class maid, and she looks more decent than ordinary girls.

Hearing that she asked about the cheapest grain, the old man hesitated, pointed to a sack near the door, and said, "This is old sorghum noodles, the cheapest among them, forty renminbi per bucket. Having said that, he pointed to a dustpan next to him and said, "It contains big broken grains, and each bucket is cheaper than sorghum noodles. It is the cheapest in Mili."

"Big broken grains?" Xiao Man grabbed a handful and said, "Isn't this a dried corn grain?"

"It's the corn. After it's dry, grind it with a mill and remove the skin. That's it." The old man said.

"Forty Wen, 38 Wen?" Wu En looked around and asked, "Is there any cheaper one?"

Seeing Wu En like this, the old man pulled out a broken sack from the door and said, "This is some old rice that has been eaten by moths. It's considered processed. It's 25 cents per bucket. It can't be cheap anymore."

Wu En stepped forward to look, the rice was sorghum, exuding a pungent smell.

I picked it up and saw that besides being eaten by moths, there were also a lot of sand grains inside.

"Boss, are there cheap noodles?" Wu En asked unwillingly.

The old man was very puzzled, looking at the girl's attire, it doesn't look like she can't afford food?

However, he has been doing business on this street for decades, and he is known as an honest man, living on small profits.

Therefore, since he was a guest, he wanted cheaper ones, so he had to take out half a bag of wheat bran noodles that he had reserved to help the neighbors, and said: "Girl, this is wheat bran. If it is mixed with other noodles, it can also be filled." Full stomach. Don’t dare to eat directly, it’s easy to bloat your stomach.”

"How to sell it?" Wu En asked.

"It's the same as that rice, let's give 25 Wen." The old man said, seeing that Wu En wanted to bargain, he quickly waved his hand and said, "Girl, little old man, never lie about the price in this business. This is really the lowest price." If the girl doesn't believe it, go all over the street and ask, other people's homes don't have such cheap food anymore."

After hearing this, Wu En asked Qing'er to go to two shops in a serious manner to see if there was any cheaper rice noodles.

After a while, Qing'er came back.

What the old man said was indeed true. In other miscellaneous grain stores, there were very few grains below [-] Wen.

Wu En asked the old man to weigh five buckets of each item, packed the bags, and settled the 250 Wen bill.

Seeing that Wu En really bought it, Xiaoman was already a little dumbfounded. He looked at the noodle pocket and said, "What are you buying this for? This is for feeding pigs, and pigs won't eat it."

Wu En glanced at Xiaoman, and said: "Master Man, before I was brought back by the uncle, the food I ate was worse than this. In the year of the famine, the common people may not even be able to afford this."

Xiaoman was embarrassed by the words, and said with a smile: "Speaking of which, our master and uncle are generous, and we have never seen such things in our family."

Wu En asked the old man to help introduce a cheap pickle shop. After a few people left the miscellaneous grain shop, they went to the pickle shop again and bought two jars of rotten pickles for [-] yuan, and then they got in the car and returned home.

Xiao Man sat across from the coachman, the stench of pickled vegetables made him pinch his nose.He thought for a while, and still couldn't help but persuade through the curtain: "Sister Wu En, from now on, you'd better not take up the shopping errand. It's good to save money, but it's not okay to save money like this." It will definitely fall..."

Wu En just laughed, knowing that the more he answered, the more excited he would be, so he kept quiet.

Back in the other courtyard, Wu En asked Xiaoman for help, and asked a few women to deliver the things to the kitchen.Cao Yong was already waiting in the kitchen, and when he saw the materials came, he had a smile on his face.

He deliberately asked Wu En to go to the market to buy some rice grains that are common in common people's homes, in order to give his sons a change of taste and give them a "dining table" education.

Although he had already prepared in his heart and knew that cheap goods were not good, Cao Yong was quite surprised when he saw the half bag of wheat bran and moldy rice.

The cooks have seen these things, but have never done them. They looked at Cao Yong and waited for instructions.

Thinking it was "recalling bitterness and thinking about sweetness", Cao Yong gave a "cough" and said, "Let's use the rice to dry rice, and the noodles to make steamed buns. Wash the pickles and shred them..."

After Cao Yong finished speaking, he heard a cook whisper: "Master, there are maggots in this pickle..."

Cao Yong stepped forward to meet him, and what was wriggling on the half-pot of rotten pickles that was poured out was not maggots?
Cao Yong couldn't help taking a step back, saying: "Salt vegetables, boiled and shredded... By the way, that one, pick it clean..."

Although the food is not good yet, Cao Yong has no appetite at all.

However, since we want the little ones to "remember bitterness and think about sweetness", they can't eat whole grains carefully, otherwise the sons will probably treat them as new snacks...

(End of this chapter)