happy event

Chapter 118 Everything is ready
After Dong Ping had had a good time with Xi Zi, he came back from his classmate’s house. He met his brother-in-law who was about to go up the mountain. They talked and laughed. As soon as they climbed halfway up the mountain, they saw Liu Ergou and others resting on the pickaxe while stretching Neck looked up the hill.Dong Ping immediately darkened his face, and asked in a cold voice, "What are you doing?"

The handymen immediately shrank their necks when they heard the sound. After all, Liu Ergou was considered a small steward, and felt that he had some face in front of the master's house, so he hurried forward and responded cautiously, "The master and the second young master are back. We just dug the drainage ditch. I was planning to rest for a while before continuing to fertilize. But I don’t know what delicious food I cooked in the yard on the mountain, and the smell wafted here. Everyone was curious..."

Dong Ping sniffed the air carefully, and there was indeed some faint fragrance, and only then did he realize that he had misunderstood everyone, but the master could not apologize to the servant even if he made a mistake, otherwise it would be difficult to act after losing his majesty.He coughed twice in embarrassment, finally nodded and said lightly, "Take a break if the work is heavy."

After finishing speaking, he followed Silly Zhu and continued to climb the stone steps.It took a long time for the handymen to dare to look up, and whispered secretly, "Second Young Master usually looks kind, but it's scary when he gets angry."

"No, the second young master is a scholar. He will be an official in the future. How can he not have a bit of majesty?"

Dong Rong was standing at the door of the stove at the moment, milky white steam continuously overflowed from the door, making her look like a fairy trampling on clouds.It's just that she, a fairy, doesn't care about weaving or washing clothes, she only cares about the back kitchen of the Jade Emperor's family...

The lo mei in the cauldron has been boiled for almost an hour, and the rich aroma is like a naughty child who has been drilling into everyone's nostrils.

In the front yard, a dozen and a half children who were learning to write with Zhang Guanshi, although they tried their best to focus on the willow branches in their hands, but they had no choice but to be greedy, which made them want to look up all the time. Look into the inner courtyard.Steward Zhang held a ruler in his hand and tapped it a few times from time to time, obviously very satisfied with his job as interim husband.

Seeing the master coming back, Guanshi Zhang hurriedly led a group of boys to salute, Sha Zhu waved his hands and went straight into the inner courtyard, but Xizi, a naughty bastard, grinned secretly and made a face.

The group of boys were both greedy and jealous, and thought to themselves that it would be great if they could also be a book boy with the second young master, eating, drinking and having fun all day long without having to do work.Manager Zhang probably saw what the boys were thinking, raised his hand and knocked one by one, and cursed, "You guys, how do you know that you are jealous? Don't look at Xizi's young age, she has already memorized the Three-Character Classic and the Thousand-Character Classic fluently. Taking care of the second son's laundry and dressing is even more thoughtful and appropriate. He is much smarter than you monkeys. Remember, as long as our family is willing to work hard, there will be a day in the top. If you don't work hard, hum, then you will be punished every day. .”

The boys stuck out their tongues in fright, but in the end they grabbed the willow branches again, their expressions much more serious than before.

Sister-in-law Liu and the others waited around the stove. Seeing the steam thinning, she asked, "Boss, can you start the pot?"

Just as Dong Rong was about to respond, she happened to see Zhuzi and Dong Ping coming in, so she smiled and said, "Let's start the pot, the diners are back, it's time to serve."

Sister-in-law Liu was a little puzzled, she stretched her head and smiled, and finally greeted Meihua and Silian, "Hurry up and open the pot, the master and the second young master are back."

Dong Rong stepped forward to pat his younger brother, and then saw that there was nothing wrong with Shazhu's face, and then said, "I just tried a few more braised vegetables, you guys change your clothes and wash your hands quickly, how about helping me taste it?"

"Okay, I'll be here right away." Dong Ping happily responded and returned to the East Chamber. Dong Rong fetched water and told Sha Zhu to wash his hands, and asked him how Mr. Feng was doing.Silly Zhu said with a smile, "Uncle Feng asked to send more marinated eggs over."

Dong Rong laughed and said, "Success, one tael of silver each, it's best to do a good deal."

The young couple chatted and laughed, and quickly changed into a set of clean clothes. As soon as they came out of the inner room, they saw Second Sister Cao standing at the door of the main room and looking inside.Dong Rong blamed helplessly, "You girl, you don't see anyone when you're doing the work, and you come here to eat the ready-made braised vegetables?"

Second Sister Cao smiled and stepped forward to hug her sister-in-law, and said coquettishly, "Sister-in-law, I'm afraid of killing chickens, there's blood everywhere. When you make dim sum in the future, I will definitely help, okay?"

Dong Rong's previous and previous lives are almost 40 years old together, and she treats this teenage sister-in-law like a spoiled daughter, so naturally she doesn't really blame her, so she gently pinches her to let it go.

On the stone table in the corner of the yard, there were already several plates of different kinds of food. Sister-in-law Liu and the others gathered around with excited faces, but none of them moved their chopsticks first.Dong Rong liked that they understood the rules, so she picked a chicken wing for Shazhu first, and two chicken legs for her younger siblings, and then greeted them, "I've been busy all morning, so don't be too polite, hurry up and try our chicken." How does the fruit of your labor taste?"

Sister-in-law Liu and the others put down their chopsticks one after another. Meihua was in charge of picking up the pork offal before, and now she picked up a piece of pork liver and threw it into her mouth. Scrubbing really doesn't smell like pickle anymore." After she finished speaking, she ate another piece of pig intestines, smiling even more joyfully, "The intestines don't smell bad either!"

Dong Rong tasted all the food one by one, and asked everyone's opinions, and then said, "The boiled chicken, duck and eggs in this stewed soup are not bad, but the pig is a bit reluctant to enter the water. How about it, don't cook the liver, heart and lungs Well, as for the small intestine... I will do another way, let's try again tomorrow."

Sister-in-law Liu and Meihua both agreed, Chu Silian was a little impatient and asked, "Master, when will you teach me how to make dim sum?"

"Don't worry, let Guanshi Zhang go to the pottery kiln tomorrow and hire two people to build a small kiln at home. Then there will be times when you will complain and feel tired."

Chu Silian didn't worry about it anymore when she got the letter, she smiled and took a chicken neck and gnawed it with relish.

Seeing that everyone was half full after eating, Dong Rong asked Sister-in-law Liu to remove the plate. After all, this is not a serious meal, too greasy is not good for health.Xizi licked her fingers a little bit, but when Dong Ping saw him, she slapped him.This kid was also clever, and quickly praised, "Madam's craftsmanship is really good, and the business will definitely flourish."

Everyone laughed, and Dong Rong asked Wen Niang to take the remaining lo mei to the outer courtyard for Guanshi Zhang and the boys to taste something new. After hearing this, Sister Liu said, "Sister of the Wen family, by the way, please let Guanshi Zhang go to the hospital to give you some fresh food." Let's write our work contract together, and we can rest assured after our fingerprints. You don't have to worry about the master finding better craftsmanship, and you don't need us clumsy wives."

Wen Niang listened with a smile, but looked at her master.Dong Rong nodded and smiled, "Go ahead, tell Zhang Guan to write a five-year work contract in advance, and the salary will be twelve taels per year."

Only then did Wen Niang bow and retreat. When Steward Zhang heard that the boss had ordered an errand, he left a group of drooling boys and entered the room. Finally, he took the written deed and ink pads and entered the inner courtyard.Sister-in-law Liu, Mei Hua, and Si Lian all pressed their fingerprints happily, and then packed up unfinished needlework and went down the mountain to report the good news.

Seeing that the yard was finally quiet, Dong Rong invited Steward Zhang to sit down and drink tea, and slowly arranged the recent work in the orchard.Early the next morning, Sister-in-law Liu and others came up the mountain again. Everyone was gearing up and asked what to eat today. Dong Rong asked Wen Niang to bring out a basket of duck eggs and half a pot of pig intestines. out of the kitchen.

Soon, the two master pottery kiln builders hired by Zhang Guanshi also arrived. Dong Rong took the time to give some pointers and then returned to the kitchen, leaving Zhang Guanshi and the two kiln workers racking their brains to figure out how to do it. Build a "pottery kiln" that can bake dim sum.

At the entrance of the orchard at the foot of the mountain, Yu Guisheng brought more than a dozen handymen to build a chicken shed next to his house, and he heard him yelling from time to time, "Everyone, work hard, the shed is finished, we still have to build a chicken shed by the peach blossom forest." Let’s build a small restaurant, when the business is good, all the straw weaving of each family will be sold, and everyone will get rich.”

The handymen were all temporarily hired from the village. After hearing this, they seemed to see their own prosperous future and became more motivated.

In the lotus pond in the distance, Zhao Qingshan is leading seven or eight people to plant lotus root seeds in the pond mud. If counted according to the solar terms, it is too early to plant lotus roots at this time, which will definitely affect the yield.But Dong Rong planted lotus root in order to fill the pond with lotus, so as to fill the gap left behind by peach and pear blossoms, so she didn't care about this small shortcoming.After all, the orchard is a sign of enjoying flowers and drinking. If guests come and have no flowers to enjoy, no matter how good the food and drinks are, they will feel disappointed.

Therefore, this lotus pond will be the focus of the whole orchard after June.A batch of lotus seeds are planted every half month, and when the lotus blooms, they will naturally bloom continuously until late autumn.

Zhao Qingshan stood in the pond mud, his face turned blue from the cold, but he didn't have the slightest idea of ​​going ashore to be lazy.Seeing that the owner's family business is getting bigger and bigger, not to mention that Guanshi Zhang is heavily relied on by the owner, even if the women of Mrs. Liu have signed a five-year long contract, he has to work harder, otherwise he will be forgotten by the owner. What can I do next?

"Everyone hold on a little longer. Our boss is kind-hearted. He told Mrs. Yu to stew tofu with meat and bones, and there are two jars of corn wine. Let's eat bones and drink as soon as we finish our work!"

Everyone responded coquettishly, "Okay, the water is really cold, I can't hold it without some wine."

In this way, the days passed day by day, the weather became warmer and warmer, the earth completely rejuvenated, and the mountains and forests were full of greenery.People come and go in the orchard, and it has been a full month of busy work. The more than 200 chicks carefully raised by Mrs. Yu have already lived in the spacious chicken shed, and the small restaurant at the foot of the peach forest has also been built.The thatched roof, the log floor only painted with varnish, and the six small boxes are separated by screens. Although it looks simple, it is faintly casual.These boxes are all backed by the lotus pond and facing the peach grove. It is foreseeable that when the flowers bloom, it is definitely a very pleasant thing for friends to sit here to drink and laugh.

Various aromas wafted from the courtyard on the top of the mountain every day, every time Sister-in-law Liu and the others tried something new, they would bring it out for someone to try.All the boys and girls were ecstatic at first, almost swarming up to grab everything, but they couldn't afford to eat every day, and now, except for being hungry, no one would take the initiative to wander outside the Chuihua Gate.

(End of this chapter)