The Dingxi Marquis Mansion, like all families today, has two meals a day, and the meals are delivered from the kitchen to each courtyard in order of status.
Now that Mrs. Hou is gone, the highest-status housewife in the house is Mrs. Hou Xie.
When Mrs. Xie accompanied Marquis Dingxi into the dining room, the aunts standing in the room bowed and saluted.
"How are you, Madam Marquis?" Everyone would greet her together.
The daughter-in-law of the Hou family of Dingxi does not serve breakfast when they come. This is a rule established after the death of the great Xie family. Mrs. Hou said that as the eldest daughter-in-law of the family, she has complicated affairs, so she should let them have a comfortable meal and come over to talk after the meal.
That's all, so the ones waiting in front of Mrs. Hou Ye are the aunts in her own room.
Mr.
Yes, because there are five concubines in Dingxihou, the meal will be cold if you ask them all, but this still makes everyone in the room feel happy.
After the couple sat down, Aunt Zhou would personally bring hand towels for Marquis Dingxi and Mrs.
, Ms. Xie exempted her from the rules and did not have to serve her every day, so Aunt Zhou took over this task.
Then Aunt Song and Aunt Liu would hold two cups of mouthwash tea. Aunt Zhu, who was new to the house because she was pregnant, was exempted from the rules by Ms. Xie and sat with her, but she still waited until they finished gargling
He stood up respectfully and placed his chopsticks in place.
During this period, it was quiet until the meal was finished, and the concubines were also quiet while serving dishes and serving rice. Only occasionally asked if they wanted to try this.
Breakfast was very simple. Marquis Dingxi had a good appetite and could only eat two bowls of porridge with a few bites of side dishes before putting down his chopsticks. Mr. Xie only ate half a bowl of rice porridge.
Then there was another set of repeated hand wiping and mouth rinsing.
"You guys go down and eat quickly." After everything was done, Mr. Xie nodded and said.
The aunts all bowed and left. When they exited the door, the news was heard in the kitchen, and the prepared meals were sent to their respective yards.
When Aunt Zhou stepped into the courtyard, Chang Yunqi was sitting in the room looking through the Buddhist scriptures that Aunt Zhou copied every day. Aunt Zhou's eldest girl Ah Jin was chatting and joking with him.
"Why are you here at this time?" Aunt Zhou asked while washing her hands in the copper basin held by the kneeling little girl, "Have you eaten egg custard?"
The meal for the young master and the young ladies starts after the meal is served in Mrs. Hou's house, earlier than that for the aunts.
"How old am I? I don't like eating that." Chang Yun said with a smile.
Aunt Zhou didn't look at her, and just said to the girl standing in the room: "Go and tell the kitchen that I will add some egg custard here."
"It's okay, no trouble. Although I am an aunt, I have been in the house for so many years. I can still add egg custard to the regular meals. No one will slap my aunt in the face for such a meal." She said calmly.
She reached out and pulled his face to take a serious look.
"Open your mouth and let me take a look," she said.
Chang Yunqi smiled and opened his mouth.
"It's alright." He said helplessly.
"Let's see if you dare to eat randomly next time." Aunt Zhou breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it, patted his face, and said with a bit of reproach.
That day, after eating Qi Yue's spicy chicken nuggets, Yunqi's mouth not only swelled, but also blistered, making eating uncomfortable, which made Aunt Zhou very worried.
"Which cook made it? There were so many peppercorns..." A Jin asked casually from the side.
Chang Yunqi smiled and said something vague and confusing, so he said no more.
"My aunt is copying this every day, and her handwriting is getting better and better." He changed the topic with a smile.
Aunt Zhou learned her handwriting from her grandfather. She is the best among her brothers and sisters and has always been very confident in her handwriting.
"Speaking of calligraphy, I heard your father say that you are not as good as before. It is enough for you to have your eldest brother in the family and join the martial arts. It is the right way for you to give up that idea as soon as possible and study and practice calligraphy for me honestly." She said.
.
Chang Yunqi smiled and responded.
"Then I will help my mother copy the Buddhist scriptures." He said in his mouth, and he sat down with a pen and started writing slowly.
"This is how I pass my time as an elderly person. If you are young and don't write this, you will lose your blood." Aunt Zhou said.
Her voice was light, with a hint of loneliness and sadness.
Chang Yunqi's pen paused slightly.
In just a few days, Dingxihou has been surrounded by two women. He brought back a woman from outside. Although this woman has been raised outside for four or five years, she is also a newcomer if she can enter the house. Yesterday, I heard that Zhu
A girl in the aunt's house was carried to the whole room...
Beauty ages easily, but she smiles when she sees someone new.
Chang Yunqi looked through the bead curtain at Aunt Zhou who was sitting outside eating slowly. She had a unique charm in her middle age, but after all, she no longer had the brilliance of her bright youth.
She ate the meal slowly. The food on the table was all carefully selected, with good rice and dishes with all the colors, flavors and tastes. However, Aunt Zhou's actions seemed so dull.
Chang Yunqi remembered that when he was a child, his father often came over to have dinner with the old lady. Naturally, his aunt was also there, and the family sat together chatting and laughing. At that time, her aunt always had a happy smile on her face every time she swallowed a grain of rice.
It’s just that those days haven’t happened for a long time, and maybe they won’t happen again in the future…
What she ate was not food, but loneliness.
Chang Yunqi sighed, lowered his head and slowly copied the scriptures.
There were girls' footsteps and low voices talking and laughing in the yard. Chang Yunqi couldn't help but raise his head and look through the window. He saw a girl holding a food box and two or three others surrounding her. She didn't know she had taken something from the food box.
What.
The woman at the door coughed, and the girls hurriedly dispersed.
"Madam, the egg custard is here." The girl came in holding a food box and said.
"Bring it to the young master," Aunt Zhou said.
The girl then came over, bowed down and saluted Chang Yun, and called "Third Young Master" with a smile.
"Put it down." Chang Yunqi knew he couldn't do it without eating, so he put down his pen and said with a smile.
Ah Jin personally brought the basin over.
"How dare you work sister?" Chang Yun stood up in a hurry and said with a smile.
"I worked hard before, so why am I so young? Now that the third young master is older, he is more polite." Ah Jin said with a smile, took his hand and washed it for him personally, and then took a hand towel to wipe it clean.
"Speaking of which, of the four who came from my grandmother's side, only Sister Ajin is a second-class girl, right?" Chang Yun took off her clothes and thought of something and said, "If Sister Ajin hadn't come to my aunt, she wouldn't have..."
"What did the third young master say?" Ajin smiled and shook off his hand, "It's because Ajinlu is too stupid to get on the stage and no one wants him anywhere, or his aunt took him in, otherwise he would have gone out long ago and I don't know where to give him."
I'm running around here and there, but I can still stand here and listen to the third young master and my sister."
Everyone laughed when he said this.
"If my sister is stupid, we won't be able to keep her," the little girls said.
"Go about your business and stay here." Ah Jin scolded them with a smile.
The little girl smiled and was about to leave, but was stopped by Chang Yunqi.
"What did you share outside just now?" he asked, while slowly eating the egg custard. In order to dispel the heat, it was deliberately made bland and tasteless. It was not delicious at all.
"Yes...oh, it's a cake..." the little girl thought for a moment before saying.
"Where did it come from?" Ajin asked, frowning slightly, "I told you several times not to ask for things from the kitchen. If you cause trouble, it will be your aunt's trouble. How many people are watching us in private now..."
"Sister, I'm not from the kitchen. I remember this order, and I didn't ask for food from the kitchen." The little girl said hurriedly, "I met Ah Hao on the way and asked her for it."
"Ah Hao?" Ah Jin was stunned. This name was once familiar to her, but now it is a bit unfamiliar. It has been three years since she...
"Is there any more? Let me take a look." Chang Yunqi took the words and said.
The little girl responded, took one out of her sleeve, wrapped it in oil paper, and made it a small piece.
"I was afraid that they would snatch them all up for me, so I secretly hid a piece first." She said with a smile.
Chang Yunqi took it and opened the oil paper.
"Is this food edible?" Ah Jin also came over and looked at the rough-looking pastry. It smelled quite fragrant.
"It's delicious." The little girl said hurriedly, "It's made by Ah Hao. It's not easy to get it. This time she went to give it to her mother and I met her. I managed to get three of them after all the hard talk. Everyone
Eat separately..."
While she was talking here, Chang Yunqi had already put the pastry into his mouth.
"Yeah, yeah." He nodded and handed it to Ah Jin, "Sister, please try it."
Ah Jin pinched off a piece and ate it with hesitation, his eyebrows showed surprise.
"It's really good, sweet but not greasy, soft." She nodded and said.
That's all. Girls like her, especially those who came out with the old lady, have never eaten anything. However, if this is not made by the snack ladies in the kitchen, but by that girl Ah Hao...
"Is it easy to do?" she asked again, remembering the lost and confused little girl back then.
"Yes." The little girl nodded and said, "Ah Hao can make some delicious food. She also fried the fruit herself, and they have eaten the Sasao man'er."
Ajin smiled.
"This girl has been practicing cooking in the yard for the past few years." She shook her head and said.
While they were talking, Chang Yunqi was chewing pastries slowly on the side, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Have you eaten?" Aunt Zhou's voice asked.
"Eat." Chang Yunqi replied smoothly.
Aunt Zhou lowered her face as she looked at the egg custard with only a bite on the table.
"Auntie, it's getting late. I went to my father's and his wife's place to say hello. They must have all passed by." Chang Yunqi stood up with a smile, "I'll eat it when I get back to warm it up."
After that, without waiting for Aunt Zhou to say anything else, she ran out in a hurry.
"You are becoming more and more disobedient." Aunt Zhou shook her head and said.
"The third young master is already so old, he knows how to take care of himself, so my aunt can rest assured." Ah Jin smiled, waved his hand, and the little girl packed up her things and left.
"What did you just say? Eat and drink." Aunt Zhou sat down at the kang table and asked while opening the scripture.
Ajin was silent for a moment.
"Tell me, when the time comes that we can't even talk casually in our house, that is when I die. No matter how long her arms are, even if she has been trying to knock off the old lady's arms for three years, she still can't reach them.
I'm here." Aunt Zhou said casually, with a sarcastic smile on her lips.
"Yes." Ah Jin responded, while helping Aunt Zhou study ink, "Look at the young lady's place, should I go for a walk?" (To be continued)