Chapter 472: Please
Seeing that her master was indifferent, Si Cao curled her lips and said a little indignantly, "Master, you are so good to Miss Ning Biao. In which year did you not give her some clothes and jewelry? It was last year when you were not in the capital, and you wrote a letter to ask Nuan Yu bought a large cloak, a cotton skirt, and a set of jewelry for each of them. Those things are worth more than three hundred taels of silver. No noble girl in this capital is that wealthy."
"And on weekdays, when did the princess send people to Baiwei Pastry Shop to buy snacks and didn't stuff them into her stomach? Even at Juxiang Tower, they all followed the princess to benefit from it. They went there several times, and there were many in the capital. The girls who grew up in wealthy families have never been there. They went there more than once or twice because of the princess. The princess was so kind to them and didn't ask them to repay anything, but she actually had the idea of the prince. How ungrateful.”
Silk Grass stamped her feet bitterly, her pretty face full of resentment.
Chu Fei also said, "Last night, when she appeared in Luoye Pavilion, the slave girl felt something was wrong. Ning Ciao was a young girl, so she didn't need anything to eat. Besides, the slave girl asked about the two snacks the old lady sent to her yesterday. She only ate one piece at night, just one piece. How could she survive? She must have found out that the prince was coming, so she went there deliberately to block people. "
"Now that I think about it, every time the prince comes and talks to his master in the flower room, Miss Ningbiao will walk there." Vanilla also added, "It's just that the slaves were guarding her at that time and didn't let her get close to the flower room. At that time, the slaves didn't pay much attention. Now it seems that she must have heard about the prince's arrival and wanted to go to the flower room to see him. "
Several times, the prince came in the afternoon. The princess and the prince were talking in the flower room. They were guarding them, and the maids and women were guarding the outside. Zeng Ning just wanted to get close to the flower room and see the prince. Will be stopped.
She had that idea but had no chance, so she must be anxious.
That day, in front of the old lady, the princess mentioned that she wanted to see her husband's family. Ning Biao was anxious. She was worried that the old lady would marry her to someone else, so she became a little flustered. In a hurry, she did this. things to come.
The maids are all very transparent people. If you think about it, you can figure out the purpose behind Zeng Ning's recent actions.
Xia Zihan naturally thought of it.
She pondered for a moment and then said, "Not everyone will want to repay when they receive benefits. Cousin Ning is wrong, but... she is from my grandmother's family after all."
“I don’t care about the Zeng family’s face, I also have to care about my grandmother’s face.”
"My grandmother has already sent someone to keep an eye on her. From now on, even if she has that intention, she won't have a chance."
"Forget it this time, we won't touch her. If there is a next time, we will never let her go."
Xia Zihan said so, and the maids naturally didn't say it. However, they still remembered Zeng Ning from the bottom of their hearts, and they also had great contempt, disdain, and hatred for Zeng Ning's actions.
Xia Zihan did not settle the score with Zeng Ning about this matter, but it did not mean that she was not angry with Zeng Ning. She was disappointed with Zeng and felt very sad. From now on, no matter what Zeng Ning does, Xia Zihan will treat her Everyone is on guard.
One more thing...
Xia Zihan's beautiful eyebrows were slightly raised, and her expression was slightly cold. "Every time the prince comes, she can get the news in time. Chu Fei, go tell Chu Lin and ask her to check who is the servant of the Chu family." Get close to Zeng Ning’s people.”
"Well, slave, I'll go right away." Chu Lin was at Doctor Bai's place. Chu Fei excused herself and ran to the front yard.
In the evening, Chu Lin found out.
"It was a boy sweeping the floor in the front yard, called Xiao Lunzi, but that man was not dumb at all, he was very clever."
The little idiot was newly sold by Mr. Lu last year and was assigned to sweep the floor in the front yard. Once, when Zeng Ning left the house and got into the carriage outside the hanging flower gate, her purse fell off. Her maid and the gatekeeper Everyone saw it, and the little fool picked it up.
When Zeng Ning got off the carriage on the street, she realized that her purse was missing.
The girl's purse is the most important thing. If a scoundrel picks it up and says it was a gift from her and has an affair with her, he won't be able to explain it at all.
Zeng Ning was frightened and nervous, and even the fun of shopping disappeared. She hurried back home to look for her purse.
The little fool was clever, smart, and had some ideas. After he picked up the purse, he saw that it was made of the best silk and satin fabric, with exquisite embroidery. There was also a word embroidered on it. He didn't know the word, so he wrote the word Trace it down and ask the steward who knows how to read it.
After learning that the character was 'Ning', the little fool guessed that Zeng Ning had dropped the purse.
After asking about Zeng Ning's Chu residence again, he waited outside the Chuihua Gate until Zeng Ning returned to the house and took the initiative to return the purse to Zeng Ning.
Zeng Ning was grateful to him and rewarded him with a tael of silver. After that, Zeng Ning's maid often sent delicious food to the little fool.
Just in April this year, the little fool's father fell ill, and his mother came to the house and wanted him to advance half a year's monthly money to treat his father's illness.
At that time, Zeng Ning's maid happened to make some mung bean cakes and gave them to the little fool, and she learned about it.
The maid told Zeng Ning after she returned.
Without saying anything, Zeng Ning took out ten taels of silver and asked the maid to send it to the little fool's mother.
The little fool was extremely grateful to Zeng Ning. From the bottom of his heart, he treated Zeng Ning as his true master and was loyal to her.
Every time Chu Jingqi came, the little fool would find a way to report the news to Zeng Ning. Zeng Ning was also generous and would reward him with one or two and a half taels of silver each time.
Just now, Chu Jingqi came again. Unable to contact Zeng Ning's maid, the little fool sneaked into the backyard and went to the yard where Zeng Ning lived to look for someone.
Unfortunately, Zeng Ning lived in an abandoned courtyard and was no longer in that courtyard. The little fool rushed around and found no one.
"Master, I have sent people to monitor the little fool. It won't take long for the little fool to find Miss Ning Biao." Chu Lin's tone was obviously excited, as if she was expecting the little fool to find her. After Zeng Ning, do you dare to continue to provide any clues to Zeng Ning? Xia Zihan said, "I think we should report this matter to Manager Lu."
The little fool was bought by Mr. Lu, so he had to leave it to Mr. Lu to deal with the little fool.
"I'll go." Chu Lin said, "Just in time, old man Bai said that he would have barbecue and drink with Manager Lu at night, so he asked me to tell him, hey, it's my share, Chu Fei, are you going? ”
She turned to look at Chu Fei.
Chu Fei looked at Xia Zihan, and Xia Zihan said, "Go, all of you, go and have fun with the master. The weather has cooled down, and this is the time to eat barbecue. No matter how cold it is, just eat outside. I can't stand the cold." He said again, "I won't go."
She still has a lot of things to do herself, and the first month or two of this year was her busiest time.
"I'm not going either. I'll stay to serve the princess. You can go." Nuan Yu, who was helping Xia Zihan organize the wardrobe, looked over and said.
Silk Grass and Vanilla also hesitated, but Xia Zihan spoke up, "As long as Nuanyu stays, you all can go."
Old Man Bai will prepare a very fragrant barbecue ingredient, which they all like to eat, but one of the ingredients is very rare. Old Man Bai does not prepare much barbecue ingredient every time, and can only make it occasionally.
Chu Lin went to see Mr. Lu excitedly.
At dinner time, Nuan Yu was left, and everyone else went to Old Man Bai's yard to eat barbecue. Xia Zihan took Nuan Yu to have dinner with Zeng.
Zeng Jing was also there, sitting on the kang with Mrs. Zeng and talking. When she saw Xia Zihan coming, she hurriedly got off the kang and said, "My cousin is here."
"At home, these false etiquettes are unnecessary." Xia Zihan said with a faint smile. The closeness in the smile was no longer the same as before, but there was a sense of alienation.
Zeng Jing seemed to feel it. There was some discomfort on her face. With a bit of flattery, she smiled and said, "Cousin, there will be eight-treasure duck tonight. I made it myself. After a while, cousin will taste it. If there is anything missing, cousin will tell you Me, I’ll change it next time.”
The Zeng family has a very famous dish that is highly praised by people, which is Babao Duck.
Every time the Zeng family holds a banquet, this eight-treasure duck dish is indispensable. She once studied with the cook for half a month and destroyed more than a hundred ducks before she learned this dish.
Today, this is the first time she has entered the kitchen, the first time she has cooked food for her aunt and cousin, all because of... because of what she heard this afternoon.
She didn't know whether it was true or false, but it was true that Zeng Ning was missing.
The reason why she knew how to cook was because she wanted to please her aunt and cousin, speak for her in front of the Liao family, and prevent Zeng Ning's incident from getting involved in her marriage.
"Eight Treasure Duck?"
"Well, it's cooked with Zeng's special sauce." Zeng Jing said.
"Okay, I will taste it in a while." Xia Zihan pointed out.
"Thank you, cousin." Zeng Jing said blessed.
When dinner was served, the eight-treasure duck was specially placed in front of Xia Zihan and Zeng. Xia Zihan could tell that more than eight kinds of Chinese medicinal materials were added to it.
In addition to star anise, wolfberry, longan, red dates, peanuts, etc., a small section of red ginseng, a few bay leaves, chicken, and chicken gizzards are also added to it.
A whole pot filled with an alluring aroma.
"Auntie, cousin, duck breasts have the most meat, but in terms of taste, the meat on duck legs is the most delicious."
With that said, Zeng Jing stood up, took two duck legs and put them into Zeng's and Xia Zihan's bowls.
"Auntie, try it. This eight-treasure duck dish was developed by the granddaughter-in-law of our Zeng family's former cook in the capital."
"Are you talking about Ruiniang?" Zeng's eyes flashed with joy.
Ruiniang was the cook at her parents' home when she was still a girl. She was good at cooking Beijing dishes, which were very delicious.
Mrs. Zeng picked up some duck meat, put it into her mouth, chewed it carefully a few times, and then swallowed it in her stomach. She praised, "I didn't expect that the cooking skills of Rui Niang's granddaughter-in-law are even better than Rui Niang's at that time." Floor.”
"Ruiniang... passed away more than 20 years ago."
Zeng Jing said suddenly.
(End of chapter)