Haitang and her grandmother Ma spent a relaxing and happy afternoon at Ma's house.
They chatted with their uncle and grandfather Ma Yukun, ate and drank, and gossiped a lot. Then they said goodbye and went home under the sunset.
On the way home, they smelled an alluring aroma coming from a street restaurant in the carriage, and couldn't help but twitch their index fingers.
Ma lifted up the car curtain and took a look outside: "Who is Edao? It turns out to be his family. When our family was still in Chang'an, their Ziyang Steaming Basin was very famous. The elbows and gourd chicken are also good. Your grandpa often takes me and your father to eat. I haven’t eaten in so many years, and when I smell the aroma, I remember it. The dishes tonight are simple, so I just bought a table of noodles and went back to add more vegetables!"
After saying that, she asked Cui Dazhuang, who was driving the car, to park the car on the side of the road, book a table at a restaurant, and then send it home.
Haitang was sitting in the carriage, smelling the aroma of delicious food coming from the restaurant, and was quite looking forward to it.
Not long after they returned home, the waiter from the restaurant brought the table over. Hai Changan was also overjoyed when he heard about it. He smiled and said to his wife: "We are so lucky! I haven't tasted this family's food in many years, and I almost forgot about it!"
Mrs. Hu also nodded repeatedly, unable to hide the smile on her face. The last time she ate the delicacies of this family was when her father took her to attend the birthday banquet of the elders before his death. That was all seventeen or eight years ago, when she was still a child...
The whole family was happily looking forward to the dinner in the evening. Even Cao Gengyun and Lu Bainian, after hearing the news, ran to the yard outside the kitchen to wander around and smell the aroma of the delicious food.
Cao Gengyun also felt sorry for Xie Wenzai: "I've been away for a day and haven't come back yet. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something good. The food in Zhenguo Duke's Mansion is not very delicious. When Lao Xie comes back and hears about it, he may regret it!"
Lu Bainian smiled and said: "How can we reach this point? We have already returned to Chang'an. At worst, we can just go to his restaurant and order food by ourselves in the future."
Cao Gengyun waved his hands repeatedly: "I can't bear to spend that money."
Listening to the two elders talking and joking, Haitang felt a little confused. Xie Wenzai went to the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion to help with ideas. Why did it take him so long?
Could it be that Zhang Pinggui later provided some important information?
Just as I was thinking about it, Hai Xiya came back.
He smelled the aroma as soon as he entered the door and couldn't help but smile: "It turns out that I ordered food from this old restaurant today. What happy thing has happened to my wife? That she is so generous?"
Haitang went up to meet her grandfather, and while taking the suitcase containing the abacus and stationery from her grandfather's hand, she talked about her experience of going to Ma's house today: "My uncle agreed to help, and his condition has improved greatly. Grandma is very happy. Go home. On the way, I smelled the aroma of the food in that shop, so Grandma immediately asked Brother Da Zhuang to order the food."
Hai Xiya nodded with a smile: "That's fine. I just went to his restaurant twice not long ago. At that time, I thought about taking your grandma to go there again. Because there were too many things in the yamen, I forgot about it. Now you Grandma went to order the food, which was a treat for the whole family."
Haitang laughed dryly. In terms of taste, who can compare with my grandfather? It seems that his old acquaintances have given him a good time and entertained him with many good things!
However, judging from the reactions of the grandparents, the second uncle and his wife, and the two elders Cao Lu, it seems that the dishes of that time-honored restaurant are very famous. Why haven't I heard my brother Hai Jiao mention it before?
But Haitang thought about it and remembered the prices in that store, and understood what was going on.
In his previous life, Hai Jiao was a poor man, working odd jobs to pay for his return home. How could he afford such expensive delicacies?
Everyone in the Hai family had a delicious dinner today, and everyone felt very satisfied.
Haitang tasted some of the signature dishes of that time-honored restaurant and felt that it was indeed well-deserved. Even the chefs in the imperial dining room in the palace can only prepare these dishes at this level. Maybe the taste is not as authentic as this one!
It's a pity that Haijiao hasn't returned home yet and hasn't been able to taste such delicious food for the first time. However, Grandma Ma felt sorry for her grandson and had specially ordered someone to leave food for him, so his share would not be missing.
Haijiao returned home before the curfew time came, looking exhausted.
Haitang first drove him to wash up, then led his horse to settle down, then ran to the kitchen to heat up his dinner and bring it to the house.
Hai Jiao washed his face, changed his clothes, and soaked his feet warmly. When he looked back and saw the sumptuous dinner, he was suddenly surprised: "What good things happened today? Why did you eat so well?"
Haitang briefly told him how she went to Ma's house in the afternoon, opened the food box for him, and arranged the chopsticks: "It tastes very good. I heard that grandpa, grandma, and uncle used to like it very much. Brother, you can try it too." Taste it. Unfortunately it’s not fresh enough, so the taste may be slightly compromised.”
Hai Jiao took a bite and couldn't help but sigh: "This is the taste! If it were made fresh, I would not be used to it."
Haitang blinked: "Brother, have you tasted the food here?" This was a bit beyond her expectation, "Is it someone you knew in your previous life who was treating you?"
Hai Jiao smiled and said: "Who of the people I knew at that time would be so generous and spend more than ten taels of silver to treat me to a restaurant? If it was really a treat, the dishes I tasted could not be stale." I used to work odd jobs in that restaurant in my previous life. I was doing odd jobs in the kitchen. After closing in the evening, I would occasionally taste the leftover food from the guests. To me at that time, this was already a rare delicacy. . I also thought that it would be great if I could learn cooking from a master. Unfortunately, I don’t have that talent, and the master chef doesn’t look down on me at all.”
Haitang couldn't help but fell silent. She didn't say anything and just served her brother the food. Although the dishes on the table today are not freshly cooked, they are not leftovers from other people's meals. They are the leftovers specially ordered by his grandmother to be set aside for his brother. Naturally, they are not the same as the leftovers he tasted in his previous life.
Haijiao doesn't feel sad. He tasted this long-lost delicacy with some nostalgia. After eating and drinking, he stuffed the cups, plates, chopsticks and chopsticks into the food box, drank hot tea to rinse his mouth, and then began to tell his sister about today's experience.
He first went to see Capt. Huang in the morning and learned that the latter had found the two girls of the Du family who had been sold.
As they expected, this old woman secretly took money from the two girls' relatives and claimed to have sold them to a merchant from Jiangnan who was passing through Chang'an. In fact, she secretly sent them to a village on the outskirts of the city. The people from Yahang rented a yard on Zhuangzi to house the country girl and daughter-in-law they bought. They will teach them some skills and rules, then clean up the people and bring them to the city to meet the buyers in order to sell them at a better price.
At present, Du Boqin has not returned to the guard station to handle official duties, but remains at home in Chang'an City to answer the questions from the town government and the capital. The servants of the Du family did not dare to act rashly, for fear that he would notice their little movements. The grandfather of one of the girls could not leave, so he quietly notified his daughter who was married outside and asked her son-in-law to go to the village where Ya Po stayed to take care of the two girls, so that Ya Po would not cause trouble and sell her off again after taking the money. Huang Captou arrived in time and met the couple and two girls, who had secretly taken them back to the city for resettlement. It's just that they don't dare to speak for the time being, and they need Huang Captou to grind it slowly.
However, both girls looked very sad and angry. Judging from what they said, the concubine of the Du family probably did not end her life voluntarily. She didn't know anything at first. She didn't know what Du Boqin said to her after he closed the door. After he left, she cried loudly, gave some instructions to the girls, drove them out of the house, and hanged herself.
At the moment, the two girls don't dare to say anything in front of the people from the prefect's Yamen. Du Boqin held a high position, and they did not dare to offend them. They only hoped to inform the young master in Beijing of his aunt's death as soon as possible, so that the young master could rush back for the funeral...
Haitang blinked when he heard this: "What kind of person is that son of the Du family...?"
(End of chapter)
