Butler Du is a man in his forties. He speaks sincerely and has gentle eyes. He seems to have no airs at all.
However, after a few glances at Cheng Xi, he knew that he was a master of rhetoric. If he was amiable, everyone would praise him, but once he dealt with someone, it was difficult for anyone to resist him.
Chen Xingluo's black eyes lowered slightly, "I have Butler Lao Du."
"That's right. Mr. Shen is often mentioned in Mr. Shen's letters. Mr. Shen has been looking forward to your arrival a few days ago."
Passing through a wooden corridor, Butler Du led people into the living room. The two of them saw an elegant man sitting in the front seat, and a beautiful lady next to him with an equally outstanding temperament.
Apart from that, there is a person serving behind each of them, nothing else.
"Shen Xingluo, a student from Lin'an Prefecture, and his wife met Master Du and Mrs. Du."
"Xing Luo? I haven't seen you for a few years and you have grown so big. We are all members of our family, so we can avoid these false etiquette."
Du Yunshan stood up and helped the person up himself. He stared at Chen Xingluo and sighed repeatedly, then looked to his side.
"Is this your new wife? She really has an extraordinary temperament!"
"..." Sure enough, where did this word come from?
She didn't believe that Mr. Du didn't know that Shen Xingluo was married to the daughter of Lin'an Prefecture's bodyguard.
Cheng Xi was speechless in his heart, but he smiled on the outside, "Your Excellency, you are so complimentary."
Four words actually received this compliment.
If Du Yunshan's words just now were a compliment because of the confidence radiating from her body, then now he was truly surprised.
He never expected that a woman would react like this. After a moment, he chuckled, looking elegant and handsome.
"Xing Luo is so lucky."
As Jie Yuan of Lin'an Prefecture, he married the daughter of a bodyguard, but this wife was still generous and behaved without any embarrassment. Isn't it a blessing?
Du Yunshan and Shen's father were close friends in the academy. He had watched Shen Xingluo grow up. When he learned that the Shen and Cheng families were engaged, he felt regretful for a long time. He never thought that the daughter of the Cheng family would have such a temperament.
Sure enough, it was Brother Shen. It turned out that he had already taken a fancy to his daughter-in-law!
Mrs. Du on one side chuckled lightly, "My brothers and sisters praised Mrs. Shen many times in their letters. Today I can see that what they said is true."
She took a few steps forward and said, "I heard from my sister-in-law that she calls you sister Xi'er. I am a few years older than my sister-in-law, so you should also call me sister."
"What? That can't happen."
Du Yunshan really didn't know this was happening, "Your father and I have been close friends for many years. I think you called me uncle back then. How can Xingluo's wife call you sister?"
These siblings are really messing around.
"Why not? Let me ask you, is Xing Luo his father's student?"
"Of course it is."
"Since he is my father's student, he is your junior brother. What if you call me sister when you are a peer?"
Mrs. Du leaned slightly closer to Cheng Xi, "Don't pay attention to him. After staying in the Ministry of Etiquette for several years, he has become an old scholar. He talks about etiquette and rules all day long, and his two children are about to be separated from him."
Du Yunshan was depressed, but he had nothing to do with his wife, so he could only sigh.
Cheng Xi said openly, "Then let me call you Sister Lin."
When they were in Lin'an Mansion, Mrs. Du Er deliberately reminded her and introduced in detail the family profile of Du Lin, who was an official in Beijing. Du Lin was originally from the capital. His father was from the Fourth Grade Imperial College to offer wine, and he was able to catch his son-in-law when he was ranked under the imperial examination. Married to the Du family.
Facts have proved that Lin Jijiu's vision was correct. Ten years after Du Yunshan entered the court, he was promoted to Minister of Rites, which was a higher official position than his father-in-law.
Du Lin agreed with a smile, feeling even more fond of Cheng Xi.
Du Yunshan was capable of being the Minister of Etiquette and his literary talents were not bad. He quickly took Shen Xingluo to the study, leaving his wife to entertain the female guests.
"My husband, this is his old habit again. He likes to discuss poems and articles when he catches people. Let's leave him alone."
Du Lin shook his head helplessly, "To be honest, I have smelled the sweet smell a long time ago. What is in this box?"
The two jars of wine in Chen Xingluo's hands were originally sealed and did not reveal any smell. Thanks to its common packaging, the Du family knew at a glance that they were wine.
But the wooden box in Cheng Xi's hand is much more mysterious. The boxy red wooden box is engraved with a delicate picture, which looks like a fairy flying to the moon. Even if the lid is tightly closed, you can still smell the sweetness. The closer you get, the more attractive it becomes.
Cheng Xi handed it to the maid next to Mrs. Du, "These are some mooncakes I made today. The day after tomorrow is the Mid-Autumn Festival to be auspicious, so please don't be surprised by the small gift."
"Did you make it yourself?"
Mrs. Du was surprised, "Then I have to try it. The fragrance is really tempting."
The maid of the Du family was also a very discerning person, and she wanted to open the wooden box, but the bow woven with red silk on the top was too beautiful, and she stood there at a loss for a while.
How to solve this thing?
What if I get the wrong solution and injure such a beautiful butterfly?
"Mrs. Shen, this..."
Cheng Xi reached out and pulled the hanging side of the bow with a little force, and the silk untied automatically.
The maid's eyes lit up and she cast an admiring look at her, then opened the lid of the square wooden box, revealing the mooncakes arranged neatly inside.
The wooden box has two layers, each layer contains eight mooncakes.
The four corners of the diagonal are the commonly seen orange-yellow baked mooncakes. The styles are mainly colorful. The four-month mooncakes come in two flavors. The wooden box below is engraved with the words "Jujube Paste and Bean Paste" and "Sesame Egg Yolk".
In the inner circle are four snowskin mooncakes, and the styles are completely different. There are cute little rabbits eating radishes even though they are fat, or pictures of running under the moon. They look soft and cute and very endearing.
There is a small exquisite wooden knife placed in the four square slots in the southeast, northwest and northwest of the wooden box, and in the middle is a small round tray.
The masters and servants of the Du family looked at each other so well that they didn't know how to describe it for a long time.
"this......"
Is this a mooncake?
The four in the corner look very familiar, but your filling is not five kernels, let alone the inner circle. I have never seen it before.
And what are those delicate and small wooden knives and trays used for?
Confused.
Du Lin felt that he was well-informed since he was born in the capital, but he didn't expect that one day he would be dazzled by moon cakes.
Upon seeing this, Cheng Xi picked up the tray and a wooden knife, "The tray can be used to put the mooncakes. If you don't have much to eat, use the wooden knife to break the mooncakes into small pieces."
"So that's how it is. It's a bit more elegant."
When the ancients ate mooncakes, they would use their other hand to catch the mooncakes to prevent the crumbs from falling. If there were a tray and a wooden knife to assist, this trouble would indeed be eliminated.
The sweet fragrance lingered on the tip of Dulin's nose and he suddenly felt hungry.
It’s strange, you’ve just had breakfast and now you’re hungry?
Cheng Xi saw her staring at the mooncakes and was not about to put down the tray in her hand, "Madam, choose one to try. Is it to your taste?"
"That's it, it's stuffed with date paste and bean paste."
The mooncakes are placed in a small tray. After the first cut, you can see the fillings inside. The yellow outer skin is wrapped with a layer of red date paste that has been crushed into a puree, and in the middle is a round green bean paste.
Since the mooncakes have not been out of the oven for a long time, the fragrance in the air is even stronger.
Du Lin picked up a quarter of the moon cake and put it in his mouth. The aroma of jujube paste mixed with the sweetness of bean paste turned out to be surprisingly delicious.
"It has a soft texture, just the right amount of sweetness, and a bit of heat. It's extremely delicious."
Du Lin was more interested in the snow-skin mooncakes in the inner circle.
Since the four middle ones were smaller than the baked ones, they could be eaten directly without cutting them with a wooden knife, so she picked up one of the white and almost transparent mooncakes and was surprised by its elasticity before she even took it into her mouth.
Can mooncakes be so soft and elastic?
She put it in her mouth and bit it. After the ice skin was drawn, the milky yellow liquid inside flowed out, and the taste was richer than before.
"It's actually salty? It tastes like egg yolk."
“It is indeed made from salted egg yolk and added with milk.”
Although the layout of the mooncakes on the second floor of the wooden box is the same, the tastes are different. There are sweet and savory, and there are several kinds of Liuxin. The snowskin mooncakes are not limited to white, but also yellow, purple and green.
"I didn't expect that there are so many variations of mooncakes. Sister Xi'er is really ingenious."
Du Lin tried to eat four-month cakes one after another. She rubbed her growing belly with regret and annoyance. She never expected that one day she would be addicted to moon cakes.
"In previous years, the mooncakes were either made by the kitchen or bought from restaurants outside. They were just for the occasion when admiring the moon. This year, with a gift from my sister, it will definitely be more lively."
Human interactions come and go, and gifts naturally follow this.
Du Lin has already begun to think about when to go to Shen's house with gifts.
When Cheng Xi saw her mentioning the Mid-Autumn Festival, she changed the subject, "This is the first time that my husband and I celebrate the festival in the capital. I wonder what's happening on the streets that day?"
"Then you asked the right person. There are flower lanterns and lantern riddles during the Mid-Autumn Festival..."
Eating can shorten the distance between people. Cheng Xi and Du Lin deliberately made friends, and the topic changed from strangers to mutual sympathy.
When the Shen couple left Du Mansion, she stood beside Du Yunshan and sighed to herself.
"I don't know how talented Shen Jieyuan is, but sister Xi'er is the best wife. Having a wife like this can be considered a blessing in life."
"Oh? Madam, you have such a high opinion of Shen Cheng?"
"Sister Xi'er is naturally nice. No wonder my younger siblings like her so much."
Du Yunshan shook his head and laughed, but he didn't know that Chen Xingluo's views on current political affairs were not inferior to his at all, and he was unrivaled among the younger generations.
The Shen family’s homemade mooncake gift box was delivered next door the day before the Mid-Autumn Festival.
That day, Qin Zheng took Shen Xingluo out of the house early, and did not return to the small courtyard in the alley until the sunset. However, he came over within a quarter of an hour after entering the door.
"Sister-in-law, that mooncake gift box is so delicious!"
At that time, Cheng Xi was watering the yard with a watering can. In a few days, the vegetable seeds sprouted and sprouted out of the ground one by one. Soon they could be harvested for cooking.
Water is sprinkled into the soil along the watering can. After it is soaked, it leaks out from under the wooden groove and flows into the ground along the grooves on both sides. There is no need to worry about water accumulation.
Qin Zheng looked at it for a long time and marveled, "If the water in the fields can flow out smoothly, the people will no longer have to worry about floods."
"What's so difficult about that? It's just a matter of digging a few more trenches."
Cheng Xi turned around and put the empty watering can aside, "I didn't expect you to be very dedicated to the country and the people. If you become an official in the court, you will definitely benefit the people."
"The Qin family is already public enough."
Qin Zheng smiled bitterly. The Qin family was the richest man in the Yan Dynasty. They had an aunt who was a concubine in the palace, a fifth prince under his knee who knew how to fight, and a princess who was about to have hair extensions. It could be said that they were extremely prosperous.
But behind the scenery, there is the covetousness of the royal family and other aristocratic families.
Cheng Xi paused when he heard this and stared at him thoughtfully for a long time.
"correct!"
Qin Zheng finally remembered, "Sister-in-law, can you give me a few more boxes of mooncakes?"
"Finished?"
No, she just sent it over.
"I ate a few and it was really delicious. I just wanted to ask for a few boxes to honor my grandparents."
Qin Zheng handed over the small wooden box in his arms, "These are my daily collection, please sister-in-law to play with them."
"Is this a mooncake thank you gift?"
"Yes, I don't know if my sister-in-law likes it or not. If there is anything you want, I will buy it for you."
"Need not."
Cheng Xi held a piece of imperial green jade in the wooden box and sighed, "You are willing to give it up."
"My grandparents treated me well, and I should respect them."
"You can take the things back. They are just a few boxes of mooncakes and they are not valuable. How many do you want?"
"Six boxes."
"I'll send it to you early tomorrow morning."
"Thank you, sister-in-law!"
How could Qin Zheng really take back the collection he had given away? However, Cheng Xi was not a person who wanted to take favors from others. He would give away one person or not take it back. Chen Xingluo was speechless when he heard the news.
"Collect it, take it back, and send me some good fabrics tomorrow."
"..." Why didn't he think of it?
"..." You don't like what I'm wearing, do you?
Since the clay oven is so easy to use, making mooncakes doesn't take much effort.
Early the next morning, Cheng Xi sent Su Zhan to deliver the Qin family's six boxes of mooncakes next door, and then pulled Shen Xingqi out the door.
"Everyone knows that the capital city is prosperous, and we will see it today."
I only had a quick glance at Beijing a few days ago. How could it be as satisfying as experiencing it in person?
Not only Shen Xingqi was interested in this place, but also Cheng Xi was a little more interested. This was pure ancient times, and it was a scenery that she could not see in her time.
The three women turned out of the alley and walked through two intersections before arriving at the main street of the capital.
Most of the shops on both sides of the main street are three-story, and even two-story buildings are extremely rare, which is enough to show its prosperity. There are teahouses, restaurants, inns and pawnshops one after another, with an endless stream of small traders and pedestrians. There are also rouge jewelry shops, embroidery shops, pastry shops and cloth shops frequented by women.
Cheng Xi took the two of them to visit the house, just in time to understand the preferences of women in the capital.
It was an hour after visiting the rouge shop, pastry shop and embroidery shop one by one, and Wang Shu also had a few more packages in his hand.
Fortunately, after the snowstorm, Shen Xingluo would bring back some money for her after he went out for a few days, so she didn't have to worry about running out of money.
As for where the money came from?
Cheng Xi really didn't know.
Just achieve financial freedom.
"Hey, there's a sideshow here?"
Several people walked through the pedestrians to a space, and saw several people gathered in a circle and came out to play throwing bowls at high altitude.
