Zhang Ma obviously hasn't "travelled over mountains and ridges" like this for a long time. She no longer cared about "manners" or "property". Her hair was a little messy, and her chest was heaving violently while she was panting.
In fact, Zhang Ma was still sitting in the carriage at the beginning - as if she had undergone the most stringent etiquette training.
However, this is not a straight loess road in a pipeline or a town or even a stone road. The mountain road is not only rugged, but also often has bumps or potholes that are difficult to detect.
Therefore, the shaking of this carriage is comparable to the electric rocking car used by modern children.
Children will laugh excitedly when they sit in a toy that swings left and right, up and down, but for Zhang's old bones, it is considered torture, and it almost shakes her whole body.
So when the carriage was running without a cup of tea, Zhang Ma had to get out of the car and followed Su Qingluan with the support of two little girls.
The two helper girls and the groom were fine, but they were tired from working from morning to night. This was just helping people walk, which was not a big deal compared to ordinary heavy work.
But as the mother-in-law who is needed by the old lady of Xie Mansion, Zhang Ma was able to come and take care of the food at the entrance this time. Although it was a bit harder, it was enough to show the trust that the host family had in her.
But this "trust" is really "heavy" in every sense for the current Zhang Ma - she has not walked through rugged mountain roads like this for a long, long time, and even the shoes on her feet are luxurious and soft. But silk shoes are very harsh on the mountain road.
Su Qingluan originally thought that she would walk slower and wait for the people behind her, but she didn't expect that her speed was already comparable to that of an outing. The three people behind her were as weak as Liu Fufeng, like Sister Lin. Before they had walked a few steps away, Zhang Ma He began to sigh and groan.
Su Qingluan rolled her eyes in front of her, but thinking about the identity of the other party, she couldn't be angry, so she could only calm down and asked: "Mama Zhang, do you want to take a break?"
As soon as Su Qingluan turned around and asked, Zhang Ma immediately nodded and asked the little girl to clean the nearest smooth stone: "Just rest here for a while?" She panted and sat down, instructing one of the little girls. The girl went back to the carriage to get some water.
Su Qingluan turned around and looked at the position of the carriage - good guys, they walked slowly for half an hour, but when she looked back, according to their usual pace, it only took a quarter of an hour to go back and forth!
She couldn't help but twitch the corner of her mouth: It was already three o'clock in the morning, and compared to today's destination, this journey was basically not making any progress, it could be considered standing still.
Although Su Qingluan was prepared to spend the whole day picking wild fruits with Zhang Ma and her group, she had no intention of leading a bunch of wealthy servants to eat and sleep outdoors!
So Su Qingluan thought for a while, stepped forward, suppressed her thoughts of complaining, and saluted Zhang Ma: "Zhang Ma, the next journey is not easy to walk. There are often snakes, insects, rats, and ants in the mountains. Zhang Mom is here to serve noble people, if something goes wrong, the master will not be happy."
While talking, Su Qingluan raised her head and glanced at Zhang Ma with her peripheral vision. Seeing that the other party did not refute, she continued: "According to what the girl saw, since the two sisters just now can be trusted by Zhang Ma, they must have no character. That's what I said. How about sending one of them to follow me into the mountains, and the other to accompany Zhang Ma to rest in the carriage?"
Zhang Ma agreed to the proposal without thinking for long.
So, Zhang Ma asked Liuyue, one of the two rough servants, to go to the mountains with Su Qingluan, while the remaining Fufeng stayed to serve him. As for the carriage driver, he naturally had to stay where he was to take care of the horses and carriage.
Without Zhang Ma, a serious and rigid old woman, Liu Yue is just a fifteen or sixteen year old girl.
Obviously, judging from her simple clothes, Liuyue is not a girl who is particularly useful in front of her master, but probably because of this, Liuyue has no idea of "a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister" and treats Su Qingluan. It's like looking at a little sister who is lively and easy-going.
Although Su Qingluan is an adult mentally, she has a three or four-year-old sister since time travel, and has a string of friends like Tian Xing'er and Liu'er, plus the girl Liu Yunniang. Very experienced in dealing with teenage girls.
So one of them deliberately made friends, and the other was unsuspecting. As they went back and forth, the two of them quickly talked and laughed, as if they were not out to do serious things, but out for an outing.
Su Qingluan didn't mean to take advantage of the little girl - that would not be justified in conscience and would have no practical significance.
However, she still carefully kept the topic around the nobles' usual taste preferences, so she got a lot of useful information.
For example, although the middle and lower class people in this era are generally addicted to sweets, and it can be said that "sweets are justice", this is precisely because ordinary people eat too little sweet food, and sugar is A very luxurious item in this era.
Even as a condiment, quite a few people can't afford it, let alone as a raw material for making snacks.
But for the upper class, the wealthy class is completely different.
The reason why sugar has become a sky-high price food is not only due to industrial technical reasons, it cannot be mass-produced and it has become a "high-end product" where "things are rare and valuable", but there are also some human factors - in order to monopolize sugar, the aristocratic class, salt and other Precious industries such as iron ore restrict the flow of these items into the private sector.
Under the double attack of objective factors and human factors, sugar has become an extremely expensive ingredient.
However, the supply of this kind of "sky-high-priced food" is not limited among the rich. In order to show off their wealth, some people even use boiled syrup to wash the bottom of the pot - which indirectly shows how luxurious the life of the rich is. .
Therefore, the inexhaustible supply of desserts makes them not feel fresh about "sweetness" at all, but instead pursue desserts that are not so greasy.
Just like Su Qingluan heard the highest praise for dessert in her previous life - this dessert is good, not so sweet.
Su Qingluan's jam is different from similar products that pursue sweetness in the past. It has a sour and sweet taste. What's more, on top of the sweet and sour base, the "Four Seasons" series of jams also use four sweet and slightly bitter tea leaves to neutralize the greasy feeling, making the fragrance of the tea leaves richer when mixed with the original fruity aroma. The sense of layering is naturally more popular.
This can be regarded as a "hit by mistake".
Liuyue was a rough maid in the Xie Mansion, and her usual workload was very heavy.
What's more, everywhere in the Xie Mansion are people who look down on others and look down upon others. Except for the rough-and-tumble girls like myself, all the servants who need to be used a little bit have a look of contempt in their words. Son. People with similar status to her have to work from dawn to dusk every day.
This kind of high-intensity workload leaves no one with the energy to chat and talk, even if they don’t have any thoughts of scheming against each other.
So this time, the work that was like an "outing" made Liuyue feel very fresh, and the chat box also opened up.
She was not a child of the Xie family, but her family could not afford food and she was a girl, so she was bought by someone and planned to sell her.
However, she was mediocre in appearance and did not learn any particularly quick and clever skills, so she was not sold to Goulan Washe, but was "bought" when the Xie family was purchasing slaves in large numbers.
Although she had to work hard every day, a daughter from a poor family like Liuyue was very satisfied if she could have enough food, clothing, and a place to live - even if it was a Datong shop with several people crowded together.
But even so, when she heard about the living conditions at Su Qingluan's family, and when she heard that no matter how difficult it was, even if Su Qingluan had a high fever and was about to die, her parents did not want to "throw away" her, Liu Yue Still showing a hint of envy.
After listening to Liu Yue's words, Su Qingluan opened her mouth, but she didn't say any useless comfort. She just made a garland for Liu Yue to wear on her head. Liu Yue was so happy that Su Qingluan almost asked her what she wanted. What to answer - although as a rough maid, what she knows probably doesn't matter.
However, Su Qingluan didn't want to know any secrets, but the Xie family's general taste preference for "sweets".
You know, a person's sweet tooth preference may be unique to that person, but a group of people can reflect the taste trend of a period of time or a region.
While chatting with Liu Yue, Su Qingluan introduced to her the taste differences of different types of wild fruits with different maturity levels, and told her what kind of fruits she chose to become the raw materials for "jam".
"Fruit like this is already red and turns black," Su Qingluan picked a bunch of mountain cherries. "Although it tastes good, if it is made into jam, it will taste like rotten fruit."
With that said, Su Qingluan took the red and black fruits from the picked mountain cherries, which were obviously ripe, and handed them to Liuyue for her to taste: "What, isn't it very sweet and delicious to eat raw like this?"
Liuyue's eyes lit up: "Last spring, I gave birth to my beloved white-haired raccoon slave from under the horse's hooves for my master's family. My master was so happy that he rewarded me with some peaches. There was no need to pay for this wild fruit. !”
Su Qingluan smiled and nodded: In fact, in many cases, the taste of wild fruits is not necessarily worse than domesticated varieties. It is just that due to small yields, difficulty in preservation, or too harsh growth conditions, it is not easy to plant on a large scale, etc. Be domesticated.
For example, this cherry leaf is one of the important raw materials for making jam.
"For example, this bright red fruit, although ripe, is not overly ripe and presents a fresh and sour sweetness." As she said this, she handed the bright red mountain cherry to Liuyue.
Liuyue didn't doubt that he was there and took a bite. The sour smell that hit Tianling Gai made her face wrinkle together: "Oh my God, it's so sour. Can it really be made into jam?!" Liuyue I felt like I was so sore that one Buddha was born and two Buddhas ascended to heaven.
