Song Heng closed the window and turned around to look at Feng Gui. His chin did not drop even a little bit, but he lowered his eyes slightly and asked in a deep voice: "Have you found out everything?"
Feng Gui nodded and replied respectfully: "It has been found out. Madam Yang and her brother Yang Peng are indeed descendants of the Yang family in Hongnong, and are direct siblings from the same mother. As for why the two brothers were in Wenshui, they were not It’s time to involve the previous generation again.”
Yibi said, Yibi raised his eyes to see Song Heng's expression, and saw that he sat down in the armchair with a normal expression on his face, lightly clasping the armrest between his index fingers, and then sat cross-legged on the pink gold and silver painted octagonal table. , continue:
"Ms. Yang's mother-in-law, the Hang family, was originally from Jinzhou. Her ancestors had been officials for generations. Later, due to the decline of her family, she had to marry Yang Qing, a direct descendant of the Yang family, as her stepmother. When Yang Qing became the governor, he gave birth to a talented person. The Hang family and him After they got married, they were like Qin Se and Ming, and they gave birth to brother and sister Yang Peng and Lady Yang."
"It happened that Yang Qing was short-lived and died of a serious illness before he was forty. The two husbands of Yuan's wife saw that Hang was weak by nature and had no one to rely on in Hongnong, so they made every effort to exclude them and tried every means to exclude them. Harsh treatment.”
"In order to protect their children, the Hang family left the Yang family and returned to Jinzhou. They never thought that they would not be welcomed by the Hang family, so they left Jinzhou and went to Taiyuan Prefecture, where they bought a farm and a house in Wenshui. The Houhang family suffered from depression and became ill, and died in his early thirties. Madam Yang's brother Shi Qi joined the army, and the family owner already knows what happened next."
After Feng Gui finished speaking, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart: When Madam Yang was a child, she was also a carefree little lady who was loved by her mother, but unexpectedly she met these two evil men. Brother, he has suffered all kinds of grievances and humiliations; if not for the fact that Mrs. Hang was soft on the outside and strong on the inside, she took her brother and sister to find another way out, with Madam Yang looking like this, she was destined to be sold by those two dirty seeds for money. go.
Thinking like this, Feng Gui's eyes revealed a bit of resentment and pity.
After Song Heng listened quietly, he still had a look of emotion and anger on his face. There was no emotion in his dark eyes, and he just calmly asked him to step back, as if Madam Yang's tragic experience was nothing to him. Nothing.
Feng Gui was puzzled, and for a moment he couldn't understand what the head of the family was thinking about Madam Yang. However, this was not something he should think about, so he had to swallow his curiosity and quietly retreated out, telling Phytophaga to prepare hot water. The owner of the house would be out in a short while.
How could he have known that Song Heng had a calm expression on his face, but in fact he already had a plan in mind, but he just didn't want others to see what he was thinking at this time.
Shang Lu went to the tea room to heat hot water, and just after adding charcoal to light the fire, he heard a strong wind roaring outside, blowing the pear blossoms like snow, causing the branches and leaves to tremble, and soon it started to rain.
After Song Heng finished washing, he ordered someone to light the lamp.
At that time, the clouds were closing outside the window, and the rain was like numb feet. The raindrops hit the green leaves in the courtyard and made a "tapping" sound. Song Heng listened to those sounds, but his heart was extremely peaceful, and he fell asleep soon.
The rain continued all night, and gradually stopped at dawn the next day. After the rain, the garden was full of green, fat, red and thin, but the grass beside the stone path was as green as jade, and the flower buds moistened by the spring rain More and more vivid, new flowers can bloom as long as they meet the warm sunshine.
In the afternoon, Shi Yanwei was taking a nap in the backyard of the dining room. The maid in the aunt's courtyard came over and sent a message, saying that she would need two bowls of double-rind cheese in two-quarters of an hour, so Xi'er went to the backyard to look for Shi Yanwei.
Shi Yan slightly agreed, stood up, cleaned his hands, and asked Shan'er to go to the ice cellar to get the fresh milk that had arrived this morning.
The ice cellar was not far from the dining room. Not long after, Shan'er picked up the right cards and brought back half a basin of milk from the ice cellar.
Shan'er carefully placed the porcelain jar containing milk on the stove. Seeing Shi Yanwei standing in front of the long desk patiently separating egg yolks and egg liquid, she smiled and talked to her: "There are two large frames of cherries in the ice cellar. Like round and plump crimson jade beads, if used to make cherry bilo, the taste will be excellent."
After hearing this, Shi Yanwei remembered what he had said to Yin Zhu that day, and soon he had the idea of leaving the house and buying some cherries to eat on his own.
Calculating it carefully, she found that it had been several months since she traveled here and she had not even visited Taiyuan City. She didn't know if there were any suitable tourist attractions around Taiyuan City, and her heart became a little restless.
It's just that the aunt's family of three still lives in the house, and many old relatives and friends come to visit, so the kitchen is naturally busier than before they came, so they often come here to help make snacks and sweet drinks.
Shi Yanwei thought about it for a while, and temporarily suppressed his thoughts about leaving the house.
On the first day of March, it was Grain Rain and it was a holiday. Logically speaking, Song Heng did not have to go to the official office today. However, due to the complicated affairs, he still went to the official office at noon. When he returned to the house on horseback, It's late afternoon.
In the main room, Song Heng changed into his regular clothes and went out to the outside room. He happened to see Shang Lu holding a plate of white porcelain crabapples in front of him, and placed the plate full of red cherries on the small table.
"Are they divided into various courtyards?" Song Heng casually picked up a plump and bright red cherry with his slender fingers and asked calmly.
In the past, Song Heng never asked about such trivial matters, so whenever the housekeeper came to retreat to tell such things, Shang Lu and Feng Gui never paid much attention to them. Fortunately, they saw that the cherry was very good today and listened carefully to a few words. So as not to be speechless.
"Master, Madam Tai, Madam Gao, Madam, Young Madam, and all the gentlemen have all been sent to their houses. There are still two baskets left in the ice cellar."
Song Heng took the cherries in his hand and looked at them carefully. He opened his thin lips and said, "Since there are still two baskets left, tomorrow I will pick half of the baskets and send them to the kitchen, and make them into cherries and send them to each courtyard and live in the house." Don’t forget to send it to the lady who is here, and let the kitchen people eat the rest among themselves.”
Those cherries were the first batch of ripe and carefully selected fresh large fruits specially presented by Taiyuan Prefecture this spring. The owner of the house actually wanted to reward the people in the dining room to eat. This was the first time that such a thing had happened.
Although Shang Lu was shocked in his heart, he did not dare to show anything on his face, let alone say anything. He nodded respectfully and said yes, then stepped back a few steps before turning around and leaving.
Song Heng sat on the couch for a while, drank a few cherries, and then went to the study room and called Feng Gui to come in and serve the pen and ink.
Feng Gui carefully ground the Hui ink onto the white-glazed animal's foot inkstone. After grinding the ink, he pressed the Xuelang paper onto the case again.
Song Heng took a purple-hair pen and dipped it in ink. He lifted the pen and wrote two lines of poetry eloquently: "Hibiscus is not as beautiful as beauty's makeup, and the wind in the water palace brings the fragrance of pearls and green."
Although Feng Gui, who was standing quietly by the side, was only a proficient at writing, it was very obvious who the family leader was thinking of when he wrote this sentence.
Feng Gui did not expose his thoughts, but said meaningfully: "The cherries are sweet and sour, fragrant and tender. The young lady uses a lot of them every spring. Even the wife is full of praise for them. I think the lady who lives there will also like the food."
Even so, Song Heng still thought he was too talkative and glanced at him coldly. Feng Gui immediately lost his breath and did not dare to say more. In the study room, there was only the faint sound of writing.
Under the eaves, Jubai was sitting on the railing feeling sleepy. Ruisheng entered the yard and saw her alone, so he stepped forward and patted her shoulder gently.
Ju Bai opened his sleepy eyes in a daze, and saw that the person coming was Rui Sheng from the Taifu's courtyard. He immediately lost all sleep, got up and straightened his clothes, and asked: "Sister Rui Sheng is here at this time, but Tai Fu is here." Madam, what do you want to see the master about?"
Rui Shengyin said with a smile: "It's just an elegant matter. The wife has asked the master to come over for tea. The aunt and the husband are also here."
Ju Bai quickly agreed and went to the study to send the message.
Song Heng put down the pen and ink in his hand, casually washed his hands in the silver basin and left the study.
Walking all the way to Cuizhu Residence, after entering the door, Song Qinghe was grinding tea by himself with a stone grinder. When he saw Song Heng coming, he raised his head and looked at him with a smile, and said loudly: "Second brother, please sit down quickly. You will also have a taste of me today." craftsmanship.”
Song Heng smiled faintly, opened his mouth and said "good", and then sat down next to Meng Lichuan.
"When I came out of the cabinet, my second sister was only nine years old, and she was not worthy enough to be here with me." Song Qingyin said, raising her hand to indicate a height, "Time is like growing feet, and in the blink of an eye, my second sister has grown so big." Now, you can make tea and have it with us."
When Song Yu heard this, the smile on his face deepened, and he answered her words: "It's not enough to cook and eat with us. In my opinion, it's time to choose a good marriage for my second sister."
As soon as the words fell to the ground, Song Qinghe's face turned red with embarrassment. He put down the grinder in his hand and came to argue with Song Yu. He said aggrievedly: "I made tea for you with good intentions, but you picked me up and took me." Come and have fun.”
Seeing this, Mrs. Xue covered her mouth and smiled, and said to save the situation: "Second mother, stop making trouble with him, the water will boil in a while. Since you are angry with him, just don't let him have tea later."
Suddenly the room burst into laughter. Two maids came in with lacquered food boxes, took out six plates of exquisite snacks, and put them on the table.
Mrs. Xue looked at the plump Meng Fu with kind eyes and said: "This tea yam and red bean cake is the most glutinous, fragrant and sweet. Take one and eat it with the slaves."
Song Qingyin sighed, took a piece and broke it in half, "I just used double-skinned cheese with Tuannu before my son came. I ate too much now and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to drink tea later, so I tasted it with half a piece first." Come on." He said and gave the other half to Meng Fu to eat.
Meng Fu, who was six years old at the time, was at the age where she loved to eat snacks. She took the tea, yam and red bean cake with a smile and put it into her mouth. After taking one bite, she praised how delicious it was.
Song Qingyin also thought it was delicious. Thinking of the various pastries and sweet drinks she had eaten at home these days, she couldn't help but ask with a smile: "The chef who made these tea cakes was newly hired from Yangzhou? I don't think so. Make something that I have never eaten in Chang'an City."
With a smile on her face, Mrs.
Song Qingyin was very curious after what she said, so she asked again: "She looks very good, could she be a girl?"
Song Qinghe skillfully poured the tea powder into the boiling water with salt, and said, "Not only is she an extremely well-born girl, she is also the sister of the third brother's savior."
Since she is the savior of the third brother and should be a guest in the house, why would she cook and do these things herself?
Song Qingyin was puzzled and was about to ask more questions when she suddenly heard Song Heng, who had been silent just now, say: "If Tuannu likes to eat double-skinned cheese and mocha yam and red bean cake, please ask Madam Yang to come over and make the recipe." Just write it down."
