As soon as the Mid-Autumn Festival passes, the weather turns cold.

The air in the early morning was very humid, and I walked around the outside, carrying a cool vapor on my body. The grass in the corner of the wall seemed to have withered and yellowed overnight, and large swaths of golden sycamore leaves fell all over the courtyard, indicating that the autumn mood was becoming more and more intense.

Chen Xuejiao had a heart last night, tossing and turning until dawn before she fell asleep dimly, and before she could fall asleep, she heard the rooster crow. The countrymen are happy to get up early, if the girl who is not out of the cabinet is sleepy, even if it is only once, and the word spreads, don't even think about going out, and then the saliva will drown the person.

The girls of the Chen family are no exception, they have to get up after the first rooster crows, and they can't wait for the rooster to crow three times at the latest, even if they don't do any work, they have to get up from the bed, and even Chen Xuemiao, who has always been arrogant, does not dare to challenge this custom.

After all, no one wants to spread the name of a lazy girl, if that's the case, not only will their future marriage events be affected, but even sisters will be implicated.

When the rooster crowed twice, Chen Xuejiao struggled to get up from the bed, because of her youth, even if she stayed up all night, there were no dark circles under her eyes, but her eyelids were slightly swollen.

Today is the first day of the salted duck egg workshop after the holiday, and the ingredients for marinating salted duck eggs are mixed by Xue Jiao herself, but you can't be sloppy. Since the start of the salted duck egg workshop, not only in the town, but also in the entire Xuzhou Mansion, it has opened up its popularity, from the restaurant tea shop to the street vendor pawn, the Chen family's business can be seen everywhere.

The duck eggs in the surrounding villages and towns can no longer satisfy the Chen family's business. Li Yuntian had to hire seven or eight carts and more than a dozen men to go to Weishan Lake to sell duck eggs.

Xue Ru and Jing Hao had already finished freshening up, and specially made a basin of warm water for Xue Jiao to wash her face. Quietly and intimately pour out the leftover tea from yesterday. Only left the tea leaves in the gauze and personally dressed Xuejiao's eyes.

As soon as the festival passed, the three sisters returned to simplicity, with a unified blue skirt and a simple peach hairpin on their heads. Xue Jiao knew that the flowers she dressed up a few days ago were to welcome the August Festival, and after the August Festival. Everyone in the family has a task to do, and it is inconvenient to wear such rich clothes to do work.

"If this tea is not useful, I will boil two eggs for you." Jing Hao covered Chen Xuejiao's eyes with tea leaves. Said softly.

While the three sisters were talking, Li walked in and looked Xue Ru up and down: "Ru'er is too plain in this dress, I remember cutting you a peach-colored skirt with cherry blossoms last time." Why don't you put it on. ”

Xue Ru listened to Li's words. couldn't help but glance at Xue Jiao, then at her own clothes, and said with a chuckle: "Mother, I still have to work in the workshop today, that clothes are so expensive, it's a pity to scratch them." ”

Xue Jiao agreed with Xue Ru's statement in her heart, turned her head to look at Li, and saw Li looking at Xue Ru with a smile. I became more and more suspicious. Although Li likes his daughter's glamorous dress, he is not stingy to make clothes for his daughter when he has money in his hand. But the work of the salted duck egg workshop is thick and heavy, how can it suddenly make Xue Ru wear such soft clothes.

Ignoring his daughter's suspicious gaze, Li opened the red lacquered wooden cabinet, took out Xueru's pink cherry blossom skirt from it, and held it in his hand as if holding a large bouquet of cherry blossoms: "Today, the aunt of the Han family and Bi Tao came to the house as guests, and I have entrusted the affairs of the workshop to your third aunt to watch, you don't have to take care of the workshop today, just play with Bi Tao." ”

Li Shi glanced at Xue Ru meaningfully as he spoke.

In an instant, Xue Jiao and the others understood the true purpose of Zhou's coming to the house.

Xue Ru lowered her head, her face crimson like a cherry blossom waiting to bloom.

Li thought that if Xue Ru was only allowed to wear gorgeous clothes, he was afraid that she would not pinch it, and it would be too deliberate in the eyes of the Han family, as if she was rushing to slap the other party. The Li family also knew that the Han family was not such a shallow person, so they would definitely not care about this, but for the sake of their daughter's happiness in the future, anything that was unfavorable to their daughter should be avoided even in the slightest.

"Not only Ru'er, Jiao'er and Jinghao also have to change their clothes, Bi Tao likes to wear bright clothes, people come to our house as guests, don't steal the limelight." Li instructed Xue Jiao and Jing Hao.

Xue Jiao and Jing Hao naturally understood in their hearts that Li's words asked the two of them to dress up too, but not to set off Bi Tao, but to set off Xue Ru.

After Li finished instructing, he went out to prepare breakfast.

There were only three Xue Ru left in the room, and Xue Ru was embarrassed to change into that cherry blossom dress, and her face became more and more bright.

"Sister, this dress is really suitable for you to wear." Xue Jiao couldn't help but praise it.

"Cousin, I'll help you comb your hair." Jing Hao pressed Xue Ru in front of the mirror, holding a comb in his hand, skillfully flipped and flew over, and with a cup of tea, Xue Ru's green silk was twisted into two hanging buns, and a delicate agate hairpin was pinned between the temples from the jewelry box.

The snow that has just put on the cherry blossom skirt is bright and delicate, and the bun with a quiet comb is more stable and dignified.

After Xueru finished dressing up, Xuejiao and Jinghao also put on new clothes, Xuejiao is a moon-white gown, Jinghao is a lake-blue gown, one is lively, the other is simple.

After breakfast, Chen Xiucai went to the private school to find Huang Xiucai, Qi Ping and Qi An both went to school, and there were only four in the family: Li's, Xueru, Xuejiao, and Jinghao's mother and son. Han Xingjian's mother, Zhou, took Han Bitao to get out of the carriage outside the gate of Chen's house, and Li saw that he was busy welcoming the two with two daughters and a niece.

"I've always wanted to come to the house to have a look, and I've never been idle, but it happened that I'm free today, so I came over." Zhou affectionately held Li's hand, said as he walked, paused and pointed to the salted duck egg workshop, "Look at your workshop, the days ahead will be more and more prosperous." ”

Li followed Zhou's words and smiled modestly: "What's not prosperous, just make a few pocket money." ”

The two of them held hands like sisters and walked into the north wing.

After taking a seat, Xue Ru didn't wait for Li's instructions, so she took the tea and poured water, and put the fruit on the table, knowing that Zhou loved to eat crisp pears, she deliberately peeled a big white crisp pear, stripped off the seeds, and cut them into small pieces and put them in the fruit saucer. There was a toothpick on it and placed it in front of Zhou.

Zhou looked at the busy Xue Ru with a beautiful face. The demeanor is generous, and joy ripples out from the corners of his eyebrows and eyes.

"My aunt is in good health, and it stands to reason that I should see her old man, why don't you let my aunt come to our village to relax." Zhou's attitude towards Xueru fell in Li's eyes, and she was happy that her daughter was so generous.

She chattered every day at home, saying that she wanted snow. I was going to come today, but my aunt came to the house early in the morning, and I still said it. I want Xue Ru to pick up Xue Ru to come to the house for a few days at any time, and the days together in the future will be long, not bad for this day, so she will stay at home to accompany the old sisters. Zhou stuck a piece of pear with a toothpick and put it in his mouth. The sweet juice is sweet all the way to the heart.

Xue Ru heard the phrase "The days together in the future will be long". I couldn't help but blush.

Li and Zhou sat at the table and chatted about homely things.

Xue Ru, Xue Jiao, and Jing Hao sat on the other side with Zhou Bitao and said some private words about their little daughter.

".......You don't know, I'm not as comfortable in the town as in the township, and I suffocate to death in the house every day......" Han Bitao puffed out her cheeks and frowned, looking like a delicate daughter.

"Bi Tao was still in the carriage and said that the scenery in the village was good, and she wanted to look around" Zhou suddenly took Han Bitao's words and looked at Li with a smile.

Li naturally understood what Zhou meant. So he beckoned to Xue Jiao, Xue Ru, and Jing Hao: "The three of you lead Bi Tao around." ”

Chen Xuejiao saw the eyes of Zhou and Li looking at each other, and knew that it was inconvenient for the two of them to say some private words in front of their daughter. As for what it is, it must be Xue Ru and Han Xingjian's kiss.

Chen Xuejiao, Chen Xueru, and Jing Hao took Zhou Bitao out of the north wing, and first led Han Bitao to visit the salted duck egg workshop. Han Bitao was puzzled by the female workers in the workshop wearing white masks, and Xue Jiao explained to her with a smile.

After visiting the salted duck egg workshop, it was still early, and he led Zhou Bitao to the outside of the yard.

Han Bitao likes the scenery of Maoshan Village very much, and feels that the natural scenery is better than that of the town, and even the air is fresher than the air in the town. The old house of the Han family is also in Maoshan Village, but her father has not come back much since he fell out with the clan, and the old house is in disrepair, and they are even more reluctant to come back to live.

"It's good to have a river in front of your house, it must be very cool in the summer, living in the middle of the town, it's very hot in the summer, and my dad plans to buy a house in the town's riverfront." Han Bitao stood on the bridge and took a big breath of fresh air, fields, rivers, and golden sycamores came into view one by one, not to mention how beautiful the scenery was.

"If it's summer, we can play in the river barefoot, but not now, the water is too cold." Xue Jiao said to Han Bitao with a smile.

"What's that?" Han Bitao pointed to the clumps of green in the river, and exclaimed in surprise, "Could it be a lotus pod." ”

At this time, the lotus has withered, the lotus leaves have not yet withered, a cluster of green lotus leaves, holding a green and full lotus canopy, the refreshing lotus fragrance is transmitted to the shore, take a deep breath, full of sweet fragrance.

"It's the lotus pod." Xue Ru smiled and said, "Fresh lotus pods are the best, and they are the best to go to the fire." ”

Hearing Zhou Bitao's words, he put down the axe, walked to the river, pulled his trouser legs, went down to the river, picked a big vigorous lotus canopy and walked up.

After playing for a while, Chen Xuejiao estimated that Li and Zhou's words were almost finished, so she went home.

Li and Zhou sat at the table, laughing loudly with each other, and when they saw them coming back, their eyes fell on Chen Xueru together, and then they exchanged a look, and they both laughed again.

Chen Xueru's face turned crimson and lowered her head slightly.

Chen Xuejiao thought, looking at the happy chat between Li and Zhou, eighty percent of them reached an agreement on the matter of Chen Xueru and Han Xingjian.

"It's noon, I'll eat some homely food at home today, it's not that I'm boasting, my Xueru's cooking skills are good, you and Bitao can taste Xueru's skills." Li Shi looked at Xue Ru with a smile in his eyes.

"Okay." Zhou readily agreed.

Xue Ru changed into homely clothes and followed Li into the pot house, and Xue Jiao and Jing Hao talked to Bi Tao and Zhou in the house.

Xueru's specialty dish is lotus duck, Li let the stone buy a four-pound fat duck early and buckle it in the bamboo building, the stone has lost its hair when it gets the news, and washed the internal organs, Xueru rolled up his sleeves, took the duck in one hand, and took a knife in the other hand to split a hole along the duck's back, cut off the duck's paws, peeled off the oil in the duck's stomach and put it in a small bowl, put a whole duck into the water to boil, skimmed out the oil foam on the boiling water, and then cut the fresh bamboo shoots, ham and mushrooms and the new lotus pod seven or eight things into dices and mixed with Jiang rice, Add pear blossom stuffed chicken fat and mix a large bowl with snowflake powder and sugar.

Wait for the duck to roll in the heat for an hour, take it out and put it in a large bowl with cold water to cool it, then fill these ingredients from the mouth of the duck's back, then wrap the back with lotus leaves, spread layers of lotus leaves on the steamer, and put the leaves on the lotus leaves to steam on high heat.

The lotus duck should be eaten while it is hot, and after the duck is steamed, Xue Ru does not lift the lid of the pot and waits for other dishes to be cooked and served together.

Li Shi and Xue Ru were busy for less than two hours, and a table of sumptuous dishes was brought into the north wing. Qi Ping and Qi An are eating at school today, and Chen Xiucai is not coming back from Huang Xiucai, presumably afraid that he will be inconvenient for a big man at the dinner table, so he avoided it for some reason.

Zhou saw that the dishes on the table were handled by Xueru, and his heart became more and more happy, and when he ate the lotus duck, he was full of praise: "Xueru's craftsmanship is not comparable to our chefs in Qingfengzhuang." ”

The lotus duck is not greasy, with the fragrance of lotus flowers, Zhou ate one piece after another, and praised each piece.

"What's so difficult about this, you want to eat, let Xue Ru make it for you every day in the future." Li said with a smile.

Zhou knew the meaning of Li's words, and said at the moment: "You are willing to be a mother, but I am not willing, how can I let her drill into the pot house with smoke and fire." ”

Li and Zhou looked at each other like dumb riddles, then looked at Xue Ru, and laughed together.

After the meal, after sitting down for a while, Zhou took Han Bitao to go back, and Li didn't stay, before going out, Zhou leaned into Li's ear and said a few words, and the two of them were smiling.

Li took two daughters to send the Han family mother and daughter out, Chen Xuejiao glanced at Chen Xueru, and when Zhou got into the carriage, Xueru shouted softly: "Auntie." ”

Zhou turned around and saw Xue Ru smiling and standing behind him with a basket, the basket was covered with layers of lotus leaves, and was filled with green lotus canopies, and the snow was more and more picturesque.

"Auntie, this lotus pod is given to Bi Tao, and the lotus leaves are used to cook porridge. I think that my milk eyes will be sick as soon as autumn, and cooking porridge with this lotus flower has the effect of brightening the eyes and reducing inflammation" Xue Ru blushed slightly and handed the basket to Zhou. (To be continued......)