On the second day, Wencheng woke up to the sound of "brushing, brushing, brushing".

Pushing open the door, I saw that Su Jian was sweeping the courtyard; As soon as Su Jian saw Wen Cheng, he stopped his broom and respectfully saluted Wen Cheng.

Chen Wan appeared behind Wen Cheng: "Husband, the concubine heard that this Su Jian was carrying water and sweeping in the courtyard, and it was inconvenient to open the door to investigate. I don't know how to settle this person in the future? ”

The Wen family's small family is indeed a little inappropriate, so they keep Su Jian to live at home for a long time.

I really don't know how those top families "serve thousands of people and attach tens of thousands of people" - poverty really limits the imagination of ordinary people.

…………

Even the top powerful families in Han'an County have "hundreds of servants and thousands of vains";

The slightly inferior wealthy and powerful families, hundreds of servants and hundreds of apprentices in the family are still ordinary...... No wonder these people want to make trouble, and in an instant, they can pull up a team of thousands, tens of thousands

- Although the old, weak, sick and disabled are mixed in it, most of them are used to wave flags and shout and make up numbers; There are not many good players who can really fight, and more than half of them are rabble, and they will scatter in a hurry when they encounter the impact of the formation.

……

Wen Cheng had no way to think about it, so he could only support me: "Let's put it together for a few days for the time being, and wait for my husband to find a way to solve it." ”

Seeing that her husband got up, Chen Wan went to the stove room to make a fire and cook.

When Wen Cheng and his wife were in the hall and had eaten the morning food, Su Jian ate in the stove room.

When I opened the courtyard door, I saw that Ma Da and Niu Er were already waiting outside the door with sweaty heads.

One person carried two chickens, one person carried two ducks, and carried a grain bag on his shoulder, presumably to send rice grain to Wenda's benefactor.

Wen Cheng was also not polite, and calmly accepted these native products, otherwise these two people really didn't know how to face Wen Cheng.

Wen Cheng instructed Su Jian to go to the Wu Liang brothers, and beckoned Ma Da Niu Er to eat some extra food that he had prepared when he was cooking yesterday...... If Chen Wan recooks the meal for the two, believe it or not, the two of them dare not eat it?

On the contrary, this kind of leftover meal, the two of them still eat sweet and frank

…… That's right, the two of us, who are countrymen and half apprentices, how dare we work for our precious mother, cook for the two of us, and are not afraid of losing our lives?

……

The Wu Liang brothers came over, Wen Cheng took out the copper coin, and instructed the two to go to the East Market to buy sundries, and take the chickens and ducks to the East Market for people to slaughter clean;

There is no need to pay for slaughtering chickens and ducks, just leave the chicken feathers and duck feathers for the stall owner.

Let Niu Erma go to the rice grain shop, buy the best polished rice, and sell the best rice wine; Su Jian went to the carpenter and blacksmith shop to find the objects.

These trivial things can't be done for a while.

Wen Cheng himself, nested in the stove room, concentrating on making the pancreatic soap.

The lard is boiled, the ash water of the plants and trees after filtration and precipitation is added, and the pancreatic soap can be slowly made; It's just that there is no alum and thickener, and this pancreatic soap is not as smooth and smooth as later generations.

When Su Jian gets the stuff back, let Su Jian grind the spices and sieve out the finest powder; I started to prepare the mold myself.

……

At this time, Naning Niangzi came to visit the door; Maybe it's to come and see if the Wen family needs help cooking today.

Ning Niangzi's family has hundreds of acres of land, but because it is mountainous, it is not very valuable, and the output is extremely limited.

Soon after Ning Niangzi got married, she asked her husband's family to plant fruit trees, yellow horn trees, soaphorn trees, moon trees and the like.

Ning Niangzi on weekdays, she relies on the two shops on the street to collect rent.

The maidservants who marry with their mother's family sell the fruits, flowers, and soaphorns of the four seasons in exchange for a meager living allowance.

……

"Yo yo, why did Erlang do this cooking? But Erlang dislikes it, and Chen Niangzi is unbearable? Ning Niangzi smiled and quipped: "Then I will take another concubine and specialize in cooking; When I went to bed, I kicked her to the side compartment to see if I was thirsty and didn't wilt her little hooves! ”

Go and go, marry a wife, marry a concubine... Who will take a beautiful concubine home, willing to let her stay in the empty room alone. It's too late to hurt......

- Hey, who's going to take a concubine?

Besides, "gentleman cooks" means staying away from the kitchen where there is killing, and it doesn't really tell you not to cook.

This sentence was deliberately distorted by those lazy people in later generations. I don't want to cook, I don't want to wash dishes and dishes, where is this lofty excuse!

Eight out of ten Bashu men can cook, is it possible that Bashu men are not "gentlemen"?

The men of Bashu are all glorious "rake ears", and they can also cook well, why are they not gentlemen?

… A gentleman can't be a gentleman anymore!

Of course, Wen Cheng didn't dare to quarrel with Ning Niangzi, who knows what evil fire she was holding? Can't afford to mess with.

……

When Ning Niangzi saw what Wen Cheng was doing, she didn't see a little famous: "Erlang, what are you doing?" ”

At that time, in the rouge shop, pancreatic soap from Nanyang County was sold. It's just that the price is very high, and there is no fragrance; The shape is oval.

There are not many people who can afford a whole pancreatic soap. are mostly powerful gentry, official women, and Qinglou women; Ordinary people, a handful of straw stalks, is a bath towel;

A piece of soap is shampoo, and it is common to grab a handful of grass ash to wash your hair.

At this time, papermaking, pancreatic soap, rouge, and expensive high-end pens and inks were actually monopolized in the hands of the Maison.

If ordinary big families participate in it, they will be killed by the family!

So that they continue to monopolize.

This situation is especially common in the Central Plains and Sili.

It's like the trade with the northern barbarians, which is mostly controlled by the families of Bingzhou, Youzhou, and Jizhou...... Whoever rashly joins in and wants to eat meat and drink soup, they can clean up your incontinence!

……

Wen Cheng smiled and didn't explain: "Ning family lady, there are a lot of flowers in your house?" Sell them all to me! ”

"No! Do not sell with Jiro. Ning Niangzi shook her head: "If it is used by Erlang's family, it doesn't hurt to give it to Erlang." If Erlang uses it as a goods, would it be good to partner with me? ”

Naning Niangzi looked at Wen Cheng: "The slave family is not greedy, a bowl of sour soup noodles, a two-foot bamboo couch, and a three-foot soil pit after death." Fighting for that lot of copper money, it was cheaper for the gravediggers. ”

"It's just that the slave family and the personal maid are idle every day, and their bones are soft."

Ning Niangzi rarely spoke seriously: "Find something to do, and don't ask Erlang for you to give a lot of money."

It is better to see the sky and open your eyes, to have something to do, to be tired and tired, and to fall asleep than to look forward to the light of day. ”

Poor baby

"It's okay, neighbors should help each other, as a matter of course. However, it does not hurt that what I do is short-lived; I'm afraid that after doing it for a long time, when I become famous, it will be the day of disaster!

Therefore, I will find a safe person to attach this thing to his name. Ning Niangzi, you can't take care of this either, otherwise there will be people with sharp blades in the middle of the night who want to go to your house to do something unfavorable, I'm afraid there are also people! ”

Wen Cheng turned his head to look at Ning Niangzi: "It's just a helper, are you willing?" ”

is not close to people, and the whole world is afraid of the road; If you don't look at things, you will have a dream all your life.

Human affection should be taken into account; Nor can we let our guard down in the face of danger.

Ning Niangzi smiled: "Erlang is thinking very properly!" How can a cold family like the slave family resist the many jackals that pounced!

Erlang is a scholar, doesn't the book say that jade is not guilty, and if you are pregnant with jade, you are guilty? ”

Alas, the scourge of no culture!

- Do you think you are Dayu? He can make a doll out of a stone...

That touch of grace just now......

Wen Cheng kicked Su Jian: wiped the saliva!

"Goo-dong..."

(Dayu let the stone give birth to dolls ~ from Yuan Ke's "Chinese Myths and Legends" ~ 122 ~ Black Bear and Songshan Stone.) The person who was born was called "Kai")

……

Wen Cheng asked Su Jian to bring the utensils and follow Ning Niangzi's house, there are still a bunch of trivial things at home, and it is really a bit difficult to perform.

That Su Jian, Ning Niangzi, and Ning Niangzi's maid of marriage moved back and forth several times before they finished moving everything. Wen Cheng stopped Su Jian and carefully explained the process of adding spices and distilling essential oils...... Wen Cheng himself also "knows what it is, but doesn't know why", so let the three of them toss slowly.

It's not a lot of profound skills, and the third brother's house next door in later generations is still a local distillation of essential oils, and it is also a big industry.

It only needs to be boiled slowly, distilled slowly, and finally skimmed out the essential oil that floats on the surface of the water.

What is needed is fine grinding and manpower, and the old-fashioned stove is enough to use.

…………

When the Wu Liang brothers came back from buying a bunch of goods, Wen Cheng went to ask the seventh and sixth mothers to come over and help pick them up.

There are a lot of things: chicken, duck and fish, pork and beef, eggs and tofu, vegetables and pickles, seasonings, sauces and vinegar......

I casually cooked a "tofu stewed pork intestine" for lunch, making do with everyone, this is not a famous dish, and everyone is full of oil and shouting, "It's enjoyable!" ”

In the afternoon, a group of people were busy.

Boiled meat and chopped chicken, washed vegetables and steamed drawer...... Just wait for the officials of the county temple, after they get off duty, come over to drink and talk about things......

(Tofu is said to have been created by Liu An, King of Huainan in 177-122 BC.) Li Shizhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica ~ Gube Tofu" also recorded: The method of tofu began with Liu An, the former king of Huainan in the Han Dynasty. ）