At the beginning of December, a heavy snowfall covered the entire city of Tokyo with a thick layer of quilts. The gray-haired butler opened the door, and was immediately shivered by the cold on his face, which made him tighten his clothes, and took a dogskin hat from the table and put it on, and then went out of his room.

Now the sky is not yet bright, and the eastern sky has just revealed a trace of red light, but the Hu steward does not dare to delay the time, and walks on the thick snow to a small courtyard next to it, where the lowest people in the house live, and several people under the control of the Hu steward are also here, so this place is also called the subordinate room.

Steward Hu came to a small door on the outermost side of the room, because the weather was too cold, he also lazily stretched out his hand, and kicked the door directly, but someone inside immediately opened the door, and then a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy smiled flatteringly while dressing: "Steward, you got up really early, just now we discussed such a big snow, don't bother your old man, just a few of us go to buy vegetables." ”

Hearing this little guy's slippery words, Steward Hu scolded with a smile: "The stinky boy's hair hasn't grown yet, so he knows that he is playing tricks with me, let a few of you go grocery shopping, and I don't know how much profit you will eat?" Get me up and push the cart to buy groceries! ”

The little guy also knew that his words couldn't fool the old and sophisticated Hu steward, so he immediately agreed to call up several little guys in the same room, came to the yard to clean up the snow on the car, and then followed the Hu steward behind him, went out of the house from the corner gate, and went straight to the nearest vegetable market.

The city of Tokyo has a population of more than one million, and there are many markets for the convenience of the city's residents, and the morning market is indispensable, and every day before dawn, there are a variety of vendors in the city. Almost all of the meat and vegetables consumed in Tokyo City every day are provided by the vendors in these markets.

Steward Hu came to the vegetable market with a few small servants, and some familiar vendors immediately came forward to greet him and recommend their vegetables and meat to him by the way. You must know that the Hu steward is the kitchen procurement of Ouyang Xianggong's mansion, and there are many people in Xianggong's mansion. The amount of vegetables and meat consumed every day is huge, and if they can get his favor, they will have a stable way to make money in the future.

For these door-to-door recommenders, Steward Hu also looked at their vegetables and meat with a smile, and if there are good ones, they will buy some, and if they are bad, they will not turn their faces, but they will not pay for it. It is said that as the manager of the Prime Minister's Mansion, Hu Guan can still treat people so kindly. It is also very rare, which also makes him accumulate a lot of popularity in this vegetable market, and most of the vegetable stalls will keep any good dishes and meat for the Hu manager.

Steward Hu was very familiar with the various vendors in the vegetable market, and soon bought a lot of vegetables and meat he needed, but then he was a little worried, their mansion was also the same as other nobles, they were divided into two kitchens, the inner kitchen was only responsible for Ouyang Xiu, as well as his wife, concubines, children and other people's diet. The outside kitchen is responsible for the people's meals.

The vegetables and meat that need to be bought every day in the kitchen are rationed, and they are not so particular, so the steward quickly buys them. But the inner kitchen is different, Ouyang Xiu and his wives and concubines have different tastes, and the inner kitchen has to cook according to everyone's taste, and there are even people who specially tell what to cook today, so the vegetables and meat to be bought in the inner kitchen every day are different, and the requirements for quality are also very high.

Steward Hu took out the list of vegetables and meat to buy in the kitchen today, but he couldn't help but show a wry smile on his face, the meat on this list is easy to do, it is nothing more than some good mutton. In addition, there is more expensive venison, which is available in these markets. He'd already bought them all, but the rest of the dishes weren't easy to handle. Especially when he saw the "ten catties of fresh vegetables" written on the list, he had a headache.

The high level of the officials of the Great Song Dynasty is known to the whole world, which even the officials of Western Xia and Northern Liao are extremely greedy, among which several ministers who are at the peak of officials, their Yulu is even more terrifying, and since Kou Zhun has made a bad start, that is, life is luxurious, and now several ministers in the court from Han Qi to Ouyang Xiu, almost everyone pays great attention to enjoyment in life, and Ouyang Xiu is one of the representatives, for example, even in winter, he has to eat fresh vegetables every day.

There are very few kinds of fresh vegetables that can be eaten in winter, the most common is white radish, as long as this thing is harvested in late autumn, dig a pit in the ground and bury it, you can store it for a winter, so white radish is also the most common fresh vegetable of the people of the Great Song Dynasty in winter, in addition to white radish, there are lotus roots left, most of this thing is transported from the south, of course, there is a small amount of production in the north, but no matter where the origin is, the price of lotus root is not cheap.

Of course, in addition to white radish and lotus root, there are also some other fresh vegetables in the city of Tokyo, such as Xi'an, there are hot springs, you can use hot spring water to grow some vegetables in winter, and there are also a small number of vegetables rushed from the south, but the number of these vegetables is scarce, a considerable part of them are sent to the palace, and the rest have been divided by some big nobles before they enter the capital, and they rarely flow to the market, and whenever these fresh vegetables are on the market, they will be snapped up immediately.

Manager Hu has to purchase ten catties of fresh vegetables every day, of course, Ouyang Xiu is not an unreasonable person, so he does not stipulate the types of fresh vegetables purchased by his subordinates, as long as they are fresh vegetables, even white radishes, of course, if there are other vegetables, it is better.

Yesterday, the steward in charge of the kitchen specially told him that he must find a way to buy some other fresh vegetables to improve, otherwise even their kitchen will be embarrassed to make radish dishes.

Thinking of this, Steward Hu couldn't help but sigh, in this kind of heavy snow and road closure weather, even if some fresh vegetables are transported from the south or Xi'an, I am afraid it will be difficult to send them to the city, just now he has turned the entire vegetable market twice, and the fresh vegetables he saw are only white radish, and the rest are either dried vegetables or pickles, these things naturally cannot be bought back for Xianggong to eat.

"Steward, do we want to go to Butcher Xu's place for a turn, it's a big deal to add more money, maybe we can buy some lotus roots back?" At this time, a little guy said, they all know that the manager is having a headache about fresh vegetables.

"Alas, I can only go to Butcher Xu to give it a try!" Steward Hu sighed.

Xu Butcher is not a real butcher, but sells lotus roots, most of the lotus roots are shipped from the south, not only expensive, but also not much, Xu Butcher sells lotus roots are more expensive than others, others are behind his back to scold him for cutting meat, this is the name of the butcher, Hu Guan used to look at the greedy face of the Xu butcher, and the other party once quarreled, so he didn't have to be forced to do so, he didn't want to go to Xu Butcher to be cut by him.

At that moment, the Hu steward took people to the stall of Xu Tu, and saw that this Mrs. Xu Tu was as her name suggested, with a long face, fat and strong, and the oil on her face was shining, she really looked like a butcher, but her small eyes were extremely shrewd, which seemed to be very inconsistent with his figure.

"Oh, isn't this nonsense, you're a rare guest!" When Butcher Xu saw Steward Hu come to his stall, he immediately greeted with a smile, but his small eyes were shining, thinking about how he should cut off a piece of meat from the other party this time.

"Butcher Xu, don't talk nonsense, how do you sell these lotus roots?" Steward Hu didn't have the psychology to be polite to the other party, and went straight to the point.

"Hehe, Steward Hu is still so bold, these small lotus roots were just sent the day before yesterday, they are all very fresh, and the price is not expensive, five hundred yuan per catty!" Butcher Xu deserves the name of a butcher, he quoted a sky-high price on the spot, and there are people behind him, so he is not afraid of taking care of things, and he also knows very clearly that Ouyang Xiu's mansion has the habit of asking ten catties of fresh vegetables every day, and in the entire vegetable market, in addition to white radish, only these lotus roots in his hands are fresh vegetables.

"Five hundred? Why don't you grab it, the lotus root in the vegetable market was only 300 yuan a few days ago, why did it go up 200 yuan directly to you? When the steward heard this price, he immediately said angrily, it's not that he can't afford the five hundred yuan, it's just that he really can't get used to the villain appearance of Xu Butcher.

"Hehe, you also said that it was a few days ago, and lotus root has always been priceless, didn't you buy it for 300 yuan a pound a few days ago? In addition, now that the road is closed by heavy snow, even if there are fresh vegetables outside, they can't be transported, and the vegetables in the city are naturally rising in price, and the lotus root of 500 yuan per catty is not expensive at all. Butcher Xu said eloquently, and then he pointed to the dozen or so lotus roots in front of him and said, "Steward Hu, you see, there are so many lotus roots left, if you don't want them, maybe the next guest will buy them all." ”

In fact, the price that Butcher Xu sold to others was only four hundred yuan, but he had not forgotten the incident where the butler quarreled with him last time, and now he has announced his personal vendetta and added a hundred yuan at once.

"You ......" Steward Hu often goes around the vegetable market, and naturally knows that the lotus root that Butcher Xu has bought in the past few days is only 400 yuan, but the other party has to raise the price to 500 yuan now, and he has no choice, after all, the lotus root is someone else's, and the price at which the other party wants to sell it is naturally what the price, plus Butcher Xu also has a backstage, so the other party is not afraid of him at all.

Thinking of this, the steward Hu also scolded the villain secretly, and wanted to turn around and leave, but there was really no other fresh vegetables in the vegetable market, especially the steward in the inner kitchen had already ordered it, and it was impossible for him to buy white radish again, it seemed that this time he had to be cut off a piece of meat by the butcher Xu.

But just when the steward gritted his teeth and wanted to pay, suddenly there was a commotion at the entrance of the vegetable market, whether it was buying vegetables or selling vegetables, they all stretched their necks to look at the entrance of the vegetable market, and their faces looked like they had seen a ghost. (To be continued)

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