Yue's Tea House was originally a front shop and a back warehouse, and the kitchen was separated between the front shop and the back warehouse.

Even the kitchen with the dining room is very wide, with all kinds of firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea, as well as a lot of ready-made ingredients. Du Xiaomeng asked Mr. Zhao for a shop guy to help light the fire, so he rolled up his sleeves and began to get busy in the kitchen. She already has experience in using ancient kitchens to cook dishes, although the knives and kitchen utensils are not so satisfactory to use, and there are not a bunch of people here to help like the General's Mansion before, but she still tosses three dishes and one soup relatively smoothly.

After serving the three dishes and one soup with all the color and flavor, he asked the guy who started to go out and invite Mr. Zhao to come in and give advice.

Mr. Zhao tried each dish without any expression on his face, nor did he comment on a few dishes. His appearance made Du Xiaomeng, who was standing aside waiting for the result, couldn't help but feel a little nervous, whether it was okay or not, your old man said something!

After Mr. Zhao picked up the bowl and took another sip of soup, he finally put down his chopsticks and said, "Before Aunt Chen recovers and comes back, you can temporarily come to the tea house to cook rice in her place." ”

In this way, Du Xiaomeng got mixed up with the position of the temporary head of Yue's Tea House. This is definitely a good errand, the guy in charge of cooking and cooking goes to the vegetable market every day, and the vegetable market is a good place to receive all kinds of news!

The intended purpose has been achieved, so it's time to make some preparations for tomorrow's banquet in the county king's mansion.

In the blink of an eye, the next day came.

Du Xiaomeng, who only became the temporary head of the gang yesterday, does not have to go to the tea house to cook. On this day, the sun was shining, Du Xiaomeng was dressed as a rich lady, and followed Yue Yunze to the county king's mansion for a banquet.

Walking to the gate of Yue's mansion, Du Xiaomeng saw two carriages parked in front of the door, and there was a coachman standing next to one of them, and there was no one else.

Du Xiaomeng got into the carriage with a coachman standing on the side, Yue Yunze and Mr. Zhao got into another carriage, and Ah Hu acted as their coachman. After everyone got into the car, Yue Yunze and Mr. Zhao's carriage went first, and Du Xiaomeng's car followed, and they began to set off towards the palace of Qingning County.

Du Xiaomeng, who had owned a carriage by himself, sat in the car, lifted the bamboo curtain and looked at the scenery outside, thinking about things in his head.

Qiu Sha and Shangguan Hong, who were usually very thoughtful in serving Yue Yunze in the mansion, did not follow them out. Today's banquet was attended by people from the capital, and it was normal for the two of them to have special identities and it was inconvenient to show their faces outside, but I didn't see Shangguan Hong in Yue's mansion today, and Qiu Sha came over early in the morning to give Du Xiaomeng clothes and jewelry, and disappeared after dressing her up, which is a little abnormal.

Du Xiaomeng guessed that the two should have been sent out to do something. It was expected that someone in Yue's mansion would take action, but she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy about it. Although she already knows the development and ending of the next story, the current situation is that the opponent is the people of the Yue Mansion who have been entrenched in Qingning County for a long time and have rich experience in spying, and she is a lone wanderer who has just arrived without any help, in this case, she is not sure enough to change the known ending.

Thinking of this, Du Xiaomeng's expression became solemn. After a while, when she arrived at the county king's mansion, if it could be confirmed that the young man in black was the new guard, in the absence of other more ideal options, she had to find an opportunity to ask him to do a very important thing for herself.

The carriage drove along the secluded road it had traveled that day towards the heart of Cheongning County, and as it approached the intersection of the market, the carriage slowed down towards Cheonyeong Street. Seeing the market in front of him full of people coming and going, and having the unpleasant experience of being watched, Du Xiaomeng put down the bamboo curtain and looked at the scene outside from the gap between the curtains.

Walk along the street through the county teahouse, pass by the Yue's tea house, continue to walk forward for about two or three hundred meters, and then another intersection will appear.

Du Xiaomeng noticed that there was a stone bridge on the right side of the crossroads, and on the other side of the bridge, there were two soldiers with spears standing at the head of the bridge. She wanted to look more closely, but the carriage turned in the direction to the left, and it was not good to lift the curtain and look out, so she could only put away her curiosity and sit down.

As soon as the carriage turned to the left, there were obviously fewer pedestrians on the road, and the faster the carriage went, the fewer passers-by there were, and finally not a single passer-by was seen, not only that, but there were no houses on either side of the road, only open spaces and trees. In such a situation, Du Xiaomeng guessed that the goal was about to arrive.

Sure enough, the carriage slowed down again and stopped a short time later. Du Xiaomeng opened the curtain and stretched out his head to look out, and saw a gatehouse in front of him, and on both sides of the gatehouse stood the guards of the county king. One of the guards saw the invitation handed by Ah Hu and waved his hand to let the carriage pass.

The carriage went about a hundred meters along the straight, wide road and came to a halt. The coachman lifted the curtain and asked Du Xiaomeng to get out of the car, and the first thing she noticed after getting out of the car was that there was a long line of carriages and sedan chairs parked on both sides of the road, and then when she looked up, she saw the big mansion dozens of meters away.

Walking towards the mansion, I saw that this large mansion was the style of an ancient Lingnan mansion, with high gray brick walls, black tile roofs, roof with nest ears, and colorful and exquisite pictures painted under the eaves. If the black gate is open, there is a protruding rectangular stone slab above the gate, and the four sides of the stone slab are chiseled with exquisite patterns, and the words "county king's mansion" are engraved in the middle. There is also a towering watchtower on the left and right behind the high wall of the gate of the county palace, which shows that this county palace is not only a rich and luxurious mansion, but also a castle that can defend against the enemy.

Seeing the two watchtowers, Du Xiaomeng couldn't help but have doubts in her heart. Towers and other buildings with strong defensive functions are usually produced in turbulent and unpeaceful times, and their main role is to resist bandits and thieves. Although it is known that there was a turmoil in Qingning County not long ago, the mansion of the county palace is obviously a building that has been built for some years, and this watchtower is definitely not newly built. Could it be that Qingning County has never been a peaceful place, and all the residences of big people like the king of the county have to build watchtowers to defend and keep them safe? However, walking around Qingning County in the past two days, I feel that this place seems to be quite peaceful.

Walking forward with questions, it didn't take long to walk in front of the county king's mansion.

In front of the palace stood a line of greeting people, all dressed in high-quality and decent clothes. Seeing Yue Yunze and his party coming, one of the greeting servants hurriedly greeted them and said with a smile: "Gongzi Yue, please come inside!" ”

He was about to raise his feet and walk up the steps in front of the county king's mansion when he heard one of the welcoming servants whisper to the other: "Hurry up and inform the county king, Lord Zhang, they are here." ”

Although the voice was not loud, Yue Yunze and the others could hear it very clearly. Yue Yunze's footsteps paused slightly, and he continued to walk forward with the subordinates who led the way.

Du Xiaomeng followed Yue Yunze forward and looked back at the same time.

I saw a bearded middle-aged strong man jump out of a very ordinary black carriage, and then a young man with a white complexion and dark green clothes also got out of the car, he was the black-clothed young man he had seen in Yue's Tea House that day.

Seeing the young man, Du Xiaomeng's heart couldn't help beating two beats faster. She turned around and casually followed behind Yue Yunze and Mr. Zhao, and walked into the county king's mansion. After crossing the patio, then through the hall and through the room, walking through the corridor, walking in the county king's mansion, which is more like a maze than Yue Yunze's house, I don't know how long I walked, and finally walked to the place where the guests were feasted.

It was a large open-air courtyard leaning against the lotus pond, with a number of banquet tables on the left and right, and several burning charcoal stoves around it.

There have been a lot of people present, they are standing or sitting, or a group of three or so standing by the lotus pond to talk about the world, or around the charcoal stove to bake their hands and smoke hookah, the whole scene is very lively. There is also a big stage in the courtyard, and there is a Hua Dan singing on the stage, but the scene is too noisy to hear what is being sung on the stage at all.

The greeting servant who led the way walked through the crowd and led Yue Yunze and Mr. Zhao to the banquet table on the left, Du Xiaomeng was about to sit down with them, but the greeting servant stopped her with a smile and said, "Girl, your position is not here." ”

Du Xiaomeng only noticed at this time that this banquet was originally to sit separately for men and women. She smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "There is this big brother Lao to lead the way." ”

The greeter took her to the right table opposite Yue Yunze and sat down. The people sitting at that table were all women wearing gold and silver, wearing expensive clothes such as silk and satin, with fat and thin ears, competing for beauty, and the smell of all kinds of fat powder was very choking. Originally, they were busy showing off their wealth or showing off their husbands and children, but after Du Xiaomeng sat down, the eyes of the women at that table immediately stuck to her. They all saw just now that this woman walked in behind Yue Yunze, the richest man in Qingning! In the past two days, the headline news in Qingning County is that the son-in-law brought a young and beautiful girl to the teahouse, and according to eyewitnesses, the two had a very close attitude; It is also said that the girl is the cousin of the son-in-law. cousin and cousin, this kind of ambiguous relationship of kissing and kissing has long aroused the curiosity of gossip people from all walks of life in Qingning County.

Now that God has a good opportunity, I actually let the heroine in the gossip incident sit at the same table as myself, I can't let go of this excellent opportunity!

So, the very mellow aunt sitting next to Du Xiaomeng was like an elder who had known her for many years, and took her hand very kindly, touched it and asked with a kind smile: "Sister, what's your name?" Who is the son-in-law's family? Why haven't I seen you before? ”

This aunt has the feeling of an aunt in the neighborhood committee. is overly enthusiastic and concerned, how could Du Xiaomeng not know that Aunt Fugui wants to be 38? She still has a way to deal with this kind of aunt who is overzealous and caring, but before she can speak, she hears a loud shout from outside the door: "The king of the county has arrived!" ”

When everyone in the courtyard heard the sound, they immediately walked to both sides of the courtyard from all directions, stood in line, bent down to salute, and respectfully shouted in unison: "Welcome to the king of the county!" ”

In the shouts of everyone, the king of Qingning, who was wearing a white fox fur and jade-inlaid leather boots, hugged his flower-like beauty, followed by a bearded middle-aged strong man and a young man in dark green, and walked into the courtyard majestically.