Because of the mourning of the queen mother, Li Cong needs to drop out of the dynasty for 27 days, and the ministers also have to follow the mourning for nine months.

To Yan Yan's surprise, Ma also came, dressed in coarse linen clothes, although he had lost a lot of weight, his complexion was fine, although he also had a sad face, but his eyes were quite peaceful, and when he saw Yan Yan, he only nodded slightly, without the previous resentment, and without the previous guilt.

In the next few days, Yan Yan paid close attention to it, the Ma family was basically alone, at most, she just said hello to her sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law or something, and nodded slightly with the ladies of other families, and rarely talked to them.

After Qiqi, Yan Yan and Lu You followed the Empress Dowager's Zigong to the imperial mausoleum in the western suburbs, and stayed for another seven days, probably suffering a little cold when they were in the countryside, and Yan Yan fell ill after coming back.

At that time, it was close to the root of the year, reasoning, because of the national funeral, a wedding and birthday celebration and gatherings, amusement and other activities were prohibited, the whole capital should be relatively deserted, but because of the national funeral period, many surrounding countries or tribes also sent people to mourn, it is reported that even the Jurchen, Mongolia, Wa, Goryeo, Ryukyu and Nanyue, Dali and other countries have sent people, not to mention the Liao and Western Xia.

The reason why these people didn't choose to leave immediately after the funeral was because most of them were Ben Da Zhou's artillery and gunpowder, some wanted to cooperate with Yan Yan in the cotton cloth and soap business, some wanted to buy her threshing machine drawings, and some wanted to buy her cake recipes.

For this reason, Yan Yan's illness was also uneasy, and during the first three days of the first month, someone handed over the post, and Yan Yan refused on the grounds that it was not suitable to meet guests during the national funeral.

On this day, when Yan Yangang felt that his illness was so good that he wanted to go to Yan's house to see Yang Yi, Qingxiu sent a post, and the payment on it was Princess Cheng of Goryeo.

"Become a princess? I don't know this person, I don't see him. After Yan Yan finished speaking, he returned the post to Qingxiu, who turned around and went out to hand it back to the mother-in-law waiting at the door.

Who knew that more than a quarter of an hour later, Qingxiu came back with the post again, "Master, she said that she once had a two-sided relationship with you, one was in the palace, the other was in the imperial mausoleum, and there was still the crown princess at that time, in addition, she also has an identity, her name is Xiao Ling, and she is Xiao Yu's sister." ”

Saying this, Yan Yan remembered that there seemed to be such a person coming, but there were too many people who wanted to know her in those days, and they all begged the princess for introduction, Yan Yan would be in grief, where could he remember who was who?

"But who is Xiao Yu?" Yan Yan thought of another question.

Qingxiu also shook her head, turned around and went out again, this time she personally went to see the princess Cheng outside the door, and after a while she came back with the sticker, "Back to the master, she said that Xiao Yu is the queen of Liao, and she had a relationship with the master a few years ago, and this princess Cheng said that she came to see the master this time because she was entrusted by the king of Goryeo to discuss important matters." ”

"Empress of Liao, Xiao Yu?" Yan Yan remembered the girl named Liu Yu, who came to the door a few years ago and begged her to teach her to play the piano, saying that she was Zhou Lu's wife who had never been to the door, and it seemed that Zhou Lu really married this woman.

Because the surname Xiao is the surname of the descendants of the Liao State, it is reported that the queen mother of the Liao State is surnamed Xiao.

"Well, let her in." Yan Yan saw that the other party was so stubborn, and specially mentioned the queen of Liao, so she had to give her some face, and ordered someone to invite people in, and she also welcomed her to the front door of the main room, which is where she receives distinguished guests or foreign guests every day.

Soon, four servant women in their thirties came over with a purple soft sedan chair, carrying the sedan chair by four stout mothers-in-law, followed by four pairs of sixteen or seventeen-year-old maids, and behind the maids there were two pairs of stout mothers-in-law carrying two large boxes to follow.

These maids and servants all look good, not to mention wearing gold and silver, and their bearing is much stronger than that of ordinary subordinates.

When Yan Yan was secretly wondering what the other party wanted to make such a big pomp and circumstance, the sedan chair stopped, the four servants took a step back, and two maids came up, one of them lifted the sedan curtain, and carefully helped the people inside out.

Yan Yan looked at this princess Cheng, her age is not too old, no more than thirty, although she is graceful and luxurious, there are thin crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, her appearance is average, at most she can only be regarded as middle and upper, but her skin is really white, and her eyebrows and eyes look kind.

"I'm sorry, I don't know that your guests are coming, and I hope to forgive my sins." Yan Yan bowed slightly and said hello.

The other party obviously didn't understand Yan Yan's words, and looked at a servant woman beside him, the servant woman stepped forward to translate, and after listening to it, Princess Cheng also bowed down to greet Yan Yan in return, and said something in a hurry.

"Our princess said that she had heard that the county lord was in poor health for a long time, and she had always wanted to visit, and she was afraid to disturb the county lord's recuperation, so it was delayed until today, and I ask the county lord for forgiveness." The servant woman translated.

"The princess is polite, you and I don't know each other, and you are a distinguished guest from afar, you are already uneasy to alarm, how can you forgive me?" Yan Yan smiled faintly, led the guests into the door, and sat down the guests.

Without waiting for the order, Qingxiu quickly served tea and a few refreshments, and then retreated to Yan Yan's side.

"You take a few of them down, hand them over to Qing Glaze, and let everyone drink a cup of hot tea to warm up." Yan Yan instructed Qingmai.

After listening to the translator's words, Princess Cheng nodded, leaving behind two personal maids and two servants, one of whom was a translator.

Seeing this, Qingxiu also served tea and snacks to these four people.

After taking a sip of tea, Princess Cheng picked up a piece of cake and tasted it, and then said a few words, and the translation said: "Our princess said that this cake is sweeter and more delicious than the one sold in the shop." ”

"You princesses also like sweets?" Yan Yan asked.

The other party brought two large boxes, and it seemed that one of them was not light, so Yan Yan guessed that the other party's intention was definitely not small, but the other party didn't mention it, Yan Yan had to lead it to the cake, she didn't want to waste time dealing with these strangers, and it might cause the emperor's suspicion after a long time.

"Yes, our princess also likes the mutton hot pot and casserole dishes in your restaurant, and our princess said that your tea is also different from the ordinary, with a faint chestnut fragrance, she likes it very much." The translator said.

"Oh, it's easy, I can sell you the recipe." Yan Yan said.

The translator told the princess this, and the princess groaned for a while, got up, put her hand on her left chest, bowed, looked at Yan Yan, and said a long paragraph, and later, the translator told Yan Yan the gist of it.