Jixian has four distinct seasons, and after March, the grass begins to grow and warblers fly, and the weather is slowly warmer.

Qiu Yue was wearing a spring coat, holding a torch in one hand, picking up the firewood under the stove with the other, and blowing air through the hollow bamboo tube.

She started doing housework since she could remember, and she knew the door and the way, and soon the fire was red and vigorous.

Qiuyue's appearance is not good-looking, and there are traces of smallpox left on her face when she was a child, her original complexion is dark, and it is not obvious if she doesn't look closely, but in the past few months in Gu's house, she has become a little white. She did housework alone, and still had a lot of spare energy, so she reclaimed a few pieces of land in the wasteland at the back door, bought seeds and came back, planted onions, garlic, leeks, vegetables, etc., and was not willing to be idle for a moment.

When the fire was lit, she raised her head and asked, "Aunt Li, can you take a look at this fire?" ”

The woman she called Aunt Li was dressed in coarse cloth, with a dark cloth towel wrapped around her head, she looked about thirty years old, her face was three points of color, her waist was big and her shoulders were thick, her ten fingers were round, and her fingertips were so fleshy that her fingertips were almost not close.

Hearing Qiu Yue ask, she put the last bit of cut vegetables on the plate, glanced at the fire under the stove, and nodded, "It's done." After speaking, he picked up the oil pot and poured a thick layer of oil into the pot that was boiling until it was smoking.

Qiu Yue's eyes were straight.

She is used to being poor, and when she cooks at home on weekdays, almost all of them are boiled vegetables in a pot, and there are few oil stars, where have I ever seen such a stir-fry, looking at Aunt Li's oil without money, she is very distressed.

Aunt Li is worthy of being a skilled cook, and in less than two quarters of an hour, four dishes and one soup were made. Qiu Yue went out one by one, waited for Ji Qingling and the two to eat, packed up her things back to the kitchen, and was about to wash the dishes, but saw that Aunt Li was still sitting in the kitchen.

Seeing her come in, Aunt Li asked, "Are the master's families all studying in the hall?" ”

Qiu Yue nodded and said strangely: "Aunt Li, it's almost noon, why haven't you gone home today?" ”

Unlike Qiuyue, who sold out the deed, Aunt Li did short-term work in Gu's house, and she only came over to cook two meals a day, which was only half an hour at most, but she didn't get a lot of money and rice in a month. She worked for several families by herself, and when she came back, she was like burning her eyebrows, cooking meals, and running away, and this was the first time she stayed here after the first time.

Listening to her question, Aunt Li did not hide it, but said: "I want to discuss something with the girl, you go and ask her if she is free at this time?" ”

In the main hall, Ji Qingling was studying the article with Gu Yanzhang.

Tomorrow will be the entrance examination of Liangshan Academy, the next day will be the recruitment examination of Qingming Academy, and after that, there will be many examinations of large and small academies. At this time, it was useless to read books, so she guessed the questions of the college exam according to the method she used to guess with her father and brothers, and listed them for Gu Yanzhang to solve them one by one.

Qiu Yue walked in lightly, gently pulled Ji Qingling's sleeve, and led her to the kitchen.

Seeing Ji Qingling come in, Aunt Li immediately stood up with a smile and said, "Girl, are you okay eating food these days?" Is there anything that doesn't taste good? ”

In a small place like Jixian County, Ji Qingling doesn't have the luxury of having any powerful cooks, and besides, he has only paid for how much he has paid, so naturally he gets what he pays for, so he doesn't have too many requirements. It's just that since Aunt Li mentioned it here, she said: "I told Aunt Li a while ago that the oil and salt were too heavy, and it has been better in the past few days, and the rest is only too large per dish, so you can try to reduce the amount of each dish." ”

When Aunt Li heard her say this, her eyebrows moved, and she said, "I was about to say this to the girl." Because there are few people in your house, I am used to cooking many people's dishes, and I already feel a little uncomfortable, and the other one, the oil, salt, sauce and vinegar that Qiuyue bought, is not what I am used to, so I really don't do it. ”

Speaking of this, Aunt Li seemed to have a stomach full of bitter water to pour: "Qiuyue planted vegetables in the back, and the last time you told me, now is the season to cook, just use the ground to make it, let me only have to buy meat, but how can there be meat meat only with a few kinds of vegetables in the field." ”

She looked helpless and said: "Since you said it deliberately, I don't want to disobey it, and I will buy meat meat from the vegetable leaves in the field, and I always do less than the previous level." It's not delicious, and the main family is resentful; But if you want it to be delicious, you have to buy such and such a match, and it costs money, and you have to complain about it, saying that you don't count it in your hand, and you are spilling it all over the sky with the money of the master's family. ”

Ji Qingling listened to her for a long time, and there seemed to be something else in her words, so she pretended to be stupid and said: "Aunt Li means that Qiuyue bought something wrong, do you want her to buy another one?" ”

Aunt Li was stunned for a moment, and suddenly laughed at herself for being stupid, thinking that there are two children in charge of this Gu family, and a village head who grew up eating wild vegetables, and her mind is full of soil girls to follow, she knows a fart, and she is going around here, this little girl is still confused.

She said: "The girl misunderstood what I meant, there are so many things in your family every day, Qiu Yue is too busy to finish, where can I have the strength to take care of the others." I thought, anyway, I have to go out every day, you know that I also have other kitchens, I have to go to the market to buy vegetables, I buy a few together, the price is also cheap, you give me a month's money for vegetables, I will help you buy it back, it will also save trouble, and you can save a few pennies a day. ”

"Aunt Li is looking for me for this matter today?" Ji Qingling asked with a smile, but she was already very impatient in her heart.

Before hiring a cook, she also went out to inquire, this Jixian market, ordinary cooks only pay a month and half a penny, and they have to help do many other things. I hired a part-time worker, as long as I cooked, even the fire was burned by Qiu Yue, and I didn't have to clean and wash the dishes, but I had already given 400 wen a month, which was very kind, and I prepaid the monthly meat money in advance, and let her buy it by herself.

There are only three or two children around ten years old in the family, and how much meat can be eaten, Aunt Li can also leave a lot of meat from it.

Ji Qingling is not a fool, the dragon swims in shallow water and is played by shrimp, and the strong dragon does not suppress the snake. Since she came to settle here with Gu Yanzhang, she knew that she would definitely be taken advantage of, so she deliberately befriended Aunt Liao. Guy is a tooth man here, many intermediate affairs, she turns, although it costs more money, but it must be trouble-free, but I didn't expect that the outside things are saved, at this time to invite a part-time maid back, actually got cheap, but also to take the master's house.

Ji Qingling often heard her mother say at home in her previous life that there are often slaves in the big family, the wider the branches, the more veins, the more majestic the old slaves, and sometimes the master can't do anything about them, she only felt ridiculous at the time, at this moment she is really in charge of her own family, and then she knows that the slave bully the master is not a lie.

Thinking about it, Aunt Li saw that there were only two children in the family, no adult was in charge, and there was no backer, so she had the heart to make more money.