The next day, Xiangru received a reply from the lord of Rui, and the letter told Xiangru that the date of the banquet was set for the tenth day of the first month, and the patient who had made the appointment on the day temporarily canceled the appointment, and the day of the first day was free, and it was only the end of September now, so there was enough time to prepare.

However, since the preparation time is sufficient, then the requirements are naturally not low, the county lord requires Xiangru biscuits and cakes to be made, and there are many "flowers", biscuits are one of the snacks used to entertain tea when the guests are seated, and the cake is one of the snacks after the meal, and the "flowers" will be beautiful when there are more patterns.

As for the taste that Xiangru is worried about, Ruijun mainly Xiangru doesn't have to care, she has also eaten the 'milky' oil cake sold in the embassy area, and she also doesn't like the sweet and greasy taste, just let Xiangru do it according to her own recipe.

With the words of the county lord, Xiangru no longer hesitated, she had done this job, and the advertising opportunities that were difficult to buy were still free, and it would be a pity to let them go.

Xiangru thought for a moment and instructed Gui 'Hua' to study ink, and in her reply she asked the county lord about how many tables he had and how many pastries there were on a plate of more detailed details.

The capital is too big, the communication is really inconvenient, the letter of the county lord was delivered before noon, Xiangru hurried to read the reply letter, and will not receive the reply from the county lord again until the morning of the next day, and then Xiangru wrote a reply letter and sent someone to send it to the Hou Mansion, and only two letters can be exchanged at most a day.

So every time Xiangru and the county lord tried their best to write a long letter to discuss all kinds of issues clearly, Xiangru even knew from the county lord that there might be more than a dozen underage young masters and young ladies among the guests that day, and the county lord and the prince were responsible for receiving their peers.

The eldest young master of Shuhou Ye's family, who has been naughty and mischievous since he was a child, is now the son of the world, and in the days to come, he should restrain his 'sex' and stop talking nonsense, and begin to learn how to be a qualified heir. Xiangru thought of all the naughty things she had heard about Young Master Rui when she was on a business trip to the Hou Mansion before, as if it was still yesterday, and she couldn't help but sigh that time passed so fast.

Xiangru and the county lord's correspondence came and went for several days, in order to finalize the style and taste of biscuits and cakes, Xiangru specially sent people to the street to find craftsmen to customize new biscuit molds, make a small amount of tastings every day, and send them all to the Hou Mansion to the eldest princess to taste, and then the county lord will write back to tell her which one she wants, and it is best to add a few more flavors.

It was the first time for Xiangru to participate in such a major banquet and become a part of it, and she was very busy every day, Guo Jin took the opportunity to come to the neighborhood on an errand and sent Xiangru a wedding cake and a message.

The joy cake is because Xiang Fei finally agreed to take a concubine, the day before yesterday in the middle of the night and early yesterday morning to take people to Xiang's house, because the concubine procedures are simple, the male family sent someone to hire during the day, and the 'female' family gave the girl's birth date and other household registration information, the man's family immediately went to the government to find Hu Cao to go through the formalities, and in the middle of the night on the same day, he could take a small sedan chair to pick people up.

Originally, according to Xiang Fei's intentions, it would be over if he quietly picked up people, but considering the status of the Xiang family and the 'female' family, and this matter was really a big problem in their circle, they had to send wedding cakes to the relatives and friends, which was regarded as a 'delivery' and finally put an end to this matter.

Xiangru accepted the wedding cake, and Guo Jin told Xiangru that the convoy to Gusang County had departed, and the gift she entrusted was on the way.

Xiangru thanked him and gave Guo Jin a small bag of silver, saying that it was for the hard work of the guys, and asked Guo Jin to take it back and give it to them next time they returned to Beijing. Guo Jin didn't dare to ask for it, so he excused himself in every possible way, and said that it was a gesture, but Xiangru insisted, and Guo Jin finally had to accept it, and then said goodbye and left.

After Guo Jin left, Xiangru asked Gui 'Hua' to take out the wedding cake to the beggar on the street, and she felt that it was unlucky to eat the concubine's wedding cake.

Xiang Fei seems to have concealed the concubine very strictly, a few days after Xiangru accepted the wedding cake, some of the guests talked about Xiang Fei's concubine, I heard that it was the 'female' family who released the news, but still no one said which girl it was, Xiangru knew which family it was but didn't want to say, but she confirmed as a witness who received the wedding cake that Xiang Fei was indeed a concubine, and it was the girl who brought him two big bags.

The guests heard that Xiangru's tone seemed to know which girl the 'female' party was, and asked, Xiangru smiled but did not answer, only said that the matter was over, and it was meaningless to mention it again, why bother other other people's lives, Xiang Fei is her partner, and she is not good at commenting on this kind of thing.

Hearing Xiangru say this, the guests felt that this was the reason, so they gave up and continued to eat and drink separately, and told other news stories at will.

The business in the store was normal, there was no interference from emergencies, Xiangru wholeheartedly prepared her for the banquet on the tenth day of October, thinking that a large number of 'milky' oil cakes might be 'damaged' due to bumps during transportation, Xiangru wrote to the county lord and asked if she could make these snacks in the kitchen of the Hou Mansion that day.

The county lord naturally welcomed, so the two made an appointment, and the Hou Mansion sent a car to pick it up, Xiangru calculated how many raw materials were needed, and the county lord let his Zhuangzi send it to the Hou Mansion on time and in full, and Xiangru also 'handed over' to the shopkeeper in advance, and did not do tea business on the tenth day of the new year.

Only then did the guys know that Xiangru had taken the errand of Shuhou Mansion, and they all said hello, the eldest young master of the Shuhou family was named the prince of the world, and it was rumored that the eldest young master of the Shuhou family was crowned the prince, just because the class difference between the powerful and the common people was too big, and the common people did not talk much about it, but unexpectedly, Xiangru gave everyone a big surprise.

The guys told them that they would not do tea business on the afternoon of the tenth day of the first month, and the guests naturally asked why, so the guests knew about Xiangru, and Xiangru's praise was unprecedented, and almost all the beautiful words that could be thought of were piled on Xiangru.

Xiangru was humble again and again, and did not dare to have the slightest pride and look.

Gossip always runs faster than the wind, but thanks to this gossip, the business in the store has become more and more prosperous, and the number of customers waiting in line for tables has increased a lot, and many people have asked when Xiangru will open a foreign fruit shop.

Xiangru didn't know the bottom of this matter, so she could only say that the time to open a new store had not yet come to avoid the questions of the customers.

On the tenth day of October, Xiangru's various busyness came as scheduled, the night before Xiangru packed up all kinds of tools, the next day she got up early in the morning, shortly after breakfast, before the agreed time, the carriage that the Hou Mansion came to the back street 'door', the little guys put the tools into the carriage, and Xiangru went to the Hou Mansion alone.

is still from the side of the 'door' that I walked through before into the Hou Mansion, the second 'door' is still the sister-in-law Wang, but compared to a few years ago, today's sister-in-law Wang has been a little blessed, looking at her demeanor 'color' seems to have a good time in the past few years, Xiangru stayed on the second 'door' for a while, and talked about the old days with the sister-in-law Wang, and then crossed the second 'door', led directly to the small kitchen by the girls.

The small kitchen is still in the same pattern, still only responsible for the daily diet of the five main masters, the Hou Ye, the eldest princess, the county lord, the prince and the second young master, but today the cooks in the small kitchen are all transferred to the big kitchen to do things, and take away half of the kitchen workers, and the rest of the people are responsible for boiling water, giving Xiangru a hand, and temporarily storing all kinds of food sent from the big kitchen and other trivial things.

Xiangru walked into the small kitchen, the kitchen workers greeted her, looking at the familiar faces, Xiangru's nervous mood relaxed, and the kitchen workers talked and laughed. What kind of dim sum Xiangru wants to do today, the county lord has already sent someone to 'explain' to them, and all kinds of main and auxiliary materials have been prepared.

Not long after, all kinds of fresh 'milk' products were delivered, and Xiangru immediately ordered everyone to start work.

With the help of these skilled workers, the preliminary preparations went smoothly, Xiangru opened a bag, put the biscuit molds inside on the long table, the cooks were like an assembly line, spread out a piece of dough on the table, Xiangru poked the mold like a stamp, and the kitchen carefully removed the shaped pie crust and put it in a baking tray covered with oiled paper and pushed it into the oven.

Someone feels good to get started, especially the skilled worker, how to do each step does not need to spend more 'lips' tongue, talk about some key points they will understand, than she makes her own dim sum saves trouble and effort.

Don't look at this small kitchen only cooks meals for five masters, but the oven in the kitchen is not small, one oven can put three baking trays at the same time, one baking tray is thirty cakes, and one oven is ninety biscuits.

When the last biscuits were baked, a lot of girls from the food boxes suddenly came, saying that they were bringing some refreshments from the big kitchen, so that the eldest princess and the county lord could use them when entertaining the 'female' guests.

The girls put the food box on the stove, crowded to the brim, the two cooks opened the food box in turn, took out the contents of the contents, Xiangru 'took the time' to take a look, they are all plates of pastries and snacks that have been packed, made 'fine' to small, looking at it makes people salivate 'desire' drops.

The chef took all the snacks out of the food box and transferred them to the large tray, and at the same time, the long table had begun to divide the biscuits, picking a few pieces of each flavor style, and arranging them around the plate in the shape of a plum 'flower' with a missing 'flower' petal, just waiting for the last biscuit to come out.

I don't know how long it was, the eldest princess sent a girl to ask how the situation was, and it wasn't long before a group of guests arrived.

Xiangru looked at the last three plates of biscuits that had been placed outside waiting to cool, and asked the girl to go back and report in time.

The eldest princess's girl walked on the front foot, and a group of girls came to the big kitchen to ask how the biscuits were prepared, and the guests were almost there, and they couldn't be without something to entertain the guests.

Xiangru and the others didn't care that the biscuits didn't cool down at this time, so they hurriedly divided them and put them into the previous pile of food boxes for the girls to take away, and the rest were put in the trays on the side, and at the same time, a fire began to boil water on the stove.

Soon, the eldest princess sent a girl to get snacks, and a group of fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls walked into the kitchen one by one, picking up a tray and going out again. Not long after, the two little girls came back with a stack of trays, and by the way, they asked if the boiling water was ready, a guest couple had arrived, and they were greeting the Hou Ye and the prince in front, and after a while, the lady was going to come in through the second 'door' to chat with the eldest princess and the county lord.

While talking, the kettle on the stove made a sound, which was a precursor to the boiling time, and the girls heard the sound, so they went back to the pantry to get the small teapot first, and when one of them came back with the small kettle, the boiling water on the stove was just boiling.

Xiangru admired the ability of these cooks to calculate time, and couldn't help but think that Aunt Rong was like this when she was in the palace, and the time was always just right, could it be really a cook's occupational disease? But why didn't she practice it?

In a hurry, the snacks that should be in place before a group of guests sat down, and there was no mistake. But everyone didn't have time to sit down, one person drank a bowl of hot boiled water as a rest, got up and hurried to clean up the long table, 'get' it clean, put a row of large copper bowls, and the cooks began to put in the raw materials in order under the command of Xiangru to whip the batter to make cake embryos and whip the 'milk' oil.

The cake is the last snack to be served in the banquet, and there is absolutely enough time to make it, so Xiangru told the kitchen again and again to keep the speed and frequency of whipping carefully, and if the batter is beaten well, the baked cake will have a soft and delicate taste.

The prepared cake batter is poured into the baking tray, three baking trays are in one oven, and while waiting, the cooks begin to prepare the fruit.

In addition to serving tea to the new guests, we should also pay attention to whether the teacups at hand of the guests who arrived first were half drunk, and they should be removed in time for new tea.

One of the cakes came out, took it upside down and took it to one side to cool, put three baking trays in it, and the second stove began.

When the cake cools down, the follow-up process is Xiangru herself, especially this 'milk' oil, after practicing her hands for so long, Xiangru finally has some experience, although the proficiency is still almost, but at least it will not be unevenly smeared.

The cooks gathered around to watch Xiangru smear the 'milk' oil, and they all smiled like plasterers.

As I did every day for the rest of the month, after smearing the "milk" oil, cut the cake into small pieces, frame the "flower" bag and cover the "flower" mouth, pour in the "milk" oil, and squeeze the "milk" oil "flower" one by one.

After squeezing the 'milk' oil 'flower', Xiangru picked up the fruit to demonstrate how to put it, she only put one, and the rest of the cake on this large plate was all arranged by the kitchen worker, and she continued to smear the next plate of cake embryo with 'milk' oil and milk' oil 'flower'.

The county lord and Xiangru agreed on six flavors of cakes, two pieces of each plate, exactly twelve pieces per plate, and all the tables were thirty tables, and a large cake embryo could be divided into fifteen small pieces, which means that the cake embryos of each flavor should be divided into four pieces to be evenly distributed.

Everyone was busy in an orderly manner, and no one paid attention to what time it was outside, until an older girl came to the big kitchen and said that the table was about to open, and asked how the cake was prepared, and whether it could be all 'done' when the dishes were halfway through.

Xiangru's gang reacted that it was so late.

"Girl, it's almost here, I'll pour orange juice here and cut it into pieces and divide it into plates." Xiangru explained. Thanks to the big enough oven, the cake base was made in a hurry.

"Okay, I'll go back and call someone to get it now." The girl turned around and hurried away.

Xiangru stood in front of the stove at this time, put a pot on the stove, the pot was boiling freshly squeezed orange juice with rock sugar, stirring while heating, and the four cake embryos were lined up on the long table waiting for Xiangru.

The orange juice finally became thick, Xiangru padd her hands with a rag, took the pot off the stove, took a large soup spoon for scooping dumplings, scooped up a spoonful full, and poured it evenly on the cake base, one spoonful is not enough to add another spoonful, the purpose is to let the orange juice completely cover the surface of the cake embryo, so that the sweet taste of orange juice penetrates into the surface of the cake.

"Sprinkle pine nuts." Xiangru gave the order, and a kitchen worker who had been waiting for a long time picked up a bowl with pine nuts and grabbed a handful and sprinkled it equally evenly on top of the cake to make an orange-flavored pine nut cake.

Xiangru poured orange juice, one person sprinkled pine nuts, and another person cut the cake into pieces, and the rest of the people quickly divided the plate and loaded the food box, the assembly line like 'operation', fast and orderly, when the girls in the big kitchen came, Xiangru was all completed, and the packed food box was placed on the long table, and the girls came in to take it away.

"Okay, everyone's worked hard, clean up and rest." Xiangru watched the last girl go away, breathed a sigh of relief, and subconsciously commanded the kitchen workers of the Hou Mansion to clean up the aftermath as if she was commanding her own tricks.

The cooks didn't pay much attention to it, they didn't even think about whether there was a problem with Xiangru's words, but they really started to tidy it up, put the used tools and ingredients in their own places, and the kitchen workers took some flour to make handmade noodles and everyone ate together, not waiting for lunch in the big kitchen.

After eating noodles and completely 'getting the kitchen dry', everyone moved a stool and sat under the wall outside the kitchen, basking in the sun while playing on the mountains while falling asleep, making Xiangru feel as if she had returned to the days when she was on a business trip in the Hou Mansion, and at that time she would occasionally pass the time with everyone when the kitchen was not busy.

The sun was very warm, and they were all full, and the sleepy god quietly worked, and the voices of everyone became quieter, their eyes gradually became 'confused', their heads gradually crooked, and slowly one by two leaned against the wall and fell asleep.

I don't know how long I slept, but when I woke up, the big guy woke up together, as if there was an invisible alarm clock to wake everyone up, and when Xiangru 'rubbed' and 'rubbed' their eyes stretched and slowly woke up, they saw that there were girls lining up outside the kitchen yard 'door', holding cups, plates, bowls and leftovers in their hands.

The meeting was dismissed.

Xiangru quietly wiped her forehead, she had slept long enough this night, but fortunately she woke up in time, otherwise the girls would have seen a bunch of sleeping ghosts sitting under the wall.

The girls went directly to the well to put down their things and left, none of the cooks stood up, Xiangru knew the rules of the Hou Mansion, and the cleaning of the meal had a handyman, plus she was now a guest, so she had nothing to do, so she didn't move, just changed to a serious sitting posture, as if she was enjoying the afternoon sun.

The girls went back and forth several times, bringing all kinds of tableware and piling them up by the well, but the cooks and handymen who worked in the big kitchen had not yet returned, so it was soon quiet again.

But not long after, an old acquaintance who had not been seen for a long time came to the small kitchen to look for Xiangru, Xiangru saw her standing still with a smile outside the courtyard 'door', and hurriedly ran over to salute, "Sister-in-law Lu, I haven't seen you for a long time, has it always been good?" ”

Sister-in-law Lu is still the same, she has made a little blessing, but she is even more blessed, obviously her life is quite good.

Sister-in-law Lu took Xiangru's hand and smiled, "It's good, it's always been good." It's really hard for you today, the guests who made the biscuits and cakes said yes, and asked us if we had invited a new dim sum chef. ”

Xiangru smiled shyly, "It's really a prize, I don't dare to be, I don't dare to be, I've never been a dim sum, it's all taken care of by the county lord, and I'm willing to give me this opportunity." ”

"I think the guests are right, you make dim sum every day, this craft has grown a lot unconsciously, you don't think it yourself, but we know it. You can be a dim sum master now, and the county lord is willing to let you do it just to see this, don't be modest. Sister-in-law Lu patted Xiangru's hand and smiled kindly.

Xiangru didn't know how to pick up the stubble, but she couldn't stop laughing.

Sister-in-law Lu took out a big reward bag from her sleeve and stuffed it into Xiangru's hand, "This is the eldest princess's reward for you, take it." ”

As soon as the reward was sealed, Xiangru knew that the reward was expensive, so she hurriedly saluted, "Princess Xie reward." ”

"Okay, now that the banquet is dispersed and the kitchen is fine, do you guys 'make' your own food at noon? Why don't you go to the big kitchen in front of you for a bite to eat? ”

"We made some noodles to eat at noon, so we don't have to bother, but it's not too early, and I should go back." It's not easy for me to go to see the eldest princess and the county lord today, and I asked Sister-in-law Lu to say hello on my behalf. ”

"It's okay, it's too busy today, the eldest princess and the county lord get up early in the morning, and now they are too tired. We won't keep you any longer, and I'll send you back. ”

"There's Sister-in-law Laulu."

Sister-in-law Lu immediately sent a girl to inform the preparation of the car, Xiangru went back to the kitchen to get her own tools, and Sister-in-law Lu sent a while, then transferred to the eldest princess's house, and let her girl take incense out to take the car and go straight back to the Wuwei Pavilion

Entering the 'Door'