Elder Ren didn't see her brother for a long time, he didn't follow her anymore, and he didn't open a cloth pocket to arrest her everywhere for two oceans.

She thought about it, but decided to put this matter on her mind secretly.

Originally, the thief was worried about the newspaper case, and beating the side drum made people more restrained, but her situation was not very common. In case Ren Yue said that he just wanted to take her back to get married, and took out the deed of sale, she would have no way to live.

Besides, Ren Yue is the ancestor of the dead beggar Bailai, she fled, and he rushed to find her for several months, and he was going to be tied up to be a little wife, which can only show that he has encountered hard stubble this time.

Hard stubble is said to be a figure with a head and face in Beijing, and she made a big fuss, and she was arrested on a whim to make up for face, not to mention begging for life and being a cook, who would care if she was alive or dead when she turned around?

So in the fourth month of coming to Beijing, Ren Yan decided to roll up her small shop and move out of Tofu Hutong.

But the house is not easy to rent, the land is not peaceful, and the landlords are always muttering in their hearts, suspicious.

If a lone man is a thief, who wants to leave the thief in his own home? If it is not possible for a group, in case it is to help the kidnappers ring the horse, even the landlord will have to sit together when the incident occurs.

A lone woman is also not allowed, even if she is a dark family, the bed is full of indiscriminate gentlemen, such tenants spread out, and they can't straighten their waists when they go out in the future.

Ren Yan looked for a room for three or five days, but no one dared to take her in. The landlord invariably asked if she was married, knowing that she lived alone, her face was not very good.

There are also kind-hearted suggestions: "If you don't have a job, if you do, ask the owner to write a guarantee document when you go to work, and the house can be rented to you."

Ren Yan went into the back kitchen with a pen and paper, and hesitated again. It doesn't matter if Du Liren writes to her or not, in case he speaks crookedly, Wu Sihai is still worried about having an account with her!

The two legs turned, wanting to go to the stove of the white case to find Xiao Tong.

After taking two steps, she stayed there again, she was an apprentice with a serious master, and she turned around to let Du Liren hear a sentence and a half, but she was afraid that she would not have a stable life again.

Ren Yan sighed and put the pen and paper in his cuffs. After a month and a half, the shopkeeper will come back to the northeast and then speak.

"Senior Sister Ren is coming up here." Xiao Tong's eldest apprentice stood by the door and beckoned to her, "Please try the dim sum that you just made." What's the matter, sad face? ”

He scolded the next door: "Hit again?"

"Not really." She said it as it was.

Senior Brother Le: "I think it's a big deal, when I go back, I'll tell the master to touch a place for you, but it's really not a guarantee for you quietly, that is, you will eat in a pot, and you will be polite to us?"

Ren Yan happily expressed her gratitude, took the dim sum in her hand, and ordered the master, and helped the senior brother through the sieve with her hand, and found a suitable new apprentice for the master, in fact, she wanted to find a junior sister.

Of course, it's just a good wish.

Not to mention whether there are big girls and little daughters-in-law who are willing to be cooks, her master alone wants a perfect male apprentice who can take over the mantle after a hundred years and become the heir of the Du family in the red case in a dignified manner, instead of letting women make waves.

Accepting the coquette has become an unbearable blow in his life, and he doesn't intend to add any more obstacles to himself. So there is no expectation for him to find an apprentice, as long as it is a knife that is not good to eat and lazy.

A three-legged toad can be found, let alone a man with a flat head and a straight face.

In the second half of the morning, Xiao Tong came to look for Ren Yan, and Du Liren's new apprentice was giving tea to his master. Secretly burning the best incense and worshipping the ancestors, Du Liren was sitting with a smile on his face.

There are also three, six, nine and other classes between the same door, I think that Wu Sihai and Senior Brother Goose have both performed the master-apprentice ceremony, but she didn't; Later, Du Liren reluctantly accepted her as a helper and didn't let her make up for it, to be honest, she was not a serious apprentice.

The little girl looked at the door with a blank eye, and turned her face to hide her envy: "Uncle Shi, is there something wrong with you?"

It's a matter of renting a house.

Xiao Tong didn't say a guarantee, but introduced a courtyard: "I have a friend who is a member of the Manchu Han Army, and now he can only rely on his ancestors to enter the courtyard to make up for his life." The inner courtyard was rented to four gentlemen who read and wrote, and the two rooms in the east courtyard were still empty, so you might as well take a look if you wanted to. ”

Seeing her hesitation, Xiao Tong smiled again: "The four gentlemen are all friends of the seventh master, and I also came to cook for them, so I am a serious person." Although he is a literati, he is a gentleman, isn't it? ”

This is true, because this realm is really not very peaceful, there are bad people who dare to break into the house in the blue sky and daytime, and force people to pay gold and silver, how can a girl deal with such a thing, and the burly men with big shoulders and round waists have become a fashionable scene.

Ren Yan was quite moved.

Of course, it's not just about having a yard.

After getting off work, she hurried over.

The two neat and tidy rooms, the main house is old and spacious, the inside is the bedroom, and the outside is the living room, separated by the Bogu shelf and the curtain, if it is early in the morning, it is really beautiful.

There is also a kitchen near the door of the moon cave, although there has been no one in for a long time, but the furnishings in it are all available, and it can be made by throwing dust, which is much better than her original courtyard.

The key is very close to the Hung Pheasant Hall.

Ren Yan was very satisfied, and he was nervous to ask for the rent.

The landlord is the wife in charge of things, the chubby woman speaks roughly, but the person is very righteous and kind, and the money in her mouth is not much more expensive than that in Tofu Hutong.

Ren Yan felt that he had picked up a big bargain, and said goodbye to his mother-in-law and went here overnight. The mother-in-law was very sad, dragged the donkey to send her to the mouth of the alley, and told her that if she made a promise, she should be invited to have a wedding wine.

Ren Yan smiled and nodded.

The mother-in-law wiped her tears and stuffed them with small packets of candy, so that she could remember to come back after eating. She stood under the roots of the old tree and muttered, "I can't eat the sauce made by the girl."

After walking a long way, she looked back-

The mother-in-law was still standing under the tree, with her back bent and leading the donkey.

When he arrived at the ground, Ren Yan put aside his baggage, fetched water, wiped the bed frame and wooden table, and rested for another night and waited for work. When I returned, the landlady was asking the man to sawn wood to make a dresser.

The landlord stepped on a bench and carried a broad planer to push a section of elm trees, and then the thin shavings were used in pots, and there was a pile of water in it, like a hill.

"Miss Ren is back!" The landlady was happy with her, "Go back and get a jar of shavings, go back and soak it in boiling water, take a grate and dip it when you comb your hair, and keep your hair black and shiny." ”

The old man in the palace, the old queen mother and the ladies often use shavings oil to sip their heads, the boss is old, and his black hair is still velvety, and he looks beautiful from afar.

Ren Yan listened to her babbling words, but what she pondered was something else. If you can shave the pork or beef and mutton into this way, it will not only taste good but also look good when it is rolled into the soup.

But it's not dog days yet, and there are no merchants on the street who carry copper cups to sell ice. She thought about going to the ice shop at the mouth of the ice cellar and touching two pieces, but the guy was not surprised to see them, and neatly chiseled a large piece of ice for her and put it into the copper trough.

Ren Yan bought meat on the way, sewed a new mattress when he went home, stacked the meat with ice cubes, spread straw, and put it in the cellar at the back of the stove.

This cellar is also the place where the landlord's ancestors hid the ice, and it is deep and long. The next night she went down and brought the meat, and it was frozen hard, like a lump of wood.

She went around to the front yard, asked the landlady to borrow a planer to clean it, spread the lump on the cutting board and patted it flat, and held the handle of the knife with both hands, so that she pushed it out with all her strength, and really asked her to push out a small piece of meat shavings.

A thin layer, rolled into a tube and standing on the cutting board, fat and thin like snowflakes; Ren Yan pushed two more handfuls, and the chicken soup in the pot was about to stew.

When the soup is boiling, she takes a piece of shavings meat with chopsticks and puts it in the soup; When it is ripe, it rolls over the round edges, soaked in the umami of chicken soup mushrooms and spring shoots, which is soft and fragrant.

Ren Yan ate two pieces and felt that it was not enough to taste, and took out a jar of eight-treasure sauce from the cupboard. This is the sweet sauce made from soybeans and noodles left over from the last time, plus sesame oil, bamboo shoots, ginger and orange peel in a sun-dried urn, and a can was left for the tofu mother-in-law before leaving.

She poured out half a small plate, dipped the meat and ate it.

When I was washing the dishes, I figured out something, wasn't she shabu-shabu? Either a small red clay stove or a copper pot of charcoal, boil some hot soup on top, and then put some meat slices and vegetable leaves.

Is.

Ren Yan washed the planer and sent it back, and invited people to come to the house to eat the pot together.

The landlord's eyes lit up, but his wife grabbed him: "The fat bear is blind, what kind of things to eat!" Miss Ren, let's eat together tomorrow, and I'll buy you vegetables in the second half of the night! ”

Ren Yan smiled and nodded.

After work the next day, she took a detour to the entrance of the ice cellar, and saw that people took a planer to make ice flowers, added some honey and sugar to make an ice bowl, and sold it to a child, sweet and icy.

If only she could slice the meat into this, she thought.

Wandering around the house, the landlady had already piled up the dishes at the kitchen door: "There is a distinguished guest in the front yard, we have made a table of food, please eat, why don't you go together, go and meet together."

Before Ren Yan could respond, he was pulled away by the landlady.

"Let me tell you, the seventh master is a beautiful man, he is kind, and the dishes are ...... cooked."

She babbled about what she said again, but Ren Yan didn't hear it clearly, and her mind was all about the words Seven Masters. Such a serious injury, but it healed so quickly?

When they got to the front yard, the landlady raised her voice.

A man with glasses came out of the kitchen, rolled up his cuffs to expose his elbows, and wrapped snow-white gauze on his head, a thin layer, vaguely looking at the powder and ointment on the wound.

Seventh Master.

The two words rolled between his lips and tongue.

But it was he who spoke first: "Good evening, new neighbor."