Delicious Delicacy of the Demon Spirit

"June [-]th, sun red and green, not afraid of insect bites or moths."

It is also the sixth day of the sixth month of the lunar calendar, which is the annual Sun Fu Festival.On this day, the sun was shining brightly and the sun was hot. After experiencing the cold winter and spring and the rainy weather in early summer, every household rummaged through boxes and cabinets, fiddled with clothes and quilts of various colors, and dried them in their own yards.It is said that this day the clothes are dried without moths, and the books are exposed without moths. It is true that these words are too full, but it is not unreasonable to say that it is false. , Few can explain Daoming clearly.

In fact, this sun-drying festival was originally just to dry the clothes and quilts to get rid of the mold, and it was passed down from generation to generation, and the taste changed at some point.Rich and noble families want to dry a yard full of silk and satin to show their wealth, and poor families also pick and choose the brightest and most complete clothes to face at the gate, for fear that whoever will be compared with the other will lose face.

Early in the morning, the courtyards of every household in Qingshui Town were covered with colorful clothes and bedding, but there was one family that was different.Inside the sparse fence wall, there are books drying all over the floor, but there are only three or four scattered pieces of clothes and quilts, all of which have been patched. Although they are made of almost the same color fabric, they look really shabby.

The hostess's girl seemed to be in a very good mood, humming a little song while beating the quilt with a bamboo duster, puffing up the dust all over the sky, and choking her to choke the little song.

"Ku'er, it's already this time, why don't you go to Mr. Qiao's house to do some work?" The person who spoke was the aunt of the Liu family next door, who was building a bamboo shelf at the moment. There were too many clothes and no space at home.

"No hurry, I don't need to clean the yard today. The housekeeper said that I will send some food at Sishi. It's still early." Li Kuer was very happy. He actually gave her a holiday.But yes, it's not the autumn and winter solar terms when the leaves are falling all over the sky, and the yard won't work if you don't sweep it for a while.

It is said that children from poor families need to be given humble names to make a living. Li Kuer's parents also followed this principle and named their dolls such a name.Unexpectedly, Kuer Kuer, who lost his mother at the age of four and his father at the age of nine, really suffered for the whole family.

At that time, giving birth to a woman was like going through the gate of hell. Li Kuer's mother walked around the gate of hell for four years and finally stepped in.Li Ku'er was just able to speak clearly when she lost her mother. She washed, cooked and sewed clothes, a job that a daughter would only do when she was four or five years old.Her father is not a lucky man. A gentleman who writes letters for others in the town should be a good and stable job. Unexpectedly, there was a fight in the small restaurant on the second floor behind the stall one day, and some careless person lost his money. The wine jar came out.Mr. Li was smashed right and wrong, and he couldn't be saved all at once, so he went away so easily.

In this way, Li Kuer guarded the house, the yard, the Susukita, and the little bit of compensation money earned from his father's death, and lived a desolate life of being alone and locking the door during the day, but sitting and eating are always empty. However, even a fraction of the land is really not enough for self-sufficiency. Within a year, Li Kuer spent all that little money.Fortunately, an old prince moved to Qingshui Town at that time. It is said that he is the third uncle of the current Holy Majesty. Now it seems that it is still the most luxurious Qiao Wang Mansion in Lingxi County.This old prince Qiao is arrogant and lavish in pursuit of pleasure, which is the bad root in the royal blood. Fortunately, he has a good heart. In addition to a bunch of domestic servants he brought, he also hired more than a dozen long-term workers in the town. Sign the contract of sale, when you don't want to do it anymore, just ask the master to resign three months in advance, and you can come and go freely.

Li Ku'er was only ten years old and already knew that she would earn a dowry money for herself. Seeing this rare and good opportunity in front of her, she naturally would not miss it.On the first day of recruiting, there was a long queue at the gate of Prince Qiao's Mansion.Originally, she was too young and a girl, she couldn't carry her hands on her shoulders, and she didn't lack such a servant, but Li Kuer's other skill was that she could tell stories vividly with her small mouth. Inherited by the descendants of cultural people, she has a sharp mouth, and she made her own tragic life experience so that it can be written in the play, making those who hear it sad and those who see it cry. The housekeeper is about to appoint her to be the sweeping maid in the back garden of the palace, two sweeps in the morning and evening in spring and summer, three sweeps in the morning, noon and evening in autumn and winter, and any vegetables grown at home on weekdays can be sold directly to the backyard. If you go to the kitchen, you can save a lot of money over time.

Now Li Kuer is also a 15-year-old girl. Although she has made some money by sweeping the floor and selling vegetables in the past five years, it is only enough for food and clothing. Let alone buy a piece of floral cloth and find a new suit from Linjie Lu Tailor, she just wants to eat meat once in a while. I have to save money here and there, and my life is quite tight.In the small box at the bottom of the press box are hidden the scraps of silver accumulated over the years, but even after counting and counting, they couldn't make up a complete silver ingot.Li Kuer sighed so deeply that there was no image at all: "Sin, you can't get married before the age of 20, but after the age of 20, it will be even more difficult to marry."

Speaking of which, at her young age, she can see clearly that there are only a few daughter-in-laws in the villages far and near without dowry. Those women without dowry may have lived a good life for two years with the love of their husbands at first, but later the men change their hearts and the mother-in-law is cold-eyed. To be treated as a cow and a horse for nothing and get beaten, it is so miserable... Besides, she has no father and no mother, so many people have said that she is too hard to control her father and mother. It is even more difficult to marry a good family.

Thinking of these things, Li Kuer became more and more entangled. Looking at the golden book under the scorching sun, when her father was alive, she still told those poor scholars that there is Yan Ruyu in the book, and there is a golden house in the book. She knew it when she was a child. A few words, holding her father's book and turning it over and over again, but I can't find where the gold house and the silver house are hidden, where the beautiful sister is hidden, if it is true as her father said, these papers can be used as dowry, why do I need to do this? bothered?

It was useless to think about it, Li Kuer got up and went out, carrying a small basket and a kitchen knife, busy in the green field.This field is not far from home. At that time, because my mother was seriously ill and my father was writing letters for others, there was no one in the family to farm, so it was left unused for many years. It was not until Li Kuer became an orphan that this was really not a big deal. The fields are used.The previous batches of rapeseed have grown up now, and they are very green, and they are fresh and delicious at a glance.While cutting vegetables, Li Kuer was still thinking about how to save money and save more money. He just passed his 15th birthday last month and has grown up. Should he ask the housekeeper for a job with a higher salary? ?But what to do?After much deliberation, she couldn't figure out why, and the food basket was almost full if she didn't pay attention.

Li Kuer quickly stopped what she was doing, and if she cut it down, there would be no vegetables for sale tomorrow.When I went home to dig a well and wash the dishes, seeing that it was almost time, I rushed to Prince Qiao's mansion with a basket.

Prince Qiao's Mansion is at the east entrance of Qingqiu Lane, and Li Kuer's house is at the west entrance of Qingqiu Lane, and you will arrive straight east when you leave the house.In fact, Prince Qiao's Mansion is really very big. It is said to be at the east entrance of the alley, but in fact, this mansion already occupies one-third of the alley.Li Kuer didn't need a stick of incense to go from his home to the back door of the palace, the distance was just right.

"Hey, hey!" Knocked the bronze lion knocker on the back door, and after a while, the guards of the palace came to open the door.

"Yo! Ku'er is here." The guard's name is Zhao Er, who guards the back door full-time, because we see each other every day, even if he doesn't know him well, it's hard.

"Today's vegetables are pretty good."

Ku'er likes to hear compliments the most, whether it's food or people, he keeps his expression on the surface but he can enjoy it for a long time in his heart: "Someday it won't be like this. Brother Zhao, I'm not too late, am I?"

"It's not too late, it's still a while before we leave the meal. By the way, a new cook is coming to the back kitchen today. I heard that the prince paid a lot of money to invite him. In the future, he will cook three meals a day for the prince and concubine. How arrogant .”

"Heavy gold..." Ku'er caught the point: "It sounds scary. Are you here? What's your name?"

"Not yet, I'm afraid I won't arrive until the afternoon. I heard from Mama Xu that the one who came back is a cook, and I don't know her name."

"That's it... Oh." Li Kuer thought that this new cook has nothing to do with him, and the servants are divided into three or six grades. Sprinkling the servant girl is like a cloud and mud, and it is impossible to beat it.Thinking of this, Li Kuer lost her curiosity, picked up the basket again and planned to step into the door.

"Eh? Kuer, I don't think you should leave this afternoon." Zhao Er grabbed Li Kuer's arm and talked a lot.

Li Kuer didn't understand, so she asked, "Why? The housekeeper gave me a holiday today."

"Hey, why don't you understand..." Zhao Er felt that Li Kuer was still the little girl back then. Come down and have a look at the new cook? Even if she specializes in cooking for princes and concubines, doesn't it have nothing to do with you, a girl who delivers food?"

In the afternoon, Li Ku'er was going home to collect his clothes and dig the ground.After hesitating for a while, he wanted to say that he had nothing to do with it, and even if he did, there was no need to welcome her into the mansion, it was too pretentious.But after thinking about it again, it was getting late, and if I kept chatting with this second brother Zhao, I would have missed the delivery time, so I had to say perfunctorily: "It's all up to you, so let's do it this way." After speaking, he went to the palace The kitchen is gone.