Delicious Delicacy of the Demon Spirit

Because of the concubine's health, when they left, the winter solstice had passed.The palace was restored to its original state, everything seemed to be in order, but it inevitably made people feel a little too deserted.

On this day, the sky that had been overcast for a long time finally began to snow heavily. The snow fell on the ground, houses, and trees, and it was thickly accumulated. There was a cold white everywhere.It rarely snows in Lingxi County, and even if it snows, it will not last for too long.When the snow fell, it was extremely cold.The women washed vegetables and clothes, their hands were red and swollen from the cold, the embroiderers also stopped working, their hands were trembling as they held the embroidery needles, and they couldn’t get them right. The sleeves were trembling, and even the old hen had to walk on tiptoes. The children were so excited that they wrapped themselves in small cotton balls and shouted and laughed in the streets and alleys, as if they were not afraid of the cold at all.But Akui was very upset for some reason, she was always looking listless and unable to cheer up recently, Li Kuer put her on the padded jacket she had when she was a child, and she often lay on the windowside trembling and moaning.

In this snowy day, Akui looked like this again, Li Kuer was even more worried that she would be alone at home, so he took her to the mansion together.

He Weiran saw the two of them coming, touched Ah Kui's head and asked, "Did I see it wrong? Your face seems not as round as before."

Li Kuer also stared at Ah Kui's face: "Hey, sister He didn't say that I haven't discovered it yet, but now I see it, it really..."

Ah Kui wiped her tears with her mouth flattened: "It's too cold, the sun comes out so late and goes back so early, and it's always overcast. I'm frozen and hungry."

"Yo, you're still crying." He Weiran smiled and wiped her tears with a handkerchief: "Why don't you go to the stove to warm up first? I'll make you something to eat later, so you'll be refreshed. "

"What's delicious? Hey, I don't care if I'm full after eating..."

He Weiran said: "The members of Qi came out last night and gave the prince two legs of mutton, saying that it was bought by a Hu merchant. The prince asked me to cook a pot of mutton soup today, and divided it among the people in the house, so that everyone can drive it away." Cold tonifying qi. No, I soaked the ingredients last night, and it will be ready before the sun sets today. If you drink it, you will definitely be refreshed."

Akui couldn't hide the half-belief and doubt in Akui's eyes, Li Kuer nodded her forehead: "Do you doubt what Sister He said?"

After breakfast, He Weiran started cooking mutton.Here Li Kuer helps He Weiran cut the mutton into small pieces, while Akui sits by the stove and warms comfortably.Ah Liao and the others came to play with Ah Kui after washing the dishes, and kept asking Li Kuer when she had such a lovely younger sister.Li Kuer casually said that she picked this child from the pigsty, and Akui argued pitifully: "That's not true, I am the distant cousin of Sister Kuer's. No."

Azhu comforted her and said, "It's okay, even if it was picked up in a pigsty, if it's as cute as you, I'd be happy to pick it up and be my sister."

After hearing this, Ah Kui became even more depressed, and said anxiously: "I really didn't pick it up from a pigsty!!!"

The girls were so happy that they took Ah Kui out to play in the snow, and Ah Kui followed out awkwardly. When they got outside, as soon as they threw a few snowballs, they immediately went crazy.

"Do you want to go out and play with them?" He Weiran asked Li Kuer after cutting the mutton.

Li Kuer shook his head: "I still like to cook with you. By the way, is there anything to say about the mutton soup today?"

He Weiran brought a wooden basin from the table next to it, which contained soaked black beans and kidney beans.

"The soup I'm going to make today is called Dongzhen Pot. Its main function is to warm and nourish qi and blood. You will know its wonders when the soup is out of the pot." He Weiran added water to the pot while talking : "First blanch the mutton, put it into the pot with cold water, add cooking wine, green onion and ginger, and bring to a boil. Tell me, what is the function of this step."

Li Kuer wrote the answer in his hand: "I know, remove the blood foam, remove the fishy smell."

"That's right. However, mutton has a strong smell, and this step alone is not enough. In my opinion, beans are the most suitable for cooking with mutton, especially black beans. Remove the fishy smell. The black beans have been soaked overnight. After the mutton is blanched, it can be cooked. When cooking, pour the beans and soaked beans into the pot together, and add a small piece of cistanche. The effect of yang, although it is a medicinal material, does not have the general medicinal taste, so it will not affect the taste of the soup itself, then add mutton, wait for a high heat to boil, then change to a low heat and simmer slowly, simmer for four hours, then add salt to taste. It's done."

Li Kuer wrote down what He Weiran said one by one, and said, "It doesn't sound too difficult."

He Weiran raised his eyebrows, and joked: "It seems that Kuer is going to be a teacher, when will you cook me a dish?"

Li Kuer pouted: "I don't want to be your apprentice."

He Weiran also pouted: "Why don't you be my apprentice? Didn't you ask me excitedly last time if I want to accept you as an apprentice?"

Li Kuer was awkward and guilty, and said, "Anyway... Anyway, I changed my mind. I don't want Sister He to be my master."

"Hmph, if you don't do it right, you little white-eyed wolf." He Weiran stirred the mutton in the pot, and said again: "The vinegar in the house has been smoked, you go and get two jars of old vinegar and come back."

"Oh..." Li Kuer responded, and then peeked at He Weiran's expression: "Sister He, you are not really angry, are you?"

He Weiran glanced at her and said with a smile: "There is nothing to be angry with you, go and come back early."

Li Kuer was relieved, and took two empty vinegar jars to the soy sauce shop to buy vinegar. Seeing that she was going out, Ah Kui quickly left Ah Liao and the others behind, and wanted to go with her.

The two turned out the back door and went to Dingtai Street.There is the oldest soy sauce shop in Qingshui Town, as well as the most mellow aged vinegar in Qingshui Town.

There are not many people along the way, and if there is nothing to do, no one will hang out on the street in this weather.Li Ku'er held an umbrella in one hand, and held a jar in the other, and Ah Kui also held a jar, looking here and there, her face was bright, and she didn't have the gloomy look before.

"If I had known that warming up to a fire would make you better, I would have chopped more firewood and burned it at home." Li Kuer said.

Ah Kui said with a smile: "Okay, okay, then I want to ask the big black cat to warm up with the fire. It's been so cold recently, I don't know where it has hidden." She said, and changed her regretful expression again. : "Hey, but it's cold everywhere. It doesn't look as cute as me. Everyone likes it. How can I get food and find a warm place to live?"

Li Ku'er was speechless: "I really don't know whether you are pitying it or praising yourself for being cute."

Ah Kui retorted: "It's not that I feel pity for it. It is my good friend. How can you be pitiful to a good friend? Of course, I care about it and praise me by the way."

"Fortunately, my friend! I think it is clearly afraid of you before hiding."

"Where is it!!! Huh?"

"Huh what?"

"Sister Ku'er, smell it, it smells so good."

At this moment, the two of them were walking to the west wall of the newly built other courtyard when Qi San was a teenager. Li Kuer followed Ah Kui and shrugged her nose, as if she could faintly smell a faint fragrance of flowers coming from inside the wall.

"Oh, I want to see inside." Ah Kui raised her head, looking up at the high gray wall.

Li Kuer frowned and wanted to pull her away: "It's so high, I can't see it, let's go."

Ah Kui didn't want to leave, so she put down the jar of vinegar, saw that there was no one else around, jumped up and lay down on the top of the wall.

"Wow! So beautiful!"

Li Kuer almost forgot that this little girl is also a flower spirit after all, and climbing over the wall won't bother her at all.

"Keep your voice down so that no one will find out. After a while, when someone sees you hacking the wall of their house, they must chase us and beat them."

Akui turned her head and said excitedly: "There's no one there, it's so beautiful inside, Sister Ku'er, do you want to see it?"

Li Kuer couldn't help being curious by her beautiful words, and put down the vinegar jar and umbrella: "Then take me up there to have a look."

Ah Kui dropped a vine, let Li Kuer grab it, and pulled her up to the wall.Li Kuer didn't expect that Ah Kui could climb the wall so nimbly, and he relied on brute force to deal with her... She worked hard to get on the top of the wall, and looked in. For a moment, it seemed that all the hard work just now It's nothing.

This is a garden, everything is withered, except for the old plum tree in the middle, the old plum tree is very tall and big, its roots are coiled, its branches are intertwined, white snow covers the zigzag branches, Dots of light yellow are exposed among the branches.There are more than 1000, maybe [-] of these light-yellow flowers, some are still flower bones, some are half-opened, and some have bloomed to the extreme. interest.

"It's so beautiful. If we plant a yellow plum tree in our yard, it won't be deserted in the cold winter months." Li Kuer said.

Ah Kui stared at the old plum tree for a long time, and said in a low voice: "She is so beautiful, but she is not happy. Are all plum blossoms like this? Because they bloom alone in winter and have no friends, so they can't be happy."

"Ah?" Li Kuer was surprised: "Could it be that the plum tree has also become a spirit?"

Akui said to Li Kuer seriously: "Well, she is so pretty, so pretty, but she ignores me and doesn't want to talk to me."

Li Kuer thought for a while and said, "Maybe not all flower spirits need friends. Let's go and don't disturb her. Maybe she doesn't like our prying eyes."

Akui nodded, and climbed down the wall with Li Kuer...

In the afternoon, Dongzhen Bao finally came out of the pot, a pot of Heiqiuqiu soup, which was completely unappetizing.When He Weiransheng gave it to a few little girls to try, they looked at each other in blank dismay, they couldn't get their mouths open, so they could only blow on it several times, waiting for who would drink it first.Li Ku'er knew how the muddy soup was boiled out, so he had no doubts, so he took a spoonful and drank it first.

The mutton is delicious and has no fishy smell. The black beans and kidney beans are very soft and glutinous.

Gulu Gulu drank a whole bowl, Li Kuer looked at Xiaoqu and the others who were still staring at her, wiped their mouths dissatisfied, and asked He Weiran, "Can I have another bowl?"