Daily life of the imperial mausoleum

When the group finally returned to the imperial tomb from Zhucheng, what greeted them was such a vibrant and completely renovated imperial tomb. Of course, the main body of His Majesty's imperial tomb was not moved. The tomb guard's house where Xia Xiaoqiao and the others live.

"Boss Xia is back? Come and take a look at the new house we prepared for you!" Fang Huan, who was directing the work outside, walked over with a smile and greeted politely. "My mother said that the house here has not been repaired for a long time, and it is really not suitable for the benefactor to live in. It just so happens that we brought some craftsmen who can repair the house, so we simply repaired it and prepared a new house for you. You can see if it suits you. ? If it’s not suitable, I’ll order someone to rearrange it.”

Fang Huan looked at Xia Xiaoqiao gratefully. It was this brother who looked about two years older than her who took in their family. Her mother said that she should respect and love Boss Xia as her own brother.Therefore, when renovating the house, she found that the masonry workshop where Xia Xiaoqiao lived temporarily was too simple, so her mother specially ordered her own craftsmen to work overtime, and first repaired and resettled a comfortable house for Xia Xiaoqiao. In terms of the current conditions, it can't be very luxurious, but the comfort is much better than that of the stonemason's workshop.

So why do some people think that ancient women are useless?

Looking at the house in front of her that seemed to have been completely renovated, Xia Xiaoqiao felt that with Cui's strong mobility and organizational skills, even in modern times, she is still the head of the logistics department in a large group.

The newly refurbished house used to be the residence of a few small chieftains who guarded the tomb. There are two small courtyards, and there are about a dozen rooms in the wing room. Because people died in it, after Xia Xiaoqiao took over the imperial tomb, he simply It was locked with a big lock.I still live in the stonemason's workshop.However, in the eyes of North Vietnamese natives like Cui, such a small courtyard is suitable for benefactors to live in, so they specially asked Xia Xiaoqiao to come to this courtyard. They thought it was for Cui to live in for their own people, but unexpectedly it was for their own people. Did he prepare it?

I saw the formerly deserted yard, and now two jujube trees dug from nearby have been planted at the entrance. Probably, people in Beiyue like to "give birth to precious children early". Generally, two jujube trees are planted at the door of the house, probably for auspiciousness. .There is a small porter at the entrance, which was originally used for night duty. Now there is a simple small bed inside, and some tables, chairs and benches. I was worried that the people I arranged would not meet the benefactor's wishes, so I didn't arrange all the people who should serve, but everything was prepared.

The three main rooms in the small courtyard are naturally reserved for Xia Xiaoqiao to live in. Knowing that his benefactor likes to cook, he also plans to open a small restaurant in the imperial mausoleum. Cui transformed the remaining one into a relatively closed courtyard. A private restaurant with a kitchen, private rooms, pots and pans, and a door next to it to isolate it from the place where I live.As usual, some flowers, plants and fruit trees were planted in the yard, all of which were transplanted from nearby.

In contrast, the main house where Xia Xiaoqiao lives is more meticulously furnished. The small yard is full of plums, orchids, chrysanthemums and bamboos, and several fish ponds have been chiseled out of stones. There is an exquisite bird cage hanging under the eaves. , there is a fleshy sparrow in a cage.

There are three main rooms, the middle is the living room for receiving guests, inside is a set of very finely polished pear wood furniture, and to the east is Xia Xiaoqiao's bedroom. A small side room contains brand-new wooden bathtubs, toilets and other items for washing and changing clothes. To the west is a storeroom, where you can find common things in daily life.However, at the moment, there are only daily necessities prepared by Cui Shi for Xia Xiaoqiao, his original things are still in the masonry workshop, Cui Shi sent people to watch, but no one dared to move them.

"This, how dare you?" Xia Xiaoqiao refused repeatedly with a blushing face. He just provided the Cui family with a place to live, and did not help with anything else. How could he ask them to pack a house for him? ?He is a big man, so it is good to live in the stonemason's workshop. There is no need to be so particular about it. Cui's house is probably furnished according to the standards of their official sons, right?Even the pen and ink are ready, how can he use them?Calligraphy has been returned to elementary school teachers as early as 800 years ago, okay?He doesn't know the characters of North Vietnam...

"Boss Xia, please don't refuse. This place looks good, but in fact it took some effort. Many things are already here. The craftsmen polish and clean them, and it doesn't cost much money. Mother said, you If you want to open a restaurant, it’s best to live here, the house over the stonemason’s workshop is too simple, even if you don’t mind, you still have to think about the guests, right?”

"...Your mother is right!" Xia Xiaoqiao was silent. Indeed, the environment of opening a private restaurant is indeed very important. You make it look like a relocation house. No matter how delicious the food is, it doesn't look upscale, so In his previous life, after he inherited his mother's private restaurant, he specially invited a designer to redecorate his house. It looks a bit Chinese antique style, and the quality immediately went up. Of course, the price of the dishes also went up. Cough cough... I don't need to elaborate on this.

However, even so, Xia Xiaoqiao couldn't accept such a generous gift from Cui Shi for nothing, so he returned to the stonemason's workshop, took out the silver and gold beads he had saved for a while, and gave them to Cui Shi together.

"Accept it! If you don't accept it, I don't want that house either!"

"Benefactor, this..." Cui blushed. Xia Xiaoqiao saved their family and gave them a place to settle down in this troubled world. This kind of kindness, she has been a cow and a horse in her life. It's just cleaning up the yard for a benefactor, how can you collect money for such a small matter?She had never been taught to do so in her upbringing.

"Accept it! You still have a pair of children to raise... Besides, if you are really sorry, I really need your help with something here." Xia Xiaoqiao pushed the small cloth bag filled with silver, "That's right. We brought back a lot of winter bamboo shoots from Zhucheng. I want to deal with them so that they can be stored for a longer period of time and can be eaten in winter."

"Winter bamboo shoots?" Cui's attention was indeed diverted. She wanted to do something for her benefactor, whether it was repairing the house or processing ingredients, as long as she could be arranged to do something, she would be very happy, so she asked immediately.

"Uh, have you ever eaten spring bamboo shoots?"

"The spring bamboo shoots are eaten every year, but the winter bamboo shoots? There are also bamboo shoots in winter?"

"Well, well, winter bamboo shoots and spring bamboo shoots are actually bamboo shoots. However, winter bamboo shoots are buried in the ground and rarely emerge from the ground like spring bamboo shoots. Therefore, few people find them and it is difficult to dig them out. However, they taste very good. I'll make some tonight and you guys can try it, it's sure to be more delicious than spring bamboo shoots."

"Okay, so what do we need to do?"

"Wait! I'll find a place to get the winter bamboo shoots out first." Thinking of those winter bamboo shoots as tall as a hill, Xia Xiaoqiao couldn't help but get a headache. Winter bamboo shoots are just so bad, and they generate a lot of garbage when they are disposed of. He had to find a place to throw away or bury the bamboo shoot shells. When he went to the countryside to collect winter bamboo shoots, the most troublesome thing was the transportation problem. Regardless of the hundreds of catties of winter bamboo shoots collected, the actual edible ones had to be removed. The part that is basically aging, the rest is only a few dozen catties.

Therefore, he had to find a convenient and nearby place to throw out the garbage, deal with these winter bamboo shoots, and then bring them back for further processing.

Seeing Xia Xiaoqiao running to find a place with ease, Cui thought it was just a basket of bamboo shoots, so she immediately waved away the maid who was about to come up to help, and rolled up her sleeves to help herself.

But she reassured too soon.

Xia Xiaoqiao chose a shoal located in the upper reaches of the river. There are piles of rocks here. When the time comes, the peeled bamboo shoots and the like can be directly thrown on it to dry. After a fire, the water spreads up and flushes away. gone.

After choosing a place, Xia Xiaoqiao smiled at His Majesty the Emperor and Fengshen Nanyue who followed him: "Let's put it here!"

Cui stood aside with a small bamboo basket on her shoulders, smiling.

"Okay!" His Majesty the Emperor was the first to stand up and waved his sleeves. In an instant, a pile of winter bamboo shoots weighing several thousand catties appeared on the empty rocky beach.

Fengshen Nanyue smiled, changed to a more open place, waved his sleeves, and a bigger pile of winter bamboo shoots appeared.

Mrs. Cui... Mrs. Cui was dumbfounded~

Bamboo shoots are easy to age. After aging, not only the fiber is more difficult to digest, but also the taste is not good. Therefore, if you want to preserve enough winter bamboo shoots for one winter before the cold winter comes and the soil freezes, you must treat these winter bamboo shoots.

Xia Xiaoqiao uses the soil method that their ancestors have always used. The fresh winter bamboo shoots are peeled and sliced, and then cooked in boiling water. After cooling, they are put into the well water and sealed, and slowly become sour bamboo shoots. When it’s time to take it out and wash it, it’s delicious to add sliced ​​chili meat to stir-fry or stew.

Because the clay pots were not enough, Xia Xiaoqiao asked someone to dig some sand from the river and put the undamaged winter bamboo shoots on the wet sand with the tip of the bamboo shoots facing up. The top is covered with wet sand without the bamboo shoot tips, and it is tightly compacted. The sand is covered with a layer of bamboo shoot shells and straw, so that the winter bamboo shoots that have been preserved layer by layer can be stored for a maximum of two to three months in a cool and ventilated place.

In fact, Xia Xiaoqiao didn't need to be so troublesome. It was as if time and space stood still in His Majesty's personal storage bag. It was the best place to store ingredients, but he didn't know it yet.

After finishing all this work, Xia Xiaoqiao slapped his head, only then remembered that he was only focusing on arranging the ingredients, and even forgot about the guests!

"Don't worry, benefactor. I've ordered someone to settle a few distinguished guests, and they will temporarily live in your small courtyard, okay?" Mrs. Cui immediately stood up and replied.Her husband was like this in the past, he didn't care about bringing guests back, and left it to her to arrange. Therefore, when he found that Xia Xiaoqiao also brought a few guests back, and it seemed as if he had forgotten, Cui immediately "understand" "Well, probably Boss Xia is like this at home, so he immediately sent someone to entertain a few distinguished guests.

So, when Xia Xiaoqiao came back, several guests, Fengshen Nanyue, Yunxian Cuiyao and his wife, Xiaobai and Chunwan mother and son, plus Cui Shijing, had already moved into the guest room in the small courtyard.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I, I forgot everything as soon as I saw the ingredients..." Xia Xiaoqiao hurried back to entertain a few guests.

Several guests... have already eaten first.