The guards of crossing, please serve

Master has a fever, quickly invite the two housekeepers and doctors to come, hurry up! "Shen Qing said to the boy following behind. Hearing this, the boy immediately put down the things in his hands and ran out to call for someone.

When the doctor came over, Shen Qing had already helped Ran Mingyuan take off his coat, placed him on the bed, and covered him with a thick quilt.

"It doesn't matter," the doctor said after feeling the pulse, "My lord caught a cold somewhere, and he will be fine after taking the medicine and sweating."

Ran Wangzhong stood aside and said, "Oh, who told him not to practice kung fu, if he wants to practice like me, it's no problem to stand in the water for an hour in this weather."

Ran Wangzhong was puzzled and said: "It's strange, the weather is not too cold, and he wears a lot of clothes, how did he catch a cold?"

And Shen Qing thought that Ran Mingyuan had sat on the ground and slept with him for more than an hour before, and couldn't help feeling guilty, and looked at Ran Mingyuan with more pity.

The next day, Ran Mingyuan woke up. Although the fever had subsided, he had a cough.

The cough came quite urgently, and I often think of Ran Mingyuan's sharp cough in the small courtyard. Sometimes he coughs for a long time without stopping, and his beautiful face is distorted and purple, with tears dripping from the corners of his eyes, and his voice also changes. It's dumb.

Every time Ran Mingyuan coughed, Shen Qing's heart became anxious. He always felt that if he hadn't collapsed, Ran Mingyuan wouldn't have gotten sick, as if he had implicated him.

With such anxiety, time seems to pass more slowly.Shen Qing felt that his heart had been cooked dozens of times in the oil pan, and the stewing on the stove was done.He poured it out hastily, and carefully carried it to Ran Mingyuan's room.

"This is... ahem, what?" Ran Mingyuan's face was pale, and he looked at Shen Qing weakly.

"This is stewed snow pear with Chuanbei rock sugar. It relieves cough and relieves dryness. It's perfect for your cough." Shen Qing held the bowl in one hand, scooped up a spoonful in the other hand, blew lightly, and handed it to Ran Mingyuan's mouth: " Come on, you have no strength, I will feed you."

Ran Mingyuan raised the corner of his mouth and smiled, then opened his mouth and ate the stewed pear that Shen Qing brought to his mouth.

Although it is sweet but not greasy, it also has a faint medicinal fragrance. The warm food slides down the throat, but leaves a cool feeling, and it feels much more comfortable immediately.

Shen Qing saw that Ran Mingyuan's face was soothed, and knew that it was to his liking, so he fed him spoonful after spoonful.

While eating, Ran Mingyuan looked at Shen Qing carefully, and saw that his handsome brows and eyes were full of concentration and gentleness at the moment.When he looked up at himself, he could always see a small self in his eyes.

Ran Mingyuan felt that the sweetness of stewed pears had penetrated into his heart from his mouth.

21

21. Diligent and thrifty housekeeping...

Under the nourishment of Shen Qing's "medicinal diet", Ran Mingyuan quickly recovered to a lively state.

When Shen Qing saw this, he was naturally happier, and changed his ways to cook delicious and beautiful dishes every day, and every meal made Ran Mingyuan eat with a smile on his face.

For Shen Qing, the way Ran Mingyuan eats with gusto is the biggest reward.

One day, Shen Qing saw that some materials were missing in the kitchen, so he went out to the big kitchen to look for them.

As soon as he walked near the big kitchen, Shen Qing saw Ran Degao standing at the door, talking to the couple in charge of the kitchen, his expression a little excited.

Shen Qing couldn't hold back his curiosity, walked over quietly, hid aside and listened to what those people were talking about.

"In the past two months, the cost of food has increased by [-]% compared to before. You should control it and cook more vegetarian dishes. Those chicken, duck and fish meat are precious, so save some food." Ran Degao waved his hands account book.

The kitchen aunt was full of anger: "There are so many mouths waiting to eat in the whole house, and there will be a festival and a guest every now and then, and the small kitchen over there is always writing high-end materials. How can I save it? Now Regarding the food, there are already many complaints in the mansion, and they want to reduce the food fee, hmph, I don't have the shame to mention it, you can tell them yourself!"

When Shen Qing heard this, he was secretly shocked. He thought that the materials for the big kitchen were taken casually, but he didn't expect that there was a saying of "controlling the budget".Thinking about it now, it was too casual for me to ask for this or that a few days ago, I don't know if it was annoying.

Seeing that Ran Degao and the lady in the kitchen were still arguing, Shen Qing was embarrassed to ask for anything more, so he sneaked back to the small kitchen.

In the evening, Ran Mingyuan stared at the dishes on the table with his eyes wide open, apparently in disbelief.

"This, what is this?" Ran Mingyuan frowned and looked at Shen Qing, with a very bad expression on his face.

Ran Ming was far from being a fool, so he naturally knew what was on the table - a plate of tofu mixed with shallots, a plate of hot and sour pickled cabbage, a plate of fried eggplant with minced meat, and a bowl of radish and vegetable gall soup.However, he really couldn't believe that Shen Qing would suddenly change his style and serve him these overly plain dishes for dinner. Could it be... Shen Qing was stimulated by something?

Shen Qing served Ran Mingyuan a good meal, and explained: "Today, I saw Manager Ran Degao settle accounts with the big kitchen, only to find out that the expenses of the small kitchen are too high recently. I have thought about it carefully, although you are a prince, the expenses are supported by the court. Well, but the food in the mansion is paid by the common people, how can we eat and drink with public funds without any scruples? So, let's save some food in the future. Well, I have planned everything, and I can't treat the prince badly. , There are small meat every day, such as today’s fried minced meat with eggplant, and big meat every five days. I cook a piece of fish or a chicken or something. Didn’t you want to lose weight a few days ago? It’s just like losing weight..."

Ran Mingyuan looked at the minced meat in the eggplant that was smaller than a grain of rice, and pursed his mouth consciously: No way, this is worse than a big kitchen!No matter how many executives Ran De had, he didn't see anything missing in his food. He was one level higher than him, so how could he be hurt...

"Oh!" Ran Mingyuan interrupted Shen Qing dumbfounded, and said: "Ran Degao has intermittent miserliness, and it will happen every few days. Even if you don't spend money, he still thinks why you can't give him money. .No one in the mansion takes this seriously anymore, at most I will play with him for a while, but you still take it seriously!"

Shen Qing shook his head and said: "I've calculated it seriously. There are so many people in this mansion. Just food, clothing and wages, it's a lot in a year. You still like to buy some expensive gadgets from time to time. A few dozen taels of silver can buy a jade brave the size of a fingernail, and a few hundred taels of silver can buy an ivory fan... No matter how much money the imperial court gives, it’s still not enough for you to spend like this.”

Ran Mingyuan straightened his face, and looked at Shen Qing brightly: "Shen Qing, don't you think that all the money I spent was given by the court?"

Shen Qing was startled, and said in a daze, "Isn't it?"

Ran Mingyuan said with some displeasure: "How much money is only given by the imperial court in a year, it is not enough for the palace to spend for a month, not to mention that every year on big days, the palace will give gifts to the emperor's family, and all the money received will be sent out. Most of the money will be paid backwards. If I only rely on the money given by the court, I would have starved to death long ago."

Shen Qing stayed there, his mind was full of thoughts of "I made a mistake, I made a joke, I made a mistake!".

Ran Mingyuan saw that Shen Qing's face was ashen, smiled at him comfortingly, and said: "The current expenses in the palace are mostly from the land of the palace and some businesses run by Ran Degao. In addition, I occasionally write a few calligraphy and paintings and send them out. If you sell it, you can exchange it for some silver. All my little gadgets were bought with my own calligraphy and paintings, and I didn’t use the account of the palace.”

Shen Qing lowered his head in embarrassment, and said: "It turns out that's the case, I don't know, I misunderstood the prince."

Ran Mingyuan patted Shen Qing's head lightly: "It's okay, you don't know about these things, it's normal to be worried. I'm telling you now, not to make you feel guilty. From now on, you can cook with confidence and boldly. We can use whatever materials we use, at worst we don’t need the money from the house, I’ll give you the money for expenses alone, from now on we two can justifiably start a small stove, if they are highly respected, if they want to come and have a meal, they all have to pay first!”

Shen Qing couldn't help laughing, he really didn't expect that Ran Mingyuan looked like a rice bug, but turned out to be a little rich man who could make a lot of money.

The misunderstanding was cleared up, and Ran Mingyuan didn't dislike the simplicity of the meal anymore.Anyway, I can eat well tomorrow, and it is also very good to have a weight-loss meal once in a while.

While the two were eating, Shen Qing suddenly put down his chopsticks and let out a wail.Ran Mingyuan looked at him curiously, and seeing Shen Qing said with a bitter face: "Oh no, I thought I would cook diligently and frugally in the future, so I pickled several crocks of kimchi this afternoon!"

Ten days later, early in the morning, the palace was busy.The big kitchen was full of heat, several stoves were fully turned on, and steam was bubbling.

Outside the kitchen, a dozen guards stood around a large stone table, and among them were several large jars.

Bright red peppers, lustrous cabbage, light green radishes, green vegetable stalks... The guards put four different kinds of pickles in the wooden tray divided into four small compartments.The taste of kimchi was fragrant and spicy. The guards had just finished their breakfast, and their appetites were aroused again. They couldn't help stealing a few pieces and stuffed them into their mouths, smiling at each other knowingly.

"The porridge is ready!" There was an angry shout from the kitchen, and four guards walked in immediately, and after a while, one of them came out with two large buckets of porridge.Shen Qing walked at the end, also carrying a bucket of porridge in his hand, seeing that the rest of the guards also picked up the packaged kimchi, he yelled: "Let's go——"

It turned out that Ran Mingyuan and Shen Qing saw that there were so many kimchi that they couldn't eat, so they organized a porridge distribution day to distribute porridge for the local orphans, widows, elderly and poor families, which was considered a merit.

The location of cloth porridge is placed in a temple not far from the palace.Ran Mingyuan, the two housekeepers, Ran Xiaoguai and others all went to battle in person, and the people who came to receive the porridge were orderly, waiting in line to receive the porridge.

The whole process was very pleasant, except