Pride and Prejudice the Poor Princess

The kitchen is very narrow and simple, but there is no shortage of kitchen utensils.Mrs. Reynolds was kneading flour for a furnace of bread.Mary took out the eel, beat it out, washed it, peeled the skin and deboned it.

It only takes one knife to cut open the belly of the eel, throw away the internal organs, and remove a complete fish bone with the tip of the knife.Mrs. Reynolds was dumbfounded by Mary's smooth knife skills.

"I found that you are very good at dismantling bones, Miss Mary. The same was true for the chicken last time." Mrs. Reynolds sighed, "It must be very difficult to practice such knife skills?"

"It's no big deal, practice makes perfect." Mary smiled, cut the eel into small pieces, sprinkled with wine and spices to marinate, and then handled the onion.

The smell of onions was so smoky that she wept as she diced them, big and big tears hanging down her cheeks, making her cheeks crystal clear.Coupled with her petite figure and soft facial features, she looks really cute.Even though she knew it was because of the onions, Mrs. Reynolds still put down the dough in her hand and said with concern, "Let me do it, Miss Mary. Just go to the living room and rest."

"What happened?" Darcy asked sullenly when he appeared at the kitchen door.Mary turned her head to look at him, and there was still a tear on her pointed chin.

Darcy's pupils were stung by the sight, and he strode in, rubbing his fingertips tenderly over her wet cheeks and chin, and looking sternly at Mrs Reynolds.

Mrs. Reynolds was on the verge of throwing up her hands.This was the first time the little master got angry at her.The extent to which he cared about Miss Mary was completely beyond her imagination.

"I'm fine, it's all caused by onions!" Mary pouted and complained, holding his sleeve with one hand and shaking it gently.She didn't realize how cute her tone was, like a kitten seeking comfort from its owner.

Darcy's gloomy face was quickly replaced by gentleness. He took out a handkerchief to dry her tears, rolled up his sleeves and said, "Cut onions? I'll help you."

"No, please go out." Mary pushed his strong chest with her hands.Although there is no rule in the UK that 'a gentleman stays away from the kitchen', she feels that the kitchen is a woman's territory and men should not set foot there.They just get in the way!

Darcy didn't dare to resist at all, raised her hands and backed away again and again, and she didn't stop until she pushed her to the kitchen door.

"Okay, I'll leave right away. Please don't let me see you cry again, it will break my heart." He lowered his voice, said fiery words of love in a serious tone, and gave the girl with flushed cheeks a little Nodding before reluctantly leaving.He liked to see her shy appearance, and unknowingly developed the habit of teasing her.

"The power of love is so great. I could never have imagined Mr. Darcy rolling up his sleeves and chopping vegetables before! For you, he has at least read hundreds of romance novels. Look, how sweet-talking he is now!" Renault Mrs. Zi blinked playfully, approached Mary and asked in a low voice, "Looking at the situation, you should be in love, right? When are you going to get married?" She felt that it was necessary for her to find out some inside information for the master, which would become his guide to marriage proposal .

"We are not passionately in love, and there is no way to propose a marriage." Mary rubbed her cheeks that were about to burn, and denied with a guilty conscience.

Seeing that she was really shy, Mrs. Reynolds couldn't bear to tease her anymore. She smiled and took the knife in her hand, soaked it in cold water, and then cut the onion into cubes neatly.She dared not make Miss Mary cry any more.

Although the ingredients are not rich, and can even be called simple, Mary has the cooking skills to turn decay into magic.She baked a few sheets of salty shortbread, spread the boiled onion and beef sauce evenly on it, wrapped a few lettuce leaves and fixed it into a roll.Instead of eel jelly, the eel was fried in butter and served with chutney and sesame seeds.The potatoes are mashed, shaped upside down in a small bowl and placed on the dinner plate, and a few rosemary plants are added for decoration.

It was a well presented dinner and who would have guessed it was made with cheap ingredients that cost pennies?Mrs. Reynolds has a deep understanding of the ability of the mistress to run the house, and she can live happily even in the poor little days.With her Mr. Darcy must be very happy.

Mary set up a dining table on the balcony on the second floor, and observed the situation in the alley while eating.According to the agreement, the waitress should bring Lydia over.She had only four shillings left, and she couldn't pay the hotel bill at all, so she had to come to this cheap slum for a few pennies a month to rent.

"May I beg you to eat seriously? Your fork almost hurt you several times." Darcy couldn't bear it anymore, and finally reminded her, and took the dangerous knife and fork from her hand.

"You eat, I'll help you." He reached out and wiped off the hot and sour sauce sticking to her cheeks, his tone full of helplessness.She almost poked a hole in her cheek just now, that dazed look was cute and hateful.

"I'm sorry." Mary blinked her big eyes and made a begging expression.Little did she realize that she was used to Darcy's intimate behavior.

Darcy turned her head away and sighed, "Eat quickly." There was nothing he could do with her, and she could melt his cold heart with just one look.

Darcy finished his dinner quickly and stood on the balcony looking out.After more than ten minutes, he waved to Mary, "She's here, come and have a look."

Mary quickly wiped her mouth with a napkin, picked up two binoculars and ran to the balcony to observe with Darcy.Lydia and the waitress walked slowly in the dirty alley, with expressions of disgust and panic on their faces.The waitress led her to the door of a very dilapidated bungalow and knocked on the door.

Lydia looked at the surrounding environment, her face became even uglier.She held the hand of the waitress and said something eagerly. The waitress shrugged while replying, and pointed to the more dilapidated house not far away.

Lydia kept shaking her head, and suddenly pointed to Mary's residence.This is the nicest house in all of Putin Lane.

Fearing that she would see her, Mary quickly put down the binoculars and backed away, accidentally crashing into Darcy's broad chest.His arms naturally wrapped around her slender and soft waist, and whispered in her ear, "Don't worry, she can't see our faces clearly from such a long distance."

Lydia only saw two figures of a man and a woman close together, they should be a couple.She glanced at it and stopped paying attention, continuing to negotiate with the waitress.The waitress gestured a number, she thought for a moment, then shook her head in frustration.She couldn't afford that kind of rent at all.It used to be more than that for a hat or a scarf, but now even a penny was extremely precious to her.She never knew life could be so difficult!

The landlord finally opened the door. It was a haggard woman in her early thirties.She was wearing a dirty apron and was holding a baby about half a year old in her arms.The baby's cheeks were flushed abnormally, and he was crying.The landlord kept patting him on the back and looked like he was about to cry.

Finding that it was a waitress, she forced a smile on her sallow face, and turned to let them into the room.The windows were wide open, there was no money for curtains, and the interior was within Mary's view, as well as through a glass.

Mary pinched Darcy's arm with her fingertips and whispered, "Will you let me go, Mr. Darcy?"

Darcy reluctantly let go, took two steps back, and apologized solemnly, "I'm sorry, I forgot."

Mary glared at him with a blushing face, and picked up the binoculars to look again.This time she hid her figure behind tulle curtains.

Lydia looked at her room, nodded reluctantly under the woman's eager gaze, and handed her 10 pence.She made a sign of God bless and bowed to Lydia.Waitresses kiss and wave goodbye to crying babies.

"Is there anything special about this family?" Darcy asked, putting down his telescope.

"It's a bit special. That woman is Mrs. Isis, and her husband, Mr. Isis, is a gambler. The two had their first child half a year ago. Mr. Isis hangs out in the casino all day long. Girls, if they lose, they will go home drunk and beat and kick their wives. Not only do they not take on family responsibilities, but they also search for the milk powder money that their wives earn for their sons through hard work every day. The valuables were looted. The child has been suffering from a low-grade fever recently, and Mrs. Isis has no money to treat him, but the husband ignores it.” Mary frowned and said in a mocking tone at the end, “Isn’t Lydia Crying and clamoring to marry Wickham? I'll let her experience what it's like to be married to a gambler."

"I think this lesson is absolutely profound." Darcy admired Mary's wisdom from the bottom of his heart.

Mary gave him a squinting look, the corners of her pink lips were slightly raised, her hidden complacency was extremely cute.Darcy involuntarily looked at her several times, until her cheeks were flushed before she looked away blankly.

The two picked up the binoculars again.

Lydia and the landlady were getting ready for dinner.Because the room was too narrow, they used the living room as a dining room. There was no formal dining table, and they replaced it with a dilapidated small round table with a few yellowed newspapers spread on it.The landlady was feeding the baby milk with a spoon, but the baby was still crying and couldn't eat at all.

Lydia looked at the mother and child with sympathy, and then worried about the dinner plate.There was only a piece of hard bread, a spoonful of eel jelly, and a dollop of mashed potatoes on the plate.She tried to eat a mouthful of eel jelly, her expression was very strange.

Seeing her distorted face, Mary chuckled lowly.

The so-called eel jelly is to cut the eel into sections and throw it directly into the water to cook. After cooking, let it cool down to become a fish jelly.It was a fairly untechnical dish, devoid of any flavor other than a heavy fishy smell.After the baptism of Mary's extraordinary cooking skills, it would be strange if Lydia could still eat this kind of food.

She stiffened her neck, swallowed the eel with difficulty, took a big gulp of the milk on hand, and then squirted it out quickly, spraying it all over the place.

The landlady's expression was so wonderful that even the baby forgot to cry and looked at her with ignorant eyes.

Mary covered her mouth and shrugged her shoulders.

"What happened to her?" Darcy asked curiously.

Mary looked up, with a smile still on her face, "The milk she drank was rancid. Fresh milk was very expensive, and Mrs. Isis would only drink it for her son. If the son couldn't drink it, she was willing to drink it herself. "

Darcy understood, and sighed, "This experience is really unforgettable, and now I start to sympathize with Lydia."

"There are more unforgettable things to come." Mary said in a calm tone, picking up the binoculars to watch Lydia clean up the mess.