Tled by Serena Love

Unedited

Chapter 24 (3): Bamboo Forest

Jiang Shuyao made stew tonight, and she felt that the smell was all over her hair. After changing her clothes, she slowly wandered around the house.

After she got married into Duke Xie's mansion, she had barely been to other places except for the kitchen and the main hall. She only walked a corner in this vast mansion, and she didn't even know the way around.

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Tonight, the breeze was refreshing, and the moon was clear. She was in a good mood and didn't bother to ask anyone to lead the way. She walked around the mansion under the moonlight.

Duke Xie's mansion deserves to be the home of the princes who have been passed on for centuries. The courtyard of the mansion was exquisitely arranged, the road was wide, the courtyards were elegant and simple. The mansion had both the luxurious and majestic corridor and the graceful and elegant pond lined with green willow.

She walked around randomly and found a small bamboo forest.

She didn't dare to go in, and she planned to turn back, but she took the wrong direction and went around the Qushui Pavilion next to the small bamboo forest.

In the pavilion, two people were sitting opposite each other. They were dressed in robes and looked very romantic. After a closer look, they turned out to be Xie Xun's eldest brother, Xie Li, and second brother, Xie Lang.

Jiang Shuyao didn't take her maid, and she wandered around the house at night. It was a bit embarrassing to see their eyes cast on her at this time. She planned to slip away after nodding from a distance.

Xie Li stopped her. "Third sister-in-law, where's your maid?"

Jiang Shuyao stopped and explained, "I just wanted to walk around the yard, so I didn't take people..."

Xie Li put down the chess pieces in his hand and said sternly, "This is not the Lord Xiangyang's house. You can no longer act like when you were in the boudoirs. Just walk around in the inner yard. Don't go to the outer courtyard."

Jiang Shuyao received a scolding session, but she didn't say anything and left.

Halfway, she felt aggrieved. Even if it was necessary to reprimand her, it was the old madam's business, how can even Xie Xun's elder brother get involved?

Although Xie Li was an elder, and the eldest brother was like a father, but there was no need to be so strict with her, right?

The more she thought about it, the angrier she was. What did he mean by she was not in Xiangyang's house, and after married here, she can't even get out of the backyard? She was bored in her yard all day, and people who were locked inside the house would get sick.

Even the original owner, who can't talk in front of the Xie family, couldn't bear the anger, not to mention Jiang Shuyao, who had always been straightforward.

She didn't go far and turned around fiercely.

Xie Li just poured himself a glass of wine and was about to toast, when he saw Jiang Shuyao running back with a sour face.

He put down the wine glass and frowned and said, "She is really like what the rumors say, she behave freely."

Before Xie Lang on the other side spoke, Jiang Shuyao had already spoken first, "Big brother just said something wrong. Although I am not the daughter of the Xie family, since I am married to this house, I am Xie Xun's wife, the lady of the third branch. Don't I have the qualifications to walk freely in the mansion?"

Xie Li had been immersed in officialdom for many years. Although he has the good looks of the Xie's family and he was handsome, but he looked more solemn, rigid, and majestic. People would subconsciously act carefully when they were in front of him, for fear of offending him.

He frowned upon hearing Jiang Shuyao's words and he looked a little harsher.

"I know that I had a bad reputation before marrying, but after I got married, I didn't cause trouble, nor did I offend my elders. I shrank in my room obediently—"

She retorted fiercely. At this point, a soft and helpless voice interrupted her.

"Third sister-in-law." Xie Lang didn't hold back his smile, "You misunderstood."

On the first day of the marriage, when the bride offered tea, it was the first and the only time Jiang Shuyao saw Xie Xun's two elder brothers. At that time, as a younger sister-in-law, she didn't dare to look up to see what they looked like. She only remembered the corners of the two's majestic official uniforms.

Now that the moonlight was bright, Jiang Shuyao finally saw their looks clearly.

Both of them looked similar to Xie Xun, except that the eldest brother, Xie Li, looked more dignified, and there was a light line between his brows because of daily frowning. The second brother, Xie Lang, had taken off his official uniform and put on a robe. He did not look like a master of the duke mansion, but more like a literati who indulges in landscapes and travels.

He behaved suavely, with a soft and magnetic voice, and said to Jiang Shuyao, "You are not very familiar with Duke Xie's mansion. What if you stray into a remote place and encounter a malicious subordinate?

Jiang Shuyao was slightly startled.

Xie Lang said again, "However, our mansion treats our subordinates strictly, and they are all born in the family. This kind of evil thing will not happen. It's just that my eldest brother and I were drinking and talking with Prince Wu just now. Prince Wu is lustful and would act rudely. Although it will not make our sister-in-law suffer from his eyelids, but if he was attracted to you, what would you do?"

Jiang Shuyao blushed because of his gentle and polite tone. It turned out that they did not treat her with prejudice, but she thought that they have something against her, and because of this, misunderstanding happened.

She tugged at the corner of her sleeve, her tone suddenly softened, and she was ashamed. "Sorry, I misunderstood. I was rude to say just now. I hope my eldest brother-in-law and second brother-in-law will forgive me."

Xie Lang saw her looking down and shook his head with a smile. "She looks very different from the third child's wooden temperament."

This elder's attitude made Jiang Shuyao even more embarrassed. She once again apologized, "This younger sister-in-law was reckless."

"OK." Xie Li said. He glanced at Xie Lang and beckoned to him to not bully the little girl. She said to Jiang Shuyao, "Third sister-in-law, call a maid to lead your way, don't get lost."

His tone was still majestic, but Jiang Shuyao now knew that he was not scolding.

The more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she became. She walked in the direction of her courtyard, and happened to run into a maid on the way, so she asked her to lead the way back.

Back in the courtyard, Xie Xun also happened to return from the main kitchen. The two met at the entrance of the courtyard. Seeing her look strange, Xie Xun asked aloud, "Where did you go?"

Jiang Shuyao was still thinking about the earlier encounter, and Xie Xun suddenly came out and called her. She replied, "I just went outside for a while."

"Oh." Xie Xun nodded. While he was trying to find a word, Jiang Shuyao patted her head and hurried to the small kitchen.

Xie Xun followed her curiously.

The thick wood under the stove has been burned, leaving only the residual temperature to stew the lou-mei slowly. Jiang Shuyao opened the lid, and the rich and fragrant scent instantly permeate the room.

The most important thing for lou-mei was the preparation of brine. Common spices such as green onion, ginger, garlic, sugar, star anise, cinnamon, bay leaf, white cardamom, tangerine peel, etc. were indispensable. The missing dried chili was replaced with cornel oil.

If you want to make the marinade more flavorful, you have to put it in a special Chinese medicine bag. Jiang Shuyao asked Bai Zhi to go to the pharmacy to grab the ingredients: licorice, grass fruit, pepper, purple cloud, agarwood, angelica, ginkgo, etc. All wrapped in gauze, put it into the bottom of the pot, simmer until the aroma of every spice was immersed in the soup.

First, you need to put some pork belly and pig's trotters to ensure that the stewed soup had enough fat, so that the duck neck, duck wings, stewed eggs, lotus root, dried tofu, etc. will also have a fatty and thick flavor.

She picked up a big iron spoon, fished out the marinated meat, and put it in a bowl. The rich marinated aroma made Xie Xun regret that he went to the main kitchen to eat.

He looked at the stew in this bowl. The color was red, the smell was delicious and mellow, and the skin was wrapped with a dark red marinade, which was translucent and attractive.

Xie Xun looked at the ingredients in the bowl and wondered, "What is this?"

At this time, human meat would be less expensive than cattle and sheep. Only cattle that died of old age or sickness were allowed to be slaughtered. Therefore, Jiang Shuyao did not make beef but chose duck, pork and other meat.

"Lou-mei. This is duck wings, duck neck... and this is pig's trotter chopped into small pieces." Jiang Shuyao introduced to him one by one.

He could barely understand it before, but when Jiang Shuyao said the word "trotter," Xie Xun looked at her in astonishment.

Although the nobles of the high mansion also eat pork, it was not mainstream in this era. Most of the common ingredients were seafood, fresh birds, and poultry. Perhaps it was because the pigs' living environment was dirty, or for the unexperienced pig tasted fishy. It was rare to see pork on the dinner table, and even if there was, it was processed carefully. It's unheard of to eat trotters like Jiang Shuyao.

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Xie Xun watched the chopped pig's feet, which only vaguely looked like the original shape of the pig's feet, and it suppressed the glutton in his stomach which was just about to move.

Jiang Shuyao explained, "I have processed them carefully, they are not dirty at all, and they are really delicious." In modern times, trotters were very expensive, OK?

But after finishing speaking, she hesitated, "I guess the big brother and the second brother can't accept it either."

Xie Xun's ear moved. Eh? Big brother and second brother? Who?

Jiang Shuyao took out the pig's trotter, arranged the rest of the braised meat, and poured a layer of braised sauce on it. She called a maid to send it to Xie Li and Xie Lang.

"Just told them that I am apologizing. If they don't dislike it, the eldest brother and the second brother can try it to accompany drinking."

The maid nodded and left respectfully.

Xie Xun thought about it, but unable to guess the intersection between Jiang Shuyao and his two brothers, so he asked, "Why do you give them food?"

"Isn't it to apologize?" Jiang Shuyao didn't intend to elaborate. She closed the lid, and she went out of the small kitchen.

Xie Xun was stunned for a while. He hadn't tasted it yet, so how could he leave? If everyone didn't eat any, it would be fine. But how could his eldest brother and his second brother get a share!

He followed her depressedly, roughly guessing, "Did you ran into them when you went out just now?"

Jiang Shuyao nodded.

"Are they playing chess in the pavilion again?"

Jiang Shuyao curiously asked, "How do you know?"

Xie Xun thought: Of course he knew. The two stinky chess addicts sit there all year round to play chess, but their chess skills have not improved by half!

After Xie Xun returned to his room, he could not stop thinking about the delicious lou-mei just now, and at the same time thinking about the eldest brother and the second brother.

Finally, he just got up and went to the bamboo forest.

He knew the temperament of his two elder brothers. One was old-fashioned and followed the rules, and the other liked to be elegant. Maybe they didn't want to eat unique foods and wasted Jiang Shuyao's thoughts. Then perhaps he can bring the bowl back and settle it by himself.

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