There was a small kitchen in Shutong Courtyard.
Yin Niang and Qi Jiao were old acquaintances. Seeing that Qi Jiao was going to cook, Yin Niang went to the main kitchen and fetched a lot of ingredients, including the live crabs and hairtail fish sent by Pei Xia.
Qi Jiao noticed there was also some excellent tender tofu, so she decided to make crab roe tofu, softly - braised hairtail fish, spicy golden - coin eggs, and moo shu pork.
Finally, there would be wax gourd and barley soup and crab roe fried rice.
Qi Jiao got busy deftly. She picked out the female crabs with round navels, steamed them in the pot, and then picked out the crab roe. She cut the tofu into small cubes and blanched them in water to get rid of the beany smell.
She heated up the pot and stir - fried the crab roe until it started to sizzle and bubble, then added warm water.
Then she turned up the heat, added green peas, put in the tofu, poured in the thickening water, and added scallions before dishing it up.
Crab roe tofu was best served with rice. The soup was rich and full - flavored, and it was also nutritious.
In this dish, the crab roe could also be replaced with salted duck eggs. This was an affordable way in later generations, but since this place was near the sea and there were plenty of crabs, there was no need to save.
As for the other dishes, especially moo shu pork, Qi Jiao put a lot of effort into it.
Moo shu pork was originally called mu xi rou. It was a common and characteristic traditional famous dish, belonging to the Confucian cuisine of Shandong Cuisine, one of the eight major cuisines in China. People often pronounced it as moo shu pork or mu xu rou in common speech.
Qi Jiao stir - fried the marinated pork tenderloin with eggs, black fungus, etc. The golden and broken eggs in it resembled osmanthus flowers, which added a lot to the dish's appearance.
After taking it out of the pot, she stirred it with sesame oil, and the aroma was irresistible.
Yin Niang beside her stared intently. "Jiao Niang, you've really been hiding your skills! Slow down a bit and let me learn a thing or two."
Qi Jiao smiled at her. "Sister Yin Niang's cooking skills are what I can never learn. What are these few dishes? I'll tell you how to make them."
So while cooking, she told Yin Niang every detail of the cooking steps.
After the eldest young lady returned to the city after her visit back to her natal family, she would surely take Yin Niang with her. If she wanted to eat these dishes, she could just ask Yin Niang to make them.
Moreover, Qi Jiao had eaten a lot of Yin Niang's special dishes before.
After hearing this, Yin Niang was so happy that her eyes narrowed. She even wished she could keep Jiao Niang.
At this time, outside Shutong Courtyard, Ziyun came back after delivering the snacks and was blocked by Yinbao at the drooping - flower gate. "Sister Ziyun, please tell me. Was the young lady who went in just now Jiao Niang beside the eldest young lady? The young master has ordered me, and I have no other way."
Seeing Yinbao like this, Ziyun thought to herself that it was bad. When Jiao Niang entered the mansion, she didn't adorn her appearance, and unfortunately, the third young master had seen her.
Truly, among the Guo family's children, the other young ladies and young masters were all decent and upright, but only this third young master had been spoiled.
He was disrespectful. When he was in his teens, he had been fooling around with his personal maid all day long.
He took a concubine when he was fifteen. Now, before the new wife even entered the door, he already had three concubines - in - waiting.
Many proper and decent maids in the mansion had been taken advantage of by him.
Not long ago, he had gotten involved with Qi Fu from the embroidery room. Because the eldest young lady was indignant about Jiao Niang's experience and intervened, she had driven Qi Fu out of the Guo family.
As a result, the stupid and lecherous third young master directly found a remote courtyard and kept Qi Fu there, just like keeping a mistress.
The madam was so angry that she beat him up. After that, she still had to cover up for him and didn't dare to let the master know.
Now seeing that the third young master of the Guo family had taken a fancy to Jiao Niang again, Ziyun was very angry. Her willow - leaf eyebrows were raised, and her eyes were like knives as they scraped across Yinbao's face. She grabbed Yinbao and scolded, "You're really a thief! Jiao Niang is trusted and loved by the eldest young lady. Now she has been released from slavery and married. She has nothing to do with the Guo Mansion anymore. If you encourage the third young master to have other ideas, and if it angers the eldest young lady in the end, you'll be in big trouble!"
After getting the news, Yinbao quickly put on a big smile. "Sister Ziyun, be careful not to hurt your hand. The young master just sent me to ask. If Sister Jiao Niang is valued by the eldest young lady, he wouldn't dare even if you gave him a hundred guts!"
He said cheekily, "May I ask you one more question, sister? Why is Sister Jiao Niang different from before? Although I've seen her only a few times, she didn't look like this before. Her face is so fair and smooth..."
Ziyun sneered inwardly. If it weren't for Jiao Niang's cautious nature, rarely leaving the courtyard, and making herself look five points uglier with makeup every day, she would have been devoured by the third young master long ago.
Even Ziyun herself was lucky to be plain - looking.
As servants, their lives were like floating duckweeds.
Sometimes, being good - looking could actually bring trouble.
Poor those concubines - in - waiting in the third young master's room. When the new wife entered the door, the lucky ones would be given medicine to become concubines, and the unlucky ones would be sold off and married to commoners.
Just thinking about it made Ziyun tremble. Fortunately, the master she served was the eldest young lady, and fortunately, she didn't have a man she fancied.
The eldest young lady had promised that as long as she didn't want to get married for a day, she would be the most important maid beside the eldest young lady for a day.
She got a generous monthly allowance, and she had both dignity and rewards. Wasn't this much better than marrying a rough servant?
Ziyun was indignant in her heart. When she went back, she told Qi Jiao about this and told her to be extremely careful of the third young master of the Guo family.
Qi Jiao didn't expect this to happen. She appreciated Ziyun's kindness. "I'll be careful. My husband will accompany me on the way back and forth. Sister, don't worry."
Ziyun said that was good.
Qi Jiao didn't want to cause more trouble, especially since it was the day when Guo Lingyi returned to her natal family. So she told Ziyun not to tell her.
Ziyun agreed and didn't mention it.
Thanks to Yin Niang's help as an experienced hand, Qi Jiao finished cooking much faster. Before long, all the dishes were ready.
Yin Niang helped Qi Jiao plate the dishes and carried them one by one to the eldest young lady's room.
At this time, the young master, Xia Yi, came back.
Qi Jiao instinctively wanted to back out and avoid him, but Guo Lingyi pulled Qi Jiao and introduced her to Xia Yi. "This is Jiao Niang, who has grown up with me since childhood. She has a good personality, and I didn't expect her to be so good at cooking. Take a look quickly."
Qi Jiao saw that Xia Yi was dressed in a blue robe and a jade crown, looking like a noble scholar. His eyes were honest and full of affection for Guo Lingyi. He didn't seem like those dissolute official's sons.
Qi Jiao felt a little relieved and bowed gracefully.
Xia Yi immediately took out a red envelope for her and said with a slight smile, "You've taken care of Lingyi for so many years. Even if you don't have great merits, you've had hard work. Now you still miss her, which shows that you're a person who values friendship. This red envelope is for all the people in her room. Just take it."
Qi Jiao looked at Ziyun, and Ziyun nodded with a smile.
Only then did Qi Jiao thank him and respectfully accept it.
The table full of delicious dishes made people hungry just looking at them.
Guo Lingyi's appetite was whetted, and her chopsticks never stopped.
While eating, she kept praising. Especially the crab roe tofu. The tofu was white and tender, and the crab roe was fragrant and fresh. This combination was really wonderful and extremely delicious.
Although Xia Yi looked frail, it turned out that he had a good appetite. He ate three bowls of rice with the dishes and even drank a bowl of wax gourd and barley soup in the end.
They ate to their heart's content, and Qi Jiao was also happy. Since she was thinking about Pei Xia, she didn't want to stay for too long. After saying goodbye to Guo Lingyi, she left.
Ziyun, Yin Niang, and several little maids escorted her out of the mansion.
During this short half - day gathering, Ziyun and Yin Niang had also prepared gifts for Qi Jiao. There were two winter clothes, a pair of shoe uppers, a basket of fried tofu, and a bottle of self - brewed plum wine. The gifts were simple but really showed the sisters' sincere care.
Standing in the wind, Ziyun wiped away her tears. "We'll be going back to the city with the eldest young lady soon. I don't know when we'll be able to see each other again after you leave."
But Yin Niang laughed cheerfully. "As long as we're fated, there will always be a chance to meet in the future."
Qi Jiao held their hands. "Sisters, take good care of yourselves. I'll work hard to earn money. Maybe I'll go to the city to find you soon."
Ziyun broke into a smile through her tears. "It's a deal."
The three of them said their reluctant goodbyes, and then Qi Jiao turned around and went to the teahouse to find Pei Xia.