"Are you okay, sister-in-law?"
A clear and pleasant voice broke Song Xiaoxiao's recollection.
Guo Linghui stood in front of her, his eyes full of concern as he asked.
Song Xiaoxiao came to her senses and took a step back.
She simply curled the corners of her lips.
Yes, how could she forget? The person in front of her was her husband's second elder brother.
On the second day after she married into the Guo family, she saw the person she thought she would never have anything to do with in this lifetime.
How ridiculous, how ridiculous.
God just had to play such a cruel joke on her.
Song Xiaoxiao's shock lasted for only a moment. Soon she regained her usual generosity and straightforwardness. With a smile, she asked, "Are you going out, second elder brother?"
Guo Linghui nodded slightly. Looking at her charming face like a delicate flower, his eyes were as dark as a deep pool. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "Father has ordered me to inspect several manors. He said it's too hot these days. After everything is in order, we'll all go to the suburbs to escape the summer heat."
Song Xiaoxiao lowered her eyes, avoiding his gaze. "That's great!"
The two exchanged a few idle words and then had nothing more to say.
To avoid suspicion, Song Xiaoxiao said to Guo Linghui first, "Well, second elder brother, go ahead and get busy."
Guo Linghui nodded. Passing by her, he walked away without stopping.
Song Xiaoxiao suddenly felt a bit restless and threw the rose branch in her hand on the ground.
*
Two days passed like flowing water.
After Lord Guo and Lady Guo got into the carriage, Song Xiaoxiao and Guo Lingwan, the fourth daughter of the Guo family, got into a carriage with a canopy together.
The Guo family had two sons and three daughters.
Besides Guo Lingwan who was still unmarried, there was also Guo Lingzhen, the fifth daughter.
Guo Lingzhen was young. Unfortunately, she ate too much ice the day before and suffered from a headache and fever at night.
Concubine Cao, Guo Lingzhen's birth mother, stayed behind to take care of her.
The mother and daughter stayed in the Guo Mansion and didn't go to the manor with the others.
The wheels rumbled.
Guo Lingjia and Guo Linghui rode their horses, following on both sides of the carriage.
The third son of the Guo family had always been jealous of his second elder brother.
Guo Linghui had been smart and precocious since childhood and was a good student.
Lord Guo attached great importance to his second son.
With such an outstanding elder brother as a contrast, the third son of the Guo family seemed like a useless good-for-nothing.
He simply gave up on himself. Anyway, Lady Guo doted on him.
Accordingly, the third son of the Guo family felt extremely superior in front of the second son.
The third son of the Guo family thought to himself that no matter how good he was at studying, what was the use? In the end, the huge family business of the Guo family would still be his!
Since childhood, the third son of the Guo family had sneered at Guo Linghui countless times, mocking him for not being born to Lady Guo.
Guo Linghui's birth mother was just a maid and had passed away early.
Lady Guo couldn't be said to hate Guo Linghui and his mother, but in the inner courtyard, a few tricks were enough to make their lives difficult.
Later, when Guo Linghui went to the academy to study and passed the imperial examination to become a scholar, and was even a superior scholar - a lin-sheng, his situation improved a bit.
Only then did Lord Guo notice this son and began to allocate some resources to him and focus on cultivating him.
...
"Sister-in-law? Sister-in-law?"
Guo Lingwan shook Song Xiaoxiao's arm, worried that she might be feeling too hot.
Although Song Xiaoxiao had a past with Guo Linghui, she knew very little about his background.
During the journey, having nothing to do, Song Xiaoxiao asked Guo Lingwan to tell her all about the Guo family members.
His situation was so similar to hers.
No wonder she had been attracted by his aloof yet patient temperament back then, and no wonder he could understand her so well.
Song Xiaoxiao lowered the curtain of the carriage. Guo Linghui's handsome profile was soon blocked by the third son of the Guo family.
She fanned Guo Lingwan and said with a smile, "I was just distracted for a moment. I'm fine."
Guo Lingwan laughed. "Sister-in-law was looking at third elder brother so intently."
Song Xiaoxiao almost burst out laughing.
She suppressed the nausea in her heart and coaxed Guo Lingwan, "The scenery along the way is nice. The green trees form a canopy."
But Guo Lingwan said, "Yes, it's more pleasant to look at the flowers and grass than at third elder brother."
She couldn't help but compare. "They're both elder brothers, but in terms of appearance and charm, third elder brother isn't even worthy to carry second elder brother's shoes."
In fact, the third son and the second son of the Guo family looked somewhat similar in facial features, but their temperaments were worlds apart.
One was a dissolute and lecherous man, while the other was a noble gentleman. The difference was obvious.
Hearing Guo Lingwan's merciless but fair evaluation, Song Xiaoxiao laughed so hard that her stomach hurt.
She stuffed a candied fruit into Guo Lingwan's mouth. "You're telling the truth. Don't let your third elder brother hear it."
Guo Lingwan smiled with pursed lips.
Now let's talk about Jiaoniang Restaurant.
Fu Chengyi had secretly stayed there for three or five days.
His task was to take care of all kinds of odd jobs in the backyard.
Although it was hard work, Fu Chengyi enjoyed it.
His favorite thing to do was to clean the big kitchen.
When Qi Jiao and Zheng Huier made snacks, there were always a lot of leftovers.
In the past, they would give them to the homeless beggars on the street.
Now most of them were taken by Fu Chengyi.
Qi Jiao found it funny and said, "If you want to eat snacks, would I ever treat you badly? Why do you only eat these leftovers?"
Fu Chengyi stuffed a piece of white peach cloud cake into his mouth. "It's delicious! I like it!"
Then he picked up a rag and wiped the stove.
Seeing his worthless and silly look, Qi Jiao was too lazy to say anything. She just let him do whatever he wanted.
Soon it was time to pay the wages.
Fu Chengyi didn't expect that he would also get paid, and the amount of the wage exceeded his expectations.
"This... so much?"
Ye Pa nudged him with his elbow. "Do you think it's too much? Then give it to me."
Fu Chengyi gave him a sideways look and quickly took back the money bag. "Who would think money is too much? I'm not stupid."
Fu Chengyi turned to Qi Jiao and thanked her profusely. "Thank you, boss! You're so generous!"
Qi Jiao said, "Stop being so glib! If you work hard, I won't treat you badly."
Fu Chengyi beamed with joy and hummed a tune as he went to fetch water.
In the evening, Qi Jiao and Pei Xia were lying in bed talking.
"There have been no suspicious people outside these days."
"That's good. When the time is right, we'd better let Brother Fu Qi go back earlier. His staying in the store is always a potential danger."
Pei Xia gave a soft grunt and lowered his head to tug at Qi Jiao's belt.
*
The new items in the store were very popular.
Most of the ten or so baskets of fruits brought back from the island were soon sold out.
Qi Jiao carefully selected the freshest ones and sent a lot to regular customers like the Shu family, Lady Fang, as well as the Zhang and Guo families.
There was only one basket of coconuts left in the store.
She was going to make coconut cake.
She fetched some sweet well water, washed the glutinous rice clean, soaked it in clear water, and then finely ground it into a slurry.
Qi Jiao bought a stack of indigo leaves from the old woman who sold fresh herbs on the street. She washed them, chopped them up, mashed them, and then wrapped them in a clean white gauze to squeeze out the indigo leaf juice.
She squeezed the coconuts to get the white coconut milk.
Then she mixed the white rice slurry with cornstarch, stirred and kneaded it until it became elastic. Then she added sugar, milk, refined salt and the indigo leaf juice in turn and stirred them evenly.
Then she divided it into two equal parts. She mixed one part with the indigo leaf juice to make it green, and the other part with coconut milk to make it white.
She took a flat steaming tray, greased it with raw oil, poured in a layer of white rice slurry, steamed it in a steamer for half a moment until it was cooked, and then took it out.
Then she added a layer of green rice slurry and steamed it again. She repeated this process until there were eight layers in total.
Finally, she let the steamed indigo cake cool naturally in a ventilated place.
She took a knife and cut it into small diamond-shaped pieces, took them out and arranged them on a plate. The white and green colors were very pleasing to the eye.
The coconut cake was not only as soft as rice cake, but also had a bit of toughness in its sweetness without being cloying. The cake was brightly colored and smooth.
When Qi Jiao went to visit Lady Fang, she brought the coconut cake with her.
Fang Yunxin took a bite and only felt it was refreshing, sweet and smooth, with a strong coconut flavor.
"This cake is soft and glutinous. It tastes good."