By Jia Xiuzhen

Just as she was talking, Mother Xin came in with a cup in her hand, and seeing the freshly brewed tea in Daiyu's hand, she smiled and said, "Oh, I'm still a step too late."

Then he put the blue and white triple stew pot in front of Daiyu and said: "Girl, the soup just stewed is not very hot, drink it while it is hot to warm your body."

Lifting the lid, I saw a clear soup with a light yellow color, emitting a faint scent of heat.When Daiyu heard about the stewed soup, she didn't want to drink it, but now she saw that it was very bland, so she reluctantly nodded.

Mo Ge'er had already brought a soup bowl and a ladle, and Madam Xin carefully scooped out a bowl, Daiyu took a sip with the spoon, it was not particularly salty or sweet, but it was very moist, with some familiar fresh fragrance.Obediently drank a bowl, and sure enough, my body became much warmer.The stewing pot was only the size of a fist, and there was not much left after scooping out a bowl, Daiyu shook her head, and Mammy Xin asked someone to take it down.

After rinsing her mouth and hands, and making another tea, Daiyu asked, "What kind of soup is this? I thought it was Lan'er's normal food."

Sister Xin smiled and said, "We dare not compare with Brother, I am afraid that a goose can fit in that big stew pot."

Daiyu laughed sullenly when she heard this.

Mother Xin said again: "I don't think the girl likes meat. This is a soup stewed with radishes, pears, lotus root, Chinese cabbage, water chestnuts, ginger sprouts, and pheasant breast meat. Originally, chicken breast meat was not used, but rings or hard bones. Begonia is called Seven Gentlemen Soup; if the pheasant breast meat is used, it will not be called by this name, it will be called Peacock Spreading the Tail. It should not be too lonely in winter, the pheasant breast meat is thin and tender, without a trace of oil Xing, is it okay for the girl to use it?"

Daiyu smiled and said: "I said, why do I always feel a little familiar, but I can't say it out. It turns out that these things are stewed together. It doesn't feel fishy and greasy, and now my hands and feet are warm. "

Mother Xin was relieved after hearing what Daiyu said.Mo Ge'er was frantically changing Daiyu into a pair of soft suede suede boots that she wore in the room, and Daiyu smiled and said, "These are interesting, but I can also wear boots in the room."

Mo Ge'er smiled and said, "Nurse Xin said that the feet should not be cold, not only the soles of the feet should not be cold, but the ankles are also prone to cough if they catch cold. This is what we rushed out in the past two days. Miss, try to see if it fits well. .”

Inside the pink and white suede is extremely thick curly wool, just reaching the calf, and a circle of fluffy curls is folded back from the extension. Because it is soft and well wrapped, the whole looks like a huge pole. Big thick socks.

Daiyu tried to take two steps, and said with a smile: "It's really warm and easy to walk, I don't even want to change the other shoes." Mother Xin laughed and said, "You can't go out with soft soles. Girls like this kind of shoes." , we can make two pairs that can be worn outside."

While talking, Mo Ge'er had already changed the hand stove and came over. Madam Xin took it and tried it out before stuffing it into Daiyu's arms, and persuaded her, "I'm going to grandma's place after breakfast, I'm afraid the girl is a little tired too. , it’s better to take a break, it will take some time for the old lady to pass the meal.”

Daiyu thought for a while and said, "I'm afraid I'm going to be sleepy at night if I'm tilted, so I might as well read the book."

Nanny Xin nodded, took a warm thick velvet blanket and spread it on the crescent armchair where Daiyu usually reads, and made a light warm ginger pomelo with a parrot-billed teapot and sat in the warm bucket , and buckled a thick-walled teacup with ears on the side of the warm barrel.

He smiled and said: "We are all waiting outside. When the girl wants to hire someone, she only needs to call. Here is very weak warm ginger grapefruit tea, which was sent by the grandma."

Daiyu smiled and said, "Okay, mother, I'm just reading the book for a while, so it's so troublesome to use it."

Sister Xin smiled and said: "What's the trouble, the girl is a noble person, she deserves it anyway, if the old slave doesn't take good care of her, the master can still get it if he knows it!"

Daiyu smiled without saying a word, and Nanny Xin said to everyone in the room: "Okay, let the girl have a quiet time, and go outside with me, don't make loud noises for the girl, and don't mess around when the girl is not calling. Excuse me." Saying that, he blessed Daiyu and led everyone to the outside room.

Zicuckoo opened her mouth, but didn't say anything, and quickly took her embroidery work and went outside to find a place by the window to sit down and do her work.I heard Xueyan whispering to Mo Ge'er: "The old lady installed a big glass window before winter, which is transparent and bright. Let's install the glass window sometime, and it will save the girl reading a book." Lighting the lamp hurts the eyes."

Mo Ge'er also lowered his voice and said: "There is nothing you can do about it. If you are at home, you can talk about it anyway. Now that you live in this mansion, it's not good if there are no girls around. Let's get excited first. , let people say that we are ignorant."

Xueyan nodded and said, "That's not it. The last time the grandma paid for Lan Ge'er's study, she paid two yuan, and she was gobbled up by a group of women."

Mo Ge'er said: "There are a lot of people talking, we are not from here, we should be more careful, so as not to hurt the girl's face." Xueyan nodded repeatedly.

Zicuckoo listened to it and felt a little uncomfortable.After a while, I saw Nanny Xin coming out of the opposite room, gave some instructions to several people, and then went to the kitchen and tea room to order some soup for the evening.

Back in the days of Nanny Wang, Zijuan was in charge of the money in Daiyu’s room and the daily rewards, but now Nanny Xin behaves in a completely different way, although she has never touched the money in Zijuan’s control Things, but it seems that there is another account.

Zijuan was originally the second-class girl in front of the old lady, but she is the first-class girl in Daiyu's house. According to the rules of Jia's house, there are no big girls in the house for girls who have not left the cabinet or brothers and men who are not married. The one at the top is a monthly bill of money.There is an attacker in Baoyu's room who pays one tael of silver a month. Although he serves in front of Baoyu, he is still counted in Jiamu's room, occupying one of the eight big girls in Jiamu's room.

Zicuckoo like this, is like a servant of calligraphy, painting and chess, etc., it is a monthly case of hanging money.Since Nanny Xin came, she gave Zijuan an extra amount of money every month. She only said it was a reward from the girl, but it looked like another monthly money from the Lin family.And there are also many rewards when dealing with tea kitchen chefs.

Daiyu's monthly ratio is a few more than that of Baoyu's Sanchun, and a month is a monthly ratio of two taels of silver. It is not suitable for flowers to get some gold and silver zippers during the festivals.

Zijuan paid attention to it for a few days, and found that Nanny Xin's current handwriting could not be supported by Daiyu's two taels a month, presumably the aunt had other arrangements.She didn't know that in the past, Grandma Wang held thousands of taels of silver for Daiyu, and now Nanny Xin was specially hired by Lin Ruhai to take care of Daiyu, money and so on were trivial matters.

It's just that in this way, Zijuan, the big girl in charge of money, is a bit of a misnomer, and can only be regarded as a big girl in charge of monthly money.

Since Mother Xin came here, within a few days she found out the whole of Jia's mansion, even the rules and regulations are not bad, she looks like a child of Jia's family.Once he was familiar with the rules, he ran to the kitchen and the waiter three times a day on the pretext that his daughter was weak.I don't know what's wrong with her, but even those women who have always complained a lot become kinder to the girls in Daiyu's room.

She also said that the girl grew up in the south, and some of her habits are different from those in the north. Although she said she could do whatever she wanted, but now the old lady treats the girl like her own granddaughter and her own daughter. .The first one is the meal of the day.

Now Lin Daiyu would have a cup of warm soup when she got up early, and after washing, she would have a cup of bird's nest with rock sugar or millet porridge with bird's nest for breakfast.After breakfast was eaten in the old lady's room, she had to walk outside before returning to her room to rest.

In the afternoon, there is another afternoon snack, which is usually softer freshly steamed cakes, Bazhen cake, Yulu cake, blood glutinous date cake, Poria milk cake, chestnut flour honeycomb cake, served with various soups.

After supper, Daiyu often reads the book, and here is another evening meal, supper, mostly porridge for calming the nerves, such as longan porridge, Jianlian jujube porridge, Xiaojianzhong porridge, walnut cheese, and almond milk.

Daiyu never eats much, she usually only eats five or six meals out of ten meals, but now she is doing well, even if she eats half a bowl of porridge and a piece of cake for five meals a day, it will last a day Not too many.It's just that these porridge, rice and cakes are always made by Madam Xin, which is really a bit of a hassle.At first there were people who were waiting to see the jokes, but unexpectedly, the kitchen and tea room were always unstoppable, and whoever had trouble with money actually served them respectfully.

Daiyu doesn't ask questions about worldly affairs by nature, let alone counting money. Mother Xin is so fussy, and she always tells her how the master will explain to her that he must serve the girl well, and so on. When Daiyu was at home when she was young, she wished that the whole mansion would surround her She turned around alone, and now Zijuan and the others looked at her speechless, but Daiyu could still take it calmly.

So and so, but in less than a month, this matter has become a regular practice.It's just that in this way, the food and beverage rewards alone cost tens of taels a month, which doesn't count the cost of ingredients.

That's not counting, even in daily life at home, Mother Xin also has a way of saying it.For curtains and curtains, it is not allowed to use velvet even in winter, because the velvet surface will also accumulate dust, and when it is hung, there will be flying dust, which will also cause coughing.Cushions and pillows should not be made of smooth surfaces, but because of the increasing cold in winter, smooth fabrics tend to be icy.

Two sets of suede pillows of the same color are required for the production of mattresses, and they are replaced every day. They are taken out of the yard and patted to dry to prevent dust accumulation.

The charcoal basin was also removed from the house, and a geese lying flat sand-style enamel stove was brought in from the outside, and the smoke could be sucked into the geese's belly.Qingshui Shizi raised several pots of narcissus, but they moved them out as soon as they bloomed. The reason is that the fragrance of flowers is too strong and disturbs people's tranquility.It was only when Li Wan sent a few clumps of green velvet green grass to grow, that it stopped.

These few pots of grass are placed for some greenery, but the most important thing is to use the clear water to dissolve the dryness of the burning coals in the house. In this case, we must pay attention to the water and stones.

All this and so on, although everyone had already secretly thought that Mother Jia loved Daiyu more than Baoyu, only after seeing Mother Xin's handwriting did they realize that there are mountains beyond mountains, and Mrs. Lin regarded Miss Lin as a fairy. Keep alive.Although it is inevitable that there will be more complaints, it gradually convinces people that Miss Lin is indeed extremely precious.

Nanny Xin didn't take precautions against others about what happened in Lin Daiyu's room, so she naturally knew about it.Li Wan didn't say anything else, just seeing the aura of Nanny Xin smashing the silver on the kitchen and the waiter, she couldn't help admiring. When it comes to things like gold and silver, who can compare with herself?But she lamented that she didn't have that kind of momentum, and she felt that she was acting too arrogant even if she made Nanny Chang go to the kitchen a few more times.And look at Nanny Xin, she's so upright and confident, it's really incomparable.

Nanny Chang praised another thing: "Mommy Xin's cakes and soups are very particular. It doesn't matter once or twice, but it's like this every day, and the arrangements are well arranged. If it wasn't for the deep understanding of diet People with experience, even if they give her a ready-made list, they can’t do this. For example, the day before yesterday, they said that the jujube stuffing should be fried with meat oil after the winter solstice, and it has to be steamed to eat. It’s wonderful! But it’s very troublesome. , It is difficult for ordinary people to be so careful."

Madam Yan said: "Although it's a bit surprising, this mama did not deviate from the rules. She never hindered any master's serious business, and there was never a bad word from the teahouse cook. We used to Going to buy fish for a tael of silver and making people laugh in private is a big deal. It can be seen that this nanny is extraordinary."

Li Wan swallowed secretly when he heard this, the gold and silver in his place were like dirt, so it was inevitable that he would loosen his hands, but it was unexpected that he would suffer humiliation because of this.In this way, gold, silver and banknotes cannot buy real respect.Biyue said from the side: "That's right, if we want more hot water, we need to pay more money than the yard next to it. It seems that we are sure that we are rich."

Nanny Chang said: "Money doesn't come from the wind, so we can't get used to their problems."

Biyue pouted and said, "Not grandma yet, she always says she's too lazy to argue with them, she'll do whatever she wants, a few coins are nothing."

Nanny Chang and Nanny Yan turned their heads to stare at Li Wan this time, and Li Wan said with a sneer: "You girl, I'm talking about when you're in a hurry. Naturally, you can't be like this on weekdays. It's against their courage. .”

Su Yun said: "If they don't give enough, they won't say anything, but next time they will have to push back. If they gave enough once, they will inevitably want to point out more next time. It's really hateful."

Li Wan smiled and said: "Okay, that's the thing. It's not that you don't know. Money doesn't matter, because of money we can make decisions. Besides, if the slaves are negligent, I really need them to reason. They can find out a hundred explanations for you. You can’t come up with the idea that the old ladies and gentlemen put the most important things first. I’m not in charge, and I don’t have the means to catch them and beat them up and sell them. Going out. I don’t have the sympathy to say a few words of kindness in an emergency to reward a good future. Isn’t that the way it is? Naturally, Mother Xin has a lot of means, and there is an old lady like a big Buddha, so it’s naturally the same as ours. Two dishes, what is there to complain about."

Nanny Chang smiled and said, "Grandma made it clear."

Yan Momo thought about it, but in the end she just sighed.Jia Lan, who was reading a book on the sidelines, disagreed, and said, "Why are things that belong to us deliberately tripping us up?"

Nanny Chang laughed and said, "My brother didn't listen to the truth. In ordinary life, there are always a few people who should have a rule. Grandma deserves eight dishes for a meal, and my brother is also average. There is a rule for this, and there are ready-made checks. Ordinarily, no one would dare to deduct it at will. If I change my brother, I want to take a bath tonight, and I want two buckets of hot water. There is no rule to follow. The tricky servants can say that they have sealed the stove and waited for the old lady to give it to the old lady in the morning. It’s breakfast, or there’s soup on the stove and it’s unstoppable. There are all kinds of things, even the master can’t do anything about it. In the back house, there are many troubles and troubles in such places, and servants are often in such places.”

Jia Lan thought for a while and said, "Since that's the case, it's justified to give some money, and this has become a business. It's just that Sister Suyun said just now that he obviously sells the same bun for two pennies. If I insist on selling it for ten pennies, isn’t that deceiving people too much?”

Nanny Chang nodded and said: "That's true, how about that brother?"

Jia Lan said: "If it's really like the bun shop, then naturally I won't buy from him, and I won't take care of his business from now on."

Nanny Chang shook her head and said, "That's different. It's his only business. Except for the hot water next to here, except for the kitchen, we want some soup and vegetables but we don't have a small kitchen. Yes So we can only do business with him."

Jia Lan quickly said: "If this is the case, you can only gather him in your hands and become one of your own, or pinch his handle so that he will not dare to make mistakes, or if it really doesn't work, you can only change to someone who is more obedient. people."

Yan Momo was taken aback, Chang Momo nodded and smiled beside her and said: "That's right, not only people in our house who want some hot water, but even the people in the court and between the government offices are also roughly That’s what it means. My brother is really clever.” In the end, it’s just the word control, Jia Lan’s heart is clear, but seeing Yan Mama’s worried face, she doesn’t dare to say more, just smiles innocently, as if what she said just now is nothing more He seemed to be talking nonsense for a while.