Blissful Days After Widowhood

    The child slept until the twilight and did not wake up.

    Gu Yin thought of the doctor's order to eat less and eat more frequently, and dressed him up and carried him to the main room.

    The evening meal is the vegetable porridge cooked by Gu Yin and some elbows left at noon.

    Since he is in poor health, he can no longer eat big meat, so Gu Yin only feeds him porridge.

    The child sniffed the smell of the meat, and pointed at the meat to eat with his eyes wide.

    Gu Yin took an elbow and put it in front of his nose. Seeing that he closed his eyes again, Wang Shi crouched beside him and fed a spoonful of vegetable porridge.

    The child opened his mouth to eat the porridge, and seemed to feel that something was not right in his mouth, so he smashed it several times. But there was indeed a strong meat aroma in front of his nose, and he opened his mouth after eating.

    Gu Yin and Wang Shi looked at each other and snickered, and then finished feeding a small bowl of vegetable porridge in this way.

    Seeing that the child fell asleep again, Gu Yin took him back into the room, and then came out to eat with Wang.

    Wang's squatting legs were numb, and while beating his own legs, he said: "When will this little brat not be afraid of me? In my own house, I have to be so sneaky, squatting old lady's legs. It's all numb."

    Gu Yin and Xiao Wuan both reached out to help her when they heard this, but they were blocked by her.

    "Eat dinner, I'll go to bed and lie down for a while."

    After dinner, Wang sent Xiao Wuan back to the house and followed Gu Yin to her house.

      ."

    I finally caught him, and naturally I can't let him go out and wander.

    Gu Yin nodded, then took out a light summer shirt from the cage, and tied the two sleeves of the clothes to her and the child's wrists.

     Mrs. Wang looked at her own regulations, and instructed her a few things to note when going to work the next day, so she went back to the house to rest.

    Gu Yinfu lay down again, and it didn't take long before she heard a sound on the door.

    Thinking that it was Mrs. Wang who turned back to talk, she stood up and asked, "Did you forget to say something, mother?"

    Gu Yin saw that he was only wearing a middle coat and came over, gave way to the inside, patted the vacant seat outside and waved to him.

    Xiao Wu'an walked to the bed, pinched the hem of her clothes and refused to go up, "Mother said that I am an older child and can't be like that again."

    Gu Yin thought for a moment and said, "The book says that men and women are not seated at the age of seven. You are still six months old."

    "Is there really such a sentence?" Xiao Wu'an asked as he took off his shoes and went to bed.

    "Really," Gu Yin covered him with the quilt, "If you don't believe me, ask your brother Qingchuan next time."

    Xiao Wuan lay down side by side with him, his eyes passed Gu Yin again, and looked at the child on the other side of her who was sleeping on his back.

    Gu Yin noticed his gaze and asked him softly, "What's the matter? Is there a whisper to tell my sister-in-law?"

    Xiao Wuan put his hands on his face and said sullenly: "No, no..."

    He doesn't really know how to lie, and when he speaks hesitantly, it is obvious that he has something on his mind.

    Gu Yin simply changed her words, "Let me guess, is there a child in the family, are you upset?"

    "No!" He hurriedly denied it, paused for a while, and then whispered: "Okay, a little..." Then he stretched out his little hand again, his thumb pinched his index finger Fingertips, "Just a little bit."

    Although he has a brother above him, he has never seen him since he was born, and when he grows up, he is treated as an only child.

    After the child came today, his mother and sister-in-law were all around him, he didn't know what was wrong with him, and his heart was sour. In order to attract the attention of his family, he rarely acted like a spoiled child, arguing that he wanted to eat elbows again.

    Gu Yin hugged him and patted him, and asked tentatively, "Why don't we send him away?"

    "No way!" Xiao Wu'an immediately panicked, "It's so cold outside, he's so young, even younger than me! No way!"

    Gu Yin just knew that he was a good boy with a soft heart, so she asked that deliberately, and at this moment she couldn't help but smile: "You also said that he is younger than you, and he is outside After wandering for so long, I just came to our house, it must have taken a lot of work. Otherwise... you have made yourself dirty, and my mother and I will help you take a bath? "

    Xiao Wuan was a little embarrassed to sleep with her, let alone let them help with the bath, and immediately blushed: "No! I can wash myself!"

    Gu Yin bent her lips and patted him lightly, "Little fool, mother and sister-in-law must still like you the most."

    Xiao Wu'an listened to her softly explained and comforted, thinking of the first time he saw a child when he miserably robbed other people's leftovers to eat, closed his eyes and murmured softly : "The mother and sister-in-law can still like him a little more...but not too much, just as much as they like me."

    "Good boy." Gu Yin saw him fall asleep, tucked him and the child into a quilt, and also lay down and fell asleep.

    However, she only slept until dawn, and the two well-behaved children wet the bed together. Gu Yin could only grab both of them from the bed and change the bedding. The two little guys fell asleep again after a while, but she couldn't sleep any longer, so she simply boiled water to wash the bedding.

    Not long after she got up from her side, Wang also came out of the room.

    Hearing her talk about the two children's urination kang, Mrs. Wang almost laughed, "I wanted to remind you to be careful about this yesterday, but I forgot about it later. Wu An, this kid too, Why did you go to sleep at your place?"

    Gu Yin chatted with Wang Shi about Wu An's mood again, and said sternly: "It is not a trivial matter to not suffer from too few but to suffer unevenly. But fortunately, Wu An is generous and kind, I After persuading him yesterday, he is no longer unhappy."

    "Is this kid stupid?" Wang said with a smile, "He was born by me, how can I still like others to go over him?"

    The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law were talking and washed the bedding, wrung it dry, and hung it in the corridor.

    "The child has to take care of the mother during the day. I think he actually understands people's words. You explain to him and I will be back in the evening."

    Wang nodded and said it was natural, and then sent Gu Yin out of the house.

    It snowed again the night before, and the morning was gloomy again. Gu Yin put on her big cotton robe again, and when she walked to the entrance of the alley, she saw the carriage that was riding before. .

    Gu Yin walked over quickly, Wen Peifeng in the carriage heard the sound and came out.

    "Why does the shopkeeper Wen come to pick him up in person?"

    Wen Peifeng got out of the car and put on the footstool, let her step on it, and then he sat next to the driver and sat on the cab.

    "The wind and snow was heavy that day, I was afraid that the little lady would only walk once and not know the way. Besides, you were kicked out for failing to introduce the little lady to the old man that day. I feel guilty, and I will make up for it today.”

    This job opportunity of Wen's family is all thanks to Wen Peifeng. Gu Yin has regarded him as a friend, so she smiled inside: "Then thank you."

    The two stopped speaking, and arrived at Wen's house in a quarter of an hour.

    Wen Peifeng had to go to the rice shop, so he did not enter the mansion again, but he invited the old mother in the mansion to accompany him, and by the way explained to Gu Yin the general operation of the Wen family.

    The old mother is much older than Wang Shi, half of her hair is white, and she looks kind-hearted.

    She was already waiting at the door in this weather, Gu Yin got out of the car and hurriedly greeted her.

    "You don't have to be so polite, little lady, just call me Hua Mama." Hua Mama said and pulled Gu Yin up.

    She was the maid of the late Mrs. Wen Tai, and she never got married.

    Later, Mrs. Tai was gone, and Mother Hua asked to leave the mansion. The old man thought that she had no relatives next to her, so she let her live in the mansion. Later, when he left Beijing, he also took her out.

    The two went to Wen's house hand in hand, the housekeepers at the door were still cleaning the snow, and the second housekeeper was the one leading the way.

    The housekeepers voluntarily gave way when they saw Mother Hua, but the second housekeeper stood at the door and did not move.

    When Mrs. Tai was still there, the second housekeeper naturally wanted to respect Hua Mama, but Mrs. Tai was long gone, and Mama Hua became a leisurely meal in the house. The things of the Wen family in Hanshan Town are treated as their own room. Not only does he have a bad face towards the big room, but he also has no respect for such a mother Hua.

    Mother Hua didn't care about him and patted Gu Yin on the back of the hand, motioning her to bypass the second housekeeper.

    But when the two go to the left, the second butler with his back to them also goes to the left, and they go to the right, and the second butler also goes to the right.

    Mama Hua had a sullen look on her eyebrows, but Gu Yin was not angry, she called out with a smile, "Second housekeeper!"

    Her voice was clear and crisp, and she was blown away by the wind.

    "What are you calling me!" The second housekeeper turned around unhappily, "Why is it you again?"

     "Yes, thanks to the second housekeeper, I came to see the job before. In the future, I will have to trouble the second housekeeper to help and take care of it."

    The second housekeeper made her scalp numb when she shouted the word "two", "My surname is Zhang, you can just call me housekeeper Zhang!"

    He pretended again, as if he had just seen Mother Hua, and took two steps back, "Why did Mother Hua come out, I'm busy instructing people to work, and I didn't see you. old man."

    Mother Hua is too old to care about such trivial matters with him, so she nodded slightly as a greeting.

      You can't eat and walk around!"

    Yes, this is another deliberate stab.

      "

    "Me, surname, Zhang!" The second housekeeper gritted his teeth, but Gu Yin was the one who cooked for the old man, not a servant of the house, and he could not discipline him.

    Gu Yin smiled and did not answer, following in the footsteps of Hua's mother.

    Rao is Hua's mother who can stand things like this, so she couldn't help laughing.

    "How did the little lady know he was going to fall?"

    Gu Yin whispered, "How can I have that unpredictable ability, I just saw that he was wearing soft satin shoes on a snowy day, with a thin layer on the bottom, and said casually."

    The two of them passed the hanging flower door, walked through the hand porch, and reached the Wen's large kitchen.

    This large kitchen is not as large as the back kitchen of Wangyuelou, with a total of five large stoves and a row of small tandoors. All kinds of ingredients are slightly messy on the middle counter. But in the end, it is much better than Gu Yin's own small kitchen.

    There was someone in the kitchen at this time, a fat middle-aged man like making bread and buns was the original chef of the house, Master Xu, who was responsible for cooking for several masters in the family. There are also two 14th and 5th assistant chefs, who are apprentices of Master Xu, and are responsible for cooking for other servants in the family on a daily basis.

    Gu Yin greeted them, Master Xu sat on the back bamboo chair and slowly lifted his eyelids to look at her. Although he didn't say anything, his expression was already contemptuous.

    The two little helpers didn't talk to her when they saw their master like this.

    Gu Yin didn't care, she took off the big cotton robe and put it aside.

    Mother Hua said: "The weather has been bad recently, the old man fell asleep in the morning, and he probably didn't get up. The old man likes to eat noodles in the morning, as for what flavor he wants to eat, I don't know. ."

    The old man has been very picky about food recently, so Mother Hua did not dare to say what the old man wanted to eat, so she comforted: "But since the old man has invited the little lady over, he must be very satisfied. Little lady's craftsmanship, you can do whatever you want."

    Gu Yin turned around and saw a piece of beef on the table.

    This is something that can be eaten at any time in the future, but at this time it is rarer than other things on the table. It is illegal to kill a cow, unless it is a sudden death or a sick cow, it can be killed legally. The supply of beef is in short supply, so big families like Wen's family can buy such fresh beef.

    Mother Hua followed her line of sight and said, "The old man liked beef very much when he was young, but when he has bad teeth, he eats less."

    Gu Yin nodded and asked the old man what to avoid. Looking at the gloomy sky outside, she was ready to make ramen noodles in clear soup and oily noodles.

      , moderately soft and hard dough. Then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a large dough, use a knife to cut the dough into three-finger strips, and then use a knife horizontally to cut the strips into small squares.

     Brush cooking oil on the plate, put the cubes in, brush with oil, cover with cloth and set aside to wake up.

    In a quarter of an hour after waking up, Gu Yin cut a small piece of beef and cooked a large pot of beef soup.

    When the noodles woke up, Gu Yin sprinkled a handful of flour on the counter and started to pull the noodles.

    The noodle was shaking in her hand and fell on the chopping board, divided into two, and then divided into four... more and more and more and more thin. In the end, it became as thin as a hair. As for the remaining half of the noodles, Gu Yin flicked both ends of her chopsticks, and it became a wide dough.

    At this time, Master Xu couldn't help sitting up straight.

    He thought that the old man could not eat the food made by him, nor the food made by other famous masters. Obviously, the reason was not their cooking skills, but the old man himself. Now recruiting such a little lady, it is estimated that it will not last long.

    When he saw Gu Yin, a craftsman, he realized that he was wrong - this is obviously a real skill!

    Place the ramen and wide noodles into the pot separately, Gu Yin put some salt in the pot, fished out the beef, cut the beef into thin slices with a knife, put it back into the pot and continued to cook .

    When she turned her head and saw that Hua Mama was still with her, Gu Yin was grateful and asked, "Do you want to eat some?"

    She only uses flour, and the Wen family eats refined grains every day. So Hua's mother felt that it was not arrogant, she nodded and said: "The little lady will use it for the old man first, and we can share the rest."

    Gu Yin replied with a smile, at the same time shredded cucumber, patted minced garlic, put it in a large bowl, and added cooked sesame seeds and a pinch of chili noodles.

      , just to hook out people's greed.

    After the two things were done, it was bright outside, and the servant who was waiting for Mrs. Wen came to pick up the food box.

    …

    Mr. Wen had already woken up and was playing the five-animal show in the yard. He didn't see the boy who brought the food box, but he smelled it first.

    "What does this do?"

    The servant said: "I made two kinds of noodles, the small ones look quite novel, would you like to try them?"

    Mr. Wen entered the house and asked him to lay out the food. A bowl of ramen noodles was refreshing, with a clear soup base, slender noodles, and green chopped green onions, which made people look very appetizing . Another bowl of oil-splashed noodles, the bright red noodle soup, the wide noodles and shredded cucumber soaked in chili oil, makes people drool.

    One light, one oily spicy, obviously no matter what flavor he wants to eat, he can take care of it.

    Mr. Wen first tasted the noodle soup, the noodle soup was light, but not bland and tasteless, full of the aroma of beef. The noodles looked slender, but they were very strong. The beef as thin as a cicada's wings had not undergone complex processing, retaining its original taste, and it was perfectly cut along the texture of the beef, and it melted in the mouth.

    Unconsciously, Mrs. Wen ate half a bowl of ramen, and the sweat broke out on her body, which made her uncomfortable. The smell of another bowl of oil-splashed noodles was also very fragrant. He was about to say Try it too, Mr. Wen came over to greet him.

    After returning to Hanshan Town, Mr. Wen spared his children and grandchildren the etiquette in Beijing. Mr. Wen came here to care about the appetite of the old father.

    Seeing that the old man had already eaten it, Master Wen loosened his face, picked up another pair of chopsticks on the table, and tasted the oily noodles.

    Both father and son put their chopsticks on their faces, and the old man suddenly patted his head, "No, didn't I hire a little cook who cooks porridge? How can you bring me noodles, that girl? What about people? Don't be the cook who bullies her for her new arrival, and specifically prevents her from cooking for me!"

    Gu Yin's skill in cooking porridge is beyond doubt. It is not easy for her to master this subject at her age. The old lady never thought that she was proficient in all the white cases.

    When the little servant went to take the food box, the two bowls of noodles were already packed. He also took the things and left. He didn't know what the old man was talking about, but the servants in the house Most of the people are people from the former second room, so there is no need to say more about how they behave.

    The old man went to the big kitchen in person, and was already thinking about how to help Gu Yinfa to get rid of the servant who bullied her.

    At this time, Gu Yin was teaching Master Xu how to pull ramen.

    Master Xu can do both red and white cases, but he does not have a teacher. Curious and embarrassed to look forward.

    In the end, I couldn't hold it anymore, and came to ask for advice with a red face.

    Although Gu Yin had been slapped by him before, she would always be more tolerant towards people she likes. She also does not have the stereotyped idea of ​​passing on the craft to her family like the people of the time, and the Wen family only has this big kitchen, where she cooks three meals a day, and she can't hide her craftsmanship. Smooth water.

    Gu Yin showed him another pull.

    Master Xu also followed suit. Even with many years of experience in cooking, the noodles he pulled out for the first time were not satisfactory, with different thickness and disconnection.

    Gu Yin pointed him a few more words, and he nodded again and again, but after he wrote it down, he couldn't try it again - if they could eat something like white noodles, the host was generous, and they kept taking it. It's hard to say if you come to practice.

    The damaged noodles should not be wasted. After Chef Xu cooks it, he gives Gu Yin a bowl first, then a large bowl for himself, and the rest is for the two little apprentices to eat.

    Hua's mother still ate the ramen Gu Yin made before. She stayed for a while because she was afraid that she would be bullied by Master Xu. Later, seeing that they got along well, she said goodbye and left.

    When Mrs. Wen went to the big kitchen, what she saw was Gu Yin sitting on the only bamboo chair in the kitchen, Master Xu and two young apprentices squatting beside her with big bowls in a circle.

    Master Xu's body like a mountain of flesh stood in front of Gu Yin, and was quietly holding the chopsticks to pull beef from her bowl.

    "It's not good," Gu Yin ducked with her bowl, pressed her throat and hesitated: "It's good to eat white noodles, but it's a little bit..."

    Master Xu also lowered his voice, "There's nothing wrong, the little master can rest assured to eat. The owners will not come to the kitchen for ten thousand years, how can this half-mouth meat still care about us? If I don't eat, how can I grow so fat?"

    Gu Yin still had to refuse, and when she looked up, she saw Mrs. Wen standing at the door.

    Mr. Wen had his hands behind his back and said without a smile, "Cook Xu, dare you to have such a long body?"

    Master Xu sat on the ground in fright, and the fat on his face trembled.

    He was about to plead for mercy and ask the old man not to let him go. In this Hanshan Town, there is no such a generous and rich owner as the Wen family!

    Mr. Wen didn't look at him, raised her chin at Gu Yin, "Come with me."

    Master Xu sat on the ground and exhaled a big breath, and watched Gu Yin stand up with a tragic expression, and almost wrote the words "good journey" on his face.

    Gu Yin: Not really, really not.