Volume 1 In the Countryside Chapter 8 Disdain
On this day, the small Zhang family was in chaos because of the arrival of Zhu Ying, the daughter of a wealthy family.
Old Liu and Ah Liu went to the village cooper and hurriedly bought new wooden basins, wooden barrels and other utensils for the young lady to use as a makeshift.
Mrs. Wu and Aunt Liu were busy tidying up the main room where Zhang Shou had originally lived alone. After all, there were always some differences when a man lived in the room and a woman lived in the room.
As for Zhang Shou… Zhu Ying found that he had disappeared in a blink of an eye. Although she was a little annoyed, she could only persuade herself secretly that there was still a long time to come. Since she had already stayed, why would she be afraid that she would not have the opportunity to get to know Zhang Shou up close?
However, to Miss Zhu, everything in the Zhang family was shabby but fresh. It was not like she had never lived outside before, but that was a separate courtyard of the family, with countless servants following behind to fawn on her, and everything from utensils to food was carefully selected, and the so-called wild fun was just a pile of money just to make her smile. It was nothing like now, where everything had to be purchased and packed up urgently?
Seeing that everyone else was busy, thinking that Zhang Shou seemed to think that she could not do anything without a maid, she suddenly left the familiar environment of Zhaoguogong Mansion, and wanted to get familiar with the new environment, so she rolled up her sleeves and went to the main room to volunteer to help. However, when she accidentally overturned the wooden basin and almost splashed water all over herself, Wu couldn't bear it anymore.
She took the gorgeous young lady directly to the study separated from the main house.
Then a cup of hot tea was served, and the young lady was asked to "have a good rest".
Zhu Ying was very thankful that Zhang Shou was not there at the moment, otherwise if he saw her clumsiness, she would not know where to put her face after just saying such a big thing!
At this moment, she took a sip of the bland tea, and her eyes suddenly fell on the bookcases that stood on the wall. Her eyes lit up for a moment. But she took out a few books and flipped through them, only to find that they were just the Four Books and the Five Classics. There was not even a single novel or story that was often circulated among the ladies in the boudoir. She felt it was boring again.
But at this moment, she casually pulled out another book and opened it, only to find that it was a calligraphy book. Seeing that the handwriting was barely correct, but weak and powerless, not to mention the style, she couldn't help but frowned.
Even if she didn't practice calligraphy diligently since childhood, her writing is better than this!
"Growing up in such a peasant family, how could that person not be mediocre?"
The words that Zhu Gongquan had said before, pointing at the back of Zhang Shou's head, seemed to suddenly ring in her ears again. She felt as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on her excitement, and suddenly realized that Zhang Shou grew up in the countryside after all, and it was impossible for him to meet a famous teacher.
Feeling upset, she dropped the calligraphy paper, put it back to its place as if covering it up, and picked up another one.
But when she opened it, she saw the same rigid handwriting as a child's calligraphy. She glanced at the bookshelf and found that there were more than a dozen copybooks with similar bindings. She felt even more complicated.
Several generations of emperors were fond of calligraphy. Even her father, a military general, had a good and vigorous handwriting. She was forced by her grandmother to practice her handwriting to a decent standard. If Zhang Shou couldn't even write well, how could she become an official in the future?
Such a handsome and refined young man, who is far beyond the reach of many noble sons in the capital, should have won the top three honors in the imperial examinations, ridden in a parade through the streets, become a general or a prime minister... In short, he should stand at the highest position in the court and make those vulgar people feel ashamed!
How could he have such bad handwriting? What a pity! It seems that it was right for her to stay. Why didn't Dad find a famous teacher for him?
When she went around to the outer room, she saw Mrs. Wu and Aunt Liu busy at work. Miss Zhu, who was worried, slipped out immediately.
After entering the east and west wing rooms of the inner courtyard, she found that there was no one there. She thought for a moment and went to the outer courtyard. However, she saw that the door was ajar and everything was quiet, except for the kitchen. Knowing that the two male servants of the Zhang family had gone shopping, she almost thought that there was a thief. But when she suddenly lifted the curtain at the kitchen door, she saw that the person busy inside was Zhang Shou!
Zhu Ying asked almost subconsciously: "Why are you cooking?"
Zhang Shou had heard the noise at the door a long time ago, so he smiled and said without turning his head, "You want to say that a gentleman should stay away from the kitchen? Sorry, you saw it during the picnic at noon. I don't have that taboo. If you really can't bear to kill, then go and eat vegetarian food. Eating beef, mutton, fish and shrimp while lamenting the killing of animals with sympathy, that's a hypocrite, worse than a real villain!"
He paused, then continued slowly, "You, a young lady, are suddenly left in this poor countryside, where you can't even drink a cup of good tea. If you don't have enough to eat, when your family comes over, won't they think we treated you badly?"
He believed that food should be fine and delicate. When he first traveled through time, Aunt Liu's cooking skills, which were praised by his mother Wu as good, became monotonous and boring to him. Fortunately, he was a lonely gourmet in his previous life, otherwise he would definitely have stomach problems caused by the monotonous food in the countryside!
Of course, he had to create a recipe book for this purpose, saying that it was given to him by an old gentleman who was well-read in poetry and literature...
In fact, I am not trying to please the young lady on purpose, but a young man I know picked half a basket of wild vegetables and sent them to me. If I don’t process them, they will become old!
Thinking of the lunch, Zhu Ying understood clearly that Zhang Shou could make delicious food easily because he often cooked. But the more this happened, the more she felt uncomfortable.
How could it be worthwhile for such a handsome and elegant young man, who was an absolute sight to behold whenever he attended court, to spend energy on such matters?
After thinking it over, she tiptoed forward, intending to see what Zhang Shou was doing, but he turned his head and said again, "The kitchen is full of sharp knives and scalding steam. It's even harder to clean up if pots and pans are broken! Miss, you should go back and rest."
Having just been despised in the main room, Miss Zhu heard the despised tone again. She was already worried about Zhang Shou's handwriting and immediately asked angrily, "Can you compare to the famous chef in Beijing?"
"Haha." Zhang Shou sneered, "How much is a meal prepared by a famous chef in Beijing worth? How much is a meal prepared by a farmer in our countryside worth? There is a huge difference. It is incomparable. However, home-cooked food is never boring. As for famous chefs... some are really talented, while others are just famous. There are very few famous restaurants and famous chefs that people can eat at for ten consecutive days."
Zhu Ying was speechless. She was tired of this famous restaurant in Beijing after just two meals!
She opened her mouth and suddenly wanted to ask Zhang Shou what was wrong with his clumsy handwriting. She also wanted to hear from him that it was not his handwriting but the handwriting of Wu or someone else. However, when the words came to her lips, she finally held them back.
His life story must be a mystery, why did she carelessly poke at his sore spot? Besides, calligraphy can be practiced. At worst, she can go back to Beijing and ask her grandmother to teach Zhang Shou to write well!
Yes, yes, she must not let him know that she had secretly looked at the calligraphy works on his bookshelf!
Zhang Shou had no idea what was going on in the young lady's mind, so he half coaxed and half deceived her and finally persuaded her to leave.
Although she had some doubts in her heart, Zhu Ying was still looking forward to this dinner. During the picnic at noon, she would enjoy the delicious food and the beautiful woman. If everyone sat together for dinner, wouldn't she be able to look at him openly?
However, when it was time for dinner, she waited in the main room and saw Wu come in alone with a tray. When she saw Wu smilingly put a plum blossom-shaped box and two small bowls with lids on the table, she was stunned.
When she opened the box, she was even more puzzled. It was not because she recognized some of the dishes but had never seen others before, but because she found that although there were many kinds of food and it was very rich, it should only be enough for one person.
"This is cold-mixed amaranth, stir-fried plantain, steamed rabbit with lotus leaf flour, steamed fish with fermented rice wine, steamed dumplings with soup, wild vegetable and egg pancakes... These two small bowls contain tofu and fish paste soup and steamed rice with mushrooms and ham cubes."
Wu, who personally delivered these, smiled shyly and continued, "Ah Shou said that Yingying, this is your first time living in the countryside, and you must be uncomfortable eating with strangers all of a sudden. It's better for everyone to share the food."
After Mrs. Wu left with a smile, Miss Zhu was left alone in the huge main room to enjoy the exquisite and small dinner on the square table. She couldn't help but slam her chopsticks on the table, feeling so angry that her teeth were itching.
You were talking so nicely in the kitchen just now, but now you're talking about sharing food! When did I ever say that I can't eat at the same table with strangers? Didn't I eat lunch with you?
Zhang Shou, I don’t even dislike your terrible handwriting, how dare you dislike me!
