There is a north-south river in Yunhuai County called Yunhuai River. In the early days, in order to facilitate water collection, the government dug out three small tributaries. The smallest one was called Huaixi River. The people took the nearest alley.
It's called Linxi Lane.
This alley is not as commercially developed as the streets next to the other two tributaries, and the people living in it are poor people. Fortunately, the neighbors are harmonious, and everyone helps each other, so they can barely get by.
As for celebrities in the alley, everyone's first reaction must be Jiang Ran, the original "Yunhuai's No. 1 courtesan". In the past, everyone was curious about why she didn't marry a wealthy family and live a life of no worries about food and clothing, but her life
After a while, everyone realized that she was a gentle and kind-hearted girl who was indifferent to fame and wealth, so they didn't ask any more questions.
At the end of the alley, Widow Song picked up her rice bowl and walked out of her house wearing her pair of holey cloth shoes. She planned to go to Tiejiang Cheng's house next door to order some food. However, she saw Jiang Ran walking towards her and said, "Hey, Xiao Ran,
Why is it so late today?"
"The building is busy today, so I came back a little late. Sister-in-law Song, you have dinner!" Jiang Ran flipped her hair and replied with a smile.
"Yes, do you want to go to my house to have something to eat? Call me a drinker!" Widow Song replied.
Jiang Ran shook his head and said politely: "Thank you, no need, the wine must be ready."
"Okay, let's come and play some other time!" Widow Song said politely again and turned into the blacksmith's house.
Jiang Ran didn't stop and walked straight towards home. From a distance, he saw Jiu'er standing outside the door as usual, but his face looked a little anxious. He quickened his pace slightly and said, "What's the matter? Is dinner ready?"
?”
Jiu'er quickly came up to him and said anxiously: "Miss, that scoundrel hasn't come back yet. He must have run away with the money you gave me. I should get the money back in the morning. What should I do now?"
!”
Jiang Ran frowned slightly, feeling a little surprised, but seeing that the little girl was about to burst into tears, he held her hand and said softly: "Okay, let's go home first. Mr. Tang may have been delayed for something.
.”
The two returned home, and Jiu'er sat on a chair with uneven corners in the courtyard, covering his face with his hands, looking very aggrieved, and murmured: "That guy used so many ingredients in the morning, and he still took
Taking the lady’s only money, what should we do next!”
While she was talking, Jiang Ran washed her hands with water, walked closer and touched her head, and comforted her softly: "Okay, he was injured because of me, so I can compensate him with one tael of silver. I'll give him food."
Let’s think about it first, let’s see what else we can do tonight, I’m hungry!”
"Oh." Jiu'er responded and stood up weakly.
Jiang Ranrou laughed, glanced at the dark coarse clothes hanging in the courtyard, sighed, moved a few steps, and was about to close the courtyard door, but saw Tang Ji standing outside, sweating profusely.
Jiu'er found her frozen in place and walked over quickly: "Miss, if someone comes to cause trouble again, I will deal with it... Okay, you are a scoundrel and you still know how to come back."
Tang Ji ignored her, lifted the bamboo basket held by his arms, walked past the two of them, put the messy things in his hands on the table in the courtyard, sat on the ground and breathed heavily: "Huh~ This
The alley was so hard to find that I thought I was going to sleep on the street."
After hearing his words, Jiang Ran chuckled lightly and closed the courtyard door.
Jiu'er walked up to Tang Ji, looked at the things on the table, counted them with his fingers, and exclaimed: "You, you, you, you actually bought meat, didn't you even have half of the one tael of silver left?
That's all the lady's property, why are you so prodigal, do you know..."
"Crack!"
Before she could finish her words, Tang Ji laid the one tael of silver in his waist on the table and said with a smile: "I'm willing to admit defeat, Xiao Jiu'er, and be more polite to me in the future!"
Jiu'er picked up the broken silver and looked at it, and even took a bite. After confirming that there was no problem, he exclaimed: "No money? Could it be that you really went to rob the market? Miss, let's report him to the official immediately."
Bar!"
"Hey, hey, hey, do you have any conscience? I'm still thinking about something delicious to cook at night!" Tang Ji wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeves and glared at her angrily.
Jiang Ran also pinched Jiu'er's little face and said softly: "Okay, let's go cook."
Jiu'er hummed softly, handed the money to Jiang Ran, happily picked up the vegetables and meat on the table and walked towards the kitchen.
Jiang Ran saw that Tang Ji had been wiping his sweat. After hesitating, he took out a clean handkerchief from his sleeve and handed it over. Seeing him staring at her, he lowered his head silently and explained: "I've only been addicted to alcohol.
It’s not bad, Mr. Tang, don’t mind.”
"I know, I don't mind." Tang Ji giggled and raised his hand to take the handkerchief, but accidentally touched her finger, causing both of them to retract their arms as if they were electrocuted. Fortunately, the handkerchief ended up in his hand.
There is nothing embroidered on this light blue handkerchief, which makes it look a bit plain, but it feels very silky to the touch.
Tang Ji glanced at it twice, wiped the sweat off his forehead with it, and put it back into his sleeve.
Seeing this, Jiang Ran pinched her fingers shyly. She had never lent her handkerchief to a man before, and didn't he plan to return it to her?
Tang Ji had no idea that he had stirred up the girl's heart. He got up from the ground, rolled up his sleeves, and walked towards the kitchen: "Jiu'er, leave some meat for me to make braised pork!"
...
It was April now, and the days were relatively long, but because Tang Ji came back too late, the three of them were busy until dark before eating.
Tang Ji looked at the three dishes and one soup on the table and couldn't help complaining: "I brought back so many vegetables, can't you use more? And that piece of meat, just cut it into 30%?"
Jiu'er snorted coldly, picked up the food with chopsticks for Jiang Ran, and replied: "After today's meal, what will you do tomorrow? Can you bring so many things back tomorrow?"
Tang Ji didn't bother to argue with her, so he picked up a piece of braised pork he made and stuffed it into his mouth, showing a satisfied face.
Although the cooking conditions and materials cannot be compared with those of later generations, it is already excellent to be able to produce such a taste!
Seeing his appearance, Jiu'er swallowed a gulp of saliva, and when Tang Ji wasn't paying attention, he quickly picked up a piece of braised pork and stuffed it into his mouth. Then his eyes lit up, he chewed it for a few times before swallowing it, and said to Jiang Ran: "Miss.
, it’s really delicious, you should try it too!”
After saying that, she picked up another piece of meat and stuffed it into her mouth.
Tang Ji rolled his eyes and said, "Someone just said he didn't want to eat."
"Who? Who? You won't eat such delicious meat? Then leave it to me!" Jiu'er initially thought that the dumplings in the morning were the pinnacle of Tang Ji's cooking skills, but she didn't expect that it was just the tip of the iceberg, so she became even more sure.
The other party is not a gentleman. If a gentleman doesn't cook, he can't make such delicious food!
Seeing that she wanted to take over the braised pork, Tang Ji quickly tapped her hand with chopsticks, looked at Jiang Ran, and whispered: "Miss Jiang, try it, it's fat and thin, it's not greasy."
Hearing this, Jiang Ran nodded slightly, took a small piece from the plate, and asked with great interest: "Mr. Tang, what have you done today? You can actually buy so many things."
"It's a long story. In the morning, after I went out... the buns in that store actually tasted really good, but the location was too remote. Fortunately, I met him!" Tang Ji quickly said
Tell me what happened today.
After listening to the story, Jiuer bit his chopsticks and murmured: "I didn't expect you to be so treacherous!"
Having said that, she actually admired Tang Ji very much in her heart. She thought they were going to starve tonight, but she didn't expect that he actually fulfilled the bet and even planned to introduce her to work at the bun shop.
In this case, she can make some money in the future and take care of the young lady's worries.
Thinking of this, Jiu'er felt that Tang Ji was not that bad, and she could treat him a little better as agreed in the future!
Jiang Ran peeked at Tang Ji who was excitedly talking about how difficult it was to go home today with strange eyes, and asked in his mind: "Who are you?"