When Shen Xiu finally finished embroidering the orchid screen after spending a full month, the county also ushered in the first snow of winter.
Snowflakes were falling non-stop, and there were far fewer pedestrians on the street.
After Shen Xiu finished her embroidery work, she stretched, walked around the room again, and stretched her neck.
It was getting late outside. Shen Xiu saw that there were many more diners in Miaojia Noodle House, so she turned back and asked Lonicera and Da Ya, "What do you want to eat for lunch today?"
"I also want to eat fish noodles." Da Ya spent a whole morning sewing a handkerchief and said happily while admiring her embroidery work.
Lonicera said: "I can just eat vegetarian noodles."
Shen Xiudao: "How can we be full with plain noodles? Let's all eat fish noodles! It's snowing today and it's hard to walk around. Let's just go to Miaojia Noodle House to eat."
Usually when the three of them eat, they always go to Miao's Noodle House and ask Boss Miao to deliver the noodles soon.
The snowy road was difficult to walk today, and Shen Xiu didn't want to trouble Boss Miao anymore, so she took Lonicera and Daya to the noodle shop.
The three of them are regular customers of the noodle shop, and they come here to eat noodles almost every day these days. As soon as the three of them showed up, Boss Miao came forward to greet them warmly.
Shen Xiu smiled and said: "Brother Miao, business is going well today! We want three bowls of fish noodles and a plate of soy mutton."
Boss Miao also smiled and said: "It's snowing today, everyone is willing to eat hot food, and business is pretty good. Madam Shen, please wait a moment, the noodles will be ready soon."
Since Lu Si and others were exiled, the streets have become much peaceful. No one dares to come to collect protection fees anymore, and there are far fewer gangsters making trouble.
No one was causing trouble, and the noodle shop's business returned to normal.
Mr. Miao's craftsmanship was already good, and with the help of his wife Zhang Cuihua, the noodle shop became more and more prosperous, and the couple smiled a lot more.
Within a matter of seconds, Mr. Miao brought over three bowls of fish noodles and a plate of soy lamb.
This fish noodle is made of fish meat and flour. After being cooked, it is topped with a thick soup made from mutton bones. It tastes extremely delicious.
The sauced mutton is slowly simmered with more than a dozen spices overnight. The mutton cooked in the end is not only free of odor, but also salty and not greasy.
While the three of them were eating noodles, Lu Cailian, who was far away in Fucheng, was also eating, but she couldn't swallow some of her food.
"Grandma, please be patient!" her nanny advised. "The young master is still young, so he will inevitably eat from the bowl and look at the pot."
Lu Cailian fiddled with the grains of rice in the bowl and said: "This world is so unfair to women. Men can have three wives and four concubines, but women can only stay at home to support their husbands and raise children, and they cannot say a bad word about their husbands."
The wet nurse heard this and said hurriedly: "Grandma."
Lu Cailian put down her chopsticks, "Is there any news from the county?"
"There is news. The orchid embroidered screen has been embroidered and will be delivered in two days."
Mother Lu also knew the situation of her eldest daughter in her husband's family. After the orchid embroidered screen was finished, she personally sent a few people to transport the embroidered screen, which could also save a few days of time.
The reason why Lu Cailian wanted to send someone to transport the embroidered screen was because she didn't want to trouble her mother's family. Now that she heard that people sent by Lu's mother were on the way, she sighed, the only people in the world who could treat her sincerely were her parents and sisters.
The road is slippery in the snow, making it difficult to drive.
The people sent by Lu's mother traveled half a distance longer than usual before safely delivering the embroidered screen to Lu Cailian's husband's family, the Yu family in Fucheng.
At this time, it was only a few days away from the Winter Solstice Banquet that the Yu family was going to host.
After Lu Cailian saw the orchid embroidered screen, she asked someone to ask if her mother-in-law, the eldest wife of the Yu family, had rested.
The maid came back and said: "The eldest lady is looking at the menu for the banquet. I guess she won't stop for a while."
Lu Cailian looked at the sun. Her mother-in-law had the habit of taking a lunch break every day. Now for the Winter Solstice banquet, she even changed her lunch break habit. All this was just for her sister-in-law.
She ordered her surroundings, "Gress me up, I'm going to see the eldest lady."
Lu Cailian had her hair combed into a fashionable bun and brought the winter clothes that Shen Xiu had made. After choosing for a long time, she finally chose a light green satin embroidered orchid jacket and went to see the eldest lady.
The eldest wife of the Yu family is discussing the dishes with the people around her. In addition to entertaining people well at this Winter Solstice banquet, we also need to let them eat and drink well. Therefore, the dishes at this banquet are very important.
The menu presented by the kitchen was several pages long. Mrs. Yu's wife was reading it while crossing off some dishes that she liked or disliked.
The dishes were finally settled. The eldest wife of the Yu family rubbed her sour eyes and heard from the maids that the eldest grandma was here.
The eldest wife of the Yu family does not like this daughter-in-law very much. On the one hand, she is not liked by her son, and on the other hand, her daughter-in-law has not given birth to a boy or a girl even though she has been married for several years.
When Lu Cailian came in, she saw a faint look on her mother-in-law's face.
She has become accustomed to her mother-in-law's attitude and greets her as usual.
The eldest wife of the Yu family then raised her head and glanced at her casually, then her eyes stopped on the clothes she was wearing.
"What kind of orchids are embroidered on your clothes? They look very unique."
Lu Cailian smiled and said: "My wife also thinks this orchid is beautiful, right? This orchid was embroidered by an embroiderer in the county. I also thought the orchid was beautiful at first, so I asked her to make some clothes. At the same time, I also made some clothes for Shuya.
Shen. I just don’t know if Shuya likes her."
Shuya is Lu Cailian's sister-in-law.
When the eldest wife of the Yu family heard this, she felt that the eldest daughter-in-law was always thinking about her daughter, so she nodded slightly and said, "You are interested."
Seeing that her mother-in-law was in a good mood, Lu Cailian stepped forward and said, "Madam, in addition to these winter clothes, I also customized an orchid embroidered screen. I just don't know if Madam is free."
With orchids embroidering the screen, the eldest wife of the Yu family glanced at her daughter-in-law.
Lu Cailian boldly said: "My wife invited the Tao family, the Meng family and the Huang family. These families all like orchids. The daughter-in-law thought that if this orchid embroidered screen could catch the eyes of these families, it might be a good idea for Shu.
There are also benefits to elegant marriage."
The eldest wife of the Yu family did not speak for a while, obviously thinking about this matter.
Lu Cailian waited for a long time before her mother-in-law said: "If nothing happens, let's go see the orchid embroidered screen you mentioned!"
The orchid embroidered screen was placed in a side room, and it was covered with several layers of gauze.
When the maids unveiled the gauze together, even though the eldest wife of the Yu family had seen many embroidered screens, she was attracted by the orchid embroidered screen in front of her and couldn't help but let out an exclamation.
Although Lu Cailian had seen it once, her shock did not diminish when she saw the embroidered screen again.
There is no other reason than the orchid embroidery screen in front of me. Whether it is orchids or orchid leaves, they are all embroidered lifelike, as if the orchids have come alive.
And the orchids embroidered on the twelve folds are all exquisite orchids. Some flowers are light green, some are bright and unusually bright, some have complex colors, and some are shaped like butterflies. All of these can't help but dazzle people.
It took a long time before the eldest wife of the Yu family came back to her senses and immediately decided that the orchid embroidered screen must be placed in the most conspicuous position during the Winter Solstice banquet.