The Female Supporting Role Shows Out Chapter 13
Speaking of the addiction to wine, the Weiyuan Marquis is known to all in the State of Chu. He can eat only when he has wine for three meals a day. He was once drunk on a snowy night and almost frozen to death in the wild. The first thing to wake up is to drink. He just refuses to be convinced until he is faced with grim reality. He once had outstanding military achievements and saved the life of last emperor three times. Now, although he is recovering from illness in the capital, he does not know when he will return to the southeast camp, but he is also a figure who anyone dares not to provoke. He has a golden whip in his hand, which was given by last emperor on the deathbed. He is able to beat bad emperors and punish treacherous officials. He is extremely powerful.
In order to cater to his pleasure, everyone who comes to visit will bring him a jar of good wine. If he can have a good time drinking the wine, and he will also have a good time talking. If the wine is inferior, he will be able to kick the other party out of the door immediately. The method of getting relation to the Weiyuan Marquis may seem simple, but it is not. He went to war with his father when he was eight years old. He killed for the first time when he was nine years old; he drank the strongest wine in the world that night and got drunk. Since then, he has been addicted to alcohol. Now it has been 30 years and he can be said that he has tasted a lot of alcohol.
General or second-cla.s.s wine has long been despised by him. He has also drunk a lot of top-quality wine. It is almost impossible to satisfy his appet.i.te.
In order to curry favor with the Weiyuan Marquis, it remains unknown that how much real gold and silver the bearded general privately spends to buy wine, but he always fails, but he is lucky to accidentally meet Shopkeeper Lin who acquires amazing cooking skills, and get a jar of the legendary Thousand-Day Wine, his ecstasy can't be held back. He is in a hurry and arrives in the capital three days later. He does not look for an inn to have a rest. He immediately pays a call on the Weiyuan Marquis in his mansion.
There are dozens of or hundreds of people who come to the mansion to deliver drinks every day. The butler can't let all of them in. He only takes the wine jar and sends off the bearded general. The bearded general tells him that it is Thousand-Day Wine, which is very rare. He asks the butler to deliver it to the Weiyuan Marquis himself. The butler promises it well literally and turns to stuff the wine into a special warehouse for storing wine.
The jar is only palm-sized, and is not full, and it is light in hands. What a pity! These gift-givers really don't know what they are doing more and more! Out of the warehouse, the butler calls the bearded general names in his mind, turns to do other things and forgets this thing. As a result, the jar of wine is quietly placed on a shelf and ashes will cover it. No one will know.
On the other side, Lin Dan's fleet continues to travel along the state highway. The three strong men are always on guard to prevent another accident. They have breakfast and want to have lunch. After eating lunch, they eagerly wait for dinner. After eating dinner, they run to ask Shopkeeper Lin if there is any midnight snack. They are enjoying a happy time. A trip to the task is originally a very dangerous thing, three people going back and forth for several months, get tired and lose more than seven or eight catties, but now their weights are all back due to Shopkeeper Lin's skillful cooking, their complexions are ruddy now.
Four days later, the fleet arrives in the suburbs of the capital, and it will take another half-day to enter the west gate of the capital. Lin Dan stops in a small town to bid farewell to the three strong men. They do not want to go, saying that they will help him to the end like sending Buddha to the West. They insist on taking Shopkeeper Lin back to the capital, but in fact they are reluctant to say goodbye to her good cooking skills, so they begin to act shamelessly.
Lin Dan finds the situation both funny and amusing, but she can't refuse, all she can do is let them do as they wish.
"Mum, I'm back!" She take a group of people to a small farmyard, where some vegetables are planted, a flock of chickens and ducks are raised, and red and white Chinese roses are blooming. It looks very warm.
"Dan, you are back!" Mrs. Chi who is much older runs out of the room with tears in her eyes. In the early years, she was able to follow her daughter around to study cooking skills. Later, she was sent back to the capital to be taken care of when she was not in good health. However, although the capital is large, the people one should meet will be met one day sooner or later. Occasionally, she met the family of the second brother of her husband in the street. He informed Mrs. Chou and Yan Shouye. The two hired local ruffians and hooligans to cause her trouble every day, almost making her jump into a well.
She couldn't understand why these people forced them to death even though they had already taken everything of her husband form her. However, they were so bad and unpredictable that she had to settle down here. She could enjoy peace for a few years only by doing that.
"Mum, pack up your things, let's rest here for a few days and then return to the capital." Lin Dan picks up a gourd ladle and ladles water for everyone to drink.
"Return to the capital?" Chi is a little timid. She has really been scared by Mrs. Zhou and Yan Shouye. She has no courage to take back her family property.
"Back, of course." Lin Dan says with light tones, her expression is very firm. She has sworn that she will help the original host to support the Lins and also help Lin Putin to make clean his reputation. How can she not fulfill her promise? After ten years of traveling, this place has become her home country. The life of the original host is also her life, so the responsibility of the original host is naturally her responsibility.
"Well, I will go and pack up. Those chickens, ducks have been raised outside for more than two months. You can grab whatever you want." Chi turns and goes back to her bedroom. Lin Dan rolls up her sleeves and says, "Let's eat Dongan chicken and Yongzhou blood duck at noon."
The crowd naturally responds enthusiastically and then becomes busy preparing.
Lin Dan puts the slaughtered chickens and ducks into a barrel and scalds them with boiling water, which is convenient for plucking hairs. The handsome man stands beside her, lowers his eyes and asks, "You and your mother have been leading a wandering life all these years?"
"Yes." Lin Dan puts the plucked chicken feathers and duck feathers into bamboo baskets for preservation. Chicken feathers can be made into feather dusters, and fine down feathers of duck feathers can be stuffed into clothes to keep warm, which are all good things.
After staring at her bun for a long time, the man finally can't help asking, "What about your husband? Why can't be seen beside you?"
Lin Dan raises her head in surprise; it seems that she has not expected the man to spy on her privacy. He seems to be the kind of person who is extremely quiet and aloof and self-control. He should not be interested in other people's private affairs, but there is nothing to hide. So she frankly says: "I am not married. So I have no husband, I wear a woman's bun for the convenience of going out. As you can see, my mother is the only one I have. If I marry, what will she do without any support? Besides, I have been studying outside all the year round, which can be described as wandering from place to place, with no place to live, so there is no way even if I want to find a husband "
She smiles gently and takes an open-minded att.i.tude, "It's quite good now. The most difficult days are over. What am I afraid of in the future? Only need to teach a few good apprentices, I am not afraid that no one will serve me while I am living and give proper burial after my death." Speaking of which, she seems to think of something bad. The light in her eyes gradually fades and finally she sighs deeply.
The man frowns tightly, as if he has many things to say but does not know how to say. He takes the chickens and ducks and carefully plucks the feathers. Seeing Lin Dan has nothing to do to make a fire, he immediately sinks his voice, "Go back to the house and rest. Talk to your mother for a while. We will do the outside work."
Lin Dan looks into the house, finds that her mother is eagerly looking at her, and then smiles and agrees. This man looks cold, but in fact he has a soft heart and is a good man.
After lunch, Lin Dan takes Chi back to the house to rest, and then she carries a small gift box for visitors. The handsome man immediately follows her in case she is in danger.
Lin Dan hears footsteps and looks back. She can't help grinning with delight.
The man stares at her bright smile with flickering eyes.
The two have nothing to say all the way, but they do not feel bored or embarra.s.sed. Instead, they are very relaxed. After detouring around several detours and turning onto a state highway, and find a post house beside the highway. Outside the post house is a straw hut in which a middle-aged woman is busy, and the rough shouts could be heard far away.
Lin Dan goes near, cups one hand in the other and asks, "Excuse me, Mrs. w.a.n.g, long time no see, how have you been? Why isn't Aunt w.a.n.g in the shop? "
"Who are you?" The middle-aged woman pauses for a moment before she says, "Well, I remember, you are the little girl who did work for nothing! I haven't seen you for ten years and you've been so grown!" In those days, though being small and short, Lin Dan, was able to bear hardships very well. One hundred catties of beans could be picked up on her shoulders, leaving a deep impression on the middle-aged woman.
Lin Tan echoes her and patiently asks about the old woman. The middle-aged woman rolls eyes at her as if she is disdainful of her mother-in-law. No matter what Lin Dan asks, the middle-aged woman refuses to answer. She has to buy two bowls of tofu b.a.l.l.s here and gives her another five copper coins (ancient coins). Only then does she find out that the old woman is selling food not far ahead and it needs just a thirty-minute walk to get there.
The tofu b.a.l.l.s are still the same flavor. It can be seen that the middle-aged woman finally learns her mother-in-law's cooking skills ten years later, but it's unknown that why she sets up a shop separately from her mother-in-law.
Lin Dan asks the pa.s.sers-by about the situation while walks along the highway, and she feels unwell due to unknown reasons. Aunt w.a.n.g treated her son and daughter-in-law sincerely, but her son and daughter-in-law turned against her and refused to recognize her. After learning her cooking skills, they proposed to split up. They not only let their mother and her underage brother go out alone, but also took away the shop where the family depended for their livelihood.
Aunt w.a.n.g's shop has long enjoyed a good reputation. Besides, it is set up beside the post house. It has customers every day, so the business is naturally very good. Now she has opened a new shop in a remote place with the same taste and price. Of course, guests will choose familiar places to patronize. Over time, her daughter-in-law has completely replaced her.
Now she has a low income. Her underage son broke his leg a few years ago and she had no money to cure his leg. Her underage son is now disabled. Life is really hard. Lin Dan sees that Aunt w.a.n.g is carrying water when she arrives. Her son limps forward to meet her. He wants to put the heavy pole on his shoulder, but his mother stops him. The two are quarreling with each other. Their eyes are red, but their eyes are full of affection and love for each other.
At the sight, Lin Dan's heart aches. Without further ado, she walks over, grabs the pole, picks up the buckets, and strides into the shop. The handsome man pauses for a moment before he hurries forward, lifts the heavy buckets, pours water into a tank, and then he grabs the pole, and whispers, "Where is the water source? I'll carry water back and you rest here."
"Just at the foot of that mountain, follow this small straight path." Lin Dan has stayed here for three months and has to carry hundreds of catties of water every day. Naturally, she knows
where the water source is.
The handsome man nods and goes without saying a word. Aunt w.a.n.g does a double take, says with surprise, "Are you Dan? Good girl, where have you been all these years? I can't find you anywhere!"