Chapter 7: 小廚房
[Small Kitchen]
When Tang Xiaobao returned to the room, Ji Ling had long ago washed himself with the help of his subordinates, and was now changing into clean clothes and sitting on the soft cushion. He looked a little better than before. Tang Xiaobao secretly thought that this is his own work, even if the world changes, it is still useful.
Ji Ling just cleaned himself up, saw Tang Xiaobao came in, his eyes bright, like snatching a dog bone, came to show off to their own puppy, do not know how, slowly opened his mouth, “Did something very happy happen?”
Tang Xiaobao glanced at Ji Ling, knowing that he couldn’t talk to him, it was all because of himself, so he could sit there properly. So after thinking for a while, he controlled his suppressed expression and carefully shook his head at Ji Ling.
Seeing Tang Xiaobao’s reluctance to say more, Ji Ling didn’t ask any further questions, but only instructed Feng Ling to bring his accumulated account books for him to take a look.
Upon hearing Ji Ling’s order, Feng Ling immediately refuted, “Young master, you have just woken up, it is not advisable to work hard.”
Knowing that his subordinate was worried about himself so he talked so directly, Ji Ling did not get angry, but just waved his hand and continued, “It’s okay, I know my body, you go bring it.”
Seeing Ji Ling’s insistence, Feng Ling had no choice but to follow his order and go and get the account books that had been backlogged for some time. After Feng Ling left, Ji Ling turned his attention to Tang Xiaobao, who had quietly found a seat after entering the restaurant, and then ate the snack in small bites.
Feeling the obviously delicious pastries that were different from his original world, Tang Xiaobao suddenly noticed a sight. Following his gaze, he saw Ji Ling staring at him for a split second. He was so scared that he even dropped the pastries in his hand. As expected, in an instant, the gaze toward him turned to disdain.
The subordinates around him hurriedly came up to clean up the mess, but Tang Xiaobao looked at Ji Ling with some embarrassment, wondering why he didn’t say anything but just stared at himself, it was strange and scary.
Before Tang Xiaobao opened his mouth to speak, Ji Ling opened his mouth, “Did you make the porridge today?”
Tang Xiaobao didn’t know why he asked like that, he could only nod his head truthfully.
Then he heard Ji Ling say, “Very good.”
？？？
Tang Xiaobao looked at Ji Ling, until Feng Ling came back with the food, he didn’t hear the next part, and he didn’t know what was ‘very good’. Is it very delicious because he made it? Or that bowl of congee soothed Ji Ling’s injured stomach? He doesn’t know what’s going on, not the start, not the end.
Looking at Ji Ling, who was concentrating on reading the account book without paying attention to himself, Tang Xiaobao suddenly thought that the congee he had just made seemed to be ready to be served. So he was ready to get up and bring the bowl of porridge over, the moment he was about to get up, he saw Cai Yue carrying a bowl of porridge into the room, and it looked like it was the bowl Tang Xiaobao had prepared.
Cai Yue carried the congee and walked straight to Ji Ling, saying in a very natural tone, “Young master, this is the congee that young madam prepared for you.”
Not knowing whether it’s his own fault or not, Tang Xiaobao always felt that Cai Yue’s tone had a kind of charming feeling.
Ji Ling lifted his eyelids, didn’t look at her, but just turned his head to Tang Xiaobao who was sitting there dumbfounded, and asked in a very natural tone, “This is what you went out to prepare for me just now.”
“Hn.” Tang Xiaobao nodded. Just now, taking into account that Ji Ling had just woken up, the congee he cooked was very small, and he didn’t put anything in it, so it was expected that he would be hungry in a while, so he prepared this bowl.
Seeing Tang Xiaobao nodding, Ji Ling looked down at the bowl of congee in front of him, it looked better than the bowl just now, red and yellow inside. Ji Ling, who originally did not have much appetite, picked up the spoon and slowly finished the porridge, not even looking at Cai Yue until Cai Yue packed the bowl down.
After drinking the porridge unhurriedly, Ji Ling felt that his whole body was warmed up, and after drinking it, he froze for a while. In a short period of time he drank two bowls of congee, which he has never done before, even if it is congee, often even half of it he could not finish it. Moreover, this congee and his usual drink, kind of different.
Thinking of this, Ji Ling lifted his eyes and looked at Tang Xiaobao who sat opposite him and stared at himself, his tone slightly eased, “What do you want?”
Hearing Ji Ling’s question, Tang Xiaobao shook his head, “I have no worries about food and clothing here, I can have whatever I want.” Then, as if he thought of something, he looked at Ji Ling, his eyes shining brightly, and asked with some embarrassment, “Can I have my own kitchen? The things I need to use inside will be built exactly as I said.”
Ji Ling pondered for a while, but still nodded his head and agreed. “It will be built in this courtyard, and if you want anything, you can tell Feng Ling directly, and he will help you to communicate.” After a pause, as if he had thought of something, he continued, “If there are any ingredients that you want, talk to the housekeeper directly, he will help you to get them.”
Receiving Ji Ling’s promise, Tang Xiaobao was immediately happy, nodded heavily and thanked him seriously, “Thank you.”
Ji Ling only nodded his head, and didn’t express anything else.
As for Feng Ling, who had received the mission, and Cai Yue, who had been treated coldly. Both of them had different expressions, but they were quietly observing Tang Xiaobao, who was still giggling.
Tang Xiaobao is very happy now, he originally likes to cook, his cooking is also very good, that was why he took over his parents’s small dishes restaurant, but also runs a colourful business. But now that he’s here, he can’t find his backbone, but as long as he can cook, he feels that he’s still alive and well.
In particular, although many things were inconvenient in ancient times, but the ingredients are original, unlike in modern times, although some ingredients are improved to taste better, but more large-scale planting, cultivation, has long led to the original animals and plants have lost the original taste, even if there is the original, but he can not afford to buy. Now he can finally try it out. He is happy, excited and looking forward to it.
Originally, he thought that because of Ji Ling’s health, his kitchen would need to wait for a few days before it could be built, but who knew that on the third day, after Ji Ling went out, Feng Ling stood in front of him respectfully and asked him what he wanted to build.
Tang Xiaobao was super happy about this. Although the conditions here are simple, the Ji family has money, money can buy a lot of things, even if it is not as good as modern convenience, at least it is not that bad.
Seeing Feng Ling, who was seriously taking a pen to write down, Tang Xiaobao said his idea, “The kitchen I want doesn’t need to be very big, but I hope the counter can be like this, that is, three consecutive counters, the first can put a big pot, of course, only half of the size of the one used in the mansion, and the top can be placed in a steamer basket is the best. The second one is only half the size of the first one, which I use for stir-frying. The third cover can be put on a small casserole….” He mentioned his requirements one by one, taking into account the coefficient of difficulty, originally he wanted to get a grill directly called for a small baking kiln (oven).
“That’s it.” Tang Xiaobao saw that Feng Ling was very serious as he remembered it. It seems that after writing it down, he has seriously added various notes to it. It’s like doing some major research. He didn’t know if there would be any problem in the operation, so he looked at Feng Ling and asked very politely, “Do you think these can be made?”
Feng Ling looked at his family’s madam, as if he said he had never seen such kitchen utensils and kitchen, his expression is very cautious, “I will try my best to arrange things for the young madam. Young madam,if you need something and if it needs some time to prepare, I will also ask the young madam to wait for some more days.”
Hearing Feng Ling say this, Tang Xiaobao was a bit embarrassed instead, so he touched his head and said very politely, “It’s fine, waiting a bit longer won’t be a problem, I’m not in a hurry anyway.”
Seeing how naive Tang Xiaobao was, Feng Ling gave him a deep look and didn’t say anything more. He just took the things he had written down and prepared to go out of the mansion to communicate with the corresponding craftsmen to see when it could be made.
After seeing Feng Ling off, Tang Xiaobao was ready to go to the kitchen to help prepare Ji Ling’s meal. Ji Ling’s dinner the day before yesterday was prepared in the kitchen, so he didn’t eat a lot. Seeing such a situation, Tang Xiaobao simply undertook Ji Ling’s food. And Ji Ling also acquiesced to Tang Xiaobao’s action, did not say anything, just ate slightly more during the meal.
Looking at the time, Tang Xiaobao felt that Ji Ling should be back soon, because of his health, Ji Ling never stays outside for a long time. Even if Ji Ling’s health has improved a bit in the past two days, this rule should not change.
“Young Madam, do you need my help?” Looking at Tang Xiaobao, who was busily working in the kitchen, Cai Yue asked softly as she followed behind her.
Hearing Cai Yue’s words, Tang Xiao Bao shook his head, indicating that he didn’t need any help. But seeing the lost expression on Cai Yue’s face, he still kindly explained, “The cook is here to wash the vegetables, I only need them to cut up the things I need and put them into the pot for cooking. Besides that, there is nothing I need help with. On the contrary, it’s you, dressed so beautifully, it’s better to stand back a bit, lest you dirty your skirt.”
As soon as Tang Xiaobao finished speaking, he turned his head to look at the dishes in his hand, completely not noticing the quick-changing face of Cai Yue behind him. In order to facilitate cooking, Tang Xiaobao was dressed very lightly, looking like a guy working outside. But Cai Yue, as a first class maid in the mansion, her clothes were not even worse than those of a young lady from a small family, so it was obviously suitable for her to be standing in the greasy kitchen in her new clothes.
Cai Yue only felt that as soon as Tang Xiaobao’s words fell, there were gazes around her that were subtly sizing her up, seemingly mocking her own lack of self-importance. At this moment, the treatment she hadn’t received since becoming a first class maid made her face hot. However, looking at the person who spoke about her, she did not care at all, and what he said just now instead seemed like a kind reminder. Even if people think that she is not favoured by Gongzi, she does not dare to say anything at this time. She could only slowly retreat to the doorway, waiting for Tang Xiaobao, who had prepared the dishes, to come out. Standing outside, Cai Yue’s face showed a very chagrined expression, which then quickly disappeared.
Completely unaware that because of his words, the person outside had created such a rich inner world of mental connections, Tang Xiaobao was at the moment wholeheartedly looking at the fish in his pot. After his hands, originally should be fishy, the smell of very heavy fish soon floated out a burst of fragrance, the person who smells it, will feel very hungry.
It was good that Ji Ling had just started to recover, so his meal size was not too big. And Tang Xiaobao only needs the chef to cook one portion of food for him, so the speed is very fast, not a moment then it will be ready. Put the fish soup in a cup and put it on the fire to steam slowly, instructed the people in the kitchen to present it together with his own portion later, and then walked to the door to take Cai Yue, who had been waiting for him, to go back.
Tang Xiaobao walked on the road, looked down and smelled himself, just now he did not realize it, now he found himself had a big fishy smell, so he is ready to take a bath, lest Ji Ling come back to find him and smell the fishy smell of his body and start to lecture him. After thinking for a while, he still said to Cai Yue who was following him, “Cai Yue, I want to go back and take a bath first, you tell someone to prepare it.”
“Yes.” As the person who had been always following Tang Xiaobao, Cai Yue of course also smelled the smell of his body, and even quietly covered her nose where Tang Xiaobao hadn’t seen it, only to quickly realize that her behaviour was inappropriate and quickly returned to normal.
Since Tang Xiaobao had ordered it down, Cai Yue quickly told the little maid following by her side to go and ask someone to prepare the bath water, so that Tang Xiaobao could take a bath as soon as he returned.
When Tang Xiaobao walked back, he walked straight to the washroom, where there were two large barrels, one was his, the other belonged to Ji Ling. At this moment the one belonging to him was being placed underneath the spout of the catching hose, the water had already been most of the way out and was still steaming, and the bathing utensils were also placed beside the barrels. Will wait for his subordinate called out, Tang Xiaobao will be undressed into the water. The whole person will be immersed in the water soaking. Tang Xiaobao, in fact, very thankful to Ji Ling, if not for him, in this kind of era, he does not know how long it will take for him to be able to take a bath.
Ji Ling came back earlier than usual today, back to the house, he did not see that person who should be waiting for him. Scanning inside and outside, the person is not there. On the contrary, he called the maid who served Tang Xiaobao standing there, looking at that maid and Ji Ling asked, “Where is Tang Xiaobao?”
