NCCnovel Chapter 5 These hard times are unbearable.
Chapter 5 These hard times are unbearable.
Overall, it was a modest success. Shen Qing packed up her notes. Since she was already here, it wouldn't be right not to visit a real ancient garden. She had been too excited in the morning to appreciate it properly.
Strolling leisurely through the area, one can see blue bricks and gray tiles, green willows, pebbled paths leading to secluded spots, small bridges and flowing water, with a beautiful view at every step.
Furthermore, there are pavilions and towers with upturned eaves, and the rockeries and strange rocks in the garden are stacked and arranged in a simple and elegant manner.
Wow, this is the romance of the ancients, the accumulated heritage over thousands of years. The taste of aristocratic families is definitely better than the litter boxes built in Hengdian.
Just then, a handsome young man strolled over, followed by two attendants. He was dressed in a bright blue silk robe, with a piece of mutton-fat jade pendant at his waist. His sideburns were neatly trimmed, and he had bright eyebrows and starry eyes, truly the epitome of a refined scholar.
"System, I want to dress like this!" Shen Qing shouted in her heart.
[...] The system was as quiet as a chicken.
"I heard that my third sister accidentally fell into the water. Is she alright?"
Shen Che, courtesy name Chengming, is the standard model of the eldest son of a noble family. He is a handsome and talented man who knows how to advance and retreat. He is eight years older than Shen Qingxi and is now twenty-two years old. He serves as the Vice Minister of the Court of State Ceremonial. He is a true young talent.
Shen Qing was filled with envy, but on the surface she maintained a ladylike demeanor and gave a greeting, saying, "I just have a slight cold, thank you for your concern, brother."
"Has the royal physician examined you? What medicine should I take?"
"I've examined it. All medicines have some toxicity. Drink some ginger soup and rest for a couple of days, and you'll be fine."
Shen Che felt relieved, but seeing that Shen Qing was all alone, he frowned and said, "Why aren't the people around you serving you? It's not very attentive. If you can't, you can bring back your mother to replace them."
"It's not necessary!"
Shen Che was taken aback, seemingly unable to adapt to his younger sister's sudden boldness. Shen Qing quickly made amends: "It was because my younger sister wanted to be alone that she sent them away."
Shen Che hesitated for a moment, then said, "Fine, whatever you like. It's perfect, let's go to Chunhui Hall to have dinner with Father."
Shen Qing subconsciously took a small step back, covered her mouth with her sleeve and coughed lightly twice, saying weakly, "No, lest I pass on the illness. Little sister can have her meal at Yilan Courtyard."
After saying this, he quickly took his leave. Shen Shi had become the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat in just over ten years, wielding great power and holding the highest position among officials. His cunning and shrewdness should not be underestimated. He had to slip away and make some more preparations.
Shen Che watched Shen Qing's departing figure with some confusion, feeling a strange sense of unease that he couldn't quite put his finger on. After thinking for a moment without finding a solution, he shook his head and turned to walk towards Chunhui Hall. Perhaps it was just that his daughter had grown up and started to have her own little thoughts.
In this life, eating and drinking are the two most important things. Everything else can wait, but Shen Qing will never eat another of these stale flatbreads!
So Shen Qing brought Wen Ying and Fang Yu to the kitchen, wanting to see what primitive tools they used to make flour!
When he arrived at the kitchen courtyard, he saw the stone mill in the center. He thought, "This shouldn't be. The flour looks so coarse. I thought it was pounded with a stone pestle."
Hei Zi's mother is the head of the kitchen. Her daily work involves harnessing horses and driving Shen Qingxi around, as well as running errands. She doesn't have much to do, and she also helps out in the kitchen in her spare time.
Right now, he was filtering impurities from the flour with a bamboo sieve, repeating this process five times. Just as he was about to put the sieved flour into the warehouse, he heard his daughter, who had suddenly decided to watch the kitchen work, shout out.
"That's it?"
"Huh?" Hei Zi was confused. By the time he realized what was happening, the bamboo sieve in his hand was gone.
"Won't you sift it a few more times?" Shen Qing was speechless, looking at the large holes in the bamboo sieve in her hand.
Then, gesturing, he asked, "Do you have a bamboo sieve with smaller holes? If not, make one, using silk thread like this and then like this..."
Wen Ying watched Shen Qing gesturing wildly for a long time, then silently went to the nearby storage room and came out a short while later with a bamboo sieve with a small aperture.
Shen Qing: "..."
Why didn't you say so sooner?
Hei Zi passed the flour through a fine-mesh bamboo sieve four more times, finally obtaining pure white, impurity-free fine wheat flour. Shen Qing nodded in satisfaction. This is what we'll eat tonight!
It's such a simple thing, how could the aristocracy, with their extravagant lifestyle, not use it?
Seemingly noticing Shen Qing's confusion, Wen Ying explained, "Yunzhou is suffering from a severe drought, with countless refugees and military funds stretched thin. The national treasury is now empty, and the head of the family, as the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, is setting an example by reducing expenses to provide relief to the disaster victims."
Shen Qing waved his hand to interrupt Wen Ying, saying, "Let's just ask if our family can afford it!"
"...That's something I can afford."
As Shen Qing predicted, in any era, it was always the emperor who was poor, unless the dynasty declined; the normal aristocratic families were all extremely wealthy.
"From now on, my meals will consist of fine flour that has been sifted nine times."
Hei Zi said with a troubled expression, "The king only sifted the wheat he ate five times."
Yes, indeed. The times are not good right now, so let's not stir up any hatred or cause a riot like the land redistribution in the game of Dou Dizhu.
So Shen Qing covered her mouth and whispered, "Let's do it quietly, and have the small kitchen do it."
Shen Qing felt no pressure about this wasteful act; after all, there were so many disaster victims in the world, one more bite wouldn't make a difference.
Hei Zi stared at the wheat bran sifted out on the ground for a long time. It was all good stuff. He silently took a bag, packed it up, and carried it back to his house.
For dinner, Shen Qing ate unleavened flatbread again, since yeast couldn't be made immediately; a suitable opportunity had to be found.
But the texture is much softer now, and there are no more unidentified particles. The happiness level definitely comes from this.
Shen Qing set a small goal: to eat steamed buns... no, I mean dumplings, as soon as possible!
Sigh, it's really pathetic. What good is being an emperor these days? Your material life is worse than that of an average person today. You're sitting on a mountain of gold eating coarse grains.
The system's cheeky voice rang out.
So, should we bind to the system? Although accumulating enough strategy points to go back is quite difficult, there are many precedents of previous hosts completing this task~
Shen Qing plucked a hair and picked her teeth, saying casually, "Speaking of strategy points, I also have a little unrealistic guess."
No, don't guess! This tone has already given the system a psychological trauma.
Just as Shen Qing and the system were about to engage in a new round of wits and courage, Shen Shi, who had finished his dinner, came to Wensi Pavilion to look up information. When he passed a row of bookshelves, he suddenly stopped and turned back, his eyes falling on a particular bookshelf.
Due to his little-known obsessive-compulsive disorder, he immediately noticed that several books had shifted by one millimeter.
"Someone come here."
Shen Shi summoned the guards and asked, "Who has been here today?"
“The lady who is returning home is Third Sister.”
Shen Shi looked thoughtful. He treated his children equally in terms of their literary cultivation and also intended for them to learn more about the political landscape. However, Shen Qingxi was a typical aristocratic lady who preferred music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, wine, and flowers. Although she had some knowledge of the practical affairs and current affairs that she should have learned, she was not enthusiastic about them.
Why are you suddenly reading history books and current affairs? Something's definitely up to you.
"Xinyi, go and investigate Third Sister's recent whereabouts, and report back in detail."
"promise."
The attendant named Xinyi accepted the order and left.