Chapter 127.1
Marquis Ding"an Estate wasn’t too far from the Imperial Academy district, so Yao shi arrived there early.
Gu Jiao heard a knock at the gate just after washing her face. She opened it and found it was Yao shi. She was startled.
Yao shi smiled gently, asking, "I didn"t disturb you, did I?"
Gu Jiao shook her head and replied, "No, I was already up early."
Yao shi smilingly said, "Haven’t you had breakfast yet? I brought some steamed buns and brown sugar steamed rolls."
Everyone in the estate was busy preparing a banquet for Gu Jinyu, so Yao shi opted to buy breakfast on the road. It was a famous steamed bun shop in the capital.
"Come in." Gu Jiao invited Yao shi into the courtyard.
Xiao Liulang was also already awake and was drawing water by the well.
Yao shi and Xiao Liulang had met several times in the countryside. Unlike the very demanding Marquis Gu, Yao shi was very satisfied with Xiao Liulang.
He seemed to be a very nice guy.
This was what mattered most.
He also studied well and worked diligently.
Originally, knowing that they hadn’t consummated their marriage, Yao shi was quite worried about the relationship between the two people. However, after several observations, she found that they actually got along very well. She thought they probably just hadn’t started to understand things yet.
“Madame Gu.” Xiao Liulang greeted Yao shi politely.
Gu Jiao addressed Yao shi as Madame Gu, so Xiao Liulang also called her the same.
Yao shi didn"t mind about the way they addressed her and happily handed the food box to Xiao Liulang.
Gu Jiao wanted to go to the kitchen to cook porridge for the family, but Yao shi stopped her.
Yao shi normally let her do everything at home, but today was hers and Gu Yan’s birthday, and Yao shi didn’t allow her to do anything.
Yao shi made snacks from time to time back in the villa and was quite familiar with kitchen work. She first cooked millet congee, and then began to prepare the next two meals afterwards.
Grannie Fang was sent out by her to buy more stuff. Yao shi wrote down what to buy and how much she should buy on the list.
This was Yao shi’s first time celebrating her daughter’s birthday. She prepared herself for it for a long time, practicing the dishes over and over again.
Yao shi was also very popular at Gu Jiao’s home. Even the eccentric elderly woman was won over by her snacks. Everyone was very happy that she came.
Gu Yan, who had nothing to do after breakfast, ran to pick up corn cobs but was interrupted by Little Jing Kong.
Little Jing Kong s.n.a.t.c.hed the corn cob from his hand, raised his other little hand and made a don’t gesture as he said solemnly, "Today is also your birthday. You don"t have to do anything too!"
And I also won"t quarrel with you today, letting you off for one day!
Yao shi cooked a big table of fine dishes, which catered not only to the tastes of Gu Jiao and Gu Yan, but also of others".
Gu Xiaoshun looked at the vegetable and meat dishes that almost occupied the entire table, and he was so stunned that he could hardly speak!
Was today the New Year?
Why were there so many delicious dishes before him?
"Braised pork trotters with soybeans!" Gu Xiaoshun suddenly drooled at once. This was his favorite dish. The pork trotters were shiny and greasy, and the chopstick seemed to bounce off when he poked at the pork skin. Gu Xiaoshun simply felt that he was dying soon from happiness.
It was marinated in soy sauce and spices first, and then stewed in a ca.s.serole. It was glutinous and squeaky, and was so soft in the mouth.
Nowadays, Xiao Liulang loved fish dishes, thus Yao shi cooked a delicious Crucian carp soup.
As for the elderly woman, she had always been fond of sweet snacks, so Yao shi made some brown sugar glutinous rice cakes, but the amount of sugar was halved.
There was also the vegetarian meal of Little Jing Kong. Of course, Yao shi had also not forgotten to put them into Little Jing Kong’s exclusive exquisite little bowls.
She asked Gu Yan about all these things. She kept each and every one of them in mind and prepared them with utmost care.
This was also the reason why everyone here liked Yao shi. She was always attentive and thoughtful, and took good care of people silently.
In addition to these meals, Yao shi also made a bowl of longevity noodles for the pair of brother and sister.
The longevity noodles had no extra ingredients, only a few chopped green onions and a few drops of sesame oil.
Gu Jiao thought this bowl of longevity noodles seemed to be more delicious than other noodles. It had an indescribable taste, which made the bottom of her heart feel warm and the tip of her nose sour.
She couldn’t tell whether this was her own feeling or Gu Yan"s feeling.
After the sumptuous meal, everyone began to present their gifts to Gu Jiao and Gu Yan.
The first one was Little Jing Kong, who was the youngest and most eager.
He gave Gu Jiao and Gu Yan each a small house made of clay. After kneading the clay into a house figure, he asked his bad brother-in-law to help him bake them with the fire in the kitchen’s stove.
In fact, he remembered that the small clay houses he made didn’t look like this. Somehow it was baked out of shape.
The truth was, the original shape he made was so ugly that Xiao Liulang couldn"t bear to look straight at it. He secretly mended it again and made them look better!
The doors of the small clay houses could be opened, and there were small wooden dolls inside, which were carved by Gu Xiaoshun.
In Gu Yan"s clay house lived Gu Yan’s doll while Gu Jiao"s doll was inside her clay house.
However, when Gu Yan opened the small door of Gu Jiao’s clay house, he was instantly dumbfounded, "You’re in my sister"s house?"
Little Jing Kong: Ah, it was discovered!
That’s right. The scheming little monk named Jing Kong furtively asked Gu Xiaoshun to make a small wooden doll of him too, and then he quietly put it in JiaoJiao"s clay house!
That way, he could be with JiaoJiao every day!
Gu Yan wasn’t happy about it and asked Little Jing Kong to move out of Gu Jiao"s house.
Little Jing Kong refused to move out.
He even said sternly, "This gift is for JiaoJiao, you can"t destroy JiaoJiao"s things!"
Fine, he wouldn’t destroy it. He would just move in himself!
In the end, the three little wooden dolls of Gu Jiao, Gu Yan and Little Jing Kong, all lived in Gu Jiao"s small clay house, leaving Gu Yan"s clay house empty...
Gu Xiaoshun gave the twins wood carved Buddhist scriptures made by himself.
In exchange for carving little wooden dolls for Little Jing Kong, Little Jing Kong rummaged through his trunk for his Buddhist outfit, put on his Buddhist prayer beads, wore his monk robes, took out his small wooden fish, and devoutly chanted Buddhist scriptures.
Therefore, you could say that these wood carved Buddhist scriptures were blessed through a ritual!
Gu Jiao flipped about the wood carved Buddhist scripture in her hand and felt somewhat incredible.
Gu Xiaoshun was that one child in the family who gave people trouble the least, but because of this, he was easily overlooked by the family.
Gu Jiao didn’t even know that he had learned so many words in just a few months, and many of them were uncommon words to boot.
"You can read them all?" Gu Jiao asked.
"Well, yeah." Gu Xiaoshun nodded his head.
Brother-in-law told him once that if he couldn"t read, in case someone asked him what he had carved, he wouldn"t know what to say.
So even though it was extremely difficult, he worked very hard to remember these words, including their meanings.
Gu Xiaoshun saw Gu Jiao"s pensive face and scratched his head, saying, "Big sis, don"t you like it?"
Gu Jiao looked up and smiled, "I do, I like it very much."
Gu Yan gave Gu Jiao a yarn bracelet.
He bought this with his hard-earned money.
From the moment he refused to move back to the Marquis Estate, his father cut off his monthly stipend, but he still received an allowance every month from Gu Jiao. It was just that he thought it didn’t seem right to use the money Gu Jiao gave him for buying her a gift!
Therefore, he decided to make money on his own!