She Became A Downfall Noble Lady
Chapter 346 - 345

Chapter 346: 345

Jinrong sipped his milk tea and took a bite of his youtiao, which somewhat satisfied his cravings, before asking Jiang Yifan, who had also chosen milk tea and youtiao, "How do you like it? It’s better than what we make in our own kitchen, right?"

Jiang Yifan nodded and replied, "It’s different, much richer in flavor. It’s inevitable, as even the cooks at the county government office make milk tea that tastes different from your residence."

"Hm, I’ll find a chance for Nanny Liu to instruct the kitchen on how to make it really nice." Jinrong continued eating his youtiao and savoring his delicious milk tea, and the bowl of noodle soup before Guan He suddenly didn’t seem so bothersome.

Guan He was restless, though, just having finished a stick of youtiao, he picked up a small flower roll and described excitedly to Jinrong, "Her family even deep-fries these small flower rolls and eats them covered in sweet cream, both fragrant and sweet, with a taste that’s excellent."

Jinrong immediately looked towards Qi Younian, who smiled helplessly and said, "We’ll add deep-fried flower rolls and sweet cream to our lunch." Jinrong glanced back at Guan He and indeed saw a look of triumph on his face.

Cheung Wusi laughed and commented from the side, "I find the taste of these cheese balls quite nice too, similar to the fried flower rolls, yet with a distinct difference. Like Sixth Master said, we’re going to be here for a good while longer, plenty of opportunities to eat."

......

The lunch, besides including the deep-fried flower rolls Guan He had spoken of, featured dishes that were light and easy to digest in order to save enough appetite for the substantial New Year’s Eve dinner.

Although the dishes were light, they were not merely perfunctory; eight main courses included hot oil sliced radish, spicy mixed potato shreds, sweet and sour cabbage, stir-fried beef tenderloin with bamboo shoots, squid spawn stewed with cabbage, stir-fried dried cucumber, tofu skin cabbage rolls, and hand-torn cabbage. There was also a soup of dried shrimp and winter melon, with the main dish being deep-fried flower rolls and a palatable radish cake on the side.

The flavors of the soup dishes were commendable, especially considering Wan Yan had brought back dried abalone and squid from the capital, which provided an exquisite flavor to the soups and stewed cabbage.

After lunch, Jinrong heaped praises for the Qi family’s cuisine. The cooks from the same kitchen had managed to create completely different style dishes. Post-meal, he seriously contemplated with Jiang Yifan whether it would be too excessive to take a few of the talented kitchen maids back with him and send a few others to Ye Xinyan to make up the difference.

He was met with a contemptuous glance from Jiang Yifan, who didn’t bother to respond.

After lunch and a short rest, Nanny Liu, Nanny Jin, and those from Anshun’s Household began separately preparing the New Year’s Eve dinner for their Second Branch family, as well as a few dishes to take to the Qi family’s main house.

New Year celebrations were, of course, more grandiose than the Mid-Autumn Festival, and there were also ancestral rituals to perform. Though gatherings of the Qi family were never tranquil, after repeated persuasions from the old Master Qi Yougui, they still had to spend the New Year at the old residence.

All three branches would dine at the Qi family’s main house, and despite whether Qi Yourong’s third branch showed their presence or not, associated with the prestigious reputation of the Second Branch family and their frequent interactions with the main house, it was natural for them to provide the majority of the ingredients.

Anshun’s Household hadn’t mingled much with the other branches of the Qi family, so it was Nanny Jin and Nanny Liu who managed these affairs. As Nanny Liu organized the menu, she discussed with Nanny Jin, "Should we check with the old residence’s Old Madam Wang and make sure the dishes we prepare won’t duplicate what they’re making?"

Nanny Jin shook her head and said, "Never mind that, who knows what sort of people are in the main house now. Speaking too much might just invite trouble. The common folk live a hard life and count on the New Year to have a few good meals. We should stick to our plan, prepare some stewed and soup dishes, as well as steamed ones, with plenty of meat. Even if the dishes are the same, it will just allow everyone to have more options to enjoy themselves."

Speaking of this, she was reminded of their young lady, "With the way our Miss Ye fusses, even with identical dishes, I’m sure the ones we bring will taste better. Let Old Lady Wang keep her family’s dishes for herself and just eat ours."

Nanny Liu laughed, agreeing with Nanny Jin. When Steward Wan had picked people for the Qi family, he did choose those adept in the kitchen, but they were merely competent cooks, nothing extraordinary. Yet, with Miss Ye constantly experimenting with ingredients, she had surprisingly turned two of them into cooking experts.

The dishes prepared by their own kitchen, while perhaps not comparable to those of top chefs in the finest restaurants, could certainly be considered top-notch in terms of novelty and unique taste.

They eventually selected several substantial dishes: braised lion’s head meatballs, yellow stewed chicken, steamed pork ribs, red date braised beef brisket, Dongpo pork, braised lamb, crispy chicken, and crispy meatballs. These dishes could be mostly prepared in advance, and then taken to the Qi family’s old mansion for final preparation.

Ye Xinyan, dressed in eye-catching bright red attire, spent half the day leisurely playing Mahjong in the backyard, shuffling the tiles numerous times, before finally waiting for Nanny Jin to come in and call her to the main house.

Only then did Ye Xinyan realize how mundane the life of an ancient lady could be. Once servants were employed, one could refrain from work and thus indulge in boredom. Of course, a lady could also interact with women from other wealthy families, but such socializing out of boredom often led to numerous disputes.

She seriously considered her days back in the capital. If Zhao Gang was right and Duke An could protect her to continue her business dealings in the capital, and with Grandfather in the Construction Industry, it didn’t matter where they were—she could even take Qi Jiaer with her. However, the thought of idly whiling away the days every month and year in boredom was truly terrifying.

Now, as she heard Nanny Jin come to fetch her for the gathering at the Qi family’s main house, all she could think about was whether idle folks coming together might stir up new trouble.