I'm already a concubine, who wants to fight with you?

Chapter 45 Double Ninth Festival

Xie Fei asked, "Mrs. Li is not from the Miao family, why is she looking for trouble?"

"After all, it seems that the master dotes on Miss Li too much and has left her aside." Fu Yu felt that Miao still had a bad mentality.

Take good care of yourself during the pregnancy. When you have a child, whether it is a boy or a girl, it will be a great joy to the Pei family.

Even for the sake of the child, Pei Yuan would definitely not treat her harshly.

But maybe it was because Miao was irritable during her pregnancy, she actually acted like a mistress, relying on the fact that Li Die'er was a guest in her room, and called her over every day to pay her respects and make her stand in the corner as punishment.

What's even more bizarre is that when Xiao Shirong found out about it, he didn't care. Instead, he said that Li Xiaoniang was Miao's person after all, so she could just do whatever she wanted.

So now, Li Xiaoniang cried every day. She cried so much that even Pei Yuan got annoyed with her and went out to look for other women again.

Xie Fei felt deeply that the Pei Mansion was a big, smelly and filthy melting pot. If one day she was really taken back and locked up, she might be driven crazy by these people.

She quickly kneaded the dough, added glutinous rice flour and a little sugar, and said, "Anyway, I'm going to pretend to be sick and not go back, and let them make a fuss."

After she finished making the dough, she shouted outside through the window, "Big Head, bring the mold in."

Outside the house, Yuan San was sawing wood to repair the sheep pen. Upon hearing this, he took out a few wooden molds from the dustpan.

This was carved by him himself, in various shapes including peonies, chrysanthemums, rabbits, roosters, moons, etc.

Xie Fei picked one up at random, pressed it into the dough, cut off the edges, and then picked up the mold, and the dough was formed.

Fu Yu came over to take a look and said with a smile, "Third Brother Yuan is really skillful, it's so vivid."

Xie Fei also praised: "Is there anything you can't do with your hands?"

Yuan San raised his eyebrows frivolously, and said in a proud tone, "Except for giving birth to children, I can do everything and know everything. As long as..."

"Alright, alright, go fix your circle and don't disturb me from steaming the cakes." Xie Fei drove him away.

The master and servant continued to make Chongyang cake in the room, and Yuan San moved the sawed wood to the corner.

If it weren't for the Double Ninth Festival, he would still be burning charcoal in the mountains.

As soon as he came down the mountain, Xie Fei said there was no pen in the yard and asked him to build a pigpen and a sheeppen.

Although Xie Fei's Songyueju is the largest courtyard in this farm, it is actually not very big.

On the left side of the front yard is a small pond with fish and shrimp in it. There is a willow tree and a ginkgo tree beside the pond. At this time of year, a lot of leaves have fallen into the pond.

On the right is the vegetable field opened up by Shui Huaiyu. After Xie Fei came, he "expropriated" it and planted flowers, plants, vegetables and herbs.

The backyard is rather small, and the pens for raising chickens and rabbits previously occupied most of the area.

So Yuan San simply tore down the wall, opened up a connection with the outside, built a wooden shed to house the pens, and then rebuilt the wall depending on the situation to expand the scope and prevent wild animals from getting in.

Now it seems that Xie Fei wants to raise more and more livestock, and he is afraid that the wooden shed is not enough, so he has to expand the backyard as much as possible.

Yuan San worked hard and planned to build a sheep pen next to the rabbit house.

Xie Fei doesn't care about these things at all. She just gives advice and instructions.

Fu Yu heard the sound of Yuan San picking up a heavy hammer and smashing the wall, and said, "Miss, if the people in the village find out that the backyard has changed, won't they be suspicious?"

Xie Fei said, "It's okay. I've told Mother Liu. Don't bother the village. I'll hire someone to rebuild the backyard myself."

Mother Liu is a smart person and knows how to repay kindness. She will give the people in the village a reasonable excuse.

Fu Yu was relieved then. He waited until the red beans in the pot were cooked soft, then scooped them all out, drained the water, and crushed them into red bean paste one by one.

As if that wasn't enough, Xie Fei added sugar and a small spoonful of lard, stirred it evenly, and then put it back into the pot and cooked it on low heat for a while. "This bean paste smells so good, it's perfect for making Chongyang cake." As soon as he smelled the sweet smell, Fu Yu couldn't help but imagine how delicious this Chongyang cake would be.

Xie Fei scooped up the bean paste and said, "It's still not as good as the Pei Mansion's family dinner. Today is the Double Ninth Festival. I don't know what to eat."

Fu Yu held her arm, rubbed his head against her shoulder, and said coquettishly, "I don't care what delicacies they eat. As long as I can be with the girl, it's better to eat coarse vegetables than rich fish and meat."

Xie Fei smiled and said, "Bring the dried osmanthus flowers. Sprinkle them on the steamed cakes and the Chongyang cake will be ready."

"Okay." Fu Yu happily brought a jar of dried osmanthus flowers.

When the wind started to blow in the afternoon, Madam Zou knocked on the door outside and brought Xie Fei some dogwood.

Fu Yu said that there were so many that even if three people stuck their heads into a chicken's tail they still couldn't finish eating them all, but they couldn't be wasted.

So she carried a basket and filled the door cracks, windows, and wall cracks with dogwood branches everywhere.

She even tied two ropes on hares and pheasants. There were still some left in the basket, so she insisted on chasing after pigs and sheep and tying them on the livestock as well.

Xie Fei ignored her joke and concentrated on making the Chongyang cake. He also cooked several side dishes, such as fried meat with black fungus, braised pork with potatoes, Kung Pao chicken, pearl glutinous rice meatballs, etc.

There are also chicken stewed with mushrooms, pickled fish, steamed crabs, etc., which are dishes that are not often made on weekdays.

While she was cooking, people came in one after another, all of them were delivering things from the village.

There are a few pieces of pastry at this house, a few small crucian carps at that house, or newly made embroidery, fruits and wild vegetables picked from the mountains, everything is available.

Xie Fei asked Fu Yu to accept it, then filled a basket with the freshly made Chongyang cakes and asked Fu Yu to deliver it door to door.

At dusk, the sky was dark. Torches were placed next to the stone table in the yard, and tung oil lamps were lit, making it brighter.

Yuan San had repaired half of the sheep pen with a lot of banging. When he heard Xie Fei calling for dinner, he washed his hands and helped bring the food to the table.

"Why is today's food even more sumptuous than the Mid-Autumn Festival?" Even though Yuan San was not a greedy person, he was still surprised by the table full of delicious food.

Xie Fei was walking around in the kitchen wearing an apron, saying, "If I hadn't been quick-witted, I would have been arranged to perform at the Pei Mansion's family banquet. How can I not reward myself after escaping such a disaster?"

Besides, Yuan San is also tired. Recently he has been either burning charcoal or cutting wood and repairing the fence. It is time to make some delicious food for him to replenish his energy.

"By the way, there is a jar of chrysanthemum wine under the willow tree by the pond. Go dig it out and have a good drink tonight." Xie Fei ordered.

Yuan San strode towards the pool and soon dug out the wine jar.

When you open it, you can smell the aroma of wine mixed with the elegant fragrance of chrysanthemums.

"The girl brews good wine, and her skills are improving."

He carried the jar of wine back to the stone table, and Xie Fei was just serving the last of the pickled fish.

"Yes, I prepared it specially for today. Not drinking chrysanthemum wine on Double Ninth Festival is like not eating rice dumplings on Dragon Boat Festival."

Xie Fei had a dogwood branch stuck in his hair. The red fruit looked even more beautiful under the candlelight than a ruby.

Yuan San stared at her steadily until she looked up, "What?"

"Your face is stained." Yuan San almost reached out his hand, but held back and pointed to Xie Fei, "The left side of your face."

Xie Fei wiped it casually, and the ash was spread out, instantly becoming a big tabby cat's face.

Yuan San laughed and shook his head, then went to get a towel and a mirror so that Xie Fei could wipe himself.

(End of this chapter)