Transmigrated into the fat wife of the future prime minister

Chapter 64 Beef Jerky

Seeing Gu Yunyi like this, Madam He didn't want to criticize him too much in front of Xu Qingmeng.

Seeing that it was getting late, Mrs. He stopped nagging and told him to go to sleep.

After Gu Yunyi got up, Xu Qingmeng also left.

In the courtyard, Gu Yunyi seemed to know, and was standing at the door waiting for her.

Xu Qing dreamed that Xun Ge'er had also returned to his room, so she pulled Gu Yunyi towards his room.

Gu Yunyi looked at Xu Qingmeng and smiled, "My wife, are you in such a hurry?"

Xu Qingmeng blushed instantly. "What are you saying?" Then she patted him lightly. "Be serious."

After making sure no one came out, he spoke up, "Didn't you say you were pretending to be a bookworm? What's the deal with that Young Master Liu?"

Gu Yunyi touched his nose, looking quite helpless: "Maybe I'm too honest, and they think I'm a fool."

"What do you mean? What do they want you to do?"

Gu Yunyi immediately became serious and lowered his voice: "Promise a thousand taels of gold, and take someone else's place in the battle."

Xu Qingmeng's expression changed.

Taking the exam for someone else?
These people are incredibly bold, considering that a prefectural city and a county town are not on the same level.

"You... how come the Liu family trusts you?" Xu Qingmeng asked, puzzled.

Gu Yunyi and that Young Master Liu had only known each other for half a month. How could he dare to casually disclose such an important matter? Did the Liu family have no scruples left in Quan County? Did Lord Huang even know about this?
Gu Yunyi was also quite surprised. On the few occasions they met, he had only written poems and there had been very little conversation between them. He had not shown any other intentions.

After returning from offering incense, although he didn't say it explicitly, he only mentioned it vaguely in front of him, so he figured that the reason Young Master Liu was looking for him tonight was probably because of this.

After Gu Yunyi finished speaking with Xu Qingmeng, he added, "Whether he intends to test us or not, it's probably not a bad thing. Don't worry, I'm prepared."

Xu Qingmeng's tightly furrowed brows relaxed slightly, but she was still very worried.

She said cryptically, "The prefectural examination is scheduled to be held in the prefectural city. Since this young master Liu dared to propose it, it is obvious that the Liu family still has influence in the prefectural city, or perhaps the Liu family has a superior."

Upon hearing this, Gu Yunyi understood what Xu Qingmeng was worried about and said with a smile, "My wife, there's no need to worry. They may not have bribed the examiners. At most, they may have bribed the person in charge of the examination. Otherwise, they wouldn't have had someone take the exam for them. I know what I'm doing."

Having said that, Xu Qingmeng stopped talking.

After all, they are just ordinary people now, and they have no power to go against these people.

Xu Qingmeng recalled that the book only briefly described Gu Yunyi's journey to becoming the Grand Secretary. Now, it seems that he must have put in a tremendous amount of effort to reach that final step.

Xu Qingmeng was deep in thought as she prepared to return to her room when Gu Yunyi suddenly said, "Why don't you sleep here, my wife?"

Upon hearing this, Xu Qingmeng paused, her cheeks flushing red. She then said, "Um... I have to get up early tomorrow, you should go to sleep early." With that, she quickly returned to her room. Gu Yunyi watched Xu Qingmeng's hasty retreat, a bitter smile playing on his lips. It seemed his road to winning her back was long and arduous.

He sighed softly, watched as the lights in Xu Qingmeng's room went out, then turned around, closed the door, quietly opened the courtyard gate, and left in the dark.

Xu Qingmeng lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep. Indeed, there are some things it's better not to know.

The next day, Gu Family Restaurant was still doing brisk business. Gu Yunyi had already begun preparations, as he was to set off for the prefectural city the following day.

Xu Qingmeng made the pies and prepared the filling for the buns in the morning, and then went to the market to buy some vegetables. However, by the time she finished, it was already quite late, and the vegetables were not very fresh. But she did see the beef.

The last time we met, the beef we bought was already gone. Since Gu Yunyi is going on a scientific expedition tomorrow, we can make some beef jerky for him to take with him.

Xu Qingmeng bought twenty catties of beef and five catties of beef spine bones to make soup for the two little ones, which surprised the butcher.

Cows are precious animals and are not allowed to be slaughtered, except for those that die accidentally. So these cows are very expensive, but people are willing to eat them fresh. However, they usually only buy half a pound or a pound to try. It is rare for someone like Xu Qingmeng to buy so much at once.

A woman who knew Xu Qingmeng asked with a smile, "Madam Gu, how are you going to eat so much beef?"

Xu Qing thought for a moment and said, "We have some braising spices at home. We can make some braised beef, stew it with potatoes, stir-fry the tender ones, or make beef jerky as a snack. The spine can be used to make soup. It's delicious no matter how you eat it."

Some people shook their heads and sighed, "Everyone's hands are different. With Gu Niangzi's hands, anything can be turned into a divine delicacy. If we buy it, we can't even get rid of the fishy smell."

Laughter erupted all around.

Xu Qingmeng smiled faintly: "If you're stewing it, blanch it in water first before stewing it. Add some spices, rice wine, scallions, ginger and other seasonings, and you can remove eight or nine parts of the fishy smell."

Everyone originally thought that culinary skills should not be passed on to outsiders, especially since the family made a living from food, and no one had any intention of prying into it.

Unexpectedly, Xu Qingmeng spoke directly, and then asked a lot of questions about the kitchen without any ambiguity.

Xu Qingmeng didn't hold back and answered everyone's questions one by one. In her opinion, they were all simple common sense questions, but here, they seemed to be of immense benefit to everyone.

After Xu Qingmeng finished speaking, several women looked at her with even more kindness. Some aunties even stuffed the things they had bought into her hands, giving her an egg or a duck egg here, a piece of vegetable leaves there, or a couple of pieces of candy there, making her both amused and exasperated.

On the way back, there were quite a few people going the same way, and they talked about whose house was in the alley. Xu Qingmeng listened attentively and occasionally chimed in, creating a very pleasant atmosphere.

When Xu Qingmeng got home, she began preparing for the lunch business. After the busy lunch, Xu Qingmeng made beef jerky without an oven. She made both five-spice and spicy jerky, but she managed to make it anyway. The appearance and taste were no different from what she ate in modern times.

"If only we had a kiln, we wouldn't have to go through all this trouble."

Mrs. He said from the side, "Why bother with this time? We've already prepared quite a lot."

Xu Qingmeng casually grabbed a non-spicy beef jerky and stuffed it into Yun Sheng's mouth. Yun Sheng, who was standing to the side looking longingly at the food, turned away for the first time in front of the food: "Sister-in-law, I don't want to eat it. Let my brother eat it for his exam."

Xu Qingmeng was making this for the first time and was still figuring it out. It was quite complicated and the quantity was small. Although Yun Sheng was still young, she saw it all. With yesterday's experience and He Shi's prior notice, she managed to resist the urge to eat it.

(End of this chapter)