Nightwatcher

Chapter 171 Don't Borrow, Get Out

In the kitchen, several cooks were busy doing things, washing and chopping vegetables, and lighting the stove. Talking while doing things.

"We're going to live in the inner city in the future." The cook who cut the vegetables laughed.

The yearning of the people in the capital for the inner city is just like Xu Lingyin's yearning for food. Those who live in the outer city are not necessarily at the bottom of society, but those who live in the inner city are definitely from well-to-do families.

Regardless of people's livelihood and public security, the inner city is far better than the outer city, and there are almost no such things as slums in the inner city. There is no need for the little lady to be frightened when she goes out shopping.

When you see a secluded alley, you can go in boldly. Of course, this kind of thing is not worth advocating.

"Da Lang is really promising. I heard from my wife that the house costs five thousand taels." The cook who washed the vegetables spoke up.

"Five thousand taels? That's about the same as our house." said the cook who was lighting the fire.

"What do you know?" the cook who washed the vegetables spat, "I heard from Madam that the house costs at least seven thousand taels, which is more grand than ours."

As for why it only cost five thousand taels, it is of course that Da Lang has the ability. He is a gangster, so it is easy to buy a house at a low price.

"Madam told us that she will take us to live in the inner city in a few days. Let me tell you, the inner city is very prosperous."

Many low-level people living in the outer city rarely have the opportunity to go to the inner city. If they don't ride a horse or take a carriage, it takes one or two hours to get from the outer city to the inner city by relying on their legs. Depart in the afternoon, and it is almost sunset in the inner city.

The servants in the mansion are very much looking forward to moving to the inner city, and they have been working hard these days. Fear of being fired. Unless Lu'e sold her body in Xu's mansion since she was a child, Xu Dalang could sleep with her maid, the rest of the servants signed the contract of living.

"I found something." The cook who cut the vegetables suddenly interrupted, and when the two cooks came over, she whispered:

"Madam likes to show off Da Lang more and more, and always talks about him, but when Da Lang comes back, she will never show good looks."

"cough cough"

Suddenly, a cough came from outside the door, interrupting the chatter of the cooks.

"Why is Da Lang here?" the cooks asked in surprise.

A greasy and dirty place like the kitchen should not be the hosts' place.

You old mothers really play a lot of games, my aunt will show off, I blame Xu Qi'an, holding the bowl in his hand, nodded, and said:

"I made an exclusive recipe, and I'm here to help you cook."

Xu Qi'an swept around. The kitchen wasn't messy, but it wasn't clean either. After all, the walls and stove were stained with a layer of greasy dirt that couldn't be wiped off under years of oily smoke.

However, as long as the pots and pans are washed frequently, there is no problem.

"What is this?" The cooks turned their eyes to the bowl in his hand, which was a sticky lump.

"Good stuff, don't look at it randomly, this is a unique recipe." Xu Qi'an turned sideways, not showing his treasure to the cooks.

The cook didn't care, and continued to work. Da Lang stayed as long as he liked. He was the master, and he and the others were servants. There was no reason for servants to control the master. Besides, every time Madam quarreled with him, she would roll her eyes angrily.

Except for the master, there is probably only Erlang, who has a mouth that can bloom flowers, who can argue with Dalang.

Xu Qi'an stood by and watched, the first dish was fried pork with winter bamboo shoots, and while the cook was stirring it, he scooped a small spoonful of "chicken essence" into it.

Then he took a chopstick, tasted it, and nodded slightly.

The umami taste has been improved a lot, but it cannot be compared with real chicken essence.

Guanylic acid and sodium glutamate complement each other. If you want to achieve the taste of your previous life, you still have to develop monosodium glutamate. Xu Qi'an is quite satisfied.

Seeing this, the cook took out her chopsticks, picked up a piece of bamboo shoots, and tasted it carefully.

Her eyes widened instantly and she forgot to cook.

This smell is both familiar and unfamiliar to her. It tastes like chicken, but chicken can never be this fresh. A small spoonful can actually improve the umami taste of the bamboo shoots by several levels, which cannot be achieved by high soup.

Xu Qi'an took a look at her, and grabbed the spoon to stir fry the vegetables so that they wouldn't get mushy.

"It seems delicious?" The other two cooks looked at her a little moved.

"It's so delicious, I've never eaten such a delicious dish," the cook said excitedly.

In the front hall, Xu Lingyue came over with her meal in hand, looked around, and said softly, "Where's big brother?"

Usually at this time, the eldest brother was already sitting at the table waiting for the meal to be served, and teased Xu Lingyin casually, holding her in the creaking nest and swinging her fatally.

Or bicker with mother, aunt and nephew hate each other.

"I'm taking a rest today, maybe I went to the Jiaofang Division." Xu Pingzhi said as he lowered his head and wiped his saber.

"Father knows nonsense, big brother doesn't even go to Goulan." Xu Lingyue puffed up her cheeks with displeasure on her face.

That's right, I used to think so, you don't go to the big brother who doesn't go to the Goulan, but now he is the figure that the oirans of the Jiaofang Division are vying for.

Xu Pingzhi felt emotional in his heart, and said: "He is now in the Qi training state, and he no longer needs to guard his body. Isn't it human nature to go to Jiaofangsi? Which man won't go?"

Suddenly feeling a murderous look from the side, Xu Pingzhi continued to wipe his saber without raising his head, and changed his words: "Your father and Erlang and I never go, maybe Ningyan has been there, but it's all because of entertainment, there's nothing we can do about it.

"Speaking of which, none of our Xu family men like to go to the place of fireworks."

Xu Lingyue believed her father's words, thinking that the proud second brother and the honest eldest brother are indeed not the kind of man who misses the place of fireworks.

With a sound of "hmm", I sat down at the table with peace of mind.

"Mother, I'm going to Guiyue Tower." Xu Lingyin crawled out from under the table, startling her aunt.

Aunt doesn't like to talk to her. Uncle Xu educated his daughter earnestly: "Lingyin, you can't go to Guiyue Tower often, you need money."

"Brother took me there yesterday." Xu Lingyin objected.

"Then you go to your elder brother." Xu Pingzhi waved his hand, unwilling to educate his daughter. This daughter is too stupid, and even the masters of Yunlu Academy can't teach her.

The aunt said with emotion: "It is said that the cook of Guiyue Tower came from the palace, and his craftsmanship is unrivaled in the capital. It would be great if our family could invite such a cook."

"It smells so good," Xu Lingyin said suddenly, she twitched her nostrils and looked out the door.

After a second's delay, Xu Pingzhi, who was at the peak of Qi Refining Realm, smelled a strong umami.

In a short time, the cooks came in with the dishes, accompanied by Xu Qi'an, but even Xu Lingyue, who liked the eldest brother the most, didn't pay attention to him, and her eyes were firmly fixed on the dishes.

Stir-fried pork with winter bamboo shoots, vinegared cabbage, yam soup, scrambled eggs with leeks, stewed pork ribs with lotus root, wild rice stems in red oil, and fried pork knuckles by Xu Qian himself.

"Today's dishes are delicious." Xu Pingzhi said unexpectedly.

He beckoned, and brought over a piece of hoof with a crispy skin and dusty sauce on it. Smelling the salivating umami, Xu Pingzhi couldn't wait to stuff it into his mouth and chew.

"It's so delicious?" He said in shock.

"Master is too exaggerated." Aunt curled her lips, and when the cook put the dishes on the plate, she picked up a bamboo shoot with chopsticks, chewed a few mouthfuls, and opened her beautiful eyes instantly.

The dish is still the same dish, nothing fancy, but the umami taste exploded the taste buds, bringing a taste shock.

Usually cooking, at most one spoonful of broth is poured, and the broth is divided into different grades. In fact, it is not as delicious as imagined, because the broth in this era does not have MSG and other condiments, and the taste is limited.

Including drinking chicken soup or eating shiitake mushrooms, simply eating shiitake mushrooms will already make people feel fresh, but Xu Qi'an uses two whole baskets of purified essence, which has an extremely strong impact on the taste buds.

My aunt looked at the cooks in amazement, her eyes sparkled brightly: "Today's dishes are very different from those in the past. How did you do it?"

Xu Lingyue and Xu Pingzhi also stopped their chopsticks, waiting for the cook's answer with great interest.

Only Xu Lingyin doesn't care, she only cares about how many delicious dishes can go into her stomach.

"It's Da Lang's secret formula." The cook quickly waved her hand.

The family immediately looked at Xu Qi'an, and Xu Pingzhi asked in surprise, "Where did you get the formula?"

Xu Lingyue and her aunt looked at him curiously.

Xu Qi'an put down his chopsticks like flying, and explained: "I just feel that the food at home is lackluster, and the food in Guiyue Tower is too expensive, so I fiddled with some things myself, and they seem to taste pretty good."

Second Uncle Xu nodded slightly, turned to look at the table, and widened his eyes: "Xu Lingyin!"

Xu Lingyin climbed onto the table and moved the dishes to her side.

"It's all mine." She frowned and said crisply.

Xu Qi'an rushed to the yamen at Maoshi, and did nothing until noon, just caring about the gongs and silver gongs that came back from prison.

They had learned from their colleagues yesterday the news of the downfall of the Minister of the Ministry of Industry and the case that decided whether they would stay or not.

Without Xu Qi'an's role in the middle, the fate of many of them might have changed.

After finally dealing with them, Xu Qi'an tied up the gong, hung up his saber, and his duty in the afternoon was to patrol the streets.

"Ning Yan, you haven't been to the Jiaofang Division for a while." The taciturn Zhu Guangxiao said suddenly.

Because now I have the illusion that it's not that I'm prostitution, but they are prostitution me Xu Qi'an said helplessly: "I feel that I'm about to reach the peak of the Qi training realm, and I plan to try to hit the God refining realm."

Zhu Guangxiao and Song Tingfeng, who were at the peak of Qi training, looked at him blankly.

The two of them are also at the peak of Qi training, it is not difficult, as long as they accumulate time and time, it is only a matter of time before they reach the peak.

The difficult thing is to accumulate meritorious deeds in exchange for visualization maps.

But it's only been two months since Xu Qi'an joined the watchman, and he's at the peak of Qi training. What kind of qualification is this?

"Then you have to accumulate meritorious deeds." Song Tingfeng said sourly, and then added depressed: "But with your savings from the Sangbo case to now, I feel that it is enough."

"Yeah." Xu Qi'an lightly changed the topic: "I plan to save up for two weeks before going to the Jiaofang Division."

The Jiaofang Division is always the best topic for their lively atmosphere, Song Tingfeng winked: "That girl Fuxiang is guilty."

Talking while walking, when they came to the gate of the yamen, the eyes of the three were attracted by a burly and tall monk in blue monk clothes.

His monk's robe was a bit worn out, a thick Buddhist bead was hanging around his neck, and there were two rows of scars on his bald head. He looked bitter and bitter.

It was Monk Hengyuan.

Seeing Xu Qi'an coming out, Heng Yuan's eyes lit up, he strode forward to meet him, clasped his hands together: "Master Xu."

Xu Qi'an interrupted him if he didn't borrow, and said helplessly: "Master Hengyuan, I have official duties, let's make a long story short. I only have a monthly salary of five taels of silver, and I am ashamed of my pocket."

While speaking, he looked down and saw that Hengyuan's cloth shoes were torn, with two toes sticking out.

It turned out that Song Tingfeng and Zhu Guangxiao who were looking for Ning Yan to borrow money stared at Hengyuan with unfriendly expressions.

Seeing Xu Qi'an's straightforward refusal, Heng Yuan was silent for a long time, then bowed and said: "The poor monk knows."

Seeing the back of the great monk leaving, Xu Qi'an thought for no reason that when he was in middle school, his father who ran all the way to the school to deliver food to him, and after he complained with a disgusted face that the food was not delivered in time, it was also the back that left alone.

"Hey wait," Xu Qi'an called to stop him, and let out a sigh of relief: "How much money do I need to borrow again this time, let me be clear first, I don't want to borrow too much money, I really don't have much money recently."

PS: I may not add more updates today, I am a little tired and want to sleep.