I was a stepmother in ancient times, and I led my whole family to wealth.

Chapter 44 Gu Jingye's Vigilance

Dongfang Jin was quite pleased; this kid was rather clever. "Oh? Not bad. Come on, recite it for our county magistrate uncle."

Lu Yunqing looked at the boy's wary expression, then glanced at the carefree Dongfang Jin, and understood.

This child is a bit heavy-hearted, and also a child with a tragic fate.

"What's your name?"

"Replying to Your Excellency, my name is Gu Jingye."

Dongfang Jin was speechless. This child was only seven years old, how could he be called a commoner? Was this really a good thing? It was boring, without a trace of a child's innocence and naivety.

He looked at Lu Yunqing apologetically and said, "This child is a bit mature for his age, please don't mind him."

Lu Yunqing waved his hand with a smile: "Hehe, no, when the Divine Martial General was his age, he was already on the battlefield with a sword."

Dongfang Jin: "..." Heh! The ancients!

Lu Yunqing looked at Gu Chenglin's son and smiled, "Gu Jingye, hmm, not a bad name."

Gu Jingye leaned closer to Dongfang Jin, raised his chin, and said with a hint of pride, "My lady named me that."

Lu Yunqing looked surprised: "Oh?"

"Hehe, I'm not very talented, Jingye, but I'll recite a poem for the magistrate," Dongfang Jin quickly changed the subject, hoping not to be asked any more questions, it gave him a headache.

Seeing this, Lu Yunqing didn't ask any more questions: "Yes, recite it for Uncle Lu. If you recite it well, Uncle Lu will give you a reward."

Gu Jingye has grown bolder now: "Goose, goose, goose, with its curved neck singing to the sky. White feathers float on green water, red webbed feet stir clear waves."

Lu Yunqing was particularly amazed by the poem's catchy and vivid style: "This poem is good, did you write it?"

Dongfang Jin shook her head: "No, it was taught by that master."

"Oh, it seems he taught you a lot?"

Dongfang Jin was speechless. When would this endless stream of lies ever end?

"I suppose so? Hehe... quite a lot indeed." Quite a lot, isn't it? Her study was practically a miniature version of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. No exaggeration, it was a small bookstore.

Lu Yunqing tentatively asked, "Do you have time to write it down?"

Dongfang Jin: "..." Is he serious?

"Sure, but please don't rush."

Lu Yunqing was overjoyed to see that she agreed: "No rush, no rush."

Gu Caiwei also came over and nestled in Dongfang Jin's arms: "Little Mother, I can recite it now, but... but there are still a few words I can't write down."

Dongfang Jin pinched Gu Caiwei's little face and said gently, "Our little girl is still young. It's already good enough that she can recite the ancient poems. You can leave the writing to her brother."

Gu Caiwei asked cautiously, "Is it okay?"

"Of course, but you still need to be able to write. You can't give up halfway through anything, you know?"

Gu Caiwei was delighted to hear her say that: "Yes, I must learn to write."

"Alright, once you can write it, I'll teach you the next one."

Gu Jingye said, "Little sister, you taught my sister something simple, and I can learn another one."

"Yes, that's good, but we need to do things step by step. We should not only be able to recite ancient poems, but also write them, and more importantly, understand their meaning."

Why do we read and memorize these poems? What does each poem mean? What lesson does it teach us? We need to understand all of these things.

Furthermore, to go even deeper, you need to apply this principle to other situations. You can imitate it and write a similar one yourself; then you'll truly understand it.

"I see."

Listening to her speak to the child like that, Lu Yunqing sighed, "If you were a boy, you could go to the academy and become a teacher."

Dongfang Jin quickly waved her hand: "Then you flatter me. I have a bad tongue and I easily offend people. If I say something wrong and bring trouble to my family, wouldn't that be a sin for me?"

Yes, things weren't like they are in modern times, where she could say whatever she wanted even if she had a lisp.

Here, if you disagree with someone, they might label you, and there's always the possibility of exterminating your entire family.

Lu Yunqing was shocked by her calmness and said with a smile, "Hehe, I must say, your personality does tend to bring trouble to the family."

"Right, so I'm suited to staying at home all the time."

"I think only Gu Chenglin can tolerate your personality. No one else could."

Afterwards, Lu Yunqing brought up the issue of economic development again. Dongfang Jin knew she couldn't avoid it, so she shared some of her own insights with him.

The more Lu Yunqing talked to her, the more impressed he became with her, and he developed a different kind of feeling for her.

"You mean that when there are many things, there will be comparisons, and then the survival of the fittest will occur?"

Dongfang Jin didn't notice Lu Yunqing's change, but Gu Jingye did.

She continued speaking eloquently: "Yes, this will also promote production reform and innovation..."

Lu Yunqing suppressed her thoughts and continued to ask, "Can this be done for every industry?"

"Of course, let's not talk about anything else. Just take the food at the restaurant for example. Don't you also think the food here is delicious and you go there more often?"

“That’s not entirely true, it’s usually true… but what you said makes sense,” Lu Yunqing said, her tone changing as she added that what she said also made a lot of sense.

A-Dong and a yamen runner returned carrying baskets on their backs, and Dongfang Jin stopped talking.

Seeing the vegetables Ah Dong bought, I was speechless, but thankfully, there was an extra bunch of spinach.

A-Dong looked at Dongfang Jin and said, "The stone mill will be delivered soon. We don't have any that are too small. Is this size okay?"

Dongfang Jin looked at him and gestured that it was about 50cm in diameter, not too big, not bad, before Dongfang Jin could ask.

Ah Dong added, "This millstone belongs to the Li family's pastry shop on East Street. It's used for grinding glutinous rice and is currently the smallest millstone. No one has ever tried to make it any smaller."

Dongfang Jin nodded silently, indicating that she understood.

Next, Lu Yunqing sent two maids and an old woman to help her while he went to handle official business.

kitchen

Dongfang Jin instructed Gu Caiwei and Cuiying to select, wash, and cut the vegetables into large pieces, and to separate the cabbage stems from the leaves.

After picking the bok choy and spinach, wash them whole and set them aside.

Cuihuan washed the sesame seeds, while Xiaosun was responsible for rinsing the millstone clean.

Next, Aunt Sun will fry sesame seeds; all the women around here know how to do it.

Dongfang Jin asked her to turn up the heat a little more than usual, because she had just looked at the sesame salt that Aunt Sun had just fried, and the sesame seeds were fried on a less-than-ideal heat.

Roasting sesame seeds requires skill. If the heat is too low, the sesame seeds will produce less oil; if the heat is too high, the sesame paste will taste bitter.

After everything was arranged, she felt something was missing, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

She stopped thinking about it, but when A-Dong carried half a sheep in, she realized that there was no pot here.

Then she found paper and pen and drew pictures of a hot pot for mutton hot pot and a half-and-half hot pot.

There was no time to go to the blacksmith's shop to have it made. Afterwards, Dongfang Jin asked Adong to set up a large pot in the yard.

Zhao Cai is a cook in the county government kitchen. He is fifteen years old this year. Sun Hu is Aunt Sun's son. He is fourteen years old this year. He works as a helper in the county government kitchen with the couple.

"Zhao Cai, I want this mutton slice, it's very thin. Can you cut it?" Dongfang Jin asked Zhao Cai, who was standing to the side watching her, after cutting off a slice of mutton.

Zhao Cai said, "Yes, it's fine, even thinner is acceptable."

"Alright, this job is yours. Xiao Sun, put these lamb bones directly into this pot and add water to boil."

"okay."

Ah Dong asked, "What am I going to do?"

"Don't rush. Wait until Aunt Sun's sesame seeds are roasted and the millstone is dry, then you can help me turn this millstone."

This is a skilled trade; once you learn it, you can become a master chef.

"Hehe, you little rascal, are you planning to make me change careers?"

"Brother Dong, is this something I can decide?"

"Not counting."

Afterwards, Dongfang Jin walked around the kitchen and said in frustration, "Why don't you have any chili peppers, ginger, or Sichuan peppercorns in your kitchen?"