Chapter 7 Root Cause

Si Yue He Shi said: "Thank God for that. Madam has been unable to eat for several days."

Su You said: "Let's go, let's deliver food to Banniang now."

He carried the snack basket to Banniang's room, put the food on the table, and said to Banniang: "Banniang, you can't stay in bed all the time. Come and eat quickly. After eating, you have to walk around in the yard."

Siyue laid out her chopsticks and helped Ba Niang out of bed and came to the table.

Su You looked at Baniang with a sincere face: "You have just recovered from a serious illness, and you are probably tired of oil, so I will make it lighter."

When Banniang looked at the dishes on the table, the aroma of each dish and soup filled her nostrils, and she said with emotion: "Thank you, Uncle Yao. This dish looks quite to my liking."

Su You mixed the minced chicken in a small dish and the chopped green onion in a small dish into the two-color tofu, sat down and picked up the bowl: "I'm very hungry, so I can't be polite."

In addition to the light two-color tofu and boiled cabbage, there is also a large bowl of oily stewed fat chicken, which Su You prepared for himself...

Ba Niang first picked some cabbage hearts and was shocked when she tasted them: "What kind of dish is this? I thought it was boiled cabbage hearts. This... is so delicious. Is this chicken soup? Why is it still like this without any starch?"

Clear?”

Su You was gnawing on a chicken leg, his mouth full of oil: "This is called boiled cabbage, hey! In fact, the ingredients are far from good, but it's just superficial. The soup is also delicious. If you like it, eat more. You won't get tired of it."

of."

Ba Niang stirred up another piece of chicken blood: "What is this?"

Su You said: "It is made from chicken blood. To make it so tough, it depends on the right heat. It is meaty, not greasy, easy to digest and nutritious. It is very good for your weakness after illness.

"

Ba Niang took a small taste and found it was soft and delicious: "Chicken soup doesn't even have such a rich flavor. Is this the fluffy flavor you just added?"

Su You said: "That's chicken floss made from roasted chicken. The freshness is first-class. Isn't it because Eight Niang's appetite is gone? Let's try this."

Ba Niang praised: "It's really good, Uncle Yao, these two dishes are not something ordinary farmers can produce. I wonder where you learned them? You don't know them from birth, right?"

Siyue was waiting on the side and said: "Little sir, maybe you really know it from birth. When I came back, I heard the great master still praising the little gentleman's pairing and the snow salt he refined.

, which shocked the uncle cook."

Su You didn't think there was anything wrong: "These things may seem novel, but they are actually not unimaginable. Take this chicken minced meat as an example. We know that the chicken soup is very fresh, so if we purify and thicken it, can we get it?"

Something extremely delicious?”

"We also know that salt is salty and bitter. So if you remove the bitter substances and leave only the salty substances, the taste will be better, right? These are actually natural principles."

Banniang shook her head gently and said: "That being said, how many people would think about this problem? This is the talent of investigating things. Uncle Yao is very spiritual. When he starts reading poetry and books, he will get twice the result with half the effort.

.”

After speaking, he seemed to remember something and said with a smile: "In this aspect, he is similar to my younger brother Zizhan."

Su You waved the chicken leg in his hand and said modestly: "How is it possible? I dare not compare it." When Zizhan was young, he was educated by Liu Weizhi in Shouchang Academy. His teacher Weizhi wrote "Egret Poems", one of which included the line "The fisherman suddenly started to startle.

Zizhan thought that there was no connection between the upper and lower sentences, so it would be better to change it to 'A piece of snow falls on the ground.' The teacher praised the genius and said, 'I am not a teacher.' This is spirituality."

Ba Niang pursed her lips and smiled and said: "Zizhan's literary understanding is indeed not bad. The "Inscription on the Queshu Dao" written by him when he was a child, as well as "Ode on the Tank Inkstone" written by Ziyou, have been framed by Zhongxian Gong. Now

I still keep it at home.”

Hearing Banniang mention Zizhan, Su You suddenly felt very interested and said with a smile: "I'll go to Qiyun Temple another day. I heard that he also has an "Ode to a Sick Dog" on the wall there, so I have to take a good look at it."

Ba Niang joked: "Hey, you care about him very much. Most people in Meishan know his big character "Lian'ao Mountain", and not many people know that there is a poem "Ode to a Sick Dog" on the wall of Qiyun Temple on the mountain."

After saying that, he continued: "But Uncle Yao, please don't belittle yourself. 'The wind blows in the forest and the mountains stir up the waves, and the clouds in the sky pass the moon and the boat sails.' The atmosphere in the next sentence is obviously much more open than the previous sentence. In addition to me, the children of the Su family, I also

I really don’t believe that a five-year-old child can do this.”

Ba Niang said this with natural confidence. After saying this, she pointed to the table: "There are two dishes. Although they are just cooking tricks, they can also show the understanding of little uncle Yao. He is a child prodigy. I don't think he is.

Pass."

Su You's face turned red and he said humbly: "I can't bear this name. Brothers like Sima Junshi and Ercheng are all bright and intelligent people with family backgrounds. The key is that they have known since childhood that they should work hard and have no distractions. Five

He has mastered the Analects of Confucius at the age of seven, and has mastered the Spring and Autumn Annals at the age of seven. That is a child prodigy."

Ba Niang pursed her lips and smiled and said: "Phoenixes do not eat with ordinary chickens, but looking at the people mentioned by Uncle Yao, you can see that the ambition is not small."

Su You said in shock: "Ba Niang, you are laughing at me again."

A gentleman eats and sleeps without saying a word, but here two women and a child didn't have so many scruples, and they had a pleasant meal.

After dinner, Su You and Baniang walked around the yard to eat.

From Ba Niang's conversation, we can see that she is also a smart person. Su Xun once wrote in an article, "Girls are eager to learn at a young age, generous and extraordinary, and their writing is often gratifying." This can be seen.

However, it is difficult to say whether a talented woman can definitely please her mother-in-law.

Su You explained at the side: "Ba Niang, I heard that you are also studious and studious at home. Now that you have become a bride of the Cheng family, you should ignore your husband's affairs outside and serve your mother-in-law well. I think you can start cooking.

If you buy it, you will definitely win their favor, and with their support, your life in the Cheng family will be easier."

Ba Niang frowned slightly.

Su You continued: "Of course, this is one aspect, and the other is to establish a career. As a wife, her husband has to travel and study, and she must support her husband at home and give her husband the greatest support. My seventh sister-in-law, your mother, is the best example.

Cousin Mingyun only worked hard to study when he was twenty-seven years old. Before and since, it was Sister Seven who took care of the house."

Ba Niang stopped and was stunned for a moment, then turned to look at Su You and said seriously: "Speaking of this, Uncle Yao, you are a genius at studying things. Ba Niang really wants to discuss something with you."

Su You said: "Oh? Is there really something going on?"

Ba Niang hesitated for a long time, and finally spoke: "According to Ba Niang's inquiry, a man named Bi Sheng invented movable type printing ten years ago. The method was to first make a seal for each character, and then set up an iron plate.

, there is rosin wax and paper ash on it."

"When it's time to print, an iron mold is placed on the iron plate, the characters are arranged into a plate, and then the powder is baked with fire, and a flat plate is pressed against the surface, and the characters are as flat as a stone."

Su You knew in his heart that this was one of the four great inventions, movable type printing, and said: "This is very simple, right? The main reason is that the idea is brilliant and it is not difficult to solve technically."

Banniang's eyes began to fill with tears again: "Banniang thought so too at first, but once I started using it, I realized that it was not the case. I have tried it many times without success."

Su You: "Ah?"

Banniang calmed down and said: "First of all, there is the problem of the calligraphy. Compared with the whole wood carving, the calligraphy is easily deformed. After the ink is printed, it absorbs water and swells, which makes it unusable."

"Furthermore, the characters are not in order, the size is different, and the words are arranged in a crooked way."

"Third, there are too many characters, and how to quickly search and store them is also a problem."

Su You thought for a while and asked cautiously: "Ba Niang, are you afraid that you don't have the support of the Cheng family for this matter?"

Ba Niang hummed and said softly: "I didn't dare to mention it to Aweng and Langjun."

Su You asked in a low voice: "Then did you use it as a dowry?"

In ancient times, women's dowry was mostly at the woman's discretion. This was part of the wife's financial rights. Even if she divorced, this part of her property would have to be taken away. This was considered a guarantee for ancient women's marriage.

Correspondingly, dowry can also help the wife consolidate her family status.

Therefore, it would be tragic for Banniang to use her never-abundant dowry to carry out technological reforms and encounter failure, especially if she did it behind the back of the Cheng family.

Most of Baniang's illnesses had nothing to do with wind-cold, but most of them came from it, and the aftermath of Banniang's death is probably also closely related to this.

It was difficult to discuss this matter with her mother's family, and Su Xun certainly didn't know anything about it, so it was reasonable to think that the Cheng family had abused their daughter and embezzled her dowry.
Chapter completed!