Qi Zhenzhen did not insist on keeping them, and got up to see Lin Ruixue out. Gu Sinian, seeing this, followed her out as well.
"Aunt, I brought some things back. Please take them to Grandpa and Grandma. When you prepare the dowry for Mingyue, please also invite Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle over," Qi Zhenzhen said. "I ate at Mingyue and Xiao Niu's wedding banquet."
Lin Ruixue nodded, "Alright, I'll tell your Grandma and the others."
"Aunt, where's Huzhi? Isn't Huzhi coming back?" Qi Yi asked.
"You know, the academy gets one day off in the middle and one at the end of the month."
Since it was neither the middle nor the end of the month, he naturally couldn't come back.
After seeing off Lin Ruixue and Zhang Xiaoniu, Qi Yi asked Qi Zhenzhen if he could go to the academy to visit Huzhi. He had brought many things to give to Huzhi, as well as gifts for the academy's tutors.
A teacher for a day is a teacher for life. With Qi Yi having such intentions, Qi Zhenzhen naturally wouldn't disagree. Moreover, their relationship was good, and it was a rare opportunity to meet. It would be too unkind not to let him go.
"I'll have someone accompany him," Gu Sinian said.
Qi Zhenzhen had been thinking about whether to let Zhang Xiaoniu accompany him, but Zhang Xiaoniu was the future son-in-law and surely had things to attend to, making it inconvenient. Now that Gu Sinian had offered to assign someone, it saved her the trouble.
"Eldest Sister, I want to ride a horse," Qi Yi said excitedly.
"It's not that I won't teach you, but with so many things, how can you carry them if you ride a horse?" Qi Zhenzhen said with a troubled expression.
The excitement in Qi Yi's eyes dimmed. "Then I'll take a carriage."
"On the way back, you can ride a horse," Qi Zhenzhen said, seeing his dejected look, and quickly gave him something to look forward to.
Riding a few days later was fine, and Qi Yi became happy again.
In the evening, Zhang Xiaoniu arrived, carrying two wild pheasants in his left hand and a bamboo cage in his right. He opened it to reveal five plump wild rabbits.
"My mother-in-law said she's not good at cooking rabbits, so she sent them all here. There were more people over there, so we kept a few more pheasants and only brought two for you," Zhang Xiaoniu said cheerfully. He had had a good harvest in the mountains that day, and the elders of the Song family had praised him to the skies, making him feel incredibly proud.
"Alright, I'll send some over when they're cooked," Qi Zhenzhen said with a smile. "Are there any fierce wild beasts in the mountains?"
"Didn't see any. Besides, even if there were, I wouldn't be afraid. I'm not the same as before. Even if there were wild boars, I could handle them," Zhang Xiaoniu said with high spirits.
"Alright, we know you're capable. Hurry back. Eat over there and be observant. Song Ershu and Yu Shen have only one daughter, Mingyue. You need to behave well when you marry her," Qi Zhenzhen said, fearing Zhang Xiaoniu's careless nature.
Zhang Xiaoniu patted his chest, "Am I that kind of person? Don't worry, I know what to do."
After saying that, Zhang Xiaoniu excitedly left.
The pheasant meat was tender and delicious, and very tasty. She, Gu Sinian, and Qi Yi couldn't finish it all, so they kept only one. The other one was packed by Feixu to be cooked for Gu Chengyang and the others.
Qi Zhenzhen quickly boiled water, preparing to clean the pheasant.
Gu Sinian naturally picked up the pheasant, slit its throat with a knife, drained the blood, and skillfully plucked the feathers. Soon, it was cleaned thoroughly.
Qi Zhenzhen pursed her lips and smiled, very satisfied with Gu Sinian's actions, knowing he was good at doing chores.
"How about we stir-fry half and make soup with the other half?" Qi Zhenzhen asked.
"I want chicken noodle soup," Gu Sinian said, his thin lips parting slightly.
They had eaten noodles at noon, and they were going to eat them again at night? Was it not tiring? Qi Zhenzhen thought to herself, but smiled and agreed.
If Gu Sinian knew what Qi Zhenzhen was thinking, he would definitely tell her seriously that at home, he ate noodles for breakfast and also for late-night snacks, at least twice a day.
Since he wanted to eat it, he might as well eat it together.
After putting the chicken soup on to simmer, Qi Zhenzhen stir-fried the other half and placed it on top of the simmering pot to keep warm, then began to knead the dough.
For chicken noodle soup, the thinner the noodles, the better they taste.
After kneading the dough, Qi Zhenzhen concentrated and began to pull the noodles. Normally, she would pull slightly thicker noodles, which was not troublesome. Today, she was pulling extremely thin noodles, thin enough to thread through an embroidery needle.
One pull, one flick, then another pull, another flick.
Her movements were fluid and graceful, a pleasing sight.
During the meal, Gu Sinian's eyes were always smiling. He looked up and saw Qi Zhenzhen putting a piece of chicken breast for Qi Yi. Gu Sinian slurped a large mouthful of noodles and thought to himself that if this boy had some sense, he would just go back to his room to eat.
The next morning, Qi Yi ate breakfast early and headed to the academy.
After Feixu and Erxi had tidied everything up, and with Qi Zhenzhen's permission, they followed Gu Chengyang to the manor to see the sights.
With only the two of them left at home, Gu Sinian was very pleased.
Qi Zhenzhen brought out the bamboo cage, preparing to process the rabbits Zhang Xiaoniu had brought yesterday.
Gu Sinian returned to the room and put on a neat short outfit, naturally taking over the task of killing the rabbits and skinning them.
Such a bloody task should be done by men.
The rabbit heads were to be made into spicy rabbit heads, a specialty of Quzhou in her previous life. She had eaten them a few times and couldn't forget them, but they were a bit troublesome to make, so she hadn't done it before.
Blanching in hot water, preparing the braising ingredients, and after braising, there was another step: marinating with minced garlic. The garlic-scented rabbit heads were mouth-watering just by smelling them.
However, something was still missing. The original stock from the first batch was not fragrant enough. Only after boiling three or four times would the flavor be authentic.
She placed the rabbit meat pieces and the heads separately into jars, sealed them, and put them in a cool, shaded place behind the house.
"Let them sit for a day to absorb the flavor, and they'll be refreshing to eat," Qi Zhenzhen explained.
Gu Sinian nodded, "Then we'll eat them tomorrow."
He filtered the remaining stock, put it into a jar, sealed it with oil paper, and stored it.
"After using it a few more times, it will become old stock, and the things made will be the most authentic. I guarantee you'll want to eat it again and again, wishing you could eat it every day," Qi Zhenzhen said with undisguised pride, which Gu Sinian saw.
This lively and vivid person would soon be his little wife. In the future, her liveliness, her vividness, would belong to him alone. Just thinking about it made him unable to contain his excitement.
After finishing, it was already mid-morning. Gu Sinian had been busy for a while, and Qi Zhenzhen felt she should reward him.
"Can we make flatbread?" Fearing that Gu Sinian would suggest eating noodles again, Qi Zhenzhen spoke before him.
"I'll eat whatever you make," Gu Sinian said calmly. After thinking for a moment, he added, "I love everything you make."
Having finally achieved her wish, and with his little wife making food for just the two of them, Gu Sinian was in a good mood and naturally not picky. Moreover, what he had just said was from the heart; as long as it was made by his little wife, he liked everything.
Just as he was contemplating what dishes to make, Zhang Xiaoniu arrived with half a sheep carcass. "My mother-in-law asked me to send this over. It was just slaughtered. Try some fresh for yourselves."