Zhang Xiaoniu made a face at Qi Zhenzhen, looking smug, see, he was still the capable one.
Qi Zhenzhen stopped teasing him, and to be fair, he was indeed capable now.
"Why did you come back at this time?" Qi Zhenzhen asked him.
"The Young Lord said that as long as there is no war, he gets two days off at the end of each month. I missed home, so I came back. I also saved two taels of silver to bring back, which is my monthly allowance. I get four sets of clothes per quarter, and food and drink are also provided. I have nowhere to spend my monthly allowance, so I brought it back. After saving for a few months, I can help my elder brother get married, and my second and third brothers too. We can't let the villagers keep calling them bachelors." Zhang Xiaoniu's eyes were bright and he was very excited. "This is all thanks to Zhenzhen. If Zhenzhen hadn't saved the Young Lord, I wouldn't have this opportunity."
This was a coincidence?
"By the way, Xiaoniu, after you started following the Young Lord, did you sign any contracts?" Qi Zhenzhen asked.
Servants, guards, and maids in wealthy families usually signed indentured contracts. Zhang Xiaoniu was a free citizen, and she didn't want him to become a slave.
"I know about that. Gu Qing said that the Young Lord didn't ask me to sell myself, so I don't need to sign. If there is a war in the future and I go to the battlefield and achieve merit, it will be my own merit, and it won't be attributed to the Young Lord." Zhang Xiaoniu said.
This Gu Sinian, he was quite a decent person, Qi Zhenzhen thought to herself.
She had known for a long time that Zhang Xiaoniu was a chatterbox. After not seeing him for so long, he rambled on and told her everything that had happened since he went to the capital. Da Feng Novel Network.
"When I first went to the training grounds, they all looked down on me and ostracized me. So I fought with them. As we fought, they started to respect me. Gu Qing even praised me. By the way, he is someone close to the Young Lord and his martial arts are exceptional. When we sparred with him, we couldn't even get close to him. The Young Lord's martial arts are even better; Gu Qing can't defeat the Young Lord."
Qi Zhenzhen then remembered Gu Sinian's elegant lightness skill at the horse market and how he had broken several ribs after being slapped by a brown bear. His martial arts must have been good, otherwise, he would have been smashed into a pulp.
Since he had returned, Qi Zhenzhen naturally wanted to keep him for a meal. Zhang Xiaoniu had a large appetite and liked meat. Besides preparing meat sandwiches, Qi Zhenzhen also made preserved meat claypot rice, winter melon and meatball soup, and stir-fried pork belly with kimchi to go with the rice. Zhang Xiaoniu was so delighted that his mouth stretched to his ears. "Zhenzhen, do you know what I miss the most in the capital? It's your cooking. Although the food there is filling and there's meat, it's all cooked in large pots. Cooking is the first principle, and it truly wastes all that good food."
"Look at you. Come over whenever you return at the end of the month, and I'll make you delicious food to feast on." Qi Zhenzhen said casually.
"Then it's settled!" Zhang Xiaoniu secretly thought, did Zhenzhen have some feelings for him? Did she care that he wasn't eating well outside?
"I smell something sweet, is it sweet potato?" Qi Zhenzhen lifted the cloth on the bamboo basket. Inside were still steaming sweet potatoes. Eating a warm sweet potato in winter, warming from hands to feet, was incredibly comfortable.
"Fresh out of the oven." Song Mingyue stopped bickering with Zhang Xiaoniu, put down the basket, and handed a sweet potato to Yun Shi. Yun Shi took the sweet potato and pulled Song Mingyue to sit beside her. "You haven't eaten yet, have you? Stay for a meal."
With such a lavish meal, Song Mingyue certainly wouldn't miss it. Besides, she often ate here, so she wouldn't feel embarrassed.
After the meal, Zhang Xiaoniu nimbly cleared the bowls and chopsticks, then fetched warm water and washed the used bowls and chopsticks clean.
Song Mingyue watched from the side, feeling a strange sensation. In her family, from her grandfather down to her cousins, she had never seen them clear bowls and chopsticks, let alone wash them. Her cousin had even said that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen, and kitchen work was not for men. Only useless men would wash dishes and cook like old women.
But was Zhang Xiaoniu useless? She heard Zhenzhen say that he was following a very remarkable person in the capital. This should be more promising than the young men in the village, right? Then why was he still clearing bowls and chopsticks?
Song Mingyue wanted to ask Zhang Xiaoniu why he was so skilled at this task, but she was too embarrassed to ask, especially after she had just made fun of him.
Since she couldn't ask Zhang Xiaoniu, she would ask Qi Zhenzhen. Song Mingyue pulled Qi Zhenzhen into her room. "Zhenzhen, is Xiaoniu promising?"
Qi Zhenzhen was puzzled, not understanding Song Mingyue's meaning, but she still answered her. "He should be promising. He gets two taels of silver a month. In the future, if he goes to the battlefield, he might earn military merits and become an official, bringing honor to the family."
"Then why does he wash dishes?"
Wash dishes? Promising? Was there a direct connection? Qi Zhenzhen completely failed to grasp Song Mingyue's meaning.
Seeing Qi Zhenzhen's bewildered expression, Song Mingyue repeated what Song Mingze had said.
Qi Zhenzhen spat, "That's utter nonsense. Is there any written rule? The so-called 'gentleman stays away from the kitchen' was created by those pedantic scholars, who, proud of their status, put on airs of aloofness. If they are so capable, why don't they refuse to eat? If they eat, why don't they let others wash the bowls, and reuse dirty bowls?"
Song Mingyue was amused, frowning with a look of disgust. "Reuse them, how disgusting."
"So, what your cousin said is wrong. Suppose he was the only one at home, would he still refuse to cook and eat for the sake of staying away from the kitchen? On the contrary, a man who can humble himself to do laundry and cooking should be considered a good man, right?"
Song Mingyue nodded. "Look, I'm not good at cooking at all. In the future, I'll either find a cook or..."
Or a man would do it, but this thought was a bit too embarrassing, so she couldn't say it out loud.
Qi Zhenzhen understood her meaning. "You are a little rich woman now, so hiring a cook is easy. Besides, your mother thinks highly of your cousin. Perhaps he is that man who is willing to cook for you?"
Song Mingyue pouted. "He's also a scholar. At home, my aunt doesn't ask him to do anything..."
Mama's boy? The word popped into Qi Zhenzhen's mind. Mingyue's aunt's husband had died, and she had raised her son alone. Perhaps he was indeed a mama's boy. She would have to carefully vet him for Mingyue.
"By the way, Zhenzhen, let's go to town tomorrow. My cousin's birthday is coming soon, and I want to pick out a gift for him." Song Mingyue looked at Qi Zhenzhen eagerly, afraid that Qi Zhenzhen would refuse.