I was a queen in ancient times, no, a maid!

Cheng Yu ate the clay pot rice and returned to the orchid garden.

On the way back, I happened to meet Xiangling and Xianglian who came out of the mistress's room.

The two of them were whispering to each other and sighing.

"My wife only ate some pancakes in the morning, and she said they were made by Yu'er. She didn't even try the pickled cabbage and shredded pork noodles that Wang Mama cooked this morning. She also ate two pieces of braised duck cooked by Madam Li."

"She only ate so little for the day and she vomited. What should I do..."

As he was speaking, he turned around and saw Cheng Yu right in front of him.

"Yu'er, when did you come back?"

Cheng Yu: "Lunch is over, the old lady wants to take a nap, I'll come back if there's nothing to do over there."

"You just said that your wife didn't eat much this morning?"

Zhao Rulan is the big boss who holds the power of life and death over her, so naturally she has to consider the big boss, so that the big boss can give her a chance to live.

"Yes, especially this morning. My appetite had improved when I was eating your cooking, but now, I feel sick again."

Dingxiang went to the small kitchen.

After Cheng Yu found out, he didn't go back to the servants' room but went straight to the small kitchen.

"Mother Wang, I'm not saying anything bad about you, but the pickled cabbage and shredded pork noodles we made today have a bad smell, according to the mistress. The meat you feed her must be the best and freshest. Besides, this pickled cabbage is not crispy enough..."

Mother Wang said, "The pickled cabbage in the pickled cabbage and shredded pork noodles I made for my wife is also from Liubiju, how can it be different?"

Dingxiang was about to say a few more words.

Cheng Yu said from behind: "My wife likes sour food, but she can't eat too sour food. When making the pickled cabbage and shredded pork noodles, you must wash the pickled cabbage three times and rinse it. Don't rub it, as this will affect the taste of the pickled cabbage."

"Yu'er, why did you come back at this time?" When Dingxiang saw Cheng Yu, she felt like she had seen a savior.

Isn't the job of serving the master to make sure the master eats well, drinks well and sleeps well?

Now that his wife couldn’t even eat well, Dingxiang was naturally worried.

"I thought there wouldn't be much to do during the afternoon, and I had plenty of time, so I came back to take a look."

"Sister Dingxiang, let me prepare some food for my wife for dinner. Since my wife had sour tea and shredded pork noodles today, she shouldn't eat noodles tonight."

"Eat rice." Dingxiang said, "Maybe you can eat some white rice."

"Then I'll make a pot of rice for my wife. If you have a light appetite, steam some rice and I'll make a spicy hot pot to see if I can stimulate my wife's taste buds."

What is rice stew? Ding Xiang doesn't know.

Dingxiang had no idea what this spicy hotpot was.

But she knew that as long as Yu'er was there, she would be able to prepare some food that her wife would be willing to try and eat.

It’s strange to say, the food cooked by others tastes good, but it always lacks some flavor. The food cooked by Cheng Yu is full of flavor. Even if it’s just a bowl of vegetable noodles, the food cooked by Cheng Yu is delicious and fragrant.

Like what others cook, it's watery and looks like slop.

After Dingxiang finished speaking, she asked Cheng Yu if he was tired of going back and forth like this.

Cheng Yu shook his head and said he would go back and rest for a while, and asked the people in the small kitchen to prepare the meat filling first.

She prepared the food for the mistress in the small kitchen before returning to the main kitchen.

Claypot rice also takes time to cook, so I thought of preparing it before she leaves, and giving it to her at dinner time. It can be prepared earlier but not later and let her go hungry.

As for the spicy hotpot, you can bring it over in advance. After all, it is an appetizer to whet your wife's appetite, so it doesn't matter which one comes first.

Also, my wife didn’t eat much this morning, so she would be hungry at dinner time.

Cheng Yu had planned everything in advance.

When Mother Wang saw Dingxiang going to find Cheng Yu, she just rolled her eyes and said nothing, but she was thinking in her heart, if you want to do it, just do it. What does it have to do with me if you die of exhaustion? I can do less every day and still get the same monthly salary as before when I did a lot.

As for what Mother Wang was thinking, Cheng Yu could guess a little bit.

She just wants to do her job well. She doesn't want to care about anything else, and she is too lazy to care about it.

She would also like to take a nap if she has that much time, but she doesn't want to waste herself on others.

After returning to the room and lying down for half an hour, Dingxiang specifically told Zhu'er not to disturb Cheng Yu, and asked Zhu'er to stay in the room where she and Ziwei slept for a while. She also gave Zhu'er a bag of melon seeds for her to eat so that she would have no time to look for Cheng Yu.

It is completely enough to refresh yourself after sleeping for half an hour, which is one hour in modern times.

After waking up, I went to the small kitchen to get busy.

But she was not too tired because the ingredients were all prepared. She first made the clay pot rice and put it on the stove to cook, then she began to prepare the side dishes and seasonings.

The same dish cooked in a small kitchen tastes much better than that cooked in a large kitchen. The key point is that there are too few seasonings in the large kitchen.

The kitchenette was well stocked with condiments.

Oyster sauce, like the one made in coastal areas, is available, but it is extremely precious.

But the umami taste cannot be compared with modern oyster sauce.

Especially if you add a spoonful of it to stir-fried vegetables, it tastes surprisingly good.

The vegetables Zhao Rulan ate were never stir-fried. They were all cooked in broth, so the taste was naturally better than simply stir-frying them.

After making the spicy hotpot, Cheng Yu served it out in a small plate first.

"Madam Li, please give me a taste..."

Madam Li always wore dark blue clothes, a blue turban on her head, and had a stern face and never smiled.

"No matter how the food you cook tastes, as long as my wife can eat it, it's good food."

Looking at Madam Li, Cheng Yu said, "I know what you mean, but I still want you to taste it."

After the meal was done, he asked Madam Li to taste it first. This is the same as the apprentice usually asking the master to taste the meal first after the meal is done.

Cheng Yu didn't say it explicitly, but he was thinking in his heart that if he could learn a few of Madam Li's specialties, when he left the wealthy family and went out to make a living in the future, having a few more specialties would give him confidence and capital.

Madam Li did not refuse and picked up the chopsticks to taste it.

The first bite is fragrant, then spicy, numb...

"It really fits the name of this dish, spicy hotpot. I just don't know if my wife can eat such spicy food?"

When Madam Li said this, she glanced at Dingxiang who was standing beside her.

Ding Xiang was not sure. She reached out and pinched a piece of fish tofu. "It's really spicy. However, the smell is indeed enough to eat a big bowl of rice. I think it's better to bring it over to my wife to taste. If she likes it, she will cook it well. If she doesn't like it, my wife is kind and won't blame you."

Madam Li nodded.

Cheng Yu was very confident about this because she was very confident in the spicy hotpot she made.