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

Zhao Rulan chuckled, "My dear, try it. It tastes better if you scoop some toppings on it."

Cheng Yu said softly, "The toppings here are made of minced meat and a variety of mushrooms, with some lemon juice. It's not greasy and has a refreshing fragrance."

Lu Zhaowen first scooped up a handful of rice noodles with chopsticks and put it into his mouth. It was delicious and chewy.

"tasty."

There were two bowls of rice noodles in sour soup. Lu Zhaowen ate one bowl himself, and Zhao Rulan ate most of the bowl, leaving the remaining half bowl. Perhaps Lu Zhaowen was hungry, so he ate the remaining half bowl of Zhao Rulan as well, and praised Cheng Yu highly.

However, Lu Zhaowen left after eating without even looking at Cheng Yu.

After Zhao Rulan had eaten her fill, she leaned back on the couch and looked at Cheng Yu. She rewarded him with two taels of silver and a bracelet with a plum blossom hairpin.

Zhao Rulan ate a lot today, and when Lu Zhaowen came, he ate up the half bowl of rice noodles in sour soup that she had left. Although they were close as a couple, Lu Zhaowen had never been this close to her.

She was happy and gave tips to everyone in the small kitchen.

Of course, it’s only for Cheng Yu, Madam Li, and Mother Wang.

Cheng Yu received two taels of silver and a silver bracelet.

Madam Li received a hairpin with flowers, while Madam Wang received a pair of pearl earrings.

These things are just worthless little things to Zhao Rulan, but to the people below, they are a lot of money.

Especially these hairpins and pearl earrings, which can be exchanged for money outside.

Madam Li is alone and has no relatives around her, so all her belongings are her own.

But this mother Wang is different, she has a family.

She came as a dowry with the whole family. Mother Wang's husband worked in the outer courtyard, while her son and daughter-in-law worked on the farm to guard the farm.

She was accompanied by a granddaughter, who followed Ziwei and was in charge of the mistress's dowry and other belongings, as well as her daily necessities.

The bowls, plates and cutlery for eating, tea sets for drinking tea, clothes and accessories, and even socks for feet, the things prepared by the palace as dowry were enough for Zhao Rulan to wear for eight or ten years.

There are so many things, so naturally someone is needed to look after them.

What Mother Wang wanted was for her granddaughter to work for her mother-in-law and show her face.

What future can there be in working in the kitchen? You do the most tiring work. If you do well, the master is happy. If you don't, the master will be in a bad mood and will start with the people in the kitchen.

Mother Wang deliberately gave her granddaughter money, but unexpectedly, Cheng Yu was willing to stay in the kitchen and work.

After receiving the reward, Cheng Yu was calculating how much money two taels of silver was worth when she suddenly heard the mistress calling her.

"If I ask you to stay in the kitchen all the time in the future, would you be willing?"

Kitchen work is tiring and boring. Few people are willing to work there. They smell of cooking fumes all day long. They are unlike the maids in the front yard who are neatly dressed and have fragrant hair oil on their heads.

Cheng Yu heard the mistress calling him and hurriedly looked up, "Yu'er is willing."

Zhao Rulan chuckled, "You are much more obedient than before. You don't even look like a human being anymore."

"I dare not. I just couldn't think straight before. Sister Dingxiang has said a lot to me. I have thought it through now."

"Just think it through." Zhao Rulan said calmly, "Remember who you belong to, and listen to that person from now on."

Cheng Yu was worried for herself, but luckily Lu Zhaowen came here to eat today and didn't stare at her, not even at all.

Cheng Yu was very good-looking, with big breasts, a thin waist, fair skin, and watery almond eyes. She was a girl who liked to dress up, and she dressed herself up beautifully, which inevitably attracted the attention of the mistress.

Now working in a small kitchen, Cheng Yu tried to keep a low profile, wearing a loose grey top and keeping her hair in two buns all year round. When talking to people, she kept her head down and obeyed, naturally hiding her eyes.

Lu Zhaowen didn't look at her, which made Zhao Rulan feel relieved.

Today I gave both a reward and a lecture.

Cheng Yu immediately made her attitude clear. She was a maid who came with the dowry, so naturally she would listen to her mistress and work for her. As for other things, she would never have any second thoughts.

Zhao Rulan was relieved and nodded with satisfaction, saying let her go.

Only after walking out of the main hall did Cheng Yu feel relieved.

The mistress didn't trust her, so it seemed she had to do something to make her believe in her.

Otherwise, if the mistress doesn't believe her, how can she say she will leave in the future?

After returning to the small kitchen, Cheng Yu was not idle either. The mistress had finished her meal and went to take a nap, but she and the people in the small kitchen had not eaten yet.

Madam Li was the one with the highest status in the small kitchen, so her food was naturally better and she could cook for herself. But Madam Wang, Cheng Yu, the fire-making maid Taozi, Dingxiang and Ziwei, as well as the other maids, servants, housekeepers and other people in Lan Garden, all ate from the same pot.

This big pot meal is usually cooked by Mother Wang, or Taozi is asked to cook it.

The so-called big pot meal is to stew some vegetables and some meat leftovers together in one pot. As for meat and vegetables, if you grab them quickly, you can eat the meat, and if you are slow, you can eat the leftovers. Or if there is some soup left at the end, you can eat it with the leftover mixed flour steamed bun, and it is a meal.

Senior maids like Dingxiang have appeared in front of their masters and have a greater chance of getting rewards. The wealthy maids can use the money they have to go to the kitchen to make some arrangements and exchange it for better food, or they can spend money to pay the buyers to buy some food and other things outside the mansion.

The place where Cheng Yu, Zhu'er and other maids lived was just a wall away from the back street market.

But Cheng Yu and Zhu'er didn't dare to go out. Firstly, it was because they had no money, and secondly, they had no connections and didn't dare to go out.

I have never been out before and am not familiar with the roads here. If someone takes me out once or twice and I remember the way, it would be much easier.

Cheng Yu received a reward today and was scolded by her mistress. She felt very upset. At this time, she wanted to eat something delicious to reward herself.

This dish contains the leftover sour soup from cooking rice noodles in sour soup, rice noodles, and toppings.

Cheng Yu then ordered two small bowls, one for Madam Li and one for Mother Wang.

Seeing how honest she was, Mother Wang asked her with a smile, "Why don't you leave a bowl for yourself?"

Cheng Yu said with a smile: "If there is anything delicious in this small kitchen, it is natural to ask you two seniors, Madam Li and Madam Wang, to come."

"I just noticed that you are a good talker."

Mother Wang was very satisfied that Cheng Yu had delicious food and still thought of her.

After all, Cheng Yu is very favored now, and the mistress has shown up.

Even if Cheng Yu was disrespectful to her, she would not make things difficult for Cheng Yu at this time.

Cheng Yu laughed and said, "Mother Wang, I see there are still a lot of chicken offal left from making soup for the mistress. Can you give it to me to deal with?"

This small kitchen needs ten chickens every day. Except for the good meat such as chicken legs and chicken breasts, the rest is discarded.

Especially chicken feet and chicken heads, many of them are chopped off and thrown away to feed cats and dogs.

Cheng Yu thought, isn’t this a ready-made ingredient?

Made into tiger skin chicken feet or tiger skin chicken heads, this is a very delicious snack.

She has always liked eating tiger skin chicken feet.

Of course it was not available for purchase in ancient times, so people just made it themselves.