Chapter 24 Stage Fright
Duan Jingtian originally hadn’t thought about sharing the food made by Su Wan with his colleagues, but the requests from his colleagues were so high that Duan Jingtian agreed.
When Duan Jingtian asked Su Wan to come over, he had agreed with Su Wan that Su Wan would cook three meals a day. Now that there was suddenly a big banquet, Duan Jingtian took out thirty taels of silver and gave it to Su Wan.
When Su Wan heard Duan Jingtian calling her from outside the door, she walked out of the room.
Under the moonlight, Duan Jingtian was wearing a white brocade robe, and the man and the moonlight were in harmony, making him look like a immortal.
Duan Jingtian said, “Sister Su Wan, my colleagues from the academy will be visiting our house in a few days, and we will need you to be the chef. This is the money for you chef.”
Su Wan lowered her head and saw the blue brocade bag in Duan Jingtian’s hand was bulging. It was obvious that it contained a lot of silver.
Su Wan declined: “The reward given to me by the Duan family is already very generous. Preparing this banquet is also my job. I can’t accept any more money from you.”
Duan Jingtian insisted on handing it to Su Wan: “The benefits you bring are so great that even if I pay you ten times, it’s still not enough. Now that there is an extra banquet, I should give you more.”
Su Wan pushed, and Duan Jingtian wanted to give, and they pulled back and forth several times.
Su Wan saw from the corner of her eye that half of a figure flashed past the wall. Judging from the hem of her skirt, it should be a maid in the Duan Mansion.
Duan Jingtian was determined to give the money to Su Wan, and it looked like he would not give up until he got it.
Su Wan didn’t want to refuse. What Duan Jingtian said made sense. There was no banquet in the agreement between the Duan family and Su Wan, so even if Su Wan took the silver, it would not be excessive.
Su Wan accepted the silver and kept Duan Jingtian’s kindness in her heart.
She would have had to work for three or four years in the Duan family to earn these thirty taels. Duan Jingtian was indeed very generous.
On September 16th, there was a chrysanthemum banquet at Duan Mansion.
Many of Duan Jingtian’s colleagues from the private school came to the Duan Mansion. In addition to the students in Duan Jingtian’s school, there were also students from other schools who were familiar with Duan Jingtian.
The female members were young ladies from wealthy families in Qingyun County. Yang Yunyan was among them, as well as Qiao Yueru, the only daughter of a wealthy businessman in Qingzhou Prefecture. These young ladies were all prominent and well-known figures.
All the people who came were unmarried young men and women. They were all dressed very elegantly. The men were dressed elegantly and the women were dressed gracefully. They were more dazzling than chrysanthemums.
The reason why Duan Jingtian’s mother invited Qiao Yueru was that she intended to marry into the Qiao family. The Duan family was the richest family in Qingyun County, but there are always better families. In Qingzhou Prefecture above Qingyun County, there were more than a dozen families that were richer than the Duan family.
The Qiao family is the second richest family in Qingzhou Prefecture. If the Duan family can marry into the Qiao family, the Duan family’s business will be able to grow bigger.
At the previous banquets, Duan Jingtian’s mother could see that Qiao Yueru had glanced at Duan Jingtian several times, intentionally or unintentionally.
Today, Qiao Yueru wore a lotus root pink brocade robe and a East China Sea pearl hairpin on her head. She looked bright and pretty, and very dazzling.
Among all the girls who came today, Qiao Yueru and Yang Yunyan were the most dazzling. Qiao Yueru’s family was a wealthy family in Qingzhou Prefecture, and her noble status was self-evident. Her luxurious clothes sparkled so brightly that people dared not look directly at her.
Yang Yunyan was the most beautiful woman in Qingzhou Prefecture, and she came from a scholarly family. She was the dream wife of many merchants’ sons and scholars.
Duan Jingtian’s colleagues came over to talk to Qiao Yueru and Yang Yunyan intentionally or unintentionally. The two of them were undoubtedly the most popular among the girls.
Wang Luosheng saw how attentive other people were to Yang Yunyan and felt proud. No matter how attentive they were to Yang Yunyan, Yang Yunyan would look down on them.
~~Yang Yunyan and I are in love with each other and she will soon become my wife.~~
Qiao Yueru was surrounded by these scholars, but she felt bored. What was the point of being surrounded by others? Duan Jingtian only greeted her when she got off the carriage, and never came to ask her a question at other times.
Qiao Yueru looked at Duan Jingtian intentionally or unintentionally, but found that Duan Jingtian didn’t even glance at her.
Qiao Yueru has been unhappy all the time.
Just when Qiao Yueru and Yang Yunyan were being treated like stars, the banquet began.
The people surrounding Qiao Yueru and Yang Yunyan immediately dispersed, simply because the smell of the food was so tempting.
These days, these scholars in the school have been smelling the fragrance of Duan Jingtian’s food, and the gluttony in their hearts has been nurtured into a greedy dragon .
The aroma of the food served on the table at this time was even more tempting than the food that Duan Jingtian brought to the school.
A group of scholars took their seats.
The banquet that Su Wan prepared today included a number of dishes including roasted whole lamb, bird’s nest and shredded chicken soup, abalone stewed with pearlweed, braised ham with fish maw, and deep-fried chicken.
(roasted whole lamb)
( bird’s nest )
( shredded chicken soup)
( abalone stewed with pearlweed)
(braised ham with fish maw)
( deep-fried chicken)
In fact, Su Wan usually cooked home-cooked meals for Duan Jingtian, but what she cooked today was a real banquet.
Although Su Wan, who came from the 21st century, also likes to cook and study food, she does not have the ability to cook these meals.
These skills belonged to the original owner. Logically speaking, the Wang family was not wealthy before, and the original owner was able to do these things only after the Wang family became wealthy.
The book never mentions the original owner’s life experience. If it could be explained more clearly, it would probably explain why the original owner knew these things.
Su Wan didn’t dwell on where these abilities came from. She knew them. Since she had traveled through time and space to be in the original owner’s body, she had to live a good life for the original owner, make up for the regrets, and not let the original owner experience those bad things again.
It does take some effort to make these dishes, but fortunately, the Duan Mansion has many people and complete utensils. Su Wan has already clearly arranged the cooking process, the materials needed, what kind of processing should be done, and who does what and when, so Su Wan did not have to work hard when preparing this banquet.
Su Wan prepared three tables of food in more than half an hour. This was all thanks to the many stoves in the Duan family’s kitchen, which allowed her to cook several dishes at the same time. Otherwise, if he finished cooking one dish and then the next, it would probably be dark by the time all the dishes were ready.
Yang Yunyan and Qiao Yueru both thought that these people would compliment them at the banquet. After all, it was like this no matter where they visited.
But today’s banquet was different. The men at the table were all talking about the food, and not a single topic was about Qiao Yueru and Yang Yunyan.
“This roasted whole lamb is so crispy on the outside and tender on the inside that my mouth is watering.”
“This steamed fish dish has delicate texture and delicious taste. It can be said that fish is cooked to perfection.”
“This dish of minced meat and eggplant has a rich broth and the eggplant is soft and chewy. I’ve never seen eggplant taste better than meat.”
The guests were very generous with their praises and praised every dish.
Qiao Yueru never thought that she would be overshadowed by a dish.
Yang Yunyan didn’t expect this either.
After the guests finished discussing the dishes, they began to discuss the person who cooked them. When the male guests at the table learned that the meals were prepared by a teenage girl, they were amazed.
If it was an ordinary banquet, there would have to be at least two chefs, but Su Wan cooked all these dishes by himself. At such a young age, she had the ability to prepare a banquet for guests, and it was so delicious, which showed that she was very capable.
Qiao Yueru was unexpectedly overshadowed by a cook who did not show up at all. She thought to herself, she is just a cook, a lowly servant doing menial jobs. What is there to discuss?
Chu Wen, the maidservant beside Duan Jingtian, keenly noticed the displeasure on Qiao Yueru’s face. These days, she had been waiting for Qiao Yueru to come to Duan’s house.
Chu Wen came to Qiao Yueru and whispered a few words in her ear. Qiao Yueru then followed Chu Wen to the backyard.
When no one was around, Qiao Yueru got a shocking news from Chu Wen: Duan Jingtian seemed to like the cook who cooked at home.
Even though Qiao Yueru was unhappy with the cook, she never expected that Duan Jingtian would have an affair with a cook.
According to Chu Wen, Duan Jingtian would meet the cook every day, and would always take the initiative to go to the guest room to find the cook. He was very kind to the cook and often rewarded the cook. In short, Duan Jingtian treated the cook dozens of times better than he treated other servants.
Qiao Yueru was furious. According to this, Duan Jingtian undoubtedly liked this cook. Just because she was a cook, a lowly servant, she was worthy of competing with her.
Seeing Qiao Yueru returning to the banquet angrily, Chu Wen smiled with satisfaction.
Most of the servants in the Duan Mansion liked Su Wan very much, but this was an eyesore to Chu Wen. She was the head maid beside Duan Jingtian and there was a high possibility that she would be Duan Jingtian’s concubine in the future. However, people in this mansion had never treated her the same way they treated Su Wan.
More importantly, the young master treated Su Wan much better than he treated herself. He often chatted with Su Wan but never spoke much to herself.
Chu Wen felt seriously unbalanced.
Chu Wen had also attended many banquets hosted by wealthy families with Duan Jingtian, and knew that Qiao Yueru was a domineering and jealous person, so she planned to use Qiao Yueru to deal with Su Wan early on.
Qiao Yueru returned to the table and saw that everyone was still talking about the dishes and the cook Su Wan, so she said to Duan Jingtian, “I wonder who this Su Wan is and how she can cook such a meal. Young Master Duan, why don’t you invite Su Wan out and to meet everyone?”
Qiao Yueru originally thought that Su Wan was, after all, a servant. Even though the meals she cooked were beautiful, her appearance and behavior might not be up to par.
Not to mention that the cook certainly couldn’t dress up beautifully, and generally the young ladies from wealthy families would hire someone to teach them etiquette and manners, so that they could act gracefully and elegantly in front of others, which was something the girls from small families could never achieve.
Qiao Yueru had seen many cautious, reserved and petty girls. Su Wan was just a servant. She would definitely be nervous in an occasion with so many people around.
