Chapter 8 Walnut Silver
”It turns out to be Steward Li from the Duan Mansion. I’m sorry for not welcoming you in person. I’m sorry for not welcoming you in person.” The arrogance on Mrs Wang’s face immediately turned into flattery.
”Butler Li, please come in and have some tea. Su Wan, go make some tea.” Mrs Wang instructed Su Wan.
Li Fugui smiled and said, “Madam Wang, there’s no need to drink tea. I have to go back to report after picking up Miss Su.”
”But I have to say that Madam Wang asked Miss Su to do so much work. I’m afraid Miss Su won’t have the energy to cook for Master Duan after she’s done with it all.”
Mrs Wang smiled and said, “These tasks are not many. Su Wan is used to doing them. It won’t interfere with cooking for Master Duan.”
Li Fugui said, “Madam Wang is wrong. These jobs are too much. The maids in the Duan family can’t do so much, let alone Miss Su. Madam Wang should be considerate of Miss Su and assign her less work.”
Mrs Wang was all smiles: “I will listen to Butler Li, I will listen to Butler Li.”
In fact, Mrs Wang would not listen at all. If Su Wan didn’t do these housework, who would do it?
At this moment, Wang Luoxue’s voice came from the room: “Su Wan, pour me a glass of water.”
As soon as she heard the voice, she knew Wang Luoxue hadn’t gotten up yet.
Su Wan was assigned so many tasks, and the girl sleeping inside even asked Su Wan to pour water for her.
Butler Li could get a glimpse of Su Wan’s life in the Wang family.
Butler Li made a gesture to lead the way for Su Wan: “Miss Su, please get in the carriage.”
Butler Li acted as if he didn’t hear Wang Luoxue asking Su Wan to pour water, and directly led Su Wan to the carriage.
From this, Su Wan knew that Butler Li was a man who could distinguish right from wrong.
Su Wan bowed her head and said, “Thank you, Steward Li.” Then she went to the carriage.
Su Wan got into the carriage and was about to ride forward when Steward Li heard Wang Luoxue shouting, “Su Wan, where the hell have you been? Why haven’t you brought the water yet?”
Butler Li said to Su Wan in the carriage, “Miss Su, please sit tight.”
After he finished speaking, he shouted, whipped the horse, and the carriage drove away from the Wang family’s door.
As soon as the carriage left, Wang ran to Wang Luoxue’s room and said, “What are you yelling about, you silly girl? The housekeeper of the Duan residence was here.”
When Wang Luoxue heard how arrogant she was in front of the people in Duan’s house, she became even more angry with Su Wan: “It’s all Su Wan’s fault. She is such a jinx. All the bad luck is because of her.”
On the way to the Duan family, Su Wan opened the carriage curtain and said to Li Fugui, who was driving the carriage in front, “Su Wan thanks Steward Li for his help just now.”
Li Fugui said, “It’s just a small favor. But speaking of that, Miss Su, has the Wang family always treated you like this?”
Su Wan lowered her head and said, “I have no parents. The Wang family provides me with food and shelter. They are very kind to me.”
Li Fugui said: “No matter how great the favor is, you can’t repay it like this. They are treating you like a maid. This is too unkind.”
Su Wan felt that Li Fugui was a good person. Although it was the first time they met, he was able to speak up for Su Wan.
Such people, no matter what their identities are, are all noble people. In the book, Su Wan was devoted to Wang Luosheng and helped Wang Luosheng make friends with many noble people.
Now Su Wan just wants to make friends with his benefactor.
Su Wan remembered Li Fugui’s kindness in her heart, thinking that she must repay him.
The carriage stopped outside the gate of a large mansion, and Li Fugui led Su Wan into the mansion.
The Duan family is the richest family in Qingyun County, and their courtyard is also the largest in Qingyun County. The whole courtyard is very oppressive, with lush forests, bamboos, pavilions and towers.
Li Fugui took Su Wan through the winding corridor with a hanging flower door, and then through a small door, and they arrived at the Duan family’s back kitchen.
Li Fugui brought Su Wan to a kind-looking middle-aged woman and asked her to take Su Wan to familiarize herself with the environment of the Duan Mansion’s kitchen and try out the pots, pans, stoves, etc. After giving these instructions, Steward Li went to do other things.
The middle-aged woman’s surname was Zhou, and she was the manager of the kitchen. After Steward Li left, Aunt Zhou spoke up, “You must be Su Wan, right? I heard that you cook delicious food, so the young master specially asked you to come and cook dinner. You have to teach me a few tricks in the future.”
The woman’s tone was gentle and smiling, making people feel friendly. It was completely different from Wang’s attitude towards Su Wan.
Su Wan hurriedly said, “Aunt Zhou, you are too kind. I just happened to be appreciated by Master Duan. I still have a lot to learn. I hope that Aunt Zhou can give me more guidance in the future.”
Aunt Zhou took Su Wan’s hand and said, “What a sensible child you are. Okay, I’ll take you to have a good look at the kitchen. See what you are going to cook for the young master this morning.”
Su Wan saw a lot of trapped crabs in the water tank in the kitchen. She asked Aunt Zhou and learned that there was some crab jelly prepared. She decided to make a crab roe soup dumpling and boil a pot of red dates and ginger tea as Duan Jingtian’s breakfast.
( Above pic ginger tea with red dates )
Su Wan cooked smoothly and Mother Zhou watched her intently.
In a short while, a crab roe soup dumpling with a tender outer skin, rich and delicious filling is ready.
The whole kitchen was filled with the aroma of crabs, making people drool.
Duan Jingtian’s maid Chu Wen brought breakfast to Duan Jingtian.
After Duan Jingtian finished eating, he exclaimed that he had never eaten such delicious crab roe buns. He immediately took out a silver coin the size of a walnut and asked Chu Wen to send it to Su Wan.
Su Wan accepted Duan Jingtian’s reward generously.
In the book, Duan Jingtian often came to Wang’s house to eat “meals cooked by Wang Luoxue”, and all the reward money was given to Wang Luoxue, and Su Wan had never seen a penny.
In the kitchen, Aunt Zhou said to Su Wan, “You don’t often come into contact with some ingredients, so you have to practice cooking them before you cook them for the young master. You can use whatever you want in the kitchen, and you must not be too restrained.”
Su Wan wanted to make a dessert to thank Steward Li for his kindness. After obtaining the consent of Aunt Zhou’s , Su Wan began to make snow skin mooncakes.
Su Wan secretly noted down how much money she had spent on the ingredients and planned to return it to the Duan family at the end of the month. After all, this was a favor she wanted to return.
Mid-Autumn Festival is coming soon, and Su Wan wants to make a snowy custard mooncake.
First, put glutinous rice flour and cornstarch into a bowl, add milk, sugar, and oil, stir into a fine paste and steam it. Then, knead the solidified paste into the most flexible dough, and then chill it in a jar.
Taking advantage of the gap in the crust, Su Wan used eggs, cornstarch and milk to make the custard filling.
After doing all this, Su Wan took out the chilled dough, rolled it into a crust, wrapped the custard filling in it, and then used a small mooncake mold to print it into a regular shape.
The snow skin mooncakes are ready.
During the whole process, Aunt Zhou watched Su Wan making the dim sum without blinking. The cakes made by this little girl was so exquisite.
The texture and color are as delicate and translucent as the moon.
Su Wan gave one to Aunt Zhou to try. The mooncake had an amazing taste, icy, soft, glutinous, delicate and sweet.
Aunt Zhou kept praising the snacks made by Su Wan as being better than those made by all the cooks in the Duan Mansion.
Su Wan smiled and said, “If Aunt Zhou likes it, please eat it. I made these snacks for Aunt Zhou and Steward Li.”
Aunt Zhou picked up another snowy mooncake and started eating it. Su Wan kept Aunt Zhou’s and packed eight snowy mooncakes in a snack box for Steward Li.
Su Wan said: “I came to the Duan Mansion today, and I didn’t bring anything with me, so I had to use the ingredients from the Duan Mansion to make a snack for Steward Li to thank him for his help.”
”I have already calculated the price of making these mooncakes, and I will deduct it from my salary at the end of the month.”
Steward Li has always spoken up for justice, and he didn’t think that what he said for Su Wan at the Wang family was anything special. At this moment, Su Wan came over with some snacks to express her gratitude, and Steward Li was also happy.
Moreover, Su Wan herself proposed to deduct the money for the ingredients of mooncakes from the monthly salary, which made Steward Li to look at this girl in patched clothes with a positive opinion.
Steward Li didn’t like snacks at first, thinking that they were just food for children. But when he opened the lid of the food box, he saw that the mooncakes inside were translucent and different from the other mooncakes. He wanted to try them and find out.
Steward Li took one out and took a bite. It was the first time he thought that snacks were so delicious.
Seeing that Steward Li liked the mooncakes, Su Wan said goodbye and left contentedly.
Steward Li looked at Su Wan’s thin back as she left, his eyes falling on the patch on Su Wan’s shoulder. The patch was very delicately made, sewn in the shape of a flower, very ingenious, but no matter how ingenious it was, a patch was still a patch.
Su Wan was helping Aunt Zhou with the chores in the kitchen when a little maid brought in a set of clothes, saying that it was sent by Steward Li.
It was an ordinary rust-red cloth dress with no embroidery on it. It was the most common dress worn by little girls from ordinary families on the market.
Ever since Su Wan came to the Wang family, the clothes she wore were either gray or black, and all of them were patched. Although these clothes were very ordinary, they were much better than Su Wan’s patched clothes.
Su Wan was embarrassed to accept the clothes, but Aunt Zhou insisted that Su Wan change into them. She said to Su Wan, “You work for the Duan family, and the maids and servants in the Duan family will also be picky about people. You’d better wear a new one, so that the servants won’t look down on you and bully you.”
Su Wan went to the room where Aunt Zhou was resting and changed her clothes.
Since she was wearing new clothes, Su Wan changed her usual simple hairstyle that was convenient for work into a hairstyle commonly worn by young girls. Here, she didn’t need to do as much work as in the Wang family, so she could dress up a little better.
When Su Wan came out with a new hairstyle and new clothes, Aunt Zhou was stunned for a moment.
