Just after midnight, the Bai family's carriage arrived.
The person who came to pick them up was a steward from the Bai Manor. His surname was Ding and he was about the same age as her uncle.
The original plan was for Uncle Yu, Yu Wan, and Yu Feng to go. However, Little Bruiser suddenly woke up and hugged Yu Wan, crying as he wanted to go with her.
"I am going to work, not play." Besides, it wasn't like she was selling things at the market and that she would be back in two to four hours.
Little Bruiser refused to let go of Yu Wan.
Yu Song walked out and cleared his throat. "Bruiser has never been to the Capital before. Let him go. At most, I'll keep an eye on him."
Yu Wan and Yu Feng shot daggers at him. You just wanted to go yourself, didn't you?!
Little Bruiser did not get Yu Wan to soften from his cotequish, but instead, he softened his uncle's heart.
It was not a big deal to take care of a child. Almost all the chefs in the countryside would bring their children along, but it was different in the city.
Uncle looked at Steward Ding.
Steward Ding said generously, "It's fine, as long as there's someone watching."
Thus, Yu Song and Little Bruiser successfully boarded the carriage.
Other than Uncle Yu, this was the first time they entered the Capital. At first, they were a little excited and wanted to see the scenery along the way. However, they didn't even pass through Lotus Flower Town before they all fell asleep in the carriage.
By the time they were woken up by Steward Ding, they had already entered the Bai Manor.
The sky was still dark.
"Hurry, hurry! Uncle Ding!"
As soon as Yu Wan alighted from the carriage, a young man with a dignified appearance led three vegetable vendors carrying poles and hurriedly walked past her.
The young man and Steward Ding greeted each other. Steward Ding gave an indifferent grunt of acknowledgement and gestured for him to go. The young man and the vegetable vendor entered the temporary bamboo shed on the right. It was mainly used to store ingredients and tools. Ten steps further east was the kitchen.
The kitchen was huge. There were two courtyards in the front and back. There was a well in the backyard. There were nine stoves in the kitchen. Five around the wall, and four in the middle, and eight of them were already occupied.
Steward Ding led Yu Wan and the others to the innermost stove and said slowly, "There's only one pot on each stove. If it's not enough, there's a small stove in the bamboo shed. I'll get someone to bring breakfast over later. Thank you for your hard work today."
This supervisor did not pay much attention to the young man who greeted him earlier. He was only so polite to Yu Wan and the rest after Bai Tang said something to him.
Uncle Yu thanked him.
Steward Ding gave Uncle Yu a token to use to collect his things. "The Young Miss is in the reception pavilion. There are many guests today, so she probably doesn't have the time to come to the kitchen. If you guys have any problems, just tell the servants in the bamboo shed to find me."
Yu Song mumbled, "The Bai Manor is so big. Why does she need to take care of it herself?"
Steward Ding smiled and said, "Young Miss is filial."
Yu Song: "Oh."
There were some things that Yu Song did not know, but Yu Feng had heard of them.
Miss Bai was the first daughter of Old Master Bai and his late wife. The late wife only gave birth to such a daughter after marrying Old Master Bai for ten years. After that, she did not have any more children. When Miss Bai was five years old, she passed away.
A year later, Old Master Bai remarried and she gave birth to a fat boy.
It was rumored that Miss Bai and her stepmother did not get along well.
Miss Bai didn't want the Bai family's assets to fall into the hands of her half-brother. If it were anyone else, they naturally wouldn't be able to do so. It was only right and proper for a son to inherit his father's business. However, they couldn't stand the fact that their stepmother was of low birth and was always suppressed by the late wife.
"Miss Bai's grandfather was an official in court." As for what official position, Yu Feng didn't know.
Not long after Steward Ding left, a servant brought breakfast over. It was steaming white steamed buns and millet porridge, accompanied by pickled vegetables, salted eggs, and a plate of stir-fried cabbage with cured meat.
Little Bruiser drooled.
Uncle Yu peeled a salted egg for him. Yu Wan gave him half a bowl of millet porridge and half a steamed bun.
Little Bruiser ate heartily.
After eating, he obediently moved a stool to sit in the courtyard. He was very obedient and did not make any noise.
At first, Yu Song kept a close eye on him. After a while, he noticed that Little Bruiser was able to sit still better than him. He coughed lightly and turned around to help his family.
There were chefs from the Bai Manor as well as people from the White Jade Restaurant who came to cook today. Both parties were from the Bai Family, except for Yu Wan's family.
"I heard that Miss personally went to the countryside to invite him."
"Miss is being ridiculous. How can she use a chef from the countryside for the Master's birthday banquet?"
Everyone shook their heads, clearly not believing that a few country bumpkins could make any delicious dishes.
Yu Feng and Yu Wan went to the bamboo shed to collect the ingredients. There were dozens of fresh ducks among them.
A duck must be slaughtered on the spot. This kind of work used to be Yu Feng's, but ever since Yu Wan came, Yu Feng's knife skills had been severely despised.
Yu Wan carried the duck to the backyard.
The sky gradually brightened.
Under the warm morning light, the girl was sweating profusely with the knife in her hand. The duck fur was blown by the cold wind.
In the Yan Mansion on the other side, Yan Ruyu slept until dawn.
The room was warm and cozy. Twelve maids entered in a line, carrying exquisite toiletries and eight sets of clothing for her to choose from.
Today was her big day. She had meticulously dressed herself up for a long time. She chose a long, lake-blue corset dress, a plain white rabbit fur halter jacket, and a pair of fine silver suet jade earrings.
The young girl was elegant and beautiful.
The moment Mrs. Yan entered the house, she saw her daughter, who looked like a fairy who had walked down from a mural, and she was completely stunned. She grabbed her daughter's hand excitedly. "My daughter, Young Master Yan will never see another woman in his life after seeing you!"
Today was also Yu Wan's big day.
This was a rare opportunity. She wanted to help her uncle prepare the dishes and make a name for themselves. In the future, when she received many orders, she would no longer have to worry about not having enough money to eat and treat illnesses.
All the ducks had been cleaned up, and her body was stained with blood. She was in a sorry state, but she couldn't care less about that. She hurriedly went to cut the carrots and sweet potatoes.
Apart from the texture, it was also very important for the plating.
She cut it extremely well. White petals, purple edges, yellow stamens. There were water droplets on the petals, layered and delicate. It didn't look like it was made of ingredients, but rather like it had just been plucked from a tree.
"Sis." Little Bruiser walked over pitifully.
Yu Wan stopped what she was doing. "What's wrong? Are you hungry?"
Little Bruiser nodded. Lately, his appetite had increased and he was always hungry after a while.
It was not time to eat yet, and the meat in the pot was not cooked yet. Fortunately, Yu Wan was prepared. "I brought some scallion pancakes. I'll find a stove to heat it up for you."
Yu Wan went to the bamboo shed to get a small stove. She found a quiet corner in the backyard and carefully made a fire. She set up a small cauldron, poured a spoonful of oil, and placed three large and round scallion pancakes inside. The fragrance of the fried scallions wafted out.
Little Bruiser moved the stool over.
After the scallion pancake was heated up, Yu Wan put out the open fire, leaving only a trace of charcoal to continue baking the bottom of the cauldron.
"Sis, go do your work. I'll eat by myself!" Little Bruiser said sensibly.
"Okay." Yu Wan went to work.
Little Bruiser stayed to eat the pancakes. This was a mutton, carrot, and scallion pancake made by Yu Wan herself. It smelled good, but the taste is…
"I'm not a picky little brother!" Little Bruiser said, patting his chest.