After Shi Qingluo finished playing the bamboo flute, she returned it to the maidservant.
"This bamboo flute is still a little lacking, there are some flaws in the sound," she said with a bit of disdain.
She looked at Madam Tu and said, "Madam, you're going to continue hosting guests for flower-viewing banquets next time. It's better to prepare a complete set of musical instruments.
"I think the jade flute sounds better than this bamboo flute. You can prepare a new one next time, Madam Tu."
Madam Tu was speechless.
Qingluo was indeed nosey.
Jade flute? She would never do such a thing again.
"I'll try my best," she said with a stiff smile.
Shi Qingluo raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by "try"? Your whole family can't even afford a jade flute?
"Isn't your family the number one family in Northern City?
"So you're that poor?" She said it with a hint of disdain.
To deal with someone like Madam Zhu, who didn't know how to do anything on the surface, she had to use a tough tactical approach.
To deal with a smiling tiger like Madam Tu, she had to use a soft knife to achieve the best effect of slapping her in the face.
Based on their short interaction, she had found that Madam Tu was quite shrewd.
Even if she didn't like her, she didn't show it on her face or in her expression.
She liked to embarrass her, but she wouldn't confront her directly.
The key was that this Madam Tu was one who cared a lot about her reputation.
Therefore, she had deliberately stepped on her face and rubbed it against the ground to make her feel uncomfortable and go crazy.
As expected, her words made Madam Tu's expression turn ugly.
Shi Qingluo, a village woman, actually despised the Tu family in public.
She really didn't know what to do.
She took a deep breath, suppressed her anger and said, "The Tu family can afford a jade flute. I will ask someone to prepare it. In the future, if you come to visit us again, I will prepare it for you."
Shi Qingluo nodded in satisfaction. "Very good.
"But I don't like things that have been used by others. If you want to prepare one, I want a new jade flute."
She had seen the servant girl take out the bamboo flute from a new box.
She checked it again to make sure it was new, then picked it up to blow on it.
Madam Tu was speechless.
Why did this wretched girl have so many requests?
However, she could only suppress her anger and nod, "Of course."
She immediately changed the topic. "I brewed wine with apricot flowers last year. Today, I would like to invite everyone to try it."
She made another "please" gesture. "I've specially asked the kitchen to prepare a lot of dishes to be served with it. Please come along."
The group of women all agreed with a smile.
"I've long heard that Madam Tu's apricot wine is the best in Northern City. We're in luck today."
"That's right. Last year, the peach wine brewed by Madam Tu was sold out as soon as it was placed on sale. I wanted to buy a bottle, but I missed it."
"Not only is Madam Tu's flower wine excellent, but the plum wine is also delicious. I was fortunate enough to have tasted it once."
Everyone was very fond of Madam Tu's wine.
Madam Tu had finally regained some of her face.
She was extremely proud in her heart, but she said humbly, "It's all for fun, I'm making a fool of myself."
Shi Qingluo noticed Madam Tu's lips curling up.
She really liked to be flattered.
Madam Tu's flower wine was the best in Northern City.
She had indeed seen it in the information booklet her young husband had collected.
The reason why Madam Tu was so doted on and trusted by the Tu family's master, other than Ruan Songling's help in the past, was that she had a talent for brewing wine.
The great aristocratic families all had many secret recipes, such as those for making paper, sugar, salt, wine, and so on.
The Tu family once made a fortune by brewing wine.
Now, the Tu family was able to maintain its glory and huge expenses as the number one aristocratic family in Northern City because it owned the largest winery in the city.
The Tu family's wine distilleries were in almost every major prefecture and county along the northern border.
Half of the wine supplies in the big restaurants also came from the Tu family.
The Tu family's wine was famous far and wide, and it was very popular in the capital.
After Madam Tu married into the Tu family, she learned how to make wine and specialized in flower wine and fruit wine.
She then relied on this to gain respect in the Tu family and improve her reputation in the outside world.
It was no wonder that she would use the brewed flower wine to entertain everyone today.
In fact, it was mainly to show off.
Shi Qing's lips curled up.
She didn't know if she was destined to not get along with her.
She wasn't good at cooking, but she was good at making wine.
She had brewed a batch of wine in the capital.
At that time, it was not suitable to open a winery, so she brought it to the northern border.
She went to Heyang County to brew a few more batches of wine.
There were not only white wines with high, medium, and low concentration alcohol but also fruit wine and flower wine.
She would like to see if the flower wine Madam Tu brewed could really be called the best in Northern City.
Very quickly, everyone followed Madam Tu to the place where the banquet was held.
After they sat down, the servant girl began to serve the dishes.
Although they had all come after lunch, many of them were still hungry.
Shi Qingluo looked at the dishes on the table.
They looked okay, but the dishes were barely satisfactory to her.
Moreover, there were a few dishes for which she had given Prince Jin a recipe before.
A total of 38 dishes were served, but Shi Qingluo realized that many of them were repeated.
For example, braised lamb, braised chicken, braised deer, braised beef...
Just the braised dishes alone took up a few dishes, and it was enough.
Not only could cows pull carriages, but they were also the main force in farming.
Daliang naturally had laws that prohibited the slaughtering of cows.
The aristocratic families in the capital were more restrained and rarely ate beef for fear of being commented negatively.
In Northern City, since Prince Jin didn't care and even liked to eat beef, the aristocratic families would have beef on their dining tables from time to time.
It was also a form of status.
Speaking of which, Shi Qingluo glanced at the dishes on the table.
Nine of them were beef.
Was Madam Tu trying to show that the Tu family had special privileges?
After the dishes were served, many madams praised it.
Now that cooking was simple, this kind of dish could indeed be considered quite rich.
"Everyone, please enjoy the banquet," Madam Tu said with a smile.
She then instructed the maidservant to bring the apricot wine over.
Shi Qingluo, Xi Rong, and Xiao Baili also followed the crowd and tried a few dishes.
Then they put down their chopsticks at the same time.
The taste was just average.
Not to mention Shi Qingluo's mother-in-law and sister-in-law's cooking, even their kitchen lady's cooking was better than this.
It couldn't be helped, the three of them had become more picky.
"Princess, you've stopped eating so quickly. Are you dissatisfied with this banquet?"
This was, of course, a deliberate question.
She had thought that village women like Shi Qingluo and Xiao Baili would be shocked by such a sumptuous banquet and wouldn't be able to stop eating.
Who knew that she would put down her chopsticks in disgust after casually picking up some food? This made her very uncomfortable.
Shi Qingluo nodded. "I'm not dissatisfied. I'm very dissatisfied. The taste of these dishes is really not satisfactory.
"Not only does the meat have a fishy smell, but it also tastes bad.
"Before I came, I had high hopes.
"I thought that since the Tu family is the number one aristocratic family in Northern City, they would definitely give me a lot of surprises."
She sighed. "What a pity. It's really hard for me to explain in a few words."