Allure of a Country Maiden
Chapter 644 - 642

Chapter 644: 642

All the other ladies looked down on the magistrate’s wife in their hearts. Her intentions were too obvious.

"There’s no reason for the guests to do the work. Xiao’er can handle it. The other girls can enjoy the plum blossoms while waiting for the barbecue," said Mrs. Liu, smiling.

"It’s nothing, just a small effort. Let Ping’er help," the magistrate’s wife said, waving her hand.

The Magistrate’s wife frowned. Although social attitudes had become more liberal, it was still easy for men and women to get together for a barbecue.

At this point, Mrs. Liu could only accept. She looked at Xiao’er and Yun’er, "Xiao’er and Yun’er, you have to take good care of each lady!"

Xiao’er and Yun’er agreed. After all, the only daughter of the Liu family had gotten married and didn’t return, so they had to take up the task of taking care of the guests.

"Sister, isn’t the pavilion in the plum grove quite large?"

"Yes, it is. There’s a pavilion in the plum grove called the Yuanyang Pavilion. Though it seems like one pavilion, it’s actually built as two side by side. The young folks love to barbecue. How about I have the servants take a couple of long tables to the middle of the pavilion and get a bigger grill? Men can be on one side and women on the other," Mrs. Tan suggested in response to Mrs. Liu’s hidden proposal.

"That would be great!" said the Magistrate’s wife, smiling.

"Mrs. Tan always thinks ahead," the local magistrate’s wife praised.

Seeing this, Jingrui excused himself first. He just wanted to ask his sister for some spices for the barbecue, but ended up pulling in a group of ladies. He needed to let the other men know to avoid any inconvenience.

Jingrui had studied at the Juxian Academy and several of the men who came today were his classmates. They even corresponded regularly.

Long time no see, someone suggested they enjoy a barbecue and drink wine.

If Jingrui had known this would attract a crowd, he wouldn’t have agreed.

Xiao’er and Yun’er led the ladies towards the plum garden.

The servants had already set up the pavilion. The barbecue stove was arranged outside the pavilion.

Xiao’er led the group to the pavilion to sit down.

Although it was a barbecue, these young ladies were not expected to participate directly. The maids did most of the work.

"Yang Liu, go to my room and bring a bottle of seasoning for the young master. Yang Mei, you go and roast some meat and vegetables for everyone to eat."

Yang Liu and Yang Mei nodded and set off on their tasks.

It wouldn’t be fair to have the maid of the Countess of Rui’an cook for so many people. The other ladies had their maids help, too.

Gao Ping stood up, "I’ll go and help with the seasoning."

Everyone: She’s really eager!

Nonetheless, no one stopped her.

Usually, people seasoned their barbecue with salt, soy sauce, pepper, and chili powder, and there’s no ready-made barbecue sauce.

When Xiao’er barbecued, she would prepare her own barbecue sauce and when grilling meat, she would also use her own cumin powder and honey.

Cumin powder is an essential top-notch condiment for barbecue food! Cumin can eliminate the gamey taste of meat, enhance its flavor and stimulate the appetite when used in roasting beef and lamb.

After Gao Ping finished the seasoning, she divided it into two portions and had her maid deliver one to Jingrui.

From across the table, Jingrui thanked her, but he was reluctant to use the seasoning she had prepared.

Liu Zhiwen wanted to use it to baste the whole lamb, but Jingrui dodged his hand, whispering, "Better to try it on the chicken first, see how it tastes before applying it on the lamb."

Liu Zhiwen immediately understood. That was a close call! Almost wasted a whole lamb!

We can’t even waste a single chicken!

Liu Zhiwu tried a few skewers of chicken that he had made, and found that after grilling, the taste was surprisingly good, far better than what he had made earlier. However, it was still vastly inferior to Xiao’er’s seasoning. He was relieved that he didn’t use it on the mutton!

The other men also tasted it and praised it unanimously.

Gao Ping’s maid cooked a few skewers of mutton for the women. Everyone tried it and complimented her.

Upon seeing this, Gao Ping couldn’t help but reveal a triumphant smile.

At this point, Yang Liu brought Xiao’er’s seasoning. Xiao’er stood up and personally prepared two portions of barbecue sauce, asking her to give one portion to Jingrui’s side.

Liu Zhiwen couldn’t wait to apply the sauce to the mutton.

Gao Ping glanced at him contemptuously, hoping that the food grilled with that sauce would be hard to swallow and steal her thunder.

Barbecue takes time. In the process of waiting for the food, things could get a little boring. To prevent everyone from feeling neglected, Xiao’er suggested, "We still have some time before the mutton is fully roasted, why don’t we play something in the meantime?"

Gao Ping was eager to show off her talent in front of Jingrui, so she agreed, "The suggestion from the hostess of Rui’an County is excellent. Why don’t we have a water painting competition?"

Water painting actually means pouring tea. Pouring tea is a form of ancient tea art that is expressive enough to portray a picture, a unique form of art that uses foam to represent calligraphy and painting, which is suitable for Chinese characters and paintings, hence the ancient name ’water painting’.

Xiao’er was unfamiliar with this, she only knew how to make latte art in milk tea or coffee.

Mastering the skill of pouring tea is difficult, and failures are likely to occur. Gao Ping daring to propose a water painting competition showed that she was well-experienced in this art.

Xiao’er turned to the other ladies and asked, "Would anyone like to play this game?"

Nobody objected.

Even though they might not be good at pouring tea, losing could still provide an opportunity to showcase other talents. It was better than sitting idle.

Seeing that none of the ladies objected, Xiao’er grumbled inwardly: Did all the ladies who knew how to pour tea come to Shengping County, so the ladies in the imperial capital don’t like playing this game?

Xiao’er asked a maid to prepare the tools for pouring tea.

Soon, the tea set was brought up.

Since she didn’t know how to do it, Xiao’er said, "I don’t know how to pour tea. You guys play while I’ll judge!"

Gao Jie chuckled, "Water painting is indeed hard to master. It’s quite normal that the hostess of Rui’an County doesn’t know how to do it. That’s definitely better than some people pretending to know things they don’t."

Xiao’er blinked: Was this woman interested in her big brother? She strongly disagreed! This woman seemed like a troublemaker!

The other ladies were angered by Gao Jie’s words, but no one lost their temper.

The ladies began to grind the tea leaves meticulously.

Xiao’er watched them carefully. She too was interested in learning this intriguing skill.

Pouring tea is a high-level tea brewing skill that some people mastered to create intricate soup flower designs; some directly "dot" the surface of the soup to form soup flowers. From what Xiao’er saw, all the ladies present were using the "dotting" method.

Dotting tea, in fact, means pouring tea. One hand holds the pot, and boiling water is poured from above into the tea cup filled with tea residue. The ladies create infinitely various representations by controlling the height of pouring, different gestures, and utilising different spout designs on the teapot.

For a moment, the surroundings were peaceful, with only the sound of tea being poured into cups.

...

The weather had been cold in recent days, and the plum blossoms were in full bloom, filling the air with their intoxicating aroma.

All the men knew they were pouring tea and fell silent, watching them.

It was a visual feast indeed — young and beautiful women gathering together, performing the elegant tea art gracefully.

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