Fried Lotus Root

The King of Yue and the Emperor of Liang are uncle and nephew in name, but father and son in reality?

Su Liang was shocked by the news from Gu Ling. The figure of Situ Xie appeared in his mind, and he sighed, "He is really hypocritical!"

Since Gu Ling said so, he must have confirmed it. But this is obviously a big secret, and even the Emperor of Liang may not know it.

Uncle and sister-in-law have an affair and give birth to a child. This is an immoral thing that cannot be explained by any reason.

And what kind of character Situ Xie has who can do such a thing is self-evident.

Thinking deeply about this matter, it may be the direct reason why Situ Xie did not seize the throne despite his high position and many children and grandchildren in Liang.

The throne is his own son, and the prince is his own grandson, so there is no need to seize it. Although he has never sat in that position, in fact, he is no different from the emperor.

The so-called rumor that "the King of Yue of Liang has no ambition" is simply a joke.

The word "dirty man" in Gu Ling's mouth sharply and accurately summarizes the image of Situ Xie in his eyes.

"How did you know about this?" Su Liang asked curiously. This is definitely a secret that Situ Xie must guard strictly, and Gu Ling does not seem to have much contact with his maternal grandparents in Liangguo.

"When I was four years old, I went to Liangguo once." Gu Ling said calmly, "At that time, the former emperor of Liangguo was alive and was seriously ill. I saw that his forehead was black, so I said he was going to die, and my mother covered his mouth and took him away. After my mother passed away, I secretly went to Liangguo once and heard that Situ Xie had a secret meeting with the queen mother."

Su Liang nodded, "So that's it."

Gu Ling's words were suspected that the death of the former emperor of Liangguo was related to Situ Xie. But this matter is not certain.

There is no rumor that Situ Xie had an affair with his sister-in-law, let alone the life of the Liang emperor. I think Situ Xie disguised himself very well and did it perfectly.

And Situ Xie must not know why Gu Ling hates him, and now he still hopes to repair the relationship between grandfather and grandson, no matter what the purpose is.

"Then you should wait until Situ Xie leaves the capital of Gan State before going out to avoid meeting him." Su Liang said.

Gu Ling is not a murderer, and he will not kill people just because Situ Xie has moral stains.

No matter which era, there are thousands of scumbags. But even in the rule of law society where Su Liang lived in his previous life, those who were called scumbags may not have violated any laws, because the law is the lowest moral standard for people. Even if they violate the law, most of them are not guilty of death.

The principle of Gu Ling and Su Liang is that I will not offend others if they don't offend me.

"Let's talk about it later." Gu Ling shook his head. Although he has been pardoned, which is what he wants, he has no intention of appearing outside openly for the time being.

What is freedom is largely a personal subjective feeling.

Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, Gu Ling, who was previously wanted, had no freedom and could only hide from place to place. Now he is free.

But once Gu Ling appears outside and becomes the Marquis of Changxin, his words and deeds will be watched by others, and he will not be more free than now.

However, as Xing Yusheng said, being pardoned is a good thing after all. It is not that Gu Ling must walk around in the country openly, but it gives him room for choice.

Seeing Gu Ling's attitude, Su Liang didn't find it difficult to guess his thoughts, so he nodded and said, "Let's talk about it later."

"Are you in a hurry for me to appear so that you can fall in love with me at first sight on the street?" Gu Ling looked at Su Liang and asked.

Su Liang just laughed, "If you hadn't said it, I would have forgotten it. It's not important. I believe Duanmu Chen will solve the matter of the 'Crown Princess', and no one will interfere with my marriage, which is good."

After saying that, Su Liang remembered another thing, "I dare not pretend to marry you again, because then I will be challenged by the poison master who likes you. I won't lose anything if I lose, but you have to marry him as promised. I can't let you ruin my innocence for my own sake."

Su Liang was halfway through her words when Gu Ling turned her head and looked out the window.

When she finished speaking, Gu Ling didn't look back, and said calmly, "That makes sense, thank you for considering me. I want to eat spicy and sour lotus root."

Su Liang held his forehead, "You don't want to be the Marquis of Changxin just for the spicy and sour lotus root, right?"

If they become the Marquis of Changxin, it will be inconvenient for them to live together.

Gu Ling nodded, "That's right."

Su Liang stood up, "The lotus roots at Xing Yusheng's house are really delicious, I want to eat them too. But I don't want to make spicy and sour lotus root today, I want to eat fried lotus root!"

Then I heard Gu Ling say, "That's even better."

Su Liang: ... She lost again...

...

There was no lotus root at home, and Su Liang simply rode out on horseback to the Zhongxin Marquis's Mansion to find lotus roots.

After Xing Yusheng and Lin Xueqing moved out and lived alone, they often came back to accompany Old Lady Xing. But today they went to the Qin Mansion, not here.

Old Lady Xing was very happy to see Su Liang suddenly come to her house. When she learned the reason for her visit, she smiled from ear to ear, "Qing said that you especially like to eat lotus roots in our family. Since you are here, eat here. I'll ask them to prepare whatever you want."

Su Liang smiled, "Not today. Zheng'er's parents are out of town, so I'll take care of him for a day. He was taken to Qin's house by Xue Qing, but he may come back to me at any time. I'll make him some fried lotus roots."

"Fried lotus roots?" Old Lady Xing said it was the first time she heard of it.

Su Liang said that she would send some to Old Lady Xing when it was ready.

"Then I'll wait." Old Lady Xing didn't keep her any longer.

While the servants of the Xing Mansion were digging lotus roots, Su Liang carried a basket and went into the vineyard of the Xing Mansion and picked a basket of grapes by herself.

Then she said goodbye to Old Lady Xing and rode home. It was inconvenient for her to carry a basket of lotus roots, so the servants of the Xing Mansion drove the cart and followed her to deliver it back.

Passing by the busy streets, Su Liang walked very slowly, fearing that the horse would kick someone.

Suddenly she heard someone calling her, and Su Liang looked over, and saw Lin Qi leaning out half of his body from the private room on the second floor of Wanjia Restaurant facing the street, waving at her enthusiastically, shouting "Su Xiaoliang", which attracted the attention of many people.

Su Liang also saw Chen Yun standing behind Lin Qi, trying to pull him back.

Xing Yusheng said that Lin Qi did not buy a house in the end, and actually lived in Huguo Temple with Chen Yun. The reason was that Chen Yun's mother asked him to go to Huguo Temple to burn incense when he came to the capital, and pray to the Bodhisattva to bless his brother Chen Xiao.

Lin Qi had a vegetarian meal at Huguo Temple and thought it was very good, so he just stayed there. He went back at night, ate vegetarian food with the monks, slept in Huguo Temple, and went down the mountain during the day to drink and eat meat. It was called "vegetarian and meat combination".

Su Liang nodded slightly, said hello and was about to leave, not planning to have dinner with them. It was noon, and someone was waiting at home.

When Lin Qi saw that Su Liang did not get off the horse, he ran downstairs.

When Su Liang heard the sound again, he saw Lin Qi and Chen Yun riding horses to catch up.

"Su Xiaoliang, let's go to your house to sit, Chen Yun hasn't been there yet!" Lin Qi smiled and didn't treat himself as an outsider at all.

Chen Yun smiled and said, "I wonder if Su Liang is convenient? If not, I will visit her another day."

"She is alone, what's inconvenient?" Lin Qi made up his mind to go to Su Liang's house.

Su Liang shook his head, "It is indeed inconvenient today. I asked for some delicious food from the Zhongxin Marquis's Mansion, but there is no share for you. It will be a bit embarrassing for you to watch me eat."

Lin Qi and Chen Yun were drunk after hearing this...

But with Lin Qi's personality, it is even more impossible to give up after hearing Su Liang's words.

Su Liang also knew that it was just a joke. Friends come from afar, so it's okay to entertain them.

So, Lin Qi and Chen Yun followed Su Liang back home.

When he saw the lotus roots still covered with mud being carried out of the car, Lin Qi expressed deep doubts about the "delicious" food Su Liang mentioned, "This stuff is everywhere in my house, it has no taste and is not delicious at all!"

"Then don't eat it." Su Liang ordered the servants of the Xing Mansion to carry the lotus roots to the lake.

Lin Qi was very interested in the grapes that Su Liang brought back. Just as he was about to come over to take them, Su Liang stopped him, "Wash the lotus roots."

"Is this your way of entertaining guests?" Lin Qi was speechless.

Su Liang nodded, "Don't like it? The door is over there."

Lin Yu looked up at the sky speechlessly, "As the head of the Ning family, the top martial arts scholar, and the imperial physician, you don't even have a servant at home?"

Su Liang's lips curled slightly, "No, I have guests."

Chen Yun laughed and dragged Lin Yu towards the lake, "Su Liang doesn't treat us as outsiders!"

Su Liang took the grapes to the kitchen to wash them, and took them upstairs, and saw Gu Ling making a new Chinese knot, the shape of which was different from the previous one.

"If this is still 100,000 taels, you can keep it for yourself!" Su Liang said and put the grapes on the table.

Gu Ling shook his head, "This, no money."

Su Liang asked, "What do you want?"

"I'm still thinking about it." Gu Ling said.

Su Liang snorted, "You just want to sell it to me, right? Okay, Master, take your time to think about it."

Gu Ling didn't say anything about Su Liang bringing guests back, and Su Liang didn't ask him to avoid it. She said that the second floor was her boudoir and she would entertain them on the first floor. She only told Gu Ling not to make any noise for the people below to hear.

"You eat grapes first, and I'll bring you the fried lotus roots when they're done." Su Liang said.

...

Lin Qi and Chen Yun washed half of the basket of lotus roots according to Su Liang's instructions, and didn't wash the other half because they couldn't eat them today.

Then, Su Liang asked them to peel the lotus roots, wash them again, and cut them into slices of uniform thickness.

There were also mincing meat stuffing, making fire, etc., things the two had never done before, but now they had to do them all.

"Su Xiaoliang, if we hadn't come, would you have done all these by yourself?" Lin Qi held a kitchen knife in each hand, and his posture of chopping meat was very decent.

Su Liang, who was preparing other ingredients, responded.

Lin Qi was a little surprised, "Do you like cooking? I thought you were busy. These things take a lot of effort!"

"It's okay." Su Liang said, "If you didn't come, I would only need to do a little."

Lin Qi snorted, "Yes, yes, it's all our fault. We rushed to your house to work!"

...

The fragrance of lotus root wafted out, and Lin Qi and Chen Yun came over.

"Is it cooked? Is it cooked?" Lin Qi held the plate and looked at it eagerly, "We don't cook lotus root like this in our family. Su Xiaoliang, who did you learn it from?"

Su Liang ignored Lin Qi, holding a pair of specially made extended chopsticks in her hand, which were made for her by Gu Ling, and a bamboo basket specially used for draining oil, which was also woven by Gu Ling.

The fried lotus root was taken out of the pot and placed in a bamboo basket. Lin Qi was about to pick it up, but Su Liang opened it and said, "Please send this portion to the old lady of the Zhongxin Marquis's Mansion. I promised."

"Let us taste it first!" After saying that, Lin Qi snatched the small basket and went to the side with Chen Yun. Each of them picked up one and ate it while blowing on the hot air.

"Good..." Lin Qi nodded while eating.

Gu Ling upstairs snorted and continued to peel the grape skins. The white jade cup next to him was almost filled with crystal clear grape pulp.

After Lin Yi and Chen Yun ate a few pieces, they took a plate of fried lotus root prepared by Su Liang and ran errands to deliver it to Mrs. Xing.

The reason why both of them went was because neither of them wanted to go, but someone had to go...

After they left, Su Liang fried another plate and brought it upstairs to Gu Ling.

"It's fresh out of the pot, eat it while it's hot." Su Liang put the fried lotus root on the table. When he saw Gu Ling peeling a grape, he reached out to take it, "Give this to me."

Gu Ling wiped his hands with a handkerchief, "This is for you."

Su Liang was a little surprised. While eating grapes with a fruit fork, he asked, "Master, why are you so talkative today?"

Gu Ling's expression was indifferent, "When will it be difficult for me to speak?"

"Then give it to me after the second Chinese knot is knitted?" Su Liang asked.

Gu Ling shook his head, "No."

Su Liang immediately turned around, took the white jade lamp and went downstairs.

When Lin Wei and Chen Yun came back, a banquet had been set up for them on the first floor of Yuanming Pavilion. Fried lotus root was just one of the dishes, and Su Liang also made other dishes.

"Wow, you did all this?" Lin Xian immediately felt that Su Liang was very interesting, "Su Xiaoliang, you can do it!"

"Su Liang's cooking skills are so good!" Chen Yun praised.

"I don't have wine here, only tea." Su Liang raised a glass.

After the three of them clinked glasses, Lin Xi took a sniff and said, "It smells so good. What kind of tea is this?"

Su Liang smiled, "Dahongpao."

Lin Wei almost choked, "Su Xiaoliang, are you asking us to help you with anything from climbing mountains of swords to seas of fire after treating us to this meal?"

Chen Yun was also a little flattered, "Su Liang, you are so polite."

Su Liang chuckled lightly, "Remember, you owe me a favor for going up the mountain of swords and the sea of ​​fire."

Lin Wei and Chen Yun: ...I knew it would be like this!

…

After Lin Wei and Chen Yun had a delicious meal, Su Liang yawned, as if to exclude the guests.

"The Prince's Palace will host a banquet for Princess Yaoguang tomorrow, will you go too?" Lin Xin asked.

Su Liang shook his head, "I didn't receive the invitation."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chang'an's voice came from outside, "Is Miss Su here?"

Soon, Su Liang got the invitation for tomorrow's flower viewing party at the Prince's Mansion.

Lin Wei and Chen Yun said goodbye and left. Chang'an saw them and heard them talking about the delicious food in Su Liang and the top-quality Dahongpao drink. After returning home, he reported everything to Duanmu Chen.

Duanmu Chen is so angry! When he was in Bei'an County, he would pay 5,000 taels for a meal at Su Liang's house, or 500 taels for a steamed bun, but Su Liang didn't treat other guests like this!

"Master, now that I'm visiting Miss Su's house again, she won't accept any money, right?" Chang'an said. He felt that after such a long period of cooperation, the friendship between Duanmu Chen and Su Liang was much better than before.

Duanmu Chen hummed, "With her current status, how can we visit alone?"

Someone will definitely spread gossip, and the last time Su Liang met Duanmu Chen alone, the purpose was to let Duanmu Chen find a way to dispel Duanmu Yi's idea of ​​​​giving them a marriage. Therefore, it is okay for two people to have normal interactions, but it is not okay to have private interactions that arouse people's imagination. Even if Duanmu Chen didn't care, he knew that Su Liang would definitely not want to have an unnecessary relationship with him.

"How about I go to Miss Su's place and ask for some delicious food from my master?" Chang'an asked.

Duanmu Chen shook his head, "Do you believe it or not, she still wants to collect money?"

Chang'an coughed lightly, "That's also possible. I'll ask Miss Su next time when I go to send a message."

…

After Su Liang saw off the guests, he went to sleep for a while and Zheng'er came back.

The lotus roots didn't taste good when they were cold, so Su Liang specially prepared them and lit a fire and fried two plates for Zheng'er, Xing Yusheng, Lin Xueqing to eat.

They also mentioned the flower viewing banquet at the Crown Prince's Mansion tomorrow. Lin Xueqing said, "It is said that Princess Yaoguang from Liang Kingdom may marry and become the Crown Princess!"

Su Liang was stunned for a moment, "Really?"

"I have been choosing a concubine for the prince, but there is no suitable one. This time the emperor only mentioned it to King Yue of Liang after meeting Princess Yaoguang." Xing Yusheng heard what his aunt said. Because Mrs. Qin's niece was originally on the list of concubines selected by the Ministry of Rites for the prince, she was very concerned about this news.

"Did King Yue agree?" Su Liang expressed curiosity.

When I first met Situ Yao that day, I was shocked by Duanmu Chen's appearance. But Su Liang knew very well that Duanmu Chen would never offer to marry a foreign princess as his concubine just for the sake of beauty.

Xing Yusheng nodded, "Although I am not sure, I should agree, unless Princess Yaoguang is already engaged. The emperor is willing to marry his favorite princess to the Liang Kingdom, and the King of Yue cannot say that he is reluctant to part with his own. Maybe the King of Yue brought his granddaughter here with this intention. "

Su Liang thought about it and felt that what Xing Yusheng said made sense. Princesses and princesses are not girls from ordinary families, and even ordinary families will not easily let unmarried girls show up.

As for what Situ Xie said that day that Situ Yao came here because of Su Liang's fame, Su Liang didn't believe a word of it.

After seeing off Xing Yusheng and Lin Xueqing, Su Liang hugged him upstairs when he fell asleep from playing tired.

Gu Ling put down the things in his hands, stood up and carefully took Zheng'er over.

Zheng'er rubbed his head against Gu Ling's chest, but he didn't wake up, with a sweet smile on his face.

Gu Ling looked down at the little guy with soft eyes.

Su Liang looked at this scene and sighed softly, "The great master will definitely be a good father in the future."

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

Sorry, the author was busy with work before, so the update time was not fixed. Starting from tomorrow, the update time will be 9 am. The topic of changing the time will be notified separately (*^▽^*)

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