At the beginning, I was a rich female prisoner

Yu Yunxin has been very busy these two days. She has to prepare return gifts for the emperor and the empress. She thought that the capital is quite cold in winter, so she made a set of slim-fitting goose down inner clothes and trousers for each person, and a goose down quilt with a dragon and phoenix pattern. With this warm goose down clothes and quilt, she believes that the emperor and the empress will like it. Down jackets are a must-have for keeping warm in winter.

At mealtime, she would study various recipes with Eunuch Zhang, including Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, Sichuan cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Hunan cuisine, etc. She cooked all the dishes she knew herself. There were more than 600 dishes, including barbecued and fried ones. She was exhausted just by writing the recipes.

On the third day after the two eunuchs came, they arrived at the gate of Wangshan County Government with the imperial edict in the morning. The people of Wangshan County came to watch and saw more than a dozen carriages filled with boxes. Finally, there were several carriages following, including several officials from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Agriculture, as well as the carriages of Wang Yuanxiang and Yu Yunxuan, mother and daughter.

"Mother, we followed you here. Do you think your eldest sister will give us some money?" Yu Yunxuan asked while sitting in the carriage.

"I heard that she spent 100,000 taels of silver to harvest the rice fields in the entire Wangshan County in two months. What's wrong with us asking for some money? She can give it to strangers in Wangshan County, so why not give it to us mother and daughter?" Wang Yuanxiang said.

After the carriage stopped, one saw a group of people kneeling outside the Wangshan County Government Office, with Yu Yunxin kneeling at the front.

Hu Man was reading the imperial edict: "In compliance with the will of Heaven, the Emperor proclaims that Yu Yunxin, the legitimate daughter of the Yu family, has brought water to the Nanjun Kongzhu, built water conservancy projects, built water wheels, used ducks to kill insects, piled organic fertilizers, and cultivated a second crop of rice, which has enabled the people in the east, west, and south to have one more harvest and have enough food and clothing. This is a blessing for the people of the world and the Dacheng Dynasty. This woman is intelligent, diligent, docile, peaceful, pure, gentle, and kind. She is a good wife... She is hereby canonized as the third-rank Xingguo Princess, and is specially awarded a pair of golden ducks, a pair of jade bracelets, a white jade waist badge, ten bolts of silk and satin, and a box of rouge and powder as tribute... Ten thousand taels of gold, this is decreed!" Yu Yunxin was almost asleep after listening to the things that had been said for an hour. It was not until she heard about the ten thousand taels of gold that she suddenly perked up.

"Long live the emperor." After Hu Man finished reading, Yu Yunxin stretched out her hand to receive the decree.

Hu Man handed the imperial edict to Yu Yunxin and said, "Congratulations, Princess Xingguo!"

"Thank you very much, both eunuchs." Yu Yunxin said after being helped up by Eunuch Zhang.

"Congratulations, Princess Xingguo!" Eunuch Zhang said with a smile.

"When will you two eunuchs return to Beijing? I have some things I want you to take back to the palace to give to the emperor and the empress?" Yu Yunxin asked.

"Prefect Yang is confiscating a lot of things from Wu Tongzhou and the Wu family in Shangyang County. These can be used to offset the taxes they evaded. Let's wait for two days!" Hu Man replied.

"Okay, I'll prepare it right away." Yu Yunxin said as she went into the house and placed the imperial edict on display, which was a sign of respect for the emperor.

Seeing the boxes of things being carried into the back hall, Wang Yuanxiang and Yu Yunxuan came over and said, "Xin'er, you and your father have lost weight in the past few months. I brought you some high-quality ingredients from the capital. I will make you something delicious."

"How dare you, Aunt Wang, a commoner's woman, call yourself "me" in front of the princess? You have to call yourself a humble concubine, do you understand?" Eunuch Zhang said angrily when he heard Aunt Wang say that.

"Yes, yes! I know I was wrong." Wang Yuanxiang was helpless because Eunuch Zhang was someone close to the queen.

"Is it enough that you know you are wrong? I tell you that these things were selected by people sent by the emperor himself, and they are all recorded in the imperial edict. Don't have any ideas about it." Eunuch Zhang continued in a feminine tone.

"Yes! You, a lowly concubine, are not qualified to touch the rewards given by the imperial edict, do you understand?" Hu Man said angrily while looking at the mother and daughter.

Then Yu Yunxin was helped by the two eunuchs into the inner room. At this time, Governor Yang and several county magistrates of Nanjun also came to pay their respects to Princess Xingguo. Even Yang Yunsheng sent Jin Chen to congratulate her. This time Yang Yunsheng did not come in person because the popcorn and various types of liquor in Jiangnan were selling very well, and he was busy taking orders.

Yu Tinghai walked up to the mother and daughter and said, "Since you are here, look at how many people are outside, go to the backyard and help entertain some of the female guests."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yuanxiang immediately left the main room and went to the backyard to receive the wife of the prefect and several county magistrates' wives. In the past, Wang Yuanxiang received the wives of officials above the fourth rank in the capital, so when she saw these women, she didn't even bother to greet them and went straight back to the backyard to rest.

"Who is this?" asked a county magistrate's wife.

"They are Lord Yu's aunt and concubine's daughter." The wife of the prefect replied.

"Why is a concubine so arrogant? It's not something that can be put on the table." The lady replied, "We are here to congratulate Princess Xingguo, not to curry favor with her. You are giving us, the wives, a hard time."

"Let's just ignore her and go see Princess Xingguo." said the woman on the side.

Yu Yunxin is now a princess who must put up a screen when meeting male guests. This is the rule. Eunuch Zhang also said that she should bring a veil when traveling in the future. The princess cannot let others see her appearance casually. After hearing so many rules, she regretted accepting this imperial edict.

Fortunately, with so many people coming to congratulate her, she and Eunuch Zhang had been studying recipes in the kitchen for the past two days, and the cooks had learned some of the dishes. They also often cooked for the workers who repaired the water conservancy projects, so they were used to so many people. So she left the dinner to Chunyu and Qiu Shuang with confidence, while Qiu Yingying and the other two were busy preparing it. Popcorn and rice cakes naturally became snacks to entertain these female guests.

"This is the most popular popcorn sold in Nanling County. I heard that this was also the idea of ​​Princess Xingguo. You are welcome to try it." The wife of the prefect said as she looked at the cakes brought up by several maids.

"This is really delicious, fragrant and crispy. I will buy more later."

"Yes! Yes!" a group of female guests echoed.

Yu Tinghai looked at Chunyu who was busy coming and going and asked, "Where are Aunt Wang and the Second Miss?"

"My lord, Aunt Wang and the second young lady went to rest as soon as they arrived in the backyard. The wife of the prefect helped to entertain the female guests at the beginning." Chunyu replied.

"Forget it, let her have a good rest! Don't come out and cause trouble." Yu Tinghai said.

When Chunyu heard this, he pulled Qiu Yingying and said, "Let's go to the blacksmith shop and buy some locks?"

"Chunyu, why do you want to lock it?" Qiu Yingying asked puzzledly.

So Chunyu secretly told everyone about Wang Yuanxiang and Yu Yunxuan.

When Qiu Yingying heard this, she said, "Okay, leave the locking of the doors and windows to me."

Qiu Yingying quickly bought a lock from the blacksmith shop, went to the room where Wang Yuanxiang and her daughter were resting, locked their doors and windows, and then put the key in the flowerpot outside the windowsill. After doing all this, Qiu Yingying walked into the living room as if nothing had happened.

Yu Tinghai had no mansion, so he had to use the yamen as a place to receive guests. The front yamen was for male guests, and the back yamen became for female guests.

The banquet started soon. These tables and chairs were rented from two restaurants in the town. Now the restaurant owner, waiter, waiter, and chef all came to help. Yu Tinghai never asked for more servants. When the restaurant owner heard that he was going to lend them to the county magistrate and the princess, he agreed without thinking and brought people to help. Now the restaurant owner, waiter, waiter, and chef all came to help.

There were more than two hundred tables in total, with ten people at each table. With the help of the restaurant, the food was served much faster.

Yu Yunxin naturally sat in the main seat for female guests.

"Princess, you are a princess now, but you have too few maids, right?" said the prefect's wife.

"Yes! Look at your maids, they are busy running around. How about this? I will give you a few maids. Don't worry, they all come from clean families." Another county magistrate's wife said.

"I appreciate your kindness, ladies. Two are enough for me." Yu Yunxin replied. It is not good to have too many women, so she rejected the ladies' kindness.

"It's okay. I'm a maid and can do all kinds of work." The lady still didn't give up.

"Madam, this is really not necessary. Please try it quickly. These dishes were developed by Eunuch Zhang and I. Only the emperor and the empress can enjoy Eunuch Zhang's cooking!" Yu Yunxin changed the subject.

"We are blessed by Princess Xingguo today and can eat imperial-level food." The governor's wife picked up a Longjing shrimp and said, "This shrimp has the flavor of green tea and is very fragrant. Let's all try it together."

Of course, wine is indispensable at a banquet. For the male guests, Yu Yunxin arranged strong-aroma liquor and sauce-aroma liquor, while for the female guests, it was naturally light-aroma liquor and the cider that Yu Yunxin had someone make a few days ago.

"This wine smells so good. Where did you buy it, Princess?" The prefect's wife liked wine very much and asked after taking a sip of the fragrant wine.

"It's brewed in my wine workshop. If the governor's wife likes it, you can place an order first and I'll send someone to deliver it to your house." Yu Yunxin began to sell the wine.

"Princess, this wine tastes sweet and fragrant. What kind of wine is this?" asked the lady at the same table.

"This is apple cider, made from this year's apples. Qiu Yingying, go get a few jars of other fruit wine for the ladies to taste." Yu Yunxin looked at Qiu Yingying and said.

"Okay, princess." Qiu Yingying replied

Soon Qiu Yingying came with several female workers from the wine workshop, each holding a jar of wine. All the ladies gathered around to taste it. Some asked for more than 20 jars, some secretly went to the front yard to ask their masters how much wine they wanted, and brought several jars of different flavors of wine to the front yard for their masters to taste. Yu Linshan in the front yard helped record how much wine the male guests wanted.

The wine they requested, the quantity, and the address were all recorded clearly. Chunyu recorded the backyard. Many ladies chose fruit wine, but only the wife of the governor asked for twenty jars of each type of wine. More ladies also asked for popcorn and rice cakes, all with walnuts, raisins, sesame seeds, hawthorns, etc. The quantity they asked for was quite large.

After the record was completed, Yu Yunxin asked the kitchen to start serving the feast, including roast suckling pig, roast whole lamb, and roast duck. The male guests' dishes were all whole, except for the roast duck which was cut into slices. The roast suckling pig and roast whole lamb for the female guests were all cut, because women need to pay attention to their image.

Everyone had never eaten these delicacies before, and they were all very curious, especially when they saw the roast suckling pig and roast whole lamb, which were made with Yu Yunxin and Eunuch Zhang's special roast sauce, and tasted particularly crispy. There was also a special crunchy chicken, a large table full of dishes, and each dish had its own special flavor. When everyone came, some took sedan chairs, some took carriages, and some took carriages. Now, after eating and drinking, they all walked back with their big bellies.

As the crowd gradually dispersed, the back court began to quiet down. Only two women's voices were heard in a room: "Someone come quickly! Let us out! Let us out!"

"Qiushuang, have we forgotten two people?" Yu Yunxin asked Qiu Shuang who was standing aside after hearing the voice coming from the room.

"Little...if it's not the princess, it should be Aunt Wang and the Second Miss!" Qiu Shuang asked doubtfully.

"Go and let them out! I don't know what happened to my father and cousin." Yu Yunxin said to the three of them.

"Yun Xin, your father is living in the yard of the tea garden with the two fathers-in-law. Let Aunt Wang live in the backyard today!" Yu Linshan said when he came to the back court.

"Okay, cousin, please send some people to move this thing into the government office's warehouse first. It's safe there because there are constables on duty in shifts." Yu Yunxin said.

"Okay, I'll arrange for someone to move it right away." Yu Linshan said and left.

Wang Yuanxiang and Yu Yunxuan came out in a panic, only to hear Yu Yunxuan scolding, "Yu Yunxin, did you do this on purpose?"

"Second Miss, you should call me Princess Xingguo now. You have to kneel down and kowtow when you see the princess, do you understand?" Chunyu saw Yu Yunxuan walking out cursing.

"Alright, Chunyu, we are all family, so don't be so polite. I had no idea you were locked up in the room, and don't complain. My rank is higher than your father's now." Yu Yunxin ignored the mother and daughter and turned to Chunyu and said, "Chunyu, ask the kitchen to prepare some dinner for Aunt Wang and Second Sister."

The mother and daughter had not eaten anything good on the way because they were in a hurry, and they were already hungry after being locked up for most of the day. When they saw all kinds of delicious food in front of them, they didn't care about the woman's modesty and started eating.

"Madam, Second Miss, please eat slowly. There is more in the kitchen." Qiu Shuang said.

"Where are the maids and servants serving you?" Chunyu asked.

"They suffer from motion sickness, so I arranged for them to stay in an inn in Nanling County. I'll send someone to pick them up tomorrow!" Aunt Wang replied while eating fried chicken legs.

"What is this? So crispy and fragrant?" Yu Yunxuan asked while eating fried chicken legs.

"Second Miss, this is a fried chicken leg!" Qiu Shuang glanced at Yu Yunxuan who had poor eating manners.

"Aunt Wang, you two sisters, please eat first. When will you return to Beijing?" Yu Yunxin asked.

"We won't go back for the time being. By the way, elder sister...Princess, can you lend me some money? My mother and I have picked out a few shops in the capital." Yu Yunxuan said.

"Don't you have two shops in Beijing?" Yu Yunxin asked.

"Princess, we came here this time specifically to show you the shop we chose. It's the shop of the former Minister of Revenue. Now the former Minister of Revenue has been imprisoned for embezzling this year's disaster relief funds. His family members have taken a few shops to sell off. I saw that the price is cheap and wanted to buy a few shops." Wang Yuanxiang said.

"I'm afraid it's not easy to take over the shop of the former Minister of Revenue now. I think you guys should take action later, Aunt Wang." Yu Yunxin said after thinking for a while.

"The princess's father has also been demoted by the emperor. Our lives in the capital are getting worse and worse," said Yu Yunxuan.