Chapter 23: Ancient Greenhouse? [Bonus chapter]

After Si lit the fire in the Blooming Courtyard kitchen, it was like a switch was flicked in Xu Feng. The ice that covered him a few moments earlier began melting.

The kitchen wasn't his happy place or anything like that. Back in modern Dongmen, Xu Feng wasn't the best cook, but he wasn't the worst cook either. He loved food, like most people in Dongmen, and food lovers were more often than not decent in the kitchen.

Living in the 21st century where resources were easy to access made him a better cook than the average person in the current Donghua, who lacked spices and leisure to experiment with food.

As a child, recipes and cooking guides could be found anywhere, from the internet to self-help books. Xu Feng had a pretty good head start compared to the cooks in Donghua.

After adding a generous amount of oil to the pan to heat up, Xu Feng glided over to the kitchen table to prepare the pancake mix. As he mixed the ground coarse grains together with a small amount of salt and sugar, Si and San looked curiously at their young mistress.

Although the girls weren't always in the kitchen, they'd seen Auntie Lan cooking before. She was more generous than most village women cooking for their families, but Auntie Lan was still too conservative compared to Xu Feng's extravagant cooking style.

"The young mistress is generous with cooking too," San muttered as she watched the generous movements Xu Feng made.

He spent money like water and cooked without worrying about saving for a rainy day.

Si was completely entranced by the delicious aromas coming from the pan. Swallowing her droll, she could only nod at San.

Xu Feng was completely wrapped up in the kimchee pancakes. He shouldn't have let Steward Wu upset him, but he had. He was still upset.

"Ugh…" Xu Feng couldn't help but groan out loud to release the frustration and other emotions.

None of this really mattered. He wasn't really the Xuan young mistress. The marriage in a week was only a contract marriage, he wouldn't stay a young mistress for long. What mattered was setting himself up to live a comfortable and quiet life in Nanshan.

"Sho goowd!!!" Si couldn't help but exclaim as she bit into one of her Kimchee pancakes.

Xu Feng made 8 large-sized crispy kimchee pancakes, two for each person. Even though his appetite wasn't as strong after meeting Steward Wu, watching Si gobble down her pancakes, Xu Feng was tempted to eat again.

San couldn't take her eyes off the crisp pancakes in her hand, but she was still better than Si. "We shouldn't let the young mistress cook for us…"

Xu Feng grinned as he excused himself, "Make sure to take two pancakes to Erlang."

"Yes, young mistress."

"Yeshh."

Xu Feng ate his pancakes as he walked around his courtyard. The area within the courtyard was large, with the front reception building closer to the courtyard entrance, a clear space in the middle, and Xu Feng's living quarters and kitchen toward the back.

There was space at the front of the courtyard that could house the greenhouse, but that would ruin the atmosphere created by the newly transplanted fruit trees and the older ornamental trees that were in the courtyard before the renovations.

The best place for the greenhouse was behind or beside Xu Feng's living residence.

Xu Feng sat admiring the scenery in the front yard when Steward Wu made his appearance.

"The young mistress wanted to see me?"

Steward Wu had already recovered from their last meeting, but he couldn't help but be wary around the moody young mistress. One minute he was calm and quiet, the next he was cold and commanding. It was hard deciding how to approach such a mistress.

Xu Feng smiled; his mind made up. "Yes, I have two more projects the Xuan family needs to take care of before my wedding."

Steward Wu's eyes twitched. 'This village ger spends money more extravagantly than some well-off noble ladies.'

"I want two cellars dug out, one regular and one made according to this drawing," glimpsing quickly at the confused Steward Wu, Xu Feng continued steadily, "The normal cellar should be built to the side of my residence and the other one will be built at the back.

"I know how many gold taels were sent by Lady Xuan, there is more than enough silver left to complete constructions with the materials on this paper."

"Your wedding is in a week, how can…"

Xu Feng nodded and cut off Steward Wu's complaints with a wide-eyed look. "Don't we have enough silver left to hire more people and get things done? I heard that in off seasons there are more people able to work."

Steward Wu frowned at the innocent look on Xu Feng's face. Was this the same frosty ger from earlier? Was he mistaken? Xu Feng was just a country bumpkin…this should be the real him.

Xu Feng continued on with his new play, completely ignoring the confusion on Steward Wu's face, "Maybe I should ask the young master to push back the wedding till after all the cellars are complete?"

Steward Wu wasn't sure which Xu Feng was the real one, but as a steward of a large family, he knew after Xu Feng's act in the main dining area of the estate, the ger wasn't as simple as he appeared.

Gritting his teeth Steward Wu agreed, "I'll have people start on the cellars at first light tomorrow."

"Perfect."

Xu Feng didn't care much about how tight of a build this would be. The money sent by the Xuan family for renovations would never reach his hands. There was no telling how much of it would be pocketed by Steward Wu and how much would go back to the Xuan family.

After watching the way Steward Wu and the Aunties of the Nanshan estate interacted and treated their future young mistress, pocketing money wasn't something that was above them. If the wedding is cheap-looking, the fault will fall on the steward, not himself. He is not in charge of the finances yet.

Over the next week before his wedding, Xu Feng would pause his spending ways. He'd spent 29 taels of silver in a single day, 15 of it on "medicine."

Instead, he'd focus more on making winter clothes with the materials from his betrothal gifts and the cotton stuffing purchased in Yilin. At night, he would spend his time reading little yellow books and preparing for his wedding night.