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Hedy quickly put her things down and began reading through the letters one by one.
She had already visited the Sforza court, where the lord had consulted her about gout, but it seemed he had no intention of quitting drinking.
Several other noble families, either out of the desire to make connections or simply out of politeness, had already invited her over as well.
Her fingers paused for a moment as she suddenly came across a letter with elegant and forceful handwriting.
It was from the Duchy of Ferrara.
A young duchess’s daughter invited her and Leonardo to visit, the tone friendly and enthusiastic.
Ferrara bordered the eastern part of Milan, and a round-trip could take about a month.
Hedy thought for a moment and decided to wait for Leonardo’s return to ask for his opinion.
She had heard that the young woman was quite independent and had a lot of ideas. Getting to know her could prove to be very interesting.
“Mr. Leonardo has already returned, and brought some fish with him. He’s helping prepare them in the backyard,” Dechio seemed to have guessed what she was thinking and explained at the right moment. “You can just go and ask him directly.”
Hedy nodded and quickly walked down the corridor.
Before she could see him, she first heard strange animal sounds.
It sounded like the honk of a wild goose, hoarse and somewhat harsh, which struck her as odd.
Hedy paused for a moment and then rounded the corner to see what Leonardo was doing.
The young man was holding a flapping wild duck, its legs tied up.
In the cage beside him, there were two fluffy, round little creatures that looked somewhat like otters.
However, considering the water environment here… she thought they might be beavers.
“Are you planning to eat them?”
“Hm?” Leonardo seemed a bit flustered. One hand was holding the duck’s neck, and the other hand was covered with bird feathers. “How about some fish tonight?”
Hedy thought she must be seeing things. “Where’s the fish?”
“Isn’t this it?” Leonardo raised the duck’s long neck somewhat confusedly. The wild duck honked like a horn, trying to kick its broken leg. “And there’s fish in the cage beside it too.”
Hedy fell silent for a few seconds, then decided to teach him how to prepare the food: “We should first scald it to remove the feathers; it’ll be easier to prepare afterward.”
The definitions of vegetarianism and many other terms were quite strange in this era.
On important holidays, like Christmas Eve, people were only allowed to eat vegetarian food according to church rules.
However, fish was not considered part of vegetarian food—so people ate pike and cod while still being devout and faithful followers.
But according to Leonardo’s reasoning, all waterfowl and animals related to the sea could be considered fish... the scope of vegetarianism was quite broad indeed.
Together, they hurriedly plucked the wild duck and cut it into pieces, then began discussing how to cook it.
Based on Leonardo’s usual taste, he would likely coat it with layer after layer of spices and then stew it into a big pot of fragrant meat broth.
Hedy looked at the plump wild duck and, after considering, slammed down the carving knife to split it in half: “We can eat the other half tomorrow.”
“Does it need to be dried?” Leonardo asked instinctively. “It’s been so humid recently, it might spoil by tomorrow night.”
