Miao Chu

Chapter 100 Come to the door
Yesterday was the Cold Food Festival. Because the amount of ingredients prepared was small and Xiao Lian had been cooking all night, Song Miao didn't need Cheng Erniang's help the next day. She just told her to take her daughter to the clinic early in the morning. When they returned from setting up the stall, they happened to meet the mother and daughter on the way.

Xiao Lian was burning up and felt weak. Cheng Erniang carried her in a bamboo basket on her back. When she saw Song Miao, she came forward to help push the stall cart.

Song Miao hurriedly told her to put the child in the car and then asked what the doctor said.

"They say it's spleen deficiency, phlegm and dampness accumulation, and exposure to cold and dampness, and a cold wind..." Cheng Erniang's face was full of regret. "If I had known, I wouldn't have let her get wet—but this child insisted on helping me wash people's belts!"

The two returned home after talking. Cheng Erniang wanted to brew medicine for her daughter, but the Song family had no medicine pot left—it had been taken away long ago.

Song Miao then said, "It seems there's nothing for sale around here. Let's soak the medicine first. There are shops selling dishes and jars in that neighborhood to the east—I just need to buy some vegetables anyway, so I'll bring them back for you."

Cheng Erniang said, "I went with the young lady and brought back some things. I just had my skin scraped and my ears moxibusted. I should be sleeping now. I'm not of any use at home."

After settling Xiaolian in, the two went out to buy groceries.

Upon arriving at the market, Song Miao followed her memory and found the shop that sold jars. While waiting for Cheng Erniang to choose, she saw that there were many clay pots displayed inside. Thinking that she could use them for stewing soup or cooking rice, she picked out several of different sizes and paid for them along with the medicine jars.

When Cheng Erniang tried to snatch it, Song Miao laughed and said, "I need it too. I'm not going to get sick in the future—it's only a few dollars. It's not too late to snatch it when you start your own business in the future."

"I wish I had that skill!" Cheng Erniang stopped trying to compete, but couldn't help but sigh, "I don't have much skill either. When I was a child, the girl next door sewed with me, and her stitches were better than mine. The shops would accept the sachets and embroidery patterns she made, but I didn't have anything to show for myself."

“I spend all my time around the stove, but the food I make is only good enough to fill my stomach; it’s really not tasty. At my age, I can only do laundry for others.”

Song Miao laughed and said, "If everyone makes delicious food, who will I sell it to?"

He added, "Didn't Second Sister say that she grows vegetables beautifully? When we have money in the future, let's buy the houses next door and across the street, and grow a vegetable garden. Let me see if the vegetables there are any good."

Cheng Erniang laughed and said, "What's so special about this? It's just farmers toiling in the fields for a living!"

He added, "I only hope that Xiaolian can have a skill to rely on in the future, anything will do, as long as she can make a living, then I will be at ease!"

Because she was worried about leaving Xiaolian alone at home, Song Miao bought a clay pot, a ceramic pot, and some meat. She then told Cheng Erniang to go home first, and she strolled around for a while. In addition to the ingredients she bought from the stall, she also bought some daily necessities.

It was already noon when I got home.

Upon entering the backyard, the first thing you smell is the medicinal odor. It turns out that Cheng Erniang is brewing medicine and washing clothes.

When she saw Song Miao return, she quickly got up and said, "I shouldn't go inside—my wife, please bring out the clothes and wash them while my hands are still wet and the soap has released its juices."

Then he pointed to a wooden basin by the door and said, "Wife, you can put your clothes here from now on, and I'll take care of them. We can wash them together without soap pods—I'm very clean, so don't worry!"

A few pieces of clothing, a simple matter. Under the same roof, it's only natural to help each other out. Song Miao didn't refuse her request and went back to her room to get her outer garment.

Cheng Erniang was particular about her work. She soaked Song Miao's clothes in a separate basin, not mixing them with those of herself and her daughter. She said, "Xiao Lian is usually very clean, but why are her clothes so dirty and smelly today? I don't know where she rolled around in the mud."

Upon hearing this, Song Miao went to look and, sure enough, there was something stuck to those two little trouser legs. It was a large, dark patch, and now that it was soaked in water, it emitted a foul odor as soon as you got closer.

The stain clung to the fabric, resembling oil but not quite, carrying a strange, rotten smell, somewhat like a dead rat, which was nauseating.

Song Miao felt that the smell was somewhat familiar, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. Looking down for a closer look, she saw that the shape and patterns were horizontal and vertical, and the head looked like half a large oval.

She compared the location and even tried it with her own foot, asking, "Was it kicked by that man yesterday? It looks like a shoe toe mark."

Cheng Erniang was stunned for a moment, then looked closely and exclaimed, "That must be it! No wonder I said she had a big bruise on her leg. I thought she had bumped into something and scolded her a few times. Why didn't you say so!"

"Kicked so hard, there are bruises, it must hurt a lot." Song Miao couldn't help but frown. "It's one thing for this person to be unreasonable, but how come their shoes are so dirty and smelly?"

He added, "I'll go check on the child."

As soon as she entered the room, Xiaolian was lying on the bed with one eye open and the other closed. When she saw Song Miao, she immediately opened both eyes and whispered, "Sister!"

Song Miao then asked her if she was feeling unwell and what she wanted to eat.

"I don't really want to eat anything. I'll just eat whatever my sister makes."

Song Miao touched her forehead again; it wasn't very hot anymore. But for some reason, the child seemed quite downcast, so she couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

He then asked her if her leg hurt, and whether the fierce man had kicked her hard yesterday.

No one knows what triggered it, but tears welled up in Xiaolian's eyes, and she cried pitifully, saying in a low voice, "Sister, Mother said she doesn't blame me, but I still feel... I feel like there's a bug crawling in my heart!"

“I really didn’t run around yesterday. I told him it smelled terrible there—it smelled really, really terrible! He wouldn’t listen. I wasn’t blocking anyone’s way, and I wasn’t standing very close. They said I did something wrong, that I was wrong, that they’ve wronged me…”

The more sensible a child is, the more sensitive they are.

Song Miao quickly took a handkerchief to wipe her tears, then gently comforted her. She then scolded the burly man and the butcher shop owner for a long time before saying, "Your mother knows you're wronged, but she doesn't dare to talk about it, afraid that if she talks about it too much, you'll keep thinking about it and feel sad..."

Xiaolian sobbed, "Even if Mother doesn't say anything, I keep thinking about it, and it makes me sad..."

She added, "Sister, don't worry about me. I'll cry by myself, and I'll be fine after a while!"

Song Miao responded to her words and went out to find Cheng Erniang first. She explained the situation and then said, "I'm afraid she's been thinking about this matter, feeling that she was wrong and that she was wronged, so she's feeling depressed. Why don't you talk to her about it?"

Upon hearing this, Cheng Erniang indeed put down what she was doing and hurriedly went to find her daughter.

It was almost noon, lunchtime, and the sky outside was overcast. Soon, a light rain began to fall.

The rain kept coming and going, sometimes getting heavier and sometimes lighter, and soon the rain vapor and dampness were swept into the house.

Song Miao felt a chill as the wind blew against her.

She glanced at the pot on the stove, which still contained half a pot of stewed bone broth left over from the morning, kept warm. Originally, she planned to use this broth to make rice noodles for lunch, but after thinking about it, she decided to knead a dough, chop a piece of pork shoulder and two soaked shiitake mushrooms into a paste, and prepare to use this broth to make wontons for lunch.

Since Xiaolian was still ill and needed to eat light meals, she didn't plan to make large wontons, but rather small ones.

Just as she finished frying the egg crepes and cutting them into thin strips, and then soaked some cabbage in the broth, Cheng Erniang came out from behind. Seeing the rolled-out square pieces of dough and meat filling on the stove, she hurriedly said, "Young lady, are you making wontons? Let me help!" Song Miao said, "No need, just watch the fire and help boil half a pot of water."

As he spoke, he started rolling the wontons.

The term "rolling" refers to the wrapping method, which involves using a thin bamboo strip to gently scrape half a strip of minced meat, pressing it against the corner of the wonton wrapper, and using the stickiness of the meat to flip the strip of meat over and over on the wrapper five, six, seven, or eight times. When pulling it out, the little bit of minced meat that came out is wrapped around the edge of the wonton wrapper, and while it's still sticky, it's pinched diagonally to stick it securely.

She rolled it very lightly and loosely, making the wontons look bigger than they actually were, but once they were boiled in water, the dough would wrinkle and wavy, sticking to the meat filling.

Song Miao was always quick. After Cheng Erniang returned with half a pot of water and sat down, she opened the stove, added firewood, and lit the fire. The winnowing basket was already full, and there was only one wonton wrapper left.

When she saw the skin on Song Miao's hand, it was as thin as gauze, and she could almost see the fingers underneath. She couldn't help but say, "Such thin and transparent skin!"

He then asked, "Should I turn the heat down a bit? Otherwise, if I accidentally overcook it, the filling will leak out."

Song Miao laughed and said, "It doesn't matter. I added egg white to the dough, so even if it's cooked through, the skin will still be soft but not mushy."

As she spoke, she took advantage of the boiling water to put the raw wontons in in batches, scooped them out with a strainer, and served them in three bowls. She also added a little vinegar and a little pepper to Xiaolian's bowl—this pepper was sent by He Qi's messenger last time, and she hadn't seen him for a while.

After a while, Cheng Erniang brought over some wontons to her daughter, saying, "Sister made these hot wontons especially for you. You'll feel better after eating them."

Although these words were meant to coax a child, Xiaolian was happy to listen, grabbed a spoon, held the bowl, and started eating.

The soup was warm, the wontons were hot, and they were mixed together. Then, after being brought in from outside and blown by the wind and rain, they became a lukewarm temperature that was easy to eat.

The green onions, the white cabbage, the clear bone broth, the golden fried egg strips, and the wonton wrappers so thin they're like gauze or paper, all ripple like waves or mountain ridges after being cooked through. The surging waves and the uneven texture of the ridges make the pinkish meat filling inside even more apparent.

Take a bite, and you'll find the hollow, pleated area filled with broth. The skin is soft and tender, yet not mushy. The filling is just the right amount, all sweet and savory with a hint of mushroom flavor. You can't taste any tendons at all, but because it's cooked so well, it has a slightly bouncy texture, even giving you a slight illusion of crunchiness. After swallowing, a touch of vinegar and peppery spiciness returns, enhancing the umami flavor even more.

A bowl of wontons, very fresh and delicious.

Xiaolian didn't have much of an appetite at first, but she ate more than ten in one go. At first, she liked the dough the most, but after eating a few, she liked the meat filling. By the end, she liked everything. After finishing the food, she even drank all the soup.

If a child can eat, their illness is already half cured.

Seeing that her daughter had an appetite, Cheng Erniang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Sure enough, Xiaolian's fever subsided that night. After taking a few more doses of medicine, her cough also cleared up. Let's leave that matter aside for now.

As for Xiaolian, ever since then, whenever she sees someone sick, or someone with a fever, she always likes to tell them to eat wontons. If someone has a cough, she always likes to tell them to eat almond tofu or almond milk lung soup. She will also earnestly explain that if eating these things doesn't work, it's only because they weren't made by Song Xiaoniangzi, otherwise they would definitely get better, and so on. She never admits that it's the medicine that's working.

***
Since the day of Qingming Festival, the rain has been almost nonstop.

Business gets tough when it rains.

Although Song Miao's breakfast business was not difficult to sell, it was inconvenient to travel back and forth in the wind and rain, so the idea of ​​setting up a separate stall could not be realized. She could only wait for the weather to improve before trying again.

However, the delivery business at the Zhuquemen patrol station and the Kyoto government office has taken off, with the number of daily orders steadily increasing.

As March arrived, the weather gradually warmed up. It was still chilly when it rained on Qingming Festival, but just two days later, that chill turned into humid and stuffy conditions.

Song Miao used to buy meat and vegetables after closing her stall every day, then clean them up and soak them in the well for the next day's use. When she pulled them out of the water, they were still very fresh.

But now that the weather is getting warmer and it's raining non-stop and very humid, after thinking for a long time, she decided to take advantage of the extra manpower and change her routine to go to the nearest butcher shop every morning to buy freshly slaughtered pork and mutton to keep it fresh.

That day, Song Miaogang finished setting up her stall and was pushing her cart home. Just as she reached the intersection of Taixue Road, she saw several heads peeking out and guarding the roadside, looking like she was in a dilemma.

—One by one, they all looked very familiar; they were the same group of students who had helped him copy books before and who had chased away a bunch of shovel-sticky rice students.

She found it strange and went up to greet them, saying, "I heard Young Master Cheng say that you were all temporarily transferred to the capital's government office. Have you finished your work and returned? Why are you all squatting here?"

Wang Chang, who was at the head of the group, looked at Song Miao as if he had been saved. He cried out, "Oh no!" and was about to complain when someone said, "Don't say it here! Find somewhere else—be careful someone doesn't overhear!"

Song Miao became even more puzzled and asked, "Don't we have class today?"

Before the words were even finished, the group had already shrunk back and started hiding.

Having no other choice, Song Miao said, "If you're not in a hurry, why don't you come to my house for a while?"

When they returned to the Song family home, Cheng Erniang and Xiaolian were already there. Seeing that there were guests, some served tea and others brought food.

Once they learned that one of them was Cheng Zijian's sister and niece, and the other was his brother, uncle, and classmates, they were all very familiar with each other. They picked up a few cushions, sat down, and started talking together.

Wang Chang had been holding back for a long time, and finally burst out with complaints. He first called out "Shopkeeper Song," and then said, "We're so unlucky! This temporary assignment doesn't even give us a moment to breathe. Everyone has to check the records according to their quota every day, from day to night. I still hadn't finished checking them by midnight last night—and the clerk on duty even complained that we were using up our lamp oil too quickly, saying that if this continues, we won't get any more tomorrow!"

"We can't finish the work assigned to us without staying up all night. If we say anything, we get lectured and told that we don't know how to do our jobs!"

"You only know how to criticize us, but why don't you see that guy surnamed Cai doing it himself!"

"Exactly! This stuff seems pretty useless. We make mistakes every day, take the forms out, and after a few days no one brings back the missing materials. The files are still lying there. We have no idea what we're doing every day!"

Everyone was talking at once, sometimes one after another, sometimes all at the same time, complaining incessantly. Song Miao had no idea which one to listen to first, given that she had two ears.

At this point, someone else chimed in, "Stadium owner Song doesn't know. When we arrived, they said it would include meals, but there wasn't any food at all. Cai Xiu said they were applying to higher authorities, but it wouldn't be approved anytime soon. They told us to pay for the food ourselves first, and they'd deal with the rest later..."

"Food is so expensive around the government office! With our meager allowance, how can we afford to buy much? We barely have enough to eat every day, and we still have to struggle—will we really end up having to pay out of our own pockets?!"

Song Miao finally understood the gist of it and asked, "Can't we quit this job? Are we supposed to force you to stay? Does this count as having already quit?"

“It’s difficult to decline.” Wang Chang said with a mournful face, “Someone suggested it, but Cai Xiu said that if everyone leaves halfway through, it will be a disgrace to the school and the teachers. He said we must get the approval of the teachers and the headmaster, and the Imperial Academy must also speak to the prefectural government in the capital before it can be done…”

Many thanks to the reader "McDull Loves Xiaodu" on Qidian for the sachet, and my dearest friends "Manbao" and "20250609024836777" for the lucky charms! =3=
Thank you Xiaoxiang Amin for the sachet! :)



(End of this chapter)