Miao Chu

Chapter 117 Exchange
Upon hearing this, Song Miao calculated the time in her mind and said, "If we are to set off at the beginning of the morning, we should prepare earlier—it has been raining a lot lately, and I don't know where we will eat. I'm afraid we might encounter some unexpected event on the road and not be able to make it in time."

Zhu said, “Outside Dailou Gate, because the location is remote and the price is cheap, my family rented a large courtyard there a few years ago. It was originally used to store goods. This time, the guest brought a group of people and a lot of goods, and my father scrambled to lend it to him.”

He added, “I have an empty room in that courtyard. Why don’t you stay there tonight? Otherwise, I’m not comfortable with you running around to that building so late at night.”

Song Miao agreed, and then asked her if the menu had been finalized.

Madam Zhu said, "It's the ones you proposed earlier. You should ask my father. For decades, he has only ever wanted to eat braised pig's head with scallion pancakes. According to his preference, we don't need to invite anyone for this feast. Just make the braised pig's head and you can just make the pancakes for him."

When the daughter spoke of her father, she was particularly direct. Song Miao couldn't help but laugh and said, "If you have freshly pulled scallions, choose the sweet ones. You can slice them or leave them whole. They're best rolled up with braised pig's head meat, and preferably with a few pieces of pig's ear."

"Adding soybean flour to the pancake batter and rolling it up thinly makes it even more crumbly. Coating it with sweet sauce makes it sweet with a hint of spiciness, and it's also very spicy, salty, fresh, and fragrant. Actually, my aunt and uncle are really good at eating!"

After Song Miao said that, Zhu was led astray. Her mind unconsciously followed the description, imagining the thin pancake wrapped with sweet sauce, scallions, braised pig's head meat, and sliced ​​pig's ears. She laughed and said, "I don't usually like scallion pancakes, but you've made me a little hungry!"

He added, “There is another matter. If you have time, you should see the Buddha to the West—the guest group is accompanied by more than a dozen bodyguards, many servants, and people, probably fifty or sixty people in total. Do you have any suitable dishes? Why not make breakfast for the rest of them as well, otherwise they will have to think about what to eat.”

Song Miao said, "That's easy. I'll just set up my stall as usual, make a pot of glutinous rice, a small steamer of shumai, and some soup."

He added, "I'd like to see the kitchen. Also, should we prepare the ingredients for tomorrow morning at home, or should I go and buy them separately?"

“I went there yesterday. The kitchen had some common cooking utensils, oil, salt, rice, and flour, as well as firewood, but not much else,” Zhu said. “I’m afraid you’d better take everything you need with you, so you don’t have to find it later.”

The two exchanged a few more words, and after reaching an agreement, Ms. Zhu quoted a price.

Indeed, it was quite generous.

Song Miao quickly thanked her.

Madam Zhu waved her hand and said, "We're all family, there's no need to thank me!"

At this point, she abruptly changed the subject and asked, "Aren't you setting up your stall today?"

Song Miao shook her head and said, "With such a big flood, the roads are all flooded, and everything is more expensive. Even meat and vegetables are hard to buy, so the stalls have to close for a few days."

Zhu looked disappointed and said, "I was thinking of coming earlier to stop you at home and buy some steamed rice cakes and vegetarian shumai!"

Song Miao smiled and said, "There's no steamed rice cake or vegetarian shumai this morning, but I'm making breakfast right now—if you're not in a hurry, Auntie, would you like to have a bite together before you go?"

Zhu was overjoyed and said, "What's the rush so early in the morning, besides eating breakfast? The emperor doesn't need hungry soldiers!"

He added, "You know my personality; I'm never one to stand on ceremony. Since you've taken the initiative to invite me, if I don't eat more, my stomach will rumble with rage in my sleep tonight!"

Song Miao then said, "I was planning to make a thousand-layer red bean roll today, and I also have some leftover soup from last night, so I can make some rice noodles, but overnight soup isn't fresh..."

Madam Zhu retorted urgently, "What do you mean by 'fresh' or 'not fresh'? Do you take me for some noble lady? Why are you being so polite here? Whatever you eat, I'll eat too!"

Song Miao indeed stopped being polite.

Seeing that Zhu had waded through the water and her trousers were wet, she gathered some firewood to make a small stove and told her to sit in the back and dry her clothes before she started making breakfast.

Because she had been thinking about eating red bean rolls today since last night, Song Miao kneaded the dough first and waited for it to rise before frying the red bean paste.

I had already soaked the red beans and dates in a pot, brought it to a boil before going to bed, added plenty of firewood, and left a small fire to simmer it. By this time, it had simmered until it was soft and tender, and I drained the broth and then stir-fried it slowly over low heat with oil.

Once the red bean paste was cooked, the dough had also rested. She rolled out a long, thin square sheet of dough, spread the red bean paste evenly on one side, folded the other side of the dough over like folding a blanket, and then spread another layer of red bean paste.

After repeatedly stacking the red bean dough sheets five times, Song Miaocai rolled them into a cylindrical shape, cut them into small red bean paste dough balls about half a fist in size, and placed them in a steamer to rise again.

Last night, we ate everything else except for the soybean and lean pork soup. We didn't have any of the homemade flat rice noodles, only the very thin rice noodles that we had soaked. After rinsing them in cold water, we cooked them with the soup base, and the soup was still clear and flavorful.

So when Zhu and Cheng Erniang and her daughter came out talking, there were four bowls of clear soup rice noodles, one large and one small, on the table.

Song Miao greeted Zhu Shi, saying, "There are still red bean rolls steaming in the pot. Auntie, have a bite of noodles first."

The latter nodded hurriedly, and after sitting down, he lavishly added all sorts of ingredients from the small jars in front of him: spicy and sour shredded wood ear mushrooms, pickled cowpeas, crisp radish, pickled radish, scallions, coriander, garlic cloves, and so on. He was so enthusiastic about adding more than he could possibly eat, filling his bowl to the brim before picking up his chopsticks and saying with a smile, "It smells so good! I'll go back and tell Old Sun how to make it, so he can be envious too!"

This is how it started attracting fans.

This bowl of soup, with its many appetizers, is practically overflowing with ingredients, even more so than noodles.

Zhu held the bowl and ate it all in no time, scooping out every last drop of soup and condiments. Not content with that, she also drank every last drop of soup—Song Miao hadn't given her much in that bowl.

Because of the generous amount of condiments, all of which were sour and spicy, a thin layer of sweat appeared on her face, especially on the tip of her nose. She hastily wiped it with a handkerchief and exclaimed, "Oh my god, this is so refreshing! What if one bowl isn't enough!"

Song Miao smiled and said, "There are also red bean rolls. I'll also give Auntie a bowl of sweet fermented rice. I'm afraid you won't be able to finish it, but I'm not worried about not having enough to eat."

Just then, the red bean rolls were steamed. Song Miao brewed the sweet fermented rice and brought a small bowl of red bean rolls to the table, distributing them to everyone's bowls.

The red bean rolls were rolled neatly and steamed very neatly, with a sense of orderly beauty. The reddish-brown of the red bean paste and the yellowish-white of the dough were layered, like the annual rings in the middle of an old tree stump. They were very dense, but not so close together. There was a layer of red bean paste and a layer of dough, clearly separated.

Zhu didn't use chopsticks; she just picked it up with her hands and took a bite.

It's chewy yet soft when you bite into it. The red bean paste is cooked quite dry, so it has a very noticeable creamy and sandy texture.

Song Miao didn't keep the red bean grains; instead, she sifted them twice, making the red bean paste incredibly smooth and just the right amount of sweet. The maltose and the sweetness of the dates perfectly masked any slight bean smell.

Layer upon layer of soft dough and red bean paste, with the dough layers being of uniform thickness, allows you to taste the aroma of red beans and jujube paste evenly in every bite, while the wheat aroma of the soft dough layer blends them together perfectly.

Add a bite of sweet fermented rice, and it's simply divine!

Zhu ate half of it, and before she knew it, a thin layer of soft dough covered with red bean paste on both sides fell off. After eating that layer alone, she found it quite interesting, so she simply tore it apart layer by layer with her hands. There was a certain fun and texture to tearing it apart.

Zhu lived up to her reputation as the daughter of a butcher family. She ate three fist-sized red bean rolls in one go, then couldn't help but burp and sighed, "These rolls are so unique and delicious. My mother will definitely like them! My children will surely like them too—why don't I see you selling them usually?"

Song Miao explained that the weather was hot and that red bean paste fillings didn't keep well, and then said, "I made extra for lunch, Auntie, why don't you take some back with you?"

Zhu hesitated for a moment before saying, "Alright, in that case, pack up all the things you're using, and I'll go call a carriage to take them away together."

When Cheng Erniang told Xiaolian to look after the house, she waved her hand and said, "What house to look after? Just take her to that house with the gate. If the child is home alone, even if she can eat and sleep by herself, how can any mother feel at ease? It's not like she's going out to work."

A moment later, a carriage was indeed summoned, and Song Miao, Cheng Erniang and her daughter, along with many kitchen utensils, cooking tools, ingredients and other necessary items, were loaded onto the carriage.

***
Behind the house with the gate was a very large courtyard, which was now full of trailers, all loaded to the brim and covered with tarpaulins.

Song Miao wouldn't normally pay much attention to other people doing their own business, but as she passed by, the smell of oily food kept wafting into her nose.

They should all be medicinal materials.

Song Miao's senses were very sharp, and she quickly identified three herbs with the most distinct smells: licorice, dried tangerine peel, and agastache. There was also a herb that looked somewhat like Vaccaria segetalis. Although she couldn't distinguish the others that were far away, she couldn't help but mutter to herself.

The rain continued, and coupled with the recent incident involving dried meat in the capital, rumors were circulating that it might be an epidemic, making her inevitably overthink things—these medicines were precisely the most common ones used to treat epidemics.

I heard this person is a wealthy merchant. Did he foresee an outbreak of disease somewhere and that's why he's going to do business?

But Song Miao didn't ask any further questions.

Having heard that Zhu's father and the wealthy man were both out on business, she didn't rush to pay her respects. Instead, she followed Zhu to the kitchen and wandered around.

The kitchen is large, but also quite empty, which shows that it is not used much on a daily basis.

There was no well in the courtyard. If you wanted to use water, you either had to fetch water from the river or draw water from the well at the end of the street. There were two large water vats in the kitchen, which were almost empty.

Fortunately, the nearest river is the Cai River.

Two rivers flow through the southern part of the city: the Cai River, which has relatively clear water, and the Bian River, which has relatively turbid water.

Because the Bian River water was dirty and inconvenient to drink, rumors had been circulating in the capital for a long time that the government intended to divert water from the Cai River into the Bian River to prevent half the city's residents from having to drink turbid water for convenience. However, these rumors have persisted to this day without any progress.

Song Miao tried both water sources, but due to the recent heavy rainfall, the Cai River water had become quite yellow and turbid. In the end, she had no choice but to draw water from the well that was farther away.

Zhu said, "These two large vats are too big for you to handle yourself. I'll have someone carry them in later."

Song Miao agreed and then wrote out another ingredient list.

The Zhu family were butchers themselves, so pork and mutton were readily available and very fresh. There were other things they wanted to buy, but Zhu didn't ask too many questions. She simply gave Song Miao a sum of money and told her to buy them herself.

Because the vegetable market was far away and it started to rain, Song Miao and Cheng Erniang left Xiaolian in the kitchen, telling her not to run around and to call the adults if anything happened. They also sent someone to inform Zhu Shi before leaving together.

By the time the two returned from shopping, it was already afternoon.

Before even entering the kitchen, Song Miao could hear someone inside sniffling and talking.

"Look at this wooden sword of mine. I spent many days making it myself. Isn't it beautiful? How about I give it to you?"

He sounds like a little boy.

“I don’t use a wooden sword,” Xiao Lian replied.

The person opposite sniffed twice, rummaged around for a moment as if searching for something on their person, and after a while asked, "I have some candy here, do you want some?"

Xiaolian still refused, saying, "I don't eat candy."

At this moment, Song Miao had already entered the kitchen first and saw a child with his back to her, squatting on the ground. Judging from his clothes, they were ordinary coarse cloth, and she didn't know which family the child came from.

Despite being rejected by Xiaolian several times, he was not discouraged at all. Instead, he said, "Are you rolling beans? How do you want them rolled? Let me roll the beans for you."

After being asked many times, Xiaolian finally gave in this time, saying, "You don't need to help me rub the mung beans, nor do you need to give me candy or a wooden sword. You just apologized. I know you didn't mean to scare me; you mistook me for someone else. I've already forgiven you."

The boy insisted, saying, "You don't want my things, and you don't want my help, so how can that be called forgiveness?"

He added, "Never mind, I'll go find an adult to come and make you pay for your clothes."

As he spoke, he stood up and started to walk out, sniffling as he went.

Xiao Lian was clearly not expected to react this way. She was stunned for a moment, then quickly put down the mung beans in her hand and got up to chase after them. But when she looked up, she saw Song Miao and Cheng Erniang at the door. She hurriedly called out to them, and whether it was because she was wronged or something else, she burst into tears.

The boy turned around and hadn't taken more than a few steps when he saw two adults approaching. He was startled by the sound of Xiaolian crying and calling for her mother behind him. When he saw Cheng Erniang going to pick up her daughter, he was caught in a dilemma, unsure whether to go forward or not. Seeing Song Miao standing to the side, he said, "Sister, I'm sorry. I was playing with someone and accidentally mistook her for someone else, which startled her so much that she tripped and fell, and her clothes got torn."

Children inevitably bump and scrape when playing.

Song Miao smiled at him, indicating not to be nervous, and then stepped forward to check Xiao Lian's clothes with Cheng Erniang.

Seeing that it was just a scratch on his clothes and a little bit of skin, and after hearing the child sobbing and saying a few words, she roughly understood what had happened. She turned around and comforted him, saying, "You heard everything just now. Xiaolian said it wasn't your fault and she has forgiven you—don't worry about it."

The child wiped his nose, shook his head and said, "I tore her clothes, so I have to pay her back. Can you tell me a number? I'll pay you back when I've saved up enough."

(End of this chapter)