Miao Chu

Chapter 214 Simple

After Liang Yan washed his hair and took a shower, Da Bing brought him a small stove to dry his hair and urged him to dry it quickly.

Once it was finally dried, he brought over a sachet.

"Put it next to your pillow when you go to sleep—my wife specially wrapped it, saying it can ward off evil spirits and ensure you get a good night's sleep!"

It's called a sachet, but it's actually just an ordinary coarse cloth bag.

Liang Yan took a sniff. Even through the cloth, the scent wasn't overpowering; it was faint. Rather than a fragrance, it was more like a milder scent of calamus and mugwort. Even when placed on a pillow, it was only slightly noticeable when you got close. It wasn't bothersome at all, yet it was very warm and pleasant.

It is difficult for people to remain unaffected by their environment.

When he was at the Xiang family's house, Xiang Lin threatened to kick him out and kept causing trouble, so he suffered losses day and night and had to be constantly on guard.

Especially since the night before, Steward Xiang had brought back a funeral procession overnight. The sound of gongs and suonas playing never stopped, and there were servants coming and going, opening and closing doors and talking, which made him very nervous.

Now that they've moved to the official post station and escaped the Xiang family environment, there's no one or anything to constantly remind him. Song Miaotong has been giving him a series of tasks, which he's been waiting for one by one this afternoon. He also has a future plan for going to the capital. Sister Song said she would accompany him to visit, which immediately gave him confidence.

This confidence not only made Liang Yan feel more at ease, but also caused a worm to grow in his brain. The worm was blowing air into his eyes, and as it blew, it made his eyelids close up.

Having not slept for so long, the child couldn't stay awake any longer and was already sleepy. As soon as he closed his eyes, he seemed to sink down and fell asleep with heavy eyelids.

Liang Yan woke up on his own in the afternoon.

When I woke up, it was already getting dark.

He was startled and quickly changed into his new clothes. He rushed out the door and searched around the backyard. He saw a stone mill already set up by the well, and Dabing was preparing various things. He hurried over, but before he could even ask a question, the person opposite him looked up and immediately said with a smile, "I was just about to set this up when I came to find you. Quickly, wash your hands and help me lift this millstone. I need to wash up!"

Since Liang Yan got involved, he has been constantly being directed around. One moment he is being told by Da Bing to add a spoonful of soaked beans every now and then and to scrape away the ground pulp. The next moment he has to ask Song Miao to come and check the water ratio. He also has to filter the mixture with fine gauze. He is so busy that he doesn't have a moment to spare.

In the kitchen, Song Miao was preparing something. She said she was going to fry a bunch of things, and she really meant a huge bunch; a large pot of oil was already simmering.

Han Li invited the boatmen to sit down and have a simple late-night snack, and Song Miao naturally followed his request.

But simplicity does not mean randomness.

The funds he provided were quite generous. Song Miao knew very well that this young master Han did not usually try to save money for her – when entertaining guests, especially those who had contributed so much, one should naturally try to make them feel as sincere as possible.

The quality of the ingredients and the care put into them are the greatest expressions of sincerity.

The lotus seeds are from Jianning lotus, and there are also Xizhou lily, Lingchuan ginkgo, etc., none of which are commonly eaten by ordinary people nowadays.

Song Miao took a separate pot to boil, adding sugar, and even used rock sugar in a very extravagant way. She started boiling it in the afternoon, and after it was cooked, she put it into the well to boil until it was ice-cold.

The soy milk is boiled three times: once over high heat, once over low heat, and once over high heat. The dried bean curd sticks are picked out by the user and also soaked in well water.

Then there's fried food.

The time for frying is carefully calculated, and soy milk naturally goes well with fried dough sticks. There are three kinds of fried dough sticks: large fried dough sticks, small fried dough sticks, and fennel fried dough sticks. There are also freshly fried glutinous rice balls and fried dough sticks.

I'm sorry, I really don't have time to write anymore, so I'm asking for a break.

Today was quite a busy day. After a long journey back to my hometown, I visited two elders and am now celebrating the birthday of my third elder.

The old woman was of advanced age, and her descendants came from all directions to entertain her in colorful clothes. Pu, not wanting to be outdone, also tried her best to perform, listening attentively to the old woman's story about how, a year after she apologized to the Flower Goddess, the morning glories in her home finally bloomed again. She solemnly responded with "Wow!" "Ah!!" "Oh!" and other similar sounds, and also asked what color the flowers were, how it was possible for six large flowers to bloom from a single stalk, and how it was possible to grow them so well with such thick, dark green leaves.

The old man is currently telling the story of the "Shaobing Song" he saw in a newspaper fifty years ago. Judging from the content, there's still a lot to cover, so I can't keep up with the updates and I'm too tired to write more. I'll try to add a little bit every day to catch up. I apologize to all my fellow food lovers (*^▽^*)
By the way, there are currently three activities in the comment section of the official website, Qidian: First, a vote-for-points activity (please be sure to reply to the post before voting!), second, a share-for-points activity (casual photos or life sharing are all acceptable; see the activity post from the operations officer for details), and third, a reader nickname activity. There are a lot of nicknames available this month, so interested friends can sign up to participate!
Finally, I wish everyone a happy National Day!!!