Miao Chu

Chapter 269 Muttering
At this moment, in the restaurant, Song Miao was hanging up the menu and setting up the screen with Zhang Si Niang.

Recently, the number of customers coming to the store has been increasing. Although most of them are not here for a meal, but for dried meat, pastries and the like, once they come to the store, they are considered regular customers.

In Song Miao's view, customers who come to her shop today to place an order or pick up goods are likely to come back tomorrow for a meal. "Regular customers" who have tasted Song's cooking are more likely to patronize her business than new customers who have only heard about it from others.

She saved enough money to pay off her debts for three months in advance, and also kept enough for backup. The day before yesterday, she went with Cheng Erniang to find a carpenter. They first asked someone to come and measure the dimensions, planning to replace the doors and windows that were already starting to break down. They also ordered several square tables, some matching chairs, and selected some bowls, chopsticks, plates, and all the necessary kitchen utensils.

The craftsmen are still working on the other items, which will not be completed in a short time. Only the cooking utensils and tableware have been brought back, washed, and boiled.

The two of them first hung up the menu and called people in. Without asking, just by looking at it, they knew that they could now order food and eat.

Besides Cheng Erniang, the restaurant now has Zhang Si Niang and Da Bing to help out, as well as two long-term employees, so the scale of catering at noon and in the evening can be appropriately increased.

While they were still rearranging the screen, they heard someone coming from the doorway.

Song Miao stepped forward, but before she could say more than a few words, she saw an old man getting off the carriage behind her.

The old man was dressed in a Taoist robe and wore a crown. He walked with measured steps, looked up at the Songji signboard, and then looked at the storefront. His expression was clearly somewhat suspicious.

When the servant arrived, he hurriedly said, "Master, this is the place."

Since arriving here, Song Miao has been running a stall, then catering banquets, then hosting small restaurants, and then going to Huazhou. She has seen many people and things, and now she feels a sense of familiarity when she sees the old man in the Taoist robe.

This man resembles several masters, such as Chen and Cao, but compared to them, he has a more obvious air of officialdom, and also somewhat resembles Wang Shuji, whom I met at the official post station in Huazhou.

Upon closer inspection, the face appeared somewhat familiar, indicating that I had seen him before, but he had gained weight and was almost unrecognizable.

She tentatively called out, "Is it Master Liu from the Jixian Academy?"

The old man chuckled and said, "Young lady, you still remember me! You mentioned your family's restaurant last time, and since I happened to be passing by, I thought I'd stop by and take a look—what kind of business does your restaurant do?"

Song Miao then ushered the guest into the hall and asked him to sit down.

Seeing that this Mr. Liu was not young and had a bit of a belly with two layers of flesh on his chin, she guessed that he had the same taste as her teeth. While ordering tea, she replied, "My family runs a small shop. Since it's not quite up to par yet, we do all sorts of business."

"Now we accept both banquets and take orders. On weekdays we sell dried meat, dried squid, and sweet and savory pastries. We also have freshly baked roasted pork char siu once a day—it comes in several varieties, including black roasted and honey-glazed. It's a sweet and savory dish with very firm and tender meat. It's marinated for a long time with Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, fermented bean curd, and maltose, then pan-fried and roasted. It's soft inside and crispy outside, but not tough at all—if you can't chew it, the shop won't charge you..."

"...We mainly serve breakfast, with mung bean paste glutinous rice—this is our signature dish and is very popular with our customers. We also have various kinds of steamed buns, among which the dogwood tofu steamed buns, pickled vegetable steamed buns, and mutton steamed buns sell very well. We've also recently added roasted pork and char siu steamed buns. Once customers have tried these buns, half of them will come back to buy them again—this is a number we just calculated, and it's very accurate, not just boasting..."

When Old Man Liu entered, his original intention was to take a look at the room and its layout. However, because Song Miao was there to introduce things in detail, not only mentioning the names but also the flavors and cooking methods, and although she was boasting, she did so in a clever way that it didn't offend people and they easily listened to her.

He first politely kept one ear open, then he perked up one ear, then both ears, and finally, he simply turned his head to listen attentively to her introduction.

Just as Song Miao finished speaking, Zhang Si Niang brought up tea and served it to the old man.

"We can deliver breakfast, char siu, and pastries. After the start of autumn, we can also deliver dried meat and dried squid—it just depends on whether our customers like them."

Old Man Liu laughed and said, "You shopkeeper really know how to do business. You keep talking about things that make people's mouths water. After listening to you, I want to buy everything!"

Without even asking the price, he turned to his attendant and said, "You should count the number of people and order some steamed buns and glutinous rice for each of them. Send them to the courtyard tomorrow morning. Also, send someone to tell them to save room for breakfast tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Si Niang immediately stepped forward, made contact with the servant, and began to introduce in detail the various types of breakfast items at Song Ji.

Old Man Liu picked up the cup in front of him, took a sip of tea, and sipped it, saying, "What kind of tea is this? Although it's not very light, it has a unique rustic charm."

Song Miao smiled and said, "It's hawthorn leaf tea."

Then he briefly introduced the method and origin.

Old Liu was clearly quite interested in the taste of the hawthorn leaf tea, and asked a few more questions, which Song Miao answered one by one.

Just then, a hired maid from the backyard came out of the front hall, peeked around, and only after Song Miao looked up and asked did she whisper, "Madam, the dried meat and dried cuttlefish in the back have all been collected. We've checked them along with the flatbread. It seems like a few baskets weren't dried very well; they look dry enough, but they don't seem as firm as the others—if you have a moment, Madam..."

Knowing that the customers needed the dried meat urgently, Song Miao said to the old man Liu, "Please have a seat, sir. I'm so sorry to have to leave you without my permission. I'll be right back."

The latter was easy to talk to, waving his hand and saying, "Young lady, go ahead and do your work. It's alright, I'll sit down and rest by myself."

As soon as Song Miao left, Old Man Liu put down his cup, stood up, and went to the wall to look at the newly hung menu.

He stared at the words for a long time, then turned his head to look at the screens not far away, studying the words and paintings for a while.

Seeing him coming and going, Zhang Si Niang hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Is there anything I can help you with, sir?"

Old Man Liu pointed to the menu and the screen and said, "These characters and paintings look very good. Are they made in-house?"

Hearing the customer's praise, Zhang Si Niang didn't think much of it and immediately replied with a smile, "It was made with the help of our restaurant's customers—they are all old scholars from the Imperial Academy, very knowledgeable!"

Old Liu then asked, "Besides hawthorn tea, do you have any other drinks in your restaurant? In the sweltering summer, if you had plum juice or green plum drink, something to quench thirst and cool you down..."

When a guest asked such a question, Zhang Si Niang naturally couldn't ignore it, so she quickly replied, "Yes, madam, I pickled a lot of plum drinks earlier. They're sweet and sour and very delicious—I'll get you a fresh cup!"

As she spoke, she took the teacup and went to the backyard.

After Song Miao finished her errands and returned to the front hall, she had just sat down when she saw Old Man Liu smiling and asking her, "Young Miss Song, do you sell your plum drink?"

If Song Miao had only had a slight guess before, she had fully realized what was going on after hearing this sentence and replied, "I want to let you know that the plum drink is something my family uses to entertain guests and we don't sell it easily."

"Then what constitutes 'not easy'?"

Song Miao smiled and was about to speak when a voice interrupted from outside the door: "I already said 'no sales,' Old Liu, I didn't know you were this deaf!"

"Old Liu" suddenly stood up.

—There, Master Chen stood at the door, puffing out his beard.

Before the two even got close, they were already arguing through the door.

"You old scoundrel! Old Liu! You secretly inquired with Xiao Sun and the others, then came to Song's shop. What's the meaning of this?!" "Why would I need to inquire? I met the person in question that day, but you kept me in the dark. I didn't know that the plum drink was made by this young lady. Don't you understand what I mean? You've sold a bottle of plum dew for such a high price! Last time I traded you a copy of Xun Kuang's 'Songfeng Jiwen,' and you said it wasn't enough, wanting me to add a painting by Dong Mi—is this plum dew made of gold? Did you think I'd just sit here and wait to be ripped off?"

"Plain prices, fair and honest! Don't think I don't know how you negotiated with them at Jixian Academy when you were holding the plum dew—half a bottle of the He family's edition of 'Chunzhu Lu' from the second year of Tianxi could only be exchanged for it. Aren't you satisfied with this free trade? What excuse are you making!"

"I! I'm not talking to you! You didn't make this plum dew! You're just a shrewd merchant who buys low and sells high!" Liu Hanlin was speechless, but he turned to Song Miao and said, "Young lady, how much did you sell it for per bottle that day? I'll give it to you for ten times the price!"

Master Chen roared in anger: "Shameless!! The world is going to the dogs!! It has come to this, to this!! How much calligraphy and painting did you gain from my correct interpretation of the 'Biography of Xin Feng'? Do you think I don't know??"

He then called out to Song Miao, "Little Song, ignore him!"

The two first argued through the door, then moved closer to each other. As they argued, they stood with their hands on their hips, pointing at each other's noses and cursing. At first, they talked about plum dew, but gradually it turned into all sorts of things that had happened in the past. For example, Old Man Liu questioned Master Chen about why, when he wrote a letter from another place in a certain year, he only gave it to Tan and not to him. Master Chen retorted that when the other man returned to the capital, he only gave him one jar of bird-feeding wine, but gave Feng two jars.

"It's not that you don't cook on weekdays, and besides, Lao Feng has a lot of family members—you and Lao Cao have been cooking at this restaurant for a long time, with so many dishes written on the menu and screen, eating delicious food every day, but you never thought of me!"

Seeing the two old men arguing heatedly over trivial matters, their faces red and seemingly endless, with them occasionally shouting things like, "Little Song, you be the judge!" or "Young lady, look, isn't that Chen guy causing trouble?"

Suddenly, Song Miao found herself wearing an invisible xiezhi crown, as if she were being judged in a courtroom in the restaurant. She could only prepare tea and snacks and sit aside, listening to the two of them talk incessantly.

That noon, Old Man Liu stayed at the restaurant and ate at a small table.

Having only met him briefly at Jixian Academy before, Song Miao only realized today, after a thorough introduction from Master Chen, that this old man with a thick double chin and a well-fed belly was actually a Hanlin scholar.

Liu Hanlin was good at everything except eating char siu, roast pigeon, vegetables, and steamed buns.

After finishing the meal, before leaving, he asked Song Miao, "Young lady, could you come over and cook?"

Of course it can.

Liu Hanlin then said, "In a couple of days, I'd like to have a small get-together with six or seven old friends—Old Chen will be there too. If it's convenient for you, could you come and help prepare lunch?"

He quoted a very generous price.

Song Miao calculated the time and found that it happened to be a holiday for the Imperial Academy that day, so there was no need to prepare a small lunch table. She turned her head and saw that Master Chen was winking and nodding at her, so she readily agreed. She first asked everyone about their preferences and the place to eat, and then immediately drafted a menu for Liu Hanlin to choose from.

The latter looked through it once and suddenly asked, "Everything else is fine, but there's one thing—can't we have the roast pigeon and char siu we ate today again someday?"

Song Miao thought for a moment and said, "Since it's an outdoor garden, there's probably no stove. Even if there is, there's really no time to test its temperament in such a hurry, and I don't know if I can control the heat. If you want to eat it, I can cook it differently for you, sir. I wonder if that's alright?"

Liu Hanlin was eager to eat, so he just kept nodding.

After he left, Master Chen stayed behind, first admiring the menu that had been hung on the wall, and only after making sure everyone was out of sight did he quietly call Song Miao over and ask, "Last time I heard you say that you hired a carpenter to come and redo the doors and windows, and also make a lot of tables and chairs—how much will it cost in total?"

There was nothing to hide from Master Chen, so Song Miao told him frankly.

Master Chen then pulled a crumpled-up ball of something from his sleeve and secretly slipped it into Song Miao's hand, saying with a smile, "This is for you—take it to pay the bill!"

Seeing that Song Miao was about to refuse, his smile turned sly as he said, "Just keep it, don't fuss—I used your plum dew to squeeze some money out of Old Liu. He's used his righteous words and plum dew to extort a lot of benefits from others. We're just sharing a little bit of the spoils!"

He sighed again, "It's a pity this can only be done once. Once he knows about your place, he won't be able to find a reason to sell it properly next year."

Song Miao unwrapped the crumpled cloth.

Inside, it was a bright yellow color, very eye-catching—it turned out to be two gold ingots, slightly longer and larger than an adult's fist, so heavy they were difficult to hold.

Such a similar conversation, such a familiar scene—this is not the first time Master Chen has given money and silver.

If Song Miao could convince herself to accept the gold ingots in the previous instances, the current gold ingot was of such great value that it made her uneasy.

But when she looked up and saw Master Chen's smug, mustache-waving appearance, she couldn't bring herself to refuse and could only thank him.

After seeing the person out the door, Song Miao returned to her room, wrapped the gold in the old crease cloth again, marked the number on the outside, ground ink and picked up a brush to write down the origin and history of the gold ingot, and then put it away after recording the number of characters.

At this moment, she really hoped that her old friend in Huazhou would come back soon so that he could help her take over and deal with this hot money.

Xin Feng from Junyiqiao Street was also reminiscing about his old friends from Huazhou.

No one can understand the shock he suffered.

He prided himself on his sharp eyes, believing that no criminal could hide anything from him during trials. But now, seeing someone harboring ulterior motives right under his nose, and doing so obviously, he was incredibly arrogant in retrospect—he hadn't even noticed at the time, and it was only in the end that his good mother reminded him!

He walked around the table again and again, muttering "How could this be?" as he walked around once, and then muttering "Why did you hide this from me!" as he walked around once more.

Walking back and forth, Du Haoniang became dizzy.

She said irritably, "What does it matter to you whether Young Master Han has any designs on you? Are you even surnamed Song?"

"How can this have nothing to do with me?!" Xin Feng exclaimed anxiously. "Can't I help? If it works out, we'll both be at the head table! If it doesn't..."

As he spoke, his voice suddenly lowered, and he frowned, his thick black eyebrows furrowing, looking quite conflicted.

Du Haoniang, without looking up as she mixed the ointment, asked, "Whose help are we helping? Whose seat are we sitting at?"

“Of course I’ll help Xiao Song! She has a small family and no relatives, so shouldn’t we support her? Even if we ask Zheng Yan to speak, he will let me stay at my parents’ home…” Xin Feng suddenly stopped.

Yes, if we help Miss Song, we'll have to make things difficult for the man, naturally finding fault with him—no father or mother, no brothers, a declining family… Pshaw! We might accidentally end up criticizing both sides!

"Get your own business sorted out before you talk! Help? Did Young Master Han ask you for help? You don't even know if Miss Song is willing, yet you're getting all worked up here!"

"I think you're just bored! This is a far from settled matter!" Du Haoniang pulled the person over, applying medicine while instructing, "Listen to me, I'm a woman, I know more than you, you roughneck—don't talk too much about this, just pretend you don't know anything, treat them the same as before, whether it works out or not, it's up to them to handle, outsiders shouldn't interfere!"

After applying the medicine and entrusting her daughter to her husband's care, she went into the house, wrapped the pure gold around her waist, changed into loose clothes, carried a basket as a cover, went out, hailed a horse-drawn carriage, and headed towards Suanzao Lane.

(End of this chapter)