Miao Chu

Chapter 32 Helping Out (Two Chapters Combined)

Song Miao couldn't help but ask, "What's wrong?"

Cheng Zijian had no choice but to remove his hand from his chin and said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's just a pimple—it's really unsightly. I wanted to cover it up so as not to offend the young lady."

Song Miaocai noticed that a large, red, swollen pimple the size of a soybean was protruding from his chin, and it looked very painful.

"Did you get a sore throat from eating mutton buns and mutton shumai these past few days?" she asked.

Cheng Zijian hurriedly defended his beloved mutton, saying, "No, that's not true! It started hurting a few days ago before Stall Owner Song arrived. I guess it's because I'm worried about the upcoming civil service exam and my liver fire is too strong, which is why this thing grew so early!"

He added, "It's not just me; quite a few people in the school have been getting pimples lately—Miss Song, my pimples have absolutely nothing to do with the mutton, so please don't stop making it because of this!"

Seeing his reaction, Song Miao didn't know what else to say and could only smile and let it go.

After receiving the pomelos and packing a food box for Cheng Zijian, she asked him how many students had helped her copy books in the past two days.

Cheng Zijian recalled for a moment and said, "There were more than a dozen or twenty. I really don't remember the exact number. Some were copied more, while others left halfway through, so it's hard to count—what's wrong?"

"I needed that book very urgently, and thanks to their help, I was able to get it so quickly..."

Before Song Miao could finish speaking, Cheng Zijian had already guessed her meaning. He hurriedly waved his hands and said, "They all came to help voluntarily, you don't need to worry about it! Besides, even if this matter needs to be repaid, it's a favor I owe. If you, the stall owner Song, want to do it yourself, you're slapping me in the face!"

Song Miao shook her head and said, "It was originally to help me, so how did it become a favor for you, young master? Besides, my relationship with you is one of mutual trust, and I can delay repaying favors without worrying about whether they are repaid or not. But it's different for others."

"I don't have anything else to give as a gift, so I thought I'd make some food as a token of my gratitude. It's nothing expensive—besides, others may not know about my family's situation, but surely Young Master Cheng knows?"

"I thanked them today, because who knows when I'll need their help again?"

Song Miao was not just being polite.

She set up her stall here with the intention of using someone else's strength against her.

However, compared to the students who offered to help earlier—who, though well-intentioned, acted on impulse and were unaware of the ensuing trouble—they were not as helpful as the students who had offered their assistance earlier.

Those who had helped her copy the books already had a basic understanding of the Song family's situation, and with Cheng Zijian, an acquaintance, as a bridge, it was naturally more appropriate to start with them.

Since Song Miao had made her point so clearly, Cheng Zijian naturally had no reason to refuse. Moreover, hearing her words like "complete trust," "it doesn't matter whether I return it or not," and "other people," he felt as comfortable as if he had eaten an ice-cold watermelon on a sweltering summer day. He thought to himself: That's right, the trust between me and stall owner Song is something no one else can compare to.

He thought about it carefully and said, "There should be about twenty-five or twenty-six people, but in reality, the most people who copied were only thirteen or fourteen at most. If you want a definite number, it's best to wait until I go back and ask them carefully."

"There's no need to wait. Judging from the handwriting in the book, apart from Young Master Cheng who copied the most, there should be thirteen others who copied it quite a bit. It's hard to count the others who copied it less, but it doesn't matter. I'll count it as thirty-five. More is better than less. Is that enough?"

“More than enough! It’s definitely too much!” Cheng Zijian replied immediately.

Song Miao then said, "Then I'll have to trouble Young Master Cheng to do me a favor and let them know that I'd like to send some food in. I'll cover breakfast and lunch tomorrow, so please save room for me. It's just that I can't go inside. In the morning, two or three people are enough, but at noon I might need four or five people to help carry it in. I wonder if anyone is willing to do this, and if you can arrange some manpower?"

"What do you mean, whether we have it or not? It's all about whether we want it or not! With food from stall owner Song, let alone four or five people, even fourteen or fifteen people would fight over it!"

But while Cheng Zijian took on all the responsibilities, he was also somewhat worried and asked, "You have to set up your stall in the morning and prepare thank-you meals at noon. How can you manage all this by yourself? Do you need any help? Or it would be good if a few of us could go to your restaurant and bring the food back, so you don't have to go back and forth!"

Since it's a token of gratitude, why should the benefactor have to go to their home to get it themselves? Song Miao shook her head and smiled, "They're just simple things, it won't take much effort."

The two agreed on a time and arranged to meet at this place.

As they were talking, the other people who had ordered things came to pick them up one after another. In the end, there was only one set left, which was the one that He Qi had ordered yesterday.

Seeing that the agreed time had passed, and that Song Miao still had many things to prepare in advance, and did not want to wait too long, she had no choice but to ask Cheng Zijian to help bring them into the Imperial Academy. If she really couldn't find He Qi himself, then he could just eat them himself.

***
After pushing the cart back home, Song Miao washed and tidied up the things in the cart. Once everything was mostly cleaned up, all that was left in the cart was a bag of pomelos.

She poured them out onto the ground and saw that there were six in total, all of them large. She didn't have time to eat them right now, so she rolled them into a corner and sat down to think about how to arrange things for tomorrow.

Since she had to set up her stall in the morning, doing anything else would be too rushed and prone to mistakes. Song Miao didn't want to go through too much trouble, so she decided to make more glutinous rice and shumai tomorrow, and give each person a soup. Now her glutinous rice and shumai were quite famous in the Imperial Academy, and students might not be able to buy them even if they lined up early. It wouldn't be too shabby to give them as a return gift.

As for lunch, it should be something a little more presentable.

When delivering a thank-you meal to students of this age, meat is naturally an essential component.

Lamb, chicken, duck, and goose are all too expensive; the most affordable option is pork.

She usually doesn't get back from her stall very early, so if she wants to cook for about thirty people in an hour or two, she has to prepare in advance.

With a direction in mind, Song Miao went straight to the pork stall after arriving at the neighborhood.

She plans to make braised pork trotters with rice.

This stuff isn't afraid of being left out if it's thoroughly braised beforehand.

Once the rice is cooked, cut the braised pig's trotters into pieces, arrange them on top of the rice, add some leafy greens, half a braised egg, a spoonful of pickled cabbage, and pour the braising sauce over them. Although the cost is not high, it has meat, vegetables, and eggs. It's hard for students not to like it, right?

After searching several stalls, Song Miao finally managed to buy four pairs of pig's feet and four pairs of pig's trotters.

Pigs have four hooves. The two front hooves are called pig's hands, and the two hind hooves are called pig's feet. Although they look like pig's feet, their taste and meat quality are quite different.

The forelegs and trotters of pigs bear the most of the pig's weight, resulting in firmer meat and a better balance of fat and lean.

Compared to the forelegs, the hind legs have less movement and less stress, which means that the meat is fattier and the fascia is more dispersed. Although the meat is not as firm as the foreleg, it does not fall apart even after long cooking and is not easy to become dry.

Take the section closest to the pig's thigh, as it usually has the most meat; take the section closest to the pig's trotter, as it usually has the most collagen. It's mostly skin, not fat, and is very delicious.

The section of the lower leg between the pig's trotter and thigh, located between the four toes and containing tendons, is called "Four Points of Gold." It has tendons, meat, and is neither too fatty nor too lean. After stewing, it becomes soft and tender, and it is the easiest to absorb the flavor of the braising liquid. It is the best part of the pig's trotter, the essence of the pig.

After buying pig's trotters and pork, and also two pieces of pigskin, Song Miao packed them together with a whole slaughtered chicken, half an old duck, and pork bones into a bamboo basket. As soon as she put it on her back, she felt as if she had been shrunk by the weight.

She dared not delay, fearing that if she stayed out any longer, she might get used to the mountain of food and find it difficult to grow taller in the future.

After buying the meat, you'll need to buy the side dishes.

Song Miao originally wanted to make a "Three Whites Soup" to cool down her body and refresh her palate, but after wandering around the vegetable market and just buying radishes, she saw a stall selling mustard greens not far away.

Mustard greens are good for clearing heat, which is perfect for Cheng Zijian and his group who are suffering from internal heat. Adding some meat would make the soup more flavorful than the Three White Soup, which the students would probably like. Song Miao then changed her mind and bought some mustard greens.

Before going home, she made a special detour to Guangnan Goods Store to save money by buying a few dried flounder and dried flounder, as well as preserved vegetables and thin bean curd skin.

Finally, everything was bought. As soon as she got home, Song Miao ignored everything else and started making the braising broth—this was the most time-consuming but also the most important thing.

As long as the braising broth tastes right, you can eat a bowl of rice with just the flavor of the braising broth, let alone pig's feet. You could even throw a pair of straw sandals in and enjoy the taste.

All the meat and bones were fresh, and blanching would reduce the meat flavor. After washing them, she put them directly into the pot with a whole chicken, half an old duck, several pork bones, two pieces of cleaned pork skin, a large fish, and galangal to slowly simmer the broth.

This soup needs to be simmered slowly over low heat; it can't be rushed.

Song Miao moved a chair to the stove to rest while watching the fire.

She was busy from midnight until morning, running back and forth; it would be a lie to say she wasn't tired.

Running a stall by yourself involves making food, selling goods, purchasing supplies, and occasionally handling fresh food or gifts. It can be quite overwhelming.

However, hiring people as suggested by that student today is not so easy.

Since I'm all alone, if I hire someone young and immature, they might not be able to help much. If I hire someone experienced, I also need to be careful that they don't take advantage of me.

However, we are too poor right now and have too much debt, so it's far from the point where we can consider hiring someone.

Song Miao put the matter aside for the time being, intending to consider it again when conditions were right.

She took a few short naps, like a chick pecking at rice, and then got up to prepare the ingredients for tomorrow's glutinous rice. She slowly fried seven or eight meat rolls—these were to be served with braised pork trotters. They were made by mincing pork leg meat, mixing it with preserved vegetables, fried garlic, and other seasonings, spreading it evenly on thin bean curd skin, rolling it up, and then deep-frying it.

Because Song Miao didn't particularly like the taste of hard-boiled eggs and preferred tender ones, she boiled thirty or forty eggs, half of them medium-rare and half medium-well.

With all the ingredients on hand, especially the rare scallion oil—made by slowly frying shallots, coriander, scallions, green onions, and garlic—I added a few more ingredients compared to before, and its aroma was indescribable.

After she finished making the scallion oil, she wrapped most of the remaining fried ingredients in cheesecloth and used them to braise pig's trotters. There was still a little left, which she used to make a braised egg.

After peeling the eggs, Song Miao soaked them in the broth. She then added a generous amount of raw and cooked seasonings, along with a lot of dogwood to enhance the spiciness. She covered the pot and let the eggs slowly absorb the flavors.

By this time, it was getting dark and the sun was about to set when the soup was finally ready.

The soup made with dried fish has a completely different flavor from the soup made with only chicken, duck, or pork.

Even without opening the lid, the room is filled with a very strong fragrance.

Dried fish has a distinct seafood flavor, which some people may find extremely fishy. However, after simmering for a long time, the broth becomes much richer and has an indescribable freshness.

Once she smelled the right aroma, Song Miao roasted the various seasonings over a low flame until fragrant.

Spices are expensive, and with her current financial resources, she couldn't actually gather a complete set. However, cardamom, Sichuan pepper, bay leaves, dried tangerine peel, licorice, and other spices were reasonably priced and were enough to make do.

She prepared the ingredients, put them in a fine gauze bag, crushed them with the back of a knife, soaked them in water to remove the bitterness, mixed them with the scallion oil she had prepared in advance, and then added soy sauce and other seasonings.

The pig's trotters had already had their skin singed over a high flame by the stall owner. Now, they were vigorously scraped and washed clean before being put into the pot to be slowly braised over a low flame.

Making braised food is the most troublesome thing. Not only is the preparation very tedious, but even after you have finally made the braising liquid, you still have to watch the fire.

The advantage is that once the braising liquid is made, as long as it is stored properly, it will become more and more fragrant over time and can be used for a long time.

After finishing most of the other tasks, the pig's trotters were almost ready to be braised.

Impatient for tomorrow, and since it was rare to make something so complicated, Song Miao first took a knife and cut off a few pieces of meat—it was effortless, the meat surrendered on its own when it met the knife. After blowing on it a few times, she took advantage of her proximity and was the first to taste it.

The meat was piping hot, steaming, and thoroughly braised. If you touched it with chopsticks and didn't hold on tight enough, the chopsticks would easily pierce through.

As soon as it entered my mouth, it was indeed extremely soft and tender, and even the lean meat was not dry at all, falling apart with just a touch.

The braising sauce was as fragrant as expected, combining with the aroma of the meat. When chewing, the rich flavor made Song Miao smile, even though she made it herself.

She didn't have time to eat anything else; with just these few pieces of meat, she finished off the steamed bun she had bought on her way home during the day.

Busy from day to night, everything is finally ready, just waiting for tomorrow.

***
I got up again in the early hours of the next day.

After steaming the glutinous rice, Song Miao put the wrapped shumai into the pot, served the soup, and finally went out.

Today's preparations were particularly heavy, making the stroller especially heavy. Even though she left early, she had to push it for a while and then stop, so by the time she arrived at her destination, it was already later than usual.

By this time, there were already quite a few lookouts at the entrance of the food alley. When they saw her pushing the cart, some people ran back as if to inform someone, while two others hurriedly came forward to greet her and volunteered to help her push the cart.

Song Miao quickly thanked her, saying it was no need.

The two were very enthusiastic, and one of them was so eager to help that he didn't forget to explain, "Miss Song, Cheng Zijian called us here to help you - we're not the kind of people who can't get a spot and are trying to cut in line!"

Song Miao immediately realized that this was something she had arranged with Cheng Zijian yesterday to pick up breakfast.

She smiled and said, "So you are the kind benefactor who helped me copy the book—where is Young Master Cheng? Please wait a moment, and I will give you the book after I find a place to set up my stall."

Another person beside her had already helped Song Miao push her cart, saying as they helped her pull, "Zijian went to borrow a basket and won't be back for a while. How can you be so polite, Song Miao? If you don't want us to help, how can we eat your glutinous rice?"

“Exactly, exactly! If you can get so many good things to eat just by copying a few words, it’s too easy—we’re scholars, after all, we shouldn’t be so shameless!” The first person to speak snatched the cart handle from Song Miao’s hand, half-grabbing and half-persuading her.

Fearing that the two of them might fight over the cart and end up overturning it, which would be a complete disaster, Song Miao had no choice but to step aside and hold the cart herself, letting him take the steer.

As they were talking, they had already arrived at the food alley.

Many thanks to book lover 20230113841063 for sending me this spark of inspiration =3=
It feels like I actually caught a little bit of it; this is a really big chapter, haha~
If I have time in the future, I will try to combine two updates into one, as combining chapters might be more convenient.

Thank you everyone for subscribing, voting, reading, and commenting! Thank you so much!
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(End of this chapter)