Miao Chu

Chapter 4: Setting up a stall
After spending a whole day keeping watch in the alley, Song Miao finally got a general idea of ​​what was going on.

It turns out that this alley is only one lane away from Zhuque Alley. The two walls, one high and one low, are the Imperial Academy and the National Academy on the left and the one high on the right, which is the Nanlu Academy behind the Song Family Restaurant.

The Imperial Academy and the National Academy were both under the jurisdiction of the National Academy, and together they had over a thousand students. However, students were not required to stay at the academy, nor were the doors forcibly locked. The students coming out of that small door at that moment were from the Imperial Academy.

Nanlu Academy is different; students must live there and cannot enter or leave freely.

Both the Imperial Academy and the Nanlu Academy had kitchens, but they served communal meals with the same dishes over and over again. No matter how delicious they were, you would get tired of them. Besides, the chefs' skills weren't particularly outstanding—who would come here if they were?

Although students have always been the easiest diners to be satisfied with, if given a choice, who wouldn't want to try something new?
The students of the Imperial Academy were fine; they could find time to go out and find food. It was just a pity for the students of the Southern Slope Academy, who only had three days off per season and needed a permit to go out.

With such strict management, the students, besides cursing the old abbot in their hearts, naturally had to find their own way out – so they dug a few dog holes in secret places, crawled out from them, or went to buy food, or secretly play.

However, for Song Miao, the Imperial Academy and Nanlu Academy together have a total of one or two thousand students. Even if only two or three out of ten of them come out to buy food, it would be enough to support the business of this alley.

She wandered around the Zhuque Gate for half a day but couldn't find a more suitable location than that alley. Considering the ingredients she had at home, she made some plans and decided what she should sell for a while. Without delay, she quickly started shopping everywhere.

After a busy night, Song Miao pushed her cart out of the alley early the next morning, before dawn.

She was weak and had to walk and stop frequently. By the time she reached the alley, it was almost dawn.

The weather was still bad that day, with wind and snow.

Song Miao found a suitable open space and set up her stall.

On either side of her were vendors selling noodles and small flower cakes, both busy with their business and temporarily unable to attend to her.

Song Miao wasn't in a hurry and warmed her hands by the stove in the car.

The warmth had barely begun when she saw a scholar-looking man approaching. He wasn't in a hurry to buy anything; instead, he carefully examined the sign hanging in front of her cart.

***
Nowadays, unfilled buns are called steamed buns, while filled buns are called steamed bread.

Cheng Zijian came out to buy mutton buns.

As an external student of the Imperial Academy, he had been studying diligently at his desk for many days in a row because the monthly private examinations were approaching.

To save time queuing, he has recently been buying a dozen or twenty steamed buns at a time and eating one when he gets hungry.

The kitchen used cheap flour to make the steamed buns, and I don't know how many years it had been stored. They were edible when they were fresh out of the oven, but as soon as they got cold, a musty smell would always come up in my nose when I chewed them.

After enduring it for a few days, he simply couldn't take it anymore.

Thinking that the food alley behind the back gate was the closest, there seemed to be a steamed bun shop there with a wide variety of buns. Although the meat they served was cheap, it was still more generous than the Imperial Academy's own kitchen, and it was at least somewhat tasty.

However, many people love that mutton bun shop, and if you go late, you might not be able to get any. He wanted a lot, so he didn't want to ask his classmates to help him buy some, and decided to just buy them himself.

He went out the back door early in the morning with a clear purpose. He quickly bought the steamed buns and counted the quantity. He felt that he had stocked up on so many that he wouldn't panic even if he got hungry in the middle of the night. He was very satisfied. He was about to head home with a food box in his hand when he saw a sign on a cart by the roadside.

It was a wooden sign, quite large, with the words "Songji Dourong Glutinous Rice" written in a vertical black character. Below the character, in vermilion, were smaller words such as "soft and sticky," "salty and fragrant," "filling," and "portable." Next to it, there was a special note: "Glutinous rice will make you feel full" and "Do not overeat"—this note was encircled by three layers of red circles, each one larger than the last, making it seem very serious.

The black characters are in the official script style, while the red characters are in the clerical script style.

Such beautiful calligraphy! The characters are all written with great skill, especially the clerical script, which is full of spirit.

Cheng Zijian stopped involuntarily. After admiring the calligraphy for a while, he looked up and was about to ask a question when he saw the appearance of the stall owner behind the big pot and was stunned.

What a beautiful young lady! She was dressed in a very clean plain dress, and her head was wrapped in a cloth, making her look very neat and tidy. Although she was thin with a pointed chin, her face was fair and clean, and her features were extremely beautiful, making it hard not to take a second look.

Cheng Zijian, who had been hesitant, stopped abruptly. He glanced at the stall and saw that it contained only a large steamer, a pot, and some bowls and dishes. He asked, "What does your... mung bean paste glutinous rice look like? How big is a serving?"

When Song Miao saw that a guest was coming, she quickly moved closer to the steamer and pointed to the two bowls in front of her, saying, "It's priced by the bowl. A large bowl costs eight coins, and a small bowl costs five coins."

He added, "You can also add a salted duck egg, half an egg for one coin."

As she spoke, she lifted the lid of the large steamer in front of her.

With a "whoosh," a cloud of hot, white steam, along with a fragrant aroma, billowed out of the steamer.

The aroma is like that of zongzi (sticky rice dumplings), but it's different. It's the unique smell of glutinous rice products, and it smells very pleasant.

The white vapor hit his face, and Cheng Zijian subconsciously closed his eyes and took a step back, but then couldn't help but take two deep breaths.

It smells good.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a large steamer full of glutinous rice in front of him. The rice grains were soft and translucent, one after another, and decorated with a lot of condiments.

White steam billowed up, making it difficult to see what was added to it, but the aroma still made him involuntarily swallow.

The capital city is located in the Central Plains, where people love noodles. However, Cheng Zijian came to the capital to study via Jiangnan West Road. He has eaten more rice than noodles since childhood. When he smelled this aroma, he remembered the zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) that his elder sister made for him before he came to the capital.

Glutinous rice is filling; wouldn't eating this be easier than eating mutton buns?

Besides, when mutton gets cold, the white fat will freeze out and make it smell muttony—if I had known this, I wouldn't have bought so many mutton buns.

He calculated the price, then looked at the small and large bowls the stall owner had pointed to earlier, and immediately said, "Give me...give me two small...two large bowls!"

Song Miao responded, took a dried lotus leaf and placed it at the bottom of the bowl. While serving him glutinous rice with a spoon, she pointed to the two rows of large bamboo tubes beside her and asked, "Is there anything you don't want to eat, young master?"

Cheng Zijian stared intently at the contents of the bamboo tube, recognizing most of them: diced white radish, diced pickled cowpeas, half-cut, oily salted eggs, and bits of dogwood...

But there were also some he didn't recognize.

"What are these?" he asked curiously, pointing to several bamboo tubes.

Song Miao explained to him one by one: "The yellow stuff is mung bean paste. The skin has been removed, it's steamed and then sieved. No seasoning has been added, so it only has the fragrance of mung beans."

"This is crispy fried noodles, made with an egg batter and fried, it has a slightly salty and savory flavor..."

"This is a type of dried radish shreds made in Sichuan, used for seasoning."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zizheng declared, "I want them all, a bowl with half a salted duck egg!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the stall owner repeatedly piled up layers of glutinous rice, thin mung bean paste, and various condiments, three times in total. He then scooped out half a salted egg and pressed it into the middle, making the bowl, which was as big as a fist, bulge into the shape of a small mountain before stopping. He then poured two small spoonfuls of sauce on top.

After she had filled two bowls and wrapped them in lotus leaves, she looked up and asked him with a smile, "Glutinous rice is easy to cause indigestion, so it's best to eat it while it's hot. My family also has a tangerine peel and mung bean soup to relieve indigestion. It costs three coins for a bamboo tube. Would you like to try some, young master?"

If anyone has any extra recommendation votes, could you please give some to Xiaomiao? Xiaomiao is in debt and is asking for votes online.

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(End of this chapter)