Miao Chu

Chapter 7 Fortune Cake
After preparing the two ingredients, she placed them on the cutting board.

On the left is red bean and jujube paste, and on the right is peeled mung bean paste. One is red and the other is yellow, with the red being darker and the yellow being lighter.

She planned to use it to make a lucky cake.

Fu Gao is also called Hongfu Qitian Gao.

But regardless of whether it's "福" (fortune) or "鸿福齐天" (great fortune), it's just a way to wish for good luck. In reality, it's just a red bean, jujube, and mung bean cake with the character "福" in the middle.

This pastry uses simple ingredients and is not difficult to make. However, it requires a lot of mental effort and is very particular about the proportions of ingredients and the speed of your hands.

Because red bean paste is easy to fall apart when shaken, lard and maltose are added to help it hold its shape. However, adding too much sugar and lard will make it greasy, while adding too little will not have any effect.

If you move slowly, the warmth of your palms will cause the lard and maltose to partially melt, making it even harder to shape.

Fortunately, Song Miao was very skilled at this, and her movements were all methodical. Even so, it took her almost half an hour to put the different strips and sheets of material together in order.

After finishing everything, she mixed cooked glutinous rice flour with a little bit of cheese she had just bought, kneaded it well, rolled it into an extremely thin sheet, and wrapped it as the outermost layer.

So all the materials were pieced together to form a square strip, one inch long and wide.

She didn't use a knife, but took a very thin hemp rope to cut the strip of cake into even pieces about an inch high. She then carefully packed the pieces into a food box lined with oil paper, tidied up her other belongings, and took the food box out.

Just as she was locking the door, Song Miao heard a knocking sound coming from not far behind her. When she turned around, she saw a person standing at the door of the bookstore across the street.

The man had only been taking pictures for a short while when someone inside the bookstore asked through the door, "Who is it?"

“It’s me, Sun Er.”

As soon as the man outside finished speaking, the door creaked open a crack, and the man who called himself Sun Er slipped through the gap.

Soon, the door slammed shut again.

When the door opened, faint sounds of commotion and shouts could still be heard from inside the house.

Song Miao frowned, but still ignored her, locked the door, and walked out.

She asked people along the way and walked for a while before turning into the alley where the village head lived. She found a house with a lantern bearing the character "Sun" hanging above it and gently knocked on the door.

The gate to the Sun family's house wasn't deep, and soon someone answered the door from inside, calling out, "Who is it? The door's unlocked, just come in!"

Song Miao did not go in, but replied through the door, "My surname is Song, and I am the daughter of the Song family restaurant in Suanzao Lane. I have come to see Village Chief Sun today, but it is not appropriate for me to enter. I would like to trouble someone to come out."

A short while later, a middle-aged woman came out.

This woman had a round face and large features, which gave her the impression of being straightforward and cheerful.

When she opened the door and saw Song Miao, she was taken aback at first, then smiled and said, "So it's Miss Song. The yamen patrol had some business to attend to today, so they called my old man away early this morning. I don't know when he'll be back. Why don't you come in and sit down and wait?"

Song Miao shook her head, pointed to the white cloth strip on her left arm, and said, "Auntie, you're too kind. I'm in mourning, so I won't go in." She then handed over the food box in her hand, saying, "I've been very grateful for the care of Village Chief Sun. I don't have much to thank you for, so I made some snacks myself when I had some free time. They're just ordinary food, nothing fancy, but they're the thought that counts. I hope they're something for your family to have a taste of."

The woman took the food box, and her smile immediately became more genuine. She then stepped aside and said, "You're not very old, why are you being so polite? Our family doesn't care about those things. It's so cold, your face is all red from the cold. Come in and sit down, have a cup of tea before you leave."

There's a saying these days that if someone in your family has experienced a death, relatives shouldn't visit other people's homes for a month to avoid bad luck.

Song Miao had already made up her mind, and simply tried her best to refuse.

She had come to see Sun Lizheng this time to discuss something, but seeing that he was not at home, she did not linger and said a few polite words before taking her leave.

On her way home, Song Miao deliberately took a detour, intending to buy a copy of "Wei Xing Tong" (The Criminal Code of Wei), but after asking several bookstores, none of them had it in stock.

One of the shop assistants said, "The Criminal Code is rarely sold outside. The court has revised it and will issue new copies. If you have some free time, you might as well go to the Dali Temple or the Provincial Judicial Commission and see if any bookstores in that area have it."

Seeing that she was dressed in simple clothes and her clothes were plain, the shopkeeper kindly advised her, "If you're not in a hurry, you can give me a deposit of one hundred or eighty coins, and I can help you get a set from outside. However, these books are always officially made, and the price is very expensive. They usually start at two strings of cash."

Upon hearing the price, Song Miao secretly groaned inwardly.

At this moment, she only had a few coins left of her entire fortune, and she still needed to buy ingredients for her business. If she really used all of it to buy books, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to set up her stall. Therefore, she didn't dare to make any more reservations. After thanking him, she obediently walked out.

***
At this moment, Song Miao was not the only one complaining.

Sun family.

No sooner had Song Miao left than Sun, the village head, entered the room.

Before he could even take a sip of water, he said to his wife, “Go and talk to the second son’s wife and tell her to keep a close eye on him. He can’t let the second son run around outside all the time anymore. Chief Li gave me a special warning today. He said that during the last search, he saw the second son hiding under the table in the gambling den. If it weren’t for my old face still having some influence, I would have caught him on the spot.”

The smile on Sun's wife's face vanished instantly, and she frowned, saying, "How can I, as the sister-in-law, take care of my younger brother's wife? Besides, the second son is always away from home. What can we say when his wife has to take care of both the old and the young?"

"Even if she tries to manage things, will the second son listen?"

She paused, then continued, "To be frank, the second son is what he is today because his uncle and aunt spoiled him. And you are too. He gets into trouble outside, and you're always cleaning up his messes. You'd be better off getting arrested and locked up for three or five years, suffering a bit. Maybe then you'll learn to change..."

Sun Lizheng, annoyed by what he heard, waved his hand and said, "If it weren't for my uncle and aunt raising me since I was a child, I would have starved to death long ago. How could I be where I am today? If my second son really goes to jail and something bad happens to him, how will I have the face to see them! If you can't speak properly, then don't speak!"

Sun's wife, angered by the rebuke, retorted, "His parents don't care, so you expect his wife to? Did she give birth to him or raise him? You should tell me yourself; I can't bring myself to say it!"

Sun Lizheng knew perfectly well that his wife was right, but he was feeling troubled, so he could only lower his head and sigh. After a while, he took out two pieces of paper from his pocket, handed them over, and said, "Take a look at this!"

Sun's wife took it and asked, "You know I can't read—what is this?"

Sun Lizheng said irritably, "What is it? It's the second son's IOU! It adds up to eight hundred and ninety strings of cash! He's really made something of himself! He couldn't pay back such a large sum of money even if he sold himself!"

Many thanks to book friend 160527062718113 for the peach blossom fan, and thank you Luo Qing for the peace charm. ^_^
Thank you everyone for your messages, monthly tickets, and recommendation votes.

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(End of this chapter)