Miao Chu

Chapter 92 Borrowing Strength
Cheng Zijian turned around, his face initially contorted with worry, but upon seeing Song Miao not far away, his expression shifted from surprise to delight. He quickly stepped forward and called out, "Stadium Owner Song!"

He then asked, "It's so late, what are you doing here?"

Song Miao responded and said with a smile, "I took on a cooking job today, but there were so many pedestrians and vehicles on the way back that I had to stop and go, and it got late."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zijian hurriedly said, "The city has been rather unsettled lately. If you're not in a hurry, why don't you wait a bit? I'll take you back in a little while."

"Thank you, but there's no need to trouble yourself." Song Miao pointed to the carriage behind her. "I brought all my belongings with me, and the host was kind enough to send me a carriage."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zijian looked over and saw the carriage, and then he gave up.

Song Miao then casually asked, "It's getting late, Young Master Cheng, why are you still lingering here? Won't you be late getting back to the academy?"

The smile on Cheng Zijian's face slowly faded.

He sighed and said, "Shopkeeper Song is no stranger, so I'll be frank—my sister's coming to the capital is a good thing, but living in the capital is not easy, and it's really hard to find a place to stay."

“She originally had a temporary place to stay, thinking she would stay there first and then look for a suitable place later. But today there was a big incident there. Although they didn’t kick us out, we didn’t dare to stay there anymore, so we took the opportunity to move out.”

Song Miao glanced at the inn behind Cheng Zijian.

The inn was small and rather dilapidated. There was obvious dirt on the wooden windows of the outer hall, and there were three or four oil stains on the ground outside the main gate.

If the area outside where guests are greeted is this dirty, then even if it's better inside, it must be limited in quality.

Song Miao knew about Cheng Zijian's family background.

Although this place is near the city gate, it is still within the inner city. Even the decent inns here are not cheap. Finding an inn with these conditions means that there was really no other choice.

She thought for a moment, then pretended not to know and asked, "It's already dark, and you're in such a rush, will it be easy to find?"

"It's hard to find," Cheng Zijian sighed. "I've asked around for ages, but I still can't find anything suitable."

"Do you want to live closer together so you can look after each other?"

Cheng Zijian said with a wry smile, "Right now, I don't have time to be picky. Let's just find a place to stay for now."

Houses near the Imperial Academy are scarce and highly sought after.

Some landlords knew that the woman was a widow with a young daughter and no means of livelihood, and for some reason, they were unwilling to rent to her. Others who were willing to rent to her asked for an extra deposit.

If you look further afield, there are more choices, but the cheaper ones naturally all have major drawbacks.

Either the house is dilapidated, or the tenants are a mixed bunch.

Today he even encountered a house that had been divided into five or six rooms and rented to different families.

During the short time we were looking at the apartment, three or four groups of people came and went.

Having just encountered the case of abducted women at Guangji Temple, he was worried about his sister taking Xiaolian to live there, so he had to search everywhere again.

Song Miao thought for a moment and said, "I have a suggestion, Young Master Cheng, you might want to listen to it."

Cheng Zijian immediately adopted a listening posture.

“There are two empty rooms at the back of my house,” Song Miao said gently. “Don’t mention money. If you’d like, you can stay here for a few days to ease your immediate needs.”

Cheng Zijian stood there, and upon hearing this, his eyes widened for a moment. After a while, he kept saying "Hey, hey," rubbing his hands, unable to speak for a long time.

After a long pause, he finally managed to stammer, "This...how can this be? Wouldn't this be taking advantage of Miss Song?"

"Why not?" Song Miao chuckled. "There are only two things I need to say first."

"Firstly, the ownership of my house is currently unknown. If things don't go well, I myself will have to move out soon, which will only cause more trouble."

"Secondly, you know a little about my family affairs. Although we have arrested many thieves and shut down some gambling dens this time, there may still be accomplices outside."

“If my sister moves in with me, those remnants might come to take revenge and take their anger out on her, which is difficult to guard against. Please think carefully before making a decision.”

Cheng Zijian, who had been wringing his hands, immediately became excited upon hearing this and exclaimed, "My sister and I are of the same mind. I know her character; she would never hesitate over something like this!"

He added, "If she finds out, she might have been too embarrassed to stay at Mr. Song's house before, but now she'll definitely want to go!"

Just as Song Miao was about to speak, she suddenly saw a large and a small woman walk out of the inn behind her. The large woman was the second young lady, and the small woman was Xiao Lian.

Upon seeing Song Miao, both of them smiled. Xiao Lian, however, hurriedly ran forward a couple of steps, then seemed to realize something and quickly turned around to hide behind the Second Madam, slowly creeping over.

"Young Lady Song!" Second Lady hurriedly greeted her, but after she finished, she was stunned when she saw Cheng Zijian, who had been facing away from her, turn around.

She looked at her younger brother, then at Song Miao, and asked, "You...know each other?"

Song Miao immediately realized what was going on and asked, "Is Second Madam the same as Young Master Cheng's sister?"

When the two sides exchanged words, they were both surprised and amused, finding the coincidence quite remarkable.

When Cheng Zijian told Song Miao about her suggestion, Cheng Erniang, who was still hesitant, immediately rolled up her sleeves after hearing Song Miao's two concerns.

She yelled, "What trash! Leave the young lady to me! If they dare to come to my door, I'll beat one of them, and two of them!"

She sneered again, "These two arms of mine have rubbed countless clothes; they're quite strong. Let that coward see what we Fuzhou women are capable of!"

Song Miao glanced at Xiao Lian behind her and said, "I originally thought it was just Second Madam alone—adults might not be afraid, but children are young, and if something really happens, they might get frightened..."

"Sister, I have a sword!"

But Xiao Lian, who had been timidly hiding in the back, suddenly stepped forward.

She pulled out a wooden sword she had been hiding in her bosom, her expression extremely serious.

That wooden sword was only palm-length and two fingers-wide, and the blade was thick enough that even a mouse couldn't pierce it.

Holding the sword, Xiaolian acted as if she possessed some divine weapon capable of splitting mountains and seas, and hurriedly declared, "I have a weapon, I can help my sister fight the bad guys!"

The child spoke innocently, but Cheng Erniang patted her daughter's head and said again, "Young Lady Song, I am a widow with a daughter. My husband left only half a year ago, and I was kicked out by the clan. Do you have any taboos about this?"

Song Miao was taken aback, then shook her head and said, "I am also wearing mourning clothes."

He added, "Second Mistress, think it over carefully. If..."

Cheng Erniang waved her hand and said, "What am I still considering?"

She turned to Cheng Zijian and said, "Xiaojian, write a document for your sister, just saying that Xiaolian and I are staying at Miss Song's house, and if anything happens to us, we will bear the consequences ourselves, and it has nothing to do with anyone else!"

Song Miao naturally didn't say anything more after Cheng Erniang's actions.

Since the second daughter and her daughter's luggage were still at Guangji Temple, and it was on the way back, Song Miao paid some money to ask the coachman to take them along. They picked up their luggage halfway before finally returning to Suanzao Lane.

By the time we got home, it was already dark.

The old men were huge eaters, and then there was You Xuelu, who came back later. I don't know how he got pregnant, but he ate the equivalent of two or three people's portions.

Song Miao prepared the dishes according to the number of people, so there were naturally not many left. In the end, she could only pick out a few bites of the food that hadn't been touched at noon, thinking that she would just cook something simple to make do when she got home.

She had been hungry all the way home, and after putting down her luggage with everyone she met, she asked, "Have you had dinner yet?"

Cheng Erniang said, "We've bought steamed buns, so we can have steamed buns for dinner tonight—would you like to try some, young lady?"

As he spoke, he took out a lotus leaf package.

There were five or six steamed buns inside, which had already cooled and hardened.

Song Miao then said, "I'm hungry too. I don't care about the future. Today is the first day that Second Mistress and Xiaolian have returned. How about I make them something simple and hot?"

Cheng Erniang readily agreed, rolled up her sleeves, and said, "I'll help you out, young lady—what do you need me to do?"

Song Miao glanced at the ingredients at home. There wasn't enough time to cook. Since the Cheng family were all from the south, she asked, "We still have bamboo shoots at home. How about I stir-fry them with pickled vegetables, bamboo shoots, and minced pork to make bamboo shoot, minced pork, and pickled vegetable noodles?"

He added, "Adding a little more dogwood will make it slightly spicy—can Xiaolian eat it?"

The mother and daughter nodded repeatedly, like chickens pecking at rice. Song Miao then asked if Cheng Zijian would make it in time.

The latter, shameless as ever, said, "It's already this late, I... I'll grab a bite to eat before I go back!"

Immediately, Cheng Erniang rushed to start the fire, and Cheng Zijian offered to peel bamboo shoots, but Xiaolian took the job from him.

He had nothing to do, everyone else was busy, and he was just standing there, feeling awkward.

Seeing this, Cheng Erniang asked Song Miao, pointed to the well behind her and whispered to her younger brother, "Go to the back and fetch two vats for the young lady, then clean up the empty room and the backyard. Help your sister with some chores and leave a good impression, okay?"

Cheng Zijian readily agreed and went obediently.

With one and a half people assisting her, Song Miao had never felt so relaxed since arriving here.

She first slowly boiled and soaked the dried rice noodles in water before doing anything else.

Wash the pickled vegetables, chop them finely, rinse them twice to remove the sour taste, and then finely mince half-fat and half-lean pork.

With someone helping to start the fire, she directly turned on two stoves, one of which was used to dry-fry pickled vegetables without adding anything else, just frying off the moisture.

On the other side, first stir-fry the garlic cloves to extract their aroma, then stir-fry the minced pork.

Once the minced pork was slightly charred and fragrant, and about 50-60% of the lard from the fat had been rendered out, she scooped over the dried pickled vegetables from the pan and stir-fried them together.

While they were cooking, Xiaolian had already peeled the bamboo shoots.

Song Miao then blanched the bamboo shoots in another pot, diced them, and squeezed out the excess water.

Soon, the oil in the pan sizzled and crackled, filling the whole house with the tangy aroma of stir-fried pickled vegetables and meat.

Push the bubbling vegetables to one side and let the oil slowly drain to the bottom of the pot before adding diced bamboo shoots and chopped dogwood. Use the lard, which is already soaked in the tangy aroma of pickled vegetables, to slowly fry them.

After everything was stir-fried, Song Miao seasoned it with salt and soy sauce to make it a little saltier, then scooped out half of it onto a plate before adding boiling water to the pot.

This time, she added a lot of minced pork, stir-fried it until fragrant, and boiled the oil in boiling water until the soup turned slightly white, but not thick white. Then she added the cooked and soaked rice noodles and a handful of cabbage leaves. Once the water boiled, it was ready.

She scooped the ingredients out one by one into bowls, added a spoonful of the freshly prepared stir-fried topping to each, and then casually fried a few sunny-side-up eggs. She also separately beat the egg mixture and stir-fried a tender egg—this was for Xiaolian.

By the time the pickled vegetables, minced meat, bamboo shoots, and rice noodles were ready, Cheng Zijian hadn't even filled a vat with water.

The three adults and one child were all hungry, so they sat down together in the front of the room to slurp up noodles.

Song Miao's seasoning was just right. The dogwood flakes were a little spicy, but the spiciness was just a mild spiciness that Xiao Lian could tolerate.

The minced pork is half lean and half fat, stir-fried until slightly charred, and coated from the inside out with the flavor of pickled vegetables. The pickled vegetables are first stir-fried until dry, then rolled around in hot oil, infusing the whole dish with the aroma of pork fat.

Both contain an equal proportion of diced bamboo shoots.

Bamboo shoots are the most versatile ingredient, and they are perfect for any occasion here, offering both a slightly sour and spicy flavor and a rich, oily aroma.

After being boiled in water, the sweetness of the bamboo shoots, the smoky aroma of the minced pork, and the sour fragrance of the pickled vegetables all blend together in the soup, with a hint of spiciness, making it exceptionally appetizing.

The rice noodles are round and thin. When you pick them up, they will be coated with a lot of ingredients from the soup. When you eat them, you will bite into bamboo shoots with pickled vegetables, meat wrapped in pickled vegetables, or all three at once.

Mixed with the aroma of rice flour, they took a bite, then another bite of the golden-brown fried egg, and then a sip of the fresh and sour soup. Everyone ate with slurping noises, without even looking up.

***
Inside the Song family's restaurant, the three adults and one child were happily slurping noodles. Meanwhile, in the capital's government office, Xin Feng, upon hearing that the kitchen had already turned off its lights, turned green with hunger.

"Well, they say there's no such thing as a free lunch, and the imperial court never starves its soldiers. But today, we can't even get a decent meal!"

He muttered to himself, then turned and said, “Zhengyan, you must be hungry too. I’ll have someone go out and bring back some food. It’s so late at night, let’s have something hot to eat. How about some rice noodles—they won’t clump together.”

Han Li nodded.

As they walked, the two discussed how to arrange manpower and which person to send to Yingzhou to investigate the bandit leader's residence the next day.

Xin Feng kept talking, but his stomach was pounding inside.

Hearing his stomach growling pitifully, Han Li hesitated for a moment, then took out a small packet from his sleeve, pulled out two pieces of something, and handed it over.

"What is this?" Xin Feng took it casually and glanced at it.

"Let's have a couple of bites of pork jerky to fill our stomachs first."

Xin Feng didn't think much of it, opened his mouth and tore and bit, swallowing a large piece whole.

The jerky smelled nice and was a bit hard, but as he chewed it, he suddenly felt something was off.

The seasoning! The texture!
Slightly salty and slightly numbing, the saltiness and numbing sensation are meant to bring out the meaty aroma of the pork jerky, making it more fragrant the more you chew.

The meat is cooked in thin strands, with a noticeable pull between them. It has a rich meaty flavor, and towards the end, it has a pleasantly sweet aftertaste—complemented by the Sichuan peppercorns, making it easy to taste the natural sweetness of the pork.

He swallowed the first piece haphazardly, but when he ate the second one, he began to cherish it, chewing it carefully and savoring it slowly.

But the two pieces of pork jerky, which were no bigger than the palm of his hand, were barely enough to fill a tooth gap for Xin Feng, who had been starving for most of the day.

He couldn't help but ask, "Where did you come from? Are there any more?"

But as soon as he asked the question, he guessed the answer himself and exclaimed, "Was it made by Lady Song?"

Han Li glanced at him and said, "If you're so capable, then shout louder."

Startled, Xin Feng looked around and quickly lowered his voice, saying, "Give me a few more pieces. I'm starving and dizzy! I don't know when the powder will be back!"

Han Li frowned, gave him two more slices, and said, "Eat sparingly, I don't have many, there won't be any more later."

Xin Feng carefully tore off pieces and ate them slowly. After returning to the house, before even entering the door, he turned to Han Li and said, "Zhengyan, give me some more, just two more pieces. I'm so hungry I can barely walk—I'll bring you some more meat tomorrow!"

Just then, the door opened, and a voice inside called out, "You've been gone for so long, you're finally back!"

The two men looked up and saw Kong Fuyang coming up with two food boxes, holding them up and saying, "I knew it, Inspector Xin must be starving! I specially saved some food for you, it's still warm, eat up!"

Xin Feng's face turned even greener.

***
Han and Xin were invited to stay for a meal, but Cai Xiu, who was also at the Kyoto government office, was not invited to stay for a meal.

Once he left the office, all his attendants had left, but he remained seated.

As someone was leaving, they called out to him, "There's always work to be done. You're only on temporary assignment, you don't need to stay up so late."

Cai Xiu agreed, then asked, "I see that the Left and Right Military Patrol Detachments are on duty day and night, staying up all night. Why don't we have to?"

"They're not from the same government office; they each have their own things to do."

"Have we ever been this busy?"

"Yes, there are times when there are many cases and when the higher-ups are investigating, we also work day and night."

The man said a few words and left in a hurry.

Cai Xiu sat in her seat, staring blankly at the few sheets of paper on the table in front of her.

How can we achieve results if everyone is not busy?

He didn't come to the Kyoto government office to personally handle such tasks as organizing files and records!

Is it possible that only Han Li can boss around the Left and Right Military Patrol Offices and manage so many people?
With this in mind, he mustered all his strength, picked up his brush again, dipped it in ink, and began to write furiously.

—Let's wait until tomorrow! Once he submits these regulations, I don't believe that legal officer Zhang won't be tempted!
If that guy surnamed Han can use someone else's strength against him, then Cai Xiu can do it too!

Sorry, my updates have been a bit irregular lately. I wrote an extra 600-700 words in today's chapter. I tested it and the extra words should be free. Consider this my apology.

Sorry, I'll try to keep things as normal as possible tomorrow so as not to affect your reading experience.

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(End of this chapter)