Chapter 123: Liang Zhu (VIII)

When Seeing Liu Tao pushed the door out, the sky outside was already completely dark.

There were no streetlights, and the moonlight was the greatest light source in the dark night. Most families' houses were dark, and only a few relatively wealthy ones lit kerosene lamps. The black smoke and the dim yellow light intertwined, looking like dots of starlight.

Luo Jun was still in the same appearance as when he came, with his hands in his pockets, standing at the door of the house. The moonlight spilled on him, and one side of his face was bright and the other dark, making his eyes look very deep.

"I don't like eating carrots," Luo Jun said.

"I know, that's why I asked Master Jiang to make the carrots taste better." Seeing Liu Tao walked to Luo Jun's side, skillfully took his arm, and the two walked home huddled together.

"I remember you didn't like eating green vegetables at the beginning either, but didn't you like the green vegetables Master Jiang made?"

"He boiled them with chicken soup. Carrots boiled in chicken soup don't taste good either," Luo Jun retorted.

"But maybe there are other ways to make carrots taste good," Seeing Liu Tao smiled. "If Master Jiang can't make them taste good either, then we won't order them in the future."

"Hmm."

"The newspaper is finished. What are you going to read tomorrow? I'll pack things up early in the morning."

"Read... 'Xia Ke Jiang Hu Xing'. There are too many newspapers; you don't know where I want to start reading. I'll find it myself tomorrow morning."

"Okay, it's all my fault for not knowing how to read," Seeing Liu Tao was a bit disappointed.

"There are many people who don't know how to read, and knowing how to read doesn't necessarily have any use," Luo Jun said with disdain. "The one surnamed Chu knows many characters, knows English, French, German, and Japanese, says he studied the Four Books and Five Classics since childhood and then learned new Western studies, graduated from a prestigious school and entered the government, but only knows how to approve documents and knock on bamboo poles for money."

"The foreign currencies in his house are so many that the safe can't hold them, and he still wants to knock on my bamboo pole."

Hearing Luo Jun say this, Seeing Liu Tao asked: "I remember before we left Shanghai, Minister Chu also entrusted someone to send me two ruby rings. I haven't heard from him for two years. Is he still working in Shanghai?"

Luo Jun nodded: "Should be, I guess he's swimming."

Seeing Liu Tao tilted her head, not quite understanding. However, she had heard many words she didn't understand in her life, and she didn't have the habit of getting to the bottom of it, just nodded and continued walking forward.

After returning home, Seeing Liu Tao went to sleep early. Luo Jun was used to staying up late, looking at the newspaper by candlelight until late at night before going upstairs to sleep.

The next morning, it was Seeing Liu Tao who got up early, simply cleaned the house, entered the kitchen to soak and boil the materials needed for Chen Pi tea, and waited for the milk delivery worker to come to the door.

By the time Luo Jun got up, the Chen Pi tea had already been boiled, and it was exactly the temperature for drinking.

Luo Jun drank Chen Pi tea while reading the newspaper, and Seeing Liu Tao went upstairs to dress up, brought a full set of jewelry, and carried the food box ready to go out.

"I'm going to Master Jiang's to get the fruit-shaped pastries. Master Jiang made some new flavors yesterday. I have to go over and see how he did. If it's not good, there's still time to change it," Seeing Liu Tao started reporting her itinerary.

Luo Jun stared at the newspaper and said: "If you don't like wearing so much jewelry when you go out, you don't have to wear it."

Seeing Liu Tao touched the new earring, and looked at the ruby ring given by Minister Chu that she had just found from upstairs, saying: "It's okay to get used to it."

"I am Mrs. Luo. If I go out without makeup, Boyan, you will be laughed at by others."

Luo Jun didn't speak anymore, drank the last mouthful of Chen Pi tea.

Seeing Liu Tao went out.

Luo Jun got up. Just when Qin Huai thought Luo Jun was going to sit on the sofa and continue reading novels as his otaku self, Luo Jun walked to the door, stopped for two minutes, and slowly changed his shoes and went out.

Qin Huai:?

Luo Jun walked slowly outside. The neighbors along the way saw Luo Jun and were not surprised, doing their own work.

And the route Luo Jun walked was very familiar to Qin Huai, because he had already walked with this couple yesterday—it was the road to Master Jiang's.

Very good, Mr. Luo is not an otaku today, he changed to be a tailing stalker.

Luo Jun swayed slowly to the familiar street corner. He didn't knock on the door of the low room, but walked into the courtyard skillfully.

There were no children playing with mud in the courtyard, only the mother of the child who swept the courtyard.

The woman saw Luo Jun, skillfully moved a chair with a soft cushion for him, smiled at Luo Jun flatteringly: "Mr. Luo, my Gou Dan slipped to Master Jiang's again without me paying attention. I'm really sorry."

"It's okay, my wife likes children," Luo Jun nodded calmly. "You go about your business."

The woman continued to sweep the floor, but this time when sweeping, she had to avoid Luo Jun's direction, so as not to raise dust on Mr. Luo's clothes.

Luo Jun took out the newspaper folded into a tofu block from his pocket, unfolded it, and started reading the newspaper.

Qin Huai:...

How should I put it, Luo Jun's hobbies and habits have been consistent for many years.

Reading Luo Jun reading the newspaper in the courtyard is certainly interesting, but Qin Huai wanted to know the situation in the room more.

After reading "Xia Ke Jiang Hu Xing" for two minutes, Qin Huai walked into the low room.

Jiang Weiming, Gou Dan, and Seeing Liu Tao were all in the kitchen. The food box brought by Seeing Liu Tao was placed on the table outside, and the front and back doors of the kitchen were open. As long as one of the three people in the room was willing to walk two steps to the back door and look out, they could see Luo Jun reading the newspaper in the courtyard.

But these three people were destined not to look outside, and everyone's eyes were focused on the pastry.

On the cutting board were kneaded white flour, chopped carrot puree, minced meat, and beet juice.

"Meat-filled fruit-shaped pastries... are they still fruit-shaped pastries?" Although Seeing Liu Tao didn't know how to make fruit-shaped pastries, she had some knowledge in terms of eating after being a wealthy wife for several years.

Jiang Weiming was asked by this question from Seeing Liu Tao until he wished he could dig a hole and bury himself. Qin Huai was very familiar with this expression; it was the same expression Zheng Siyuan had when he made a decision that went against his ancestors.

"This... I... this is my..."

Jiang Weiming stammered for a long time, and finally squeezed out a sentence: "I can only think of this method."

"The taste of carrots is very special, especially after steaming, it is very difficult to cover the taste of carrots with other ingredients, unless you add a lot of spices."

"But adding a large amount of spices to make fruit-shaped pastries will only be more counterproductive and stranger."

"I have been cooking for you and Mr. Luo for so long, and I have some understanding of Mr. Luo's taste. Mr. Luo doesn't like eating vegetables. His favorite non-meat dish is tofu, because tofu tastes more like meat after being simmered in meat soup and chicken soup."

"I make meat filling, mix carrot puree into the meat, and add some bamboo shoot diced and shiitake mushroom diced. The filling is stir-fried once to extract the oil, and then simmered with chicken soup. I know this filling is very strange, because this filling is a kind of bun filling my father taught me."

"But this filling is the filling I know that can be made with carrots that best fits Mr. Luo's taste."

"I will make the fruit-shaped pastries in the shape of apples. I also trouble you to not tell Mr. Luo that this is a fruit-shaped pastry after taking it back today; just say it's an apple-shaped bun. Let him eat it while it's hot; it won't taste good if it's cold. If it's cold, you put this bun into the steamer and steam it for three minutes, and the taste won't be bad."

Jiang Weiming started to beg.

Seeing Liu Tao:...

"Okay," Seeing Liu Tao nodded. "I will tell my husband after I go back... this is a new apple-shaped bun made by Master Jiang."

Jiang Weiming started stir-frying the filling.

Qin Huai watched from the side, and the more he watched, the brighter his eyes became.

Qin Huai found that although Jiang Weiming's fruit-shaped pastries were average, worse than Zheng Siyuan's, his level of stir-frying filling was really good. Qin Huai also stir-fried filling every morning, and he knew that stir-frying filling didn't require much skill, nor did it require mastering techniques like flipping the spoon, but the simpler things were, the more one could see the level.

This is like making "Boiled Cabbage in Clear Soup" requires a level, but making cabbage taste like "Boiled Cabbage in Clear Soup" requires even more level.

After stir-frying, Jiang Weiming started simmering the filling with chicken soup. Qin Huai was also very familiar with this step, and he also couldn't simmer to Jiang Weiming's level.

The juice collection was just right, and the simmered bun filling was so fragrant that Qin Huai wished he could have a bowl first to taste it.

It wasn't just Qin Huai who had this idea.

Gou Dan, who was sitting on the ground watching Jiang Weiming cook, had already started staring at the filling in the pot, shouting clearly: "Meat, meat!"

"Mingming, meat."

Listening to the accent, it was indeed a Northern accent.

Jiang Weiming put down the filling, put it into a bowl, and mixed it with a little sesame oil, patted Gou Dan's head: "This is a pastry for Mr. Luo and Mrs. Luo, you don't have this mouth-blessing."

Whether it was meat filling or white flour, they were top-notch precious foods in this era, and ordinary families could sigh that they had no regrets in this life after eating one bite. Jiang Weiming knew very well that a cook could eat some leftovers and scraps of guests, but absolutely could not reach his chopsticks into the main meals of guests.

"Master Jiang, make two more small ones later, one for you and one for Gou Dan. My husband and I can't finish so many pastries," Seeing Liu Tao smiled, looking down at Gou Dan, "Gou Dan has a mouth-blessing today."

"Taotao, Taotao," Gou Dan called Seeing Liu Tao again.

"He really learned a Northern accent from you, Master Jiang," Seeing Liu Tao smiled.

Jiang Weiming smiled and started wrapping the fruit-shaped pastries.

Compared to the ease when stir-frying the filling, Jiang Weiming looked a bit clumsy when wrapping the fruit-shaped pastries, but the overall craftsmanship was okay. One could tell that he had practiced it before but wasn't refined, and was rusty.

Qin Huai watched quietly from the side, and the more he watched, the more he felt that this technique was a bit like what Zheng Siyuan taught him.

Sure enough, such high-difficulty pastries are all inherited in one continuous line, and the techniques are all similar

Soon, one apple-shaped pastry after another, all similar in size, were wrapped.

Jiang Weiming began to apply the coloring.

"Mrs. Luo, would you like to try it too?" Jiang Weiming asked. "Coloring the pastries is quite fun. Back when my second brother was learning to make them, whenever we reached this step, all the brothers in the family would fight to do it."

"My eldest brother also wanted to do the coloring, but he would always yield to his younger brothers. I'm a bit thicker-skinned, so I insisted on brushing one before letting them have a turn."

"May I?" Seeing Liu Tao was pleasantly surprised.

"Of course you may, but you'll need to take off the ring on your hand."

Seeing Liu Tao nimbly removed her ring, picked up a pastry, held it carefully, and began to color it, imitating Jiang Weiming's technique.

The result was very unsatisfactory.

Perhaps fearing that the small brush made of pig bristles would poke a hole in the pastry, Seeing Liu Tao's coloring motions were extremely light. Based on Qin Huai's experience coloring pastries during this time, the final product would likely end up patchy.

A patch of bright red, a patch of light red, a patch with no color at all—in short, it was not good-looking.

Seeing Liu Tao brushed very earnestly, and very slowly.

Qin Huai was watching from the side, enjoying himself, when the air wall appeared.

It nearly sent Qin Huai sprawling on his back.

Qin Huai hurried to run out, only to find that Luo Jun had already put away his newspaper, stood up, and started walking home. He walked very slowly, and on the way, he encountered a peddler carrying a shoulder pole selling maltose, from whom he bought a large bag.

Although they didn't speak the same language—Luo Jun couldn't understand the peddler, and the peddler couldn't understand Luo Jun—money was a universal language.

After Luo Jun pulled out a silver dollar, all language barriers vanished. The peddler was eager to stuff half his basket into Luo Jun's hands, but Luo Jun thought it was too much and only took one bag. The peddler muttered a string of local auspicious phrases and bowed toward Luo Jun's retreating back.

Upon returning home, Luo Jun patted the dust off his clothes, placed the maltose on the table, found a comfortable spot on the sofa, and continued reading his newspaper.

Ten-odd minutes later, Seeing Liu Tao returned carrying a food box. There were fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and she was panting; she had likely jogged back.

"Master Jiang made a new snack today, apple-shaped buns! They're especially delicious. He said they should be eaten while hot, and I was afraid they would get cold on the way, so I ran all the way back," Seeing Liu Tao said, panting as she opened the food box and took out the apple pastries one by one to plate them.

"If you want to eat them this afternoon, call me at the door. They don't taste good once they're cold; they need to be heated in a steamer for three minutes."

Seeing Liu Tao saw the maltose on the table.

"The candy seller knocked on the door today?" Seeing Liu Tao asked with some surprise.

"He did." Luo Jun put down his newspaper. "Didn't you say you hadn't run into him last time? He knocked today, so I just bought a bag. He was muttering away, and I couldn't understand a single word."

"His accent is a bit heavy." Seeing Liu Tao smiled, placed the plate in front of Luo Jun, and opened the oil-paper bag to take out a piece of maltose to eat.

Luo Jun accurately picked out the only one Seeing Liu Tao had brushed from the plate of beautiful apple pastries—the ugly one that looked like an apple that hadn't been dyed properly after falling into a dye vat—and decisively took a bite.

"That one is..." Seeing Liu Tao wanted to stop him, but it was already too late.

"What is it?" Luo Jun asked, knowing the answer. "Is it an ugly apple?"

Seeing Liu Tao was too embarrassed to say that she had brushed this apple herself, so she could only say, "It's a snack Master Jiang didn't make well, a failed one. But white flour is precious, and the meat is precious too, so I didn't think it mattered that it was ugly. I originally intended to bring it back to eat myself."

"A failure while making snacks? It seems I should pay Master Jiang less next time."

"No, it's not... it was... an accident. I might have disturbed Master Jiang, which is why it was a failure." Seeing Liu Tao hurriedly defended him, fearing that her shifting the blame to Jiang Weiming would cause him to lose money.

"But I think this one is quite good-looking." Luo Jun took another bite. "The taste is good. Those other apples are all identical, which is boring. This one has much more personality."

Seeing Liu Tao's eyes lit up instantly.

"Boyan, you think this apple is good-looking?" Seeing Liu Tao lowered her head, feeling a bit embarrassed. "This is actually... one I brushed. Because it was too ugly, I was too embarrassed to tell you."

Luo Jun smiled. "I'm not stupid, of course I could tell."

"Next time you make this filling, you don't need to shape it. Just make them into regular buns. Hu Luobo puree, meat filling, diced mushrooms mixed with diced bamboo shoots—isn't that just bun filling?"

Luo Jun ate the last bite of the bun. "I really like this filling."

*Hiccup. *

Qin Huai let out a silent hiccup.

He also really liked this "dog food."

Qin Huai left the memory.

There might be one more update after midnight; dear readers, you can read it tomorrow.

(End of chapter)