Chapter 107

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Although the patrol officers had left, they had already explained the matter clearly before departing.

That Tang Huo received the news sent by his brother-in-law, and also heard his own father explain the situation; how could he not know that he had wronged Song Miao earlier?

He felt embarrassed, and honestly admitted his mistake, bowing repeatedly with cupped hands, saying sheepishly: "I apologize to the young lady; I truly did not know my father remembered it so wrongly... Alas!"

Song Miao had been splashed with a headful of dirty water for no reason, and was naturally displeased. She said: "Sir, your apology now is heard only by me, but this morning you came to my door with such aggressive momentum to make trouble; on Two-Student Food Lane, hundreds of people saw it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears. People are born with mouths and tongues; once they return, who knows how it will be spread everywhere."

"I alone support my household, earning a living by setting up a stall; I put my heart into everything I make, and I believe I am worthy of the hard-earned money I make. Now, just because of your casual words, my reputation is sullied — what do you intend to do about it?"

That Tang Huo had come to the door together with his neighbor and clan elder brother; they had personally seen the Song family's situation. At this moment, questioned by Song Miao, they all felt ashamed, and none could speak.

Tang Huo said: "I will do as Song Xiaoniangzi said this morning — beat gongs and drums, go to that intersection to apologize to you, and tell everyone in the same alley that it was I who wrongly blamed you, making you carry the pot..."

He apologized repeatedly once more.

The two helpers on the left and right also followed along to apologize together.

Seeing these three admit their mistakes so quickly, with proper attitudes, Song Miao naturally accepted the olive branch, nodded, and agreed not to keep pressing the matter.

That Tang Huo then said: "This disaster was stirred up by me; I should have come to apologize early on, but my old father is still not well, my family is in the countryside, and he has fallen suddenly ill..."

Song Miao was not the sort to be unreasonable. She said: "I will give you a two-day grace period; dragging it out any further will not do!"

The three thanked her repeatedly, hurriedly calling for a carriage, calling for a doctor, and even seeing Song Miao out the door with kind words.

After taking leave, Song Miao had just stepped out of Qiaotou Alley when she saw several people at the alley entrance pacing back and forth, craning their necks.

Upon seeing Song Miao, those several people's eyes all lit up one after another; they came forward and asked tentatively: "Are you Song Xiaoniangzi?"

Song Miao nodded and asked: "May I ask what guidance you aunts and uncles have?"

Her memory was very good; at this moment, with just a single sweep of her gaze, she recognized several of the people opposite as somewhat familiar — they should be the ones who had followed into the Song household this morning to watch the commotion.

"We heard that your Song Ji only needs thirty portions, and whether it's glutinous rice, shaomai, or that snow steamed cake, you can deliver it to the doorstep — is that true or not?"

Song Miao said: "There is such a thing, but it cannot be too far, and you must pay a deposit in advance, lest the food is delivered and then you don't want it."

Everyone nodded; taking advantage of the few pedestrians on either side, they clustered Song Miao to one side, and right there on the street they fished out money from their waists or from their bosoms, counted it up, and began ordering items, one sentence from you, one sentence from me.

Five or six people, and they actually ordered over two hundred portions.

Song Miao recorded each person's needs one by one, repeated the quantities and addresses, and after confirming with each of them, she said to the one who had ordered the most: "Sir, you bought so much, and the glutinous rice is all large portions — can you finish it? Not to mention that glutinous rice easily causes indigestion, and with the weather hot right now, all food is best not kept past noon."

"We can finish it; I'm buying it for those escort guards!"

That man answered.

He was in his forties, looked very capable, not like an escort guard who relies on martial arts and strength to eat, but rather a bit like a steward.

"Originally it was Li Laotaitai who mentioned your skill to me; I live in this Qiaotou Alley and felt it was a bit far, and heard you had to queue, so I was always too lazy to go over. Today I happened to pass by and only then learned that you actually deliver — tomorrow, send according to this first; if it tastes good, I'll keep buying from your household in the future!"

Song Miao agreed, could not help but thank everyone for their patronage, and asked curiously: "That customer Tang said my family's food made his father sick; you didn't know what happened afterward, so how did you still dare to buy my family's breakfast?"

One of the women laughed and said: "We're not stupid; we saw with our own eyes what your kitchen looks like — that's far more reliable than that Big Fool Tang's few headless, tailless sentences of nonsense!"

Another person said: "Moreover, just now the Guan Cha came out and already explained clearly — that Old Man Tang got sick from eating deer meat jerky from outside, and even asked us if we had seen the peddler selling the jerky!"

Song Miao went along with the chat for a few sentences, asking if they had bought jerky to eat; everyone shook their heads.

"Food from those little stalls and peddlers outside — we don't dare buy lightly!"

"That's the reasoning; my family has children, we buy little outside food in a year, just afraid of ruining their stomachs."

"Exactly; if it weren't for seeing your kitchen with our own eyes, and seeing your clean hands and feet, and the Xunpu all ordering breakfast from you, I wouldn't dare buy either!"

— It was actually a blessing in disguise, and she even gained some new customers!

Thus when Song Miao left this Qiaotou Alley, not only had the food wrapped in the bamboo basket on her back for self-vindication not been touched, but underneath there was an additional quite heavy layer of copper coins.

Today she barely counts as having come carrying a black pot, and left clean and white.

The Xunpu people now have this information and have discovered the source of the bad stomachs; they should be able to find the culprit very soon, which also counts as a good deed.

And that Tang Huo promised that once he had time, tomorrow or the day after, he would come to the Food Alley first thing in the morning to apologize; although it cannot fully recover the reputation damaged today, it is at least some amends.

Song Miao felt much more relaxed; on her way home, her steps became light and quick.

The Tang family's Qiaotou Alley is further north; she came here rarely, and many shops she had never seen before; she couldn't help but examine them a few more times. Walking along, she suddenly smelled an extremely sour fermentation smell, mixed with a faint stench; the further forward she went, the stronger the sour smell became, and whether it was habit, the stench instead faded.

Song Miao walked close to the smell source and looked — it turned out there was a shop selling suan pa cai next door, with a large jar placed at the entrance, and a shop assistant was currently scooping things out from inside — sure enough, pointed at the tip and thick at the bottom, they were sour bamboo shoots.

Just like quenching thirst by looking at plums, smelling the scent and seeing those sour bamboo shoots, Song Miao's mouth instantly filled with saliva.

Pingyang Mountain has its own bamboo groves; in winter and spring, bamboo shoots have never been lacking; besides eating fresh shoots, everyone also loves eating sour bamboo shoots.

The one most skilled at this craft is Liu Niangzi; her pickled sour bamboo shoots are both sour and fragrant, and not stinky at all.

But Liu Niangzi often goes down the mountain; sometimes others can't wait and will pickle their own; if they misjudge the timing and technique, more or less a stinky smell will be produced.

When Liu Niangzi returns and discovers that not only are the large jars she set aside for pickling sour shoots all full, but they also reek of sour stench, she bares fangs and claws at the entrance cursing.

The picklers have to shrink their heads and necks, each pretending to be a quail, not daring to speak; not a single one willing to admit it was their hand.

Others go to persuade her, saying the stinky ones are also delicious, they were eaten up in one go; this inevitably draws another round of cursing: "How can stinky ones be worthy of being called sour bamboo shoots" and so on.

This family's sour bamboo shoots have a bit of a stink; they should be over-fermented.

Song Miao couldn't be bothered with all that; unable to resist, she went forward to ask the price, learned there were still several jars in the back that hadn't finished pickling, and bought a small jar from the shop. She picked some shoots from the new jar, and also asked for some white radish pickled in the sour jar, planning to go back and wait a bit more, timing it right to take them out and cook.

With the sour bamboo shoots, she was calculating along the way what to make with them.

Sour bamboo shoot fish is a must; braised duck is also delicious; if she can buy beef, the two paired together taste even better.

There is another that pairs most perfectly — right now around Qingming Festival Festival, they all say "Qingming Festival Festival snails rival a goose"; stir-frying snails with sour bamboo shoots, adding plenty of cornel and mint, no vegetables needed, just soaking up that soup both sour, spicy, and fresh can make you eat a whole bowl of rice.

Taking advantage of the season not yet passed, the snail meat is fat and the fishy smell small, not yet carrying zai zi; not only can they be used to pair with sour bamboo shoots, but the family's abundant mint can also be used to make stuffed snails, also a fine dish.

It just so happens that last time we met, I agreed with that Han Li that before long it will be the day I accept Cheng Zijian's entrustment to host a banquet to thank the teacher.

At the time, Han Li said not to make too much — just three or four simple dishes, everyone eats together, one meal and done — and also told her to pick up whatever was convenient along the way.

After these several visits back and forth, Song Miao could naturally tell the other party wasn't just being polite; since that was the case, she planned to make some seasonal dishes — they might not look like a full banquet spread, but the flavor would only be good, never bad.

She carried the bamboo basket on her back heading back, and seeing the patrol station not far ahead, she spotted Cheng Erniang hurrying over from the main road behind; she hurried up to meet her and called out, "Er Niangzi!"

The other woman turned her head, both startled and delighted, and said, "Young Lady, what are you doing here!"

Then she said, "I sold all the food and went home; one look and I heard Xiao Lian tell what happened afterward — fearing that person wouldn't let it rest, I was truly uneasy, so I said I'd come to the patrol station to see what the situation was."

Song Miao said, "It's already fine."

She then told about the Tang family's household situation, and the two children falling ill, and finally discovering it was the deer meat jerky that was the problem.

Cheng Erniang couldn't help cursing, "Who knows where that black-hearted peddler came from, using such things to harm people!"

Then she said, "Those Tang family people are also too ignorant — a whole blind fuss, blind and deaf, yet they drag us into it; they're pitiable, but also hateful!"

Speaking, she moved to take the bamboo basket from Song Miao's back, saying, "Your shoulders must be aching from carrying it all the way; let me carry it back!"

Song Miao's back was indeed tired, and she didn't fight her for it, only reminding her there was money inside — the deposit for the additional two hundred-plus breakfast orders she had taken on because of this.

Cheng Erniang's face changed at once, beaming with joy, "At least the young lady didn't suffer this bit of hardship for nothing — well deserved!"

The two walked and chatted, and conveniently went to buy some dried goods; passing the fish stall, Song Miao deliberately turned in and bought a big bag of field snails.

Seeing this, Cheng Erniang couldn't help saying, "Snail meat has an earthy smell, hard to cook."

Song Miao smiled, "Snails need to be kept a few days; when cooking, use plenty of oil, lots of mint, add xun guan — then the snail meat will be both fat and fresh; I'll throw in sour bamboo shoots, sour and spicy, you just wait — when you eat it you'll know."

Cheng Erniang listened and listened, and without realizing it her mouth was watering; she hurriedly agreed and didn't mention it further.

The rest of the things were bought, and it was nearly noon, yet lunch still had no plan.

There was still some fresh meat at home, but ever since Song Miao bought the sour bamboo shoots, she'd been craving sour food.

Cheng Erniang and her daughter had been there a while, eating and living together; Song Miao knew their tastes well — they had no dietary restrictions worth mentioning, and their tastes were actually quite heavy.

Even Xiao Lian, young as she was, could already eat spicier food than Song Miao, an adult.

She thought a moment, then simply went around to the chicken-duck-goose stall, asked the stall owner for several sets of chicken offal, turned to Cheng Erniang and said, "Simple lunch; I know Er Niangzi eats innards, Xiao Lian eats them too, right?"

Poor family's children naturally have no picky eating.

The two returned home; Xiao Lian, without needing to be told, judging the time, had already washed the rice and put it on to cook.

In the morning she saw many people come to the house, and that Tang Huo and his two companions had bad attitudes; she was actually very frightened; now seeing Song Miao and Cheng Erniang return, and knowing all was well, she was overjoyed, clustering around the two unwilling to leave, wanting to hear them talk.

Because the sour bamboo shoots weren't ready yet, flavor insufficient, Song Miao also took some sour radish, one shredded, one diced; she cut the chicken kidneys with cross-hatches then into small pieces, split the chicken hearts into four pieces each, sliced the chicken livers according to size; first she blanched them with heavy ginger and a pinch of salt, drained the moisture, then tossed them with pork slices into a wok over high heat for a quick turn, then together with ginger chunks, xun guan, sour radish and sour bamboo shoots, a fierce stir-fry over high flame.

While stir-frying, the whole room was filled with a sour fragrance.

At this time the sour bamboo shoots still weren't pickled enough, flavor lacking; only the sour radish dominated the taste — a near-piercing sourness, combined with the aroma of lard-fried meat and offal, the fragrance of celery, the heat of mustard seed and xun guan.

Because salt was added during blanching, seasoning only needed a little soy sauce, but it was already enough to lift the freshness and enhance the flavor.

After finishing the sour-spicy chicken offal, Song Miao used vegetable oil to quickly stir-fry a dish of mustard greens.

This dish purely eats the clear sweetness of spring mustard greens, used to cleanse the palate.

When the two dishes came out of the wok one after another, Xiao Lian's rice was long ready.

Three people, one meat one vegetable, looking quite simple, but there was meat, there was vegetables, and there was the pork rib clear soup Song Miao carried back in the morning — enough to soothe a day's fatigue.

Adults sat on cushions around the bench.

The smile on Xiao Lian's face never stopped; she snatched the task of serving rice, one hand spooning, eyes secretly watching the sour-spicy chicken offal, especially staring at the chicken hearts in the middle, calculating whether she could get two.

Here Song Miao was already sitting waiting to eat, but the patrol officers and patrol soldiers who had gone to the Tang family had just returned to the patrol station; the ones on duty saw them return and hurriedly said, "Why were you gone so long — someone reported a case at Tonghua Alley — a dead person!"

The patrol station daily encounters petty thieves, brawls, neighborhood disputes; murder cases are, however, not common.

Everyone was startled, and asked, "How did they die?"

Someone else asked, "Was the Military Patrol Office notified??"

"Already arranged for someone to go, but a reply won't come that fast; those few went up to Tonghua Alley and haven't returned yet; the reporter said a young lady died, eight months pregnant, currently one corpse two lives."

For a moment the whole room of people couldn't speak.

That person added, "They say she ate the wrong thing, got a doctor to prescribe medicine, it didn't help, now they're making a fuss wanting to find the peddler who sold the stuff."

After this person finished explaining, he asked, "How did it go with you? Went to Suanzao Alley to Song Xiaoniangzi's place — are the Tang family still making trouble?"

The patrol officer from before hurriedly said, "Nothing to do with Song Xiaoniangzi; it was the Tang family old man himself who ate something bad — the whole family, three people, all same symptoms, vomiting and diarrhea, high fever that won't break — most likely they ate the zhang pa lu pu sold on the street; we're just about to ask the station to deploy manpower to find the culprit..."

His words had just fallen when a patrol officer happened to come in from outside the door; hearing this he said, "Vomiting and diarrhea, high fever that won't break? The pregnant woman who died at Tonghua Alley had the same symptoms!"

?? Thank you my family's kitty Egg Egg for personally delivering me a codeword tool, a small gift of five, thank you dear =3=