Chapter 193

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

At this time, there was a saying among the common folk, called "Eat an egg on the Start of Summer, and your strength grows by half."

Because in summer it is easy to suffer from food stagnation, abdominal distension, and fatigue, especially the elderly and children even more so; people of the time called it "Zhu Xia" (Summer Affliction), so there was a custom: on the day of the Start of Summer, they would put well-boiled chicken eggs into bags, hang one and eat one, praying for health and peace in summer, seeking a good omen.

Hearing that Zhang Siniang had come to deliver Start-of-Summer eggs, Song Miao smiled and went forward to welcome her, and also hurriedly thanked her.

She took that basket, only feeling it was heavy inside; opening it to look, there were fully twenty or thirty chicken eggs, and also a teapot; she couldn't help saying: "You really sent too much; nowadays eggs aren't cheap either, it's too much expense."

Zhang Siniang would only repeat the two words "not much" back and forth.

Since it was already cooked food, and moreover a kindness specially delivered to the door, naturally she could not refuse to accept it.

But Song Miao still couldn't help asking again: "Did you keep enough for yourselves? Is there still any left to eat? Do you want to take some back?"

Zhang Siniang hurriedly said: "My family has some too! Three per person! The several little ones today spent the whole day hanging their pouches running around, fighting eggs everywhere, who knows how proud they were!"

She also said: "Today I received the Young Lady's reward, and my brother also got the reward of thirty wen; the whole family is happy, and it happens to be the Start of Summer, so my sister-in-law also told me to come deliver meat; I said if I deliver meat, the Young Lady definitely won't accept it, better to deliver eggs; there are many people here with the Young Lady, divide them up, and there's no fear of not finishing them!"

Song Miao hurriedly waved her hand, smiling: "It's not my reward, it's the government's reward from the river works; moreover, it's because you made great merit that you got it, all thanks to you few being careful! I'm the one who should thank you!"

Zhang Siniang's face instantly flushed red, she said: "What merit is this? It's just following the rules the Young Lady set before, doing the work, receiving materials and checking carefully, looking at both outside and inside, the seal especially must be checked; even if we hadn't discovered it, when kneading dough others would certainly have discovered it too, or the Young Lady herself would have smelled the taste was off!"

Song Miao saw that Zhang Siniang's face grew redder the more she spoke, smiling she said: "Siniang did the work, made the merit, why can't she be praised?"

She again lifted the basket in her hand, saying: "Many thanks for your thoughtfulness, sending such a good gift; today I also bought some plums and apricots, in a moment you take some back, for the little ones to eat and play with."

Seeing this, Zhang Siniang hurriedly followed forward, snatched the basket into her hands, saying: "I'll carry it for the Young Lady — to the kitchen, right?"

The two returned to the kitchen together.

At this time, Dabing was also in the kitchen, just wiping the stove top.

Seeing everything had already been tidied up seven or eight parts full, Song Miao called him over, put the basket on the table, saying: "Siniang sent many eggs; you alone get two, just right for fighting eggs — the rest, trouble you to take and distribute to everyone later, alright?"

She also pointed at the teapot, saying: "This also has the new tea she brewed."

Dabing was both surprised and delighted, hurriedly thanked Zhang Siniang, but still hesitated, facing Song Miao saying: "Only children fight eggs! Young Lady Song, I'm already this old, let's not fight eggs, alright? Besides, there's no one to fight with me..."

How could Song Miao not hear that the last sentence was the key point? She pursed her lips and smiled: "I'll fight with you; since childhood I've never lost at fighting eggs!"

Dabing instantly grew ambitious, hurriedly saying: "Young Lady wait, wait for me to come back!"

Speaking, he indeed put the basket on the ground, himself squatting down following it, carefully selected a few eggs with round heads and even bodies, tucked them into his bosom, only then picked up the basket and ran off.

Song Miao wanted to stop him from taking the basket, but Dabing ran while turning his head shouting: "I'll be back in a blink!"

Zhang Siniang hurriedly said: "It's fine, I'm not in a hurry to go back either."

Seeing this, Song Miao poured her tea, and also said: "You sit a while, I'll go and come right back."

Speaking, she took a basket, went to the inner room to get fruit.

That Zhang Siniang agreed readily, but then as soon as she saw Song Miao leave, she immediately put down the tea cup in her hand, stood up and went to find those two old acquaintance water vats, familiarly opened the wooden lids, saw inside was indeed already empty by more than half, herself took the carrying pole and water buckets, carried water away.

By the time Song Miao had packed half a basket of plums, and also used a net bag to carefully divide apricots into two small bags and came out, she saw Zhang Siniang just carrying a pole with two buckets of water entering the door.

And Zhang Siniang looked up and saw Song Miao, rushed to say: "Young Lady don't decline; I just can't sit idle, and moreover I'm following you to learn skills; if I don't do work and help out, where would the chance to perform come from?"

After carrying water, she then sat down again to talk with Song Miao.

Because recently Zhang Siniang has been studying cooking very diligently, at home she also often ponders, in her heart she already had many questions; now getting the chance, she hurriedly asked.

Song Miao answered each one carefully in detail.

Asked about kneading dough, Song Miao told her the differences between cold water, warm water, and hot water kneading, and also said: "If you want to make those small rolled pancakes like last time, hot water kneading works, warm water kneading also works; warm water kneaded is soft with chew, hot water kneaded is even more tender and soft, just depends on your own preference."

Asked about baking flatbread, Song Miao said: "Best is high heat, thin pancake; if low heat, it's very easy to bake the pancake hard and stiff."

Because they spoke of the vegetables rolled inside the small pancakes, Song Miao also said: "I sometimes see some stall owners outside who really like to mix vegetables together, put hot water underneath, sell for a whole day; actually I've compared and tried at home myself, instead vegetables kept warm like this spoil most easily, not only that, cold dishes also spoil most easily."

After she finished answering, she asked: "Siniang, are you thinking of setting up a stall outside to sell small pancakes?"

Zhang Siniang hurriedly shook her head, saying: "Don't dare, don't dare — this time I asked, because last time the Young Lady had us bake pancakes, stuffed with pig head meat, it was really delicious; I wanted to know where I went wrong."

She also said: "Not hiding it from the Young Lady, me and my sister-in-law previously went out to set up a stall, selling these small pancakes with vegetables; business wasn't good; if too many vegetables prepared, they easily spoiled; if too few, customers came and saw they didn't have what they wanted, and left again."

"I did that one round of business, every night couldn't sleep, never dared close my eyes, afraid of rain meaning fewer people, afraid of heat spoiling vegetables, afraid of cold needing charcoal to warm vegetables."

Song Miao then asked: "There were also happy times, right? When business was good, customers ate and thought it good, praised your skill, weren't you happy?"

Zhang Siniang shook her head saying: "When business was good, I just calculated that day's earnings could cover several days' losses, couldn't be happy; when business was bad, it was even more unbearable; from that time, I've had a bit of fear of doing business, single-mindedly thinking finding a job is better."

"But right now, getting into any restaurant or eatery isn't easy, they're all apprentices who've followed since childhood."

She spoke to here, looked at Song Miao, endured and endured, finally couldn't endure, saying: "Young Lady's place, truly doesn't take apprentices? I heard you have a food shop in the Capital, sooner or later it will open, you'll always need people for rough work, right? Better to use the familiar than the unfamiliar; the Young Lady has watched me these many days, do you think I can be used, is my character acceptable?"

Ever since Ma Shenzǐ brought this sister-in-law Zhang Siniang through the door, she has always spoken little, done much, her mouth not as good as her sister-in-law; today already counts as the most talkative time.

Song Miao saw her constrained appearance, knew this must be after mustering enormous courage that she opened her mouth; thought a bit, told her own current debt situation, and also said: "Your character is very good, also extremely enterprising; only I really can't afford to support a person."

Zhang Siniang only hesitated a moment, then seriously said: "I don't want wages, I'm willing to write a contract..."

Song Miao laughed: "Where would a fool come from, don't you know what 'a single wen stumps a hero' means?"

She also said: "You say it lightly now, but you don't know the hardship of leaving your native well and village; at that time, alone in a strange place with no relatives, helpless when things happen; if my business can't continue, you won't even have travel money to return home..."

"Moreover I heard Ma Shenzǐ say, you have a happy event at year's end; at that time all the wedding preparations, won't you be busy? Afraid you won't be able to stay long before having to come back."

Zhang Siniang instead instantly caught the key point in her words, excitedly asked: "Then according to the Young Lady's meaning, if I'm not afraid of leaving my native well and village, don't need to worry about that wedding preparation, can follow you long-term in the future, the Young Lady is willing to take me in?"

Song Miao saw she had completely run off track, couldn't help feeling helpless, smiled saying: "If I want to hire someone to help, naturally I'd like someone like you; diligent, quick, meticulous, enterprising, every aspect is a strength..."

"I'm not good at speaking..."

"Those who eat by skill, speaking well is just icing on the cake; not having it doesn't matter much — it's just that your thinking like this is truly too rash."

"You've worked with me for half a month, feel I have various benefits, but don't know that right now I'm working for the government, naturally everything is generous; when we return to the food shop, every penny and fraction is my own money, I'm also just an ordinary merchant, I must calculate every fraction..."

Song Miao spoke a whole passage, Zhang Siniang only nodded, agreeing to everything.

After agreeing, she asked the same question again: if she could accept all those conditions, could she follow Song Miao as an apprentice, and even if not an apprentice, could she work at the Song Family Eatery?

Song Miao said: "I don't need people right now. When things get easier and the eatery is open, I'll send word when hiring—send the letter to the Yi Guan Guan. If you're still of this mind, think it over then. How does that sound?"

Zhang Siniang, upon hearing this, nodded eagerly and sighed: "I only hope Miss Song's eatery opens soon!"

She added: "While you're still in Hua Prefecture, I'll study hard these days. If I get a chance to go to the Capital, I can lend a hand right away. Best if, in two or three months, I can cook on my own!"

Just then, Da Bing returned carrying a basket.

Seeing his dejected look, Song Miao smiled: "A blink of an eye today feels long—what happened? Who bullied our Little Shifu Da Bing?"

Da Bing took a moment to react, then blushed even more. He pulled two chicken eggs from the small cloth pouch at his waist and placed them before Song Miao, ashamed: "Earlier I said I'd fight eggs with you, but when I went to deliver things at the back, I let it slip to Guiren Wu, and he got interested too, wanting to fight eggs with the others."

"Who knew his egg was hardest—he won seven or eight times in a row. I couldn't help but join in, lost every egg I fought, and in the end both eggs were broken. I can't fight eggs with Niangzi Song anymore!"

Song Miao laughed, picked up the two intact eggs before her, gave one to Da Bing, and said: "I'll come back later to fight eggs with you."

Then to Zhang Siniang: "It's not early. I'll see you part of the way."

Speaking, she paused suddenly: "There are still plenty of Braised Head Shrimp in the pot. Only two people haven't returned, so they can't eat that much. You'd better take some back, scoop it over noodles—perfect for a late-night snack, how about it?"

She added: "Going back and forth, carrying so much water—you might go hungry tonight."

Zhang Siniang knew she should refuse to be polite, but the words "no need" had already reached her lips when she watched Miss Song Xiaoniang open the large pot, revealing large shrimp red and soaked in rich thick juice, glazed with sauce, and the domineering pork bone soup exposing marrow. For a moment, besides thanking her and saying "how could I be so embarrassed," she could say nothing else.

Finally she said: "I only brought a few eggs and tea, yet I'm taking so much from you, Niangzi!"

Song Miao said a few words with a smile, served her a bowl, covered it with a lid, put it in the food box, and saw her to the door. Still wanting to see her off, Zhang Siniang shyly said: "Niangzi, seeing me to here is enough."

Speaking, she pointed to a man sitting on a stone not far outside the Yi Guan Guan door: "He's the one from year's end, surnamed Wang, third in his family. I call him Sanlang. He happened to pass by and came to pick me up along the way."

Song Miao looked. Seeing the man looked honest, clearly a good person's face, and hearing Ma Shenzǐ say he often saw people off early and picked them up late, very reliable, she felt much more at ease. She stepped forward to greet him, gave a few instructions, told both to be careful on the road, and then they bade farewell.

She returned to the house, first settled today's expenses, deducting the portion of Braised Head Shrimp and pork bone soup Zhang Siniang had just taken, counting it as her own treat, not on the public account. Then she took another sheet of paper and brush, and wrote down the events of what had happened in the kitchen today.

Regarding this matter, she drafted an explanation, and also wrote a set of rules on how to increase prevention in the future and how to respond after discovery.

Since it was her own territory and she had everything well in hand, writing came especially smoothly—done in one breath, without a single correction.

When she finished writing, Song Miao let it dry for a moment, folded it, put it in her sleeve, and went out the door.

By now the sky was completely dark. The others had long returned from the river, finished eating and drinking tea, and even fought eggs once, but two eggs remained—Han and Kong had not yet returned.

Poisoning and brawling were both major matters. Even an official like Cen Dezhang couldn't settle them with a few words. Song Miao had already prepared for them to return late, so it wasn't strange. She sent Da Bing to sleep first, then stood in the back courtyard, gazing at the moon for a long while, before spreading a handkerchief on the stone steps and sitting down.

As soon as she sat, something round rolled between her legs and belly.

Song Miao reached out and touched it—it was the boiled egg from her purse.

Today was the Beginning of Summer. Only a crescent eyebrow moon hung overhead, not even a full moon. Holding an egg, she couldn't help but remember a certain year long ago, also the Beginning of Summer, also a new moon. She was small then, sitting on the little wooden horse Uncle Xu made, holding an egg, truly unbeatable in egg fights all over Pingyang Mountain.

Only much, much later did she learn the egg in her hand was no ordinary egg.

"When you were little, you cried as soon as you lost. Back then you were the only child on the mountain, and everyone pitied you, so I came up with a plan—others' eggs were boiled only once, but yours, I boiled again and again, until it was very hard."

"Boiled again and again—can the egg still taste good?"

Her mother from those days smiled slyly: "Who knows. Anyway, they all went to your father."