Chapter 203

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Kong Fuyang finished speaking and ran off, looking like a fleeing rat, while Song Miao watched him go and couldn't help but laugh.

But though he ran fast, he ultimately couldn't escape underground.

The Second Gate was nearby anyway; before he could hide in a room, Han Li and Lu Wenming had already turned into the courtyard, seeing one standing and one running, Lu Wenming called out first, "Song Xiaoniangzi," and then asked curiously, "What is Kong Fuyang running from?"

Song Miao smiled and covered for him, saying, "Young Master Kong just met me and said he likes goose intestines with bean sprouts, complaining for a long time that the goose grew meat but no intestines, then suddenly realized he might miss the hour for washing up, so he hurried back to his room."

As she spoke, she greeted the two of them again.

Lu Wenming, hearing this, just kept praising, saying, "Your skill is indeed impressive! I've eaten white-cut goose for the first time today, only now knowing goose meat tastes like this when white-cut, and there's also that water spinach, really delicious, what is it paired with and how is it stir-fried? Deliciously surprising!"

"The water spinach is stir-fried with fermented bean curd, Gui Prefecture white fermented bean curd, these two are a perfect match; if eating with porridge, it's best stir-fried soft, saltier, more cooked, even if it's a bit too soft it doesn't matter, but if paired with rice, it must be stir-fried hard, crisp and tender."

Song Miao smiled, then spoke of the goose, saying, "Goose meat isn't only delicious white-cut, other preparations each have their own appeal; last time chatting with Young Master Kong I mentioned I have an excellent roasted goose secret recipe; once back in the Capital, when the weather cools, my family food shop opens, I'll definitely set up several stoves for roasted goose; by then everyone with free time must come support the scene and eat an opening banquet!"

Lu Wenming agreed repeatedly, then counted off months in twos and threes, hurriedly saying, "I originally had some old acquaintances under my master's household; having been out this long, when I return I must gather with them; by then whether Young Lady's food shop is open or not, I'll definitely bring some people over to order a table of good food and dishes!"

He also chuckled, saying, "After tasting your skill, everyone will definitely become regular customers—by then you must give me a teacup of tea!"

Song Miao immediately said, "Why speak so distantly? Surely in Older Brother Lu's heart, I'm the kind only willing to treat you to one teacup?"

She continued, "Soup or meat or vegetables, whether you bring people or not, eat to your heart's content! There are also fruits and small snacks I specially made—I heard Young Master Kong mention several times, repeatedly saying Older Brother likes rich milk curd and loves sweet snacks; I have a method at home, richer in milk fragrance than the richest ordinary curd, and more mellow; right now we're outside, not very convenient; once back in the Capital I'll make a lot at once, best if Older Brother brings his whole family, making your sister-in-law and niece's teeth ache from eating, so they won't think I'm stingy anymore!"

Lu Wenming first waved his hand, laughing and saying "no" "no," then hearing the latter part, he hurriedly said to Han Li, "Leader, leader, look, Young Lady says I call her stingy, clearly she's calling me stingy right now!"

The two were talking here; Han Li had stood aside after greeting earlier; now seeing Lu Wenming begging for mercy here, he only helped say, "There's good food to eat, your sister-in-law and niece at home get benefits, you're only called stingy a few times, what's the matter?"

The three joked a few sentences, but the hour was late, so they parted.

Lu Wenming walked ahead, but Han Li walked a step slower, suddenly saying, "Right, I almost forgot one thing."

Lu Wenming turned around.

Han Li nodded to him, saying, "You go ahead first, no need to delay—I have something to say to Stall Owner Song before returning."

A few steps' distance, Lu Wenming didn't think much of it, answered, and walked ahead first.

Not waiting for the person to walk far, almost right in front of the third person, Han Li casually took down the cloth bundle from his waist and handed it to Song Miao, saying, "Recently having leisure, I made some name seals; this one is for Stall Owner Song—you manage the kitchen daily, grain and vegetables going in and out, grain collection and warehouse entry, often needing to sign names, there are times when brush and ink are inconvenient; having a name seal on your person might be convenient one or two times."

Earlier Kong Fuyang had said it so obviously, how could Song Miao not guess; seeing Han Li give the seal now, she only thought it was needed for official errands, didn't decline, hurriedly thanked him, then reached out to take it, and smiled, saying, "So working under Young Master Kong comes with such excellent additional treatment!"

As she spoke, she untied the purse and poured out a seal from inside.

Kong Fuyang said it was Qingtian stone, but this one in her hand was clearly not Qingtian, light in hand, ice cold, with a small hole polished on top, a red rope threaded through, tied with a slipknot.

The whole seal was only finger-sized; when she turned it to look at the characters, she couldn't help but praise, "What a beautiful seal, thank you for your trouble, Young Master!"

She asked again, "What stone is this? I don't recognize it—it won't be very valuable, will it?"

Han Li said, "It's not any famous stone; a few years ago I followed my teacher traveling around, daily dealing with river channels; this one was picked up by the riverside; at the time I felt the patterns on it were simple and ancient, very suitable for a seal; just this time coming to Hua Prefecture I brought it with me; because I had the idea to carve a seal, I laid out the various stones I had on hand to look, and indeed this piece matches Stall Owner Song's name best."

I don't know if it was Song Miao's illusion; the person opposite spoke and spoke, his voice suddenly became two degrees lower.

"Kong Fuyang and Older Brother Lu's seals both use Qingtian stone, but Stall Owner Song's is just an ordinary stone I picked up on the road—when carving, I actually hesitated, afraid I couldn't present it..."

He still wanted to say more, but saw Song Miao opposite carefully examining the seal in her palm; involuntarily, he had already held his breath.

After all this was the back courtyard, the sky was already dark; though borrowing half a crescent moonlight and a bit of candlelight, it was actually still only half bright.

Song Miao had previously only focused on the characters carved on it; now hearing Han Li's words, she used that half-bright light to carefully look at the patterns on the seal body.

She exclaimed "Ya," asking, "Is this the Yunshui pattern? So unique!"

Her tone was very surprised and delighted.

Han Li's heart immediately settled back into his belly.

He couldn't help but step forward, saying, "Three sides have the Yunshui pattern, and the other side has a swastika character—I thought this character has a very good meaning; carrying it on one's person always makes people happy..."

Song Miao indeed turned to the swastika side, surprised, saying, "It's even five-color ground—such a good thing, Young Master really is willing to give it to me?"

Han Li only felt his palm hot, and a bit damp, almost unable to hold the lantern steady.

He heard himself say: "I'm afraid you wouldn't like it."

Song Miao took her own purse, put the stone seal inside, smiling, saying, "Especially like it!"

She also returned Han Li's empty cloth bundle, saying, "Thank you, Young Master, for giving me such a good seal; I'll start using it tomorrow—once the matters in Hua Prefecture are finished and we return to the Capital, presumably there's no need to return it, right?"

Han Li just smiled; actually he had already opened his mouth, the words at his lips, but upon reflection felt a bit frivolous, afraid of leaving a bad impression on the person opposite; finally he only said, "Naturally no need—already given away, from now on it belongs to Stall Owner Song forever."

Speaking to this point, he asked a few more words about the kitchen matters during the day.

The two chatted for a while, about to return to their rooms respectively, when Han Li then asked: "When your family food shop opens for business, Young Master Song today only invited Older Brother Lu; I don't know if you also prepare to invite me to your door to eat a banquet and congratulate?"

Song Miao was stunned for a moment, then laughed, saying, "After Young Master returns to the Capital, wasn't it agreed that every day you must come to the door to eat?"

Han Li was stunned.

"We've long been eating together; I still want to shamelessly ask Young Master to write a central hanging scroll; after all, calligraphy is valuable and can really hold the scene—do I need to be invited separately?"

The night could very well conceal a person's expression.

Han Li subconsciously lowered the lantern in his hand, not wanting to shine too much on the smile on his face.

He said: "I was too serious—only Hua Prefecture still needs wrapping up; I'm afraid when I return to the Capital it will definitely be later than you by a while; I don't know if it's ten days or longer—if you can wait, that central scroll I'll write after I return, how about it?"

Song Miao agreed very readily, smiling: "Just for that one good piece of calligraphy, I must definitely wait for Young Master to return before opening the shop—it won't be that fast; being able to open this shop by autumn would already be not bad!"

The two returned to their respective rooms.

Han Li had just entered the door when he saw Kong Fuyang had taken a stack of draft paper onto the desk, holding a seal in his hand, dipped in ink pad, carefully stamping the seal one by one on the back of the paper; stamping one, admiring for a while, then stamping another, admiring again.

He walked closer and saw that what was laid out on the desk were all the other person's private manuscripts written recently; he couldn't help but ask: "Late at night, earlier when in the government office you kept shouting tired, saying once back you'd lean on the pillow and sleep; now it's you not sleeping; isn't stamping this seal tiring?"

Kong Fuyang didn't lift his head, but his mouth complained: "Who told you to only give me this seal when you were leaving; the structure is carved so well, the stone is also beautiful; I came back and met Song Xiaoniangzi, took it out to show her; she praised it, praised the brushwork, praised the stone, praised the knife work; enough; now facing the lamp I repeatedly look, looking at the places she praised; the more I look, the more spirited I am; not a bit sleepy."

"Next time if there's such a good thing, you'd better give it early in the morning; spend the day on the desk, then at night you won't be so obsessed; giving it late at night, do you still expect me to sleep!"

Han Li paid no mind to his talk of sooner or later, suddenly asking, "Who else have you shown this chapter to?"

"I'm not stupid!" Kong Fuyang finally looked up, casting Han Li an annoyed glance, "No one else has it, only us three, so naturally I was just showing off to those who have it, and I repeatedly and seriously warned them not to let it spread outside, lest..."

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped, and when he looked up again, he saw Han Li quietly watching him, his mouth twitching a little, wishing he could slap his own chatty mouth.

On the other side, Song Miao returned to her room, but was likewise not in a hurry to sleep.

She first took out the seal, and by the oil lamp light in the room, played with it for a while, stamped it twice more to check the ink absorption and brush strokes, admired it for a moment, then put it away, took out paper and brush, first calculated the time arrangement once, then wrote down once the things to do when returning to the Capital.

What she came to Hua Prefecture to manage was the food for the laborers on the river channel; once the new and old river channels were dug through and connected, and the embankments and dams were mostly finished, and such a large number of workers were no longer needed, her assignment would naturally be settled.

The date had long been agreed upon; judging by the current situation, it would likely be several days later than originally planned, but it didn't matter much.

Besides her and Big Pancake, several students also needed to return early, but Han Li and Wu Gong's matters with the Du Shui Jian party had to wait until after the flood season before they could return to the Capital.

These past few days, not only Wu Gong, but many students below, and several officials from the Du Shui Jian who had come along, secretly or alone, or in groups, came to the door to make vows to Song Miao, asking her to stay as long as possible and continue to look after their stomachs, so that these days would always have something to look forward to.

But the roads in Hua Prefecture were all open, and the water had receded; even though the Capital was downstream and would be delayed, by the time the business here was finished, the water would surely have receded, and the roads and houses would mostly have been cleaned up seven or eight parts full, no longer affecting business.

For Song Miao, compared to that, naturally the stalls and food shops in the Capital were more important; she could only use the saying that there is no feast that does not end, saying that once she returned to the Capital, she could still often come to the door to eat, to comfort them.

And words like these didn't even need to be mentioned; Han Li had already thought out the arrangements behind, and as early as half a month ago had specially told her that he had found an escort bureau in the city, and had the escort team find two female escorts, who would accompany her, Big Pancake, and several students back to the Capital together.

Calculating the days, returning would likely be between June and July; such hot weather was completely different from winter and spring, and preparations had to be made in advance to see whether to take off the baked buns, or make fewer, and find some refreshing category to replace them.

Also taking advantage of the season, it was exactly the time for green plums; by the time she returned, there might not be any left, but fortunately Hua Prefecture was also a thoroughfare; if all else failed, she could find a day or two, buy some green plums back, bring Big Pancake to find spare time to marinate them, and then take them back to the Capital.

Those marinated by herself were still very different from those marinated outside; in future cooking, whether sweet and sour spare ribs, sweet and sour pig trotters, sour duck, plum fish, and so on, they would all be useful; there was also green plum drink, and even when eating roast duck or roast goose in the future, having this flavor could also be made into a dipping sauce.

Besides green plums, there were apricots, cherries, and cucumbers, also coming into season soon; some that could be made or processed should be made somehow, whether marinated or pickled, there would always be a day in the future when they could be used.

Turning it over and over in her mind, seeing it was getting late, she then hurriedly rested; early the next morning, she went as usual to the kitchen inside to do kitchen duty.

Seeing that the flood season was approaching, recently everyone everywhere was rushing work, the laborers on the river channel were increasing day by day, and the portions of food to be prepared in the kitchen were getting more and more; although everything had been arranged long ago, and everything was done step by step, and everyone in the kitchen was obedient, after all they were always mentally tense.

Song Miao was busy all day, seeing that everything was smooth and without accident, only then did she relax; seeing that the Yi Guan Guan was right ahead, she pondered that tonight she would soak the dried lettuce stems, make a plate of stir-fried cured meat, and another plate stir-fried plain with vegetable oil; she didn't want to eat rice at night, just drink porridge; she had just finished speaking to Big Pancake, and the latter was happy, saying he would immediately go in and ask Chef Gong for a portion of food to make porridge.

Speaking of which, sure enough, as soon as he got off the cart body, he ran like a puff of smoke toward the back kitchen.

Song Miao walked slowly a few steps; just as she entered the front hall, she heard someone call out with a smile, "Song Xiaoniangzi is finally back—you've made us wait so long!"

She recognized the voice as familiar, and looking in the direction of the sound, she saw at a table two people sitting, one small and one large; the small one was cute, the large one was annoying.