Chapter 222: Miao Chu Chapter 224: Along the Way

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Seeing He Qi eager to kill and pluck chickens, Song Miao only smiled and said, "No rush yet; there will always be something for Young Master to help with."

She first looked at the various herbs wrapped in the thick moss, examined them carefully, picked out agastache leaves, fragrant willow, schizonepeta, and large coriander, setting aside two she couldn't identify.

Now in Bitter Summer, no one could eat much, so naturally some appetizing dishes were needed.

The most appetizing was naturally sour and spicy flavors.

Now with so many herbs from Shanxian, and that black-boned chicken clucking and calling, Song Miao found it hard not to think of a regional dish called Ghost Chicken.

This dish was sour and spicy, excellent for whetting the appetite; though ingredients were incomplete, making do could imitate seven or eight parts of the flavor, which was already enough to go with rice.

She was thinking about pairings when He Qi at the side shouted impatiently, "Finally Song Xiaoniangzi is back, and we happen to meet Brother Zijian again, plus another Liang child; I'll be the host and treat everyone to a meal!"

He said this, then looked at Song Miao apologetically, "It's just that the cook who does the work is being put out!"

Cheng Erniang and Cheng Zijian almost in unison said, "How could we let Young Master treat us!"

By now Xiao Lian had come out from behind, drying her hands, and listened at a loss.

The two young ones weren't qualified to speak; one looked at her mother, the other at Song Miao.

For a moment Cheng Erniang also hurriedly looked at Song Miao.

Though the black-boned chicken was somewhat expensive, it wasn't hard to buy; what was rare were those many herbs.

Song Miao smiled and said, "Young Master can treat us another day; I've just returned to the Capital and also wanted to treat everyone to a simple meal—this black-boned chicken and herbs I'll shamelessly ask for, counting it as a gift; we'll talk about future exchanges later; today let me be the host, how about it?"

She took the favor upon herself, and everyone returned her kindness; now knowing He Qi's goodwill without owing him a favor, though He Qi hadn't treated them, it was as if he had, so all were delighted and everyone agreed.

The matter settled, Cheng Erniang hurriedly set out the basket in her hand, saying, "When I came back I bought some vegetables, originally thinking Young Lady could rest today and I would cook..."

Song Miao went over and saw two gourds, a large bunch of garlic sprouts, and a piece of pork.

The gourd was a large gourd, and the pork was Mei Tou Meat, slightly more expensive than other meats, but compared to the black-boned chicken and many rare herbs, it naturally wasn't worth mentioning, so Cheng Erniang had previously been too embarrassed to speak.

Those who cook all have their practiced hands; the less skilled one is in this, the more single their practiced hand.

Song Miao and Cheng Erniang were already very familiar; seeing this combination, she guessed she was mostly going to make stir-fried garlic sprouts with meat, then braise the gourd in sauce.

Both were good dishes, but the weather was too hot now; stir-fried and braised dishes easily became greasy.

Song Miao thought for a moment, then asked around, and indeed everyone said they didn't want to eat rice, preferring porridge.

So Cheng Erniang went to start the fire and wash rice, North Branch led the Horse to the back courtyard first to tidy up, Cheng Zijian originally wanted to carry water, but Cheng Erniang called out "Slow down" to stop him, and then, hiding from others, said to his younger brother, "You go chop wood! Every time you carry water you get the ground all wet; in the past it was fine, but now there are guests, we can't have people stepping in wet feet!"

Cheng Zijian wanted to retort, but was powerless, and slunk away.

For a moment only the two young ones remained, one big and one small, waiting expectantly for Song Miao to assign tasks.

Xiao Lian hurriedly asked, "Sister, do we need to peel garlic today?"

Song Miao had no choice but to give her a handful.

Knowing waiting idly was boring, she thought for a moment, first arranged Liang Yan to help wash vegetables, then gave him a knife, entrusting the important task of peeling the gourd skin to He Qi.

Finally everyone had a task, and they went off happily and harmoniously.

After arranging everyone, seeing the fire was lit, Song Miao then began to work.

There was already hot water on the Stove Top; she carried the chicken to the Back Courtyard, killed it, bled it, plucked its feathers, all in one go, calling for someone who had taken a small stool to sit behind; one peeling skin, one peeling garlic, one washing vegetables watched with eyes wide open.

Especially He Qi, seeing the chicken feathers "Scrubbed la" fall away in a large patch, then "Scrubbed la" again another large patch; in a short while, a whole chicken lay naked in the basin.

The feathers came off so fast and clean that the onlookers felt it was simply a pleasure, making him wish to immediately conjure up ten or eight chickens and ask Song Miao to pluck feathers again, this time he must get close to watch.

When Song Miao did things, she was always single-minded.

The black-boned chicken differed from other chicken breeds, being smaller in body; this chicken, after feathers and innards were removed, still weighed over three jin, already considered large.

She washed and cleaned the chicken, divided it into two, one half more, one half less.

She boiled a pot of water, added ginger slices, tsaoko, and a handful of raw rice, put more than half the chicken into cold water to cook until done, then took it out and plunged it into ice water—the chicken broth was kept to cook the gourd later.

The other small half was chopped into small pieces; soaked dried shiitake and red dates in warm water, and with ginger strips laid flat at the bottom of a plate, steamed over water—this was for the child, adults could eat it too.

One chicken, two dishes; with the meat ready, it was the turn of the vegetables.

Cheng Erniang was very good at buying; the garlic sprouts she picked were very tender; Song Miao didn't plan to stir-fry them with meat, but prepared a cold dish called Cold Tossed Garlic Sprout Shreds.

After steaming the chicken, while the stove and pot were hot, she first boiled another pot of water, added a little oil, blanched the garlic sprouts for a while, and when they were just about cooked through, she took them out and plunged them into cold water; after that, she entrusted them to He Qi and the two children, asking them to use bamboo skewers to split each from the root into four, tearing them strand by strand into shreds, while she freed her hands to mix the sauce.

Sichuan pepper, evodia fragments, mustard seeds, and minced garlic were placed at the bottom of a bowl; hot oil was heated and poured over them.

The hot oil sizzled, releasing the numbing fragrance of Sichuan pepper, the spicy fragrance of evodia fragments and mustard seeds, and a touch of garlic fragrance; the aroma drew Cheng Erniang, who was chopping meat, to turn and look, and she couldn't help asking, "Young Lady, what are you making?"

"A fragrant numbing sauce, for cold tossing."

Cheng Erniang tasted the name and immediately said, "So apt; isn't it fragrant enough to numb a person!"

Song Miao smiled, waited for the hot oil to cool a little, then added soy sauce, fragrant vinegar, aged vinegar, salt, and white sugar to it.

Just then He Qi came out holding a basin of garlic sprout shreds; Song Miao poured the sauce over them, tossed evenly with chopsticks, covered it, put it in a wooden bucket, and submerged the whole thing in the Well.

One steamed chicken, one cold-tossed chicken, one cold-tossed garlic sprout shreds, one stuffed gourd meat soup—four dishes in all; normally even Song Miao alone would take half an hour, now with more people it was easier, but the speed wasn't much faster.

Indeed, she always cooked by seizing every gap and multitasking, already extremely efficient; the time spent was entirely the time for ingredients to cook, fundamentally impossible to speed up.

Half an hour later, all the dishes were served one after another.

Though only four dishes, each portion was generous; on the table red, white, green, yellow, various colors vying with each other, looking lively and beautiful, and the aromas were all different.

So everyone washed their hands to eat.

The staple was white porridge.

Considering He Qi and Cheng Zijian still had classes in the afternoon and feared they might get hungry midway, the porridge was cooked thick; once cooked, the whole pot was poured into water; by now it was half-cooled, just right for eating.

Once Song Miao invited them to start, the others either went for the Ghost Chicken first, or eyed the stuffed gourd meat, or ate the steamed chicken; only He Qi, with his first chopstick, went for the cold-tossed garlic sprout shreds.

Nothing else, I tore it myself!

The moment a chopstickful of garlic sprout shreds was just delivered to his mouth, before he even had time to eat, the fragrance had already made He Qi shiver.

Garlic sprouts themselves are very fragrant; that fragrance resembles garlic yet not garlic cloves, lacking the pungent punch of garlic cloves, fresher, gentler. At this moment, torn into shreds and coated full of sauce — the Sichuan pepper in the sauce thoroughly activated by hot oil, a wave of numbing fragrance.

When he finally bit down, his teeth immediately sensed a peculiar crispness.

Garlic sprouts have a membrane on the outermost layer; old garlic sprouts have a thick white membrane, biting into them can even feel a bit resistant to the teeth. Even tender garlic sprouts, when teeth penetrate, there is a slight hesitation.

But now each stalk was torn into four tiny strips following the grain, the white membrane reduced to a pitiful trace. Teeth arrive, and there is only crisp tenderness, chewing is all "crunch-crunch" sounds.

An invincibly refreshing mouthful.

Cool, both sour and spicy, salty with a returning sweetness.

Two vinegars harmonized, sour enough and bright; the Xun Guan seeds added well, the spiciness also sufficiently distinct.

Right now garlic sprouts are in season, peak season, tender and alive, sweet and silky.

That sweetness is a kind that extremely provokes appetite; a bit richer and it would be overly fragrant, a bit lighter and it would be too faint. It sits right between the two, and thanks to Song Miao's perfectly timed blanching, it cut off that garlic pungency, preserving crisp tenderness and sweetness to the maximum.

The fragrance of sauce-coated garlic sprouts is both fierce and overbearing; chew a couple of times and it occupies your mouth, like some barbarian general, wherever it goes it plants flags and claims the territory.

Once swallowed into the belly, from tongue to palate, then to throat, up to nasal cavity, down to intestines and stomach, the Mixed-Ball General waves that rich fragrance patrolling and rampaging everywhere, with the posture of "if you don't praise my fragrance I won't leave, come chase me out if you can, chase me and I still won't leave."

But such fragrance, fundamentally cannot be chased away.

After eating, the mouth is full of aftertaste, and that wave of Sichuan pepper spicy fragrance shrinks in the back, timidly hiding in the mouth and nasal cavity finally popping up to greet you: "Hey, I'm still here!"

He Qi, one chopstick after another, mixed cold tossed garlic sprout shreds into porridge, appetite opened and opened again, long forgotten what "no appetite" meant.

Not only He Qi had his appetite opened, but also Cheng Erniang across from him.

She was too embarrassed to randomly pick at dishes, so she could only set upon the ghost chicken before her.

That chicken skin was a color she had never seen before; if not for hearing Song Miao explain this chicken is called black-boned chicken, entirely gray-black in appearance, she truly would not have dared put chopsticks to it.

But once in the mouth, it made her spirit revive.

Both sour-refreshing and salty-spicy, yet especially fresh.

The rich sourness of lime still carries the unique fragrance of citrus; it is fruit sourness, though rich, not piercing. The spiciness of Xun Guan seeds, the exotic fragrance of cilantro, aromatic willow, schizonepeta, mint garlic cloves etc. chopped and pounded out with stone pestle — all this is to set off the flavor of the black-boned chicken.

Chicken meat torn into tiny strips, very easy to absorb flavor; itself firm, chicken raised long enough, meat has chew, long boiled neither mushy nor tough.

Soaked in ice water, skin extremely springy-crisp, chicken meat even tighter.

This chicken is full of chicken flavor; chewing and chewing, even though the mouth is full of sour-spicy seasoning, the chicken's sweetness and umami still drill out from within, more and more the more you eat.

Such chicken, steamed, is yet another eating experience.

Shiitake, Dang Shen, red dates; the juice steamed out is both umami and sweet. Red date and Dang Shen sweetness are both warm and mellow; chicken meat also fragrant. Chopped by Song Miao into tiny pieces, long steamed, eating has texture yet not to the point of being unable to bite through.

Two children took spoons, you yield to me I yield to you ladling that sweet soup to drink, then you push me I push you letting the other eat the chicken leg piece.

And Song Miao uniquely loved bottle gourd stuffed with meat.

Bottle gourd also called calabash gourd, also in season, very clear-sweet. Cut into one-fen thick slices, first cut not through, second cut severs, the middle perfectly stuffed with minced meat.

Pork fresh-sweet, bottle gourd clear-sweet, the boiled soup flavor must not be too beautiful.

Today is a casual meal, not particular about anything; Bei Zhi was called up to the table by He Qi, but also not stopping for a moment, from time to time using serving chopsticks to distribute dishes to people at the table.

He gave Cheng family siblings ghost chicken, gave the two children steamed chicken, gave Song Miao the bottle gourd stuffed meat farthest from her. Busy until the end, seeing everyone had eaten, a moment later couldn't finish it all, and everyone told him not to busy himself, only then satisfiedly sat down to shovel his own rice and dishes.

A table of people each eating their own dishes, originally a casual meal; didn't expect two appetizers brought up, eating to the later stage, even Cheng Erniang couldn't help but sigh: "Had I known I would have cooked rice!"

At the banquet they drank hawthorn leaf tea; originally ice was already chiseled ready, He Qi simply had no leisure to drink green plum dew; eating to the end, also no stomach capacity to drink anymore.

Seeing the hour about right, He Qi citing business, took leave first; Song Miao then took out a porcelain bottle and gave it to him.

"Last time I heard Young Master say you like sweet-sour taste, so I specially made a bottle of green plum dew. Originally ripe-pickled, flavor though slightly insufficient, already barely edible. This return I brought nothing else, only this one small bottle as a gift."

He Qi hurriedly thanked, also didn't use Bei Zhi, happily hugging it himself onto the horse. Just now bid farewell, also said in a few days would come again, if in time, good to let Song Miao's new foods be taste-tested and so on.

Waiting until master and servant two riders went far, Cheng Zijian then embarrassedly said: "I originally came to deliver a message; who would have thought I became here to scrounge a meal."

Also said: "Song Stall Owner asked about Chen Fuzi. I went to inquire. These few days he is not in the school; was invited to Jixian Yuan. Heard it will be next month before he can return. Don't know what matter? If urgent, I after school today will go a trip, pass a message for you!"

Cheng Zijian still has to attend school; moreover Han Li that day solemnly entrusted. Song Miao naturally would not delegate to others, only smiled and said: "Just right I these two days need to go out on business. Jixian Yuan happens to be on the way. I am also just entrusted by someone. Might as well run a trip myself."

Also asked Chen Fuzi's specific location.

Cheng Zijian long knew she would ask; inquired in advance. Repeatedly emphasized he could help. Seeing Song Miao unwilling to relent, and seeing hour not early, only then regretfully left.

Seeing younger brother go far, Cheng Erniang then told what she found out going to ask Zhu Shi.

Zhu Shi hearing Song Miao returned, extremely happy. Straight said she could also accompany, just treating as returning to natal home. As for time, these few days matters not many, all can.

Zhu family children not few, but matching Liang Yan's age only three: one male two females. Coincidentally that male also at city martial hall practices martial arts.