Chapter 300

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Doctor Lin tilted her head at a slant, smacked her lips seriously, and lowered her head in some puzzlement.

In the white porcelain bowl were still the same ingredients, half-reclining in the soup, like sharp, slender comb needles, or like glass noodles combed perfectly flat, but a bit thicker than ordinary glass noodles, nearly transparent.

Through the "glass noodles," one could even see the soup color rippling underneath and around them.

It was actually a pale golden color, but perhaps because there were almost no oil specks, the soup looked particularly plain and thin.

If that Song Xiaoniangzi hadn't said early on it was meat soup, she would have thought someone accidentally mixed in a second-steep of clear tea.

Such a bowl, at first glance, really made one have not a shred of appetite.

She steadied her mind, savored the aftertaste in her mouth once more, a bit bewildered.

But her hand had a mind of its own, and had already delivered another spoonful to her lips.

When she drank the first sip just now, she already felt a faint numbness on her spine; now the second sip entered her mouth, and for an instant, the fine hairs on her whole body practically stood half on end.

The soup was a tiny bit scalding, the second entry into the mouth……

Hm?

Ai?!

Oya!!!

What flavor is this?!?!

Doctor Lin only felt her mouth instantly become a reef on the shore, slammed hard by this mouthful of soup, an inexplicable sensation of impact.

It looked so bland, yet entering the mouth, it was so incredibly fresh, so incredibly fragrant, and possessed both extreme richness and extreme clarity.

Richness refers to the flavor.

Old hen and pork shank simmered into a high broth, with the oil skimmed off, was already supremely delicious; and now using this deliciousness as if it were clear water, stewing shark's fin and fish maw in it, stewed for a full four double-hours, all flavors had already seeped into the soup completely.

It is an indescribable supreme freshness, supreme mellowness, supreme fragrance.

Clarity refers to the mouthfeel.

Upon entry, it goes down smoothly without stagnation, carrying an especially deep salty-freshness, heavy fragrance, and also bright freshness; the flavor is astonishingly rich, everything so harmonious, not a single thread of excess.

After drinking, the lingering charm still does not dissipate for a long time; even repeatedly swallowing saliva, that special sweet-salty sensation still lingers in the mouth, nasal cavity, even in the brain, savoring again and again.

Besides the flavor, its texture is also wondrous.

After the soup falls into the belly, between lips and teeth, at the throat, there is a very comfortable gelatinous feel, and that gelatinous feel is carried further down into the intestines and stomach.

According to Pingyang Mountain's method, stewing fish maw and shark's fin likes to add a pig's trotter to boil high broth, precisely to increase gelatinous feel, making it stick to lips and throat, and yellow wine would be added to remove the fishy smell of shark's fin and杂味 of fish maw.

But this time Song Miao added nothing else at all; the gelatinous feel inside came entirely from the shark's fin long-stewed, the whole pot became a stand built for it, making that stickiness merely a slight stickiness, the soup deep and clear-fresh, absolutely not greasy.

Doctor Lin's hand was out of her control, it simply would not stop, only taking one mouthful after another, slowly feeding soup into her mouth; drinking and drinking, unintentionally, she even took in a small half-spoonful of "glass noodles" along with the soup.

When this mouthful of "glass noodles" wrapped in rich soup juice slid into her belly, to exaggerate a little, Doctor Lin even felt a drifting as if her spirit and soul had been turned upside down, flying off who knows where.

The "glass noodles" originally had no flavor, carrying only the soup taste, soupy and soft, sliding over the tongue, fragrant, soft, and smooth, with a bit of glutinous texture — whoosh, down the throat, like a naive butterfly dancing on the tongue tip.

This "butterfly" dances very hard; salty, fresh, rich, and with returning sweetness, layer upon layer, the flavors unfold layer by layer in the mouth.

There is ham aged many years, carrying complex freshness of smoke-curing and fermentation, also bringing a touch of indescribable fruit fragrance; there is the clear freshness contributed by chicken and pork hanging broth, and also the texture from shark's fin long-stewed.

All flavors intermingle; the salty-freshness from ham, the delicious freshness from old hen and pork shank, all just right, not half a fraction of clashing flavors, as if a fish were raised in a clear deep mountain pool, suddenly coming, suddenly going, fish and water blending, perfectly integrated.

Unknowingly, a bowl of soup hit bottom.

Doctor Lin blanked out for a while.

— Eh, where's my soup?

— It's finished just like that??

— Also too little, right???

Farewell soup, farewell soup, if you don't let the guest drink their fill, how will they have strength to go home??

She blankly raised her head, looking everywhere, not knowing what exactly she wanted to look at, just sweeping past the Song Ji short-term hires currently restoring the ruler in the corner, skipping over the clean cups and teapot arranged on the nearby table, glancing at the menu board on the wall and the screen beside it, all treated as unseen, not pausing at all — until she turned half her body around and saw the short-term hire young lady walking out carrying a white porcelain cup.

Doctor Lin's eyes shone with a *ceng*, her gaze practically following that cup all the way toward her direction.

Until the white porcelain cup was placed at her side, she asked full of anticipation: "This young lady, is there soup in this cup?"

Meeting that expectant gaze, the short-term hire young lady's hand trembled, she hurriedly lifted the porcelain cup lid, and said: "No, no, it's sour-pickled cucumber, Young Lady said everyone seems to like eating it, told me to come supplement a bit!"

After a few breaths, she reacted, hurriedly saying: "There's more in the back! Because Young Lady said this thing is best kept hot, it was specially warmed on the stove — shall I bring you some?"

Speaking, she secretly observed Lin Shifu's expression.

Earlier Young Lady instructed, Lin Shifu very clearly said she does not accept a table full of dishes, nor allowing people to keep her for a meal, and absolutely not permitting those messy snacks to be made to entertain her, otherwise she would refuse to come again in the future.

It was also for this reason she didn't even dare use a large cup to serve soup; earlier when giving Xiao Lian and these few senior sisters and brothers snacks, she also carefully selected, taking out the smallest plates and cups.

Until just now, Doctor Lin even specially emphasized a sentence, saying just casually play along, she'd drink a few sips of clear water and then hurry off.

Now being asked about soup by Doctor Lin, although not asked clearly, but combined with that tone and expression, the intention was actually already written clearly and plainly.

Beyond surprise, this person's heart actually dared give birth to a tiny arrogant thought — Lin Shifu, no matter how much your brain wants to leave, as long as you've eaten one mouthful of our Young Lady's skill, your mouth will think of it, unwilling to let your legs move!

She hurriedly went toward the back courtyard.

Seeing the other party leave just like that, Doctor Lin hurriedly put on a hesitant look, and after a good long while, opened her mouth to stop her: "This… not… ai! Ai!"

Although advanced in years, she still had a clear mind and bright eyes, even her teeth hadn't fallen out a single one, always extremely quick to react; this time, that young lady had already walked two zhang away, and only then did that "not" character lightly spit from her mouth.

Finished speaking, she seemed afraid the other party would hear, give rise to misunderstanding, think she disliked it and wouldn't bring soup out for her again, hurriedly adding a call: "Trouble you, no need to give too much, about enough is fine!"

These words out, that young lady's feet instead ran even faster.

Not long after, another white porcelain cup, a full circle larger than the soup bowl in Doctor Lin's hand, was delivered up.

She lifted the lid, wanting to go help ladle soup, but Doctor Lin had already raised her buttocks, nudged the armchair she was sitting on back a bit, waved an experienced hand, and said: "You go about your business; we'll help ourselves here!"

The person opposite said nothing more, answered with an assent, and tentatively said: "The young lady is making snacks over there, several kinds; I'll go bring some over for you to taste."

This time, Doctor Lin simply could not bring herself to put on a thick face and refuse.

She chuckled and said: "If there is—how come I've never heard of this soup before!"

Once the short-term hired woman left, the several people around one table almost simultaneously began speaking in low voices.

"Alas, I always used to hear Xiao Lian say that Song Jiejie's cooking at the food shop is 'the most delicious under heaven,' and I laughed at her, saying tastes differ and there's always something one won't get used to—turns out I was just ignorant and narrow-minded!"

"Saying 'the most delicious under heaven' is a bit much, but it really is very delicious!"

"That little brat Xiao Lian really has too good a fate!"

"No wonder she refused twice when asked if she wanted to go out to the market together during her break to eat at some stalls, always saying there's so much good food at home—even I wouldn't go—only a fool would go!"

—That sentence was mistaken.

When Xiao Lian rested, she refused to go out eating and strolling with her senior sisters because she wanted to make time for Zhu Jie'er; only then could the two little sisters play together, and it really had nothing much to do with eating at the food shop.

While they talked, their mouths kept making continuous light "ge," "ge," "Hung," "Hung" sounds, one after another, they grabbed bamboo skewers and hurriedly stabbed them into the white porcelain bowls that had been served earlier.

What was skewered was vinegar pickled cucumber.

The cucumber was cut into very thin slices, salted and marinated for a moment, squeezed dry, then white vinegar, sugar, and cornel were mixed in and marinated together again.

Called vinegar pickled cucumber, it was actually sweet and sour, sour more than sweet, seven parts sour three parts sweet; after chewing wildly in the mouth with "ge ge Hung Hung" sounds, the whole mouth was filled with a clear sour taste.

The fresh juice of the tender cucumber and the refreshing sourness of the vinegar had barely gone down the throat when saliva almost immediately surged up again in the mouth—soured by it.

This bowl had even been kept in ice at the bottom of the well before, with ice on the outside, cool and refreshing; on such a hot afternoon, snatching a bowl of vinegar pickled cucumber to eat was simply unfairly beloved.

Saliva was still flowing here, and the spiciness came back again, a late spiciness that greatly opened the appetite, even making one want to immediately eat a large piece of meat—best rich in oil and red sauce, fragrant beyond compare—to make up for the mouth.

After making up, since it was a large piece of meat, if one felt greasy, one had to eat a mouthful of rice, a pancake or steamed bun, then grab a few chopsticks of vinegar pickled cucumber to cut the grease, alternating in this cycle.

While everyone here was snatching at the vinegar pickled cucumber, someone called out busily: "Master, why aren't you eating? It'll be gone in a moment!"

Saying this, he hurriedly took a bowl and served a portion for Doctor Lin, placing it before his master, and at the same time curiously asked: "Master, what is this soup? Is it good to drink?"

Lin Laodaifu had just finished serving her own soup and was about to enjoy it properly; being asked like this by her disciple, she immediately became alert and said righteously and sternly: "Children should eat lightly, that's good for the body; I taste cured ham in this soup, the saltiness is too heavy. Although altogether it's just salty, it's not suitable for you children, and even less suitable for an old person like me—if you want to eat, I'll give you a mouthful, just taste the flavor!"

Sure enough, she took their bowls and chopsticks, neat and efficient, giving each person a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny mouthful.

The soup hadn't been portioned out yet when someone came holding up the snacks.

"What is this?"

"So many leaf slices?"

"So fragrant!"

The apprentices all lowered their voices in exclamation, and looked eagerly at Lin Laodaifu, waiting for her to pick up her chopsticks.

The two plates of snacks were both fried items; one plate was emerald green, without batter, dry-fried until glistening with oil, and they were mint leaves; the other plate was coated with batter, choosing large perilla tender leaves to fry, until the batter formed a crisp skin.

Doctor Lin thought in her heart what was so good about grass, but still each took a mouthful, eating casually.

As soon as it entered her mouth, her whole person was about to fly away with fragrance.

The mint leaves had a thin crispness, very light in the mouth, almost no presence, but eating them was extremely refreshing; the batter-fried perilla leaves were another texture, the outside very puffy and crisp, salty and fragrant and crispy, while the perilla leaves inside had a unique and rich fragrance...

After chewing just two slices, Doctor Lin couldn't help but apologize in her heart for her own hasty judgment just now.

There really is edible grass under heaven!!

These perilla leaves were simply born for batter-frying, too suitable, too delicious!

A few leaves, and they can still make something special!

Doctor Lin said not to entertain too much, not to prepare rice and dishes, but Song Ji just served the snacks one dish after another.

Song Miao did the cooking, so the snacks served naturally each had their own flavor.

Four disciples and one teacher sat around the table; clearly there was a water clock beside them, and they could see it by turning their heads, but everyone had learned to pretend to be blind and pretend to be foolish.

It was plainly past the time they said they would leave; when they first came, Doctor Lin had emphasized several times that they would leave after seeing the patient, but now she seemed to have forgotten all about that, only minding tasting the small plate of food just served.

—What is this again?

Sweet with salt, eating it gives a very rich ham flavor.

Looking closely, sure enough it was ham cut into thin slices; the slice in her chopsticks was half fat half lean, the lean part not hard at all, very fresh and fragrant, chewy with a full meat texture, the fatty part oily but not greasy, completely melting into residue, far more fragrant than cured meat, not very salty, the saltiness just right, and besides, the outside was also coated with batter and fried, truly fragrant enough to make one's hair stand on end.

Another snack never eaten before!

How can there be so many never-eaten delicious things here!!

Alas...

Alas!

She really still had to go look at the medicinal herbs! Song Xiaoniangzi served one snack after another, making her now unwilling to leave, wanting to eat, wanting to eat, and unwilling to leave—how could one possibly leave!!!