Chapter 314: Miao Chu Chapter 336: Artisan

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Hearing the sound, Song Miao came out and saw the old woman next door standing outside the door with two half-grown children.

"I was shelling beans at the door, and these two little ones came over asking for directions, saying they were looking for some 'Song Niangzi', 'Song Ji', so I just brought them over — one look and you can tell they're two little scholars, they even bowed to me!"

Song Miao looked up and recognized them very well — they were the younger sons of the Zhang and Yuan families who had exerted great effort on the Huai Prefecture riverway back then, sending their sons to the Capital to study under Master Chen.

One was Zhang Yong, adopted as a son by the Zhang clan; the other was the son of Yuan Xuezheng and Lady Zhang.

"Song Niangzi!"

"Song Jiejie!"

The two called out one after another.

Zhang Yong was more familiar with her, so he addressed her more intimately; the Yuan boy was more awkward, but he was also grinning with eight teeth showing, looking very happy.

Song Miao immediately smiled and asked, "How come it's you two? Did you come by yourselves? No one followed you?"

Zhang Yong said bashfully, "We came by ourselves."

The Yuan boy then said, "We're all grown up now! It's only two streets away, we don't need anyone to follow us, we can find our way here ourselves!"

The two turned to thank the old woman, their manners complete, looking very proper.

Song Miao went to the side, picked up a rope bag, filled it with some fruit, and brought it out, handing it over while thanking the old woman.

The other party didn't decline at all, smiling as she took it, but she picked up a basket from the ground, lifted the cloth covering it, pointed to the contents for Song Miao to see, and said, "These are little cucumber seeds my natal family's niece sent over, homegrown. Everyone in the family has taken work and gone to Chan Prefecture, won't be back for a while, afraid they'll spoil, so I divided some among all the families — this is for you!"

Song Miao accepted with both hands, thanked her, then asked, "Don't know when they'll be back from Chan Prefecture, whether they'll make it in time for our opening here? Originally still wanted to invite your whole family to come gather and eat a banquet."

The old woman complained, "Ai, don't know when they'll be back. The big ones all left at once, leaving a few little ones for us two old people to watch. Truly owed those two brothers in a past life! Raising them big before, my own flesh and blood, fine, but now still have to raise their sons big! Working these old bones to death!"

This whole family makes bamboo and wicker wares and such, runs a small shop, and on market days they also go out to set up stalls elsewhere.

"Got work, means got income, all in all a good thing!"

That old woman couldn't help but curse, saying, "Good my ass! One trip there and back, who knows how much money will be left, afraid we'll even have to pay out of pocket — all forced to go by the Merchant Guild! Can't not go! Say it's a government dispatch, Chan Prefecture urgently needs artisans!"

Hearing this, Song Miao also found it strange, and asked, "We're not river engineering artisans here, are we?"

"Exactly! The four at home normally just make baskets, boxes, hampers, hats, where have they ever done fascine work, wood dragons, they're not even carpenters! Yet they're randomly lumped together and forcibly assigned, can't even hide from it!"

Though that old woman had a belly full of fire, she only idly complained a few sentences, then hurriedly said, "Several mouths at home still waiting to eat, the old man cooks a dish like boiling flour paste, I'll go first — if you have anything here, just come find me! My family may only have two old people, but we've seen plenty, can definitely hold down the fort for you!"

Song Miao hurriedly thanked her, saw her out a few steps, then turned back — the two little ones had each taken down a small bamboo basket from their backs.

Zhang Yong said, "Song Jiejie, yesterday a lot of things were sent from the south side. Teacher has been very busy these few days, no time to divide them, only told us to bring these salted duck eggs to Niangzi here first."

The Yuan boy almost immediately chimed in, "Xuezheng originally arranged someone to come, I fought with Cousin for this dispatch — Song Niangzi, where to put it? I'm strong, I'll carry it in for you!"

As he spoke, he raised his little arm, wanting to show Song Miao his "gaga meat".

Song Miao lifted the lid of the bamboo basket and looked inside. A layer of cloth was padded at the bottom, the mud-sealed salted duck eggs were stacked layer by layer, then filled with grain husks. She reached out and hefted it — surprisingly heavy, no wonder the two little ones carried it two streets over.

She carried the bamboo basket inside, pointed to the corner, and said, "Hard work, two little strongmen. Troubling you, help me move it there, alright?"

Actually only twenty or thirty steps, the two children exerted themselves together, heaving it to the corner.

Hearing Song Miao thank them here, the Yuan boy proudly said, "If there's anything else to move, Song Niangzi just give it to me, I'm the most capable!"

He was just speaking when he saw Zhang Yong clap. Though he didn't know why, he just felt it was very impressive, so he belatedly imitated him and clapped twice.

The two delivered things to the door, naturally couldn't be neglected.

Song Miao looked at the tea on the table, and asked if they had eaten.

Both rushed to say they had eaten.

Zhang Yong said, "Ate then came, taking advantage of the sky still being bright, we'll drink a mouthful of tea and leave."

Song Miao went to get some snacks, and pointed to one small plate of pastries, saying, "Left side is egg crisp, right side is mung bean cake, both just out of the wok, very fragrant, you two eat a little — both are fried in oil, careful of getting heaty."

The other side thanked her, and indeed ate politely.

Just tasted a mouthful of the so-called egg crisp, and the Yuan boy's eyes widened.

An extremely fragrant and crisp mouthful, the texture was strangely crisp, the flavor extremely rich and fragrant. Teeth lightly bit, no force needed at all, it would collapse and disintegrate on its own, crumbs falling all over the mouth, all over the ground.

The Yuan boy hurriedly used his hand to catch, catching while unable to stop chewing — a strange fluffy sensation. The first bite he thought it was solid, result not able to withstand a single blow, inside was entirely air pockets, extremely light.

And almost the moment it entered the mouth, that mouthful quickly softened, becoming extremely fine. Egg aroma and wheat aroma simply swept in overwhelmingly, fragrant and sweet through and through.

Who could resist such flavor?

The Yuan boy kept making throat-clearing sounds, pulled Zhang Yong, then blinked hard, pointed at the plate, signaling the other to eat.

Zhang Yong was eating mung bean cake, just out of the wok, still steaming, crisp outside sandy soft inside, faintly sweet, full of mung bean fragrance. Pulled by his cousin, he hurriedly pointed at the mung bean cake, covered his mouth with his hand, also signaling, quietly saying, "Eat this! This is delicious!"

Seeing this, Song Miao simply got up and went to the back, leaving the space to them, telling the two to eat and drink at ease, and also packed another food box with snacks and sent it out.

At this moment she lowered her head to look again. Each plate had been eaten a little. The mung bean cakes and egg crisps, you could see they had been very restrained, yet still more than half was gone. Clearly they really liked them.

She knew before the two children entered the Capital, they must have been instructed by family on guest etiquette. She didn't urge more, just put the two food baskets on the table, pointed to a larger one, and said, "This is for Master Chen."

Then pointed to the small one, and said, "This is for the two little strongmen who helped me deliver salted duck eggs from afar — don't eat it all at once, or you'll really get heaty, throat will hurt, then I won't dare make it again in the future!"

Again she said, "In the back, pork neck and ribs are still roasting. When they come out of the oven, I'll also pack a food box for you to take back and share a bite with Teacher, just have to wait a bit."

The two little ones looked at each other, both grinning wide, hurriedly thanking her.

Seeing the hour was not early, Song Miao didn't keep guests. Also thinking the food shop had been unstable lately, fearing the children would get involved, she simply called Wang Sanlang out, asking him to help send them back.

Just waiting for the roast meat, the two little ones embarrassedly said they needed to use the toilet, so Wang Sanlang led them running to the back.

The jerky and such that had been drying in the back courtyard had long been put away. Two tables were set in the open air. Besides Song Ji's people, there were also people from Xu Wuguan, each surrounding a table of dishes, eating happily.

Song Ji's long and short-term hires are mostly capable types. Several of them used to deliver steamed buns, glutinous rice, jerky and such to Xu Biaoju and Wuguan. Not everyone knows each other, but quite a few faces are familiar. Even those who hadn't gone, today spent a day with a group of dart masters, already familiar by three or five parts. This time serving dishes and tending tables once more, even more familiar. At the dinner table they started greeting each other.

"Dart Masters! This food shop's safety depends on you all! Niangzi supports these ten-plus people, not easy. Us sisters getting a good livelihood, also not easy! Must never let some black-hearted people from who knows where outside ruin such a hard-won business shelf!"

"Eat more! Drink more! If there's anything not attended to, just shout — we're all straightforward people, don't stand on ceremony!"

Seeing Song Miao was not there, Cheng Erniang knew she had to say a few words first for this kind of occasion, so she rolled up her sleeves, raised the cup in her hand, and said: "Although it's not convenient to drink alcohol, the drinks here are also good stuff, escorts, eat and drink to your heart's content! Today it's all personally cooked by our Young Lady, everyone eat well and drink well!"

Just as she was speaking, the stove door at the back was opened, the wind blew, and in no more than a blink of an eye, the entire back courtyard was filled with meat fragrance.

Large sections of half-racks and full racks, large pieces of pork neck, all roasted to a deep red amber color, were dripping oil right then, and when placed on the table, they were still continuously bubbling out one large oil bubble after another.

Such a plate made everyone at the table swallow their saliva straight away.

Early on, a sensible person pushed it toward Xu Niangzi who managed the accounts, and said: "Younger sister! You first!"

And also let Qi Biaotou and Xu Erlang.

Xu Niangzi accepted without false modesty, didn't even use chopsticks, wrapped it with a lotus leaf, directly grabbed a long rack and a large piece of pork neck into her bowl, and said: "Everyone eat together! No pushing back and forth!"

Speaking, she only blew a few mouthfuls of air, not caring whether it was hot or not, and first stuffed that pork neck into her mouth.

One bite down, when the meat juice burst out in her mouth, the person went a bit dazed.

——I#￥@#%@#￥……%！#%！！！！！

So satisfying!!!!!!!

This one bite, the texture simply cannot be described — it's crisp, it's firm, yet also tender, resilient; if cut open while raw, one could see extremely beautiful marbling of fat and lean like snowflakes, but now after roasting, the fat and lean can no longer be distinguished, yet when chewing, the fatty part's oil fragrance and fat fragrance explode simultaneously, mixed with the lean meat's fragrant, resilient, crisp texture, the jaws close, and because the meat is truly fresh, it carries obvious resistance, so the teeth can only gradually, gradually, gradually reach the bottom, while the rich, exquisite meat juice gushes out continuously, seemingly endless, fragrant but not greasy.

The stove was padded with pine needles, and it was not hanging roast but spread roast; when the meat was forced to release fat by high temperature, the oil soaked in the pine needles, and the pine needles were also forced by high temperature, making the meat naturally carry a fresh, brain-clearing woody smoked fragrance.

The outer layer of the meat was roasted half-charred; because maltose was brushed on, the charred shell was exceptionally fragrant, with a slight burnt taste; light soy sauce was used for marinating, the time was short, so no matter how it was marinated it would not become too salty, nor would it suppress the meat flavor, it would only wrap out the meat's own fresh and rich taste.

While chewing, the fat in the mouth would melt along with the meat juice, all of it the meat's rich, mellow flavor; because of the pine needle aroma, within that richness there was also a clear, crisp sensation, with endless aftertaste.

So, so, so, so, so satisfying!

Qi Biaotou, however, was gnawing on ribs.

Piping hot, burning the mouth, it was roasted even more fragrant and charred than the pork neck, lacking that kind of fatty moistness, but having more obvious chewing resilience; with each tear and pull, the crisp charred shell on the outside was broken open, and the meat juice inside instantly splattered and exploded out, startling Qi Biaotou so that he couldn't get a bowl in time, hurriedly used his hand to catch it, and after catching it, seeing no one looking at him on either side, he busily sucked the meat juice off the back of his hand, unwilling to waste a single bit.

The meat against the bone edge is the most tender, with the most meat juice, fragrantly bizarre; when chewing, it carries fat and fascia, the texture richest; after long roasting, lean meat, fascia, and fat have already fused together, and along with the crisp shell outside, form a chew that is simultaneously fragrant-crisp, soft-glutinous, and firm.

Under heaven! Good meat should all be like this!!

Besides the roasted meat, dish after dish was served on the table.

The lotus root cubes were raw-tossed; after dicing, the excess lotus root juice on the outside was washed clean, blanched in water for a moment and drained — most important is to drain it dry enough, so the seasoning flavors would not be diluted, and also let the lotus root cubes absorb the sauce thoroughly — then add salt, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, together with xun guan mustard seeds, garlic bits, and hot oil activated from Sichuan pepper, and toss together.

The lotus root cubes tossed like this, first taste the outer sour-fragrant, numbing-spicy, one chew, exceptionally crisp, inside still entirely juicy lotus flavor, clear-sweet, refreshing, appetizing and cutting greasiness.

Also appetizing and cutting greasiness is a dish, which is that raw-tossed vegetable dish.

This dish is even more lively: carrot, cucumber, lettuce stem, celery, mustard greens, Sichuan pepper leaves, wood ear, tofu skin, mung bean rice noodle skin, etc., some cut in sections, some cut in strands, tossed together with seasonings, entering the mouth first sour, then returning sweet, then salty-spicy, what should be crisp is crisp, what should be soft-resilient is soft-resilient, what should be fatty-thick is fatty-thick, texture exceptionally rich, every item permeated with the two words "fresh".

Especially carrot, cucumber, lettuce stem, celery, and mustard greens and other melon vegetables and wild vegetables, very obviously just tidied up and immediately tossed, no airing out, so completely without the taste of long storage, mouthful after mouthful going down, lively and water-spirit, clear and transparent, making one's tongue tip inexplicably have a feeling of spring returning to the earth.

Then there are those kidney flowers, cut into large thick slices, even worthy of being called chunks, the decorative cuts excessively beautiful, truly like blooming flowers, the petals yet vertical long rhombuses, scooping up one piece, like a cluster of full wheat ears, on top wrapped full of glossy sauce.

Eat one mouthful, carrying exceptionally sufficient wok hei, fierce fire stir-fry, sauce fragrance sufficient, soft, smooth, crisp, tender, all textures interwoven, also don't know how it was processed, eating it there is only the organ's unique sweet beauty and fatty thickness, returning meat sweetness, not a single bit of bad flavor.

Apart from these, there are also fried lotus root balls, one per mouthful, fragrant beyond measure, outside crisp, inside juicy, with meat's fresh fragrance, and also lotus root's refreshing sweetness, eating as snacks could eat a whole plate...

Also stove cakes, steamed buns, and a kind of steamed-bun-like thing never eaten before, like a steamed bun yet not like, supposedly called po su steamed bun, and also...

A group of people eating here, also had no leisure to attend to anything else; some heard movement outside, turned their heads to look, saw it was Wang Sanlang bringing people in, then also didn't pay attention, continued eating their own.

And the two children entering and exiting, seeing many people in the back courtyard, although it's said "see no evil, hear no evil", where could they control themselves from not taking a glance at the dishes on the table.

By the time they led several food boxes and food baskets onto the carriage, returned before Chen Fuzi to report completion, in the end the children's mouths leaked wind, couldn't help but tell what they saw and heard inside the food shop.

"So many people! Such a huge table!! The food smells so good!!"

"They say it's Song Jiejie's cooking!"

"Song Niangzi had us bring these foods back for Teacher, and also asked Teacher not to eat it all in one breath, otherwise it would cause internal heat!"

After all, they returned by carriage, originally not far, very fast, the roasted pork neck inside the food box was still emitting heat, Chen Fuzi didn't need anyone to help at all, personally moved his hands, took a small knife and cut off a few pieces of meat, gave the two errand-running children two mouthfuls each, and the rest he himself simmered in one mouthful.

He chewed and chewed, his scalp went numb, his brain was in a clamor, simply questioning what era this is, not knowing of Han, let alone Wei and Jin, just in a daze, then heard a knock on the door outside, one person stepped in, calling out "Senior Brother".