Chapter 362

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Since Zhu Jie'er was right beside her, Yu He couldn't say it outright, only vaguely said: "This servant was thinking that earlier, Nainiang went to ask He Da Shao Ye for lotus seeds, and without a word he sent over two old gardeners and all kinds of flower seeds—our household hasn't even had a chance to show our gratitude yet!"

"Although he brought back plenty of food just now, it was so rushed that it definitely isn't enough. Besides, Young Master Qi is a food lover. After being shut up for so many days, who knows how much he's craving things? It would be better if this servant sends some more snacks and food over to Da Shao Ye."

"That way, Young Master Qi will have something to eat too, and there are many people in the Si Fang Guan where Eldest Young Master serves—everyone from top to bottom can share a bit..."

He Lao Furen hadn't replied yet when Zhu Jie'er poked her head out from her arms and hurriedly said: "Grandmother! Please ask Song Jiejie to make more of that new sugar! Give more to Brother Qi! And that meat pie today—Brother Qi didn't get to eat it, he's so pitiful!"

"Fine, fine!" He Lao Furen hurriedly pressed her granddaughter's head back down, "The carriage is bumpy, be careful not to bump your head!"

Only after returning to the mansion did she separately call Yu He over to question her.

The latter no longer cared about being embarrassed and honestly said: "I see that Gui Zhi by Da Shao Ye's side is very observant in her actions and considerate as a person. I've heard she isn't married yet, I just don't know what her preferences are..."

The He and the He families were old family friends, so He Lao Furen naturally had many impressions of the attendants who often followed the younger generation on both sides.

Upon hearing the name Gui Zhi, her face, which had been smiling, suddenly stiffened slightly. After pondering for a few breaths, she said: "You've taken a fancy to him, haven't you..."

She added: "This person is naturally good at doing things, but living a life together may not necessarily be good. You must think it through—if it really happens, you won't see him two days out of three. Are you willing to accept that?"

Yu He hurriedly said: "You are doing this for this servant's good, and this servant naturally knows. But is there anyone in the world who is good in every way? Even if they were, how could someone like me be chosen? If you take this, you must give up that. Old Furen has said before: to give up is to gain, only by giving can one get. I see that Gui Zhi is very enterprising. As long as we both work hard together, surely our days won't be bad!"

Having been by He Lao Furen's side, she had seen more than the ordinary young masters and young ladies of great households, so she naturally understood the other's meaning: she was being told to find someone with a good temperament to live comfortably with.

But if there were choices, who in the world would want to be a slave or servant for a lifetime, living beneath others?

To carve out a path for oneself, if one doesn't strive, nothing will fall from the sky.

A good temperament means being easygoing.

Those who are good to others are often good to themselves, and even better. But when climbing upward, only by being able to endure hardship and being hard on oneself can one climb higher.

She was someone who was hard on herself and could endure hardship. She truly didn't want to work hard all day only to marry someone who just drifted through life—that would be too great a loss!

He Lao Furen sighed and said: "Marrying is like being reborn; if it's wrong, a whole life is delayed. Look carefully at the person again. Taking advantage of this time, you make a trip and take those snacks and tidbits to He Ying."

Yu He knew this was an opportunity given to her, and without hesitation, she agreed at once.

She was usually a capable aide by He Lao Furen's side, very meticulous. Once given a task, she wanted to do everything well. Especially since this matter served both public and private interests, besides arranging for the He Family Kitchen to prepare in advance, early the next morning she personally made a trip to Suanzao Alley.

In the back courtyard, Song Miao was currently preparing dishes.

Recently, too many customers had been buying steamed buns, and everyone upstairs and downstairs was too busy to cope. Even the small dining tables for the Taixue masters at noon couldn't be opened temporarily. In the end, Wang Sanlang and others had to take bowls, dishes, and food boxes to deliver them. By dinner time, they were even more unable to spare a moment to attend to guests.

But steamed buns had low prices and thin profits. In the long run, once the house opposite was cleaned up, they still needed to move out quickly to do proper food shop business. Otherwise, doing more work without earning more money would be too much of a loss.

But no matter how the cleaning of the house progressed, in the end, even if it was a bit lacking, it didn't really matter. A food shop was originally about selling skill. As long as what was made was clean and delicious, even if it was a shabby house, customers would still come to the door.

At this moment, what Song Miao was most anxious about was the back kitchen of the food shop.

She had considered this matter for a long time. After intensively training for over two months, seeing that Zhang Siniang and the cook of the large flatbread had made great progress in their culinary skills, she then selected six long-term hire women and four short-term hire women. Both sides signed new documents, and under the guidance of Zhang and Liu, they began apprenticeships, preparing to be used as half a kitchen after opening, so as not to be too busy.

On one side, she was training new people; on the other, she also had to consider new dishes.

To make food extremely delicious, it depended heavily on the cook's natural talent. But if one only wanted to make it ordinarily delicious, one could fix the cooking methods, reduce the reliance on skill as much as possible, and ensure the taste of the finished dishes.

Today she was studying a fish dish, considering how to reduce preparation and processing time, reduce the use of seasonings, and still guarantee the flavor, when she received a report from the front.

When she saw the person and learned that the He family wanted to order another batch of food, and it was to be sent to the He family, Song Miao was somewhat surprised and asked: "He Guan Ren just took away many snacks last night. Is it not enough?"

"What Eldest Young Master brought yesterday was for Seventh Young Master. This time is what Old Furen wants to send to Eldest Young Master. I thought that your place has many varieties of snacks and the taste is different from the mansion's, so I specially came to buy some. Besides those for the mansion, I also want to buy some for myself to give as gifts."

Song Miao then asked what they wanted separately and when they needed it.

What the mansion wanted was easy to decide—just follow the etiquette. But when asked what she herself wanted, Yu He became hesitant and at a loss.

Separated by the mansion, it was easy to inquire about others' conduct and temperament, but not easy to inquire about the other party's taste.

But every time she followed He Lao Furen and Zhu Jie'er to visit, she had frequent dealings with Song Ji. Knowing Song Miao's character, and knowing the other wasn't the type to love gossip, she simply said directly: "It's for the few attendants following Eldest Young Master of the He family. There are many dealings inside and outside the mansion, and there are many places where we need to trouble them. Young Lady, please help me see what would be good to send?"

"I am more familiar with He Qi Gongzi here, and I only met He Guan Ren yesterday, so I can't rashly give suggestions." Song Miao turned and called a short-term hire woman over, "Send some snacks for Miss Yu He to try samples."

Soon, a lacquer box was sent out.

Song Miao invited Yu He to taste them one by one, quoted the prices, and introduced which types of people liked what kinds of food more.

Finally, she pointed to the smallest compartment on the far right and said: "These are all pork jerky. Although not good-looking and tough on the teeth, they are very filling. Since you are following He Guan Ren, there will surely be times when kitchen duty is inconvenient or there's no time to eat. Taking this can fill the belly, and it doesn't have a strong smell, so it should be easy to carry."

Yu He heard this and immediately said: "This thing is good! I want more of this—I do kitchen duty myself, it's suitable for eating!"

Maidservants usually carried some pastries and preserved fruits with them, but pastries easily crumble, and preserved fruits are nothing but sweet. Eating them causes phlegm and makes one want to cough.

Seeing the meat jerky at this moment, and hearing Song Miao say so, she was truly tempted. By the time she listened to everything one by one and tried eating them one by one, she had almost forgotten why she originally came. She felt everything was fragrant, and everything could find a suitable time and place to eat. She simply bought two portions of everything.

After ordering the snacks, she asked again: "That steamed meat pie last night—Nainiang wanted to let He Qi Shao Ye taste the flavor too. But it's not good to send just one item. Are there any other dishes to pair with it? When it's done, I'll come and take them all together to send over. Is that convenient for you, Young Lady?"

Hearing that it was Zhu Jie'er who wanted to send it to He Qi, and having learned from He Lao Furen how pitiful he was, Song Miao said: "He Qi Gongzi loves meat. I'll prepare an extra portion of meat for him."

Better to choose the day than to wait for a lucky day. After the two discussed the time, that afternoon Yu He sat in a carriage and came to the door again.

By this time, Song Ji had already hung up the sold-out sign. Unlike when she came in the morning, with the outside bustling and noisy, it suddenly became quiet.

Zhang Siniang greeted her to sit down and said: "Young Lady is roasting meat for He Qi Gongzi. It will be ready soon. Miss Yu He, please sit and have a drink."

"Roast pigeon?" Yu He couldn't help but ask upon hearing this. "It's been steaming in the food box all the way. Will it be dry when sent over?"

Zhang Siniang said: "It's not roast pigeon—it's roasted and simmered chicken, a whole chicken!"

While speaking, Song Miao came out with several long-term and short-term hire women, each carrying food boxes, bundles, and baskets.

Yu He was literate. Seeing that everything had labels, and paper was pasted on to explain which was for whom.

The food boxes and baskets for the He family were of excellent material and craftsmanship—clearly gifts at first glance. The ones for herself, although wrapped very exquisitely, used only ordinary cloth.

Song Miao explained each item to her one by one and said: "If it were baskets with boxes, I'm afraid you'd be too conspicuous carrying them back, and it wouldn't be easy to find a place to put them. It's better to use these ordinary bundles—they're less eye-catching."

—Truly, the guest didn't need to worry about a thing.

Besides the proper items, Song Miao separately handed her a small food box and said: "It's a new dish tried today—roasted pigeon breast meat, which I paired with perilla. Actually, it's best when just off the grill, but there's no choice right now—trouble you to give it to He Qi Gongzi."

She also gave her a small lotus leaf wrap, saying: "This is yours. We tried several preparations at our food shop, and everyone's mouths couldn't quite tell the difference anymore — you help taste it too, see how it suits your appetite, whether the flavor profile is too heavy or too light, whether the seasoning can suppress the pigeon's gamey smell. If there's anything not good, hurry and tell me, so I can have a reference!"

Yu He naturally had no reason to refuse, took everything, said her goodbyes, and got back on the carriage.

As soon as she got on the carriage, closed the cart body door, and was about to put down the things in her hand to open the carriage window curtain, she suddenly paused.

— Her left hand was still pinching something, but it was that lotus leaf wrap and food box.

Both were separated by things, but even separated by things, one could still smell an extremely fragrant aroma.

It was perilla fragrance, mixed within with the oil fragrance of roast pigeon.

Yu He went out early in the morning, only casually padding a few bites, rode the carriage all the way over, bumping along, at this moment smelling this flavor, couldn't help but sit down, first put He Qi's food box to one side, then proceeded to unwrap that lotus leaf wrap Song Xiaoniangzi sent earlier.

The lotus leaf wrapped a full three layers, each layer rolled two or three rounds, but even separated by such thick, such many barriers, the fragrance still lightly and cleverly wafted out.

When the lotus leaf wrap was finally opened, revealing the food inside — it was two strings of pigeon meat skewered on bamboo skewers.

The meat was very thick and solid. That Song Xiaoniangzi just now said it was pigeon breast meat, cut into longer squares, pierced through both ends and strung up, forming a "凵" shape with two extremely thick vertical strokes. The two vertical strokes pressed tight against each other, and the pressed-tight part sandwiched a fresh perilla leaf roll as thick as a pinky finger.

Inside one string there were only two pieces of meat. The meat wasn't large, precisely the size of one bite. The outer layer was roasted to a burnt fragrance. That burnt color wasn't uniform — pale yellow, golden yellow, burnt brown, even a few spots nearly truly burnt, but very obviously not actually burnt. The two ends of the perilla leaf in the middle that were exposed were obviously roasted very carefully, curled at the edges, burnt crisp, even with a bit of a transparent feeling — everything carried a particularly thin sheen of oil.

Yu He involuntarily swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

With no one on either side, she lifted the bamboo skewer, and in one bite tore off a whole piece of meat.

It entered her mouth. Just as she bit down, she couldn't help but first exhale a breath — this was so the meat wouldn't burn her tooth roots so much. Then she inhaled a breath — this was unwilling to waste the meat fragrance. At this moment she already didn't want to let go of a single bit, her whole heart only wanting to obtain.

When biting down, the outer skin was very fragrant, but not particularly crisp. Rather, it was a crispness with slight spring and chew. This pigeon was obviously fatter, larger, and older than the squab Song Ji uses to roast whole. The pigeon breast meat naturally was more durable to eat. The meat flavor was extremely rich, juice abundant — how could it achieve that even inside the cut meat there was still such abundant juice!

That meat juice practically exploded in an instant. One bite, the perilla carried a hint of cool, spicy fragrance. The seasoning was just right. The pigeon breast meat's extremely rich meat flavor merged together with the meat juice, warm, full, juicy, fragrant but not greasy.

— So perilla and pigeon are the absolute perfect pairing!

Two bamboo skewers of meat, four pieces total. In a few bites they were finished. After eating, Yu He sat on the carriage, her whole person had a somewhat bewildered and empty feeling — what did Song Xiaoniangzi call me for again?

Oh oh, said to let me eat a bit, see if there's anything bad...

But how could I tell!

Perhaps He Qi Shao Ye could tell, but this journey delivering it over, by the time it reached his hands, even if the food box bottom had charcoal keeping it warm, it definitely couldn't compare to the current flavor and texture.

Yu He suddenly gave rise to a sense of urgency.

Such good meat, absolutely must not delay long!

When they arrived at the place, the rest of the people — those carrying baskets carried baskets, those carrying baskets carried baskets — naturally there were also people who came to take the food boxes.

But Yu He hurriedly moved her hand away, saying: "This one I'll carry!"

Waited a while, then someone came out to lead the way.

She followed inside, and soon reached a side room.

Inside, Tao Zhi, Liu Zhi, Gui Zhi, several were all there. Additionally Bei Zhi was also on the side.

Yu He first stepped forward and stated her purpose, then said: "If the Eldest Young Master has spare time, I'll go report back. If no spare time, I'll just put the things down and leave first — inside both food boxes are hot dishes. If they can be delivered, best to quickly help deliver to Seventh Young Master."

The other several people all looked at Gui Zhi.

The latter shook her head, saying: "Very inopportune. The master is currently discussing matters with the foreign envoy. Afraid he won't come out until afternoon. Evening there's a banquet again. Where can he squeeze out time to go deliver this!"