Chapter 46: Exquisite Kitchen Chapter 46: You Guess

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Cheng Zijian didn't know that the taro braised pork within his portion was still sleeping soundly in the food box, and had already been thought of by someone.

But he had smelled the aroma of the braised pork all the way, not knowing how many mouthfuls of saliva he had swallowed, yet another thought arose in his heart.

Fine food was naturally important, but his own writing, the public examination right before his eyes, and his even more distant prospects were more important.

He still had to try once more.

Seeing that the Xue Zhai was just ahead, he suddenly called out to Wang Chang and the other two, saying: "Wait for me, I want to send a bowl of taro braised pork to someone else."

After returning to the Xue Zhai to retrieve the food box and coming back, he first presented a bowl of taro braised pork, then used a small bowl to serve some purple perilla peach ginger, and said to Wang Chang: "You all eat first, no need to wait for me."

Wang Chang naturally knew that his close friend had recently borrowed writings from a Shangshe and often went to ask others for guidance, so it wasn't strange, and he agreed in one breath.

The three split into two groups; as for Cheng Zijian's side, let's not mention it for now, while Wang Chang and the messenger ran frantically, finally arriving at the Canteen.

He had originally thought that with a table full of people, after going back and forth for so long, they must have finished most of the food, but when he carried the food box and food basin inside and returned to the previous table, that table of rice and dishes had hardly been touched.

"Why aren't you eating? It's all cold!"

Wang Chang was extremely surprised.

"What do you mean by that? Are there only some leftover scraps and cold rice for the two of you?"

"Waiting for you! We agreed to eat together, how could we eat before everyone is present!"

"Exactly!"

"Eat only after everyone is here!"

Someone else asked: "Where is Zijian?"

Wang Chang said: "He went to deliver food, and won't be back for a while—should we wait for him?"

The crowd who had just said "eat only after everyone is here" immediately changed their faces: "Why is he dragging everyone down again!"

"Last time it was him with the pig trotter rice!"

"Same as last time, just leave some for him!"

"What good thing did Stall Owner Song send this time? Don't let it get cold, or the taste will be ruined!"

Their lines were almost the same as last time.

Most of this table had been among those who sent pots and pans to Song Miao the previous night; only two hadn't come. They asked a full classmate to return and call out to them, and if they didn't come, it didn't matter—just leave an extra portion.

Once everything was ready and a space cleared, as soon as the food box was opened, someone rubbed his hands excitedly and called out: "What is this time? It smells even better than last time's pig trotter rice!"

They crowded over to look.

"It's said to be taro braised pork," Wang Chang repeated what he had heard from Song Miao, "a delicacy from Guangnan West Road, with fermented bean curd added inside—Young Lady Song was still afraid we wouldn't be used to it."

"Young Lady Song is really underestimating us!"

"As long as it's made by Stall Owner Song, I'm used to everything!"

The crowd echoed in agreement, and each one looked at the opened food box.

Wang Chang pushed their heads aside one by one, saying: "Don't block the way, Young Lady Song said this braised pork needs to be flipped over first."

He then asked: "Where are the bowls?"

Because the person who had delivered the message earlier had reminded them, the crowd had already gathered eight or nine open bowls, and at this moment hurriedly passed one over.

Wang Chang reached out to take it, inverted it over the bowl that originally held the taro braised pork, and quickly flipped the original bowl over.

The taro braised pork was thus inverted and transferred into the new bowl.

But since it was Wang Chang's first time doing this, he wasn't very skilled, and still spilled some soup.

After the flip, the bottom of the original taro braised pork, the part touching the deep bowl, became the outside now, while the original outside, namely the flat rim of the bowl, also became a flat base foundation.

Thus the flat taro braised pork instantly became a small mountain shape, round and arched, plump and beautiful.

The taro slices and pork belly slices were layered; originally at the bottom of the bowl, they naturally soaked in the sauce, but now flipped over, they became the fresh-looking exterior, and the aroma of the sauce burst forth again, so that even if people were far away, they would have their noses caught by this fragrance.

The pork belly slices were boiled then fried, forcing out the greasiness, fried then soaked in cold water; the originally crisp and hard pig skin, puffed up with golden yellow bubbles, shrank upon meeting the cold, forming an extremely beautiful bright yellow tiger skin pattern.

At this moment, the tiger skin pattern on the surface was crisscrossed with grooves, having soaked up who knows how much sauce, shining with oil, red with a hint of burnt yellow; one look and it made people drool.

The most important ingredient in the sauce was originally fermented bean curd.

Guizhou fermented bean curd, wonderfully fragrant, mellow in taste; both the aroma and the flavor were very unique, and anyone who had smelled or tasted it would never forget.

But those who hadn't tasted it, once they smelled that flavor, were like fish hooked by a long fishing line and hook, their mouths caught; even if far away, they could only honestly swim back.

Thus around this table, inside and out, it was surrounded by people watching the excitement, standing on tiptoe to see inside.

They were all classmates; earlier, Wang Chang and the others had been so showy that they had already drawn everyone's anger, and now they didn't care about politeness at all, all wanting to glare.

Moreover, the food made by Young Lady Song had already been publicly acknowledged by everyone that even if they couldn't eat it themselves, the aroma was shared by all of Taixue, so there was no awkwardness in staring at others eating.

At the innermost layer of the table, Wang Chang had just flipped a bowl of braised pork, and as soon as this bowl was placed on the table, seven or eight pairs of chopsticks reached in.

He hurriedly called out: "Young Lady Song said, eat two pieces at once—one piece of taro and one piece of braised pork together, it's best not to eat just one kind! Especially don't just grab the taro!"

While calling out, he didn't have time to flip the other bowls anymore, and himself hurriedly grabbed chopsticks to pick up food.

Someone laughed while grabbing: "Such good meat, who would only grab taro to eat? You must be deliberately making nonsense, just to save meat for yourself!"

As this person spoke, whether intentionally or by chance, when he picked it up, the braised pork came up whole, but the taro was snapped by the chopsticks—so there was only half a piece of taro with one piece of braised pork.

He didn't care at all, with an empty belly, waiting to eat meat, so he put the taro braised pork into his mouth, but after just one bite, his hands shook; he hurriedly shoved his chopsticks back into the chopsticks forest to grab a spot, and lowered his head almost to the table—only then could he get a line of sight—and loudly asked: "I accidentally snapped half a piece of taro earlier, where did my taro go—who mistakenly took my taro!"

But no one paid him any attention at all.

Everyone was either busy eating or busy grabbing.

Wang Chang finally managed to grab a pair of taro braised pork, but the taro was only a little more than half a piece.

No way, the bowl was full of chopsticks, and this taro was inexplicably too soft; if you used even slightly too much force, it would get knocked off.

Wang Chang craved meat.

Which student doesn't crave meat?

Although he had heard Song Miao say it with his own ears, he still repeatedly said that the taro in this taro braised pork was tastier than the meat, but he didn't quite believe it in his heart, only secretly thinking: Song Xiaoniangzi must have eaten too many good things, and being a young lady, she had a small stomach and couldn't eat more than two bites of meat, which was why she said such absurd things.

How could taro possibly be tastier than meat?!

You simply don't know how much meat people like us, whose mouths have been bland for too long, need to eat to fill our bellies!

Therefore, as soon as the taro braised pork entered the bowl, he first took a big bite of meat.

The pork belly came from boiling water, then into hot oil, then into cold river water, soaked for half a day in the sauce; the sauce was carefully blended, then steamed and cooked for a long time, the fat in the pork belly gradually being smoked and broken down by steam, melting into the lean meat below, leaving only an exceptionally soft and glutinous texture.

The lean meat wasn't dry to begin with—it was pork belly, and top-grade lower five-layer pork at that, with no chance to become dry; any dryness at all would be an insult to that fat pig—now blended with so much fat, there was only meat fragrance, sauce fragrance, and that bit of chew.

It relied entirely on that bit of lean meat chew to keep the meat slices from falling apart, but they were already soft and limp, hanging on the chopsticks like a "U" shape, slowly dripping down with oil-scented sauce.

The sauce mainly used Gui Prefecture white fermented bean curd, with various sauces and seasonings as supplements, a kind of extremely rich and mellow fragrance, both strange and proper.

The strangeness lay in its difference from all other seasonings, having a unique rich fermented fragrance, exceptionally fresh and delicious; the propriety lay in this fragrance coming from foods commonly eaten by people, with a unique flavor but not strange at all, freshness and deliciousness both growing on the tongues of people of the time.

First marinated, then steamed and cooked, the sauce flavor had long penetrated every strand and every bit of the meat.

The taste was salty with a hint of sweetness, that sweetness had presence but wasn't overpowering, very moderate, plus there was sauce freshness, not picky about tastes at all—as long as one had a normal tongue, it was hard not to like it.

Pure meat, eight-layer five-layer pork, when chewing almost no teeth were needed; upon entering the mouth, after a few rounds it brought fat fragrance, meat fragrance, fermented bean curd fragrance, sauce fragrance, and finally a thread of wine fragrance as aftertaste—also because it had just been taken from the food box kept warm with charcoal, no different from when it was just steamed, scalding hot—in the mouth they fought.

Wang Chang ate while exhaling hot air; upon tasting that wonderful flavor, he couldn't help but make an indescribable sound from his nasal cavity, eating so much he wished he could curse on the spot.

You Guangnan people are really not straightforward!

With something this delicious, why not bring it to the Capital earlier to promote it!

It makes me, a native of the Capital, seem like I have no knowledge!

But I, damn it, have truly eaten good things!

Wang Chang ate so much his ears almost flew away; after a while he heard the person beside him looking for the taro "mistakenly taken by whom," then he lowered his head and saw the taro in his own bowl, his heart suddenly thumped.

—This meat was already so fragrant, yet Song Xiaoniangzi repeatedly warned him not to only eat taro...

Could it be?

He hurriedly swallowed the meat in his mouth and tasted a bit of taro.

The taro was indeed hard to pick up; finally he only picked up a small piece.

That taro was fried then steamed, steamed for a long time; the originally crispy outer skin had become extremely soft and glutinous, because it was thoroughly permeated by the sauce and pork belly fat, changing from the pale yellow from frying to a darker brownish yellow.

When put in the mouth, the outermost layer, having been repeatedly smoked by steam, absorbed water vapor and fragrance, had already surrendered, no longer its original appearance, but steamed into looking like a layer of even, moist thick powder; the texture was sandy, even not quite sand, between sand and cottony softness, truly melting in the mouth.

This layer of taro's own taste was already very faint, only becoming a material to carry meat fragrance and fermented bean curd fragrance, salty and sweet moderate, extremely fragrant.

But once bitten, the taro in the middle was powdery and glutinous, cottony and dense, also steamed through, also soaked up fermented bean curd sauce and fat, but because it was sandwiched in the very middle, ultimately not as permeated as the outer layer, still well preserving the taro's own texture and fragrance.

Lipu Taro differed from other betel nut taro; its texture was extremely fine, and it itself carried a natural sweetness; that sweetness was a sweet aftertaste, its own clear fragrance lasting and not dispersing, contending with fermented bean curd fragrance and meat fragrance, actually not losing at all.

Thus chewing and chewing, the taro carried extremely permeated five-layer pork fragrance and fat fragrance, plus fermented bean curd sauce fragrance, and its own unique taro fragrance, full of layered texture; eating to the end, its own sweet taste returned, both sandy and cottony, both fresh and fragrant.

—It was truly tastier than meat!

The thing Wang Chang realized after one bite, the others weren't without mouths, how could they not know, so everyone scrambled for the taro, like fighting.

But how big was a bowl of braised pork? Here at one table eight or nine people; if each person picked a pair, it was almost bottomed out.

Soon the chopsticks were fighting in the empty bowl.

Everyone kept urging Wang Chang.

"Finished eating, quick, another bowl!"

"Old Wang, don't just eat; how many bowls did Song Xiaoniangzi make in total, enough for us to eat?"

"No matter how many bowls, not enough—I think I alone could eat ten bowls!"—This was someone boasting without a draft.

"You want to finish this all at once? Fool! You should leave some for the evening meal, otherwise what will you eat in the evening?"

"Exactly, you ate this braised pork at noon; at night can you still eat the Canteen?!"

"Except for what was left for Zijian and them, we'd better hurry and see how much is left, bring it all out first!"

Wang Chang was urged until his scalp went numb.

People watching the excitement nearby saw there seemed to be an opportunity here, and all came over.

"How many bowls did Song Xiaoniangzi make? Name a price, give us a bowl!"

"What fragrance is this? How can it be so outrageously fragrant? Don't just keep eating; quickly tell us what it tastes like!"

"Yesterday that Pig Trotter Rice was only for you to eat; today this braised pork, how is it only for you to eat? Just copying a book, beating a rascal, do you have the guts?!"

For a time, the onlookers swallowed saliva while laughing; although they couldn't eat it themselves, they also helped urge Wang Chang.

Wang Chang was urged until he didn't know what to do with his hands and feet; he turned around and shouted: "Don't urge, don't urge, my hands are shaking! Don't make me spill the soup."

He was just a lively person, and his social circle was quite broad; among the ten people present, five or six knew him; at this time they didn't stand on ceremony, some urging and cursing, some teasing.

"You hurry up; just bring out a dish, and you're still hemming and hawing!"

An acquaintance standing behind couldn't help but spit: "Bringing out a dish and your hands shake; let me come; I'll make you eat it clean right now; see what soup you have to spill!"

The people at the table urged Wang Chang while also protecting him, fearing his hands would really shake and spill the sauce; shouts rose and fell.

"Don't rush!"

"Steady, don't spill the sauce!"

"Move aside, don't block Wang Chang's elbow!"

"I can do it; Wang Chang can't; call me; I can do it! Let me make this bowl of taro braised pork turn around!"

However, just as this person's words fell, seeing a new bowl already placed on the table, he had already forgotten the three words "call me," picked up his chopsticks, and immediately went to grab it.

On this side, the Canteen was noisy; many people didn't even eat their own meals, all going to watch Wang Chang and that table scrambling for taro braised pork.

On the other side, Xiao You, who had just brought the two Masters Cao and Wei to the Teaching Hall, after arranging for someone to serve tea, went into the Inner Room to invite Master Chen.

Just as he entered the Door, he saw that Inside, besides the Master, there was One person; it wasn't Strange, he only Returned Salute and called out: "Deng Jijiu."

Deng Jijiu was Drinking tea and speaking with Chen Fuzi; seeing Xiao You enter, he smiled and nodded, asking: "Have Lao Cao and them Arrived?"

Receiving a Definitely affirmative answer, he then Stood Up, stepped to one side, and said to that Chen Fuzi: "Senior Brother, you go first."

Chen Fuzi was originally about to agree; however, he Looked Up and saw that Xiao Yu across from him was making eyes at him; that Buttock which had just lifted a bit then sat back down again, he Waved his hand, and said: "You go Greet them first, I'll tidy up and come later."

When people get old, those three urgencies are more Frequent than others; Deng Jijiu wasn't surprised, and indeed agreed and left first.

That Xiao You naturally wasn't Anxious to follow, but instead hurried to the table side and said in a low voice to that Chen Fuzi: "Teacher, this morning that Song Xiaoniangzi didn't set up her stall, we couldn't Eat anything good, but just now — guess who I ran into at the Door?"