Chapter 6

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Cheng Zijian only lost one bowl of glutinous rice here, but in Nan Lu Academy just one alley away, a student carrying a whole basket of Song Ji glutinous rice ran all the way, and before he could even enter the Xue Zhai, he was stopped by the Learning Admonisher.

That student had originally placed the bamboo basket in front, thinking to block it, but unexpectedly the Learning Admonisher pointed at him: "What's in that basket? Open it and take a look."

Once the basket was opened, inside were layer upon layer of lotus-leaf-wrapped bundles packed full, with nowhere to hide anything.

"Where did this come from?" the Learning Admonisher shouted sternly, "Do you have a permit?"

"I... student... student's own food..."

The Learning Admonisher gave a cold snort and said: "Shan Chang has said several times that without a permit, you are not allowed to come and go freely—do you treat his words as wind in your ears?"

He added: "Leave the basket here; after class at noon, come find me yourself to accept punishment."

The student hung his head in dejection and could only agree.

The Learning Admonisher picked up the bamboo basket and felt it was quite heavy; when he got to the back, seeing that it was nearly time to ring the bell, he hastily set the basket down and hurried out to make his rounds.

He had only made it halfway when he unexpectedly ran into the Learning Corrector coming to find him about an urgent matter; after finishing up, it was already past noon, and just as he was about to return to his office quarters and turned a corner, he saw not far ahead a student poking his head around; walking closer, it was precisely the one from whom he had confiscated a basket of lotus-leaf wraps that morning.

This Learning Admonisher was by nature stern and could not abide such behavior; immediately darkening his face, he said: "Going in is going in, going out is going out—have you learned all your daily rites for nothing? Why do you behave with such furtive hesitation?!"

The student was startled and hurriedly turned to salute him.

The Learning Admonisher stepped forward several paces, about to scold him a few more words, but out of the corner of his eye he saw several colleagues inside the gate gathered together, each holding an opened lotus-leaf wrap, eating with their heads down—on a table beside them sat the bamboo basket he had confiscated from that student—the basket, originally full, was now empty inside.

He was stunned and unconsciously turned back to look at the student.

The other party hurriedly clasped his hands and lowered his head, looking as if he dared not meet his gaze.

And those eating heard the sound from outside and had already all looked up; seeing it was him, each looked somewhat embarrassed.

One of them smiled sheepishly and said: "It's Old Shen; today the weather is cold, and unexpectedly we got up late, and Shan Chang wanted an early morning meeting, so we few didn't have time to go to the dining hall; coming back we saw you had a basket set out here, and seeing you hadn't returned for half a day, we took it upon ourselves..."

In the past, eight or nine times out of ten what this Shen Learning Admonisher brought back were foods students had secretly bought from outside; since they were confiscated, they certainly couldn't be thrown away.

One must know: who knows that every grain on the plate is hard-won.

Everyone helping to digest them, sharing and eating them, had already become a habit; they often took without asking and thought nothing of it, but today seeing his complexion was not good, they could only explain and make up for it with a sentence.

The Learning Admonisher was a man from Dengzhou, of large and sturdy build.

He stood in front, completely blocking the student behind him.

This man started speaking, and the others, not seeing the student behind, also hurriedly chimed in.

"Don't say it, Old Shen, what is this food you're eating? The flavor is not bad."

"You're saying I lack knowledge! Haven't even seen glutinous rice?"

"Who hasn't seen glutinous rice! It's just that this looks and tastes different from what we usually eat—have you ever eaten this kind?"

"Haven't eaten this kind, but there's a shop in City West that also sells glutinous rice; I heard the owner is a man from Guizhou; the last time I passed by I bought some to try; though not as good as this flavor, it was quite tasty—Old Shen, where did you get this?"

"Indeed the flavor is quite good; I didn't mean to eat all of Old Shen's things in one go; how much? We'll give you the money?"

Shen Learning Admonisher only felt embarrassed; agreeing wasn't right, and not agreeing wasn't right either.

But the student behind him endured and endured, and finally couldn't help but quietly poke out a bit of his head, saying in a low voice: "Bought from outside in Food Alley..."

Everyone saw a student's head poking out from behind and were all stunned.

The student added: "It's a young lady pushing a cart to sell, with a 'Song Ji' signboard hung up, called something like 'Mung Bean Paste Glutinous Rice'."

The student paused, then added: "Five cash for a small bowl, eight cash for a large bowl; these all have a whole salted duck egg added, every salted duck egg has flowing yellow yolk—one bowl like this is worth ten cash; the young lady said glutinous rice shouldn't be eaten too much, otherwise it causes indigestion and bloating, and she also gave Chenpi Mung Bean Drink to go with it, three cash per bamboo tube; I've tasted both the drink and the glutinous rice, so fragrant..."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, his eyes fixed straight on the glutinous rice in everyone's hands.

No one knew if it was because this person's resentment was too strong, or for some other reason, but everyone actually saw in his expression a bit of the pain of having food snatched from his mouth.

Song Miao, however, didn't know that the glutinous rice she sold had already gained a little reputation in both Nan Lu Academy and Taixue.

There were many students; even if the food was hard to eat, it wouldn't be too hard to sell.

She arrived at the beginning of the Chen hour; today was just a trial, so she only prepared thirty portions of Chenpi Mung Bean Drink and one large pot of glutinous rice; as a result, it was all sold cleanly in less than half an hour.

Originally they were all new customers, but quite a few new customers bought and ate while walking; after walking not far they finished, then turned back to buy more, and asked her what time she would come tomorrow, telling her she must come again tomorrow, and ordering more portions.

The business went smoothly, and Song Miao felt somewhat relieved; she packed up her things and pushed her cart back home.

When she came in the morning the sky was still dark and there were very few pedestrians; by now the sun had risen, and those doing business along the street were opening their doors one after another; as she pushed her cart past, many people cast their gazes upon her, and even neighbors and acquaintances who had come to mourn Song Dalang the day before yesterday followed her with greetings.

Song Miao only smiled and exchanged pleasantries with everyone; occasionally when someone came to ask a few more questions, she would answer each thing she sold one by one, and also said she would send them a portion another day.

The neighbors on both sides all knew her circumstances were difficult; how could they agree? Each said they would bring money to buy, not mentioning it.

In less than half a day's time, the news that Song family's little daughter had pushed a cart to sell food early in the morning spread throughout Suanzao Alley.

Speaking of Song Miao returning home, she first counted up today's earnings: thirty tubes of Chenpi Mung Bean Drink, totaling ninety cash; glutinous rice with the added salted duck eggs sold for six hundred and three cash; added together, a total of six hundred and ninety-three cash.

At this time, Da Wei copper coins were "Sheng Mo"; one string of cash was only seven hundred and seventy cash; judging by today's sales, even if tomorrow the quantity tripled it wouldn't be hard to sell; that day she could earn nearly three strings of cash.

It sounded like quite a lot, but glutinous rice was always more expensive than regular rice; although the other condiments were cheap, several items had to be fried or stir-fried with oil; oil and firewood were also costs.

Calculating it, although a small portion sold for five cash, averaged out, the cost was over one cash and two li, and then some; this business could be done, but it was only just doable, not very profitable.

It was only because there was ready-made glutinous rice at home right now, and also because this thing was relatively simple to make and convenient to serve, that she first took it to tide things over; if she considered profit, she would still need to make more other categories.

However, after counting the money, Song Miao finally felt much more at ease in her heart.

She rested for a moment, then got up to wash her hands clean.

These past two days, people kept coming to the door to collect debts; she certainly couldn't cook a meal for every one she met.

In others' eyes, she was an unmarried orphan girl who had never had any remarkable abilities; naturally, no one listened to what she said.

So who would people listen to when they spoke?

Thinking it over, those whose words carried weight, and who might be willing to speak now, were only the village head who had spoken up for her that day and won her a few more days of time.

When asking someone for help, one naturally must show sincerity.

She had soaked a pot of red beans last night, and before leaving she specially placed two handfuls of red dates in a steamer basket on top; once it came to a boil she closed the stove door, letting the residual heat warm it, and now she picked out two grains with chopsticks and pinched them — they were indeed already cooked soft and rotten.

Song Miao did not waste them either; skins and all she put some cooked red beans into the stone mortar to grind and pound, filtered out the remaining water, returned them to the pot with oil, and stir-fried them dry together with the date paste that had been skinned and pitted, then took them out to knead and shape, and also took the mung bean paste left over from the morning.