Chapter 64

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Song Miao said she was busy, yet also not busy.

It was just that there were still many patrol soldiers and yamen runners in the house at the moment, so it really wasn't very convenient to receive guests.

But the person had already arrived at the door, and had even brought ingredients herself, so naturally she couldn't refuse.

She thought for a moment, then said: "After noon I have some small matters, but right now it's no hindrance."

Just as she spoke, she glanced over and saw that Zhu Jie'er's carriage was stopped at the window-side spot by the doorway, blocking the view from the window toward the house opposite.

This made it hard for the soldiers on duty to keep watch.

She turned the thought over in her mind, and smiling said to He Qi: "If it's convenient for Young Master He, would you trouble yourself to help move this carriage forward a bit? Today I want to put the stall cart at the door to air out."

Speaking, she also pointed to an open space up ahead, saying: "Parking the carriage there will do."

He Qi hurriedly agreed, and called the driver over to shift it.

To make this explanation hold, Song Miao put the stall cart by the window first, then went to open the door.

Ordinary voices outside, separated by only a single window, could naturally be heard inside the room.

After a delay, when Song Miao entered the house, she saw the room was empty — not a single guard had come out.

As usual she fetched a bench and a cushion for the brother and sister to sit, and brought tea.

He Qi then called Bei Zhi to bring that bucket of green shrimp in, pointing and saying: "Stall Owner Song, just do as you see fit, whatever's convenient, no need to go to too much trouble!"

As he spoke to this point, his face already showed a few shades of embarrassment.

"Originally I felt a bit embarrassed to come bother you again, but these shrimp were just transported from the south a few days ago, rarely this fresh. I had the cooks at home try several methods, but all found them lacking in flavor..."

"Shrimp this large, if they're all eaten carelessly, it would be too much of a waste, so I had to come trouble Young Lady Song!"

Hearing him introduce them like this, Song Miao only felt curious.

Seeing at such fresh, lively shrimp, top-grade ingredients — they should be delicious no matter how simply cooked. How could they lack flavor?

She asked: "What methods did the household try?"

He Qi listed them one by one.

The He family's cooks' skills were naturally not poor, but both He Father and He Mother advocated the way of health preservation; whether meat or vegetable, they were very particular about original flavor.

Several cooks first blanched them in clear water with dipping sauce, but He Qi and He Lao Taotai both disdained it, saying it had no taste, so they had them do a wine-braise, but eaten cold it was chilly and the flavor wasn't good either, so finally they had to red-braise them.

"Although these shrimp are large and fresh, for some reason they have no shrimp sweetness. The meat texture is good though, thick and springy." He Qi described, "The blanched ones weren't flavorful enough, the red-braised ones were simmered too long and lost a bit of the shrimp taste..."

Song Miao listened while picking up a shrimp and pinching its shell, finding the texture completely different from other varieties, extremely hard.

She estimated the shrimp meat texture and flavor He Qi had just described, and a plan gradually formed in her mind. She said: "Just right, yesterday Young Master He gave me many seasonings, among them a fresh wasabi. I'll take cornel and make a wasabi shrimp — not spicy, Zhu Jie'er can eat it too. Just whether the flavor is good or not, we'll only know once it's made."

Hearing the three words "wasabi shrimp," and hearing Song Miao say it wasn't spicy, He Qi was actually a bit puzzled.

But he didn't ask a single word, only kept nodding, then continued: "Also, Zhu Jie'er kept nagging about wanting to come find Stall Owner Song to play. Yesterday she went to find her cousin..."

"Let me say it! Let me say it!"

Zhu Jie'er had waited half a day, already unable to hold back. At this moment she hurriedly interrupted: "Brother Qi, you're not allowed to steal my lines!"

As she spoke, she fished out a wrapped handkerchief from her bosom, presenting it like a treasure to Song Miao, saying: "Sister, look! You open it! Look what this is!"

She looked like a real little darling, extremely proud.

Song Miao smiled and crouched down, and sure enough opened the handkerchief, only to see inside was wrapped a small handful of flowers.

The flowers were yellow tinged with pink, and some faintly purple. Among them were flower buds, and also flowers already fully open.

The flower buds were small and exquisite, like a bird's head, also a bit like little yellow duck bills. The open ones were like a bird spreading its wings to fly.

The flower's standard petals were broad, the wing petals narrow and long, looking very delicate and cute.

Something she had made and eaten herself, Song Miao recognized it at a glance, extremely surprised, and hurriedly asked: "Where did this jasmine flower come from?"

Yushan is more than a thousand li from the capital. Only yesterday I mentioned it in passing, and today it was actually brought by this Zhu Jie'er as casually as if she'd picked it up.

What kind of doing is this?

Zhu Jie'er smiled broadly, saying: "I picked it in my cousin's courtyard! Searched all morning, only barely found it. I even left some for her. She said she also wanted someone to stir-fry and eat it!"

"Yesterday Sister said jasmine flower fried eggs were delicious. I kept thinking about it. Today I happened to go find my cousin, and specially learned from her. She said the household definitely had it."

"The two of us searched for half a day, finally found it in her warm room..."

"This was picked by Zhu Jie'er herself, one by one!"

Zhu Jie'er finished speaking, then anxiously asked: "Is it this one! Sister, is it this one?"

Song Miao nodded yes, took the handkerchief over, and praised: "Zhu Jie'er is so amazing! In a moment I'll pan-fry it for you to eat."

Then asked her: "Are you hungry?"

Zhu Jie'er put on a serious look of feeling carefully, even used her hand to touch her belly, then nodded: "Empty, flat, very hungry."

A child saying she's hungry, Song Miao naturally didn't dare delay. She hurriedly opened the stove door, first added firewood and stoked the fire, then checked what was left on the stove top.

There were a few oil cakes left from overnight, texture not good, and not suitable for a child. But last night's pot of rice still had quite a lot left, sitting in the pot immersed in water.

So she asked He Qi: "If you don't mind, Young Master He, how about making do with some porridge for lunch?"

He Qi agreed in one breath, and also volunteered not to sit idle, wanting to help.

Last time he peeled bamboo shoots quite convincingly, so Song Miao had a bit more trust. She found a stone mortar, put in two spoonfuls of cooked rice, added a bit of cow's milk, and asked him to help pound it into a paste.

For a moment Zhu Jie'er watched from the side, very unconvinced, and also made a fuss about wanting to work.

Song Miao ladled water over, first picked out the already-open jasmine flowers — this flower is very strange, once it blooms the flavor turns astringent and bitter — leaving half a handful of tender flower buds, and asked Zhu Jie'er to help gently wash them.

One big, one small, two people, a tiny task, busy and delighted.

After sending the two off, Song Miao opened the stove door, added firewood and lit the fire, put the congee on to boil, then went to handle the shrimp.

That bucket contained at least three or four jin of shrimp; Song Miao gauged He Qi and Zhu Jie'er's appetites, took out only half, used scissors to remove the shrimp heads, shrimp spears, and shrimp pouches, opened their backs to remove the shrimp lines, washed them clean, set them aside to air-dry, then went to handle the wasabi.

She ground the wasabi into powder, put it in a bowl, mixed it with crushed cornel, soy sauce, two large spoonfuls of sugar, one spoonful of honey, a bowl of water, ground in plenty of crushed peppercorns, stirred evenly, then minced several cloves of garlic and set them aside temporarily—this was the seasoning for the wasabi shrimp.

After finishing these, she beat two eggs, then went to get the jasmine flowers Zhu Jie'er had washed.

The jasmine flower buds soaked in the egg liquid, left to infuse their fragrance first; Song Miao saw He Qi still grinding rice paste huffing and puffing, so she did not urge him, heated the pot with oil, and flash-fried the shrimp.

Flash-frying shrimp in vegetable oil over high heat, before long the aroma of shrimp oil came out.

That taste was different from meat fragrance; it was the unique aroma of flash-fried river delicacies, the shrimp roe and duck egg yolk shared a common origin, especially direct, making people salivate just from smelling it.

This fragrance was not as fishy as seafood, but very rich, full of the smell of cooking fires.

He Qi, who was grinding rice paste, suddenly slowed his movements, unable to resist lifting his head to look at the pot.

Zhu Jie'er had already finished her work and was playing with the opened jasmine flowers; smelling the aroma, she very much wanted to go closer to look, but because she had been lectured last time, she dared not move; at this moment her eyes were wide open, she kept sniffing, smelling the fragrance, then turned to look at He Qi, and asked softly: "Brother Qi, I want to go watch Sister make shrimp!"

He Qi shook his head sternly and said: "No, you will disturb Sister cooking."

Speaking, he also placed the stone mortar he was holding onto the bench in front of Zhu Jie'er, and said: "Zhu Jie'er, be good and listen; if you are bored with nothing to do, take this pestle and slowly grind rice paste, I will go take a look for you!"

After speaking, he indeed stood up, walked to the stove side to watch Song Miao cook.

Left with Zhu Jie'er receiving the stone mortar, she always felt she was not idle at all, nor at all bored.

Actually she could play with flowers for half a day, and smelling the fragrance made her very happy, but outside she could not give no face to her own Brother Qi, so she held the pestle in her hand and ground several big circles, feeling something was not right, but could not say what.

Song Miao had no time to attend to Zhu Jie'er's little doubt.

After flash-frying the large green shrimp over high heat until fragrant, she closed the stove door, used low heat to slowly pan-fry, pressing the aroma, shrimp oil, and shrimp roe flavor even more concentrated; when pan-fried to about right, she poured in the minced garlic and stir-fried once; after frying out the garlic fragrance, she then poured in the sauce.

The sauce was very fragrant.

The wasabi inside had a very unique fresh taste, very fragrant, with a slight indescribable pungency; the cornel was spicy; the proportion of the two was just right; cooked with the shrimp, it produced a special fragrance, extremely rich, drifting throughout the whole room.

Zhu Jie'er could no longer bear it, put down the pestle, and asked: "Brother Qi, I have finished grinding; have you finished watching?"

Speaking, she could not help but tiptoe to look at what was in the pot.

He Qi only stared at the shrimp in the pot; for a good while he did not react to Zhu Jie'er calling him, until Song Miao reminded him twice, then he seemed to wake up, and hurried back to coax his little sister.

However, this dish was made quickly; when the sauce was reduced to about right, Song Miao added a bit of lard inside; when the lard coated the large shrimp evenly, she immediately served it out.

After the wasabi shrimp was done, she washed the pot, used clear oil over low heat to lightly push the jasmine flower fried eggs, tenderly served out a small plate.

At this time the congee was also cooked; although not soft enough, as a staple food for one meal to go with dishes it was enough.

The two dishes were placed on the bench; He Qi and Zhu Jie'er, one big and one small, each had a bowl of congee in front of them.

The congee was thick, more rice less soup; the shrimp was one big one, its back opened, the outer shell bright red, shining with oil; the shrimp meat at the opened back, stewed with the sauce for a while, was already well flavored; but the soy sauce coloring was not heavy, so one could still see the faint burnt yellow from the original pan-frying.

The fragrance of pan-fried shrimp, the fresh fragrance of wasabi, and also the fragrance of pepper—truly excessively refreshing and appetizing.

There was also the jasmine flower fried egg; its fragrance was different from last time's jasmine flower, lighter, but had a sweet silky feeling.

He Qi actually did not know for a moment how to put down his chopsticks.

But Zhu Jie'er was different; she first picked up a chopstick of jasmine flower fried egg, and called out: "Sister, aren't you coming to eat? The dishes will get cold!"

Song Miao smiled and said: "Zhu Jie'er eats; I ate many things on the road, I can't eat anymore—just leave two shrimp for me."

Speaking, she took the stone mortar, pounded some cow's milk into it again, then poured it into the small pot to slowly cook over low fire.

He Qi hurriedly took a small bowl to serve out several shrimp; while serving, his hand accidentally touched a bit of the sauce.

He had a handkerchief at hand, but for some reason, he did not wipe it; inexplicably, he caught a shrimp with his hand, without even removing the shell, and sent it into his mouth.

In the Song Family Eatery on Sanzao County Alley, He Qi and Zhu Jie'er happily faced the two dishes; two streets away, that Chief Liao was almost fuming with rage.

"You mean, that Liu Er wrote the contract date as after Song Dalang died, and now wants me to give another one hundred strings to change that date?"

For such a large sum of money, Diao Zi naturally could not make the decision himself.

He was nervous in his heart, his hands trembling a little; he turned over several times in succession but still did not open that page of paper; with great difficulty he opened it, his voice also trembling, speaking in a jumbled way.

"Saying that... a few days ago he was absent from duty; he was absent from duty, hard to change; also there was another person who needed a helper who was absent from duty..."

Listening to such a confused account, Chief Liao's brows kept furrowing, but in his heart there was only one thought.

Such a useless subordinate; in the future he could not be entrusted with any important matters.

He frowned and asked: "How is that Song family daughter? In these past few days, has she had any dealings with those Taixue students?"

Hearing him ask this question, Diao Zi finally relaxed a little, and hurriedly said: "No, recently he has not had much dealings with those Taixue students; it's just..."

"Just what?"

"It's that the village head there, the one surnamed Sun from Zhuque Gate; his wife doesn't know what medicine she ate wrong; last night she took her bedding to the Song Family Eatery; it is said that these few days she will go to keep night watch, for fear that the young lady will be frightened out of her wits and dare not sleep."

Chief Liao did not take one village head to heart; he only felt slightly annoyed, and said: "If you won't drink the toast, you'll drink the penalty wine; wait until matters come out in his own household, then I'll see if she still has leisure time to poke her nose into this."

"There is one more thing; I don't know what is going on, but these past few days there have often been carriages and horses going to Sanzao County Alley; also someone moved furniture in."

Diao Zi reported one by one the matter of He Qi coming to the door, and also the matter of Northern Branch and others sending gifts.

Chief Liao asked: "The one who went was not a Taixue student?"

"Should not be; this humble one has inquired; these past two days those Taixue students are all busy with examinations; probably they have no time to run out."

Although Diao Zi denied it, Chief Liao still felt somewhat anxious in his heart.

Toward this subordinate, he had already lost much trust; especially if this matter was not handled well, the trouble it brought afterward would not be easy to clean up.

"You go invite Liu Jin; find a time to come out; I will talk with him."

He always felt something was not right about the matter.