Chapter 82

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Having bid farewell to that patrol officer, she glanced at the sky; Song Miao simply did the same as the day before yesterday, pushing her stall cart straight to the wards to purchase ingredients.

Compared to Two-Student Food Lane, the Xunpu was much farther from the Song Family Eatery, and on top of that she was stopped by customers all along the way, walking and stopping; by the time she sold out all the food, it was nearly two hours later than usual.

Today the sweet embryo cakes and snow steamed cakes sold very quickly; the former suited both old and young, the latter was especially favored by women and children.

Several customers tasted the flavor, then went home and brought bowls back to buy the sweet embryo cake base, intending to take it home and brew it with water or tea.

Although these two foods were not priced high, their costs were very suitable; if more people buy the base in the future, she could bring fewer bamboo tubes and not add water, making the cart even lighter to push.

Now the varieties are increasing, and several soups and drinks have been added; the journey is still far, and even relying on her youth, Song Miao finds it somewhat too heavy to push — after one morning her waist aches and back hurts, it is very strenuous.

She had originally planned to split the morning into two trips: the first to Food Alley, the second to find a place outside to sell snow steamed cakes and sweet embryo cakes; students start class early, so it would not delay the later business.

But trying it today confirmed that manpower is limited; a day or two is fine, but if every day like this, she simply cannot keep up, nor withstand such exhaustion.

Since Song Miao arrived, burdened by debt she has felt unwell all over; now the money before her cannot be earned because her strength and time are insufficient; aside from sighing, she can only think again how to stage a performance inside a snail shell.

Seeing a grain shop just ahead, she went in and replenished some sparrow wheat, hulless barley, and polished rice; she parked the stall cart to one side and asked the shop assistant to help keep an eye on it.

After buying tomorrow's ingredients at the vegetable stall and meat stall, she returned to the grain shop entrance, greeted the people inside, and was about to push the cart away when she heard someone behind her ask the assistant: "Younger Brother, does your family have any old rice for sale?"

The assistant said: "Our rice is all good rice; where would old rice come from? Young Lady, go ask elsewhere."

Song Miao found the voice familiar; she turned to look — it was a young woman with a four- or five-year-old daughter, precisely the mother and daughter who had sheltered from rain at the Song Family Eatery entrance that day.

After a few days, the woman now carried a large bamboo basket on her back, stuffed full of dirty clothes, piled higher than her head; the little daughter also hugged a large basin in front of her, containing a few dirty garments, two laundry bats, and a wooden washboard.

This road leads to the riverbank; their posture suggests they have taken on work starching and washing clothes for others.

As Song Miao turned, the mother and daughter naturally saw her too, quickly recognized her, and came forward to greet her.

After exchanging greetings, Song Miao asked if she had found her relatives.

The woman smiled: "Found them; only he has had matters these two days, so we only came now, busy and chaotic, not good to go bother them."

She pointed behind and said: "Over there is Guangji Temple; we mother and daughter settled there first. That day thank you, Young Lady, for looking after us; if you have any matter, by all means come find me! Other things I cannot do best, but washing, scrubbing, sweeping rooms — I can still manage!"

Song Miao smiled in reply, exchanged a few polite words, took her leave, and pushed the cart to go.

The daughter, seeing a person, had been shrinking behind her mother; now seeing Song Miao leave, she suddenly ran over from behind, raised the thing in her hand, and said: "For you."

Song Miao was somewhat surprised; she lowered her head to look — in that open palm lay a tiny stone, very round and smooth, still wet.

"I picked it up from the riverbank, it's so pretty! There are more here!" She spoke and moved to rummage through the basin in front.

The woman's face showed embarrassment; she hurried forward a few steps and called: "Xiao Lian, ai, you child! How can you give a stone to the Young Lady!"

Xiao Lian was at a loss for a moment: "Mother didn't say to properly thank the Young Lady — I picked for a long time."

Song Miao smiled and accepted the stone: "This one is enough for me; later I'll use a small bowl with water to keep it, just right for raising two little fish."

Xiao Lian hurriedly brought the wooden basin she was hugging over, moved aside the clothes and laundry bats covering it, pushed away a pile of soapberries, and said: "One stone is too few; how can two fish be raised with that, not enough to share; I have more here, Young Lady take them all."

Seeing her eager expectant look, Song Miao seriously picked one from inside.

Xiao Lian was overjoyed; she set the wooden basin on the ground, squatted down comparing them, specially chose a few she thought pretty, held them out to Song Miao, and said seriously: "Before was what I gave to the Young Lady; these are what I give to the fish!"

Only now did she show some childlike manner.

Song Miao received them with both hands, carefully put them away, thanked her, then lifted the wooden basin from the ground together with her, and tucked the outer robe's hem that had fallen out of the basin back inside.

But the moment she turned it over, her peripheral vision caught several holes at the hem of that outer robe; she felt it strange for a moment, and couldn't help but examine it closely.

The fabric was ordinary coarse cloth, the tailoring very simple; only the edges of the holes were blackened, some round, some oval — at a glance they were burned by something, and looked somewhat familiar.

Very similar to what she herself had picked up on the stall cart outside the door yesterday.

Song Miao waved her hand to fan it; sure enough, besides an indescribable stench, there was also an incense smell.

She casually handed it to the woman to look at and asked: "Whose clothing is this? It looks burned; do you want someone to mend it?"

"Ah, how did it get burned again!"

The woman hurriedly felt at her waist sash, took out a small sewing kit, just then relaxed, and said: "It belongs to a few lodgers at Guangji Temple; they go around doing odd jobs for people, and do some heavy miscellaneous tasks for the temple; likely they burned their clothes when pouring incense ash."

"Since their homes have no one, they gave a few coins asking me to help starch and wash clothes — I'll mend it first in a moment, so it won't be ruined in washing."

Song Miao only felt it strange, and asked a few more casual questions — their ages, what they usually do, whether anyone has disappeared these few days.

"All are young men in their early twenties; they go out early and return late every day; two of them I only saw once when they moved in, and haven't encountered since." The woman said.

Song Miao saw she knew little, so just smiled, greeted Xiao Lian, and took her leave.

She hurried home; due to consecutive days of rushing about, she was truly exhausted, even her appetite was poor; she casually ate a few mouthfuls, calculated the time and slept first; after waking, she began busily making Fu cakes.

Previously she had given some Fu cakes to Sun Lizheng; the next day Zhu Tried came to the door and ordered two large boxes from her, saying they were for an elder's birthday celebration; Song Miao had kept it in mind; when she went to the door yesterday she specially asked, and it still counted, only the time was changed to this afternoon.

Fu cakes cannot be kept long; though not hard to make, they are very time-consuming; by the time Song Miao had inlaid the characters "Fu" and "Shou" and packed them into the food box, it was already past Wei Hour.

She carried it and went to the Sun Family Residence.

This time it was actually Zhu Tried who answered the door; seeing Song Miao, she hurriedly thanked her, and without waiting for her to ask, told the household matters first.

It turned out Sun Lizheng had returned last night; upon arriving home he made the final decision, saying Sun Er would most likely go to prison; if Sun Er's wife is unwilling to wait, once the judgment document comes down, he will entrust someone to go in and question her, write a divorce letter, let her press her handprint inside and bring it out; as for the children, as long as Sun Er's wife is willing, all can be taken away.

Don't know how he persuaded them, but Sun Family's uncles and aunts actually did not oppose, only sighed and groaned.

At this moment Sun Lizheng is at the uncle's house handling affairs; Zhu Tried has returned to prepare the birthday gifts; once finished, she still has to go back to help look after things.

While speaking, Zhu Tried sighed, and finally said: "Never mind, let's not speak of this; this time still must thank you for helping deliver the message, otherwise Old Sun might not have returned this early."

The two spoke a few sentences of household idle talk; Zhu Tried paid the bill, then had her put the food box onto the two carrying poles.

Seeing this, Song Miao said: "These pastries are made of two-color bean paste; if they jolt and bump on the road, they may fall apart; please ask the bearers to be careful."

Zhu Tried said: "What bearers? I'll deliver it myself."

She said: "Let me give you the bottom line; this time it's Li Doutou's mother's birthday; because the Left and Right Military Patrol Academy just changed superiors, nobody inside dares to handle it, gifts don't dare be accepted; only our two families have constant dealings year-round, private exchanges frequent, cannot be cut off; I'm afraid if I called an outsider to deliver, it would spread gossip, so I'll just run a trip myself."

Song Miao saw that the porter's load had many things, so she asked: "Auntie, how do you plan to carry it?"

"I'll carry a big basket on my back, and hold things in both hands……"

Zhu Tried said while gesturing, gesturing as she spoke, and she also felt something was not right, worrying: "It seems there's too much, not easy to carry."

Song Miao went the extra mile, smiling: "If Auntie trusts me, I'll accompany you on a trip, counting as lending a hand."

Not to mention that Song Miao, hurrying before mealtime, accompanied that Zhu Tried to deliver birthday gifts; inside a room in the Capital Prefecture Rear Office, Zhao Fuyin, Prefect Zheng, Tao Gongshi, and another Ministry of Justice Vice Minister were seated there, with Qin Jie accompanying them.

By now the case, though not yet settled, had become somewhat clear.

After court session, those with relevant duties inevitably gathered to learn progress and discuss division of labor, also discussing how to report at tomorrow's court session and what wording to use.

Seeing it was nearly mealtime, most matters had been discussed seven or eight parts full, only some details remained to be confirmed, so Prefect Zheng took the opportunity to say: "Busy for half a day, everyone must be hungry? I ordered them to have the Gong Chu prepare food, surely it's ready by now; let's eat first and then discuss."

He also said: "The canteen has many people, let's just eat here today."

Tao Gongshi smiled: "I'm already hungry; other things are fine, but there's stir-fried bean sprouts, right?"

Seeing the Ministry of Justice Vice Minister looked strange, Tao Gongshi smiled and explained to him: "The canteen of our Capital Prefecture Office is quite presentable, especially a dish of stir-fried bean sprouts; the cook stir-fries it particularly outstandingly, particularly refreshing."

Just as they were speaking, outside someone had already sent the dishes one by one.

Last night the few people went in a hurry, and what the canteen gave them to eat was big-pot rice; today prepared early, though not exactly full to the brim, they had set a table; four people ate five dishes and one soup, chicken, duck, fish, meat, everything complete, plus cold plates and fruit.

Some paired with rice, some with steamed buns, eating while not forgetting to continue discussing matters; speaking as they spoke, finally one plate of dishes was served, exactly that stir-fried bean sprouts.

Tao Gongshi stretched out his chopsticks first; when he put it in his mouth, about to smile, but upon tasting the flavor, his smile suddenly froze.

He swallowed the food in his mouth, still disbelieving, and picked up another chopstickful.

By now the Vice Minister had also picked some up, tasted it carefully, and then asked: "Gongshi, do you particularly like eating bean sprouts?"

However, as soon as he asked this, he saw the other three at the table also frequently reaching their chopsticks into the stir-fried bean sprouts plate.

After everyone ate, their expressions were all strange.

Finally it was Prefect Zheng who spoke first, saying: "How is it that I eat and feel these bean sprouts are somewhat not right?"

"Isn't stir-fried bean sprouts just this flavor? What's not right?" said the Vice Minister.

"This is just ordinary stir-fried bean sprouts; yesterday wasn't like this."

As soon as these words were spoken, those at the table who had eaten yesterday all nodded.

"The seasoning is wrong."

"It's overcooked."

"Was it left too long? I eat these bean sprouts and they're not at all as crisp as yesterday, and also greasy." This time it was Zhao Fuyin who settled it with one word.

Prefect Zheng then said: "Perhaps they were cooked early and left too long, the flavor has changed; have them stir-fry a fresh plate to bring over."

He gave the order; not long after, two new plates of stir-fried bean sprouts were on the table, steaming hot, clearly just out of the pot.

One plate had the tails removed and kept the bean sprout heads, stir-fried with scallion sections; one plate had both heads and tails removed, stir-fried with scallion granules.

Just looking at the appearance was not quite right; the bean sprouts were not as clear as yesterday's, nor as firm as yesterday's.

After each took another bite, it was even more not right.

Both used lard; fragrant it was, but very greasy.

Especially with a table full of big fish and big meat, these bean sprouts were still stir-fried with lard, and overcooked besides, losing that fresh tender texture, and not refreshing at all.

"The oil is wrong, the flavor is wrong—tell the kitchen not to keep switching back and forth; let yesterday's cook come stir-fry!"

These words were quickly passed back to the rear kitchen.

Zheng Guanren was anxious to the point of smoke rising from his head; he hurriedly asked the messenger: "How did the Fuyin put it? How did the Zhifu put it? What did they say was wrong?"

He also urged the two Small Workers who sold big pancakes: "How did that young lady stir-fry yesterday? What did she put in?"

The big pancake seller shrank his head and said softly: "This lowly one only tends the fire……Song Xiaoniangzi told this lowly one to use a big fire……"

The other Small Worker said: "This lowly one was serving soup outside; really didn't see……"

After listening to the messenger describe the Fuyin, Zhifu, and that Gongshi each giving their own account, the several cooks in the kitchen were all somewhat helpless.

"Was it stir-fried with vegetable oil?"

"Stir-frying bean sprouts with lard tastes better; if changed to vegetable oil it wouldn't be fragrant."

"This has already been stir-fried for less time than usual; any shorter and it wouldn't be cooked, it would have a raw vegetable taste."

"How exactly is the seasoning wrong? They don't say clearly—is it too heavy or too light?"

The several people couldn't figure it out, so they could only stir-fry randomly according to their own guesses.

Zheng Guanren tasted it and felt each had its own flavor, but fundamentally it was still just stir-fried bean sprouts, nothing remarkable, and he couldn't tell which was better or worse; they all seemed about the same.

He could only reluctantly pick two plates that looked best from among them and personally send them over.

However, after the officials ate, without listening to their comments, just by looking at how everyone ate the dishes, Zheng Guanren knew the flavor was wrong again.

He hurriedly explained: "Yesterday's cook had family matters and went back first; how about I have them stir-fry another plate to come over……"

"Since the person isn't here, they should have said so earlier; now they've stir-fried so many, how can they be eaten? Isn't that waste?" This sentence was said by Zhao Fuyin.

He usually minded his own business; today this sentence was said neither heavily nor lightly, but it made Zheng Guanren break into a sweat; he hurriedly apologized, and was about to retreat outside when he saw Prefect Zheng coldly glance at him once, and his heart panicked even more.

After he returned to the kitchen, ignoring other matters, he called over the porters from before and the two Small Workers, asking: "Where does that surnamed Song young lady live? Which of you knows her well?"

At this place Zheng Guanren wanted to find someone; Cheng Zijian, who had just finished the last exam, was feeling anxious in his heart, had just stepped out of the Examination Hall, and hurriedly began flipping through books.

Someone beside him called out: "Zijian! Where did you break the topic for today's policy question?"

Cheng Zijian swallowed his saliva and said: "I broke the topic from Criminal Law, citing the 'Wei Criminal Code'."

That person was stunned, slapped his thigh, and said: "How did I not think of that!"

"I don't even know if I broke this topic correctly……"

Cheng Zijian wanted to say more, but heard someone calling his name from afar.

He turned his head, waved his hand, and said: "It's me! It's me!"

That person ran over and said: "Are you Cheng Zijian of the Lower Hall? From Fuzhou?"

Once he nodded, the man said, "Someone is waiting for you outside the front Door, claiming to be from Fuzhou!"