Chapter 93

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Protagonist:

Song Miao

Cheng Zijian turned around, his face originally drawn with worry; upon seeing Song Miao not far away, his expression instantly turned to surprise and joy, and he hurried forward, calling out, "Stall Owner Song!"

He then asked, "It's this late; how come you're here?"

Song Miao responded with a sound, smiling, "Today I took a job cooking at someone's home; who knew the road back would be full of pedestrians and carriages, stopping and starting, so it got late."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zijian hurriedly said, "The city hasn't been peaceful lately; if you're not in a rush, why not wait a bit? I'll escort you back in a moment."

"Many thanks, but there's no need to trouble yourself." Song Miao pointed at the carriage behind her, "I brought a full load of gear to the employer's door; the master was kind and arranged a carriage for me."

Cheng Zijian looked in that direction upon hearing this, saw the carriage, and dropped the matter.

Song Miao then casually asked, "It's late; why is Young Master Cheng still lingering here? Won't it delay your return to the dormitory?"

The smile on Cheng Zijian's face slowly faded.

He sighed and said, "Stall Owner Song isn't an outsider, so I'll speak plainly — my elder sister came to the Capital; it should be a happy occasion, but living in the Capital is no easy matter, and a place to stay is truly hard to find."

"She originally had a temporary lodging, thinking to stay there first and slowly search for a suitable place later; who knew that place stirred up a major incident today. Though they didn't drive people out, we didn't dare stay either, so we took the chance to move out."

Song Miao glanced at the inn behind Cheng Zijian.

The inn was small, quite dilapidated; the wooden windows of the outer hall had obvious grime buildup, and right outside the main gate on the ground were three or four puddles of oil stains of unknown origin.

Even the guest-receiving area outside is this filthy; even if the inside is somewhat better, it's bound to be limited.

Song Miao knew Cheng Zijian's family circumstances.

Although this place is near the city gate, it's still the Inner City; any half-decent inn isn't cheap. Finding an inn in such condition shows there really was no choice.

She thought for a moment, feigned ignorance, and asked, "It's dark already, and it's a last-minute scramble; is it easy to find something?"

"Not easy to find." Cheng Zijian sighed, "Asked for half a day; still nothing suitable."

"Do you want to live closer, for convenience and mutual support?"

Cheng Zijian gave a bitter smile: "Right now, where's the luxury of picking those things? Just need a place to land first."

Houses near the Taixue are few and in high demand.

Some landlords, knowing it's a widow with no livelihood bringing a young daughter, refuse to rent for some reason; those willing to rent demand extra deposit.

Looking farther out offers more choices, but the cheap ones naturally all have fatal flaws.

Either the house is dilapidated, or the tenants are a mixed lot.

Today he even encountered a single courtyard divided into five or six rooms, sublet to different families.

Just during the brief viewing, three or four groups of people came and went.

Having just run into the trafficking of women at Guangji Temple, how could he feel at ease letting his sister and Xiao Lian move there? He had no choice but to keep searching everywhere.

Song Miao thought for a moment and said, "I have a proposal; Young Master Cheng might as well listen."

Cheng Zijian immediately adopted an attentive, listening posture.

"There are still two empty rooms behind my family's house." Song Miao said gently, "No need to mention money or not; if Elder Sister is willing, she can come stay temporarily for a few days to tide over the emergency."

Cheng Zijian stood rooted to the spot; hearing this, he stared wide-eyed for a while, then let out repeated "Ai, ai" sounds, rubbing his hands, unable to speak for a long time.

After a long pause, he finally forced out a sentence: "This... how can this be allowed? Isn't this taking advantage of Young Lady Song?"

"Why would it not be allowed?" Song Miao laughed, "There are only two matters I must state upfront."

"First, my family's house currently has uncertain property rights; if things don't work out, before long even I will have to move out, and at that time it would instead add more trouble."

"Second, you know a thing or two about my family's situation; this time although many ringleaders were caught and some gambling dens sealed, there may still be accomplices outside."

"If Elder Sister moves in to live with me, those remnants might come for revenge and possibly vent their anger on her, and it's hard to guard against — please consider carefully before deciding."

Cheng Zijian was still wringing his hands, but hearing this, he immediately grew agitated and exclaimed, "My sister and I share the same heart; I know her character — she absolutely would not hesitate over something like this!"

He added, "If she knew, she'd probably be too embarrassed to impose on Stall Owner Song's home originally, but now she'd definitely insist on going!"

Song Miao was about to speak when she suddenly saw a tall and a small figure walk out from that inn behind — the tall one was that Er Niangzi, the small one was Xiao Lian.

Upon seeing Song Miao, both broke into smiles in turn; it was Xiao Lian who rushed forward two steps, then seemed to react, hurriedly turned and ran back behind Er Niangzi, slowly inching over.

"Young Lady Song!" Er Niangzi hastily greeted; after the greeting, seeing Cheng Zijian — who had his back to her — turn his head, she couldn't help but freeze.

She looked at her younger brother, then at Song Miao, and asked, "You two... know each other?"

Song Miao immediately reacted and asked, "Is Er Niangzi Young Master Cheng's elder sister?"

Both sides matched up the conversation, and both were surprised and amused, feeling it was an incredible coincidence.

After Cheng Zijian relayed Song Miao's proposal, Cheng Erniang was still hesitating, but upon hearing Song Miao's two concerns, she immediately rolled up both her sleeves.

She shouted, "What riffraff! Young Lady, just leave them to me! If they dare come to the door, I'll beat them one by one; if two come, I'll beat a pair!"

She then snorted coldly: "These two arms of mine have washed who knows how many clothes; my strength is plenty, and I'll let those cowards witness the capability of us Fuzhou sisters!"

Song Miao, however, looked at Xiao Lian behind her and said, "I originally thought it was only Er Niangzi alone — the adult might not be afraid, but the child is young; if something truly happened and she suffered a fright..."

"Elder Sister, I have a sword!"

It was Xiao Lian, who had been timidly hiding behind, suddenly stepping forward.

She pulled out a wooden sword hidden in her bosom, her expression incomparably serious.

That wooden sword was barely a palm's length, two fingers wide, and the blade was still thick — it probably couldn't even pierce a mouse.

Gripping this sword, Xiao Lian acted as if she held some mountain-splitting, sea-parting divine weapon, hurriedly declaring, "I have a weapon; I can help Elder Sister fight bad people!"

Childish words, but Cheng Erniang touched her daughter's head and then said, "Young Lady Song, I'm a widow with a daughter; my husband passed only half a year ago, and I was driven out by the clan — do you have any taboo about this?"

Song Miao was stunned, then shook her head and said, "I'm also in mourning."

She added, "Er Niangzi, consider clearly; if..."

Cheng Erniang waved her hand instead, saying, "What is there for me to consider?"

She turned to Cheng Zijian and said, "Xiao Jian, write a document for your sister, just saying that Xiao Lian and I are borrowing lodging at Song Xiaoniangzi's home; if anything happens, we bear our own life and death, and it has nothing to do with others!"

Seeing Cheng Erniang do this, Song Miao naturally stopped fussing.

Since Er Niangzi and her daughter's luggage was still at Guangji Temple, returning happened to be on the way, so Song Miao gave the cart driver a few coins to bring everyone along together, picked up their bundles halfway, and only then returned to Suanzao Alley.

By the time they got home, the sky had already darkened.

Those old men could really eat, and then there was You Xuelu who came back later—no one knew how his stomach was made, as one person ate the portion of two or three.

Song Miao prepared dishes by headcount, so naturally there wasn't much left over; finally she had to pick at a few bites of the rice and dishes untouched at noon, thinking she'd just make something simple to get by for a meal once she got home.

She had been hungry all the way, and after bringing people home to put down their luggage, she asked, "Have you eaten dinner?"

Cheng Erniang said, "We bought flatbreads; we'll just eat flatbreads tonight—Young Lady, do you want to try some?"

Saying this, she took out a lotus leaf wrap.

Inside were five or six steamed flatbreads, already cold and hard.

Song Miao said, "I'm hungry too; whatever happens later can wait. Today, Er Niangzi and Xiao Lian have been on the road all day, so I'll make something simple and hot for you. How about it?"

Cheng Erniang agreed in one breath, rolled up both sleeves, and said, "I'll help you, Young Lady—what do you want me to do?"

Song Miao looked at the ingredients at home; there wasn't time to cook rice. Thinking the Cheng family were all southerners, she asked, "Do we still have bamboo shoots at home? I'll stir-fry pickled vegetables with those shoots and minced pork to make bamboo shoot and minced pork pickled vegetable noodles. How does that sound?"

She added, "I'll add a bit of evodia; it'll have a little spice—can Xiao Lian eat it?"

Mother and daughter nodded at once like chickens pecking at rice.

Song Miao then asked if Cheng Zijian could make it.

The latter thickened his face and said, "It's already this late... I... I'll first mooch a meal before going back!"

At once Cheng Erniang rushed to tend the stove, Cheng Zijian volunteered to peel the shoots, but Xiao Lian snatched the task from him.

He had nothing to do; everyone else was busy, only he stood there, feeling embarrassed.

Seeing this, Cheng Erniang asked Song Miao, pointed to the well behind for her brother, and in a low voice instructed, "Go to the back and draw two jars of water for Young Lady, then clean the empty room and back courtyard, help your sister with some chores, leave a good impression on people. Is that alright?"

Cheng Zijian readily agreed and went off honestly.

With one and a half people helping her, Song Miao had never felt so light since arriving here.

She first soaked the dry rice flour in water, slowly cooking it, before going to do other things.

The pickled vegetables were washed, chopped fine, rinsed twice to wash away that pungent sourness, and then she finely chopped half fatty, half lean pork mince.

With someone tending the fire, she directly lit two stoves; on one she stir-fried the pickled vegetables directly, adding nothing, just frying out the moisture.

On the other she first stir-fried garlic heads for their garlic fragrance, then stir-fried the minced pork.

When the minced pork was fried to a slight charred fragrance, and the lard from the fatty meat had been forced out by five or six tenths, she then poured the dried stir-fried pickled vegetables from the side pot in and stir-fried them together.

While she stir-fried here, Xiao Lian also finished peeling the shoots.

Song Miao used another pot to blanch the bamboo shoots, then cut them into cubes and wrung out the moisture.

Soon, the pot was glistening with oil, hissing loudly, and the whole room was filled with the sour fragrance and meat aroma of stir-fried pickled vegetables with meat.

Pushing these ingredients bubbling with oil to one side, waiting for the oil to slowly filter to the bottom of the pot, Song Miao then added the bamboo shoot cubes and evodia bits, slowly pan-frying them until they burst with the lard already soaked in the sour fragrance of the pickled vegetables.

Once everything was stir-fried, she mixed salt and soy sauce into a slightly salty flavor, ladled half out into a plate, then added boiling water to the pot.

This time she put in a lot of minced pork, stir-fried until fragrant; boiling water and hot lard, the soup that came out was slightly white but not thickly white. At this point she added the soaked rice flour and several handfuls of mustard greens leaves; once the water boiled, it was done.

She ladled them into bowls one by one, adding a spoonful of the freshly separated stir-fried topping on each. Song Miao then casually pan-fried several pouch eggs, and separately beat the egg liquid, stir-frying a tender egg—this was for Xiao Lian.

By the time this pickled vegetable minced meat bamboo shoot cube noodles was done, Cheng Zijian hadn't even filled one jar with water.

Three adults and one child were all hungry, sitting together in the front hall slurping noodles.

Song Miao's seasoning was just right; the evodia bits had a little spice, but the spiciness was a mild spice even Xiao Lian could accept.

The minced pork was half fat half lean, stir-fried to a slight char, and coated inside and out with the flavor of pickled vegetables; while the pickled vegetables, after being stir-fried dry first, tumbled in the hot oil, coating themselves all over with the lard fragrance.

The two were mixed together with bamboo shoot cubes in equal proportion.

Bamboo shoots were the most versatile ingredient; here they were simply at ease in all directions, having both a slight sour spiciness and a rich oil fragrance.

After being boiled in water, the shoots' clear sweetness, the minced pork's charred fragrance and oil moisture, and the pickled vegetables' sour fragrance all spread and merged in the soup, with a bit of spice, making it especially appetizing to eat.

The noodles were round fine rice noodles; when lifted, they would carry many ingredients from the noodle soup. In the mouth, one moment biting into bamboo shoot cubes with pickled vegetables, one moment biting into meat wrapped in pickled vegetables, one moment biting into all three.

Mixed with the rice fragrance of the noodles, eating a bite, then biting a bite of the edge-charred pan-fried egg, then sipping a mouthful of fresh sour soup, everyone ate with slurping sounds, not raising their heads.

In the Song Family Eatery, three adults and one child slurped noodles to their heart's content; in the Capital Prefecture Office, Xin Feng, hearing that the canteen had already put out the lamps, was so hungry his face turned green.

"Fine, they say heaven doesn't use people for nothing, the Court doesn't starve its soldiers; today it's fine, can't even get a mouthful of hard-to-eat rice to scrounge!"

He muttered, turning his head: "Zheng Yan, you're hungry too, right? I'll have someone go out and bring back some food. It's late at night; eat something hot. How about buying some noodles—noodles won't clump."

Han Li nodded.

The two walked while discussing how to arrange manpower, and who to send to Ying Prefecture tomorrow to investigate the thief chief's residence.

Xin Feng's mouth never stopped talking, and his stomach kept drumming without stopping.

Hearing his stomach calling pitifully, Han Li hesitated for a moment, took out a small bundle from his sleeve, pulled out two pieces of something, and handed them over.

"What is this?" Xin Feng took it casually and glanced at it.

"Pork jerky. Eat a couple of bites to line your stomach first."

Xin Feng didn't think much, opened his mouth, tore and chewed, and swallowed a large chunk whole.

The jerky was quite fragrant, a bit hard, but as he chewed and chewed, he suddenly felt something was off.

This seasoning! This texture!

Slightly salty, slightly numbing; the salty and numbing flavors were to bring out the meat fragrance of the pork jerky—the more you chewed, the more fragrant it became.

The meat was in strands, with a very obvious pulling sensation between them; the meat flavor was strong. By the end, it actually had a lingering sweetness—set off by the Sichuan pepper, making one able to taste the pork's own sweetness in a single bite.

After wolfing down the first slice, when eating the second, Xin Feng became cherishing, chewing carefully, savoring slowly.

But two slices of pork jerky, added together, were no bigger than a palm; for Xin Feng, who had been hungry for half a day, it was nothing but filling the gaps between his teeth.

He couldn't help but ask, "Where did they come from? Are there more?"

But as soon as he asked, he had already guessed the answer, and called out, "Were they made by Song Xiaoniangzi?"

Han Li glanced at him and said, "If you're capable, shout a little louder."

Xin Feng was startled and looked left and right, quickly lowering his voice, "Give me a few more slices, I'm starving, my head is spinning! Once that powder comes back, who knows when it'll be!"

Han Li frowned, gave him two more slices, and said, "Eat sparingly, I don't have much either, there won't be any left in a moment."

Xin Feng cherished them and tore them to eat slowly; after returning to the room, before even entering the door, he turned back to Han Li and said, "Zheng Yan, give me some more, just two more slices, brother, I'm so hungry I can't walk—I'll bring you good meat to repay you tomorrow!"

Just as he was speaking, the door opened, and they heard someone inside the room call out, "Gone for so long, you're finally back!"

The two looked and saw Kong Fuyang carrying two food boxes coming to meet them, holding them up and saying, "I knew it, Censor Xin must be starving? I specially saved rice for you, still hot, eat quickly, eat quickly!"

Xin Feng's face turned even greener.

Of Han and Xin, someone had saved rice for them, but Cai Xiu, also at the Capital Prefecture Office, had no one to save rice for him.

As soon as he left the office, everyone else had left, but he remained sitting at his desk.

Someone called out to him as they were leaving, saying, "There's no end to the work, you're just on loan, no need to stay this late."

Cai Xiu agreed, then asked again, "I see those at the Left and Right Military Patrol Academy take turns on duty day and night, guarding every day, why don't we have to?"

"They're not the same office, each has its own busy times."

"Then have we ever been this busy?"

"Yes, when there are many cases, when the higher-ups inspect, we also have our days and nights turned upside down."

That person said a few words and left in a hurry.

Cai Xiu sat at his desk, staring at the few sheets of paper on the table in front of him, and sat in a daze for a while.

If none of them are busy, how can they produce results?

He came to the Capital Prefecture Office not to personally do such work as organizing files and case volumes!

Is it only Han Li who can drink and carouse at the Left and Right Military Patrol Academy, managing so many people?

Thinking of this, he gathered his strength, picked up his brush and dipped it in ink, and began to write vigorously.

——Wait until tomorrow! Once he submits this set of regulations, he doesn't believe Zhang Facao won't be moved!

That Han surname can borrow strength to fight strength, his Cai Xiu can naturally do the same!