Chapter 57 Fu Yuanzi's Pre-Festival Trivial Matters

Shi San Niang had to go out for a while, so it wasn't good to disturb her. Lu Qiong chatted with her for a few minutes before returning to Lu Ji's place.

Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, and all the restaurants in Bianjing are trying their best to attract customers, showcasing their best dishes.

Lu Ji was no exception, having already planned a new style to launch for the Lantern Festival – floating dumplings. Various fillings were available, including sesame, red bean paste, and jujube paste. However, Lu Qiong also felt it was a pity, since peanuts had not yet been introduced to the Central Plains.

Furthermore, regarding Yuanzi, also known as Yuanxiao or Tangyuan, the custom of eating Yuanxiao originated from the Song Dynasty. Glutinous rice flour is wrapped with various fillings to create different flavors.

Sister Yang stood by the stove, brushing a layer of oil into the pot, which sizzled and steamed. With a flick of her wrist, she dropped all the sesame seeds from the bowl into the pot. The oil was too hot, so it crackled and popped, and the aroma spread from inside the house to outside.

Passersby craned their necks and wrinkled their noses, eager to know whose house smelled so good!

Seeing this, Lu Qiong was also pleased, after all, Lu Ji's products were all top-notch! Then she couldn't help but smile and praise Sister Yang: "Your skills are becoming more and more exquisite, I'm really afraid that some restaurant will come and poach my staff!"

After washing her hands, Sister Yang began kneading the glutinous rice dough. Hearing this, she smiled shyly and said, "Young lady, don't always tease people. Compared to those skilled cooks, I'm still far from good enough."

Seeing that the tips of her ears were starting to turn red, Lu Qiong knew that she was really embarrassed, so she let her off the hook, rolled up her sleeves, and joined in pouring water to make glutinous rice dough.

As Sister Yang stirred the flour, she poured water over it. She accidentally added too much water and poured some glutinous rice flour into the bowl as well.

Soon, a smooth dough was formed, and there was no flour sticking to the bowl or the palms of the hands.

It was a busy time, but Lu Xuan went to play with Wei Pan. Lu Qiong thought that the festive atmosphere hadn't ended yet, so she let her go. However, she still reminded her, "If it snows outside, you have to come back quickly if you get your clothes wet."

Lu Xuan grabbed a bag of roasted chestnuts and a bag of stewed taro from the pot, stuffed them into her cotton coat, and rushed out into the street, breathing out warm air: "Got it!"

Sister Yang tugged at the glutinous rice skin; it was soft and elastic. Watching her cheerful figure, she smiled and said, "Sister Xuan is always so energetic. Who did she take after? I think the young lady is much more composed than her."

Who else could she resemble? Her father was a carefree and cheerful person. If she had to say, Lu Qiong really felt that she was somewhat like her mother.

This inevitably brought to mind the person from earlier, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

Alright, alright, let's focus on making today's steamed dumplings first. The other diners are getting the water cold while they're waiting!

After roasting the sesame seeds, they still need to be crushed. Lu Qiong has to take out the stone mortar that has remained unchanged for thousands of years, pour in the sesame seeds, and keep crushing them until they are close to powdery. Then, sugar is added and stirred again before lard is poured in.

Compared to other oils, lard is richer and more fragrant, making the sesame filling smoother and more flavorful. She leaned closer to smell it and couldn't help but take a deep breath; it smelled so good.

The same method is used to prepare red bean paste and jujube paste fillings, which are then set aside.

During this break, Sister Yang also divided the glutinous rice dough into similar-sized portions and sprinkled some glutinous rice flour on them to prevent the glutinous rice balls from sticking to the board.

Light snow began to fall outside the eaves, wetting the blue bricks. Pedestrians on the Zhou Bridge quickened their pace, eager to find a place to rest.

Lu Ji was burning a stove, which was not only warm but also sheltered from the wind. Although their shop door was small, it did not prevent the aroma of glutinous rice balls from wafting out.

A young man wrapped his clothes tighter, sniffed, and followed the fragrance into a shop. He sat down, and only then did he relax his tense body, and his hands and feet gradually warmed up.

Lu Qiong immediately served fresh tea, still steaming hot, just in time for a timely gift: "Would you like some floating dumplings, sir? Tomorrow is the Lantern Festival, why not try some early?"

The young man didn't speak, but nodded. His hand, which was holding the teacup, was red, indicating that he had been outside for a long time.

When Lu Qiong left, he moved the stove a little closer to where he was.

A bowl of floating dumplings, with sesame, red bean paste and jujube paste all mixed together, has a bland broth, so some sugar was added, and a small pinch of osmanthus flowers was sprinkled on top for presentation.

The young man was a man of few words. After tasting the hot dumplings, he asked his first question since entering the shop: "Shopkeeper, are your dumplings salty?"

Salty?

Lu Qiong shook her head: "My Yuanzi is always sweet, never salty."

Before she could figure it out, Manager Qian, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, also came to visit. He looked down on her behavior and said, "Manager Lu, you can't do business like this. You should treat every customer seriously. Whether it's salty or sweet, you'll only know after you taste it."

Lu Qiong then served her husband a fresh bowl of steamed dumplings. Only when adding sugar did she realize they had run out of sugar and hadn't had time to buy more. This was salt…

Seeing that she had failed, Manager Qian finally felt a sense of triumph, and a faint smile appeared on his face: "You are still lacking when it comes to food."

He then nodded in satisfaction and asked Sister Yang for a serving of fried dumplings.

"I can't understand what he's up to," Lu Qiong thought to herself, shaking her head in bewilderment as she left.

After leaving Lu's shop, Manager Qian remained in good spirits until he returned to his own shop.

Qianji is a small restaurant, though it can't compare to large restaurants, it is still a leader among Bianjing snack shops, and many people come just to try its food.

But at some point, Manager Qian stopped cooking, and no one has tasted his cooking since. Those who are now closing down the shop do so either out of nostalgia or because they want to become his apprentices.

After all, the prescription he possessed had been coveted for a long time, and it was unknown who it would end up in.

The snow stopped in the afternoon. Lu Qiong took out some fresh glutinous rice flour, made some more glutinous rice balls, poured water and sugar into a pot, added firewood and simmered it over a low flame until it was bubbling and the sugar had dissolved. Then she added fermented glutinous rice.

Not long after it was placed in the water, a smell of wine rose up, and the glutinous rice balls were added, one by one, as they sipped into the water.

To enhance the flavor, I added beaten eggs, red dates, and goji berries. Since regular sugar is somewhat cooling, I substituted brown sugar, which gave the resulting syrup a dark red hue.

After packing the food into a food box and closing the lid, Lu Qiong took her paper umbrella and headed to the Xie residence.

A thin layer of snow covered the front of the Xie residence. A servant led her into the inner courtyard and then to He Mu's courtyard.

Then Tao Hong took some red charcoal, put it into the brazier, and used iron tongs to cover it with a perforated incense burner to prevent the charcoal ash from scattering.

He Mu sat in the armchair mending clothes, and perhaps thinking of something, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Seeing Lu Qiong arrive, he put down the clothes he was carrying and called her over.

Lu Qiong knew that she stayed indoors all day, and with the snowy weather, it wouldn't be good for her to go out for a walk, so she suggested going back to the New Year's Day celebrations last time, to go boating, watch fireworks, and stroll through the lantern festival...

When the topic of pleasure came up, she couldn't help but laugh, and this cheerful mood infected He Mu as well: "After the early spring snow, I also want to go for a ride on a painted boat."

They also talked about spring outings and spring plowing, a topic that piqued He Mu's interest, so he brought up Xie Xun. He said Xie Xun was traveling around, busy with kapok planting, and that it was almost finished.

Lu Qiong nodded; it turned out that cotton had already begun to be planted in the Central Plains.

Remembering that the food box was still lying there, she opened it, and thankfully it was still steaming. He Mu ate quite a bit while it was still hot, and when she took a bite, the dark sesame filling oozed out.

"Fu Yuanzi is still resilient; you have such skillful hands."

Seeing that she liked it, Lu Qiong told her to eat more, and she left only when the setting sun cast its light on the floor tiles.

Speaking of cotton, Lu Qiong also thought of Cheng Niang's thin clothes and wondered how she was doing at the inn and whether she was adapting well.

Before she returned to the mountain at dusk, she took her purse and went to a nearby clothing store to buy two cotton-padded coats, both in dark colors, to suit Cheng Niang's temperament.

After the Lantern Festival, the snow in Bianjing will be much less, at least not as frequent as in the twelfth lunar month.

There are several inns near Longjin Bridge, but only one has three stories. Originally, Cheng Niang refused to stay there, saying it would be too tiring. However, once she put on airs, Lu Qiong ignored her and subdued her, proving that she only responds to force.

Lu Qiong was carrying two packages and a portion of homemade steamed buns when she reached the third floor. She heard Cheng Niang arguing with someone.

"This fish isn't fresh..." Cheng Niang, hands on her hips, berated the servant, her face contorted with anger, still panting.

Amu was also an innocent victim. In this freezing cold, where could he find live fish? He was neither royalty with ice cellars for raising fish, nor was he a coastal person who could go out to sea to catch fish.

But the shopkeeper often said that he couldn't argue with the customers, so he could only bury his head and be scolded.

Finally, unable to hold back any longer, he retorted, "The pickled fish isn't fresh; it's been pickled in an earthenware jar for several days."

He had watched Cook Ding do it several times, and he even helped him once.

To everyone's surprise, Cheng Niang became even angrier upon hearing this, and it was clear that she was about to roll up her sleeves and start hitting someone!

Fortunately, Lu Qiong arrived in time, pulled the person away, apologized to the servant, and also apologized to the disturbed guests.

Lu Qiong pushed the person into the house, closed the wooden door, and then let out a long sigh: "Cheng Niang, just give me a break. It's only been less than a day, and you're already going to fight someone?"

The room was fully furnished, and on the octagonal table was a plate of pickled fish that hadn't been touched much. Cheng Niang sat on a stool and poured herself a cup of tea, but Lu Qiong snatched it away and drank it all in one gulp.

She wanted to speak, but when she saw Lu Qiong's familiar features, she just frowned and poured herself another glass.

After resting for a while, Lu Qiong took out the cotton-padded clothes and Fu Yuanzi that she had brought for her.

The cotton-padded fabric was smooth. As soon as Cheng Niang got her hands on it, she carefully touched it several times. Suddenly, she sighed and pressed the clothes tightly against her chest.

Lu Qiong noticed that she was secretly wiping away tears, so she opened the food box and said, "Don't break it. There are still some dumplings I made here. They haven't cooled down completely yet, so they're perfect to eat now."

For once, Cheng Niang did not refute. She neatly folded her clothes aside and began to taste the dumplings. They were not to her liking, and she was about to frown when she saw Lu Qiong staring at her with an expressionless face. She immediately deflated.

Her obedience eased Lu Qiong's brow, finally bringing her some relief.

Back home, I still have to feed the chickens. There are three chickens in the coop. To commemorate the two chickens in Shangyuan Village, I gave them similar names: Ah Huang, Xiao Huang, and Da Huang. Now they are all plump and ready to leave the coop tomorrow for the festival!

Now all that's left is to decide how to cook it. Steamed chicken is too bland, fried chicken is too complicated, stewed chicken is tender, and roasted chicken is even more fragrant...