Chapter 47 Chapter 47 Qujiang's sales promotion was a great success Peach Blossom Fu...

Halfway through this boring flower-fighting banquet, Duan Zhiwei could no longer contain himself and stood up to distribute jade steamed buns and thousand-layer oil cakes.

Before she opened the food box, the girls were quite disdainful of Duan Zhiwei's sudden attempt to sell food, but for Du Yourong's sake, and the obviously valuable blue rose on Duan Zhiwei's temples, no one said anything bad to her.

But the wife of an official family had special ways to express her disdain, such as covering her face with a round fan, lowering her head to chat and resolutely not looking at Duan Zhiwei.

But after Duan Zhiwei opened the food box, the situation changed dramatically.

These two kinds of food placed in the small steamer look like two dazzling jewels, and the emerald steamed buns are emerald and smooth. The thousand-layer cake is made of diamond-shaped pieces and is hibiscus-colored. Add white flour and white sugar to make it slightly white and translucent, and sprinkle pink sugar melon shreds on the top. At first glance, it looks like peach blossoms.

Duan Zhiwei shamelessly named the thousand-layer oil cake "Peach Blossom Hibiscus Cake", which is just suitable for the visual animals like the ladies of Chang'an.

This fried cake is quite complicated to make. Each layer is rolled out very thin, and a total of sixty-four layers are overlapped. It tastes soft, sweet, fragrant and elegant, and will not stick to your teeth.

She used her clever words to promote the magical beauty-enhancing effects of hibiscus cake in various ways. To match the oil cake's effect, Duan Zhiwei put some rouge made from purple jalapa powder on her face. She was born with a fair complexion, and today she had a "peach blossom and hibiscus face" look, which added some persuasiveness to the magical effect of beauty and skin care.

Girls may not have much interest in delicious food, but their pursuit of beauty has not changed since ancient times.

Therefore, when Duan Zhiwei was struggling to move forward in the narrow tent with a large food box and promoting the Duan's restaurant, he was warmly welcomed by many girls. The lady who was about to express disdain also sat up straight and showed a sincere smile.

Duan Zhiwei walked up to the lady in gray. She was wearing a gray patched jacket and her eyes were a little timid. Duan Zhiwei felt that the lady in gray was quite pitiful, so he gave her one more. The lady in gray looked at Duan Zhiwei with gratitude.

As a result, when Duan Zhiwei turned around, the two pieces of hibiscus cake were unceremoniously picked up by the gray-clothed lady's sister and put into her bowl.

Duan Zhiwei: “…”

She couldn't stand such injustice. The stepsister with purple Phalaenopsis orchids in her hair stole other people's things and was still bragging about herself and mocking her own sister. The lady in gray had tears in her eyes and lowered her head.

Duan Zhiwei couldn't stand it anymore, so he found an excuse to complain: "I've heard a poet say 'The beauty of a woman and the peach blossoms complement each other', so it should be the beauty that sets off the beauty of the flowers, not the flowers that set off the woman, right?"

It seemed that many ladies had long been dissatisfied with his disrespectful behavior, so they echoed Duan Zhiwei's words one by one, which made the stepsister blush. She glared at Duan Zhiwei and stopped talking.

This "flower-fighting banquet" ended amidst the flashing of swords and sabers. After coming out of the felt tent, Duan Zhiwei looked at the clear blue sky, then at the picturesque scenery on both sides of Qujiang River, and took two deep breaths of fresh air.

Here, Du Yourong got on the ox cart with the help of her maid, pointed in a certain direction along the Qujiang River, and went away.

Duan Zhiwei was confused, carrying the food box and walking in the direction she pointed. Soon he saw Yuan Shenji, wearing a bright armor and standing solemnly in the garden. He was tall and looked as if he didn't want to be approached by strangers, which formed a sharp contrast with the tourists who came here for an outing in high spirits.

Duan Zhiwei found it interesting and couldn't help laughing. Suddenly, she had a childish idea. I wanted to quietly stand behind him and give him a scare.

As a result, before the person could get behind Yuan Shenji, Yuan Shenji suddenly grabbed his wrist.

“It hurts, it hurts…”

Yuan Shenji originally thought that it was some ignorant tourist who dared to play tricks on the Jinwu Guards, so he showed no mercy and attacked them fiercely. But when he saw that it was Duan Zhiwei, he quickly let go and said, "Sorry."

Although he was the one who wanted to intimidate people first, the red mark on his wrist was indeed very painful. Duan Zhiwei felt angry for no reason, bowed slightly, turned around and left.

"Wait a minute," Yuan Shenji chased after him, but then he remembered that he was still on duty in the royal gardens, so he called a Wu Hou who was patrolling the garden to take his place, and then quickly chased after him.

He quickly caught up with her, but was in no hurry to talk to her. He just followed Duan Zhiwei slowly and leisurely. Duan Zhiwei ignored him, and the two of them walked forward one after the other in the warm spring sunshine along the bank of Qujiang River.

This man was really eye-catching. Many tourists looked at him and then turned their inquiring eyes to himself.

Duan Zhiwei couldn't resist anymore and turned to look at him: "Why are you following me?"

She had a cluster of lovely peach blossoms on her head, and today she had her hair done in a double-ringed fairy bun. Her pair of almond-shaped eyes staring at him were extremely adorable. Yuan Shenji suddenly felt like a mortal who had stumbled upon a fairy, and forgot for a moment what he was going to say.

Then he looked at the scattered tourists leaving the park, and finally knew what he should do, so he showed a determined smile: "The curfew will be coming soon, Yuan will take Madam Duan home."

Duan Zhiwei carried the food box and got into the carriage he hired, with one person sitting on each side. There were still two leftover jade steamed buns in the lunch box in her hand. She didn't know whether Yuan Shenji had eaten his lunch well, but she couldn't bring herself to give them to him.

She looked at the food box, then at Yuan Shenji, and then at the food box again.

Yuan Shenji said very considerately: "I haven't had lunch yet. It seems that Madam Duan has prepared some delicious dishes. It's a pity that the food box seems to be empty, so I can't taste them." He shook his head with pretended regret.

He actually didn't have any lunch, so Duan Zhiwei quickly stuffed the lunch box in his hand into his arms and said, "There are two pieces of steamed buns and a piece of sweet cake in the box. Captain, don't mind. Fill your stomach. When we get to the restaurant, I'll make some other food for you."

Yuan Shenji had two large steamed cakes, a plate of spring dishes and a dish of blanched mutton in the corridor of the government office at noon. He was not very hungry, but now he pretended to be starving and took out steamed buns from the food box. The steamed buns were already cold, and the leaves had turned yellow after being stewed for a long time. Then he clasped his fists towards Duan Zhiwei and said, "It's delicious. Thank you, Madam Duan."

The horse carriage was much faster than the donkey carriage. When they arrived at Xuanyangfang, it was still bright in the sky. Ah Pan was busy preparing evening food. When he saw her coming back with Yuan Shenji, he asked, "Are you going to make something else today?"

Duan Zhiwei went to Qujiang early in the morning and didn't know what ingredients were left in the restaurant. He went to the cooking room and saw a bamboo basket of fresh mung bean sprouts, amaranth and broad beans, which had been cleaned up by everyone in the restaurant.

Duan Zhiwei decided to make a spring vegetable pancake.

This is a quick dish. All you need to do is blanch the broad beans and amaranth, mash the broad beans, and add salt and pepper to season. Mix it with amaranth, flour and eggs, knead and flatten it into small round cakes, and fry them in a pan over low heat.

Fry until both sides are golden brown, the edges are slightly curled up, and there is a crispy aroma.

She felt it was not enough, so she took a piece of bacon from the beam and steamed it in a steamer with some spring bamboo shoots.

This spring vegetable pancake is simple to make and the taste is unmistakable. Duan Zhiwei tried to serve a plate to Yuan Shenji first. He took a bite and it made a slight "crunching" sound.

The broad beans have a sweet aftertaste, the amaranth has a refreshing sweetness, the crust is full of wheat aroma, and you can also taste a hint of pepper, which makes people feel the strong breath of spring.

Yuan Shenji finished the whole plate in one breath, and then stretched his chopsticks to the spring bamboo shoots cooked with bacon. The bamboo shoots on that day were fresh, tender and crisp, and they tasted good no matter how they were cooked.

When Duan Zhiwei put the bamboo shoots and bacon into the pot, he deliberately cut the bacon a few times. During stewing, the fat from the bacon invaded the bamboo shoots, making them more oily; at the same time, the bamboo shoots also eliminated the greasiness of the bacon. The two can be said to complement each other.

Not only Yuan Shenji, this dish won unanimous praise from all the diners.

Duan Zhiwei finished his work and served Yuan Shenji a glass of Bamboo Leaf Green. "The captain hasn't been to the restaurant much recently. It turns out he is on duty at the Royal Gardens by the Qujiang River."

He took a sip of wine slowly: "Not really, I have been staying in the Honglu Temple for most of the past few days."

"Honglu Temple?" She blinked. Aunt Duan had taken her to visit almost all the temples, big and small, in Chang'an. What kind of temple was Honglu Temple?

Yuan Shenji couldn't help but laugh, and then patiently explained to her: "It's not a temple, Honglu Temple is a government office."

The Honglu Temple was in charge of court meetings, guests, foreign officials paying homage, and tributes from various vassal states. Most of the time, the Honglu Temple was responsible for welcoming and receiving foreign envoys.

Normally, the Jinwu Guards were not responsible for protecting foreign envoys, but this time the king of the Fantuo Khanate came to Chang'an in person and presented rare black pearls, corals and other jewels from the South China Sea, intending to marry a royal relative to form a good relationship.

The Jinwu Guard had no choice but to send people outside the Honglu Temple to take charge of the king's safety.

"It's really hard work. I wonder what the South China Sea pearls look like." Duan Zhiwei really likes pearl jewelry. He couldn't help but fantasize about it, and then smiled at Yuan Shenji: "Tomorrow I ordered a box of fresh shrimps, intending to make shrimp roe soy sauce. If the captain is free, I will send you a bottle of shrimp roe soy sauce."

Yuan Shenji said yes, stood up and was about to leave, then glanced at her again: "Mrs. Duan, do you know about the Lantern Festival?"

"Of course," she jumped up excitedly, "That's the only time of the year when you can go sightseeing in the city at night. I definitely won't miss it."

Yuan Shenji then nodded, stood up and left.

He was on duty in Qujiang Garden during the day today, so he didn't need to be on duty at night and could go back home to rest. Yuan Shenji passed by his own mansion and rode away without even looking back.

He went to the largest jewelry shop in the East Market, Nianjin Pavilion.

The shopkeeper was entertaining other customers, but when he saw Yuan Shenji, he quickly bowed and ran over: "How could Captain Yuan set foot in our small shop? It really brings honor to our humble shop. Captain, do you like anything? Feel free to pick it out. If you need anything, ask me to bring it to you."

Yuan Shenji glanced around but didn't find any jewelry that suited his taste, so he simply sat down and drank a bowl of tea first.

I heard a waiter impatiently say: "My lady, this pearl hairpin of ours is a large pearl that an old fisherman accidentally caught on the South China Sea. It is a once-in-a-century sight, and it was transported thousands of miles to Chang'an. We asked a skilled craftsman to carefully inlay it, and named it 'the pearl shines brightly in the sea of ​​pearls'. You have come to see this hairpin for three consecutive days..."

When Yuan Shenji heard the word "pearl", his heart moved. He looked and saw a young woman in a blue crepe skirt with a flushed face holding a hairpin. The head of the hairpin was carved into the shape of a snow lotus, and in the middle was indeed a crystal clear and solemn white pearl, with several tassels hanging down, which was very beautiful.

The shop assistants at Nianjin Pavilion were all shrewd people. When they saw that the young woman was wearing a crepe skirt that was popular last year, they knew that she must be from a wealthy family and could not afford a hairpin that was worth half a house. When they saw that she was holding the hairpin and refused to let go, they could not help but make a few sarcastic remarks.

Yuan Shenji stared at the hairpin for a long time, then suddenly stood up and walked to the woman. The woman first noticed the precious black jade crown on Qin Jin's head, and then saw his handsome appearance, she couldn't help blushing, and she glanced at the guy who had just ridiculed her. When the servant saw the fourth-rank captain coming towards him, he thought the woman was his lover. He was so scared that his face turned green and he hurriedly begged for mercy.

I only heard Yuan Shenji say in a deep voice: "My lady, if you don't want to buy this hairpin, can you give it to me?"