Chapter 74 Bai Yan and Plum Candy Go to School

"Sister, what are we going to do today?" Lin Song remembered what his sister had said yesterday: when he officially started school, she would make some snacks that he had never tried before. Seeing Lin Yao push open the door, he shuffled over in his cotton shoes, looking up at her with his round little face and asking.

Lin Yao stretched and exhaled a puff of white breath: "You little glutton, you're the most quick-witted when it comes to food."

Lin Song tugged at Lin Yao's skirt, blinked his big eyes, and swayed from side to side with his round body wrapped in winter clothes: "Good sister, you look as beautiful as a goddess descended from heaven today, tell me quickly!"

Lin Yao looked down at him, her face a perfect example of a round, chubby Russian nesting doll, topped with such a charming and lively face that it was impossible to resist her coquettishness. She simply lowered her head and ate her porridge, slowly saying, "Today I'm making white porridge and preserved plum candy. But do you remember what your older sister said yesterday?"

Lin Song nodded obediently, his little tuft of hair bobbing as he said, "My sister said that these snacks can't be eaten alone; they have to be shared with the friends at the martial arts school."

"Why?" Lin Yao pressed.

“Because eating too many sweets will cause cavities in your teeth and ruin your health,” Lin Song replied fluently.

Lin Yao nodded in satisfaction. When she first arrived in this world, Lin Song was so thin he was skin and bones, with a few tufts of dry, yellow hair sticking up, looking just like a little monkey.

As life gets better, this is most evident in the little guy. He has gotten fatter and fatter, like an inflating balloon. Although it looks festive, if he gets any fatter, it may harm his health.

However, since he was still growing and would be practicing martial arts in the future, Lin Yao didn't restrict his regular meals, but she did keep a closer eye on his snacks. Besides, these snacks were originally intended for her to use in social situations.

Xu Zhiheng said that all the people who practiced martial arts with Song'er were older than him, so Lin Yao had put a lot of thought into her younger brother's social life.

Which child can resist sweets?

This is the simplest way to break the ice.

Seeing that she remained silent, Lin Song leaned closer to the table and asked, "Sister, what is white rice?"

"It's a New Year's treat from Lingnan. It's crispy and sweet, I guarantee you'll love it." As she spoke, Lin Yao poured the pre-soaked and washed glutinous rice into a wooden bucket and placed it on the stove to steam.

In modern times, round molds engraved with the character "福" (fortune) are often used to make white rice cakes for good luck. She also ordered two sets: one set with the traditional "福" character to keep for the New Year, and the other set engraved with the character "武" (martial arts) to prepare for Lin Song to take to the martial arts school today.

The glutinous rice was quickly steamed until soft and sticky. Lin Yao first wiped a layer of water in the mold, and while the rice was still hot, she grabbed a handful and filled it into the mold. With a strong pat, a glutinous rice cake with words on it fell into the winnowing basket.

Lin Song looked at the words on the glutinous rice cake with great surprise: "Wow! There are words!"

Lin Yao, in a playful mood, asked, "What character is this?"

"I don't know, I can't even read yet." Lin Song shook his head nonchalantly.

"What an arrogant little illiterate," Lin Yao chuckled. "This is the character for 'martial arts.' If you can't even recognize this, you probably won't even be able to find your own martial arts school in the future."

"Hmph!" Lin Song retorted, arms crossed, but because his winter clothes were too thick, his hands couldn't reach his arms at all, making him look quite comical. "There's a school in the martial arts school. I'm determined to learn a lot of characters in the future, even more than my older brother and sister!"

Seeing that he had overcome his aversion to school, Lin Yao stopped teasing him: "Oh? Then I'll wait and see." She put the pressed white rice into a pot to dry, and then turned it into preserved plum candy. She remembered the preserved plum candy that her deskmate shared when she was in elementary school. The sweet sugar shell wrapped around the sour plum, and just thinking about the taste made her mouth water.

Making preserved plum candy is simple. Lin Yao poured water into a pot, added maltose and brown sugar, and boiled it.

The aroma of the sweet potato made Lin Song swallow hard, his eyes agape like a baby bird eagerly awaiting its mother's feeding. She pulled a bag of dried sweet potatoes from the cupboard and handed it to him: "Grind your teeth first." These dried sweet potatoes were brought by Grandpa Wu a few days ago, saying that Grandma Li had dried them herself. Counting the days, it was time to go and visit the old lady.

Lin Song took the dried sweet potato and struggled with the rock-hard dried sweet potato, grimacing in pain.

Once the syrup had thickened, she took out ten hemispherical sugar molds, poured the syrup into each mold, and then inserted preserved plums. In the blink of an eye, she had made more than fifty.

She picked one up and put it in her mouth. The sweetness of the maltose spread first, and she liked to crunch the shell. Just as the sweetness was at its peak, the tart flavor of preserved plum came up, which just balanced the sweetness and made it not too cloying.

Lin Yao was savoring her sweet potato when her skirt was suddenly tugged. She looked down and saw that Lin Song had already finished his sweet potato chips and was staring at the stove, swallowing hard. She pointed at the candy and said, "Sister, what does preserved plum candy taste like? Song'er has never tried it before..." He drooped his round face and put on a pitiful look, "I really want to know what it tastes like."

Lin Yao looked at his mischievous appearance and didn't know whether to laugh or cry. How come she never knew this little guy was so clever? She picked out a smaller one and handed it to him.

Lin Song's eyes lit up when he saw the candy. Forget about pretending to be pitiful, he took it and stuffed it into his mouth, not forgetting to sweetly flatter her: "Sister is the best!"

After the preserved plum candy was made, the white rice cake was also dried thoroughly on the stove.

According to the authentic Lingnan method, sugar should be sprinkled on the white glutinous rice dough. However, there was no such refined white sugar in ancient times, so Lin Yao could only add the melted sugar water when steaming the glutinous rice, and now it was just waiting to be deep-fried.

Lin Yao was a little worried. If she failed, all that glutinous rice she had cooked would be wasted, and glutinous rice wasn't cheap. She poured a large jar of lard into the pot, and after the lard had completely melted, she carefully placed the white rice dough into the oil, gently pressed it down with a slotted spoon, and quickly rotated it.

The white rice expands rapidly under the hot oil, puffing up into fluffy rice pops, and a rich aroma of rice fills the kitchen.

Lin Yao put the fried white rice cake aside, blew on it to cool it down, broke off a piece to taste, and then scooped it out onto a bamboo sieve to drain the oil.

She blew on it to cool it down, broke off a piece, and put it in her mouth. She thought it would taste bland without the white sugar, but to her surprise, the rice cake coated with the caramelized aroma of maltose was exceptionally crispy. The rice aroma was wrapped in a light sweetness, which was much better than she had expected. It even had a unique flavor. She broke off another small piece and handed it to Lin Song. This time, the little guy was not as eager as he had been when talking to Mei Tang earlier.

Lin Song dislikes glutinous rice, not because he's a picky eater, but because when Lin Yao was making zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) before, he ate two at the dinner table and then secretly ate two more.

Glutinous rice is difficult to digest, let alone for such a young child. That night, he developed indigestion and a high fever, and it took him two days of bitter medicine to recover. From then on, he avoided anything containing glutinous rice.

"Try it, it's different from zongzi, I mixed it with maltose and fried it." Lin Yao waved the white dough to entice him.

Sure enough, the word "sugar" was enough to make him immediately take it and put it in his mouth without Lin Yao needing to tempt him further. He chewed the white rice until it was crunchy and his eyes narrowed into crescents as he ate: "Delicious! This is the most fragrant glutinous rice I've ever eaten!"

Seeing his mood change so quickly, Lin Yao shook her head with a smile: "There are many ways to cook glutinous rice. I'll make you glutinous rice chicken later, wrapped with chicken and mushrooms and steamed. I guarantee it will be even more tempting than this."

Lin Yao wrapped the snacks she had made in oil paper and placed them on the highest shelf of the cabinet to prevent him from stealing them: "Let's go and take a look at the dock."

Today is Lin Cheng's first time selling oden, and she wants to go and see how business is going.

Although I expected the hot oden to be popular, I was still surprised by the bustling atmosphere at the pier.

Despite the cold weather, cargo ships traveling north and south did not stop; on the contrary, the number of merchant ships transporting furs increased. Furs were rare commodities, and even low-grade furs could be sold for double the price in the city, let alone high-grade ones. Therefore, these merchants were generous, and when they sent their servants to buy them, they would buy dozens of strings at a time. Lin Cheng and Aunt Li were so busy that they barely had time to breathe.

Seeing this, Lin Yao stopped watching the commotion and rolled up her sleeves to help out.

With her help, Aunt Li and Lin Cheng were much more relaxed. Lin Cheng's face turned red with excitement: "The best-selling item today is meatballs, especially fish balls! A merchant bought thirty skewers in one go, look, the bucket is almost empty."

Lin Yao noticed that the bucket contained far fewer fish balls than the others, and she made a plan: "Aunt Li, please tell Brother Yougong when you get back today that we should prepare an extra forty catties of fish balls starting tomorrow, and find a few more people to help out."

Mrs. Li was taken aback: "Why prepare so many? Fish balls won't be fresh overnight, and they might smell fishy."

"I'll take ten jin from the dock, and the rest I'll sell in town." Seeing the fish balls, Lin Yao suddenly remembered the fish balls sold at the newsstand downstairs. For a while, she would buy one every day after work. The fragrant fish ball dipped in chili powder would melt away all the day's fatigue. Although there's no chili powder now, the original flavor grilled fish balls are still delicious!

Having not set up a stall for a long time, Lin Yao felt her legs aching and sore when she finished packing up. When she got home, she filled a bucket with hot water, sprinkled in some Sichuan peppercorns to ward off the cold, and soaked in it until she felt warm all over before resting.

The next day, Lin Yao got up before dawn. She was worried that Lin Song would stay in bed, but when she opened the door, she saw him stuffing things into his small schoolbag.

Seeing her come out, the little guy immediately went up to her and flattered her: "Brother, you helped me get the preserved plum candy and white rice cake. I've packed them all up and will share them with everyone when we get to the martial arts school!"

Lin Yao patted his head, took out two larger packets of snacks from the kitchen, ignored his aggrieved look of betrayal, and put the things into the basket: "Don't look at them, these are for your master."

"Oh." Upon hearing that it was for his master, Lin Song immediately lost his temper and obediently sat down to drink the porridge.

Today was his first day of school, and the three siblings took it very seriously. When they left home, the sky was just beginning to lighten.

Upon arriving at the martial arts school, Lin Song became visibly nervous, his face tense. Seeing a group of people already gathered in the training ground, he thought he was late and hurriedly tried to run inside.

Xu Zhiheng quickly grabbed his backpack strap, making him stumble: "What's the rush? They all live at the martial arts school, so they naturally arrived early. Put your little bundle away first."

Lin Song then obediently put his schoolbag aside and moved into the crowd.

Lin Yao couldn't help but chuckle as she looked at her younger brother, who was half a head shorter than the others but rounder. She turned her gaze away and handed the basket to Xu Zhiheng: "Try these homemade snacks. Especially the preserved plum candy, it's sweet and sour, you should like it."

Xu Zhiheng's outstretched hand suddenly stopped. He looked down at the girl in front of him. Her small face was full of smiles, and her almond-shaped eyes were clear and bright. She was staring straight at him, as if she could see right through him. How could she know that he preferred sweet and sour flavors?

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Author's Note: Xu Zhiheng: She...she...she has feelings for me [covers face and peeks]

Lin Yao: It's just an occupational hazard for a cook. [question mark]