14 Ice Cream

◎A penny can make a hero fall.◎

The east was turning white, the morning light was dim, and a breeze suddenly blew between heaven and earth. The wild grass beside the road was sparse, stained with morning dew, and the air was filled with the damp smell of soil.

In the east kitchen, as the steamer was opened, hot steam rushed into the sky. Song Jinyi smiled. Today's snacks were ready. She moved swiftly to the next step.

Song Jinyi was humming a little tune. In the past two days, she not only solved a big problem, but also made the acquaintance of an important person. When she went to Shengjing, if she could win the heart of the old lady, she would be able to get a thousand taels of gold.

By then, her craftsmanship might become famous, and once she becomes well-known, it would not be difficult for her to start her own business.

With money, everything will be easy. Song Jinyi thought about the future and smiled foolishly twice.

Yunzhou is hot and humid. By the time of Si, the sun has already emitted a suffocating heat, and passers-by avoid the sun under the eaves of the streets as if avoiding the plague god.

Song Jinyi was so hot that she felt like she had lost the desire to live. She squatted in the corner. There was no air conditioning in ancient times, only the most traditional and simple ways to cool down. Song Jinyi fanned herself with a palm-leaf fan and looked up at the sun. It would have been fine if she had popsicles and ice cream.

Song Jinyi gradually stopped waving the palm-leaf fan. She wanted to make a new summer product - ice yogurt.

It just so happened that she wanted to eat too.

Ice cream can be considered a simple version of ice cream, a dessert made with only milk, fermented rice wine and honey.

Cool it in an ice bucket. It looks like white tender tofu and tastes as smooth as steamed eggs. It has a light milky flavor that is not greasy and sweet. It is best paired with slightly sweet white tea.

She called the waiter and asked where she could get some fresh milk.

"Fresh milk?" the waiter repeated, then asked, "Sister Jinyi, what do you want fresh milk for?"

"I'm making some ice cream. It's been hot these past few days, and not many people are going out to drink tea. These ordinary snacks aren't selling well, so I wanted to make something new. This ice cream is a dessert specifically for cooling off, and it requires milk. That's why I'm asking where I can buy it."

"In the north market, cattle farmers come early in the morning to sell their cattle, crowding in and out, and before noon they're all rushing home. I can't buy any today, so I'll go buy some tomorrow."

The waiter asked curiously, "Sister Jinyi, I've never heard of Ice Cream, and I don't think I've heard of Zui Liuxia either. Sister Jinyi, what kind of dessert is it?"

Song Jinyi thought for a moment and simply summarized it: "Milk-flavored tofu." Song Jinyi added, "Iced."

"Wow—" The waiter opened his mouth exaggeratedly, licked his lips, and flattered, "It sounds delicious. If it was made by you, Sister Jinyi, it would be even more delicious."

"Are you two slacking off again?" a male voice suddenly came.

Song Jinyi raised his eyes and saw the shopkeeper walking in with his hands behind his back, staring at the two of them with displeasure.

Song Jinyi explained, "I'm going to make a summer dessert and I need fresh milk. I'm not being lazy when I ask him where he can buy it."

The shopkeeper chuckled, waved his hand, and said, "Being lazy is being lazy. Don't make excuses. You slacked off for half a day the day before yesterday, and left early yesterday. Humph! I don't want to keep idle people here. I'll deduct 500 coins from your monthly salary this month."

"I clearly asked for leave from you the day before yesterday. I only returned home yesterday after finishing my work, and I'm actually discussing the ingredients right now."

Five hundred coins is a quarter of her monthly salary! This shopkeeper is really cruel.

And everything he said was fabricated.

The shopkeeper shook his head and said, "You said you asked me for leave the day before yesterday, but I didn't know about it. Who can testify to your claim?"

Song Jinyi certainly had a witness. She pointed at the waiter and said, "He was in the front hall that day too. He must have heard me ask you for half a day off."

The shopkeeper turned his head, squinted his eyes and asked the waiter, "Did you hear that?", his voice rising with a deeper meaning.

The waiter shook his head like a rattle and denied it, "I didn't hear it."

"You!" Song Jinyi's face was filled with anger, her chest heaving violently. She glanced at the waiter coldly. The waiter curled up his head and didn't dare to look at her.

She shifted her gaze to the shopkeeper again. He had a smug look on his face, and his eyes seemed to say: Look, who will speak for you?

Then he put on an attitude of justice, raised his head, and judged her from a superior position, and asked, "Do you have anything else to say?"

Of course she had nothing to say.

Song Jinyi secretly felt that she was stupid. How could the waiter offend his boss for her?

After the shopkeeper and the waiter left, Song Jinyi sneered. She glanced at the kitchen and saw that there was still half a cake left. She didn't need to make new ones for lunch. As for tomorrow's ice cream, she was not in the mood to eat it, let alone make it.

Song Jinyi knew that the shopkeeper had been reluctant to raise the monthly salary in the first place, and had been trying to find ways to deduct it, and now he was showing no mercy at all.

It seemed that she could no longer stay here for long, and she had to plan to leave as soon as possible.

She calculated that after deducting the money for redeeming Xie Wuyang and returning the rest to Xu Ruolan, she only had one or two taels of silver in her hand. It would be difficult for her to even rent a small stall, let alone a decent shop.

A penny can make a hero fall.

******

Mao hour.

As the teahouse's door closed, the back room connected to the front hall gradually became lively.

Song Jinyi simply prepared two side dishes in the east kitchen, stir-fried bamboo shoots and fried tofu.

When the dishes were brought to the small table in the yard, Xu Ruolan also took out three pancakes that she had bought from Li Erniang's pancake stall next door.

Everything was as usual, but when Xu Ruolan accidentally looked up, she found that Song Jinyi was very absent-minded while eating today. He didn't pick up any food with his chopsticks for a long time. He bit the pancake blankly, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Xu Ruolan looked at him twice in surprise. In the past, she and Xie Wuyang were not the talkative ones when they ate together.

Song Jinyi occasionally talked about the people and things she met today, but this time Song Jinyi didn't say a word.

She stared at Song Jinyi with an inquiring look. Something was wrong! Something was very wrong!

She also heard about what happened in the teahouse today and thought that Song Jinyi was unhappy about what happened during the day.

After a moment of silence, he turned the topic to Xie Wuyang: "After this child came back with you, he has been stuck in this small yard every day and has hardly gone out. You are also staying here, so he must be bored.

This summer's night market is fun, even more lively than the market we usually go to. How about we go out for a walk together today?"

Unexpectedly, Song Jinyi actually looked up after hearing this, looking somewhat interested. She suddenly asked, "Should we go out and take a look, Sister Ruolan, where is the most prosperous and fun place around here?"

Xu Ruolan thought for a moment and said, "West Luohua Street is next to Zui Liuxia, where we went before. The market is not far from there."

Song Jinyi suddenly seemed to be interested and asked carefully, "Are there many food stalls over there?"

"Of course there are a lot. I've been there occasionally before. That street is full of food: candied haws, glutinous rice balls, soup dumplings, sweet beans... Sometimes there are even acrobatic troupes performing on the street..."

"Okay!" Song Jinyi said, "We'll go in a while." After saying that, as if there was something urgent, he originally bit the pancake slowly, but now he finished a pancake in a few bites, lifted up the hem of his clothes and wiped it casually.

Song Jinyi got up hurriedly and ran to the east kitchen while chewing the biscuit in her mouth and hadn't swallowed it yet.

Xu Ruolan and Xie Wuyang were left looking at each other, both of them could see the same confusion in each other's eyes - what happened to her?

Soon Xu Ruolan also put down her chopsticks. Seeing that there was still a lot of food left and Xie Wuyang had hardly eaten any, she turned her head to look in the direction where Song Jinyi left and sighed silently.

Xu Ruolan picked up a few chopsticks and put them in Xie Wuyang's bowl and said, "You don't have to be restrained. Ah Jin had some misunderstandings with you at the beginning. Now that you are here, it means that she doesn't take the misunderstanding to heart, so you don't have to worry about it.

Eat more vegetables. You are still at the age of growing up, and it is not good to be so thin."

Xie Wuyang nodded silently and thanked him in a low voice.

After dinner, Xie Wuyang cleaned up the dishes and put them in the bucket to wash. Xu Ruolan also helped to wipe the table. When they came to the east kitchen to clean up, they found Song Jinyi bending over, fiddling with something, and they didn't know what she was busy with.

When Xu Ruolan passed by Song Jinyi, she stopped and took a look.

Song Jinyi was boiling milky white milk in a small porcelain pot. She added a few pieces of crystal clear white sugar, which melted into liquid and sank to the bottom of the milk in an instant. She stirred it gently with a spoon to allow the sugar and milk to fully blend.

The milk was boiling and emitting a faint milky aroma. Song Jinyi poured out the milk and placed it outside to dry.

Xu Ruolan asked, "What is this for?"

Song Jinyi didn't hide it and said directly: "Ice Su Lao."

Xu Ruolan paused and asked, "Is this the one you proposed this morning? But the shopkeeper doesn't want you to make new snacks."

After the milk cooled completely, Song Jinyi added the fermented rice wine and stirred it evenly while saying, "I didn't intend to make it for the store."

"Then you..."

【Author’s words】

Please collect, please give me nutrient solution (cute)