Chapter 39: Wild Rice Stuffed with Meat, Guanghan Cake is a good choice for exams, and the stall is closed for farewell.

The river breeze in the morning is cool, carrying with it the faint fragrance of osmanthus flowers.

Last month, the loofahs in the yard seemed to grow endlessly, with new ones appearing every time you picked one. Now, the flowers are gradually withering, and no new ones are growing. The vines are also showing signs of aging, and white dew has condensed on the half-yellow leaves.

Its good days are over.

The cicadas in the old locust tree had lost their energy and were now humming softly. Yuanbao ignored them and concentrated on battling the rooster next door.

"Why did grandma buy so many silk cocoons?"

While Wei Jinyun washed up, Wang Qiulan was peeling silk floss in the yard. She and her sisters had originally bought some summer silkworms for their grandmother to raise for fun, and the babies had already spun cocoons. Unexpectedly, the next moment, they'd found a flat basket full of cocoons.

"I'll give you a silk quilt to cover yourself with. The silk cocoons here are cheaper than those in Jiangning Prefecture."

Wang Qiulan moved a bamboo stool and sat next to the water tank. On the wooden board above her were many perfectly cooked silk cocoons.

The autumn breeze blew through the window at night, leaving her tossing and turning. The thin silk quilt she had brought back from home—the one she had folded for her granddaughters years ago—was aired and tidied again for the winter. Seeing them arrive in Pingjiang Prefecture, the three of them were busy as sparrows hunting for insects, leaving her to spend her days at home sewing and cooking.

Although her granddaughters always said, "Grandma, you are at an age where you can enjoy yourself. Have some snacks. When you are bored, take a boat to visit my great aunt. Don't worry too much," she still worried about them.

I worry about whether I am tired, whether I have eaten enough, and what delicious food to make for my granddaughter tomorrow... In short, I have a lot of worries every day.

"Such a large basket is not cheap."

After wiping her face, Wei Jinyun fed her loofah and edamame, and fished out two small fish from the tank that her sisters had raised for Yuanbao. "Grandma, if you want to peel some silk floss, tell me and I'll buy it for you."

"Oh, do you really think that Grandma can't find a child? Even if you buy a few more baskets and turn them over for Jinyun as a dowry, it will still be presentable."

She had long dreamed of making new silk quilts for her granddaughters. Almost every household under the jurisdiction of Pingjiang Prefecture raised silkworms. At Fengmen, women carrying silkworm cocoons on their shoulders were everywhere. She'd take advantage of the mornings, before the masons had finished their work, to stroll by Fengmen, inquire about the price of the new cocoons, observe their quality, compare them, and buy a large basket at a time.

There's nothing she can do about it. She's so lucky to have three granddaughters.

Wang Qiulan chatted with her granddaughter while busying herself. She reached into the water tank and scooped up a silkworm cocoon. The cocoon, swollen from the hot water and alkali, felt soft in her hand.

Peeling a silk cocoon requires skill. She pinches one end of the cocoon with two fingers and gently pinches it with her fingernails, and the cocoon is gently pulled open. She inserts two fingers into the opening and slowly pushes them to the sides, causing the cocoon to flatten out, revealing the curled-up silkworm pupa in the center.

She held the cocoon in her left hand, and with her right hand she stroked the inner wall, and the silkworm pupa slid into the bamboo basket next to her.

"Poor silkworm."

Wei Fuling squatted beside Wang Qiulan as she peeled the silk floss, and looked at the silkworm pupae being tossed into the bamboo basket one by one, feeling a faint sense of melancholy. Although she had not raised these silkworm pupae bought by her grandmother herself, she had fed the ones at home with mulberry leaves every day.

Now they were mixed in with a pile of cocoons, and she couldn't tell which was which. She could only mutter in a low voice, "Don't worry, I will cover it well."

Wang Qiulan tore the silk cocoon into a complete silk membrane after stripping it of its pupa. She put the silk membrane on her finger, and the silk membrane stuck to her finger with the help of water, forming a cocoon.

When five cocoons have been placed on the fingers, they are swung and pulled in the water tank, and then hung on the curved silk floss bow at the side. After three cocoons have been placed on the silk floss bow, they are removed and the process is repeated.

Ropes had already been hung in the yard. Once Wang Qiulan had finished peeling her baskets, she would spread the silk floss sheets one by one on the ropes of the drying rack. The floss was still damp, a light beige, and she would gently pull the edges to let the sun gradually bleach, dry, and fluff it up.

"Chickens are ugly."

Wei Fuqiu mixed some rice bran from the kitchen for the chicks to eat. Looking at the three chicks, she felt a sense of melancholy.

The three chicks were kept in a fenced-in rack built by Wang Qiulan, covered with several layers of tarpaulin. The chicks brought back from the Qiqiao Festival had lost their lovely yellowish color after more than half a month, and their new feathers resembled the color of the rooster's belly in the yard next door.

They eat rice bran very quickly, and their only advantage is that they sometimes secretly peck at an old loofah.

Wei Jinyun opened the door of the shop and saw that several shop owners nearby were sitting outside eating breakfast and enjoying the cool air.

"Good morning, Grandpa."

Wei Fuling greeted Zhang's father every day, trying to engrave this name deeply in his mind.

Zhang's father was enjoying a plate of fried food. He took a sip of tea when Wei Fuling nearly choked him. He coughed until his face flushed red, and he patted his chest to catch his breath. "Keep it down! My son is studying in the shop. He's taking the college entrance exam tomorrow, so don't disturb him."

Wei Fuling said "Oh" and glanced at the fried food that Zhang's father was holding.

Poor silkworms.

Father Zhang ignored Wei Fuling and continued savoring his delicious meal. The fried silkworm pupae glowed golden brown, and there was a crisp "crunch" when he bit into them. He squinted his eyes, savoring the freshness. After a little swirl in his throat, he swallowed it with his tea, not caring if it got mixed with chopped green onions and stained his stubble.

As autumn winds set in, business at Zhao's Delicatessen flourished. At Wei Jinyun's suggestion, Zhao Xiangping introduced new dishes: fried chicken and fried chicken and duck ribs. These dishes, crispy and fragrant, could be coated in unique sauces for a fresh twist, and were incredibly popular with young people.

In the past, when people bought roasted duck, they would go to her shop to have it freshly butchered. But now, there are so many orders that Zhao Xiangping is so busy every day that she doesn't know what to do, so she hired two workers.

She hired these two laborers from a pawnbroker. Their names were Chuntao and Xiaoman. Although they were only in their early twenties, they worked very efficiently, and she was very satisfied with them. However, the young men outside liked her fried chicken, and Meng Ge'er naturally liked it too. She didn't let him eat too much, otherwise he would be as fat as the water tank in the yard by winter.

A black-sailed boat moored at the foot of the shop's stone steps. At the bow sat a vendor in a short shirt, deftly peeling a piece of scallion. The scallion's shell resembled a large, wrinkled orange, with a pointed tip like a shrunk chicken's head.

But after the vendor pressed it with a wooden stick and then used his skillful hands to peel out the chicken head rice, the snow-white grains inside fell into the basket one by one.

"Chicken head rice, freshly peeled chicken head rice!"

The vendor shouted at the top of his voice, "White and fresh chicken head rice, stewed in sweet soup, stewed in soup, delicious!"

Wei Jinyun was gnawing on a steamed dumpling and was not paying attention when the soup inside scalded her.

Seeing the vendor's basket full of rice, she held up the plate and asked, "How much is a pound?"

"Twelve coins!"

The vendor patted his basket, "Fresh catch from the lake! My hands are red from peeling them!"

Wei Jinyun swallowed the pan-fried bun and said, "Weigh two pounds."

The vendor was delighted and was tying the oil-paper package with hemp rope. Xu from next door also took a look at the chicken head rice in the bamboo basket and glanced at the vendor. "Your chicken head rice looks good. Give me two pounds too."

As he spoke, he moved closer to the scale and said, "But you have to give me a cheaper price."

The vendor smiled and said, "Auntie, this is the same price for all of them."

Xu raised her chin towards her shop and said in a brighter voice, "Do you know who I am? You're selling this chicken head rice to a scholar. If you can get some literary influence, your business will surely flourish! I'll charge you ten cents for it. That's not a loss, is it?"

The vendor was stunned for a moment. Seeing her acting as if it was a matter of course, he looked at Wei Jinyun who had already paid and said nothing. He said helplessly, "Well, for the sake of your scholar, I'll weigh two kilograms for you."

After weighing the chicken head rice, Xu took the oil paper bag and walked back, weighing it carefully, muttering, "Tomorrow is the Renbai Academy exam. I'll stew a bowl of chicken head rice soup to nourish him."

The vendor took the money and continued peeling the chicken head rice, muttering with his head down, "The exam hasn't even started yet, and they've already called the scholar... Ugh, I'm so unlucky."

As the weather cooled, Wei Jinyun stopped making mung bean tea and focused solely on her pastries. Yun Laixiang's reputation gradually grew, and during this period, she also took on two tea party orders. While not as lavish as the Lu residence, these were still tea parties between sisters, requiring refreshing flavors and a style that would satisfy them. She provided her own ingredients and charged two kan per order.

"We're going to close tomorrow, but I still want to work for another month."

Xiao Zhang took a sip of tea and scooped the silkworm pupae from the plate into his mouth, chewing them in big mouthfuls.

Wang Qiulan didn't waste the silkworm pupae she'd peeled. After deep-frying them, she gave them all to Xiao Zhang and Er Niu. Some looked at the pupae and waved their hands, while others simply loved them. After a plate of pupae, the two men worked diligently.

"Look at you, you're such a loser."

Erniu picked up seven or eight and threw them all into his mouth. "You don't stand a chance."

"Well, I know. I just can't bear to part with Aunt Wang's stir-fried loofah with edamame."

Xiao Zhang smiled bitterly, with a touch of admiration and a hint of resentment, "When these pirates are wiped out, I want to join Lord Lu in the fight."

Lord Lu had recently regained his spirits, and he thought the pirates were almost done with, though there were still some remnants to deal with. They didn't really want to observe Lord Lu's mental state; they wouldn't normally run into him this often.

But ever since he started working for Miss Wei, Lord Lu would pass by Tianqing Temple every three or four days. He didn't stop, nor did he go into the shop, he just walked by.

Sometimes when he ran into Miss Wei just returning from her stall, Lord Lu would say, "What a coincidence."

What a coincidence! It seems that Lu Mansion does not take this road when going to and from Changmen.

There was no fixed time for Miss Wei to return to the shop after setting up her stall. It all depended on how quickly her dim sum sold and whether the medicinal food prepared by her two sisters was eaten in the shop or taken back to the shop, or whether they would stop at the mountain pond to buy some household items and feed.

But Lord Lu still passed by every now and then, and he didn't see her for several times, so Xiao Zhang and Er Niu always ran into her. By observing Lord Lu's daily spirit, they also estimated how many pirates were left in the canal and the Yangtze River.

Although I am just an ordinary person, I still have to think about big things in my heart.

"Brother Xiao Zhang and Brother Er Niu are indeed masters."

Wei Jinyun interrupted their casual lunchtime chat and said, "The carving skills in my shop are no less than those of the masters in Xiangshan. We have been working in the hot summer for the past month. Thank you for your hard work."

She reached in and stuffed two red cloth bags into her pocket.

"Hey, don't be polite, it's what we should do."

Xiao Zhang rubbed the red cloth bag in his hand. There were about a hundred coins in it. He felt embarrassed to eat the silkworm pupae. "This is too much, Miss Wei..."

Masons like them would receive a small tip from their employer after work, usually around fifty or sixty coins. The meals provided by Miss Wei's shop were delicious, with plenty of tea, and the tip was more than enough.

"We are not as good as the masters of Xiangshan. We rely entirely on Miss Wei's drawings. We even feel that our work is not good enough. Some of the flower carvings are a little crooked."

Erniu scratched his head, "If we collect so much, Manager Zhou will scold us."

"I'm inviting the two masters to have tea and wine."

Wei Jinyun smiled and said, "When my grandmother, sister, and I first arrived, the two craftsmen helped me build back the boundary of the land and repaired my house in the scorching heat. It's okay, take it."

"Don't eat, just work."

Xiao Zhang stuffed the red cloth bag into his arms and looked at Wei Jinyun's back as she returned to the kitchen. "Erniu, I'm really touched... But you're such a straightforward person, don't tell my uncle."

Erniu stood up and checked if there were any repairs missing from the shop. Then he turned around and said, "What should we do if Shopkeeper Zhou asks about it?"

"If you don't tell him, he won't ask!"

Wei Jinyun was very satisfied with the decoration of her shop. The two craftsmen were paving the stones for her even though they were sweating in the hot weather, but they squinted their eyes and did not make any mistakes. The shop was currently full of leftover decoration materials, and they just needed to clean it up and it would be done.

Tomorrow is the college entrance examination. Wei Jinyun weighed some fresh chicken head rice and planned to make a new snack for her old customers.

Guanghan is the best and wins the first prize in the imperial examination.

Wei Jinyun took the chicken head rice and poured it into the stone mortar, pounding it hard. Soon it became rice paste with fine grains.

She boiled licorice water, removed the green stems of osmanthus flowers, and crushed them. She mixed them with glutinous rice and sticky rice flour, kneading them into a ball and sifting them through a bamboo sieve. She spread the cake flour evenly on a cloth-lined steamer, filled it with chicken head rice paste, and then spread another layer of cake flour on top.

The charcoal fire under the stove burned slowly, and steam seeped out through the cracks in the lid, carrying the fragrance of osmanthus and rice, lingering in the kitchen.

The heat of summer had passed, and Wei Jinyun no longer felt so stuffy in the kitchen. All the yard work had been completed, and she had left the kitchen door wide open and the windows wide open, letting in the occasional autumn breeze.

Wei Jinyun boiled the remaining chicken head rice for a while and mixed it into the stewed red bean and orange peel sweet soup to make red bean and chicken head rice sweet soup.

In the bamboo basket lay the wild rice stems Wang Qiulan had bought that morning. Early autumn wild rice stems are even more tender than summer's. Peel back their green outer coverings, and the stems are as white as jade. Her family had been enjoying stir-fried wild rice stems for three days straight. To help alleviate her younger sisters' annoyance with loofah, Wei Jinyun offered them a new treat today.

She used a knife to make several slits on the side of each wild rice stem. The knife had to be held steadily, cutting through the stem without cutting through the bottom, so that the open end of the wild rice stem resembled a small jade box.

The minced pork belly, a perfect balance of fat and lean, was mixed with chopped green onion, ginger, rice wine, and salt to a suitable taste. Using a bamboo stick, the minced meat was then stuffed into the crevices of the wild rice stems. This required meticulous work, filling each wild rice stem perfectly without spilling. Wei Jinyun dipped her fingertips in clean water and smoothed the filling evenly across the openings.

Heat the iron pot on the stove until it's hot. Once the oil is hot, place the rice stem meat with the cut side facing up in the pot and simmer for a while. Then add water and simmer for about an incense stick. When you open the lid, sprinkle some chopped green onions on it and gently stir the rice stem meat twice with a bamboo spatula before serving.

"Sister, come out and have some tea."

Wei Fuqiu had already cooled the tea for Wei Jinyun, and her red bean, chicken head and rice sweet soup was no longer steaming.

"We have a feast today."

Xiao Zhang stared at the dishes on the stone table in the yard. It looked like a farewell dinner.

In the clay pot of the clay oven, there was stewed pork with fermented bean curd, boiled shrimp, braised duck, wild rice stem stuffed with meat, winter melon, shrimp skin and tofu soup, and even sweet soup.

"Eat quickly, this is your last meal."

Erniu tapped Xiao Zhang's dazed head with his chopsticks and said, "Tomorrow we have to go back to the shop to eat Shopkeeper Zhou's pickled vegetable stewed winter melon and winter melon fried with pickles."

The rice stem and meat stuffed with wild rice stems were still steaming hot when I took a bite. The first thing I tasted was the crispness of the rice stem. Then, the aroma of the meat stuffing came up.

The meat filling is a mixture of fat and lean, and tastes sweet and refreshing with the wild rice stem. The crisp and tender wild rice stems absorb the meat juice, while the meat filling is soaked with the refreshing wild rice stem, making it very delicious.

Wei Fuling and Wei Fuqiu were eating their rice. The status of water bamboo shoots in their hearts gradually rose, completely surpassing loofah and edamame.

After the three sisters had rested, the Guanghan cake had cooled. Wei Jinyun cut it into small pieces, sprinkled osmanthus flakes on top, and took it to the prefectural school.

When Xu saw that the bamboo basket Wei Jinyun had brought contained not only the usual cakes but also a few pale yellow cakes with crushed osmanthus flowers on them, she immediately smiled and looked at Wei Jinyun who was pushing the cart, "Miss Wei, have you made some new cakes?"

“This is Guanghan Cake.”

Wei Jinyun explained, "The students in the prefectural school will take the exam tomorrow, so I steamed some for them for good luck, and I also saved a few for you."

"Oh, why are you being so polite?"

There seemed to be a hint of courtesy in Xu's words. "Your cooking smells delicious. Come in and sit down. I just made some new tea."

"No, Aunt Xu, you know, I still have to go to the stall."

Wei Jinyun smiled, didn't talk any more with Xu, and pushed the cart away with her sisters.

The smile on Xu's face hadn't faded yet as she turned and went back to the shop. Zhang Renbai was hunched over his desk, reviewing his lessons, so sleepy that his nose was almost touching the pages.

Recently, he did not wash up and went to bed at 11:00 p.m., and got up at 1:00 p.m. to review his lessons. He slept very little and was not in good spirits.

"Renbai, take a break."

Xu brought over a porcelain bowl with steaming chicken head rice syrup in it. "Mother made some chicken head rice for you. Eat it while it's hot."

Zhang Renbai looked up and saw that the rice in the bowl was plump and white, while the syrup had a light yellow hue.

"Mom, I've been eating these these days..."

"Silly child."

Xu shoved a spoon into his hand. "This is for your brain! You have the college entrance exam tomorrow, so you need to eat more so you can write more effectively. Oh, and you have to finish the walnut soy milk you had at noon. I added extra walnuts when I ground the beans."

The chicken head rice syrup was mixed with the "high school talisman" she had obtained from a master. The ashes dissolved seamlessly into the syrup. The master said that if you eat it regularly for more than ten days, you will always get the right score on the imperial examination.

Zhang Renbai nodded helplessly and lowered his head to scoop up a spoonful of sugar water.

Xu watched him eat for a while, then turned and placed the dim sum in the bamboo basket on a plate. She pushed the plate of Guanghan cakes to the corner of the counter and called out to the two customers who had just walked in to pick out their brushes, "Hey, Shopkeepers Qian and Sun, would you like to try some of our new dim sum? They're delicious."

As the summer heat wore on, the crowds at Lao Guo's drink stall gradually dwindled, but he wasn't in a hurry. After all, he was a single old man with no family or children, and the money he earned was enough for his daily expenses, plus enough to buy some meat and wine.

"Miss Wei won't come here anymore."

Madam Qian lost all her energy in making egg pancakes. "Madam Wei, who will chat with me from now on... I'm afraid I won't even be able to mix the dough properly. I'm going to miss you so much."

Wei Jinyun was just putting the cart in place when she heard this. She turned around and smiled, "Aunt Qian, my shop is right in front of Tianqing Temple. It's only two blocks away. It's not that far. If you miss me, come over and sit down sometime. I'm looking forward to eating your double-egg pancakes."

Old Guo wiped the spout of the copper kettle with a cloth. "In my old age, I've treated you and your two younger sisters like my own granddaughters. Now that my eldest granddaughter is leaving to open a shop, I can't see the other two anymore. I feel empty inside, like something's missing."

"Oh, look at what you said."

Wei Jinyun chuckled, her eyebrows curved even more. "Sister Qi and Sister Ling will go to Su Yuxuan in the future and pass by your stall every day. I guarantee they'll come even more often than they do now. Are you afraid you won't see them? Besides, I'll come back to see you often, and I'll definitely have to drink your freshly brewed sour plum soup."

As she was speaking, Madam Qian pulled out three colorful yarn cords from her cloth bag and handed them over. "I made these overnight. One for you, and one for each of the two girls. The green one will go with you, the pink one is for Lingjie'er, and the yellow one is for Qijie'er. They'll look beautiful when hung around your waist."

Wei Fuqiu and Wei Fuling came over, took the string and immediately tied it around their waists, turning around to look at it.

Wei Fuling pulled Madam Qian's sleeve to show off, "Aunt Qian, your knitting is so beautiful. How come your hands are so skillful?"

"The Weaver Girl has descended to earth."

Wei Fuqiu pinched the silk thread.

Madam Qian looked at the necklaces dangling from the waists of the three girls and finally smiled. She poured another spoonful of oil and said, "Miss Wei, have an omelet. I'll add three eggs for you!"

After attending the provincial school, all the students have become running practitioners.

"Today's dim sum is buy one get one free. Buy any dim sum and get a Guanghan cake for free."

Wei Jinyun took out some new pastries from under the cart counter. "There's no limit on the quantity. When you pass the exam, remember to tell me about it."

The Guanghan cakes are neatly placed on the table, with a light goose yellow color. The cakes are fluffy yet firm, and sprinkled with osmanthus flowers.

"Miss Wei, have you seen my sparkling eyes?"

Tang Yin waved her folding fan, "Tears of emotion welled up in it."

"You won't be tested tomorrow."

Another student came up and said, "You're just feeling sleepy from your afternoon nap, and you're fanning yourself with a folding fan. Don't you think it's cold?"

"What can I do? I just passed the test by accident. Everyone, remember to do well on the test tomorrow."

"Shut up, Tang Yin!"

Guanghan Cake is a soft cake with a sweet rice aroma and the fragrance of osmanthus. The chicken head rice inside is not as soft as other fillings, but instead leaves a slightly springy and chewy texture on the tip of the tongue.

Knowing that Wei Jinyun's Guanghan cake was for them to wish them a high grade in Guanghan, and that he didn't charge for it, the students bought a few more snacks and hurried home after thanking Wei Jinyun.

The day before the imperial examination, nothing could go wrong. At 1:00 AM, roll call began to enter the Imperial Examination Hall, and once inside, they were not allowed to leave. They had to carefully check their household registration, resumes, documents, writing materials, inkstones, and more.

"Miss Wei won't be here anymore."

Wu Sheng stood beside Mrs. Qian's stall, taking small bites of Guanghan cake.

"Well, I wish Master Wu a brilliant future in tomorrow's college entrance examination."

In just two quarters of an hour, the Guanghan cakes were almost sold out. Wei Jinyun and her sister packed up the cart and wanted to go home early today.

"Thanks."

Wu Sheng nodded. "The snacks you make are delicious. I hope your shop will prosper in the future."

Wei Jinyun smiled and nodded in response.

There was a faint scent of osmanthus hidden in the wind. When he saw her back pushing the cart, he still hid his thoughts inside.

A thought that everyone knows but has never broken.

He turned to look at Madam Qian, whose forehead was still covered in sweat even in the autumn weather, and handed her the handkerchief in his arms.

"Mom, let's go home early today. Dad said this morning that he would buy a big fish to braise in sauce. It must be ready by now."

"Okay."

Madam Qian's eyes narrowed into slits as she smiled and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

As usual, Wu Sheng helped Mrs. Qian carry the clay stove back home.

He will do well in the exam.

Wei Jinyun had just pushed the cart back to the shop, and before he had time to take a sip of tea, he walked out the door and went under the arch bridge on the street.

In early autumn, the arch bridge is still crowded with people waiting for work.

Wei Jinyun found two old acquaintances among a group of people chatting.

She patted the round-faced aunt's shoulder and said, "Aunt, can you take on the cleaning work?"

She turned over the auspicious day.

The sixth day of August is a good day to open a business.

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The author has something to say: peeling silkworm cocoons is an intangible cultural heritage, and silk quilts are all peeled from silk cocoons by hand. Chicken head rice syrup, one can eat it without making a sound.

Lord Lu: I'm just passing by, don't mind me. [Pitiful]

Jinyun: What a coincidence. [Rainbow fart]

Does anyone have a wife who likes to eat fried silkworm pupae? I don’t eat them anyway.

The recipe for Guanghan cake comes from "Shan Jia Qing Gong": "Pick osmanthus flowers, remove the green stems, sprinkle with licorice water, mix with rice, pound into powder, and cook into cakes. In the year of the Great Completion, scholars and friends all make cakes as gifts to each other, in order to wish for the prophecy of 'Guanghan Gaojia'."