Chapter 49 Chapter 49 There are only twelve hours in a day. (Chapter 49)
"It's not that I don't like it, but working in a shop wearing silk and satin, wouldn't it get damaged if it gets scratched a little?"
"Hmph, you're just using this phone call to fool me!" Song Jiaoniang refused to believe it. She dragged her daughter towards the clothing store, muttering, "If you really like beautiful clothes, why don't you change into something before you go out?"
"It's been half the day..."
"Look, look! I've heard that girls who love beauty don't mind the trouble and spend two or three hours every day on their makeup."
The person Song Jiaoniang was talking about was Hua Niangzi's niece. Although she had never seen her, Hua Niangzi said that she would dress up carefully every day and would spend half an hour in the house before she was satisfied.
Of course, Song Jiaoniang was not stupid. Seeing that Hua Niangzi had a smile on her face but no smile in her eyes, she knew that she did not really like her niece. However, it did not stop her from talking about her daughter.
"Mother, how dare you scold me? You haven't changed your clothes either?" Lin Zhi pinched the old clothes on Song Jiaoniang and said unhappily.
"This..." Song Jiaoniang looked down and was speechless. She realized belatedly that she hadn't changed her clothes either. She was annoyed but still stubborn, "The situation is different!"
"There's nothing different."
"How old is mother? How old are you?" Song Jiaonian felt her cheeks getting hot, but she continued to mutter with gritted teeth.
Lin Zhi glanced at her first, then silently glanced to the side. Song Jiaoniang was puzzled at first, then she looked in the direction her daughter was looking and saw a mother and daughter standing beside her, who were exactly the same age as her own.
The girl was dressed lively and pretty, while the woman wore a cone hat and behaved dignified and elegantly. She was followed by two maids, and it was obvious that she came from a wealthy family.
The mother and daughter seemed to have heard the conversation between Song Jiaoniang and Lin Zhi, and were looking over curiously. However, they were startled the moment their eyes met Song Jiaoniang's. They turned their heads away in panic, and only looked over again secretly after a while.
Song Jiaoniang was also a person of dignity. Seeing this, she knew that the other party had heard the conversation just now. Her face immediately turned red to her ears, and she was so embarrassed that she wanted to curl up her toes.
She dragged Lin Zhi inside dejectedly. Lin Zhi smiled at them and followed them: "Mom—please walk slowly."
"Stop talking nonsense!"
“Yes, yes, yes—”
The mother and daughter walked in the clothing store, looking up at the various fabrics hanging in the store.
Doing business requires being versatile and there won't be people who flatter the powerful and look down on the weak, not to mention that now is the peak sales period before the Double Ninth Festival.
So, as soon as the mother and daughter entered the store, a girl came forward to greet them. She smiled warmly and asked if they had any designs in mind. When they said they wanted to look around for themselves, she stepped aside and said, "Call me if you need anything."
Song Jiaoniang answered politely, carefully examining the patterns on the clothes, and soon selected three styles: "Can I try them on?"
"Of course, please follow me."
"Stop pretending and go quickly." Song Jiaoniang urged Lin Zhi, who was trying to pretend that she didn't exist, and coaxed and persuaded her to change her clothes.
What else could Linzhi do? She had no choice but to follow the girl into the locker room and then began her own journey of transformation.
After three sets, there were three more sets, and then three more sets. Linzhi was still a little energetic at first, but later he felt numb all over and was pushed in and out like a tool.
“Oh my god, that’s so cute!”
"Mother's baby is so beautiful!!"
"Wow, this looks so good, you should wear it all the time!!!"
On the other hand, Song Jiaoniang's eyes were sparkling, and she became more and more energetic. Whenever Lin Zhi changed into a new outfit, she would let out an exclamation and praise him repeatedly.
What else can Linzhi do? Just change it!
In Song Jiaoniang's opinion, her daughter looked beautiful in any outfit, but the best one was the one in front of her. Linzhi was wearing a beige gauze jacket with lotus pattern embroidered on the collar, paired with a gradient pink gauze skirt, and a green ribbon tied around her waist. She lifted the curtain and came out of the house, like a lively lotus fairy.
"Oh..." Song Jiaonian covered her mouth and exclaimed.
"My lady, you have excellent taste." Seeing this, the girl stepped forward to straighten Linzhi's clothes and measured her size. "This is just made by our embroiderer today. It's the only set. I never thought it would be the perfect size for you."
Song Jiaoniang was instantly attracted. She carefully inquired about the price and happily placed an order: "You can wear this on the Double Ninth Festival."
Lin Zhi: “…Yes, yes, yes.”
After coming out of this shop, Song Jiaoniang's unsatisfied gaze fell on another garment shop.
Lin Zhi was horrified and pulled Song Jiaoniang back, saying, "Look, it's already this late. Dad is waiting for us at home. Let's go home!"
"Hey! I just visited one store!"
"It's late to go out today. Aren't you hungry?"
"We can just eat on the street later."
"What about Dad?"
"He won't feel hungry even if he skips meals."
"...Mom." Lin Zhi pulled Song Jiaoniang back with an expressionless face. "Dad will cry. He will cry for you to see."
The mother and daughter quarreled and made a lot of noise, attracting many people's attention. In the end, it was Lin Zhi who ran away, which gave Song Jiaoniang a break.
Linzhi went to a noodle shop and looked around but couldn't find what she wanted. She went up to the shopkeeper, but he looked surprised and asked, "You want mung bean flour?"
Lin Zhi nodded: "Exactly."
The noodle shop owner shook his head and said, "We don't have mung bean flour in stock. If you want it, you have to order it at least ten days in advance."
Lin Zhi was stunned: "...Huh?"
After asking around, Linzhi realized that although mung bean vermicelli is now available, the quantity is extremely small, and there are only a handful of shops that can make it, and the price is staggeringly high.
Ordinary raw noodles, also known as raw rope cakes, are only five to ten coins per pound, but mung bean vermicelli costs three hundred coins per pound.
Lin Zhi almost couldn't hold back her smile when she heard the price. Using this stuff to make duck blood vermicelli soup? How much would she sell it for? She'd have to put two or three taels of it in a bowl, so the cost would be sixty wen!
The noodle shop owner glanced at her and asked, "Young lady, do you want more?"
Linzhi shook her head and declined. She calmed herself down and asked the boss if he had any similar substitutes.
Seeing this, the noodle shop owner bent down and took out a bag from the counter. "Please look, young lady. This is a common ingredient in Lin'an. After cooking, it looks like the silk thread of a zither, so it is called silver thread. Some people also call it rice cable."
Linzhi took it and looked at it, and recognized that it was the thin rice noodles of later generations. Nowadays, shops either put it in soup as a side dish, or cook it with shredded chicken and call it shredded chicken noodles.
"And this." The shopkeeper took out two more bags. This one was darker, a brownish-brown color. "This one is made with kudzu root and jade, and this one is made with jade and ordinary wheat flour."
Yuyan is another name for yam. In short, the first one is kudzu root yam noodles, and the other is yam noodles.
Linzhi thought about the appearance of the two, shook his head, and decisively chose Mi Lan.
She picked up two bags of rice noodles and went to the tofu shop to buy fried tofu. She returned home and started making it.
Since everything had been prepared, Linzhi quickly brought out the duck blood and duck offal rice noodles.
As Lin Zhi lifted the curtain, the fresh fragrance rushed out impatiently, going straight into the nasal cavity of Lin Sen and his wife, causing their Adam's apples to roll unconsciously.
When the bowl of soup was brought to them, they both looked down with surprise on their faces: in the clear duck soup, they saw brown duck blood, duck liver, duck gizzards and duck intestines cut into even thicknesses, neatly piled on the edge of the bowl together with golden fried tofu, and snow-white noodles were faintly visible in the soup, covered with green coriander and chopped green onions.
Judging from the color alone, the dish in front of us is already of high quality, not to mention the outstanding aroma.
Lin Sen's mouth was watering, and he quickly scooped up a spoonful of duck soup and put it into his mouth. The soup was very delicious. The soup made by slow-cooking old duck would be greasy if it was a little too much, but this soup was slightly seasoned with pepper, making the rich and flavorful soup mixed with the slight spiciness of pepper. The soup was delicious and mellow, but also clear and refreshing.
The duck blood is so tender that it almost melts on the tip of the tongue, with a unique mellowness that is unique to internal organs.
The duck intestines are crispy and the duck liver is dense, and every bite is soaked in the rich flavor of the soup base.
Next comes a spoonful of rice noodles. You don’t even need to suck it hard, the noodles slide into your mouth and go straight down your throat into your stomach.
Immediately, warmth spread out, starting from the stomach and flowing to every limb, making people sweat uncontrollably at the tip of their noses and feeling very comfortable all over.
Lin Sen let out a long breath and was about to savor the soup carefully when he realized that the bowl of soup in front of him had become empty without him knowing. He couldn't help but feel regretful.
"Another bowl!" Song Jiaoniang ate happily.
"Mom, please stand up and try." Lin Zhi gestured for Song Jiaoniang to stand up. "This bowl is quite large."
Song Jiaoniang stood up, unconvinced, and suddenly felt her stomach bulge. With a touch of regret, she asked eagerly, "Can I have this tomorrow morning, too?"
"Of course." Lin Zhi nodded, but when she heard the word "tomorrow", she felt a mixture of pain and joy. "I'll be busy tomorrow morning."
Fifty-five roast ducks...
Lin Zhi thought of something, turned around and looked towards the kiln in the backyard, muttering, "Wait a minute? Three in one kiln, that would take eighteen rounds."
Song Jiaoniang thought for a moment, then hesitated. "I remember each round took more than half an hour to bake today, right? So how long will it take to bake tomorrow?"
This... is a really good question!
Linzhi's pupils dizzied and his thoughts raced: If the duck was small, weighing two to three pounds, it would take half an hour to roast it, and if it was bigger, it would take even longer.
Lin Zhi counted on his fingers, his vision darkening. "If I want to roast fifty-five, it will take at least nine hours, plus the time to prepare the ducks, clean them, brush the skin with crisping water, dry them, and prepare the rest of the dishes..."
Lin Sen laughed dryly: "I remember there are only twelve hours in a day."
"Um."
“…………”
The Linzhi family looked at each other, with only five words left in their minds: We are finished!
"How about we go to bed now?"
"Hey...I have to get up in the middle of the night to get ready."
"If that doesn't work, why don't we just roast the thirty-five we ordered first? That way, we only need six rounds."
"So you won't be selling roast duck tomorrow?"
"...Let them continue with the reservation." Lin Zhi closed her eyes and said helplessly.
"I think we should contact the bricklayer from last time tomorrow and ask them to come back and build another kiln in the backyard."
"Alright."
"Forget about that, let's go to bed early. Tomorrow looks like it's going to be a very difficult day!"
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