Chapter 73 Chapter 73 Before the Winter Solstice. (Second update)...
At this moment, a crisp sound like breaking porcelain came to my ears.
Tao Yingce felt the tip of his tongue was burned, and he immediately opened his mouth and gasped for air, but he was reluctant to spit it out.
He finally came to his senses, gasping for air and looking at the fried corn cake in front of him in doubt and surprise. The fried corn cake looked plain in appearance, but it tasted shocking.
Not to mention the filling, the skin alone is extremely crispy, and every time you chew it, you can smell a strong aroma of oil.
It turns out that ordinary jiaozi skins can be so delicious after being fried?
Not to mention Tao Yingce was shocked, even Song Jiaoniang let out a low cry of surprise.
In fact, when Linzhi was kneading the dough, except for the first time when he demonstrated to the three people that the dough was thick inside and thin outside, and of uniform size, the subsequent doughs were kneaded thinner than ordinary dough skins.
The jiaozi skins are extra crispy after frying, with a texture almost like potato chips. Of course, this also requires careful technique; if they're too thin, they'll break easily during frying, while if they're too thick, the temperature inside and out won't be evenly distributed, preventing the desired crispness.
Tao Yingce huffed and puffed for a long time before he could feel the wonderful sweetness on the tip of his tongue. The special combination of hazelnuts, walnuts and sesame made the sweetness burst out in the mouth layer by layer. The ingenious and extreme taste made people want to swallow it along with their tongue.
This tastes really great, right?
Tao Yingce instantly forgot that just now he thought this fried dumpling should be ordinary and that he and Shen Yan needed to perform a few tricks. He put the remaining half of the fried dumpling into his mouth with a satisfied look on his face, and closed his eyes again to enjoy the sweet world.
Song Jiaoniang looked at Chen Yan, then at Tao Yingce, and proudly held her head high and chest out: "See! I told you my daughter is the best!"
On the other side, in Tao Mansion.
Mrs. Shen leaned on the couch and looked through the account books, listening to the housekeeper reporting on household affairs.
By the time everyone had finished reporting, the sun had already set. She closed the book wearily and rubbed her temples: "Has Dalang not returned yet?"
"Yes." The maid replied respectfully, "I will send someone to inform—"
"That's enough. You're going to complain to me again when you come back." Mrs. Shen thought for a moment and felt that her son must have found Chen Yan and was accompanying him to relax. "You're about to get married, yet you're still away from home every day."
"Yulian is useless. She can't even tie people down."
"..." The maidservant didn't dare to say anything. If the eldest son was really taken control of by a concubine, the first person who would be unwilling would be her own wife.
Mrs. Shen felt speechless after she spoke, so she asked, “Where did the two of them go?”
The young masters didn't go to many places, mostly antique shops or teahouses owned by their own families. However, Mrs. Shen knew that the three lively people in her family were different, especially Chen Yan and Tao Yingce.
After a pause, she had another guess and couldn't help asking, "Is he still busy in the Dali Temple?"
The maid brought the tea and said with a smile, "That's not the case."
Mrs. Shen breathed a sigh of relief. It was not that she had such a guess for no reason. It was mainly because every time Yan'er went to his brother and sister-in-law's grave, he would go straight into the study/Dali Temple.
This was not the first time that Ce Ge'er went back to look for him. He was caught twice and detained in the study/Dali Temple.
As for the detention period, it can be as short as half a day or a day, or as long as three to five days.
Madam Shen took the teacup, took a sip leisurely, and said, "Since Madam Auntie left, the tea in this room has become particularly refreshing."
After kicking her sister-in-law out of the house, she could finally relax and think about how to find a suitable girl for Yan Ge'er.
Although men nowadays have no trouble finding a wife, there are still some thresholds. What they don't have to worry about are promising men such as the sons of a yamen or Jinshi.
But this guy is now determined to become a minor official, so it is really difficult for him to marry someone of equal status.
But she was not willing to ask Madam Shen to lower her demands. That was why she agreed with her husband and the old lady in the beginning and wanted to ask Yan'er to marry Miss Jin.
Madam Shen made a series of lists in her mind, and then gradually crossed out a few. She was very dissatisfied when she saw that the remaining wives were only officials of the seventh, eighth, and ninth ranks. So she put the matter aside and asked the maid, "Where did they go?"
"Is it the Linzhiji at the entrance of the Dali Temple?"
"Linzhiji?" Madam Shen thought for a moment and smiled, "Is it the family that returned to Bianjing with them last time?"
Mrs. Shen remembered this family. She sent someone to deliver a gift, but she didn't ask for anything in return. Unexpectedly, the family was quite respectable and sent four gifts during the Double Ninth Festival. They were not expensive things, but some seasonal food and ingredients. "I remember their Double Ninth Festival cake, it tasted good."
"Yes, it's their family." Seeing that Mrs. Shen was interested, the maid picked up the story of Lin Zhiji and told her.
Hearing how domineering Xie Da Mutton Restaurant was, secretly having people cut off Linzhiji's supply channels, Mrs. Shen couldn't help but frown: "Poor thing, it's so hard to gain a foothold in Bianjing City, and then encounter such a thing..."
"I remember our family also has such a channel, right? Brother Ce, maybe you don't know about it? Go back and give instructions, it would be considered a favor."
"Madam, you are kind-hearted." The maid complimented him before continuing, "In my opinion, the chef at Linzhiji is quite capable. Later..."
The maidservant replaced the roast duck at Linzhiji with roast goose, and passed on the roast duck recipe to several shops in the market. She then sued Xie Da Mutton Restaurant to the catering industry. Not only did this cause the business of Xie Da Mutton Restaurant to plummet, but she also ruined her reputation as a difficult restaurant to bully.
"Okay, okay." Madam Shen clapped her hands and smiled. As the wife of the Tao family, Tao Yingce's mother, and Chen Yan's aunt, she was naturally willing to extend her kindness to the child's acquaintances.
It's just that the other party was able to easily make a comeback without their own help, which undoubtedly made Mrs. Shen look at him with more respect, and at the same time aroused some curiosity. After all, everyone likes capable people.
"I don't know what kind of person he is."
"If Madam is interested, why not come to the house and talk?" said the maid with a smile.
Before Mrs. Shen could react, there was a burst of announcements from outside. It turned out that Tao Yingce and Shen Yan had arrived outside the mansion and were coming inside.
Madam Shen's brows relaxed, and she immediately put Linzhi's family behind her. She waved her hand to signal the servants to pack up the things, and waited for the two to come in with a smile.
When the two came in and said a few words, Mrs. Shen was stunned: "You two made a profit?"
"Yes." Tao Yingce pointed to the food box held by the servant behind him, his eyebrows dancing with joy: "I'll ask the kitchen staff to cook it later, so you can have a taste!"
Mrs. Shen was happy in her heart, but she also said a few words of scolding on the surface: "Why do you run to a shop to be a slot machine? It's so embarrassing."
"Sister Zhi saw that Brother Yan was in a bad mood, so she taught us two." Tao Yingce said with a smile, "She even made fried dumplings for us afterwards. Don't tell me, after all this trouble, everyone feels much better."
"After all, Brother Tao has made so many money, and his arms were shaking like sieves just now when he was sitting over there." Chen Yan saw that he kept talking about himself, and couldn't help but tell him his embarrassing stories. The two of them quarreled, which was quite lively.
Mrs. Shen listened to the two people's revelations, and at the same time, she was surprised and suspicious: "Sister Zhi? How could she teach you two?"
"Mom, what are you thinking about?" Tao Yingce immediately saw what Mrs. Shen was thinking and rolled his eyes: "Sister Zhi is the head chef of Linzhiji."
"What?" Madam Shen only knew that the family of three had come to live in Bianjing, and that Lin Zhi could cook. She had never imagined that the youngest of them was the head chef of the shop. She was immediately shocked. "I remember that the Chongyang cake was made by her last time? I heard she can also make roast duck and roast goose. Is that true?"
"Mom knows quite a lot." Tao Yingce muttered, then nodded. "It was all done by Sister Zhi. Isn't that impressive? She's only fifteen, uh, sixteen?"
Tao Ying looked at Chen Yan hesitantly, and Chen Yan nodded: "Yes, Sister Zhi was born on May 18th, and was fifteen years old at the time."
Upon hearing this, Madam Shen couldn't help but glance at Chen Yan, and didn't ask any further questions. Instead, she turned sideways and told the servant to take the coins to the kitchen, intending to serve them on the table during dinner tonight so that everyone could have a taste.
Putting aside the reactions of the people in the Tao Mansion, the Linzhi family started to get busy after the beginning of winter, especially Song Jiaoniang. She first went to several shops to check out winter clothes, and after several days of searching, she chose one that offered good quality and low prices and placed an order.
After returning home, she started making shoes, starting with those for Lin Sen and Shen Yan. Both of their shoes needed to be warm and waterproof, and also simple in appearance, so she simply used cloth for the outer layer, and then made a layer of leather lining to ensure that it would not let in water or air, and still look simple and unpretentious from the outside.
In addition, she also made a few warm and thick insoles, which keep you warm when you step on them. From the outside, they look like the most ordinary style.
Lin Sen was still muttering that he might as well go to the store and buy a pair, but after putting them on, he couldn't help but give a thumbs up: "Amazing!"
Lin Sen walked around the shop holding his robe, his delight growing as he walked: "This is amazing! It's so comfortable!"
"Hehe, you said before that we should just go to the store and buy some, and you said they are professionals after all..."
"Hey, hey, hey!" Lin Sen paused and quickly turned around to complain: "I said the first half of the sentence, but I didn't say the second half! I just feel sorry for you, my wife!"
"Sister Zhi, you have to make the decision for Daddy!"
"Sister Zhi, whose side are you on?"
"..." Linzhi looked at the couple, lifted the curtain with an expressionless face and went into the kitchen, leaving the two actors quarreling outside.
These days, Linzhi has been very busy preparing food for the Winter Solstice Festival.
Commoners in Bianjing would eat wontons on the winter solstice, symbolizing the beginning of chaos. Wealthy families would place wontons with a variety of fillings and colors in gold and silver utensils, calling them "Hundred Flavor Wontons."
Unlike modern wontons where people only want to taste the wontons, today’s wontons also focus on the soup and toppings. Ingredients such as fresh fish, eel, snail slices, chicken, etc. are added to the cooked wontons, and then the cooked and prepared fresh soup is added. It can be said that each shop has its own flavor.
Nowadays, some people call it "a hundred flavors wonton", which means that you can eat wontons with different flavors in every shop in the city of Bianjing.
Linzhi is very good at making wontons, but the wontons with toppings always make her feel a little weird.
Therefore, in the past few days, she simply went to the market to eat wontons from several famous shops. Now she is trying to make one or two in the shop, and plans to let everyone taste them later and pick out the styles sold in those days.
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