Yunling tapped her fingers on the table, recalling the stilted houses she passed on her way to Fujian, the pleasure quarters of Pingcheng, the Fanxiang Pavilion she passed on her way to Bianjing, and the brochures she had bought before...
Yunling felt there was no place she wouldn't dare go, so she waved her hand and said:
"Don't worry, I'll take Gangzi with me tonight. You go home first and let Young Master Lu know you're safe."
"No, sir. If we really start using real guns, won't your identity as a man be exposed?"
Yunling grabbed Tangling's hand, signaling her to lower her voice even further.
"Have you forgotten what happened at Fanxianglou? I have a secret hidden in my sleeve that works on both men and women, so you can rest assured."
"But I can't fool Young Master Lu. What if he... he... I won't let him know."
Yunling then withdrew her gaze. She didn't want Lu Yinghuai to know. Wait, why was she afraid of Lu Yinghuai finding out? She wasn't anyone to him. So what if he knew? Did he think he could drag her home like a little kid?
Absurd, utterly absurd.
Yunling released Tang Ling's hand, intending to let her say whatever she wanted, but for some reason, she felt a little uneasy, as if Zhang Shi would be in deep trouble if she found out about this. It seemed that Lu Yinghuai had the talent to be her mother.
Yunling didn't drink tea, so when she saw Datou drop a small string of copper coins, she stood up and walked back to the workshop without any qualms.
When Gangzi saw Yunling return, he quickly got off the long bench, yawning as he asked Yunling to sit down. He had originally intended to keep a close eye on the guy's grinding stone to prevent him from using tricks to replace it, but he didn't expect that the grinding stone would be even more annoying than grinding teeth.
He stared at the stone until his eyes were practically crossed, but it remained unmoved. So he gave up, found a long bench, lay down on it, and let it do whatever it wanted.
Yunling looked at the sky; it should be noon, but the stone seemed to have only been worn down to a small crack, and it didn't look very energetic.
The streets were filled with the cries of vendors, and the aroma of meat wafted through the air. Yunling felt she wouldn't last long before she surrendered. She swallowed the drool that was about to spill from the corner of her mouth, walked over to Datou's side, and asked:
"Young men, do you usually eat lunch out on the street or bring your own food?"
"Oh, let's take the food box to that little restaurant two streets away and get some snacks and soup. It's cheap. A stir-fried rabbit and a blood soup will only cost thirty coins. If you're shameless enough, you can ask the waiter for some spicy dishes and dried pears. He'll definitely agree."
Yunling thought that two dishes for only thirty coins was quite a bargain, but since she needed to ask for a favor today, she had to spend a little money. So she looked around and asked:
"Do you have a stove in your workshop? When I came here, I saw that there were quail, pigeons, winter crabs, sea bass, and fresh shrimp for sale on the street ahead. I was thinking of buying some to steam and eat fresh, and also packing some mutton soup so that we can all eat something warm."
Upon hearing "our big guys," Big Head knew that his three family members were also included, and immediately became enthusiastic, saying:
“I don’t have a stove here, but my neighbor, Sister-in-law A-Niu, has a small stove. Our two families usually help each other out and we’re quite familiar with each other. It’s fine to borrow her stove to steam some things.”
Yunling heard the joy in Da Tou's tone and naturally breathed a sigh of relief. Finding a breakthrough with this person was a good thing.
"Okay, then we'll go buy the ingredients first. You guys can wait here for now, okay?"
"Yes, yes."
Gangzi originally wanted to continue lying down and supervising the man grinding the stone, but thinking about Yunling buying ingredients and Tang Ling beside him being a "useless person" who couldn't even kill a chicken, he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
The three of them walked together towards East Street, first buying twelve flower crabs, three sea bass, two yellow croakers, and five catties of fresh shrimp. Seeing Yunling's generous spending, the vendors all called out to her, asking her to help them out as well.
"Young master, our shellfish here is incredibly fresh. It just arrived. Come and take a look."
"Oysters, oysters, the freshest oysters in all of Bianjing are here."
"Spotted doves, young sir, would you like two spotted doves? These are wild spotted doves, caught early this morning from the mountain. They're perfect for nourishing the body in autumn and winter."
"..."
Yunling originally intended to buy some quail, pigeons and other wild game to satisfy her cravings, but these wild game were not very tasty when steamed, and they were also quite troublesome to prepare. Moreover, since she was using someone else's stove, if the food was too bloody, it would inevitably cause displeasure.
So she changed her mind and decided to buy cooked food, which would be convenient and less troublesome. She went back to the street where she had eaten mutton noodles that morning and asked Gangzi to make some mutton soup. Then she and Tang Ling went next door to buy cooked pig stomach, pig lungs, beef tripe and beef honeycomb tripe.
Finally, I bought some crispy honey snacks, fragrant candies, and candied fruits with carvings, and returned to the small workshop with bags and packages.
When Da Tou saw that they had indeed bought the goods, he was so excited that he danced with joy. He immediately went next door to borrow a stove. Tang Ling and Gang Zi also helped to clean the flower crabs, sea bass, yellow croaker and fresh shrimp they had bought. They would put them on the pot to steam after the water boiled.
This was the first time Ah Niu's sister-in-law had ever seen so much seafood and river delicacies eaten at once. Her mouth was watering uncontrollably, but she was too embarrassed to ask for any. So she looked at Tang Ling, who had a more approachable appearance, and said with a smile:
"Hey buddy, while steaming seafood and river fish is delicious, eating too much of it can get bland. Why not dip it in some sauces? Garlic oil, soy sauce, hot oil, sesame oil—they're so fragrant."
As she spoke, Sister-in-law A Niu spread ginger and scallion shreds all over the cleaned fish, added a few drops of cooking wine, and waited for it to cook.
After the water boils, the first thing to put in is the shrimp. There's a trick to putting the shrimp in: lift the lid a little bit, and then put the lively shrimp in through the gap. Immediately put the lid back on, and listen to the shrimp struggling in the hot water. This way, the shrimp meat will be firmer.
After a while, open the pot lid and you'll see a pot full of bright red cooked shrimp. You can add a little bit of cooking wine to remove the fishy smell, or you can leave it out. Shrimp with cooking wine will always have an unsatisfactory taste if it cools down, which is torture for people who can't drink alcohol.
After scooping out the cooked shrimp, the pot of clear water instantly turned pale white, and the water volume was reduced by half. Instead of pouring out the water, Sister-in-law Niu placed a cage on top of it, put the cleaned flower crabs upside down, placed a slice of ginger on the crab's belly, added two drops of cooking wine, and then covered the pot.
Yunling came running after smelling the aroma. The shrimp beauty couldn't resist; she picked up a shrimp, peeled off the shell, and stuffed the whole thing into her mouth...
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