Chapter 18 Pickled Dried Fish
The Zhao couple exchanged a glance, then took turns eating the meat and vegetables, and buried themselves in their food.
As for the scallion tofu, what's that? We usually eat light and refreshing dishes, but since it's such a delicious dish today, it doesn't matter if we leave it aside.
When they were full and satisfied, the two looked at each other and their eyes showed their approval of Jiang Zhi's cooking skills, even going so far as to praise her in an exaggerated way!
So, when Jiang Zhi finished eating and put down her bowl, she heard a soft knocking on the door. Without disturbing the people still eating at the table, she quietly went over and opened the door.
*
Outside the door, the Zhao couple had come to return the bowl and also expressed their gratitude!
Even the usually tongue-tied Grandpa Zhao managed to squeeze out a few words, not to mention the naturally eloquent Aunt Zhao, whose praise made Jiang Zhi laugh a little shyly.
After talking for a while, Aunt Zhao finally got to the point.
"Miss Jiang, with such excellent cooking skills, why don't you open a small restaurant?"
"We do have a little ulterior motive, but it's all for your own good, Miss Jiang. After all, ordinary guests wouldn't dare to come to your house for a meal, while those street stalls..."
"..."
Aunt Zhao held Jiang Zhi's hands earnestly and spoke to her at length before taking her leave.
But after Aunt Zhao left, Jiang Zhi did indeed fall into deep thought.
*
Jiang Zhi had so much fun these past two days that she almost forgot her original dream—to buy a house for the original owner and turn it into a small restaurant!
While the street vendor economy is very popular in modern times, in ancient times, people were afraid that orders from above would be changed at any time.
To be precise, a simple curfew would have been enough to destroy the business that Jiang Zhi had worked so hard to revive these past few days.
Therefore, it is far too early for Jiang Zhi to relax!
She went back to her room, sat on the tatami mat, and carefully took out the money she had accumulated over the past few days. She counted the balance. After two days of setting up her stall, plus the miscellaneous expenses from the customers outside, including tips and money for groceries, she had quite a bit of money on hand.
At least, renting a small one-room shop at the less bustling side street next to the night market for three months would definitely be enough.
*
After Weiwei finished tying up the things she had bought over the past two days, she looked up at the sky:
The sun is quite strong today, and there isn't a single cloud in the sky to hide its dazzling light. It seems like today will be a rare day for renting.
She might as well go to the rental shop tomorrow morning to find a place to stay, and then say goodbye to Pei Ye after making breakfast.
*
With a goal in mind, Jiang Zhi felt more at ease, and her actions became even more swift.
She didn't know if she would ever return, so she decided to take this opportunity to set some goals for Little Twist.
As a young girl whom she admires, she should at least make a name for herself, right?
She called Xiao Mahua, who had already finished eating, to sit on the edge of the bed. This time, she carefully and thoroughly asked about Xiao Mahua's vocabulary and all the books she had read before formally calling Xiao Mahua by her name.
"You Ling!"
You Ling, also known as Little Twist, remained silent as usual, but her eyes clearly became much more serious.
"I might have some things to do in the future, and I might not be able to take care of you when I get busy. So let's finish assigning your tasks today."
"Your brother has always liked to make nonsensical jokes, so you might think that the story about taking the imperial examinations was just something I made up?"
"But Little Twisted Doughnut, the restrictions placed on women in this dynasty are much better than in the previous dynasty, or even the dynasty before that. Women can read and write, and they can even go out to do business. This is thanks to the contributions of countless women during the founding of our dynasty..."
"You Ling, you are a smart child. I won't say much more to you. My goal for you is Yushan Academy!"
As she spoke, Xiao Mahua's expression grew increasingly serious, but when she reached the last four words, she was stunned.
He asked instinctively with his eyes.
"Stop thinking about it, it's Yushan Academy! The best academy in Sichuan!"
"So from now on, don't listen to your brother's idle ways... Listen to me, Yushan Academy doesn't test on the Classic of Filial Piety or poetry like other academies. I went there to inquire about it these past two days..."
"Yushan Academy tests etiquette, including daily etiquette towards elders. You should know these things yourself, right?"
"The second exam will be on history. After that, come to my room every morning and I'll teach you some analysis..."
"The three tests of composing poetry rely a bit on talent, but as long as you thoroughly understand the principles of rhyme and meter, you'll be fine."
"..."
"In short, Xiao Youling, don't be too overconfident. You are the smartest girl I've ever met. This goal is not difficult for you!"
Little Twist's eyes lit up at her sister's words, like tiny sparks of light, so beautiful.
As she took the old book Jiang Zhi had found at the market, she muttered to herself, repeating the key points: "Etiquette, phonetics..."
Then, Jiang Zhi, unable to resist, stroked his fluffy hair again.
*
With this matter concluded, Jiang Zhi felt a great weight lifted from her shoulders.
These past few days, she has appeared to be busy in the kitchen and various markets every day, but in reality, she has also been constantly piecing together this information from other people's conversations.
The You family was primarily a merchant family. Although the parents had high hopes for the family, they had virtually no sources of information. Moreover, with the elders not home, they were left solely to You Yi to care for his younger sister…
As for You Yi, if he had any brains at all, he wouldn't have thought of this—
Haha, it wouldn't be enough for Jiang Zhi to go to such lengths to help the little girl.
*
After Jiang Zhi finished explaining everything to Xiao Mahua, she finally felt relieved.
At this moment, she didn't want to go into the sweltering kitchen and sweat profusely, so she found a shady spot, put the book on her face, and planned to take another nap.
Jiang Zhi always falls asleep quickly; in less than fifteen minutes, she had already drifted off to sleep.
A cool breeze swept by, and Jiang Zhi couldn't help but sneeze. She then turned over in the bamboo chair, which had been chilly but was now warm, and decided to continue sleeping under the covers.
This series of smooth and effortless movements left Pei Ye, who had just come out to use the restroom, completely stunned.
The girl was so pretty that Pei Ye always treated her like a younger sister.
But in that instant, the girl's sleepy eyes, without any makeup, revealed a face of exceptional beauty, not to mention her slender figure...
Pei Xiaochu didn't know what he was thinking, and in a moment of panic, he tilted his head back to stop the blood gushing from his nose.
Then his Adam's apple moved slightly.
*
When Jiang Zhi woke up, she had no idea that a little drama had happened while she was fast asleep.
She went to bed too late last night and got up too early today, so all she did today, besides cooking, was catch up on sleep.
At this moment, upon regaining consciousness, I felt an extraordinary clarity in my mind.
While she was doing this, she went through the bill again, and after finishing it, she felt overjoyed.
But after she roughly estimated the money she would need for renting a place, buying furniture, and groceries, she couldn't help but sigh again.
"Never mind, I'll stop thinking about it for now."
She muttered something to herself, then got up, stretched, and headed straight for the kitchen.
It was still early before dinner time, and Jiang Zhi didn't plan to cook at the moment.
She planned to take advantage of this time to dry the small fish she bought that morning into dried fish!
Today at the market, besides buying those seasonings, Jiang Zhi also saw a strong man selling small fish that he had caught from the river. Jiang Zhi bought some and just put them into a clean water ladle to drain the sludge.
We can start processing it now.
Jiang Zhi skillfully used small scissors to gut the little fish: first, she cut a small opening in the fish's belly with the scissors, then squeezed it, and the internal organs immediately came out. Finally, she used the scissors to pry open the gills on both sides, and with a pry, the gills also came out with her fingers.
Jiang Zhi worked quickly, and in no time, she had finished processing all the small fish that were still unprocessed.
She stretched her slightly sore back and began the next step: marinating.
The simplest way to pickle fish is naturally to add salt. There are about 130 to 140 small fish here. So, Jiang Zhi made a quick estimate and made sure that the amount of salt poured in could cover each small fish. Then she stopped adding salt and started to squat down and gently massage the small fish.
When the rough texture of the well salt grains can no longer be felt, the massage is almost over.
Jiang Zhi found a clean piece of gauze, covered it to prevent dust, and then placed it in a cool place to sit.
Jiang Zhi mentally calculated that after letting it sit for about two or three hours, the small fish could be initially dried by washing off the surface salt and draining the water.
The remaining steps require sunshine.
So when she chooses a house tomorrow, she still needs to pick one with a small yard, so that it's convenient to grow some vegetables and to do things like drying small fish when she has nothing to do.
*
After finishing her work here, she checked on Xiao Mahua's reading. It was almost late afternoon. Jiang Zhi washed her face with water that had been warmed up by the sun and then prepared to start cooking.
As for what to eat?
This made Jiang Zhi rack her brains for a long time, and finally, she came up with an idea!
Why not just have a proper bowl of noodles?
Having traveled through time for so long, Jiang Zhi hasn't had a single noodle dish besides that knife-cut noodle!
Why not just make a cold noodle dish? It's convenient for delivery too! What a great idea!
Jiang Zhi first recalled the methods she had seen in ancient books:
In ancient times, cold noodles were also called "Lengtao". There are two famous and representative types: one is the locust leaf cold noodles from the Tang Dynasty, and the other is the chrysanthemum cold noodles from the Song Dynasty.
In layman's terms, as Jiang Zhi would say, one is green cold noodles, and the other is yellow cold noodles.
During Jiang Zhi's reign, both types of cold noodles were already widely available. People usually ate them according to the season. Generally speaking, they ate the locust leaf noodles in spring and the chamomile noodles in autumn. As for the other two seasons, they were not available.
In Jiang Zhi's opinion, this is simply a case of the ancients occasionally lacking flexibility.
Cold noodles are no good to eat in spring or autumn. You have to eat them in summer, when they're slightly icy and spicy!
A note from the author:
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I'm currently figuring out how to snag the latest update, so the update time might be unpredictable.
Once I figure out the pattern, I'll include the update time in the upper part of the announcements or text!
The current plan is to update daily until the 26th of this week, then take a break on the 27th, and the update schedule for the following week will be determined according to the rankings.
So it's equivalent to six updates a week. Please add this to your favorites, and there will be extra updates like this in the future!
If it becomes a paid service in the future, I might occasionally post six chapters a day!!! [heart eyes][heart eyes][heart eyes]
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