Chapter 15: Delivering Pastries, Managing the New Shop, and Purchasing Various Items
Today we're making "jiaozi," which is what we commonly call dumplings. Lu Qiong spent twenty coins to buy pork, which she has now chopped up and put in a bowl.
The cabbage she brought back was still sitting in the corner of the yard. Lu Xuan was extra eager to go outside, bring the cabbage back, soak it in water, tear it into pieces, cut it into shreds, and mix it with the pork to make filling.
The newly bought flour was fine flour, with a delicate texture; pressing it left a smooth imprint. Lu Qiong scooped a large bowlful into an empty basin, added some warm water and half a spoonful of salt, and kneaded it into dough flakes. For dumpling wrappers, you need unleavened dough; the more pliable, the chewier. After kneading it a few more times, it became a smooth dough that didn't stick to the basin or her hands. She then let it rest in the basin for a while.
There was one problem with their house. The clothesline took up most of the yard, so the bamboo sieve for drying candied fruit could only be placed by the threshold of the main room. By noon, the sun couldn't reach it, so Lu Qiong had to move the bamboo sieve, along with a chair, outside.
The apricots were still quite juicy. She casually turned them over and flipped them open so that each piece could see the sun. She pinched a small piece and put it in her mouth. The sourness had diminished, and the sweetness had increased.
Lu Xuan also ran out and took Xue'er to the clothesline for shade. The two of them stood close together, and when the wind blew, the hem of their clothes rose and fell.
Lu Qiong sat on the doorstep, recalling how there were always freshly washed sheets on the clothesline when she was little. She would crawl inside, running and smelling the scent of laundry soap. Even though her memory had faded with age, she could still clearly remember the scent from that day.
However, this yard is really small. In Shangyuan Village, she could at least carve out a plot of land to grow vegetables and fence off an area to raise chickens and ducks, but here it somewhat limits her options.
Although chicken, duck, and fish in Bianjing are not as expensive as mutton, they are still more expensive than what she sells in Shangyuan Village. Even though she has a little money now, she still has to think long and hard before buying them.
Fortunately, the dough had already risen, and Lu Qiong was busy rolling it into long strips, dividing it into portions, and rolling out dumpling wrappers, forgetting what she had been thinking about earlier. She was used to pressing the wrapper down with one hand while turning it as she rolled it, resulting in a wrapper that was thicker in the middle and thinner around the edges.
Lu Xuan wasn't idle either. She washed her hands and joined in preparing the filling. She added an egg yolk, along with scallion and ginger water, while stirring. She had to stir in one direction only, otherwise the filling would fall apart and be difficult to wrap. Once the filling had absorbed all the liquid, she could wrap the dumplings.
There were several stacks of dumpling wrappers on the table. Lu Qiong stopped and started making dumplings. She placed a dumpling wrapper in her palm, put a spoonful of cabbage and pork filling on top, stretched the edge of the wrapper and pressed it down. The plump dumplings were then placed one by one on the steamer.
She and Lu Xuan both prefer steamed dumplings to boiled dumplings, so they don't disagree on the latter.
They were quickly steamed and the whole kitchen was filled with a delicious aroma. Some of the dumplings weren't wrapped properly, and they not only broke open but also leaked a lot of juice.
Lu Qiong placed a small bowl of vinegar on the table, along with some soy sauce. Dipping the dumplings in the vinegar made the meat even more fragrant, and the sour taste made the whole plate disappear in no time. "I won't set up the stall tomorrow night. I'll focus on getting the shop running properly and open it in the next few days. Every day I'm late means another day of lost rent."
Lu Xuan took a bite of the hot dumpling, the meat juice flowing down the opening: "What are we going to cook, or are we going to sell boiled water and pastries?"
The business direction of the shop? This certainly requires careful consideration. Shops lined the streets of Bianjing, with food stalls making up more than half. Most of these specialized in a single dish, like Hu's Steamed Buns, Sister Liu's Bean Water, or Zhang's Candied Fruit. The rest were taverns offering a wide variety of food, sometimes even featuring storytelling and opera. This pattern continued into later generations: pickled fish, jianbing guozi (Chinese crepes), claypot rice, coconut chicken...
With their current financial resources, they certainly couldn't afford to open a restaurant, let alone a small place where they could only seat twenty people and that would be considered a booming business.
In her previous life, Lu Qiong ran a dessert shop and was most skilled at researching various desserts. However, the current scarcity of ingredients somewhat limited her creativity. Milk was expensive, and ghee, similar to butter, was also precious. The royal family, however, was willing to use it and developed many dairy products, such as cheese, ghee, almond tofu, and ghee.
"Let's wait and see. We'll continue making boiled water as usual, and the same goes for pastries. We can make a few more kinds later."
Seeing that she had other ideas, Lu Xuan was not in a hurry and focused on eating the "jiaozi". The skin was really chewy and tasted good even without vinegar!
After lunch, they would take a nap, a habit they had developed over the years; no matter how busy they were, they would always lie down and rest for a while. Lu Qiong's bedroom was near the back street, with a small crack in the wooden window letting in the breeze. She was still thinking about the shop, and as soon as she had a thought, she drifted off to sleep.
In the afternoon, I still need to prepare to set up my stall. I always need to inform my regular customers, and if I'm lucky, I can even bring them to the stall.
Thinking this, Lu Qiong became even more energetic. She poured the yams into a wooden basin, scrubbed off the dirt on the surface, and changed the water in the basin three times before washing them properly. She peeled and cut the yams into chunks, then steamed them over high heat in a steamer. She also drained the beans that she had soaked in the morning and put them in as well.
Lu Xuan's laughter could still be heard from inside the courtyard; she was playing with a sandbag with Xue'er.
Lu Qiong had learned a few needlework techniques, so she sewed the coarse cloth she didn't want into a sandbag, filled it with some dry straw, and added a few stones to make it heavier. She used it as a toy for Xue'er, since Xue'er usually had nowhere to run around at home.
With the sandbags, Lu Xuan would squat in front of the main room and throw the sandbags outwards, and Xue'er would jump up and catch them. Even a boring game could be played with great enthusiasm.
Lu Qiong was almost done with her work. In the past month, she had become quite skilled and could perform the tasks without much thought. She could press the yam paste, wrap the filling, and put it into the mold without taking much time.
The yam cakes were freshly baked and still steaming. She picked out the five best-shaped ones, put them on oil paper, wrapped them up, tied them with hemp rope, and was about to deliver them to He Liu Niang without delay.
Lu Qiong had barely stepped out the door when she reminded him, "The water is still boiling. Remember to turn off the fire when it boils."
Lu Xuan was still stroking Xue'er's hair, nodding her head repeatedly: "I know."
As evening approached, the people who had gone out to work during the day returned, carrying all sorts of delicious food. The aroma seemed to be osmanthus wine!
No wonder they say good wine needs no bush; Lu Qiong was already drooling just from the smell. Seeing the character "Dai" on the pottery jar, he figured it must be Dai Lou's wine. Not just anyone could brew wine; only "official shops" permitted by the imperial court could buy yeast from the government. Each family's wine had its own unique characteristics, and Dai Lou's most famous wine was Osmanthus Wine, which cost several hundred yuan.
There are only a few wineries in Bianjing that can brew wine, and they are all old shops passed down through generations. Once she has the ability to buy wine yeast from the government, her shop will definitely become quite famous. Tsk tsk, not to mention famous throughout the world, it will at least be well-known in Bianjing.
Lost in his sweet dreams, he unknowingly arrived at Aunt He's house.
Because of the high threshold, she had to lift her skirt and climb several steps, and upon opening the door, she was greeted by a pungent fishy smell.
Rows of raincoats and straw hats hung on the door, and willow twig nets and bamboo poles with bamboo poles on the left side of the courtyard were drying. These were all tools used for fishing.
Aunt He was just finishing up the nets when she saw Lu Qiong arrive, and she was quite surprised: "You've come so early. I was thinking of going to Zhouqiao tonight to find you."
Lu Qiong smiled and said, "It was just made, and I brought it over since it was still early."
"No wonder so many people buy your boiled water; your words are sweeter than the boiled water itself," Aunt He said, pulling the net aside and picking up a bucket of fish. "There are still some small fish left; take a few if you want."
He Liugu's family of four all raise fish and have a fishpond in the suburbs. A few days ago, they had to reinforce the fishpond after the rain, since nearly half of the fish had escaped when the water level rose last year. Fortunately, this year it was just light rain, so there was no loss. These few fish are nothing to He Liugu.
Seeing that she couldn't refuse, Lu Qiong accepted the money, but she was thinking that she couldn't take money from Aunt He next time, otherwise she would owe more and more.
At night, people would travel by pleasure boat or stroll along the riverbank, chatting with friends about the day's events. They would gradually walk to the state bridge, stop at a water stall, and drink a bowl of cool bayberry juice to quench their thirst and cool off in the summer heat.
"Is something good happening to you today, young lady?" Shen Qing asked with a smile.
Lu Qiong was packing pastries, just missing a bowl of boiled water, and said with a smile, "It's not exactly good news, it's just that we won't be able to set up our stall tomorrow."
Shen Qing frowned: "Why is that? How can not setting up a stall be a good thing?"
Lu Qiong explained, "I rented a shop opposite Chen's Fish Shop. I need to go and manage the shop tomorrow, and it will be open for business in a few days."
“This is indeed a good thing.” Shen Qing finally relaxed his brow and congratulated her.
Lu Qiong didn't stand on ceremony with him. In the past half month, Shen Qing had frequented her business quite often. As expected of a Song person, he really had a sweet tooth.
She also took the opportunity to promote the new shop to her customers, saying that if they referred a customer that day, they would receive an extra pastry, limited to the first twenty people.
The young man in the long robe stood in front of the cart, somewhat disbelieving: "Is what you're saying true, young lady?"
Lu Qiong smiled and said, "Just bring your people then."
Even customers from other shops found it strange, as they had never heard of bringing someone along and getting free pastries. Whether they believed it or not, the name had spread, and there would definitely be a lot of people coming to watch the spectacle.
The Xie family also sent someone to pick up pastries tonight, and they even asked for extra yam and jujube paste cakes, saying that their matriarch loved sweets. Lu Qiong helped pack them into a food box before explaining the shop matter to the young woman. Fortunately, she was understanding and said she could just pick them up at the shop herself, saving herself the journey.
Lu Qiong was about to pack up her stall when the old woman selling fruit next door couldn't hold back any longer and advised, "Young lady, how can you give away pastries for free? You'll lose money."
Lu Qiong covered each food box and placed them under the cart. Knowing that she meant well, she smiled and said, "Auntie, I know what I'm doing. I definitely won't lose money. When there are more customers, I won't be afraid of not making money. If you don't believe me, you can come and see for yourself."
Seeing that she was stubborn and unrepentant, the old woman didn't waste any more words, but she thought to herself that she would regret it sooner or later.
The next day, before dawn, Lu Qiong got up. Lu Xuan, unusually, didn't stay in bed either, and excitedly squatted on the ground making dog food, while Xue'er wandered around in the yard.
Because she was busy moving things to the shop today, she quickly ate some meat porridge for breakfast. Lu Qiong had even put up a sign yesterday, asking someone to write "Lu's Food Shop," but it wouldn't be delivered until the afternoon at the earliest.
Before they even reached the shop, they could see a slender figure standing in front of the door from afar. It was Sister Yang. Seeing them pushing the cart, she quickly unloaded the things: a large bag of flour, half a bamboo basket of yams, and ten bowls.
The stove was against the wall, next to a stone platform where grain could be temporarily stored. There was also a small room behind the shop, which Lu Qiong planned to clear out and have someone build a wooden cabinet to store various grains.
The back alley is close to the river, so you don't have to go far to fetch water and can wash your dishes there.
Lu Qiong brought pen and ink and wrote down the things the shop was missing: steamer, bowl, chopsticks, table, earthenware jar for storing seasonings, firewood, soap pods, loofah sponge... All of these cost five hundred coins. She had already spent two hundred coins to have someone make the wood. Opening a shop was really not easy. If it weren't for her experience in her previous life, she wouldn't have dared to spend so much money on this.
They wanted to move the table further, so Lu Qiong and Yang Jie'er worked together to lift it. They were surprised to find that despite her slender arms and legs, Yang Jie'er was incredibly strong. Lu Qiong barely exerted any effort, while Yang Jie'er wasn't even out of breath. They had really struck gold!
Lu Qiong didn't dare to rest either. She cleared her throat and said, "Sister Yang, sweep the floor and wipe the table here. If you find any broken items, write them down and we'll talk about them when we get back."
After saying that, she took the "list" she had written down and went out. Lu Xuan didn't say goodbye to Sister Yang for long and followed after her with small steps.
A few steps later, they came to a general store, the same one Lu Qiong had visited when she first arrived in Bianjing. She had told the shopkeeper what she wanted, and the shopkeeper's assistant found it all and even delivered it to the store. Afterward, she bought a lot of ingredients elsewhere, including various boiled medicinal herbs and common pastry fillings, and before she knew it, she had spent another three hundred coins.
The money Lu Qiong earned in Bianjing these past few days was gone in less than two days, leaving only enough for next month's rent. For Lu Qiong, it was like starting all over again, but she was also full of expectations for the future.
When she returned, the carpenter had already sent someone to deliver the signboard and was waiting for her. Lu Qiong stood outside the door, looking up and directing the two apprentices to hang the signboard, right in the center of the door.
Seeing the signboard up, Lu Qiong smiled. "Lu's Food Shop" will soon be officially open!
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