Chapter 29 The Qixi Festival: Eating dumplings, red dates, and early marriage.
Since the opening of San Niang Tangbing Shop, Lu Ji has been hit hard. In addition to being relatively deserted, the sales of Tangbing (soup dumplings) are also poor.
Fortunately, Luk Kee still had income from pastries and drinks, especially as summer approached, the demand for cold rice balls only increased, which just offset the loss from soup noodles.
A few days before the Qixi Festival, Lu Qiong asked Du Zai to promote Lu Ji's Qixi activities. He also put up a wooden sign in front of the door that read "Qixi eats corners, Qixi fruits and Qixi pastries". He also asked someone to add some simple patterns, which was quite presentable and convenient for illiterate people.
On the day of the Qixi Festival, the weather was exceptionally fine. Lu Qiong got up early and set up the clothesline in the yard to dry all the clothes and bedding in the house to prevent insects from infesting them, since the rain had been long enough recently.
She also swept the ground in front of the hall clean and laid a thick layer of dry straw on it: "Xuan'er, go and bring the cushions from the main room and put them here to air out."
Lu Xuan ran up and down, already sweating profusely, but she was still very excited because she would see Sister Li today!
As soon as they arrived at the shop, they started kneading dough. Lu Qiong planned to make more Qiaoguo (a type of fried dough), so she used up a whole jar of sugar at the beginning, added egg liquid, kneaded it into a dough, and placed it on a wooden board.
Nowadays, there is no readily available yeast powder, so people will leave the dough for a few days in advance. Once it has fermented, it is called "old dough". When making pasta dishes next time, they can simply pinch off a piece and mix it into the new dough.
Lu Qiong had already prepared the starter dough. Now, she cut half of it into the new dough and kneaded it a few more times. The dough would then rise quickly.
However, Sister Yang was acting strangely today. She looked away several times when we made eye contact, and she always seemed to want to say something but then stopped.
She quickly lost interest in the matter, fearing that the dough would over-proof and the finished Qiaoguo would look bad, so she quickly tore off long strips, divided them into small portions, and pressed them onto the pre-prepared molds.
The key is not to fill the dough too full, otherwise it will become a steamed bun and will not have the shape of the mold.
The dough, which contains eggs and sugar, is pale yellow. It is then baked on a new stove until both sides are slightly browned. Once the Qiaoguo (a type of fried dough) is cooked, it is ready.
As soon as they came out of the pan, the aroma of the flatbread filled the air.
Even through the heat, the Qiaoguo (a type of fried dough) was still soft and bouncy in Lu Qiong's hand. She broke it in half, revealing the honeycomb-like holes inside.
It still had an eggy aroma, similar to the smell of an egg roll, but with a softer texture, like a small cake. She wanted to eat more after finishing one, so it must have been made.
After tasting it, Sister Yang couldn't help but praise, "Young lady, your skills are becoming more and more exquisite. You must be the reincarnation of the Weaver Girl."
Qiqiao, Qiqiao, is a festival where one prays to be as skillful as the Weaver Girl. Lu Qiong also likes this festival, but Sister Yang's praise is a bit exaggerated.
Whether she is the reincarnation of the Weaver Girl is still unknown, but Sister Yang's "Cowherd" has arrived.
However, Lu Qiong always thought of another "cowherd," but unfortunately, there was no kindred spirit in this foreign land.
Chen Feng, from the fish shop across the street, came over and asked Lu Qiong, "Manager Lu, what time do you close today? I heard there are lanterns on the Bian River tonight, and there's also a Xiangqiao Bridge to admire in the south of the city..."
It's almost as if they've listed every single activity in Bianjing City.
Lu Qiong took the pastry that Yang Jie'er had made, deliberately met Yang Jie'er's gaze, and pretended to be troubled: "Tonight is the busiest time. If we close the shop, we won't make any money. Let's forget about it."
Chen Feng couldn't ask people to stop doing business, so he lingered a little longer before reluctantly leaving.
Just as the Qiaosu and Qiaoguo were finished making, Xie's maid Taohong arrived and packed some Qiaoguo into a food box. She smiled slightly and asked, "Do you still have the Leng Yuanzi from last time?"
"Yes, is it also without ice this time?"
Tao Hong, carrying the food box, nodded: "Pack more dumplings; my wife has been craving them for a long time."
At first, Lu Qiong was puzzled. The Xie family owned Yunxianglou, so why would they come to her shop to buy cold dumplings? Later, she learned that Yunxianglou did not make dumplings like that, but it did have a lot of cold foods such as ice cream and crispy mountain.
However, these are cold foods, which are not good for the body. Usually, she would ask the cook to make them, but her wife just wanted to try something new, so she didn't want to ask anyone to make them specially. It would be more convenient to buy them outside.
After seeing Tao Hong off, Lu Qiong was busy running around the shop again. Customers flocked to Lu's Shop, and some even ordered fifty portions of Qiaoguo (a type of pastry) and twenty portions of Qiaosu (another type of pastry), which exhausted them.
There are many kinds of Qiaoguo (巧果), but Qiaosu (巧酥) is not enough. It is also laborious to make, and in the end, it has to be shaped into different shapes. However, it has a nice name - "Song Qiao" (送巧), which means to wish women to become more skillful.
It's more practical than promoting romantic love between men and women. After all, in the Song Dynasty, skillful women could easily find work, and having money in their hands was what gave them a sense of security.
Business was booming, so Lu Qiong had some soup noodles for lunch at the shop. Lu Xuan, on the other hand, was still thinking about the dishes from the Red Mansion, so she asked a waiter to run errands and buy some "golden stewed jade".
"Gold" refers to fried bamboo shoots, while "boiled jade" refers to bamboo shoots cooked in white porridge. It is quite uncommon for a dish to have two different ways of preparing bamboo shoots.
Bamboo shoots are a common ingredient, used in dishes like steamed goose with bamboo shoots, three-crisp soup, and even steamed buns. Bamboo has auspicious connotations, so the monks of Xiangguo Temple also favor bamboo shoots and have developed a fondness for them. Lu Qiong finds them quite refined.
After lunch, Lu Qiong felt a little tired and sat down by the wall to rest with her eyes closed. She regretted it in her heart, thinking that she should not have pushed herself so hard and should have gone back to rest and recharged before coming back.
Half-asleep, she heard voices in her ear. Opening her eyes, she saw Yu Niang standing next to Yang Jie'er, kneading dough. But what was Yu Niang doing here? And Li Jie'er was beside her.
"How did Yu Niang find this place?"
When she left Shangyuan Village, she only told Yu Niang that she was going to set up a stall at Longjin Bridge. At that time, Lu Ji was not yet established, and she later forgot to tell Yu Niang.
“We asked someone, and that person knew you, so they brought us here,” Yu Niang pressed an imprint onto the smooth dough. “But your shop is really big, and Bianjing has changed a lot. I almost couldn’t find my way.”
Yu Niang had not been back to Bianjing for many years. The city was now filled with shops, and changes were to be expected. However, she felt a little lonely.
Upon seeing familiar faces, Lu Qiong became more talkative and curious about when they would return.
"Li Jie insisted on coming. She's been looking forward to it for days. She couldn't sleep last night, and when she woke up late this morning, she complained that I didn't wake her. Fortunately, we booked an inn at the entrance to the city, and we'll go back tomorrow."
Yu Niang also mentioned that she had checked on Lu Qiong's house before coming; the roof was intact, only the vegetable garden in front of the yard was overgrown with weeds, but it didn't matter. Lu Qiong also took the opportunity to ask Yu Niang many questions about Shangyuan Village, mostly trivial matters like who got married, who built a house, and who made a lot of money.
But she still listened with great interest...
Li Jie'er and Lu Xuan had disappeared long ago, but fortunately Li Jie'er was not young and Lu Xuan knew the way, so it was not a cause for concern.
Seeing that the weather was getting hot, fewer customers were coming into the store, so Lu Qiong planned to make some dumplings in advance, otherwise she would be too busy when there were more customers.
I made about a hundred dumplings, with fillings of cabbage and pork, chives and pork, mutton, and chives and eggs. I also put coins in four or five of them and red dates in two or three.
Right after the dumplings were finished being made, customers started finding copper coins in their dumplings. Lu Qiong generously gave them their meals for free, since those who found coins were truly blessed!
Yu Niang had acquaintances in Bianjing, so she left as dusk approached, leaving only Lu Qiong and Sister Yang in the shop.
At night, the streets were decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and the Bianjing River was packed with people waiting to release lanterns. Many people also stood on the Xiangqiao Bridge next to it.
The number of diners gradually decreased, and Sister Yang was as worried as the Weaver Girl who could not see the Cowherd!
Lu Qiong also planned to close the shop early. After staying there all day, even Mu Tou was tired, so she told Sister Yang to leave early.
Sister Yang stared wide-eyed, and only after confirming did she smile, pull off the apron from her waist, and run to the "Magpie Bridge" to meet her lover.
There was one customer left in the shop. He had ordered a plum blossom soup dumpling and four servings of crispy pastries to take away, and was now savoring the soup dumpling. Lu Qiong couldn't wait any longer, so she took the opportunity of serving new tea to peek into his bowl. She estimated that the shop would close around 7 PM and couldn't help but feel excited.
Eager to finish work quickly, she went to the KTV to retrieve her ledger, ignoring the silver-gray purse, thinking that if she finished calculating the accounts early, she could go home sooner.
But just as the customers finished their soup dumplings, the restaurant welcomed new customers.
If it were anyone else, Lu Qiong could find an excuse to call them away, but this person was Xie Xun, who had helped her a lot recently.
Not only that, but he was also followed by two young ladies. They glanced at his face and shook their heads. His appearance was really troublesome and would easily attract unwanted attention.
Lu Qiong greeted him with a smile: "Young master, what would you like to eat? Would you like the usual soup noodles, or would you like to try the special Qixi Festival treats, such as Qiaoguo and Jiaozi?"
"Then I'll have a jiaozi (a type of small dumpling)." Xie Xun smiled back.
He always had a smile on his lips and I never saw him lose his composure, but she, busy in the kitchen, never had a moment of peace.
There were about ten dumplings left from the ones I made in the afternoon, so I put them all in the pot to boil. The dumplings tumbled and bubbled in the water, creating a cloud of steam. Lu Qiong stirred them a few times, then scooped them into a bowl, added a small spoonful of broth, sprinkled on some chopped green onions, and a bowl of dumplings was served.
"There are copper coins and red dates inside the jiaozi. If the young master finds one, he will be very lucky." After saying this, Lu Qiong gave him fresh tea.
Thank you.
Xie Xun had also heard of the custom of eating dumplings on the Qixi Festival, but that was something that unmarried women cared about more. He had never done it at home, which was rather strange to him.
The dumplings were steaming hot, but they cooled down quickly after being placed between the chopsticks. Xie Xun took a bite with one of the dumplings and found the taste somewhat strange.
Besides the aroma of meat, there was another flavor. Looking down, I saw red dates peeking out from the dumpling filling. I remembered what the young lady had said: this meant good luck was coming.
After Lu Qiong finished entertaining the other two young ladies, he also noticed something was wrong. He ran over to take a look and saw that there were red dates in the dumplings. What luck! There were still some red dates in the remaining ten dumplings.
Xie Xun, holding his chopsticks, looked up at her with a smile: "Young lady just said that eating red dates is a sign of good fortune, so what kind of good fortune do I have?"
The dumpling soup was freshly made, steaming hot, but through the mist, Lu Qiong couldn't see his whole face.
"This is a blessing of early marriage."
Perhaps the answer was too unexpected, Xie Xun was stunned for a moment, his hand loosened, and the dumpling he was holding with his chopsticks fell into the bowl, splashing a lot of water.
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