Chapter 69: Roasted chestnuts, spicy cabbage stir-fried noodles, spicy cabbage and tofu soup...
Shen Miao turned the purse over and over in disbelief, even lifting it up and turning it upside down, and there was really only one silver coin inside.
No, in the drama, when the emperor bestows rewards, he always carries a plate of gold and silver ingots, which are counted in units of hundreds, thousands, or even millions.
Why doesn't it work for her?
After the swaying carriage finally brought her back to Shen's Soup and Cake Shop, Shen Miao had already accepted it: the wealthiest dynasty produced the stingiest emperor—energy is conserved. Besides, that was the amount she had agreed upon with them beforehand; the tip was an extra favor. Thinking about it that way, it didn't seem wrong.
It was already late when they got back. Atao was closing the door and yawning as she told Shen Miao what the shop had sold after they left and what vegetables they needed to stock up on for tomorrow. Then everyone washed up, turned off the lights, and went to bed.
Even the energetic Shen Miao felt exhausted. She fell asleep without even dreaming and slept soundly through the night.
The next day, Shenmiao and Atao rushed to get Jige'er's cotton-padded jacket, cotton undershirt and trousers, and thick cotton quilt. They also bundled up a large cart with spicy cabbage, instant soup noodles, roast duck, and other items. Tang Er pushed the cart to take Jige'er to school.
Atao continued picking duck feathers. A new jujube clay stove arrived, and Fuxing carefully wiped the kiln ash inside and outside the stove several times with a newly bought towel. He then turned on the fire to preheat it, rolled up his sleeves, and prepared to bake two batches at once.
Xiangjie wore a rabbit hat with cotton ear flaps that Atao had sewn for her, a scarlet floral cotton jacket that Atao had made for her, and a pleated lantern cotton trousers skirt with delicate petal pleats at the hem. She also wore a pair of new shoes with thick soles, cotton lining, and two round balls of yarn sewn onto the uppers, which swayed as she walked. Xiangjie was so happy that she couldn't wait to go into the alley to crave Liu Douhua's douhua.
Sure enough, a moment later, Liu Douhua's crying could be heard from the other side of the wall. Xiang Jie hurriedly slipped back with a grin, went back into the house and changed out of her clothes from head to toe, putting on her old cotton coat again. A Tao, who was tidying up the duck feathers, caught sight of it and asked in surprise, "Why aren't you wearing it?"
Xiangjie said shyly, "I want to save it for the New Year." She was afraid of getting it dirty or torn.
Atao laughed and said, "Don't keep it. You grow so fast. After the New Year, you'll definitely have to take it apart and make a new one. I'll make you an even more festive lion dance hat then."
Shen Miao hadn't expected A Tao to be so skillful. She lowered her head, gathered the duck feather stalks she had picked out, and smiled as she recounted the days she spent helping courtesans alter their clothes day and night in the entertainment district of Daming Prefecture.
“I started doing needlework late into the night when I was little. The madam was very shrewd; how could she raise me for nothing?”
Shen Miao truly felt sorry for her.
Fortunately, she has let go of her resentment now. She has no other thoughts in her mind and only wants to save enough money to redeem her mother so that she can live a comfortable life.
Xiangjie was also persuaded by Atao. After thinking about it, she happily went back to put on her new clothes. After changing, she dared not climb trees anymore and obediently sat on the platform, helping Atao stuff cotton. She stuffed a handful of cotton in her hands and would tug at the hem of her clothes from time to time, afraid that it would get wrinkled or dirty.
Since her family became better off, Shen Miao has been buying clothes for Ji Ge'er and Xiang Jie'er from tailor shops and rarely touches needle and thread anymore, let alone something as complicated as embroidery and tailoring.
I had overlooked the fact that Sister Xiang also cares about her appearance, which is why she cherishes this outfit and shoes so much.
Xiangjie was still enjoying the treat when Zhuifeng, after finishing its hot meal, suddenly came over and licked the fur ball on her shoe, which infuriated her. She grabbed Zhuifeng, tied it to a pillar, and then vigorously combed its loose fur all over the ground, making it shake its head and howl.
Chen Chuan's new cotton coat was made by A Tao. It had a plain blue cotton base, with several carp sewn on the cuffs and collar, and the hem was embroidered with a circle of water ripples in colorful thread. The hat and shoes each had two colorful fish fins on the left and right. Whether it was because he was fair-skinned or because blue made him look fairer, the outfit made his big eyes look even brighter, his lips red and his teeth white. His usually expressionless and silent face suddenly became three times more adorable than usual.
Seeing him in his new clothes, Shen Miao couldn't resist reaching out and pinching his soft, chubby cheeks. She hadn't noticed anything unusual about him since they saw each other every day, but now she suddenly realized that the skinny, bony child from before was no longer unsteady on his feet and had developed two plump, chubby cheeks.
He has grown taller and is no longer the weak, miserable, and almost dead man he once was.
Aunt Gu happened to come over to borrow the Qilin to catch mice. When she saw Chen Chuan and Xiang Jie wearing new clothes, she couldn't help but pull them over to look at them.
She looked at the front and then made them turn around to look at the back. After turning them around several times to look at both sides, she exclaimed with satisfaction that the two children were so good. Dressed in their new clothes, they looked just like children in New Year's paintings.
She then praised Shen Miao for raising her children well, saying that each of them was plump and healthy. Even Xie's little pageboy had gotten quite fat from her frequent visits.
After praising the children, Aunt Gu thought about it again and realized that it wasn't just the children; even the Shen family's dogs and chickens were chubby.
Shen Miao smiled too. Indeed, raising them was exceptionally fulfilling.
Qilin hid under the platform all night, but this morning it was lured out by a bowl of homemade chicken wet cat food from Shen Miao. It ate happily in Shen Miao's arms, forgetting all its shyness.
Shen Miao brushed its fur, wiped its eye boogers and nose, and patted its butt for fifteen minutes. It then became a cat clip and became Shen Miao's best friend in the world.
It tucked its two front paws into Shen Miao's arms and refused to leave.
Afterwards, Shen Miao went out to water the wildflowers at the courtyard gate. Qilin refused to come down and instead climbed onto Shen Miao's shoulder, its heavy cat butt almost causing her to have uneven shoulders.
With such a large car on its body, it was spotted by Aunt Gu who was passing by.
So he excitedly borrowed a cat from Shenmiao, saying that the rice bags had been chewed through by that damned rat, and today had to be the death anniversary of that dead rat.
Qilin first gave Aunt Gu a couple of perfunctory hisses, and then Shen Miao had Aunt Gu feed it a piece of chicken. It then shamelessly let Aunt Gu take it away, scratching its chin and purring.
This little scoundrel cat will follow whoever feeds it! But Shen Miao still told Aunt Gu in advance: "Aunt, look at the size of this cat, I don't know if it can outrun a mouse. You can give it a try, and if it doesn't work, you should buy rat poison."
Aunt Gu didn't believe there was a cat in the world that couldn't catch mice, and praised Qilin: "It's not fat, it just has thick fur. Look at its big face and big eyes, and its long, curled whiskers. It looks so majestic. It's obviously a good cat that can run fast and catch mice, isn't it?"
Whether the Qilin could understand or not, it puffed up its chest and even raised its plump tail.
With a combination of coaxing and deception, Aunt Gu took Qilin to the kitchen to patrol.
Shen Miao thought to herself, whose cat's tail is almost as fat as a sea cucumber, and this is just because its fur is thick? Qilin felt solid to the touch. When she tried to lure it with chicken this morning, it got excited and tried to jump out, but its belly was too fat and it got stuck!
In the end, it was pulled out by Shen Miao like pulling up a radish.
Shen Miao felt even happier thinking about these small joys in life, and forgot about the stingy official.
When there were no guests, she would go back to the courtyard to slack off—while slacking off, she would also wash all the summer clothes that were no longer needed for the season. This made Youyu nervously watch from the water vat, but in the end, she couldn't resist and picked up a carrying pole to fetch water.
Shen Miao didn't even have time to stop it.
Meanwhile, Xiangjie, still excited about the new clothes, hadn't even settled down for half an hour before she started thinking about playing "jump rope"—which is the "flower rope" of later generations. At this time, the game involved tying ropes to bamboo poles and having multiple people jump around. However, Chenmiao had been washing and drying clothes and had requisitioned all the bamboo poles in the house, big and small, as clotheslines, so there were no spare bamboo poles left.
So Xiang Jie tied the rope to the two dogs and called on Chen Chuan to jump with her, but he shook his head and refused.
Chen Chuan diligently studied and practiced writing every day without fail. Now, taking advantage of the shop's quiet time, he leaned against a pillar and took out his well-worn copy of the *Song Dynasty Criminal Code* to memorize.
Xiang Jie wrinkled her nose at Chen Chuan and went back to playing by herself.
The two dogs in the house knew that Sister Xiang was not someone to be trifled with. If they didn't want her to braid their hair or put rouge on them, they had to listen to her and sit obediently.
Xiangjie rushed in first, hopping on one foot then on both, the long ears on her rabbit hat swaying up and down with her movements. Later, Liu Douhua saw her and came in to play too. The two girls picked and laughed as they played, shouting, "Taiping drum, boom boom, trip over it and move on to the next one..."
Shen Miao sat on the platform on the front porch, peeling chestnuts while watching them play with a smile.
A few kids went to the mountain to pick autumn fruits and brought back a bunch of chestnuts. Today, we'll use them to make roasted chestnuts.
How can autumn and winter be complete without sweet and fragrant roasted chestnuts! Put on gloves, first find the crack in the shell, pry it open with scissors, and after the spiky shell cracks open, wash it clean and then use a knife to make shallow cross-shaped cuts on the brown skin, then you can roast it with hot sand.
However, cleaning up chestnuts wasn't quick, especially when guests came in; Shen Miao had to go out and roll out the dough every now and then.
It wasn't until the afternoon that all the chestnuts were peeled.
Tang Er also returned from the outer city. Knowing that Shen Miao was going to gather chestnuts today, he even made a special detour to He Daizhao's house to ask for a bag of sand. As a result, when he pushed the cart in through the back gate, he saw the yard full of washed clothes, fluttering and falling in the autumn wind. The three children were playing "eagle catching chicks" among the clothes. Chen Chuan was the mother hen, Xiang Jie'er was holding his hand, and Liu Douhua was holding Xiang Jie'er's hand. The three of them were strung together.
As for the "eagle," it was Thunder, wagging its tail excitedly. Wind Chaser was finally free; since Sister Xiang no longer played the rope skipping game, it took off running out of the house.
The yard was filled with the cool, slightly bitter scent of soapberry and the sounds of laughter, which made Tang Er laugh too. He hurriedly carried the sand into the kitchen, excitedly crawled to the very back, grabbed Liu Douhua's clothes, bent over to be the giant chicken, and chuckled along with the children.
The customers eating soup dumplings in front heard this and said to Shen Miao with a smile, "The children in Madam Shen's family are so happy."
"Absolutely," Shen Miao said with a smile, wiping her hands on her apron. "They're quite noisy, but it's good for kids to be a little mischievous."
"Yes, that way the child will grow strong and healthy."
As they were talking, a few more students came in from outside, discussing yesterday's exam questions. They looked up at the menu that Chen Miao had posted on the wall, and one of them suddenly exclaimed "Eh!"
He noticed that two new dishes had been written on the back, the ink of which was not yet completely dry: "Spicy Stir-fried Noodles with Chinese Cabbage" and "Spicy Tofu Soup with Chinese Cabbage". Originally, they came to eat roasted duck, so they immediately sat down and ordered these two new dishes.
These two students were both from the Imperial Academy; one was surnamed Sheng, and the other Gao. They often secretly came to Shen's restaurant for private lessons and were very familiar with Shen Miao's culinary skills.
Gao He rubbed his hands together, eagerly waiting. He had eaten roasted duck a few times before, but he had never tried spicy white cabbage stir-fried noodles before!
Most of the pickled cabbage in Bianjing (Kaifeng) is sour; I've never tasted what spicy cabbage tastes like.
The two chatted as they waited.
As Shen Miao turned to go into the kitchen, the two students behind her started talking about the imperial examination again. They said that several students who had fainted in their exam rooms the day before and had to be carried out all said that this year's exam questions were extremely difficult. They were so nervous that their hands and feet were cold and they felt dizzy because they didn't know where to start or how to solve the questions.
Some people even gave up on the exam because they submitted a blank paper on the first day and had no chance of passing the next two days.
"I heard that Dr. Yao set this year's exam questions. Didn't you see that Dr. Yao disappeared last month? I suppose he was taken away to set the questions."
“It turns out to be Dr. Yao, then it’s not surprising. Last year, the exam questions he set at the Imperial Academy were so bad that almost half of our students were judged as ‘utter nonsense’ or ‘completely off-topic.’ Most of us only got the ‘E’ grade, and I almost got a good beating from my dad when I got home,” Gao He sighed.
"The students who took the college entrance exam this year were really unlucky. They actually encountered the fearsome Dr. Yao. Even though I have already taken the college entrance exam, I still tremble when I hear his name."
So it turns out that the serious-looking, square-faced doctor who often came to eat soup noodles was actually the nightmare of every student at the Imperial College?
These words made Chen Miao pause, and she couldn't help but think of Ninth Brother, feeling a little worried. She wondered if Ninth Brother was doing well on his exams.
With a little worry for Ninth Brother, Shen Miao was diligently chopping spicy cabbage, crushing garlic, and chopping scallions in the kitchen. She also sliced pork belly into thin slices. At the same time, she started boiling water in a pot, put in two handfuls of hand-pulled noodles, cooked them until they were about 70-80% done, then took them out, rinsed them with cold water, drained them, and put them in a bowl.
Heat a spoonful of lard in a wok. Once hot, add the sliced pork belly and stir-fry until it shrinks, releases its oil, and turns slightly golden. Then add the chopped kimchi. Stir-fry the kimchi over high heat until fragrant and the oil turns red. Add the noodles and stir-fry together. Continue stir-frying over high heat until each noodle is coated with the kimchi sauce. Finally, add scallions and stir-fry until just cooked. Sprinkle with salt and it's ready to serve.
The spicy kimchi stir-fried noodles tasted especially delicious to me. When making them, the noodles must be rinsed in cold water first. This makes the noodles extra chewy and elastic, coated with the unique sour, spicy, and crisp flavor of kimchi, and also carrying the smoky aroma from being stir-fried over a high flame.
This fried noodle dish is especially warming on a cold day. Taking a bite gives you a feeling of warmth and a mouthful of fire.
It would be even better with kimchi and tofu soup!
Kimchi tofu soup is even simpler and quicker to make. The ingredients are almost the same as those for stir-fried noodles, so Chen Miao prepared them at the same time and cooked them together.
Cut the pork belly into chunks, put it in a pot of cold water, and skim off the foam after the water boils. Mince the ginger and garlic, cut the scallions into sections, and cut the kimchi into sections, squeezing out the juice and setting it aside in a separate bowl. Take half a block of firm tofu and one block of soft tofu. Cut the firm tofu into small cubes, and crumble the soft tofu.
The soft tofu should be crumbled like this before being added in; it will then blend into the rich broth. The pieces will vary in size and taste especially delicious.
Next, pour oil into the pot, and when the oil is hot, sauté the scallions, ginger, and garlic until fragrant. Then, stir-fry the pork belly first, followed by the kimchi pieces and the juice squeezed out of the kimchi, and stir-fry with the pork belly until fragrant.
Add a ladle of the water used to scald the flour, bring it to a boil over high heat, then adjust the bellows and remove firewood. Simmer over low heat for a little over 15 minutes before adding the firm tofu cubes. After adding the tofu, season with salt, sugar, soybean paste, etc. This will make the tofu very flavorful.
Continue cooking for another half a minute, then add the finely crushed soft tofu. Once the broth has thickened, sprinkle with shredded scallions and serve.
After serving the noodles and soup, Shen Miao smiled and told the two students to enjoy their meal.
Gao He picked up his chopsticks as soon as he smelled the aroma. When Shen Miao placed the soup and noodles on the table, his eyes were almost always on her movements, watching her intently as she put them down.
The two of them almost immediately picked up their chopsticks, scooped up soup and noodles, blew on them, and then buried their heads in their food, slurping out indistinct exclamations of "Mmm!" and "Ugh!"
Shen Miao carried the tray back, glancing out the window as she walked. The old osmanthus tree in the yard, whose branches had been sprawling and unruly, had been pruned by Ninth Brother and now had a round crown, like a big lollipop with a green apple flavor.
Yanshu didn't come today either. I hope everything goes smoothly for Ninth Brother.
Xie Qi, who was being nagged by Shen Miao, looked up for the fifth time at the roof of his examination shed, where a green tarpaulin was stretched horizontally and vertically by several bamboo poles—it was the bamboo poles of this shed that broke last year.
Fortunately, as soon as he heard the creaking sound from above, he knew something was wrong. His body reacted faster than his mind. By the time he used his rich experience to prop up the table and leap out, the shed behind him collapsed into ruins.
He was lucky he wasn't buried inside.
Now it's already the second day of the scientific expedition, and the shed is still sturdy.
After reading it, he picked up his pen again and continued writing. After writing half a page, he began to examine the purple bamboo brush in his hand.
Thankfully, the pen didn't break.
At this moment, several soldiers carrying braziers and hot charcoal came into the narrow passage outside the examination hall. Xie Qi silently pulled his exam paper off the table and watched them distribute the braziers to each examinee until they reached him, who looked like he was facing a formidable enemy. They then successfully used fire tongs to bring one in and placed it steadily at his feet.
Xie Qi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
He continued writing with a sense of relief, and after about half an hour, he finally finished solving the problem. He then put the draft aside, intending to have lunch before copying it.
Ever since Lady Shen invented instant soup noodles, students taking the imperial examinations no longer bring dry biscuits; the examination halls are now filled with the aroma of various kinds of instant soup noodles. Carried by the wind, the rich scent permeates everywhere, and the sounds of slurping soup noodles fill the air.
Xie Qi also made a bowl of soup. Unlike the others, his instant soup noodles were hand-pulled by Madam Shen, who mixed ground yam powder into wheat flour, and then fried them fresh.
This soup dumpling is unique to him. When soaked, it has the fragrance of yam, and the strips are thicker, more chewy and refreshing. It won't fall apart even after soaking for a long time, and you can eat more to your heart's content.
Madam Shen also added some of her freshly marinated spicy cabbage and pork slices to his earthenware bowl, making the soup base even richer and more delicious.
A bowl of this hot soup would immediately warm your hands and feet, and the cold wind that kept pouring into the cramped examination room through the blue tarpaulin seemed to be blocked by the warmth in your belly.
He held the earthenware bowl, looked up at the hazy sun outside, and felt the warmth of the soup dumplings emanating from his palm.
He wondered how things were at home. Had his father resigned from his official post? Had the family's fields and estates been cleared out? He was somewhat worried. The family must be in a lot of turmoil right now. He also thought of Yanshu. He wondered if Yanshu was still at Madam Shen's house these past few days, or if he had already gone home to help out.
Perhaps by the time he leaves the exam hall, his home will have changed drastically.
Xie Qi was lost in thought.
The autumn wind was bleak, and a few withered leaves rustled down onto the roof, casting tiny, fragmented shadows.
The fleeting shadows fell on his eyelids. Xie Qi looked up and felt that even the lingering shadows of leaves that leaked through the gaps had a touch of insignificant beauty.
This was the first time he had ever spent three days of the exam in such an ordinary way.
These fragmented autumn leaves inexplicably reminded him of the old osmanthus tree in Madam Shen's house, and the osmanthus cakes made from the blossoms of that tree. As he gazed at the withered leaves, he seemed to smell the rich fragrance of osmanthus, and a tranquil rustling sound arose in his heart.
He silently lit the oil lamp, laid out new paper, and prepared to copy the article. But the first character he wrote was "沉" (chén), so he had to laugh and take out a book knife to cut it off.
The cut-off paper was thrown into the brazier and quickly burned to ashes. Xie Qi picked up his pen again, and this time he copied it correctly, but he was still thinking:
Madam Shen is busy stockpiling grain for winter and managing the shop. We just hope she won't work too hard.
Madam Shen said she was going to the Liang family on Imperial Street to prepare a banquet. She wondered if it would go smoothly. But when did a large family named Liang appear on Imperial Street? Perhaps they were newly moved-in merchants.
Madam Shen also said that she would make him and Yanshu a clay pot rice noodle soup again after he came out of the examination hall.
What is Lady Shen doing at this moment?
Shen Miao is roasting chestnuts.
While I was cooking, my nose suddenly started to itch for some reason, so I quickly turned my body away, looked down, and sneezed.
Who's insulting me?
Shen Miao took out a handkerchief and wiped her nose, muttering to herself, and continued to vigorously stir the sand covering the chestnuts in the pan.
Roasting chestnuts requires patience. You need to heat the sand over low heat first before adding the chestnuts. After that, there are no special techniques; just keep turning them over and roasting.
The only difficulty lies in controlling the heat. If the heat is too high, the chestnuts will burn; if the heat is too low, you'll exhaust yourself and they won't be cooked through. You have to subtly maintain a medium-low heat so that the chestnuts in the sand can be heated evenly.
When the chestnuts are roasted until the cracks open like gaping mouths, revealing the amber-colored chestnut kernels and a sweet, glutinous aroma wafting from the sand, they are cooked. While still hot, use a sieve to remove the sand and put the chestnuts into a small bamboo basket. Blow away the sand from the top, and then you can peel them open and eat them directly.
The chestnuts that Xiangjie and her friends picked were all ripe and had fallen from the tree. They didn't need any extra syrup; a quick stir-fry filled the whole yard with their sweet and sticky aroma.
If you boil sugar water before stir-frying, although it's sweet, peeling chestnuts doesn't feel good; your hands always feel dirty and sticky.
If roasted properly, chestnuts are sweet even without sugar, and they are clean and easy to peel. Just squeeze them with both hands, and the crispy shell will crack open. Then peel them with your fingernails to get the whole chestnut kernel.
Then, pop the whole thing into your mouth. It's soft, chewy, and creamy, and your mouth is filled with the warm, powdery aroma of chestnuts.
It tastes sweet, but this sweetness has nothing to do with the maltose; it comes from the natural sweetness of the chestnut meat itself. Chestnuts are inherently high in calories and sugar. Their sweetness is enough to conquer the taste buds of chestnut lovers.
Shen Miao packed a bag for each adult and child in the yard so they could eat it as a snack.
However, you shouldn't eat too many chestnuts at once, as they can cause bloating. Having a few occasionally is just right to satisfy your craving.
By the time she finished cooking, the aroma of chestnuts had already wafted through the serving vent above the counter into the shop in front. The two students who were engrossed in eating fried noodles were so attracted by the aroma that they raised their heads and looked around. Shen Miao then grabbed a large handful of chestnuts for them and gave them some to eat.
The wild chestnuts were free, and the sand used to roast them was also free. Shen Miao even gave the roasted chestnuts to Aunt Gu, Aunt Li, and others, distributing them all over the alley.
When she returned, she was still carrying many gifts, her arms stuffed full by her neighbors: two bunches of scallions grown by Aunt Gu, salted duck eggs from Aunt Li, pickled vegetable hearts made by Grandma Zeng, and a bunch of wildflowers that were a rare treat for this time of year, given to her by Abao from the Gu family... Shen Miao smiled as she walked.
Keep the flowers in water and place them on the windowsill; steam the salted duck eggs, and later, eat them with the crisp and sweet pickled vegetable hearts and shredded chicken millet porridge.
"Madam Shen, settle the accounts!" came a shout from inside the shop.
Shen Miao nodded and hurried out.
The two students had already finished eating and were peeling chestnuts when they saw Shen Miao come in to clear the dishes. They kept praising how delicious the food was.
"Madam Chen, do you sell your pickled spicy cabbage? It's so delicious, crisp and crunchy, spicy and slightly sweet. I don't even know how to describe it. It's a perfect match for stir-frying this noodle dish, a match made in heaven! I didn't dare stop eating it." Gao He savored the taste of the dish.
The soup dumplings were stir-fried until golden and glistening with oil, and garnished with chopped spicy white cabbage and scallions. Just looking at them made one's mouth water.
"If you ask me, this spicy white cabbage and tofu soup is even better. It tastes salty, spicy and refreshing. The tofu is as tender as cream, and it soaks up the rich and spicy soup. It melts in your mouth as soon as you take a sip."
"And these roasted chestnuts smell so good! The roasted chestnuts you get outside are nothing like this. They're fragrant even without maltose!"
"The spicy cabbage can't be sold. I only made one jar, and the shop is short of it after I bought it. You can come and eat it next time," Shen Miao said with a smile. "As for the chestnuts, they are wild chestnuts that my younger brother and sister picked up from the mountain. They have been hidden in the ground for some time, and there was a frost recently, which made the chestnut sugar ferment, so they are naturally delicious."
The two students ate to their hearts' content and left, each with a handful of still-warm chestnuts in their pockets, before heading out together.
While Shenmiao and Atao were clearing away the dishes, they ran back and asked Shenmiao if they could rent two tables ten days from now, to put them together as a large table where six or seven people could sit.
They were all still young boys, their eyes sparkling as they spoke: "A classmate is going away to study, and we want to give him a farewell dinner. But this time we've all decided not to waste money at fancy taverns and restaurants. Instead, let's come to Madam Chen's place for some affordable and delicious food! We'll order a few plates of grilled fish and a few roast ducks, and enjoy a hearty drink around the stove. That would be much more fun."
"Of course it will work. I've got it. Just come over when the time comes, and I'll make sure to reserve a table for you." Shen Miao readily agreed and even asked about the number of people, reserving two large tables by the window for them.
They paid a deposit of ten coins, then rubbed their full bellies and sighed, "So full, so full," before leaving.
After that, she sold several more servings of spicy cabbage fried noodles, and some soldiers she hadn't seen in a long time flocked in to eat instant soup noodles. One of the soldiers she knew well finished his instant noodles and came up to settle accounts, whispering to her, "Madam Chen, close the shop early these next few days. I'm afraid things will get chaotic outside for a few days."
Shen Miao was taken aback by what she heard. On the other side, Jun shook his head slightly with a solemn face, turned around and strode away.
But she kept those words in mind and kept the doors and windows tightly shut from that night onwards. Sure enough, as the night deepened, she could still hear the noisy sounds of horses' hooves and wheels through the wall, and occasionally she could hear crying and shouting. This continued for about seven or eight days before it finally stopped.
These past few nights had been anything but peaceful, keeping Shen Miao on edge. During the day, she overheard many diners whispering about the raids on several prominent families in Bianjing.
But they didn't dare say much. After a few more words over a bit of wine, they shut up as if they were doing something wrong.
Even after leaving the examination hall, Ninth Brother disappeared without a trace. Shen Miao had not heard from him for several days and felt inexplicably uneasy.
Will the Xie family be alright? But once when she went to look for the manager of the grain shop, she also went around to Zhonggu West Street and took a look from afar. Although there were a few soldiers on the street, the place was still quiet. Even the tightly closed side gates were occasionally opened to transport chamber pots and water carts, and you could see that there were gatekeepers inside. It didn't look like a house raid at all.
Could it be that Ninth Brother has run into bad luck again? Shen Miao felt like ants were crawling all over her heart, but most of the time the Xie family's side gates were closed, and there were also garrison soldiers patrolling around chasing people away, so Shen Miao could hardly even get close.
It wasn't until Liang Qian, disguised as a commoner, came to buy roast duck with a smile that Shen Miao learned what had happened.
"What? You're giving me ten acres of land on the outskirts of the city, including that big pond?"
Liang Qian quickly corrected, "It's not a gift. The official said these are confiscated fields, all of the best quality. Because he appreciates Madam Shen's excellent skill in roasting duck, he is willing to sell them to Madam Shen at a discounted price so she can raise white ducks."
He paused, then emphasized again: "It's a discounted sale."
"..."
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