Chapter 77 Pork Fry Rice: A bite of pork crackling with a bite of rice
On the day of the Laba Festival, firecrackers crackled and popped all over the streets, and the alleys were packed with people waiting to see the big ship.
There was nowhere to stand on the ground outside, and even the dark courtyard gate was blocked. She had intended to follow Aunt Li's example and peer over her own courtyard wall, where she could see clearly without being jostled. But when she looked up, she saw her wall covered in shards of broken porcelain. She never imagined that even the most thorough security measures could have their drawbacks.
Later, Tang Er carried Xiang Jie'er on his back, and Fu Xing carried Chen Chuan on his back, squeezing into the throng of people gathered like ants and bees. Just then, loud shouts echoed from afar, and the sound of firecrackers grew even louder. A dozen or so burly, shirtless men with streaks of chicken blood on their faces emerged, carrying the colorful plague-sending boat. Colorful flags fluttered on the boat, with gongs and cymbals leading the way and large drums bringing up the rear. The onlookers couldn't help but shout along with them.
Others ventured into other alleys to gather intelligence, excitedly weaving through the crowd: "Our alley's boat is still the biggest! We won! We won!"
Shen Miao didn't realize until the boat passed right in front of her that the shirtless, burly man carrying the bow was actually Gu Tusu. In the dead of winter, he wasn't wearing a shirt, his face was painted with several bright red streaks, his muscles were bulging, and he had Taoist talismans drawn in ink from his neck and collarbone to his arms. He wore a colorful ribbon around his waist, truly resembling a ferocious black tiger.
A young woman with a plump face and a few freckles on her cheeks was standing right next to Shen Miao. When she saw Gu Tusu, her eyes lit up and she couldn't help but jump up and down and shout. Her voice was so loud that Gu Tusu looked to the side, and she quickly covered her mouth and squatted down.
Shen Miao quickly pulled her up, worried she might get trampled in front of so many people. She recognized her; she was the little apprentice of Wen Shiqi Niang, the cat and dog doctor on Ma Xing Street. Shen Miao had forgotten her name, but she had seen her when she took Zhui Feng to see a doctor for "eating excrement disease." She had heard that her father was a drunkard who often sent her to the Gu family to buy wine, because only the Gu family was willing to let her father buy on credit. Now, they had a whole slab of marks on their books.
This young lady was very capable. Once, when Lei Ting vomited, she took him to Wen Shiyi Niang's cat and dog clinic for treatment. She saw hair in the vomit and prescribed a formula of "plantain and wheat germ" mixed with rapeseed oil. After Lei Ting took three doses, he recovered.
The brightly decorated boats were quickly carried out of the alley, and crowds crowded around the plague-sending boats of various sizes from different neighborhoods to the outskirts of the city. There were monks offering incense on the street, and the old, young, women and children all held a stick of incense in their hands. The boats were sent to the moat on the outskirts of the city, where they were put into the icy river. The shamans wearing masks sang and danced around the plague-sending boats, then burned incense to worship the gods, and finally burned all the boats to ashes, which was considered to have sent away the plague god.
Xiang Jie loved watching this; she clapped and danced along when the shaman performed the Nuo opera. Chen Chuan, on the other hand, stared at the raging fire with a deep sense of regret and concern for the country: "A large ship built for tens of thousands of strings of cash, burned down after only a short while. What a pity."
After returning home, I sent the mischievous children and the two dogs and cat to Liu Douhua's house to play. Then I officially started the New Year's cleaning. All the curtains, mattresses, curtains, tables, chairs, benches, doors, windows, floor tiles, beams and wood all had to be wiped and dusted. Even the hexagonal glass lamps hanging in the shop were taken down and wiped until they shone with a cloth.
Shen Miao decided to fill her somewhat flustered heart with non-stop busyness.
That day, the final layer of secrecy was broken, and Ninth Brother felt as if he had received a royal decree. Although it was still the dead of winter, he was beaming with joy, and even while away his days at the Shen family home, he seemed extremely confident. However, he had always liked to hang around Shen Miao, so no one noticed anything different. It was Shen Miao who suddenly felt a bit pathetic and embarrassed. She remained calm on the surface, but in her heart, she often wanted to avoid him.
However, he was returning to Chenzhou today. Shen Miao slammed the broom heavily on the ground, glancing at the back door of the Shen family for the fourth time. She wondered if he had gone back yet. She hadn't seen him join the festivities at the winter festival today.
Even Yan Shu, who has a sweet tooth, didn't come to freeload a meal.
Shen Miao swept the fallen leaves in the yard, getting closer and closer to the gate. Tang Ersheng was tall, so he took on all the high-altitude tasks today: sweeping the dust off the beams, pulling weeds from the tiles, and wiping the top of the door. He picked up a feather duster and swept from the inside out, now standing on a high bamboo stool, vigorously dusting off the dirt on the eaves.
"Wife, don't come any closer, it's too shady." Tang Er covered half of his face with a handkerchief and quickly stopped Shen Miao.
She could only glance briefly at the quiet alley, but there was no one in sight.
She swept the yard, collected the fallen leaves into a cloth bag, and prepared to rot them to fertilize the vegetable patches. She had just bent down and piled the leaves into the woodshed when she turned around...
As if by magic, a donkey suddenly appeared in the courtyard, along with Xie Qi riding it.
Shen Miao was startled for a moment, then amused.
I'd always seen him riding a horse or in a carriage; this was the first time I'd seen him riding a donkey. He was so tall that when he straddled the donkey's back, his heels dragged on the ground—it was quite comical.
But she quickly realized, "Ninth Brother is going back already?"
"Yes, the Little New Year is almost here, we have to set off." Xie Qi replied softly, tugging at the donkey's hair.
Shen Miao felt a slight pang of sadness, but still smiled and said, "It's good to go back early, lest you miss New Year's Eve. By the way, I've prepared some dry food for you and Yan Shu to eat on the road."
Before Xie Qi could reply, she quickly turned and went into the kitchen.
Xie Qi glanced at A Tao, who was leaning against the door and smiling meaningfully at him. His ears turned slightly red, but now that he considered himself a person with a title, he was not afraid of being seen. He calmly looked away, but his hands kept tugging at the donkey's hair.
The donkey brayed in dissatisfaction, its hooves pawing the ground.
Most donkeys have bad tempers, and Xie Qi's donkey is considered docile, but people still don't dare to provoke it.
Before the donkey could throw him off, he quickly let go, first gently rubbing the donkey's head, then skillfully taking out a carrot from the small cloth bag tied to the saddle and giving it a bite. The donkey chewed the carrot heartily and visibly calmed down.
Xie Qi breathed a sigh of relief.
He was counting on the donkey to take them back to Chenzhou, so he couldn't afford to offend it.
Xie Qi lowered his head to persuade the donkey to be a stable adult donkey. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Madam Chen come out with a huge cloth bundle. He looked up in shock and saw her easily lift the heavy-looking bundle in front of him. He silently rolled down and squatted down to take a look.
Shen Miao packed the food she had prepared over the past few days into her bundle and handed it to him: "This is your favorite yam soup noodles, I prepared twenty pieces, and the jar contains the sauce base. These jars are some pickled Laba garlic, which is also delicious with the soup noodles. This is dried meat, you can eat it as a snack when you're bored on the road. This is dried apple, this is amber walnuts, I roasted them with honey, and these are pork floss mini steamed buns, you can eat these when you don't feel like eating soup noodles..."
Even Ah Tao couldn't bear to look anymore. She silently moved closer, peeked out, and couldn't help but complain, "My lady, it takes two days to travel from Bianjing to Chenzhou, not twenty."
"A poor family travels with extravagance!" Shen Miao tied the bundle to the donkey's back with hemp rope.
Xie Qi finally smiled. He didn't say that it was too heavy or too much to carry, nor did he disappoint him by saying that he couldn't eat so much. He just silently stepped forward to help support the bundle and pull the rope. When he turned his head to look at Chen Miao, the tenderness in his eyes was almost overflowing: "You must have worked hard?"
Shen Miao didn't look at him or answer. She just carefully tied the hemp rope, tugged at it to make sure it was tight, and then whispered, "Walk slowly on the road. If it snows, stay at an inn. Don't travel in the snow."
"Okay." Xie Qi continued to look at her intently, his eyes brighter than the stars.
Suddenly, Atao felt like a giant lantern; she shouldn't be here, she should be under the donkey cart. She quickly turned around and went into the kitchen, shoving Fuxing, who was suddenly trying to come out, back inside.
Fuxing asked in surprise, "What? I need to use the outhouse."
Atao thoughtfully closed the kitchen door, saying, "Just bear with it for now."
"Nature demands three things; how can one bear it?"
"Oh dear, you really are something. Then go out from the shop in front and borrow a toilet from Aunt Li's house."
Poor Fuxing, legs tucked between his legs, was completely bewildered. Why did he need to borrow an outhouse from Aunt Li's house when he had one at home? But Atao was guarding the door and wouldn't let him out.
He finally gave in and rushed out of the shop to borrow a toilet at Li's Porcelain Repair Shop across the street, where he was given a disapproving look by Aunt Li, who was sitting at the door.
Fuxing reluctantly left the profits to the Li family.
Atao, however, couldn't wait any longer and pressed herself against the kitchen window, squinting one eye to peek at Madam Chen and Xie Jiuge in the courtyard through the crack in the window frame. Her hands were clasped together even more nervously than those of the couple themselves.
It didn't snow today, and the sky was clear. The bluestone slabs in the courtyard, moistened by frost and dew, reflected a soft halo of sunlight.
Lady Shen and Xie's Ninth Brother happened to be standing under the old osmanthus tree with its withered branches lying askew.
Through the branches, dappled sunlight filtered through the twigs and fell upon the two of them. She stared wide-eyed, unblinking, at this small corner of the world framed by the window lattice, which, in her eyes, was just right, containing only Madam Shen and Ninth Brother.
Under the winter sun, even the donkey looked adorable.
Madam Shen tilted her head slightly and said something to Xie's Ninth Brother. Atao pressed her ear to the window, as if she heard, "This can also be considered an early New Year's greeting to Ninth Brother..."
Then, she vaguely heard Xie's Ninth Brother say gently, "...I also have a New Year's gift for Madam Shen."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a string of copper coins strung together with colorful cord: "Since I can't celebrate the New Year with Madam Shen, I've prepared these New Year's money for you. I hope you have good fortune and happiness."
Then, taking advantage of the moment when Shen Miao looked down at the money, he slipped a warm, smooth jade hairpin out of his sleeve.
The hairpin is carved with flowing cloud patterns all over, and the jade is translucent and free of impurities. The carved clouds also have a bright sugar color. Sugar white jade is rare, especially since it is carved on cloud patterns, as if the rosy clouds are shining through the clouds. It is really beautiful.
Without giving her a chance to refuse, he raised his hand and firmly inserted the hairpin into Madam Shen's hair: "Waiting for the results to be announced is boring, and before the results are announced, the students don't have to go to the academy, so I carved this. It's not as good as a proper jade carver's work, so please don't mind it, Madam Shen."
As Shen Miao looked up in astonishment, he took two steps back, picked up the donkey, and smiled, his eyes crinkling:
"Ah Miao, Happy New Year."
When Fuxing returned from the shop, he saw Atao crouching by the window, covering her nose, her eyes brimming with tears of emotion. He asked, puzzled, "What's wrong with you? Did you get a leg cramp?"
Atao sobbed as she wiped her eyes with a handkerchief, saying, "You wouldn't understand."
Lady Shen and Ninth Brother were just like the talented scholars and beautiful women she read in storybooks. Whenever she saw the talented scholars and beautiful women in the storybooks finally become a couple, she would get so excited that she would roll around on the bed.
Today she finally saw the real thing, how could she not be overjoyed and cry tears of joy?
Shen Miao was unaware that she had been seen. She saw Ninth Brother out of the alley. Zhou Da had already hired two more cars, which were waiting by the roadside. Yan Shu and Qiu Hao were loading things into the cars so that Ninth Brother wouldn't have to suffer too much on the way.
After helping his donkey onto one of the carts, Shen Miao exchanged a few words with Xie Qiwai and then waved goodbye.
As the donkey cart drove away, Shen Miao raised her hand to touch the hairpin in her hair, a slight smile appearing on her face, but ultimately did not take it off.
When she got home, she laid out the New Year's money in her hand and rubbed it for a while.
The "New Year's money" given during the Song Dynasty was the precursor to the later "lucky money" given during the Lunar New Year. However, unlike later versions, this money was only given to younger children. According to Song Dynasty legends, "Sui" was a kind of evil spirit that liked to touch children's heads on New Year's Eve. Children touched by it would fall ill and develop a fever. The "Yang energy" of the New Year's money was believed to suppress "Sui," protecting children from harm and misfortune.
Shen Miao sat on the edge of the bed, holding the New Year's money for a long time. When she saw the red cloth strip tied to the copper coin, she realized that the four small characters "Peace and safety" were written on it. Only then did she belatedly understand what Ninth Brother meant: When I cannot be with you, I only wish you to take good care of yourself and be safe in all your actions.
A smile appeared in her eyes and on her brows. She sighed softly and carefully placed the string of colorful copper coins, which was obviously clumsily and roughly woven, under her pillow.
After Ninth Brother left, the Shen family became much quieter. The figure of Ninth Brother sitting quietly under the old osmanthus tree, petting the cat, drinking tea, and "waiting for the results" was no longer there. Because of the academy examination, the students who participated in the academy examination could wait for the results at home in advance, so Ninth Brother would come to the Shen family every day under the pretext of waiting for the results.
However, due to several heavy snowfalls and bad weather this year, the Kaifeng government has been busy with disaster relief and helping the people. The government has also repeatedly issued decrees to open granaries for the snow disaster. It is estimated that the results will not be announced until the seal is opened.
Without Ninth Brother, there was also no longer the sight of Yan Shu and Xiang Jie competing to eat huge baked buns. When Shen Miao looked out from the kitchen, she would sometimes feel uneasy.
Fortunately, Ji-ge'er will be on holiday soon! Biyong Academy is the last academy in Bianjing to give out holidays. It was already the Little New Year when they finally let the students who had not taken the academy exams go home.
Everyone was busy preparing for the New Year, and the shop was open but business was slow. Shen Miao remembered that the last customers in the shop were before Ninth Brother left, which happened to be the day the two of them fell in love.
Looking back now, so many things happened that day.
Those who came that day were all acquaintances—Eunuch Liang from the palace and Lady Cui, whom I could no longer recognize, no, now I should call her Lady Tang.
Liang, the eunuch, arrived first. He came incognito again, and after buying two roast ducks with his membership card, he brought Shen Miao some good news: the Emperor had also taken a liking to her instant soup dumplings and intended to buy her recipe. The court would build a soup dumpling workshop in each of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun to improve the military's food supplies.
The bad news is that the officials actually had the audacity to ask her for a discount.
"As expected of you." Shen Miao thought to herself, but remained calm on the surface. She frowned and put on a troubled expression: "So that Eunuch Liang may know that I did not know that this instant soup was so important. I signed an exclusive contract with that Lady Tang, and she has paid a high price to monopolize this recipe. If I break the contract, I will have to pay 30,000 strings of cash. I am just a commoner and really cannot afford to pay the compensation. I hope Your Majesty will be lenient."
From the very beginning, Shen Miao and Madam Xie had agreed not to expose the soup noodle workshop to the public, so this situation and explanation were also agreed upon in advance. Regardless of who wanted to "join" and open a "branch factory" later, all matters would be handled by the merchants in Youzhou.
The workshops in Youzhou would not sell their properties directly, but would instead participate in other workshops by holding shares. In this way, the workshops in Youzhou would serve as the headquarters, allowing them to continuously extend their branches and control other workshops.
Liang Qian hadn't expected that Madam Shen would be so "shortsighted" back then, so easily handing over the recipe. But later, thinking of Madam Shen's predicament when she first came to Bianjing, and hearing Shen Miao's bitter smile and explanation that she urgently needed a large sum of money to expand her shop, this instant soup noodle was her only opportunity and she had no other choice, he believed her.
“I’ve lived in Bianjing for a long time and I know that every inch of land there is precious. If it weren’t for Lady Tang’s fortuitous investment in the recipe, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to save enough money to buy the shop even if I sold soup dumplings and roasted ducks until I was eighty.” Shen Miao said frankly, “Don’t you think so, Eunuch Liang? I never imagined that I would one day gain the Emperor’s favor.”
"Then the Emperor has no choice but to find a way to do this business with that Lady Tang. It's truly a matter of timing and fate." Liang Qian sighed, then got up, bowed, and returned to the palace to report.
Shen Miao bowed deeply, and only stood up after Liang Qian got into the carriage.
She rubbed her hands together expectantly.
Although she had never met the Emperor, Shen Miao had, through her personal experiences and the rumors surrounding him over the past few days, formed a certain judgment about his character:
She had already slapped labels onto the forehead of the fat, dark-skinned emperor she had never met: stingy, dislikes aristocratic families, befriends the poor, and understands the plight of the common people.
He would patiently search for pigs for the people; when the Imperial Street was so congested that he couldn't even leave his house, he didn't issue an edict forbidding people from setting up stalls on the Imperial Street and outside Donghua Gate, but instead chose to establish a Street Office to manage the market; he never bought roast duck on credit, and of course, he never gave tips; even when he wanted to improve the food for the soldiers on the border, he would honestly come to Shen Miao to buy a son, although his stingy nature made him only think about discounts and saving money.
Therefore, we can conclude that he was a good emperor who did not compete with the people for profit.
Under these circumstances, the joint venture between the Youzhou soup noodle workshop and the imperial court was almost 80% certain. This was good; the emperor was their biggest backer, and even a lower profit margin was worthwhile. Given the emperor's temperament, the workshop might even benefit from the free shipping on the Grand Canal in the future. The rest depended on what percentage of the profits the emperor was willing to give to "Lady Tang" as a bargaining chip in exchange for the soup noodle recipe.
To Shen Miao's surprise, not long after Liang, the eunuch, left, Cui Niangzi, who was far away in Youzhou, also arrived.
At that time, she was making rice with lard in the kitchen.
That day, the chicken stew she wanted to eat was soaked in soup, and there wasn't time to make anything else. Looking at the steaming white rice in the wooden bucket, Shen Miao thought of the pork lard rice that her grandmother used to make for her and her cousins.
In my previous life, my grandfather was in charge of cooking almost all the time. My grandmother wasn't a very good cook, but she was exceptionally good at making a bowl of rice with lard. It was so delicious that it could make every child cry. It was so simple that it required no skill, but it was so good that everyone would lick the bowl clean.
If Grandpa wasn't home, Grandma would make this for her bunch of hungry grandchildren. It was simple and quick to make: a spoonful of lard, a pinch of pork cracklings, and a little soy sauce were added to the steaming rice. That was all it took to tame those mischievous monkeys who were always climbing on the roof into adorable human children. Each of them would eat several bowls with tears in their eyes.
Thinking of her chaotic childhood filled with the smell of grease, Shen Miao couldn't help but laugh.
She hadn't eaten it in a long time either.
Take a piece of top-quality pork fat, the kind that's white and greasy, like a thick layer of snow that's accumulated on the roof tiles overnight.
Cut the pork fat into small, uniform pieces. This will make it easier for the fat to render, and the resulting pork cracklings will be the perfect size, fragrant, and crispy.
Next comes rendering the fat. As soon as the pork fat slices are put into the pot, they crackle and pop incessantly, then quickly heat up and shrink, with the edges turning golden yellow.
At this point, you need to be patient and turn the heat down to low to slowly render the lard. The lard will gradually seep out, and the pork fat slices will roll around in the oil, getting smaller and smaller, and their color will become more and more golden and translucent.
Remember to stir it occasionally with a spatula to ensure even heating and avoid burning it. Fry until the oil is fragrant and the pork cracklings are noticeably crispy when you gently touch them with the spatula. Then remove them and drain the oil, leaving a pool of golden, clear oil in the pan.
The whole house smelled of lard.
After that, take out the rice, make a small hole in the middle, pour in hot lard, then add soy sauce, a pinch of salt, sugar, and sprinkle with pork cracklings and chopped green onions. And you're all done.
This is the basic version of lard rice. Later, some people would add shepherd's purse to make lard and shepherd's purse rice. To make it even more advanced, they would fry a half-cooked egg and add some ham and lettuce, turning it into a deluxe version of ham, lettuce and lard rice.
But compared to all the upgraded versions, Shen Miao still prefers the old-fashioned pure lard rice, which is lard, soy sauce and fried pork cracklings mixed together with oily rice, making a crunchy sound when you eat it and leaving your mouth full of oil.
The only thing Shen Miao could tolerate was the greasiness of rice mixed with lard.
After she quickly prepared the pork lard rice, the aroma of pork lard filled not only the Shen family courtyard but also the alleyways and shops.
Xiangjie and Chen Chuan and the other children had just returned from ice skating on the river. In the dead of winter, their foreheads were soaked with sweat. Liu Douhua and Li Gou'er, who had gone ice skating together, smelled the delicious aroma and refused to go home. They threw their sleds back home, one of them cut some tofu and the other brought some candy as "food money." They all longed to stay at the Shen family's house for a meal.
Yan Shu twitched her nose and tried her best to pull Xie Qi, whose face was still flushed, into the room.
Shen Miao then served the children their first bowl of rice mixed with lard.
Each grain of rice is coated with the color and aroma of lard and soy sauce. Stir it with a spoon, and the rice grains have turned from white to a dark yellow color, with each grain glistening with oil.
The children picked out the pork cracklings with their hands and ate them separately. A bite of cracklings with a bite of rice, and the moment they ate it, a feeling of happiness would go straight from the tip of their tongue to their heart.
For Xie Qi's bowl, Shen Miao, as if possessed, secretly added a tender poached egg at the bottom.
The children huddled together to eat, each grabbing a piece of fried pork fat from the other, and then they started chasing and playing wildly in the yard with their bowls in hand.
Shen Miao and Xie Qi sat at opposite ends of the corridor, eating. When he turned over the egg, his ears turned red again. Perhaps because they had just exchanged feelings, the two of them just buried their heads in their food, not knowing how to speak.
After finishing his meal, Shen Miao asked listlessly, "Was it good?"
Xie Qi nodded vigorously, his expression dry: "Delicious, so fragrant."
That day, the wind carried the warm and familiar aroma of animal fat through the Shen family home. The two of them, holding their bibimbap, looked utterly silly. But for some reason, this bibimbap, so imprinted with her childhood memories, seemed to transcend time as Xie Qi ate it, giving her a strange sense of satisfaction and making her feel exceptionally good.
It's as if little Shen Miao, who was holding a bowl and waiting by her grandmother's stove, now has a little Xie Qi by her side.
She clearly and vividly perceived that in Ninth Brother's eyes, she was never Sister Shen; the person he clearly saw was Shen Miao.
very nice.
Just then, A-Tao, who had finished her bibimbap and was guarding the shop in front, suddenly said that a young man named Tang, who had come from afar, wanted to see her.
Tang? What a coincidence! This surname made Shen Miao's spirits lift. She immediately put aside her girlish feelings and whispered to Xie Qi, "Ninth Brother, take your time eating. I'll be right back."
Xie Qi nodded gently, his dark, bright eyes seeming to say, "I'm waiting for you."
Shen Miao put down the bowl decisively and hurried out.
She lifted the curtain and saw Cui Niangzi dressed in men's clothing with a beard stuck to her face. She was dressed thickly, tanned, and covered in dust and sand. Her appearance made Chen Miao pause in surprise.
Shen Miao had only met Cui Niangzi once before at the Xie family a long time ago. What impressed her most was Cui Niangzi's lifeless and emaciated appearance. So, when she compared the two in her memory, she couldn't find a single match.
But Cui Wanniang had already performed a solemn hand-clasped salute to her, bowing deeply in the bitter cold wind.
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