Chapter 6 Chapter 6 Song Zhiwen declined, thinking of a...
Song Zhiwen declined a few times, but thinking that he had a lot to say, he decided to stay. He didn't expect to find anything delicious to eat at the Song family.
You have to know that this family is a noble family from Beijing. They are very capable just to be able to make a living.
Cooking with fire sounds simple, but there are many tricks involved.
He didn't just sit there, but got up and busily tidied up the yard. Only an old farmer would know more about the old things in the countryside.
Following Gao Xiu's instructions, Song Mian heated the oil, sautéed the spices, and then put the blanched chicken in.
The fire in the earthen stove is very strong. When the hot oil comes into contact with the chicken, a strong steam bursts out with a sizzling sound. Then it is fried until both sides are golden brown, and the rich aroma of meat bursts out.
Outside the kitchen, Song Chi smelled the smell and came over without being called.
Add boiling water to the chicken and stew it. After a while, pour in the potatoes. At this time, the dough is almost done. The soft dough is kneaded into flower rolls and sticks crookedly to the edge of the pot.
"Well, I'm really awesome." Song Mian wiped the sweat off his forehead and praised himself first.
Song Chi stood in front of the stove, sniffing in ecstasy, staring intently at the pot, and said in a childish voice, "Sister is so amazing! She can kill chickens and fry meat!"
Song Fuxue patted his head and scolded him with a smile: "You little bastard, you are the only one who talks sweetly."
"Dad, what did Xiao Chi say wrong?" Song Mian coaxed his father with a smile: "Cooking is a skill I can master."
"Sister's chicken stew is so delicious."
"Sister is the most beautiful sister, the most beautiful!"
"Well said. I'll give Xiaochi an extra piece later."
"Sister, the headband on your head is so beautiful, it makes you look like a fairy."
Song Mian liked the atmosphere of the Song family, which was harmonious and relaxed. She lowered her eyes and smiled slightly, her expression becoming more calm and confident.
"Sister is so beautiful! Give me an extra piece too!"
"Okay, okay, give Zhuoge one more piece too."
Amidst laughter, the chicken was stewed. The shiny soup soaked the chicken and even the potato cubes were filled with the aroma of meat.
It smells so good.
"Sprinkle some chopped green onions, it will look more beautiful." Song Mian greeted with a smile.
"Let's eat, let's eat~"
Gao Xiu asked Wenlan to serve out a bowl and asked Song Zhuo to send it to the neighbor's house next door. The neighbor helped to reclaim the wasteland and plant vegetables. In the past, they had no money to eat, but now they were stewing meat, so they had to send a bowl over, as a way of repaying a favor.
Song Zhuo obediently took the bowl and went to his neighbor's house.
In the past, a bowl of fried chicken like this would be a reward for servants, but now, it is his best meal.
"Aunt Zhao, are you home?" Song Zhuo shouted across the fence.
Soon Aunt Zhao came out in response.
She looked at Song Zhuo. It was undeniable that Song Zhuo, wearing a moon-white robe, was tall and slender, with handsome features, and his movements were very elegant.
There was a big bowl full of steaming chicken stewed with potatoes, and two steamed buns as big as a baby's fist. The places that touched the bottom of the pot were browned and smelled delicious. I couldn't help swallowing my saliva just by looking at it.
Aunt Zhao's eyes widened and she quickly declined: "That's impossible. Your family isn't rich..."
"It's okay. My grandma said that distant relatives are not as good as close neighbors. It's not worth it if we all enjoy each other's company." Song Zhuo replied with a faint smile.
Aunt Zhao heard his nice words and knew what they meant, so she went back to the house, got a basin and poured it out, smiling and said, "Then I'll take it."
Just help me out more in the future.
Song Zhuo was intoxicated by the fragrance and couldn't wait to go home and eat meat.
A chicken weighs several kilograms, but there are many people in the Song family, so each person can only get half a bowl of meat, and most of it is potatoes and steamed buns.
Song Chi's mouth was full of oil as he ate, while Gao Xiu quickly took out the chicken wings from the basin and gave them to Song Mian. He smiled and said, "You made this in such a hot day, you eat first."
"Wow, it's delicious!" Song Chi's eyes lit up.
Song Fuxue felt sad. Look how greedy the child was. He was picky about food even when he was allowed to eat before.
After taking just one bite, he was stunned.
It smells so good.
I don’t know how the meat was stewed. It fell off the bones when you put it in your mouth and the meat was very fragrant. Even the potatoes were stewed until they were soft and tasty. After finishing one, you can’t help but eat another.
Song Fuxue had eaten the pie she made and thought it was delicious, but it was much inferior to the stewed chicken she made.
It’s even more delicious than the dishes at the Lu Ming Banquet when he was the top scholar!
A large pot of stewed chicken was quickly devoured.
The youngest, Song Chi, ate so much that his belly became so round that his belly button almost popped out.
Even the soup in the basin was wiped clean, leaving no trace.
Seeing that everyone was eating well, Song Mian smiled with satisfaction. In her previous life, she had longed to have three or five family members around her, eating meat, drinking wine, singing and chatting together in the evening breeze.
It’s a pity that orphans have no relatives.
Now she is very satisfied.
She had always thought that cooking and seeing others enjoying their meals would bring happiness, a scene from TV. But at this moment, the sight of her loved ones with greasy mouths and beaming smiles on their faces made her feel sentimental.
Several people held their bowls and drank the soup. Song Fuxue's face was full of satisfaction, and she smiled brightly: "It's so good, so fragrant, my daughter is so great."
Song Zhiwen originally wanted to have a good chat while eating, but he didn't expect the fried chicken to be so delicious. Everyone was busy eating the meat and had no time to chat. Now that they had finished eating, he was finally satisfied and sat with Song Fuxue under the shade of the tree to chat.
"Can such a smart person succeed in everything? If your family can have a top scholar, the taste of your cooking can also be top! The old man has never eaten such delicious meat." He is the head of the village. In these villages, he is also a respected person. Many people want to invite him to dinner. He has also eaten in big restaurants in Beijing, but he has never been so drunk with delicious food as today. He forgot to speak.
Xiang was confused.
"Uncle Song, you're too polite. This is my daughter's first time making fried chicken and she's not very skilled yet." Song Fuxue said modestly, but the pride between her eyebrows could not be concealed.
Song Zhiwen thought about it for a moment and said quickly, "I was worried about how you would eat in the future, but now that your daughter cooks so deliciously, I don't have to worry anymore. You can even sell pies on the street. With the taste of your cooking, the pies will definitely sell well."
Song Fuxue's originally uneasy heart was indeed calmed down after eating the pie.
"It's a pity for the girl." He sighed.
*
When Song Fuxue was born, Song Zhun returned to the Hanlin Academy to continue his work as an editor. He was unsuccessful at the time and even wandered outside the center of power, only learning the rules of his teacher, being different from others on the inside, trying to hide in plain sight, and acting according to the situation.
Those young heroes who became famous at a young age were buried in the cabinet political struggles.
There wasn't even a splash of water.
But now Song Fuxue is much more miserable than him.
Because the Song family's future was completely cut off by the emperor.
Back then, Song Zhun had the opportunity to seize the opportunity, but now Song Fuxue can only catch a glimpse of the parade of the top scholar in his dreams at midnight.
Normally, the happiest moment for him would be the delicious meal he just had.
When a person's spirit cannot be satisfied, carnal desires and appetite become the easiest things to satisfy.
"People say that people are free from confusion at the age of forty. I guess it's because people are confused at the age of thirty." Song Fuxue held a rag with his pale and slender fingers and wiped the greasy table carefully.
Song Mian was sitting and drinking tea. He nodded in agreement when he heard this: "I was fifteen and I wanted to study, but I'm fourteen now. It seems that my chance to study will be next year."
Song Zhuo:?
His handsome little face was full of confusion. Is this the answer to this question?
He suspected that he was reading a fake Analects.
After chatting for a while, Song Mian felt tired and went back to her room to rest. She felt very hot just lying on the bamboo mat and missed the air conditioner and watermelon.
Song Mian hoped that the hot summer would pass quickly, so that the spring and autumn would be longer and people would not suffer so much.
But—Aunt Zhao said there is a severe drought this year.
After traveling through time, Song Mian acted according to his memories and the words of others, and got to know Song Zhun a little bit. His original posthumous title was "Wenzheng".
Just these two words give you a glimpse of the importance of it.
A person with broad knowledge and morality is called "wen", and a person who is at peace and in the right position is called "zheng".
The fact that Song Zhun was given the posthumous title of Wenzheng by Emperor Shunde shows that he was not only talented and virtuous, but also dedicated to his duties at work and loyal to the emperor and loved the people.
But what was the ending of the Song family?
The emperor was short of money, so he found an excuse to arrest everyone in the Song Mansion and ransacked their property twice.
The emperor may be incompetent and the world may suffer from severe drought. These are inevitable things in the course of history.
But the foolish emperor is a man-made disaster, and the severe drought is a natural disaster. These two things can occur separately, but not together.
Song Mian carefully calculated the country's lifespan and found that it had lasted for more than two hundred years.
All gathered together in one place, it's really blinding.
She fell asleep in her wild thoughts, and when she woke up, the sun had already set.
She stretched and walked out of the room, and saw smoke rising from the kitchen. Through the low door, she could see Song Zhenge making a fire and Wenlan cooking.
"What did you do?" she asked with a smile.
Wenlan turned around with a spatula in hand and smiled at her, "Aunt Zhao just brought over a basket of vegetables. There are beans, water spinach, young pumpkin, tomatoes, eggplant... There are so many, I'll just stir-fry two more dishes."
Song Mian saw that he didn’t have to buy groceries for the next few days.
"Aunt Zhao is a kind-hearted person." She kept praising her.
Wenlan nodded.
She said a little shyly, "I used to think that poverty breeds evil, but now I know that no matter how rich or poor, you can develop any kind of personality."
Song Mian hummed in response and went to scoop water from the water tank to wash his face, but there was no water left.
She picked up the wooden bucket and went to the well to draw water.
As soon as I left the courtyard, I passed by Aunt Zhao's house and saw her sweeping the floor at the door. Seeing her carrying a bucket, I smiled and said, "I'll go with you and get to know the people in the village."
"Thank you, Grandma Zhao." Song Mian thanked her softly.
Songjia Village is very large, with about a hundred households and thousands of people. It is twenty miles away from the capital and eight miles away from the nearest town. It is backed by a mountain on the west and has a particularly good geographical location.
Most of the residents there have the surname Song, with the occasional person having a different surname.
Aunt Zhao took her along and met an elderly woman with her hands behind her back. She smiled and asked, "Sister Liu, have you eaten?"
She called her Mrs. Liu, and Song Mian followed suit and called her "Grandma Liu".
"Whose child is this?" Mrs. Liu squinted her eyes and came over to take a look.
"It's the Song family in Beijing. They've moved back." Aunt Zhao patted Song Mian's shoulder affectionately and said with a smile, "If you want to eat tofu, go to Sister Liu's house. Go east. There's a jujube tree in front of her house. It's almost time to eat it."
"Yeah." Song Mian looked in the direction she pointed, and could vaguely see the shadow of the jujube tree.
Mrs. Liu was very curious about her and followed her all the way to fetch water.
At this moment, every family is cooking, and the smoke is rising. Occasionally, when you pass by someone's house, you can smell the aroma of meat.
Along the way, she received a lot of attention.
"Will you feel uncomfortable? I heard that you were a rich lady before." Aunt Zhao sighed.
Song Mian smiled and shook his head.
"You eat what you eat. My last name is Song, and I'm from Song Village. It doesn't matter if you're a rich girl or a peasant girl."
She smiled and said that she was drawing water smoothly.
"You are a smart kid, so it's right to think this way." Aunt Zhao wanted to help her carry it, but Song Mian refused. She was very strong and couldn't trouble an elderly person.
She carried ten buckets back and forth, filling the water tank, and then stopped, wiping the sweat off her face.
With Aunt Zhao following her, she heard a lot of gossip and gained a basic understanding of Songjia Village.
She took a basin of water, went back to the house to wash and change clothes, and tidied herself up before coming to the yard to eat.
Stir-fried beans, stir-fried pumpkin, stir-fried tomatoes, and cold cucumber salad are all home-cooked dishes that Wenlan made with great difficulty under Gao Xiu's guidance.
"My aunt's cooking is delicious." Song Mian said that it might be because the pure natural ingredients themselves are flavorful enough, so simple cooking will also have the fragrance of the food.
Hearing the praise, Wenlan breathed a sigh of relief. She had experienced a lot in the past two months, from being the mistress of a wealthy family to being imprisoned, losing her husband, and being disfigured.
She couldn't describe the uneasiness in her heart, it was all buried in her heart.
Wenlan knew that it was not easy for everyone right now. The men in her family were Song Fuxue and Song Zhenge. How could they have an easier time? In prison, they had tortured the three brothers. The injuries they had on their bodies were truly horrific.
Needless to say, the remaining old lady and three children.
She should have been the one to support the family, but she scratched her face and looked horrible, unable to see anyone.
She felt guilty for letting Song Mian, a young man, run around like that.
Hatred, fear, grief over the loss of her husband, and confusion almost crushed her, but Song Mian was able to stand up straight and provide a solid foundation for them. Why did she still feel sorry for herself?
She pursed her lips and smiled at Song Mian in a gentle voice.
"I will learn how the common people survive." Wenlan touched the scar on her face with the back of her hand and smiled softly.
Song Mian held the bowl of porridge and nodded obediently.
"Auntie will definitely be able to do it!" she said with a smile.
Seeing that his family seemed much more cheerful, Song Fuxue heaved a sigh of relief. He smiled and said, "Today is the big market, and these pies are selling well. I'll go to the butcher later and ask him to reserve five pounds of plum blossom meat. Just let me know, five pounds for the small market and ten pounds for the big market. What do you think, Mianmian?"
Song Mian had no objection.
This was pretty much what she had planned.
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