Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Mung bean porridge and locust flower cakes The locust flower cakes are crispy and fragrant...
Duan Zhiwei just wanted to avoid the limelight. Ye Na's shop was a little further away and around a corner. Duan Zhiwei ran too fast and bumped into someone at the corner.
"Sorry." Duan Zhiwei bent over with his hands clasped on his knees, breathing heavily from exhaustion.
A strange, low, flower-like fragrance wafted past, and Duan Zhiwei then looked up at the person who had come.
The person who came was wearing a half-exposed gown with gold gauze and a long skirt with a brocade pattern of red bird. In her hand she held a pipa with a precious image, and on her head she wore a wide white gauze hat with a veil.
Duan Zhiwei couldn't see her face, but he instinctively knew that she was a beauty.
The beauty turned to Duan Zhiwei, nodded slightly and spoke as if she was apologetic: "My lady, there seems to be a fresh aroma of gravy on your body." But her voice was unexpectedly hoarse and sharp.
Duan Zhiwei had just baked a batch of Hu pancakes and nodded when he heard this.
The woman's slender fingers were painted with bright red nails. She immediately clenched her pipa, the veins on her hands exposed as she asked, "Anything else?"
Duan Zhiwei had just been toasting for a while. When he saw the woman in gorgeous clothes, the words "Chanel, Hermes, rich..." started to come to his mind.
She said cheerfully, "Yes, sir, please come this way."
The woman raised her head, and a gust of wind happened to blow and lifted the veil of her hood.
Duan Zhiwei was just thinking about another business deal and couldn't help smiling. Suddenly, he saw clearly what was under her veil. There was nothing on her beautiful and slender neck.
Duan Zhiwei was so frightened that the smile on his face froze, and then he staggered and fell to the ground, then he came to his senses and ran back.
"Aunt, help me! There is a monster. It is a headless monster."
On the other side, Yuan Shenji was thinking about a plan to catch the monster in front of Hu Bing. When he heard the noise outside, he quickly went out with his sword. Duan Zhiwei happened to bump into him head-on.
Duan Zhiwei raised his head and grabbed his arm, saying in a crying voice: "There is a monster over there, and that monster has no head!"
Yuan Shenji's heart moved and he looked into the distance. The Feitou Barbarian was still standing there quietly. He immediately ran over, drew his sword, and slashed at the Feitouman. The Feitouman did not take the initiative to hurt him, but just flew up to avoid his sword, glanced towards the restaurant, then spread out his wide sleeves, and flew away like a ghost at the moment the evening drum struck.
Yuan Shenji had no choice but to put away his sword and return.
Duan Zhiwei sat on the ground at the entrance of the restaurant, gasping for breath. She ran so fast that the scarf around her head fell off, revealing her waterfall of black hair. Her eyes were dark and bright with infinite life and energy. She was bathed in the light of dusk, holding her aunt's hand tightly and refusing to let go.
Yuan Shenji was stunned for a moment, then reacted and bowed to her: "I am Yuan Shenji from the Yuan family of Runan, and I am here to investigate the Feitouman case."
Duan Zhiwei could only simply report his name.
Yuan Shenji narrowed his eyes and said, "Xiping Duan? Did the lady come from Liangzhou?"
Duan Zhiwei wiped his sweat and quickly changed the subject, "I've been to Liangzhou... Is that monster going to come out and eat people?"
Yuan Shenji told the story of the Feitouman who loved to eat Hu Bing in detail, and said that he would strengthen the patrols near Tongyifang. He clasped his hands together and said, "I hope Madam Duan will continue to run the shop. Maybe she can lure the monster back here."
Since a fourth-rank official had spoken, Duan Zhiwei could only agree, and then watched Yuan Shenji ride away on his maroon horse at dusk.
Duan Zhiwei was frightened the whole night. He only heard the footsteps of Wu Hou patrolling outside. Fortunately, the monster did not come to find him again, so he got up in the morning with dark circles under his eyes and made breakfast.
Business was also very good today, and the Hu pancakes were sold out. Aunt Duan saw that she was in low spirits and comforted her, "You'll get used to it. When I was young, I often encountered monsters."
At that time, Aunt Duan was still young and followed her husband by water, passing through Zhijiang County. When he came out of the cabin, he was surprised to find the surface of the river covered with gold.
Aunt Duan's eyes sparkled as she talked about it: "Oh, the dazzling gold piled up into a small mountain, with jewels of various colors inlaid in it, colliding with each other and making crisp and pleasant jingling sounds."
She wanted to pick it up immediately, but Aunt Duan’s husband, who was very experienced, grabbed her, wiped his face and suddenly started singing loudly.
Aunt Duan seemed to be nostalgic and sighed: "The singing was so bad."
In short, when he finished singing the song, all the gold in front of him disappeared, the moonlight sprinkled on the river, and only a beautiful woman in white clothes and with her hair loose stood in the river. Seeing that the two living people in front of her were not fooled, the beauty glared at them fiercely, turned around and jumped into the river.
Only then did Aunt Duan see clearly that the beauty had a long, thin fish tail like a cicada's wing. It turned out to be Jiang's minions, who lured people into the water, then dragged them to the bottom of the river and stuffed mud into their ears and mouths.
Aunt Duan patted Duan Zhiwei on the shoulder and consoled him: "There are so many monsters in this world, it's normal to encounter one or two. Don't take it to heart, okay."
Duan Zhiwei was just taking Hu pancakes out of the oven. He nodded after hearing what she said. It took her a long time to react. She said with a bitter face, "Aunt, is this what you mean by comforting me?"
This is ancient times, and monsters are the norm. Once he accepted this setting, Duan Zhiwei simply wanted to ask Master Xuanzang, did you really bring Sun Wukong with you on your journey to the West to obtain Buddhist scriptures? Can you lend me the Monkey King for a few days?
Despite this, business had to go on as usual. Duan Zhiwei had made a considerable income these days, so he planned to renovate the shabby hall a little bit so that customers would be willing to come in.
In order to make the biggest changes with the least amount of money, the first thing to do is hard decoration. Duan Zhiwei took a donkey cart to the West Market and bought a few bamboo mattresses, also known as carpets. He came back and spread them on the ground, smoothed the mottled walls with a little loess, and hung a green curtain made of thick bamboo on the door.
It didn't cost much to put in the hard and soft furnishings, but the whole hall has undergone a drastic change.
Duan Zhiwei strolled around the main hall, nodded, shook her head and said: "When I make money, I will replace this curtain with one with pearls and silver hooks, and ask someone to paint a picture of a horse on the wall." She stood with her hands behind her back in front of the small yellow wall of the restaurant, pointing at the mountains and rivers. She felt that she had the spirit of Li Bai who shouted "Don't you see the Yellow River comes from the sky" while drinking, and she couldn't help but look a little complacent.
Aunt Yelu, who came to visit, broke her fantasy while sitting and cracking melon seeds: "Your eldest aunt said so ten years ago." This caused a burst of laughter.
The momentum of "The Water of the Yellow River" disappeared in an instant, and Duan Zhiwei ran dejectedly to the shade of the locust tree outside the restaurant holding a pole and a piece of cloth.
This is an old locust tree. Every year when the season comes, the tree is covered with clusters of snow-white locust flowers. The fragrance spreads across the street and goes straight into people's noses.
The flowers are blooming so beautifully...it would be a shame for Duan Zhiwei's identity as a cook if she didn't make some locust flower honey.
When Yuan Shenji rode over on horseback, he saw Duan Zhiwei standing on tiptoe and hitting the locust flowers with a long pole. The flowers fell to the ground like snow. Duan Zhiwei also got a lot of it.
It was hot today, so she finally gave up her crow-colored double-breasted gown and changed into a thin green skirt. Because of her constant jumping, her fair skin was stained with some red, which made her look quite delicate.
"Captain Yuan is here." Duan Zhiwei stood up, wiped her hands with a cloth, and saluted. Her voice was enthusiastic but sounded insincere.
Perhaps because of the hot weather, Yuan Shenji only felt his cheeks slightly warm. He calmed himself down and asked, "Has that Feitou Man come again?"
"No, no." Duan Zhiwei quickly shook her head. According to her expectation, Yuan Shenji should have tightened the reins and turned around to leave in the next second, but he just stood there like a pillar, neither saying to leave nor not to leave...
Duan Zhiwei had no choice but to bite the bullet and said, "If the captain hasn't had lunch yet, would you like to come to the restaurant to have some?"
She was just being polite, but she didn't expect Yuan Shenji to be so rude. He just said, "Okay," and got off the horse.
Duan Zhiwei happened to be developing a new mung bean porridge to be prepared for the next morning, so he drank some of it and regarded it as lunch.
Yuan Shenji was not picky. He took off his sword and sat down in front of the shabby food table. Duan Zhiwei didn't want to just treat him to mung bean porridge.
The generals had big appetites, and Yuan Shenji was a genius who could eat four Hu bings by himself. Duan Zhiwei thought about making some locust flower bings.
First, wash the fragrant snow-white locust flowers with a spoon of salt, then beat two eggs into the locust flower batter. Duan Zhiwei looked up at Yuan Shenji's stature, hesitated for a moment, and beat in three more eggs. Add salt, sesame oil, pepper and a large amount of minced garlic and mix well.
Brush some oil in the pan, scoop two spoonfuls of batter and spread it evenly, fry until the surface is crispy and then serve. Duan Zhiwei took a bamboo winnowing basket and placed a large pile of fragrant locust flower cakes in front of Yuan Shenji, then found a large bowl and served him a large bowl of mung bean porridge.
Yuan Shenji had been in the army for a long time and had no time to pay attention to etiquette when eating. He just buried his head in the food. At this time, Duan Zhi came over with a smile and picked up the chopsticks carefully and restrainedly. Pick up a piece of pancake and chew it slowly, it makes a slight "crunch" sound. The pancake is fried till crispy and fragrant, and the rich aroma of locust flowers fills your mouth, fresh but not strong. Yuan Shenji only felt that he was under a locust tree with blooming locust flowers.
Take another sip of the mung bean porridge. It is dense and soft, but you can still taste the mung bean granules. It seems that some rock sugar is put in it. It is sweet and delicious, refreshing and can relieve the summer heat.
Yuan Shenji looked up and saw Duan Zhiwei leaning against the stove, fanning himself from time to time. He asked him with a smile, "How does it taste, Captain?"
Yuan Shenji felt that this lady was very attentive to him, and couldn't help but feel a little warm in his ears. He nodded and praised: "Very good."
Duan Zhiwei looked down at the mung bean porridge in the pot and thought, "Mung bean porridge, mung bean porridge, you will no longer be an ordinary mung bean porridge. You are the mung bean porridge that has been praised by the fourth-rank officials."
"This must be sold out," she thought.
Just as they were about to close the stall, Aunt Yelu stumbled in and said, "Oh no! That bunch of market slaves are here to harass Ye Na again."
Ye Na has a complexion as white as honey, a high nose bridge, and a personality as warm as a desert flower. She is a famous Karst beauty in the whole Tongyifang. It happened that Ye Na's husband went to Shazhou with the caravan. A bunch of rogues in the market always come to trouble this beauty who works as a bartender, so she can't help but get the care of the neighbors.
Duan Zhiwei picked up a jar of dogwood water and went there. Seeing that it was another scoundrel baring his teeth and teasing the frightened Ye Na, he got so angry that he poured the jar of water over him, causing the scoundrel to roll on the ground in pain.
For this kind of garbage, chili water is of course more effective. Unfortunately, there is no chili in this dynasty. Duan Zhiwei soaked some mashed Evodia rutaecarpa and yellow mustard in water and set aside. The power seems to be quite good.
But she saw Ye Na pointing behind Duan Zhiwei in horror, and then she reacted and turned around, and saw another scoundrel holding a stone and about to smash it down. At this critical moment, a figure came rushing like lightning and kicked the rogue to the ground.
Yuan Shenji arrived shortly afterwards. He drew out his sword and stared at the scoundrel who was screaming in pain on the ground with eyes as sharp as an eagle. A murderous aura emanated from his whole body, a kind of majesty that had settled after experiencing life-and-death battles on the battlefield.
Several Wu Hou arrived and tied up the two street scoundrels and took them away. Ye Na was timid to begin with, and was frightened by Yuan Shenji's aura. He hid behind Duan Zhiwei and trembled.
Yuan Shenji quickly put away his sword and regretted scaring Duan Zhiwei. Unexpectedly, Duan Zhiwei did not look frightened at all. Instead, she praised with shining eyes, "Captain Yuan is a great martial artist. He is truly a leader in the martial arts world and a model of a hero!"
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