Chapter 39 Chapter 39 Amid the sound of firecrackers, one year of lychee meat...
The Chinese New Year was coming soon, and Duan Zhiwei began to lead everyone in the restaurant to clean inside and out and remove dust from the courtyard.
He fetched a few buckets of clean well water, threw two bath beans into the water, rubbed out bubbles, and wiped the dining table, bed, etc. several times.
The windows were covered with gauze again, the sheepskin mattress on the floor was hung in the backyard to dry, the blue brick floor and redwood pillars were scrubbed repeatedly, and the old poem on the wall was removed and replaced with a new one: "Staying at home and eating pork, roasting bamboo shoots and cooking bamboo for the winter."
It was a rare sunny day in Chang'an. The restaurant had just been cleaned and was bright and cozy. Several food tables were neatly laid out and two simple calligraphy and paintings were hung on the wall. Zhen Hui was counting the bills behind the counter. In the kitchen, the bright red lychee meat was simmering on a low fire. The rich meat aroma wafted from the fire room to the front hall.
Pu Tao sniffed and asked, "What is this food today? It smells so good."
Duan Zhiwei was busy preparing the sauce. Hearing this, he smiled and said, "This dish is called lychee meat."
Lychees are expensive, and the lychee flesh here has nothing to do with the lychees shipped from Lingnan to Chang'an. It was just heard that the imperial concubine in the palace loved to eat these lychees, which led to the high-ranking officials in the capital also rushing to buy them, causing the price of lychees, which were already not cheap, to reach a new high.
Duan Zhiwei chose to make this lychee meat dish, which is just a side dish to attract attention.
The method of cooking lychee meat is not complicated, but it is quite demanding on knife skills. The surface of the meat should be cut with oblique cross cuts of equal length, so that when it is fried in a pan over high heat, the meat can shrink into a lychee ball with a rough surface.
To suit the occasion, the sign outside the restaurant has been hung with two lines from the poem "Ode to Lychees" by Liu Ji of the Northern and Southern Dynasties: "It is brought from afar, and its fragrance does not leave any trace."
The diners also found it quite novel. Lychees were not something that ordinary people could afford, so almost every customer who entered the restaurant would order a serving of lychee meat.
Duan Zhiwei specially selected an imitation white jade filigree plate to go with it. He fried the meat until golden and crispy, placed it on the plate, and coated it with the sweet and sour red sauce. Against the backdrop of the white plate, it really did look like real lychees.
The meat is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The fresh and fragrant gravy and rich sweet and sour sauce bloom in your mouth. The taste is quite good, but it is not good to drink with it. But that doesn't matter, because this dish is really popular.
Looking at the lychee meat that was sold out in the morning and some people even asked if they could make a reservation, Duan Zhiwei suddenly realized the importance of riding on the popularity of the product.
Aunt Duan went to the East Market early in the morning. She must have been tortured by all kinds of monster customers for a whole year, so she was generous for once and bought the most expensive newly made peach charms. The peach charms were about three feet long, with lifelike mythical beasts Suanni and Bai Ze painted on them, and the words of two door gods Yulei and Shentu and some auspicious spring words inscribed below, hoping that they could drive away ghosts and evil spirits and bring good luck and peace.
After Duan Zhiwei walked around the restaurant inside and out, he found that it was clean and tidy, but he still felt like something was missing.
Aunt Duan had some experience: "Why not go to the flower shop and buy a few pots of kiln flowers? They will be pleasant to look at and you can also borrow some of the fragrance of the flowers."
Duan Zhiwei rarely felt that what his aunt said made sense.
In late winter and early spring, major flower shops also start to produce seasonal flowers such as wintersweet and daffodil with rich fragrance and color. If you are not satisfied with seasonal flowers, that’s okay. Non-seasonal flowers such as peony, magnolia, and peach can also be stimulated to bloom, but the price will be higher.
Duan Zhiwei hadn't even approached the flower shop yet, but from afar he could see clouds of colorful flowers filling the inside and outside of the flower shop.
In order to make out-of-season flowers bloom in season, most flower shops have a cellar with several large pots of boiling hot soup, which is used for fumigation to make the flowers bloom. However, the temperature in the entire flower shop would be too high. Duan Zhiwei brought Rambutan to buy seasonal flowers and was almost fumigated by the heat as soon as he entered.
The owner of the flower shop was filling a flower pot with sulfur. When she saw the guests, she immediately put down her work and greeted them, saying attentively, "Whatever flowers you two ladies like, I have them all."
The whole room was filled with forsythia flowers in full bloom, hanging in clusters on the branches, and it was obvious that they had been carefully cultivated. On the wooden rack stood two very eye-catching pots of peonies, which were worthy of being the king of flowers. The flowers were huge and luxurious, and the petals were as delicate as velvet. It was obvious at first glance that they were not ordinary flowers. Duan Zhiwei could not help but stare at them several times.
Seeing this, the owner of Hua Si Si said hurriedly: "This flower is called Yao Huang, and it was transported from Mangshan in Luoyang to Chang'an. It is known as the 'king of flowers'. Every spring when there is a flower competition, Yao Huang sells the best, and Chang'an ladies compete to pursue it."
Duan Zhiwei also liked it very much. Thinking that the restaurant made a lot of money and it was enough to pay off the loan to the temple, he couldn't help but ask, "How much is this flower worth?"
The owner of the stall apologized with a smile, "I was going to send them to the princess's mansion. These two pots are not that good, they are the leftovers. They are not that expensive, only half a tael is enough."
Duan Zhiwei immediately said, "Please bring me three pots of daffodils. I won't need anything else. Thank you."
The fourth master: “…”
Duan Zhiwei was afraid that the shop owner would sell him some kiln flower worth half a string of silver, so he quickly took out his purse to pay, but he saw Pu Tao admiring a rose flower with a serious look on his face.
The rose was enchanting and fragrant, and most importantly, it was a pure and deep blue. Duan Zhiwei suspected that it must have been coated with a layer of dye such as sandblasting like in modern times, otherwise it would be weird, how could there be a blue rose?
Unexpectedly, Master Hua Sisi expressed her opposition outright, and said with an offended expression, "This is a rose brought from Daqin by Hu merchants. It grows in the desert and is naturally blue."
Duan Zhiwei quickly expressed his apologies and then quickly pulled Pu Tao away.
A pot of Yaohuang of poor quality costs half a string of coins, so this rare blue rose shipped from Arabia must cost a piece of gold foil.
Pu Tao was reluctant to part with the flowers, but he also knew that the Duan family restaurant could not afford them, so he turned around and prepared to leave. However, the owner of the flower shop laughed and said, "This young lady looks cute and smart. If you really like this flower, I am willing to reduce the price..."
Before he could finish, Duan Zhiwei politely declined. Even if she cut half of the flower, it would be too expensive. It was not something that ordinary people like them could afford. But the owner of the flower shop said, "Thirty cents, I'll give it up."
Duan Zhiwei suspected that he was hallucinating: "Thirty coins? Isn't that thirty strings of cash?"
The owner of the brothel waved his hand and said: "This brothel has been here for more than 20 years. I have been operating with integrity. If I say 30 copper coins, it is 30 copper coins. I will never increase the price by a cent."
Duan Zhiwei didn't say anything, her mind was spinning rapidly.
Although there is no such thing as a cheap product, there is no free lunch in the world, and pie does not fall from the sky...but this flower actually only costs thirty cents, even if it withers overnight, it still only costs thirty cents.
So after some struggle, Duan Zhiwei just accepted it with a smile, and Pu Tao happily ran over and hugged the pot of flowers tightly.
When the two of them were carrying a few pots of flowers back to the restaurant, Ah Pan and Aunt Duan were preparing rice cakes for the New Year's Eve sacrifice to the gods. For ordinary people, making rice cakes is nothing more than nine steps such as soaking rice and grinding flour. Although the process is a bit cumbersome, it is for the New Year after all. Preparing some wine-fermented rice cake soup and moss-baked rice cakes are all great, so no one cares.
While the two were still working, Pu Tao ran over to Aunt Duan with the pot of blue roses to show them. Aunt Duan was shocked and asked, "How could you buy such expensive flowers?"
Haven’t you returned the incense offerings from the temple yet? Are you going to buy new clothes and makeup for the New Year? Can’t get through the day?
When he heard that the flower only cost thirty cents, he immediately felt relieved. He then carefully wiped the antique display cabinet in the front hall two or three times and personally placed the flower on the top layer.
Ah Pan came in from the backyard, took a look at the flower, and said calmly, "The goods that the Hu merchants bring to Chang'an are always expensive. This flower is so cheap, I'm afraid there is something wrong."
Duan Zhiwei was about to speak when Aunt Duan interrupted him, "What's the problem with it? It's only thirty cents. I don't think it will cause you much grief if you lose this small amount of money. Anyway, you still have the flower pot."
It sounds nice, but I'm afraid that if she really lost the thirty cents, Aunt Duan would be so worried that she wouldn't be able to sleep well for several nights.
Zhen Hui, who was still using his abacus behind the counter, had some sequelae from the threat from the Snow Girl during the winter solstice. He suspected that a fallen leaf on the ground was a monster, so he asked with lingering fear, "Could it be a monster?"
I heard that there is a monster called Huapo. If three people have been hanged on a flower tree, their resentment and bitterness will condense into this monster.
Everyone felt a chill on their backs after hearing this. Duan Zhiwei looked at the pot of blue roses with a half-believing and half-doubting attitude, and some doubts also began to form in his heart. However, Aunt Duan said with a pah: "It's almost the New Year, can't you say something auspicious? Besides, the new peach charms have been replaced, and no evil spirits can break into this restaurant."
Everyone had to give up.
Because of the lychee meat, many guests came for dinner. Although the weather was sunny today, it was also cold, so many people ordered hot pot. This dish is no longer just a hot pot with bone soup and raw food. Now, as long as it is a soup simmered in a clay pot, such as stewed bamboo shoots with ham and stewed radish with lamb, all are put into the hot pot and served. In this way, diners can chat about family matters without worrying about the soup getting cold.
Because of what Zhen Hui said, Duan Zhiwei's heart was always beating fast. From time to time, he looked at the pot of roses, which lay motionless on the shelf.
The restaurant was packed with customers, and the lively laughter in the room drove away some of her uneasiness. Duan Zhiwei felt that she must have been overthinking.
She left a plate of lychee meat for Yuan Shenji who was on duty, but unexpectedly, this man did not come today. However, Su Qie came to report on time and said that Captain Yuan had been staying in the government office instead of returning home after his duty in the past two days, and he seemed to be in a bad mood, which made him feel very stressed when he was on duty. Therefore, he asked for two more glasses of Xinfeng wine today, saying that he wanted to relax.
Duan Zhiwei was curious, but he didn't want to ask too many questions to a fourth-rank official, so he turned around and went to get him some wine.
The restaurant was particularly busy today, and making rice cakes was a tedious task, so after dinner, everyone ate some steamed buns for dinner and went back to their rooms to sleep.
Duan Zhiwei was worried today and accidentally threw two more pieces of charcoal into the brazier. He felt thirsty in the middle of his sleep and was about to get up to scoop a bowl of water when he heard a faint sound coming from the front hall.
The faint sound made her feel uneasy. It was almost New Year's Day, and she thought it might be a thief. Therefore, Duan Zhiwei quickly lit a candle, put it in a lantern, and quietly walked towards the front hall.
Fortunately, the moon was bright tonight, illuminating the entire front hall, and there was no thief.
But in front of the mahogany antique display shelf, there was a woman squatting and crying.
Duan Zhiwei saw her appearance clearly.
The lady was wearing a blue robe of the Arab Empire with large patches of roses woven with gold thread on the robe. She wore a lace veil of the same color. Her wheat-colored skin was slightly shiny. Her face was covered with a white veil, revealing only a pearl between her eyebrows. Her beautiful eyes were like a pair of dark green cat's eyes.
But Duan Zhiwei had no intention of appreciating the beauty's tears at this moment.
She thought to herself, "Oh no, I've been tricked by that Hua Sisi master."
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