Chapter 46 Chapter 46 "Spring Freshness on the Market" Crispy Glutinous Broad Beans,...
Beautiful peacocks live deep in the dense forests of Dian, leading a carefree life for generations. The locals praise it as a "divine bird" and paint it on colored bottles, cups, and cave murals.
But on this day, the sound of a bow and arrow broke the tranquility of the rainforest.
Bi Xiao said sternly: "For a piece of clothing for the human princess, our entire tribe was captured and killed."
Princess Wanfu turned pale and said, "I don't know..."
Qingluan said: "The silk skirt you wear to show off is made of the tail feathers plucked by my clan member Suye."
There was a faint glow of fire in the distance.
Princess Anle's dress with thousands of birds disappeared in the heavy fire. The only one left was the one presented to Empress Wei. Due to the countless secrets and curses from the previous dynasty, it was sealed in Qingyun Temple.
The Jinwu Guards were busy putting out the fire, but were stopped by the Demon Catching Division.
Qingluan and Bixiao threw themselves into the fire.
Dugu Jie waved his fan, looked at the flames in the sky and said, "I think this should be the best way to resolve the resentment of Wan Niaoqun..."
The faint smoke rising from the wing rooms was like two giant peacocks spreading their wings and flying towards the sky.
After a night of tossing and turning, Duan Zhiwei finally returned to the restaurant safely the next day. She received unanimous warm care from everyone and was treated like a saint. Even if she just wanted a bowl of water, Pu Tao would prepare it for her and bring it to her personally, which made people feel extremely moved.
But I heard that Princess Wanfu was severely reprimanded in the palace because of this ominous bird skirt, and is currently in the princess's mansion reflecting on her mistakes.
Instead, Duan Zhiwei turned a disaster into a blessing. The fact that she became the princess's guest of honor was revealed intentionally or unintentionally by Aunt Duan. The neighbors all looked at her with envy. Even the owner of the competing Hu Bing shop did not dare to roll his eyes at her.
Duan Zhiwei inexplicably felt a sense of superiority as if he was relying on the power of another.
Having wasted a few days of the Spring Festival holiday at Qingyun Temple, Duan Zhiwei spent a whole day in seclusion in a restaurant, trying all the roasted melon seeds and chewy dough sticks he had missed, and then reading through several picture books he had bought in the East Market.
The restaurant will be open again the next day.
After the Spring Festival, the east wind blows and everything starts to revive. The "spring fresh" products on the market are also quietly popping up like bamboo shoots.
She ate so many melon seeds that she got a sore throat and had ulcers all over her mouth. When the vegetable shop brought her seasonal vegetables, Duan Zhiwei kept choosing mustard greens and green vegetables that looked like they could clear away heat and relieve internal heat.
Duan Zhiwei likes the misty Jiangnan very much. Some restaurants have pleasure boats moored in the lake. She sits in the boat, eats a basket of jade-like siu mai with paper-thin skin and jade-colored jade, and a pot of emerald-green Longjing tea. The pleasure boat sails slowly in the lake, and she drinks Longjing tea while looking out the window at the flowers blooming in the building...
However, this fantasy was shattered in Chang'an. She threw a large bag of green beans into a wooden basin, and several people in the restaurant sat around and peeled them slowly.
Aunt Duan came in from outside and handed an exquisite letter to Duan Zhiwei.
"What?" She wiped the water marks on her hands and took it.
Every March, the royal Qujiang Garden is open to the public for a limited time. The ladies of Chang'an ride on large carriages decorated with colorful silks and slowly come to the bank of Qujiang Lake, where they set up a "skirt tent banquet". They then wear the most beautiful flowers and walk along the alleys of Qujiang Garden with their friends. The flowers and beauties compete with each other for beauty, and in the end the one with the most beautiful flowers wins.
There is a poem written at that time: "The grass is green all over the hillside when the wind is clear, and the beautiful woman picks green leaves and passes by. Her clothes are fragrant, and her smile brings back the spring."
This letter was sent by Du Yourong. For the sake of her parents, she finally married into the Pei family. The Hedong Pei family had a high status, and Du Yourong had a high status among the noble ladies.
In addition to a bunch of auspicious words, the content was an invitation to her to go to Qujiang Garden to compete in flower picking.
"I'm not going," Duan Zhiwei said.
Now is the time when flowers are the most expensive in the year. The Yaohuang that was worth half a guan of money and was of poor quality last time has now appreciated to one and a half guan of money.
The brothel also had a very creative idea, with large, rich pink peonies paired with erythrinas; bright-colored peonies surrounded by a circle of light orchids. Even though the unique shape was priced sky-high, there were still girls competing for it.
Duan Zhiwei was reluctant to go because the price of this flower was too high and it was not worth buying it. If he could just pick a branch of wintersweet by the water, clip it on his lapel and run to the royal garden.
You will definitely be laughed at.
It was Aunt Duan who persuaded her, "If you are just going to Qujiang for fun, then it's fine. Since you have been invited by the new bride of the Pei family, you will definitely be able to gain some connections, which will also be beneficial to the expansion of the restaurant."
Duan Zhiwei felt that his aunt was a genius in business.
Early the next morning, a large wooden basin of tender green vegetables was picked out and chopped into fine pieces, put into cloth bags and squeezed out the water, and poured with a large amount of sugar and lard and mixed well. Accompanied by the meaty aroma of lard and the fresh fragrance of green vegetables, it looked greasy and very appetizing.
The next step is to blanch the dough, which requires the flour to be blanched into snow-like dough. Duan Zhiwei completed this step in the backyard. Northerners mostly eat leavened dough and rarely blanch dough. She thought that this jade steamed bun should be the specialty of her restaurant and must not be seen by others.
After rolling the dough into round and thin siu mai skins, you can start wrapping them.
Duan Zhiwei taught it in slow motion in front of everyone: Spread the steamed bun skin on the palm of your left hand, and use a bamboo scraper with your right hand to scrape the filling. Use your left hand to curl the dough, and use your right hand to carefully pinch the folds of the siomai, and finally put some red ham pieces at the opening.
A Pan was deft and could learn it after watching it once. Pu Tao was young and had small hands, so he couldn't hold the filling well. He also sometimes packed too little and sometimes too much stuffing. In the end, he sprinkled a handful of ham on it, which made Aunt Duan feel very distressed.
A pot of jade siu mai was steamed in a steamer with boiling water. Duan Zhiwei reminded everyone: "This siu mai can only be steamed for a short while, not too long, otherwise the filling will change color and it will not look good."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Today's breakfast is still pork jade noodles with a big pot of fragrant soy milk, but there is no vegetarian filling. If you want to eat vegetarian filling, you can only order a basket of jade steamed buns.
The word "Jade" aroused the curiosity of the diners, and with Duan Zhiwei's strong recommendation, most diners, except for the loyal fans of the pork jade tip noodles, were willing to order a basket of jade steamed buns.
Finally, the first basket of jade siu mai came out of the pot. The siu mai was shaped like a pomegranate flower, with a skin as thin as paper. The emerald green filling could be vaguely seen through the skin, and the red ham crumbs sprinkled on top were a touch of red in the green.
Because the green vegetables have just come into season this year, we chose extremely fat and sweet fillings. The thin skin is soft, glutinous and slightly chewy when you take a bite, just like melting jade, with a fat and sweet taste.
As Duan Zhiwei expected, the Jade Shaomai, known as one of the "two best" Huaiyang dim sum, was very popular in restaurants.
She was so busy that she was dizzy all morning, but Pu Tao came back from outside the restaurant with a small wooden box: "A beautiful sister sent it over. She specifically wanted it for Madam Duan."
"What is this?" Duan Zhiwei took it. She was just about to take the opportunity to teach Pu Tao not to talk to strangers casually and to be careful of kidnappers, but when she opened the wooden box, she was stunned.
Inside is a gorgeous rose with layered petals. The whole flower is blue with a slightly raised yellow stamen in the middle. The flower is very special.
There was also a note in the box, which probably said that he was deeply grateful for the help of everyone in the restaurant. He heard that there would be a "flower-fighting" banquet in the Qujiang Royal Garden soon, so he gave a dyed rose flower as a gift, hoping it would help Duan Zhiwei.
The signature is Haidiye.
Duan Zhiwei picked up the flower lightly. The petals felt delicate and soft. When he put his nose close to it, he could even smell a faint fragrance.
"So this is the flower demon's way of repaying a favor," she thought to herself.
Duan Zhiwei took a ride on Du Yourong's carriage that was decorated with colorful silk today. He secretly opened the curtain and looked outside. Qujiang Avenue leading to the southeast of the city was already busy with traffic.
The wind blew, and a scent of thick smoke, pearls, jade, and cosmetics came into Duan Zhiwei's nose. She quickly took out her handkerchief and then sneezed violently.
Du Yourong was wearing a gorgeous scarlet dress embroidered with twin lotus flowers today and a large peony in her hair. She looked very rich. When Duan Zhiwei praised her like this, she quietly rolled her eyes.
This time, she warned Duan Zhiwei in the car: "The ladies at the banquet will be from aristocratic families. You need to be careful with etiquette."
Duan Zhiwei brought a large box of jade siu mai and thousand-layer oil cakes here. His purpose was simple and clear, which was to promote the food of his own restaurant. After hearing what Du Yourong said, he immediately nodded: "I know."
Du Yourong took a look at the blue rose on her head and smiled: "But since you have become the princess's guest of honor and have such an expensive rose pinned on your head, no one will dare to look down on you."
In order to make it easier to work, Duan Zhiwei usually wears her hair in a small, heart-to-heart bun. Today, for the sake of Blue Rose, she specially made a double-ring fairy bun and wore a blue skirt with curling grass and grape patterns. She looked very dignified and like a fairy.
"Thousands of hands are vying to climb the willow sashes, and tens of thousands of red flowers are inserted in between." There are already groups of noble ladies waving round fans and walking through the alleys of the garden.
The scenery on both sides of Qujiang River is beautiful, like a slowly unfolding painting. The tender willows are swaying in the wind, and the deep red and light red peach blossoms are about to bloom but are still shy. It is a bright scene with willow shadows and bright flowers.
There were already many tents on the shore. The ones with green felt must have belonged to the common people. Du Yourong ignored the densely packed rows of tents and took Duan Zhiwei directly into the largest one with colorful silk fluttering in the wind.
This tent was as big as the hall of an ordinary family, and it was already filled with various noble ladies. Du Yourong sat in the uppermost seat without any hesitation, and Duan Zhiwei sat next to her.
All kinds of noble ladies were still chirping, like flowers in a garden. It seemed that they had put a lot of thought into their looks. Some had lovely buns with light-colored hydrangeas in them; some had high buns with a half-opened purple peony on their heads.
Duan Zhiwei looked around and saw a girl in a grey padded jacket in the corner. She only had a jasmine wreath on her lapel and her hair was in a simple bun. Although she was dressed simply, she was still very beautiful.
The lady next to her was just the opposite. She wore a light red diamond-patterned jacket, a dark green skirt with a Baoxiang flower pattern, an exaggerated bun, and a forehead full of purple Phalaenopsis, which was quite exaggerated.
Seeing her curiosity, Du Yourong leaned over to cover her mouth with a round fan and whispered:
"Those two ladies are the daughters of the former General Dingyuan. The girl in gray is the daughter of the first mistress, and the one dressed strangely is the daughter of the second mistress, the current mistress. The vicious stepmother was famous for being extremely rude to the first daughter."
Duan Zhiwei then took a sip of the yogurt and looked at the lady in gray with sympathy, thinking:
"It turned out to be Cinderella."
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