The weather was getting increasingly hot and humid. Tinglan Residence was located by the water, and the wind blowing from the water brought a refreshing coolness.
With no one around, Gu Yaoniang leaned against the window, flipping through the booklet in one hand while the other was also busy.
On the table were several small dishes containing candied cherries, spiced cakes, and sealed sugar cakes, among other snacks and fruits. Yao Niang picked them up and popped them into her mouth in a haphazard manner.
It has been almost a month since I arrived in Shuojing.
Gu Xingzhi seemed to pity Yao Niang for the hardships she had endured in the past few years. Seeing that Yao Niang loved to study food and that the snacks at home were always varied, the Gu family's large kitchen also changed dishes every day. In the past month, the dishes had hardly been repeated more than a few times.
As for the steamed pork with rice flour, Gu Xingzhi had ordered the kitchen to make it and send it over every day for more than half a month because Yao Niang had mentioned that she liked it but couldn't bear to buy it at the market. In the end, Yao Niang got tired of it and couldn't stand it anymore, so she stopped making the steamed pork with rice flour.
It's not just about food.
Since the Gu family did not employ any embroiderers, Gu Xingzhi invited Yunxiufang, the largest ready-made clothing shop in Shuojing City, to come to their door and make two full trunks of spring and summer clothes of various silks and satins for Yaoniang.
Gu Yaoniang felt this was too extravagant, but Gu Xingzhi said:
"Your second uncle didn't give you anything before, so now he will make up for what he never gave you before. Besides, you have just arrived in Shuojing and you want to travel with me in the future. Your clothes are a reflection of your image, so you can't be careless."
After saying that, he remembered that he had not yet bought jewelry for Yao Niang, so he asked Qiao Niang to accompany Yao Niang to the jewelry shops on Le Bao Street and bought a lot of jewelry.
At first, Yao Niang was not used to such extravagant living, but recently she has gotten somewhat used to it.
As she ate and used the food, she sighed inwardly – it's so good to be rich!
Although Gu Xingzhi pampered Gu Yaoniang lavishly in terms of food and clothing, he did not neglect her daily education.
Gu Xingzhi always said, "Since you are a girl and have decided to make a living on your own, it is destined to be more difficult than for men. You will need to put in more effort than others to live a better life."
While putting pressure on Gu Yaoniang and making her nervous, he also said:
"It's alright, it's alright! Your second uncle will help you!"
Gu Xingzhi took Yao Niang to visit various shops, explaining business matters to her. Meanwhile, he also hired a private tutor for Yao Niang to teach her her studies.
He said, "Even businessmen cannot only focus on fame and fortune, or only on their immediate interests. Only by reading the classics, understanding the principles of things, and knowing the proper boundaries and rules, can one truly walk in the world and live without shame before heaven and earth."
Therefore, for days on end, Gu Yaoniang has been busy learning business from Gu Xingzhi at the shop and studying with her tutor. Apart from occasionally taking time to correspond with her family, she has had no leisure to think about anything else.
I did run into Princess Ruining, the First Prince, and Lu Zhaoan's group a few more times, and we became more polite to each other.
Just as Yao Niang had guessed upon their first meeting, Lu Zhao'an was aloof and didn't like to talk to people. When Yao Niang thanked him, he simply replied indifferently that it was nothing.
Princess Ruining, however, was different. Although she had taken up a post with the Emperor and had to maintain the noble and dignified demeanor of a royal princess when she went out, she couldn't help but have the girlish charm and gluttony of a young girl.
Once, Princess Ruining happened to see Gu Yaoniang and Qiaoniang buying honey-fried cherries from Li's man on Lebao Street, and her eyes filled with longing and curiosity.
Seeing that she seemed extremely envious, but had to maintain the airs of a royal princess and not send anyone to buy roadside snacks, Gu Yaoniang boldly sent Bitao to deliver some.
Princess Ruining already had a good impression of Yaoniang, and the two became acquainted over time.
The weather was hot and humid today, and Gu Yaoniang had just received a day off from Gu Xingzhi, so she was relaxing at Tinglan Residence.
Although she was given leave, Gu Yaoniang didn't stay idle. Gu Xingzhi had given her the opportunity to practice at Jin Yulou, and she had been keeping it in mind ever since. During this month, Jin Yulou continued to operate at a steady, albeit lukewarm, pace.
The number of customers wasn't too small, enough to cause the Gu family to lose money; but it wasn't much either, as they hadn't had much money left in their accounts after paying taxes to the government last month.
Now, the names of the dishes at Jin Yu Lou must be new, and the booklet in her hand is the newly drafted menu for Jin Yu Lou. Not only did she come up with new names, but she also wrote down some of the dishes that she wanted to make some changes and adjustments to.
Braised pork knuckle is a staple at most restaurants in Shuojing, but Jinyulou has its own unique touch, adding the chef's secret pickled plums. However, the plums in the broth don't look very appealing, and while they do help cut through the richness, they also somewhat spoil the original flavor.
Gu Yaoniang had tasted the pickled plums and found them deliciously sour and crisp, even eaten plain. She then decided that the pork knuckle should still be braised, with a glossy red sauce that would look even more appealing. She used the pickled plum sauce as a dipping sauce for the pork knuckle, served it in small dishes, one dish for each person at each table.
This not only cuts through the greasiness, but also gives the braised pork knuckle a different flavor depending on whether it's dipped in plum juice, making it even more layered.
Yao Niang named Jin Yulou's pork knuckle "Fragrant Plum Pork Knuckle".
However, this means we'll need to prepare more condiment dishes for the plum juice.
As she thought this, Yao Niang made notes in the booklet beside her.
Jin Yu Lou also has a signature dish, which is why many customers come here.
Although it's called a dish, it can also be considered a staple food, as it's Jin Yu Lou's unique shrimp and meat flatbread.
The process involves peeling and deveining fresh prawns, carefully removing the prawn roe, and then finely mashing the prawn meat into a paste, which is then kneaded together with flour until smooth. The dough is then rolled out, cut into thin, long strips about the width of a little finger, and boiled in boiling water until cooked through.
Jin Yu Lou prepared two kinds of soup bases for this dish. One is a fresh soup made by simmering shrimp meat and chopped chicken together, sprinkled with chopped green onions, and served as a hot soup. The other is a thick shrimp roe topping made by stir-frying shrimp roe that was taken out earlier, poured over the dish, and mixed in, and served as a dry dish.
Because shrimp meat is added to the dough, the texture of this type of flatbread is not as chewy as that of ordinary flatbread. However, Jin Yu Lou uses the best refined flour from Gujiazhuang and adds a little tapioca flour to it. In addition to the shrimp paste, not much water is added, making the dough drier than usual.
When you eat Jin Yu Lou's ba tuo, the texture is almost the same as that of ordinary ba tuo.
Although other restaurants had tried to imitate the shrimp dumplings, they were ultimately inferior in skill. Either the dumplings weren't chewy enough, or the shrimp wasn't cleaned properly, or the shrimp roe had an off-flavor, they never quite won over the customers' hearts like Jin Yu Lou's.
This dish has always been called "Shrimp Meat Bottling" at Jin Yu Lou, but Yao Niang felt that it was a bit too straightforward. Besides, the shrimp meat had been mashed into a paste, so you couldn't see any shrimp meat in it, making the name seem somewhat forced.
She recalled the shrimp dumplings she had seen. The cooked dumplings, with the addition of shrimp, had a pale pink color. The dumplings were carefully arranged in a bowl, resembling a ball of pink silk threads.
So Yao Niang had a brilliant idea and named it "Red Silk Bun". She was quite satisfied with the name of the dish.
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