18 Soft and chewy crystal cake
◎You also know that people in the mountains have never seen this thing. I'm afraid...◎
The weather was already a little cold a few days ago, but who would have thought it would become hot again these days. The autumn heat was so strong that Ye Yunzhao was so depressed that he couldn't muster any energy for several days.
She took the time to tell Sun Ning about the dragon-bone waterwheel, but Ye Yunzhao had never seen this thing in person and had only drawn a picture of it. Sun Ning still needed to study the key points himself.
The radish powder filtered out a few days ago had long since turned into broken powder blocks after being exposed to the sun. It was not until today that Ye Yunzhao became interested in researching and improving the jelly cake.
On the stove stood two earthenware bowls, one large and one small. Ye Yunzhao poured a generous amount of radish starch into the large bowl, scooped a generous ladle of cold water with a gourd ladle, and then hurriedly stirred it with bamboo chopsticks, checking for any undissolved lumps. After a few moments of careful stirring, she had a large bowl of raw starch.
It would be easier if you have a stone mortar. First grind the powder into fine powder, add water and stir it gently a few times.
She couldn't use cold water to mix the powder blocks she had just put in the small ceramic bowl. She had to scoop in half a ladle of hot water and stir it with bamboo chopsticks until it turned into a translucent white cooked starch.
Pour the cooked starch into the raw paste, a large amount, and Ye Yunzhao poured it into three ceramic bowls before stopping.
At first glance, the soup looked like a milky white fish soup with a few small white shrimps floating in it. Ye Yunzhao picked up the bamboo chopsticks and quickly broke up the cooked starch in the bowl. When she thought it was almost done, she placed the three ceramic bowls on the bamboo grate in the pot and waited for it to be cooked over high heat.
The fire in the stove burned more and more vigorously, and Ye Yunzhao suddenly remembered that he had received a pottery jar of honey when he received his salary. If he had added cold sugar water when stirring the paste just now, it must have tasted very good.
But now there is a remedy.
She carried the clay pot she had bought earlier out of the kitchen and started a fire on the small stove built at the back of the yard. Ye Yunzhao scooped in a ladle of mountain spring water and poured some honey into it to make sugar water.
She had just put away the honey when she heard someone calling her from the yard:
"County Magistrate Ye, are you home?"
Only after Ye Yunzhao came out of the house could he see who the visitor was.
——Wang Cuihua.
Seeing her coming out of the house, Wang Cuihua quickly took down her backpack and said with a smile, "County Magistrate Ye, these are the persimmons Dazhuang picked in the mountains yesterday. Look, they are all very good. I thought I would bring them here for you to taste."
"I urged him to send it yesterday, but as you know, my man is a bit of a fool, so he kept delaying it until today."
"The harvest isn't very good this year, so you can keep these foods. I'm just one person, how can I eat so much? Two are enough to satisfy your cravings." Ye Yunzhao said.
"County Magistrate Ye, don't worry. Look, am I, Wang Cuihua, the kind of person who would let herself be wronged?" She said with a smug look on her face, and then the two looked at each other and laughed out loud.
"Madam Cuihua, you've come at the right time. Please sit down first." Ye Yunzhao said as he brought out a wooden stool from the house, asked her to sit down, and poured a bowl of sugar water from the ceramic pot over to her.
"I've been researching food these past two days and was thinking of sending some to you and Sun Ning. I just happened to catch up today, so I don't have to make another trip."
Studying food?
Wang Cuihua knew that Ye Yunzhao had been educated and had a lot of knowledge, but she didn't expect that he could not only study farm tools, but also food.
The agricultural tools studied by County Magistrate Ye are all practical. Could it be that the food is also extraordinary?
Wang Cuihua seemed to be sitting on the clouds, holding the sugar water in her hand and waiting obediently for Ye Yunzhao to feed her.
After a while, she saw Ye Yunzhao bring out a large ceramic bowl from the kitchen, with white and tender "tofu" on it?
It was just whiter and more translucent than tofu. Wang Cuihua looked at it in amazement and said, "Is this... tofu?"
Ye Yunzhao smiled and said, "This is made with the radishes we dug a few days ago. I'll cut some for you to try."
Ground radish?
Now it was Wang Cuihua's turn to be dumbfounded. How could a radish be made into this?!
After Ye Yunzhao finished speaking, he skillfully used a bamboo knife to cut a few horizontal and vertical strokes on the crystal cake, and then gently shook the ceramic bowl. The crystal cake became small squares, which looked very pleasing to the eye.
Then scoop a spoonful of honey syrup from the ceramic pot, and each small crystal cake seems to be coated with syrup, shining in the sunlight.
Wang Cuihua had never eaten this thing before, let alone seen it. If Ye Yunzhao hadn't told her that it was made of ground radish, she would never have been able to connect the gray ground radish with the white jade-like pastry in front of her.
Ye Yunzhao handed her a wooden spoon and said enthusiastically, "Madam Cuihua, please try it."
Wang Cuihua threw all the etiquette in her mind to the back of her mind. This was something that County Magistrate Ye asked her to eat. If she refused, wouldn't she be offending her?
Wang Cuihua quickly comforted herself and took the wooden spoon. She rolled her throat, swallowed her saliva, and shakily and carefully scooped up a piece. The small crystal cake on the wooden spoon swayed from side to side, and she could even smell the sweetness if she got closer. She could no longer bear it and suddenly put it into her mouth.
The sweetness of honey and the freshness of ground radish burst in her mouth, the two sweetnesses intertwined and complemented each other. Perhaps because of the sugar syrup, it was slippery in her mouth, which was very novel to Wang Cuihua.
It is soft and glutinous when you bite it, but not sticky. It does not taste as loose as tofu, but rather chewy and very complex.
But everything can be reduced to two words.
"Delicious!" Wang Cuihua exclaimed with her eyes lighting up.
"It's much more delicious than ground radish!"
She ate several spoonfuls in a row. When she learned that Ye Yunzhao had named it, she felt that nothing was more suitable than Crystal Cake. Wang Cuihua felt so happy that she had accidentally tasted something so good today.
"Madam Cuihua, this thing can make money and it's not difficult to make. Are you willing to learn?"
After Ye Yunzhao said this, Wang Cuihua was a little dazed.
Such a good way to make money is going to be taught to myself?
What else is there to not understand? County Magistrate Ye is trying to help me! If I learn how to make crystal cakes, can't I take them to Yuezhou City and sell them for money? Not to mention a lot, earning a penny a day is great. Selling for more than ten days can earn me half a bushel of rice!
What's more, the mountains are full of radishes at this time of year. This is no different from picking up money for free. Things that Wang Cuihua had never dared to think about in the past are now like a pie falling on her.
She was filled with disbelief. Magistrate Ye actually wanted to teach her a trade. She reassured him again and again, "Maintainer Ye, are you serious? How much silver will it cost to learn this trade?"
"Of course I'm serious." Ye Yunzhao said to reassure her, "This method wasn't originally researched by me. I just happened to see it in a book a while ago. There's no reason for me to charge for it."
"As long as you are willing to learn, I will teach you everything I know, without asking for any money."
Wang Cuihua was so dizzy after hearing this that she said hurriedly, "I do! I do!"
Seeing her so excited, Ye Yunzhao's previous doubts also disappeared: "I feel relieved with your words, but we still need to wait a few days. Once the work in the fields is done, you can have some free time and so can I."
"Okay!" Wang Cuihua calmed down. Although she was eager to start learning tomorrow, Ye Yunzhao's words made sense. The new vegetable seeds her family had received had not been planted yet.
Besides, a learned man like County Magistrate Ye has made a promise to me, so I think he will definitely not go back on his word.
Wang Cuihua poured the crisp persimmons she had just carried on her back onto the ground. Each one had a green skin and was round, looking as if it were not yet ripe.
Ye Yunzhao was startled by the green-skinned persimmons that should have been hanging on the branches: "This... can this be eaten?"
Before she finished speaking, Wang Cuihua hurriedly turned around, fearing that Ye Yunzhao would misunderstand her: "County Magistrate Ye, pick up some of the crisp persimmons. They are crispy and sweet, so delicious!"
"What does it mean to take it all in?"
Wang Cuihua couldn't answer this question either. She only knew that the persimmons she had picked were extremely sweet and not astringent at all. However, she had just received Ye Yunzhao's kindness, and now she wanted to express her sincerity:
"County Magistrate Ye, why don't I pick some persimmons for you tomorrow?"
Ye Yunzhao agreed readily, as she had nothing to do tomorrow. She handed the remaining half bowl of crystal cake to Wang Cuihua and said, "Take the rest home and eat it. I have something to trouble you with."
Ye Yunzhao handed her another bowl, but used a bamboo knife to cut it lightly, dividing the bowl into two parts, and scooped in two spoonfuls of honey water: "Please give half of this bowl to Sun Ning and half to Aunt Wang."
"I've been bothering them a lot these days."
"good."
Wang Cuihua took it and put the bowl into her backpack, a little worried: "County Magistrate Ye, do you have any extra bamboo baskets at home? I'm holding the bowl. You know, people in the mountains have never seen this before. I'm afraid..."
Ye Yunzhao understood what she meant. He found a clean bamboo basket and turned it upside down in the bamboo basket. He then divided the last bowl of crystal cake into two portions, put them in his own small bamboo basket, and put a large ceramic bowl on top. Only then was everything ready. The two of them left the county government office one after the other.
Wang Cuihua went to Xixiang, and Ye Yunzhao went to Aunt Hu's butcher shop.
Aunt Hu was busy cutting meat for someone, weighing it accurately as she cut. As she handed the meat to someone else, she looked up and saw Ye Yunzhao: "County Magistrate Ye, are you going to buy lard this time?"
Aunt Hu still remembered what Ye Yunzhao had said before. Ye Yunzhao looked into the shop. Perhaps it was still early, Hu Er was still busy in the butcher shop:
"Aunt Hu, why don't we go inside and talk?"
Aunt Hu washed her hands and called into the house, "Hu Er, come out and weigh the meat first."
Ye Yunzhao followed her into the butcher's shop. Aunt Hu looked at the bowl of something as white as jade that she had taken out of a small bamboo basket. "County Magistrate Ye, what is this?"
"I've researched some food and brought it here for you to try. I've troubled you a lot before."
Aunt Hu looked at the bowl of white jade treasure and declined, "How can this be? County Magistrate Ye, keep it for yourself."
"It's a fresh treat. I'll need your help in the future. Besides, this is a token of my appreciation."
Aunt Hu looked at the white jade treasure for a while and said, "Then I won't be polite with you. If there is a time when I can help you, just ask."
Then he called out to the outside, "Hu Er, cut me half a pound of lard."
Half a pound of lard costs seven cents. Ye Yunzhao’s crystal cake is not worth much, but in Aunt Hu’s eyes, it is a very special thing.
These days the people who have the most food and clothing are the people in the butcher shop. Aunt Hu wants to make a good deal on this half pound of lard, so that it is not too expensive to be unacceptable, nor too cheap to be ignored.
What's more, only half a pound of lard is needed to establish good relations with the government officials. For Aunt Hu, it is a hundred benefits with no harm.
"Then I won't be polite to my aunt." Ye Yunzhao smiled, took the lard wrapped in holly leaves by Hu Er, and walked out of the city with the remaining half bowl of crystal cake.
Ye Yunzhao wanted to use this half bowl of crystal cake to "bribe" others. She carried a small bamboo basket and looked around as she walked, thinking that she couldn't find it.
Unexpectedly, when she turned around, she met that person face to face. Ye Yunzhao squatted down with a smile: "Erya, can you help Sister Ye?"
【Author’s words】
Wang Cuihua: I’m going to get rich, hahahaha! I’m going to be the richest person in Lingnan!!!
Erya: Sister Ye is acting weird today...
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