Chapter 236 What is Chili Pepper? What is Malatang?
He goes out early every day and comes back after selling his goods before lunch, but he has never seen any oden.
Sang Yu wouldn't deliberately use this to joke with him, so there was only one possibility - the problem was with his mother.
Liu smiled awkwardly: "This, this...it's a long story."
"It's okay, mother, take your time. I'm not in a hurry." Liu Mao interrupted Liu's intention to delay with a direct sentence.
Seeing that she couldn't get away with it, Liu could only tell the truth.
"A few days ago, Miss Sang did send over some kind of oden. Your Aunt Wang and Aunt Zhang were there too. They were curious about the taste, so they tried it, and then..."
Mrs. Liu was quite concerned about her reputation, otherwise she would not have asked Liu Mao to buy some good wine and food to offer sacrifices to the ancestors during every festival, regardless of the family's tight financial situation.
Since she usually had a good time and her two old sisters who were helping their son with work asked for help, it was difficult for her to refuse.
The heated oden tasted so good that they kept eating the last skewer, and before they knew it, the whole pot was gone.
Liu Mao didn't expect that the oden that Sang Yu sent would be eaten up by his mother and two aunts from the neighborhood. He couldn't help but smile bitterly.
"Mom, just tell me the truth. Do you think I will blame you?"
If he knew about this, he would go directly to Sang Yu's house to ask for the recipe. At most, he would tell them about it as a joke and praise the taste of the oden.
Liu felt a little guilty and didn't dare to look at him: "There is still some soup left, so I thought I would cook some more myself and hide this matter from you."
However, after she threw a bunch of skewered ingredients into the soup and cooked it, she found that not only was the taste completely different from what she had eaten before, but the freshness of the soup was also mixed with many other flavors, making it completely unusable.
She had originally planned to tell Liu Mao the truth in the next two days, but she always hesitated and couldn't say it, which eventually led to the current situation.
"It's okay, it's okay. Auntie likes it. Make more next time. This oden tastes light, I hope it suits your taste."
Sang Yu quickly jumped out to smooth things over.
At first, she thought Liu Mao had gotten into some other trouble, which was why he hadn't come to see her. Now that she knew it was just a misunderstanding, she just smiled and let it go.
"Indeed, it's light yet flavorful. Miss Sang's cooking skills have always been superb." Liu hurried down the stairs.
As one of the parties involved, Sang Yu showed an attitude of not caring much. If Liu Mao said anything harsh to his own mother again, he would not be the filial son.
"Thank you, Miss Sang."
Liu Mao could only bow again, both to express his apology and to thank her for not taking it to heart.
Sang Yu waved her hand and said, "Hey, let's not say those polite words to each other."
She picked up a chair and sat down, and Liu Mao sat next to her.
Xiao Zhao stood beside her obediently, staring at her intently, as if she was afraid that she would disappear if he were distracted.
"With the cold weather lately, the skewers business is not as good as before." Sang Yu asked about the business.
Liu Mao didn't hide it from her and nodded in agreement: "Indeed, the weather is cold. Although eating dogwood can warm the body, it is a cold food after all. Sales have dropped sharply after the frost."
"I've mentioned this to you before. This oden is specifically designed for winter business. But I'm afraid we can't just rent a stall like we used to. We need a pot."
Oden is actually a bit awkward. It is the kind of snack that you can buy and eat while walking, but it needs to be heated up.
It is easy to do nowadays. Just connect a plug to heat it up. It doesn’t require much space at all.
But in this era, you have to at least have a pot, and then you have to add firewood regularly to keep the temperature.
"Then do we need to put out some more tables and chairs for the guests to sit and eat?"
Liu Mao has always been interested in business. This income is much more lucrative than his previous job where he had to worry about his life and had to work day and night.
He had already made up his mind that as long as he stayed close to Sang Yu, she would enjoy the delicious food and he would eat some of what leaked between her fingers, which would be enough to support his family.
"This oden is similar to skewers, but the flavor is lighter. It's more comfortable to eat warm. It would be a bit of a waste to set up tables and chairs."
Sang Yu held his chin and thought, if he really rented a big stall, if he didn't put some tables, chairs and benches, it would be a waste of space; if he put some tables, chairs and benches, they would not be needed under normal circumstances.
She sighed, "It's a pity there's no chili peppers. Otherwise, it would be great to make some spicy hot pot and sell it together."
The speaker may not mean it, but the listener may take it seriously.
Liu Mao's expression changed slightly, and he asked curiously, "What is chili pepper? What is Malatang?"
"Chili peppers are a condiment similar to dogwood, and they taste like a bite. And ma la tang... just think of it as a wonton-like dish made with chili peppers as the main seasoning."
Sang Yu had no interest in it, and as the weather got colder, she missed hotpot more and more.
In this kind of weather, you should stay home, with your family gathered around the pot, simmering slices of meat and vegetables with iced drinks, sizzling as you eat, and sweating profusely. How refreshing!
"Where can I find this seasoning called chili?"
Although Liu Mao had never eaten chili peppers and didn't know what they tasted like, he thought that anything that Sang Yu could not forget must be a good thing.
"You ask me, who should I ask? Maybe it's on the other side of the ocean, and it will be introduced in a few hundred years." Sang Yu answered casually.
When did chili peppers first arrive in China? It seems to have been during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty. As for this era, that depends on when the maritime industry experienced its last boom.
Sang Yu now has no hope of finding chili peppers in her hometown, as there is no trace of them at all.
Xiao Zhao, who had been listening to their conversation silently, suddenly tugged at her clothes. Sang Yu thought she wanted to cry again, but when she turned around, she saw that she was holding something in her hand and handing it to her.
In the palm of his open hand, there was a small sachet with a green wildflower embroidered on it.
She looked at Xiao Zhao with some confusion: "This, give it to me?"
Xiao Zhao nodded seriously and extended her hand forward again, as if she was afraid that she would not accept it.
"This should be what your mother left for you. Why are you giving it to me? Don't worry, I won't ignore you."
Sang Yu guessed that perhaps it was because he walked to the doorstep but was not recognized by his relatives that caused great psychological trauma to Xiao Zhao.
This made her want to hand over the most valuable thing on her body to herself in exchange for the chance to continue staying at home.
Xiao Zhao still shook her head. Seeing that Sang Yu was still unable to understand what she meant, she became anxious and squatted down and started writing on the ground.
This time, Sang Yu recognized two words - seeds.
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