Seventh day
The young man in armor rode on a steed, led the army, and set out from the main road of Kyoto. Also leaving was Xiao Huaiwu, who had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.
Her husband was killed by Uta five years ago. She had been training hard all these years just for this day, so naturally she had to keep up.
She is a female general with an official position, but it is not high, and she is directly under Xiao Waiting, so she can go with him without the consent of others.
After these two people left, the Xiao Mansion, which had been bustling just now, seemed empty again.
Obviously, these two people were not often at home before, but that's how it is.
The four children were also depressed for two days.
Until Xie Qingyun came over and said, "The fried chicken shop at home has opened. The prices are a bit higher than those in the salty food shop. Many people are waiting to see what's going on. Why don't you go and eat some and be a customer in front of others?"
Four children: “???”
Among them, Zhou Zhaoheng reacted the most. He has lived in two places since he could remember.
One was the place where I was imprisoned. I could be taken to the Imperial College during the day, but there were only classes there and there was nothing to play with.
The second one is the Xiao Mansion.
But now he lives in the Xiao Mansion and is protected by the Xiao family, which is already very disturbing. He is well-behaved and never makes any requests. The last time he was coaxed by Yan Qiushu to make a request to go back to see his parents.
Now after hearing Xie Qingyun's words, he remained silent, but everyone could see the expectation and eagerness in his eyes.
Want to go!
I really want to go!
He wanted to see what it was like outside. Would he be seen by others if he sat outside in a restaurant and ate?
Just thinking about it made his face turn red.
Dongdong was not interested. He liked the food cooked by Sister Shu more. He could not get excited if it was cooked by outsiders, even if it was the same thing.
But when he saw Ah Heng like this, he immediately raised his hand and said, "Go! I want to go!"
Seeing this, Wan'er nodded immediately: "Yes! Wan'er will go too!"
Then everyone looked at Xiao Pingsong, full of anticipation.
Xiao Pingsong naturally nodded: "Yes! I'll go too."
Then the four children looked at Yan Qiushu in unison: "Sister Shu~~~~"
Yan Qiushu smiled and said, "Let's go and pack up."
"Okay!"
The children were happily getting ready to leave. Dongdong and Ah Heng were the easiest to leave, while Xiao Pingsong and Wan'er both needed to talk to their mothers, so they had to wait a while.
Xie Qingyun watched the situation, and the smile on her face became softer. "Thank you for your hard work, Ah Shu, taking care of these annoying kids. I will have Jingming's (Xiao Huaiqi's pen name) men follow you later. Don't worry about your safety, just have fun."
"It's okay, it's okay. I like them very much." Yan Qiushu shook her head quickly.
In fact, she can only play with these few children.
As for other people, such as Xie Qingyun, who was from a famous family, although she liked them very much, they really had no common language. Her goal was to live a good life, eat and drink, while Xie Qingyun had to worry about a large family, which included but was not limited to socializing with various wealthy families.
This was a completely new field for her, and she didn't like it.
As they couldn't wait to go out, the children were very excited and moved quickly. After saying goodbye and packing, the five of them were sitting in the carriage in less than a quarter of an hour.
The big carriage didn't feel crowded with five children, but...
The children were chattering, and Yan Qiushu thought it was a bit noisy.
It's fun to play with them, but this is the only thing that's not so good.
But friends, how can they be perfect?
Yan Qiushu found it funny, so she took Wan'er in her arms and pinched her little hand. The little girl smiled shyly and came closer to her affectionately, which made her feel so cute.
Dongdong and Ah Heng were playing together. When they saw this, they were stunned for a moment and quickly came over: "Sister Ah Shu, I want to lean on you too!"
Yan Qiushu: “…”
Hug left and right, a sweet burden!
This time, the fried chicken restaurant is next to the salty restaurant.
When they went there, it was just after 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
The decoration is in ancient style, but because of the size, scale and business model of this store, it still looks quite like a modern store overall. There are double tables on both sides of the wall, four-person tables in the middle, and the kitchen at the back, which is blocked by a wall with a curtain on the upper half, so you can see what the people inside are doing.
When they passed by, the food for one table of guests was ready, and the kitchen staff was placing the food on a tray placed on the cabinet separating the kitchen and the living room. After the food was loaded, the kitchen staff pulled the bell and a staff member brought it to the table.
The hot fried chicken exudes an enticing aroma.
Dongdong's nose twitched, and he held Yan Qiushu's hand impatiently: "Sister Shu, let's sit down quickly! I want to eat fried chicken!"
Yan Qiushu couldn't hold back her laughter. This child changes so quickly. Just now she had no interest at all, all for her good friend, but now she is drooling.
But she could understand.
The fried chicken she made herself tasted better. When she heard about this shop’s fried chicken, she actually had no interest in it. But when she really came here, the aroma of frying, meat, and seasonings…
I feel hungry all of a sudden!
She took her children to sit at the four-person table in the middle. The waiter immediately brought a stool and asked the three children to sit on it. He asked enthusiastically, "What would you like to eat? The dishes are all hung on the wall. Please take a look."
So several people looked up at the wall.
There are many wooden tags hanging on the wall, which read: Honey roasted chicken, crispy fried chicken, honey chicken legs, honey chicken wings...
The price of a whole chicken ranges from 40 to 30 cents, and is divided into different price levels according to the cooking time. Chicken legs and chicken fillets are both 10 cents, which is indeed much more expensive than salty chicken.
Therefore, there may not be many customers in this store at the moment.
However, it is still pretty good to have two tables of customers at this time in the afternoon. It's just not as popular as the restaurant next door. As long as the halogen dishes are new, they will basically be sold out in a short time. There are especially many people in the morning and afternoon every day.
But the customers of the halogen restaurant are basically from poor families. Unless the offal or other halogen dishes introduced later expand the customer base, more diners will come here.
However, now, in this street where the flow of customers is not large to begin with, there are people sitting here to eat even during non-meal times. In fact, it is only a matter of time before the business becomes booming.
Xie Qingyun specially asked them to come over just to let them go out and play, otherwise their parents would be worried if they were kept at home all the time.
In the end, the five of us ordered a lot of food, including crispy fried chicken.
Things came up quickly in batches.
The first things to arrive are snacks like fried chicken legs and popcorn.
As usual, Ah Heng's maid Nan Qi would taste each item first, and only after confirming it would she let them eat.
Yan Qiushu taught her how to cook. This kind of thing has a fixed procedure and the time is well controlled. The taste is basically the same, so when she eats it, it tastes good.
For example, this fried chicken leg has a thick outer shell that is fried until golden and crispy. After you break it open, you will first get a burst of hot air, followed by the tender and juicy chicken leg meat inside.
After the crispy shell, there is tender meat. The tastes are alternating. When eating this way, I always feel that the meat is more tender than usual!
While eating, a slightly strong salty smell suddenly wafted over.
Yan Qiushu was stunned for a moment, and then she saw a little boy holding an oil-paper bag and leading a boy of about seventeen or eighteen years old in. There was a seal of the halal shop next door on the oil-paper bag.
After walking two steps, the little boy seemed to see who he was, and asked in surprise: "Xiao Pingzhou, you are here to eat too?"
Dong Dong, who was eating with his mouth full, raised his head, chewed quickly a few times, swallowed the meat in his mouth, and said in surprise: "Xue Guangxiu? You are here to eat too?"
The little boy named Xue Guangxiu nodded, his cute little face a little serious, and said in a clear voice: "My uncle just came back, I brought him here to eat." Then he showed a big smile to Yan Qiushu: "Hello, Sister Shu, little uncle, this is the Sister Shu I was talking about. She is especially good at making delicious food. Egg puffs and egg rolls are so delicious!"
The young man nodded politely upon hearing this, and looked in the direction his nephew pointed, and immediately saw the girl who happened to be looking up at that moment.
When their eyes met, Yan Qiushu smiled subconsciously and nodded slightly.
"Hello, Miss Xiao." The young man's handsome face blushed and he spoke in a gentle voice.
After saying hello, he took his nephew to find a seat and sit down.
After all, we knew each other, so I sat next to him.
Dong Dong's eyes rolled around and he asked curiously, "Xue Guangxiu, have you eaten at this restaurant before? Do you think the food is delicious?"
Xue Guangxiu sat down, thought for a moment, and then answered seriously, "It's delicious, I like it very much!"
Dongdong shook his head happily, took a bite of the chicken fillet, and smiled secretly in his heart.
But soon after Xue Guangxiu finished ordering and took out a chicken wing from the oil-paper bag, his smile disappeared. He had smelled the odor just now but didn't pay attention. As soon as the food was taken out and the two of them were not far from each other, he naturally smelled it more clearly.
That salty flavor is so delicious!
The key point is that it smells good, but is this thing actually chicken feet?
The skin of the chicken claw was wrinkled and soft, and the chicken bones seemed to be rotten. It was still trembling when it was picked out. A few children were attracted by the fragrance and looked closely. They saw that the chicken claw was still shaking under the chopsticks.
When it was eaten, it was even more convenient. You didn't even see Xue Guangxiu chewing before the bone came out.
"Wow! What is this?" Dongdong looked surprised.
"Why are chicken feet like this?" Xiao Pingsong asked.
Ah Heng and Wan'er also looked on curiously.
Not many people in the city eat chicken feet because they have little meat and are difficult to cook well, so they don't like to eat them. But looking at it now, it seems to have a lot of meat and a salivay aroma, which is particularly tempting.
Xue Guangxiu said in a crisp voice: "This is salted tiger skin chicken feet! It's from the salted shop next door. I like it the most. I bought a lot. I'll give you some."
As he spoke, he was about to stand up and share.
Yan Qiushu said hurriedly: "No, no, we can go buy some."
Dong Dong and the others also nodded quickly: "Yes, we will go by ourselves."
Xue Guangxiu shook his head, frowning: "It's sold out. This is the last bit. I bought it all."
"Don't worry, this is my family's store, I'm sure it will be available when I go buy it." Dongdong patted his chest confidently, slid down from the chair, and trotted out.
The casual attendant followed closely.
Xue Guangxiu was left staring at his back in astonishment, then looked at Yan Qiushu: "Sister Shu, is this your store?"
The child didn't understand so much. He thought that Yan Qiushu lived in the Xiao family and was a member of their family. He only knew Dongdong and her here, so he asked a question.
Yan Qiushu nodded: "Yeah, that's right."
Xue Guangxiu also wanted to ask, can it really be bought?
But before I could ask, Dongdong came back with an oil-paper bag in his hand. He looked as proud as a victorious general. After he sat down, he said, "I got it! The waiter gave it to me as soon as he saw I wanted it. He must have recognized me!"
The suspicion on his face turned into envy. The little boy had been well-educated, so even though he was envious, he just sighed, "That's great!"
Dong Dong smiled shyly: "It's okay, luckily I came out to play when the shop opened last time."
As he spoke, he opened the oil-paper bag, revealing the chicken feet inside. They looked exactly like the ones the kid next door had, with wrinkled skin, but after being soaked in brine, the juice seemed to be hanging on it, making one want to take a bite.
"Eat quickly!" Dongdong urged.
Xiao Pingsong and others who wanted to eat but were too embarrassed to reach out started eating.
Chopsticks were passed one by one, and the chicken feet inside were much less. Xiao Pingsong, as the eldest brother, was the first to put some in his mouth. He didn't eat much salty food, so he was tempted and moved very quickly.
When a chicken claw entered his mouth, the salty and slightly spicy taste spread throughout his mouth. He consciously exerted force under his lips and tongue, and the skin and flesh of the chicken claw seemed to break at the touch, revealing the bones!
There is no need to chew the meat with great effort. With one bite, the meat and bones are separated, the skin is soaked with brine, and the meat has a gelatinous texture due to long cooking. The taste...
Anyway, when Xiao Pingsong came to his senses, the chicken claw in front of him was just bare bones.
The other children at the table also enjoyed their meal very much, one bite of chicken feet, the other of chicken meat, one was juicy, salty and slightly spicy, the other was spicy with a hint of sweetness.
Dongdong took a break while eating and asked, "Hmm! This is the first time I found chicken feet so delicious! Sister Shu, did you teach them how to make it?"
Yan Qiushu was also eating. She just told me how to make chicken feet. It happened just a few days ago because Xie Qingyun said that a fried chicken shop had opened and the chicken feet in fried chicken shops were generally not very delicious. So she said that the chicken feet could be fried first and then sent to a salty shop for brine. Unexpectedly, it was done and the taste was really good.
Because she was very satisfied with the meal, she didn't even raise her head and said casually, "Yes, I forgot!"
Dong Dong: “…”
He felt extremely heartbroken that he had not eaten chicken feet for such a long time, so he ate even more voraciously, and even licked his greasy fingertips reluctantly after finishing.
Seeing this, the two children, one adult and one child, had a much better appetite and ate faster.
The door of the fried chicken shop was open, and passers-by could see what was going on inside. Because there was a salty food shop next to it, there was a lot of customers coming in one after another. Many of them would stop by to take a look when passing by, and it actually attracted quite a few customers.
At the end of the meal, Wan'er looked up with satisfaction and exclaimed in surprise, "There are so many people!"
Xue Guangxiu silently nibbled on the last chicken wing and subconsciously licked his fingertips like Dongdong. After realizing what was happening, his face turned red and he muttered, "Because you guys ate so deliciously!"
The boy opposite him also nodded and secretly glanced at the next table. There was a wide variety of snacks on the table for four. Although they ate a lot, there were still a lot left that they had not ordered.
It’s a pity that there are only two of them, and they can’t compare to the four people next to them, so they can only order this much and can’t eat any more!