Chapter 77 You've even gone so far as to pick and choose a matchmaker? Who do you think you are? ...
The next day, when Lin Yao lifted the lid of the jar containing mung bean paste, the once-unbroken liquid had separated into layers: a pale yellow liquid floated on top, while a thick layer of white starch settled at the bottom. She took a long-handled wooden ladle and carefully scooped the top layer of sour liquid back into the earthenware jar, leaving a small half-bowl at the bottom before pouring the starch paste into a bamboo sieve lined with cotton cloth. After filtering out the remaining sour liquid, she poured the clumps of starch onto a bamboo tray and carried it under the eaves to dry.
After finishing all that, Lin Yao had just settled down in the rocking chair when Afu rushed to the backyard, tripping over his own feet and nearly falling flat on his face. "Manager...Manager, something terrible has happened!"
Seeing his expression, Lin Yao thought something serious had happened and immediately jumped up from the rocking chair: "Don't rush, tell me slowly."
Ah Fu took a few breaths to catch his breath before saying, "A matchmaker has come to the front hall to arrange a marriage for you, sir!"
Lin Yao was a little confused: "A marriage proposal? For me? Is she still in the front hall?"
Ah Fu sized up Lin Yao's expression and replied, "He's here! They say the man is the young master of the Zhenxiang Manlou restaurant next door in Panshan. His family has three courtyards, and he wants to find a capable mistress of the house."
As Lin Yao approached the front door, she heard a woman's voice coming from inside: "This shop is doing really well. Young lady Lin, you're so young, yet you manage the shop so well. You'd be hard-pressed to find a girl like that even with a lantern!"
The matchmaker, with her hair styled in a glossy bun and adorned with a silver hairpin, immediately stood up upon seeing Lin Yao, greeting her with a beaming smile: "Oh my, this must be Miss Lin! You are indeed a beautiful young lady!" Without further ado, she grasped Lin Yao's hand, "I am Zhang, the matchmaker from West Street, and I have come today for the sake of Young Master Li from Xiangmanlou."
As lunchtime approached, customers were already seated in the shop in twos and threes. Lin Yao didn't want to linger with her and cause a scene, so she gently withdrew her hand: "Matchmaker Zhang, my shop has just opened and I'm very busy right now. I really don't have the mind to think about marriage."
The matchmaker's smile froze for a moment, then brightened up again: "A young lady always needs someone to rely on, doesn't she? Young Master Li is handsome and educated, a perfect match for you. Besides, it's not a long-term solution for a young woman like you to be out in the world doing business."
"I think it's fine." Lin Yao picked up the hot tea that Su Niang handed her, the rising steam blurring her features.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Lin Cheng rushed back, followed by a panting Ah Zhu. It turned out that when the matchmaker came, Wang Zhi, worried that Lin Yao wouldn't be able to handle it, had Ah Zhu quickly go to the dock and call Lin Cheng back. As soon as Lin Cheng entered, he heard the matchmaker's words and immediately asked, "Who wants to arrange a marriage for my sister?"
When Zhang the matchmaker saw that he looked like Lin Yao, she knew he was her brother and hurriedly said, "Oh, this must be Lin's brother? I'm here today on behalf of the Li family in Panshan Town. The Li family is a well-known wealthy family in our town. Your sister will be destined to enjoy a life of happiness if she marries into their family."
Lin Cheng stepped in front of Lin Yao and said politely, "My sister is still young and has no plans to get married."
The matchmaker was still persistent: "She's not young anymore. It's the perfect time for an engagement. She can marry into the family after she comes of age. Otherwise, all the good families will be taken. Xiangmanlou is the biggest restaurant in our town, not some small eatery. Besides, if you wait a few more years, Miss Lin will be an old maid, and she might not be able to find such a good marriage."
Lin Cheng was enraged: "Who gives them the right to nitpick about my sister? What's wrong with a small eatery? Our business is booming, and we might even be able to open a restaurant someday! Besides, my sister manages everything here, inside and out. No man could compare. She can support herself, so what if she doesn't get married!" He then tried to shoo them away, "Go away, go away, and don't ever come back! How can you talk like that, as if my sister were some kind of commodity! Go away!"
Speechless, Zhang the matchmaker reluctantly packed up her gifts: "In that case, I'll come back another day." But as she reached the door, she turned back: "Young Lady Lin, you'd better think this through, or you'll miss your chance!"
Matchmaker Zhang returned empty-handed and embellished her story about what happened at the Lin family's restaurant. The Li family had offered a considerable sum of money, and she had genuinely wanted to facilitate the match, but she had never encountered such an arrogant family: "Master Li, you didn't see it, but Miss Lin's brother is very fierce. He looks down on you openly and secretly, and even said that their restaurant will definitely be bigger than yours in the future."
Li Siliang immediately retorted angrily, "You're just a small merchant from a peasant background, how dare you compare yourself to us? Don't you even know who you are!"
"Shut up!" Li Fu snapped. He hadn't expected Zhang the matchmaker to be kicked out so quickly; it seemed he had underestimated the young woman. This Manager Lin, who had single-handedly built his business from a dockside stall to his current eatery, and who also reportedly owned a crystal powder workshop and a spice workshop, was no ordinary person. He waved his hand, signaling someone to give Zhang the matchmaker a tip as a reward for her trouble.
The matchmaker, having received her reward, left happily. Li Siliang plopped down: "I never wanted to marry her in the first place. An uneducated country girl, who can only cook a few dishes—she's no match for my wife. At best, she'll be a concubine. Father, I think…"
"Forget about it!" Li Fu pointed at him, exasperated. "Do you really think Manager Lin is just an ordinary peasant girl? She's built up the shop in such a short time; she can't be a simple person! Stop with your scheming. I don't care how many women are in the house, but the legal wife must be a respectable person! Look at you! How can I entrust Xiangmanlou to you? Get out! Go wherever you want, and don't let me see you again!"
Li Fu looked at his only son, his heart filled with pain. His wife had passed away early, and he, busy with business, had no time to discipline him, so he entrusted him to his mother's care. The old woman doted on the child, indulging his every whim from a young age, and by the time Li Fu realized what had happened, his son's personality had already become distorted. Now that he was getting old, the restaurant would eventually have to be handed over to his son, but his son was like this—how could he possibly feel at ease…
~
The midday sun caused the starch to gradually tighten, and by evening it was half-dry with a slight dampness to the touch.
The semi-dry starch was poured into a stone mortar, and Lin Yao repeatedly pounded it with a wooden pestle until the lumps of starch were turned into fine powder, which was then sifted through a sieve. She scooped out some powder, added a bowl and a half of cold water, stirred it well, and made a semi-fluid paste.
Making mung bean vermicelli requires a strainer with finer holes, so Lin Cheng specially made one for her. She boiled a pot of water, filled the strainer with the bean paste, and gently shook it while holding the wooden handle.
The milky white paste dripped down through the fine holes at the bottom of the container, stretching into thin strands in the air. Unlike crystal noodles, vermicelli, being much finer, immediately set upon falling into boiling water, curling into a snow-white clump on the surface.
With swift movements, she used long bamboo chopsticks to pick up the vermicelli and dipped it into a basin of cold water. The vermicelli slowly unfurled in the water, and then she scooped it into a basin of sour water to rinse it. The original pale yellowish-green color gradually faded, turning it as white as jade. Finally, she drained the washed vermicelli and hung it strand by strand on a bamboo pole.
"Shopkeeper, what is this?" Su Niang had never seen crystal noodles made before, and seeing her making these delicate and transparent noodles in the courtyard all day, she asked curiously.
"These are glass noodles." Lin Yao stirred the remaining glass noodles in the water. "We're making duck blood and glass noodle soup today!"
As he spoke, he turned and took out half a dried duck from an earthenware jar in the corner of the kitchen, along with the duck blood and offal he had prepared earlier. He first soaked the dried duck in warm water to rehydrate it, and while he was doing so, he cut the duck blood into cubes, put it in a wooden basin, and rinsed it with clean water until the water in the basin was clear. He then rubbed the offal three times with coarse salt to carefully remove any dirt, and then marinated it in rice wine to remove any fishy smell.
Sunlight streamed obliquely through the window onto the stove. She chopped the soaked duck into large pieces, put them in an iron pot of cold water to blanch and remove the scum, rinsed them with warm water, and then put them into a clay pot. She filled the clay pot with well water, added scallions, ginger slices, and two star anise, brought it to a boil over high heat, then turned to low heat to simmer. As the pot bubbled and simmered, the aroma of the duck meat gradually wafted out.
While the soup was simmering, Lin Yao washed a handful of mung bean sprouts, removed the roots, soaked the glass noodles in warm water until soft, and chopped the cilantro and scallions. By this time, the duck soup in the clay pot had turned milky white. She scooped out a spoonful and tasted it. The basic flavor was there. She sprinkled a little white pepper powder into the soup and added a few drops of sesame oil for extra aroma.
Next, she poured the marinated duck offal into the clay pot. The duck liver, intestines, and gizzard tumbled and changed color in the boiling broth. She quickly scooped them out and rinsed them in cold water so they would be crisp and tender. Then she added the duck blood cubes to the broth and simmered them over low heat to let the duck blood absorb the flavor of the broth. Finally, she added mung bean sprouts and blanched them until just cooked.
Finally, she laid the softened vermicelli on the bottom of the rough porcelain bowl, then layered duck blood, duck offal, and duck meat on top. She ladled in the boiling duck broth, and the vermicelli unfurled and curled in the hot soup. She sprinkled on some bright green cilantro and chopped scallions. Lin Yao held the bowl to her nose and inhaled the aroma, her eyes crinkling into crescents. The taste was almost identical to what she had eaten in Nanjing in her previous life!
As soon as Lin Yao stepped out of the kitchen carrying a large bowl of duck blood and vermicelli soup, the rich aroma seemed to have grown legs and spread throughout the entire shop. After Lin Cheng brought Lin Song back, he was chopping firewood in the backyard. The smell made his stomach rumble, and he sniffed hard, asking, "What delicious dish is A Yao making today? It smells amazing."
Lin Yao put the bowl on the table. "Duck blood vermicelli soup, come and have a taste!" She filled her own bowl to the brim. The hot soup warmed her up, and all the fatigue of the day vanished.
Wang Zhi picked up the bowl and first took a sniff; a rich, savory aroma wafted up. He scooped up a spoonful of soup and savored it. The soup was thick but not greasy, fresh but not fishy. The rich aroma of the duck meat, the tenderness of the duck blood, and the smoothness of the vermicelli intertwined in his mouth, creating an exquisite flavor. He couldn't help but exclaim, "The shopkeeper's skill is superb! This soup has a unique flavor, exceptionally delicious; it's truly rare." Wang Zhi now genuinely enjoys this job. Not only is the shopkeeper kind, but he also occasionally cooks special meals for him. In the past few months, he's gained quite a bit of weight—how wonderful!
Ah Zhu and Ah Fu also held their bowls and drank heartily. The vermicelli soaked up the soup and slid into their mouths, making them feel refreshed. The duck offal was crisp and chewy, and the duck meat was stewed until tender and flavorful. Every bite was unforgettable.
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Author's Note: [Let me see] Writing is hard work, please add this to your favorites~
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