Dragon Boat Festival Preparations
On Children's Day, Duanmu Huaixin happily ate a lot of sweets, all made by Sister Wen herself. He was as happy as a little fool, and deliberately showed off in front of the children who didn't get to eat the sweets, "Look, this is made by Sister Wen especially for me. It's fragrant and sweet, and it tastes soft and fluffy. You can hold it in your mouth for a long time."
The child drooled with envy, and regardless of Duanmu Huaixin's status as a prince, begged, "Brother, I want to eat it too."
"Hehe," Duanmu Huaixin aroused the child's greed, but he said with a wicked smile: "No, they are all mine."
"Wow——————!" The child's crying was deafening, accusing the hateful adult.
Duanmu Huaixin suddenly felt guilty. He looked around and saw that no one seemed to notice that he had made the child cry. He quickly picked up the malt sugar and tried to comfort the child. "Don't cry, don't cry. Here's some malt sugar, it's wheat-flavored."
Seeing that the child was still crying uncontrollably, Duanmu Huaixin had no choice but to tear off a small piece and put it into the child's open mouth, "Try it, is it delicious?"
"Hmm, hmm, delicious!" Children's emotions come and go quickly. They will stop crying after eating the malt candy.
Duanmu Huaixin distributed the malt sugar to the children one by one, "Come, come, line up to get the malt sugar, one piece per person, don't rush and don't rush."
After finally distributing all the malt candies, Duanmu Huaixin picked up the last piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed it. Looking at the children who still wanted to eat, he told them seriously: "There are no more. The last piece is mine."
The malt sugar was shared and eaten until it was gone, but there were still a lot of winter melon candies and candied haws left. Although Sister Wen said that candies could be eaten as an exception today, Duanmu Huaixin did not plan to eat much. He thought about it, stuck the remaining candied haws on a piece of straw, put the winter melon candies into a wooden box, and secretly placed it in the study in the front yard.
In the small kitchen, Wen Weili was washing some long, narrow leaves. Seeing Duanmu Huaixin sneaking past the door, she called out to him, "Xinxin, come and work."
"Who? Oh, it's Sister Wen. What are you going to do?" Duanmu Huaixin was startled and walked into the small kitchen and asked.
"The Dragon Boat Festival is coming," Wen Weili put a handful of washed zongzi leaves into the basket. "Come and help me make the zongzi, weave the mugwort leaves and plant the calamus, and boil some duck eggs. There's so much to do. Don't be lazy. What kind of zongzi filling do you want to eat this year?"
"I won't hide away," Duanmu Huaixin suggested, "Sister Wen, I want to eat malt sugar rice dumplings."
Wen Weili:?
Gently tapping Duanmu Huaixin's forehead, Wen Weili said with a smile: "Don't order weird fillings, or I'll just make sweet rice dumplings again."
"This year, this year I want to eat meat dumplings." Duanmu Huaixin said in a low voice.
Wen Weili paused as she washed the leaves for a moment. "Why? Did the taste change this year?"
"Sister Wen prefers salty zongzi, right?" Duanmu Huaixin grumbled. "When I used to eat zongzi at the Wen Mansion, they always made sweet ones, but Sister Wen didn't eat them much. I thought she didn't like them, but she actually prefers spicy and salty food when she cooks."
"It's hard for you to think so much." Wen Weili laughed out loud, "You think too much, I really don't like eating zongzi, it doesn't matter if it's salty or sweet. To be honest, I like both salty and sweet."
Duanmu Huaixin felt extremely embarrassed. He slowly squatted down and covered his face with his hands in embarrassment. "I just took it for granted."
"But I'm very happy," Wen Weili touched Duanmu Huaixin's head, "It means Xinxin cares about me. I'm very happy, my king."
Duanmu Huaixin raised his head from between his fingers, looked at Wen Weili who was still busy, and whispered: "Let's try salty rice dumplings this year, maybe they won't be bad."
"good."
Wen Weili soaked the dried shrimps in the warehouse in water, took a piece of pork belly with the right amount of fat and lean meat, cut it into fine dices, sprinkled some salt on it, cut a few fresh mushrooms into small dices, separated the yolks of a few eggs, and set them aside for later use.
Duanmu Huaixin handed the washed glutinous rice to Wen Weili and stared at her movements without blinking.
Wen Weili picked up two pieces of zong leaves, stacked them together, and bent them in the middle to make the zongzi into a funnel shape. She scooped a spoonful of glutinous rice with a spoon and spread it on the bottom of the funnel. She placed some soaked dried shrimp, diced meat, diced fresh mushrooms, and raw egg yolks in the middle, then poured a spoonful of glutinous rice on top and pressed it firmly.
Finally, fold the rice leaf in half to cover the glutinous rice, press it tightly with your hands, and tie it tightly with a thin thread. A salty meat rice dumpling is ready.
Wen Weili's movements in wrapping rice dumplings were smooth and easy. The dumplings she wrapped had distinct corners. When she put them there, each one had a straight belly, looking both proud and beautiful.
Duanmu Huaixin watched a few and felt that he had learned it. He picked up two pieces of rice dumplings leaves and started to prepare them with full confidence.
Unexpectedly, making zongzi was not as simple as he thought. Either one side of the leaves was shorter, or the glutinous rice leaked out, or the leaves fell apart when tying the string, and the good ingredients fell to the ground.
"I didn't mean to..." Duanmu Huaixin silently cleaned the floor, emitting resentment from his body, "Why is it so easy for you, Sister Wen?"
"Practice makes perfect," Wen Weili continued, picking up two more bamboo leaves from the basket. "Don't sweep over here, the dust will fly up."
"Oh." Duanmu Huaixin cleaned more gently.
"Let's weave mugwort leaves." Wen Weili put the rice dumplings she had wrapped into the basket and picked up a handful of dried mugwort.
"Xinxin, look, first tie the end tightly with a rope, then press one layer on top of the other like braiding hair to form a straw rope. If there is a part that is short, just take another one from the side and insert it into the braided part," Wen Weili taught Duanmu Huaixin step by step.
Duanmu Huaixin learned very seriously, clumsily following Wen Weili's weaving step by step. Soon, a complete bundle of mugwort appeared in his hands. "Sister Wen, this is really interesting."
Duanmu Huaixin sniffed the strong fragrance on his hand and shuddered. "It smells very pungent, but it also smells unique."
"Well, if you like, I will make some mugwort incense for you." Wen Weili handed the task of weaving mugwort leaves to Duanmu Huaixin, and continued to make rice dumplings herself.
This time, they were going to make sweet rice dumplings. Wen Weili took out a box of tribute dates - golden candied dates, which were said to have the effect of calming the mind and invigorating qi. She also took out the red beans that had been soaked in advance and mixed them with the glutinous rice, just like making salty rice dumplings just now. She made a spoonful of glutinous rice mixed with red beans as the base, put two or three candied dates in the middle, filled it up, and tied it with a thin thread. A sweet rice dumpling was ready.
Duanmu Huaixin was working hard to weave mugwort leaves, while Wen Weili was wrapping one rice dumpling after another with deft movements. The two were speechless for a moment, but there was a kind of gentle peace flowing between them.
"Sister Wen, I've finished editing." Duanmu Huaixin cheered.
"It's really good." Wen Weili praised it halfheartedly, and her men wrapped the remaining glutinous rice in rice dumplings without adding any stuffing.
"Okay, the rice dumplings and mugwort leaves are done. Now it's a lot easier." Wen Weili arranged the rice dumplings according to their taste. Seeing Duanmu Huaixin's eyes begging for praise, she burst out laughing and praised, "Xinxin is awesome. Without you, today wouldn't be this easy."
Duanmu Huaixin also praised Wen Weili: "Sister Wen is the best. She made so many beautiful and delicious rice dumplings." He leaned close to Wen Weili's ear and whispered, "Sister Wen, after dinner, will you go out and play with me?"
"What about the guards guarding the palace?" Wen Weili had not left the house since she entered Prince Huai's palace. After hearing what Duanmu Huaixin said, she also wanted to go out for a walk.
"Don't worry, Sister Wen, I have my own way."
In the evening, Wen Weili reluctantly changed into men's clothes and said with a smile, "Is this your idea? You want us to pretend to be servants going out to buy groceries?"
"Actually, they know we're pretending, but we just have to keep it up." Duanmu Huaixin changed into a gray, coarse cloth garment, painted his face and hands slightly black, removed his hair crown, and tied his hair up with a piece of green cloth. He carried a straw basket filled with candied haws, hung a cloth bag filled with winter melon candies around his waist, and wore a pair of straw sandals. He smiled and said to Wen Weili, "Sister Wen, do I look like a candy vendor?"
"Similar, very similar." Wen Weili laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She simply changed her clothes to look similar to Duanmu Huaixin, took the cloth bag containing winter melon candies, and patted her sleeves. "Sir, my friend, we two brothers are from poor families and have come together to do some small business. No bargaining, how about it?"
"Excellent."
The two of them teased each other for a while, then walked out of Prince Huai's palace openly.
"Selling candied haws————"
"Selling winter melon candy————"
One is the extremely wealthy Prince Huai, and the other is a noble lady from a wealthy family, but they pretend to be a pair of poor brothers, selling sweets on the street.
"Hey, young man, how much are the candied haws?" someone called out to Duanmu Huaixin.
"Two cents," Duanmu Huaixin said. The man looked over in surprise, so he added, "These fruits are from last year, and the sugar coating is very thin. I'm selling them cheap to earn some for chewing and then making something else."
"I see," the man thought, and bought a string of candied haws. He then became very interested in Wen Weili and asked, "Are you two brothers?"
Wen Weili coughed a few times, and Duanmu Huaixin said, "My younger brother has been sickly since he was a child, and his body has never been strong. Today, he insisted on coming out to help sell winter melon candy."
"No wonder you look so thin," the man said with pity, "give me a pound of winter melon candy."
Wen Weili said in a low voice, "One ounce and thirty coins."
"Huh, this winter melon candy is more expensive than others." The man thought he could get a bargain on the winter melon candy, but unexpectedly it was more expensive than before.
Wen Weili did not argue. She weighed out an ounce of winter melon candy from the bag and handed it to the man. The man then realized that the winter melon candy of these two brothers was different from that of others. The winter melon candy sold by ordinary vendors was only a little bigger than a finger, but the ones sold by this brother's were longer than a finger and had a thicker candy coating. No wonder they were sold at such a high price.
The man pinched out a winter melon candy and tasted it, and was immediately even more surprised. This winter melon candy had a delicate texture and a strong sugary flavor. Even if it was sold at sixty cents per two ounces, people would still rush to buy it.
He wanted to buy some more, but the two brothers had already gone far away, so he had to give up. He took a bite of a candied haws and paused, feeling extremely annoyed. The candied haws were so delicious, it was really a waste. He should have bought a few more. Unfortunately, he could no longer see the two men in the vast crowd.
Elsewhere, Duanmu Huaixin and Wen Weili stopped and walked along the way, having almost sold all their candied haws and winter melon candies. Wen Weili was about to return to the palace when Duanmu Huaixin pulled her aside and asked solemnly, "Sister Wen, there's a lantern festival in the city tomorrow night. Would you like to come with me to watch it?"
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