Xu Qinyu was not afraid of this kind of street woman. To be honest, people like Mrs. Luo were not that scary, but they were as annoying as bedbugs.

When she was in junior high and high school, she set up a stall. Because the food she made was delicious and the business was booming, she was always squeezed by the small vendors nearby. One stall owner even deliberately found an excuse to fight with her and overturned her stall. She was not afraid and rushed up to the man and started fighting like a firecracker. She was thin and nimble, so the man didn't get any benefit. Instead, he was beaten by her and couldn't resist. In the end, even if the incident was brought to the police station, it was not her who started the trouble. She was just educated by the police comrades, who also said that the man bullied an orphan and made him pay for her stall.

After that, no stall owner dared to bother her because they knew she was not someone to be trifled with.

He was an orphan. If he was timid and weak, he would be bullied to death.

Even if she came here, Xu Qinyu would not allow herself to be bullied.

Of course, she also knew that in ancient times, the powerful and noble had oppressive status, and if she really met someone with a certain status, she would only suffer losses.

If she were someone else, she really wouldn't dare to do this. She had previously thought of setting up stalls on East Street and West Street, just to see if she could make friends with some minor officials in the county. In this way, if she had a minor official to know, she wouldn't be afraid of meeting someone like Old Lady Luo in the future. Even if there were other powers to suppress her, the minor officials still had some weight of influence in the county.

Actually, Yuanbao Town is called a town, and its size is about the same as a county, quite large. It seems that it was a county before, and then the jurisdiction in the southwest was replanned, so it was changed into a town, which is also a county system.

There is a government office, and the highest official is the county magistrate.

Next in line were the minor officials who served in the government offices. There were also some Yuanwailang in the county town and some branch families of powerful people in other places, but there were no higher-ranking officials.

That's why she wanted to make friends with some officials or the daughters of officials by running a snack stall in East Street and West Street. It always helps to have some connections.

Even though it's a bit tiring to set up a snack stall on East Street and West Street, you have to make it a priority. Otherwise, if you really run into someone who's more prestigious and difficult to deal with than old lady Luo, you won't be at a loss what to do.

The women around didn't think there was anything wrong with Miss Xu's behavior. Some of their relatives also had such fierce daughters-in-law. As long as they didn't bully their own family members, who wouldn't like them?

What's more, Miss Xu can cook and earn money, and they all hope to have a daughter-in-law like her in the future.

Xu Qinyu glanced at the old lady Luo who ran away in shame, waved the kitchen knife in her hand, and smiled brightly at Wen and Pei Jianing, "Don't be afraid, mother and Ning Jie'er, I'm here."

When Pei Jianing saw his fourth sister-in-law like this, he couldn't help but burst out laughing. For some reason, the last bit of depression in his heart almost dissipated.

She always thought of herself as a princess, and she always blamed everyone for ending up in such a situation.

But the fourth sister-in-law was even more miserable than her. She had nothing to do with their family, but was pushed out as a scapegoat by the family members. Isn’t that more unfair?

The fourth sister-in-law has become stronger and stronger, unlike the second daughter of the Dechang Marquis’ Mansion, who still wanted to act like a princess and couldn’t even deal with an old woman who came to her house.

When she was a princess before, she had never been bullied like this.

She should learn from Fourth Sister-in-law in the future, and if someone comes to cause trouble again, she should also learn to pick up a kitchen knife like Fourth Sister-in-law.

Xu Qinyu carried the kitchen knife and went back to the courtyard with the Pei family. After dinner, the family helped in the kitchen. Those who didn't know how to cook helped with the work within their ability.

After finishing their work, the whole family went to bed.

The next morning, Xu Qinyu first made glutinous rice stuffed with fat intestines.

Pour away the excess water from the soaked glutinous rice, chop the soaked mushrooms, and mince the pork belly into puree and pour it into the glutinous rice together with the mushrooms. Add salt, a little soy sauce, pepper powder and star anise powder to enhance the flavor, and no other seasonings. Add ginger and scallion water and mix well. Pour the ginger and scallion water in three small portions.

The next step is to stuff the glutinous rice filling into the fat intestines. Don’t fill it too full, about 70% full is enough, otherwise the glutinous rice will swell when it is cooked, and it will burst the intestine casing, which is not only unsightly but also tastes bad.

Don’t add too much pork belly and mushrooms, otherwise they will take away the glutinous flavor of the glutinous rice.

This glutinous rice stuffed fat intestine is very delicious.

This is just the simplest recipe. Some places can add some seafood, and some places add peanuts, fish, etc. Each has its own way of making it and its own flavor.

The fat intestines were cut into lengths of about one foot. She stuffed glutinous rice into them without any tools, just using her hands. She was quite skillful and didn’t remove too much fat from the fat intestines, so they tasted more fragrant. After stuffing them with glutinous rice, she just tied the two sides of the casing with a linen rope.

A lot of fat intestines weighing seven or eight kilograms were also stuffed out.

The cost is about the same as that of roujiamo. Although it does not require eggs and white flour, it does require pork belly and glutinous rice. However, it does not require salted pork intestines, and the cost of spices is also saved a lot, so the cost is about the same.

A foot long glutinous rice-filled intestine can be cut into three pieces, each piece also selling for eight cents, so a whole piece costs twenty-four cents.

After the glutinous rice and fat intestines are stuffed, just put them in the pot and cook them.

Glutinous rice stuffed intestines are also called glutinous rice intestines.

She cooked it in a casserole on a large stove and started frying eggs and pancakes in an iron pan on top of the stove.

I will continue making Roujiamo and see whether everyone likes Roujiamo or glutinous rice sausage.

The glutinous rice sausage cooked in the clay pot filled the house with fragrance. After cooking, she kept two pieces, which can be cut into six pieces, just enough for each person to taste.

She also left two for the Xia family. Since they were fresh food, she would give some to Sister Xia's family for them to taste.

The person who came to serve food to the Xia family today was not Zhuzi, but Xia's sister-in-law Wu.

Mrs. Wu came by herself. Xiao Cui stayed at home to take care of Shao Ge'er. Mrs. Wu also brought two thick children's shirts, which were specially made for Feng Ge'er and Yuan Jie'er. The material was the leftover scraps from selling other fabrics, but they were all the same material. Although they were spliced ​​together, you couldn't tell what was going on. They were made a little bigger and were long shirts. Even when Feng Ge'er and Yuan Jie'er grew to seven or eight years old, they could still be worn as short shirts by lengthening the sleeves.

The lining of the jacket is filled with animal fur, making it warmer to wear.

Xu Qinyu had already finished preparing the meal when Mrs. Wu came to visit. When she saw the two blouses, she naturally thanked them.

Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "I also want to thank Miss Xu. Shao has been eating the meals you prepared for almost half a month, and he has gained more than a pound. His face has gained some flesh, and his complexion is much better." So when she saw that Feng and Yuan were silent and afraid of people all day long, she thought the two children were pitiful, so she made two small shirts for them.

Xu Qinyu accepted the shirt and asked Ning Jie'er to take the two children to try them on inside. Then she cut a piece of glutinous rice sausage for Wu to taste. "Sister Xia, please try my new food, glutinous rice sausage. I was worried that the guests would get tired of eating meat buns, so I made some new food."

The glutinous rice sausage was fragrant and glutinous, and tasted so good and fragrant that Wu liked it immediately.

"It's delicious. I'll buy some from my wife later. I'm sure my child's father will like it too."

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Where do you want sister-in-law to buy it? I'll give some to sister-in-law later."

There were only two people in the kitchen. Xu Qinyu was packing food boxes. Wu was not in a hurry to leave. She chatted with Xu Qinyu and told her, "Ms. Xu's braised herring is delicious. Every time we cook fish, the neighbors come to ask what we cook. I tell them that they bought it from you. Many families in my alley also want to buy fish from you. I told them that you only have enough fish to buy from Guihua Lane, so they gave up. Can you cook more fish?"

What she said was true. Not only did her neighbors on both sides ask about it, but they also ate such delicious fish every day in Guihua Lane and chatted with other neighbors when they walked around the streets. Some people in Guihua Lane would buy two fish from Xu Qinyu when they entertained guests, and women would buy two fish to take back to their parents' home. Everyone said the fish was delicious.

The reputation of Miss Xu's delicious and cheap fish cooking spread.

Other people also wanted to come to Guihua Lane to buy fish, but just as Mrs. Wu said, she only caught about ten fish a day, enough only for the people in Guihua Lane. Others couldn't buy any even if they wanted.

Xu Qinyu said, "The big iron pot we ordered will be back in a few days. We will increase the portion, so others can buy some when they want. We will also add some fish balls and fish head stewed with tofu to sell together."

Although the fish business doesn't make as much money as the meat-stuffed steamed bun business, it can accumulate over time and make your name known. Look, there are people who are eyeing it and want to buy it.

Mrs. Wu thought for a moment and then said, "I also heard that the young lady caused some trouble while selling fish."

The two alleys are not far from each other, and any trivial matter can basically spread throughout South Street.

Xu Qinyu was a little helpless. She didn't expect the news to spread. She told Mrs. Wu about how Mrs. Luo ate for free, how she later came to her house to make trouble and peek at the fish recipe under the pretext of returning the money for the fish, and how she came to apologize last night and they had a quarrel again.

Mrs. Wu, however, agreed with what he heard. She believed that one should be more careful when dealing with people with bad behavior.

Xu Qinyu couldn't help but say, "This is just a street woman. I'm not afraid of her, but I'm afraid of meeting some other powerful ruffians." Asking for the recipe is a small matter. Who knows what will happen if I give her the recipe but she can't make the taste she makes.

You may not really encounter it, but just in case.

Wu's heart moved, and she whispered a few words into Xu Qinyu's ear.

Xu Qinyu's eyes sparkled. "Can it really work? If it does, I will thank Sister Xia."

Mrs. Wu smiled and said, "Let's not be so polite. You can save a fish, some glutinous rice and pork intestines, and make some other food for dinner. I'll ask Zhuzi to come and get them in the evening."

"OK."

After Wu left, Xu Qinyu also went to the dock with Pei Weixuan to set up a stall.

As usual, the people on the Shen and Han merchant ships lined up, while the two official ships turned up their disdain at the food made from fat intestines. In fact, these officers and soldiers saw that the people on the merchant ships had been eating fat intestines and meat steamed buns for more than half a month, and they smelled the fragrance every day, so they knew that the food must be really delicious. However, since they had said before that it was something that even dogs would not eat, they were embarrassed to line up behind these people to buy it, otherwise they might be laughed at by these people in secret.

Upon learning that there was a new dish today, also 8 cents per portion, most people couldn't help but order one to try.

I was amazed as soon as I entered.

When it comes to Roujiamo, it is very filling, oily and delicious.

This glutinous rice sausage is so fragrant that it makes you dizzy. It is both fragrant and glutinous.

Many people immediately shouted, "Young lady, your cooking skills are really amazing. This glutinous rice and fat intestines is very fragrant and delicious. Young lady, can I only have glutinous rice and fat intestines instead of meat buns tomorrow?"

Although the amount of glutinous rice and fat intestines seems to be less than that of meat bun, it is less than the length of a palm. But compared with the new food, I am still a little tired of eating meat bun after eating it for half a month. My stomach is full of oil and water, and the glutinous rice and fat intestines are so fragrant and sticky, so I naturally prefer the new food.

Xu Qinyu smiled and said, "Of course you can."

Even though there are new foods, today each person can only buy one meat bun and one portion of glutinous rice and pork intestines.

Those who have tried the new food said that they would only want glutinous rice and pork intestines tomorrow.

By the end of the sale, almost everyone chose glutinous rice and pork intestines for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Because it’s just a small portion and not enough to eat, you’ll naturally be thinking about it, and if you’re thinking about it, you’ll definitely want to eat more the next day.

After closing the stall, Xu Qinyu went shopping for ingredients today and bought three pounds of spare ribs, two pounds of pork belly, a tender chicken, some bamboo shoots, and a few lotus roots and yam. Lotus roots and yam are quite expensive, about ten cents a pound. Ordinary people certainly don't eat them often, and they would only buy some when entertaining guests.

After shopping, Xu Qinyu started to get busy.

Pei Jianing and Pei Weixuan came over to help wash and pick vegetables. Pei Jianing couldn't help asking, "Fourth sister-in-law, why did you buy so many ingredients today? Are you going to cook them all tonight? It seems like we can't finish them all."

Xu Qinyu smiled mysteriously, "Sister Ning will know later."

…

After Mrs. Wu went back in the morning, Miss Xu put bean porridge, a portion of fried tofu, and a portion of steamed meat with soda in the lunch box for Shao Ge'er.

In fact, Wu had never eaten steamed pork with soda, and had never even heard of this dish. It was not even available in restaurants.

I heard from Miss Xu that it is steamed with lean meat and eggs. Meat steamed with soda is more suitable for children as it is easy to digest and nutritious. It is specially made for three children.

As expected, Shao Ge'er ate up all the food in the lunch box, even the simplest fried tofu, and said that the steamed meat with soda was delicious.

The two glutinous rice sausages that Mrs. Wu brought back were still hot when she got home, and there was no need to steam them again. Mrs. Wu simply cut them into a plate. Shao Ge'er finished his meal and ate a few pieces of the glutinous rice sausages. In the end, Mrs. Wu saw that his belly was too full and was afraid that he would get sick, so she stopped feeding him.

Soon, the head of the family, Xia Yuanzhi, also woke up. He was busy with the business in the shop every day, and sometimes he came back very late. Mrs. Wu would let him sleep a little longer in the morning. At this time, Xia Yuanzhi saw the fresh food on the table and couldn't help laughing and said, "Ms. Xu made new food again? What is this?"

He couldn't help but take a bite of it. It was fragrant and sticky. He said quickly, "It's delicious."

"It's delicious, isn't it?" Mrs. Wu brought the porridge cooked by Xiao Cui to the table. "Hurry up and eat. I have something to discuss with you after dinner."

Xiao Cui cooked bean porridge and some bean sprouts in the morning, but the taste was bland.

Xia Yuanzhi didn't eat bean sprouts, but ate half of the glutinous rice sausage with bean porridge. After he finished, he wiped his mouth and sighed, and said to his wife, "It would be great if Miss Xu opened a restaurant and sold both breakfast and dinner. We wouldn't have to cook at home and would eat in the restaurant every day. But Miss Xu is really good at cooking fish and sausage, but I don't know how she cooks other dishes."

As for other foods, only his son could have some. He couldn't compete with his son for the food, so he never tried them. He always thought that Miss Xu was good at cooking fish and pig intestines.

Seeing that he was enjoying his meal, Mrs. Wu walked over and whispered a few words in Xia Yuanzhi's ear.

Xia Yuanzhi was a little hesitant. "Will this work? After all, we are inviting Xu Kongmu to dinner. We usually go to Donglaiju on East Street for dinner. Wouldn't it be a bit sloppy to host a banquet at our house this time? And we don't know how the other dishes cooked by Miss Xu are. We can't offend Xu Kongmu. If the other dishes cooked by Miss Xu are just average..."

"What are you thinking about?" Wu said angrily, "Ms. Xu can even make smelly offal and earthy river fish taste so good, what are you still worried about? Do you really think the food in Donglaiju is as delicious as what Ms. Xu makes? Besides, although Xu Kongmu and Ms. Xu are not from the same family, they sound the same. Maybe they were from the same family five hundred years ago. Xu Kongmu might admire Ms. Xu very much. I have already told Ms. Xu to prepare a few more dishes, so please invite Xu Kongmu to our house to eat tonight."

She had no doubts about Miss Xu's cooking skills and was very confident in them.

Xia Yuanzhi was finally persuaded by his wife and decided to invite Xu Kongmu to his home for dinner.

After a busy day in the shop, Xia Yuanzhi went to the government office at a certain time to invite Xu Kongmu.

Xu Kongmu is about forty years old, tall and strong, with a majestic look even when he is not angry, and he never smiles. He is in charge of the yamen's workshop, household affairs, personnel affairs, criminal justice, rituals, and military affairs. He is very busy with official duties on weekdays. Today, he had dinner with Xia Yuanzhi because of a case.

There has been a theft case under investigation in the town recently. Several valuable jewellery were stolen from Jinyinzhai. Jinyinzhai is a jewellery shop, which is very close to Xia Yuanzhi's cloth shop. That night, Xia Yuanzhi was busy in the cloth shop until 11:00 p.m. and left. When he came out, he saw someone running out of the Jinyinzhai next door. Then the shopkeeper of Jinyinzhai shouted that he had met a thief who had stolen several jewellery from Jinyinzhai and ran away.

Xia Yuanzhi first helped up the shopkeeper next door. He saw that the shopkeeper had a bloody head, probably attacked by a thief. When he went out to look for the thief, he had already run away without a trace.

He helped the shopkeeper next door to report the case to the authorities, and the government began to investigate the case.

Xia Yuanzhi was a witness to the case. Having seen the thief's back, he would naturally help with the investigation.

Xia Yuanzhi wanted to invite Xu Kongmu to dinner as an attempt to improve their relationship.

For those who do business, it is definitely beneficial to have close relations with officials.

Xia Yuanzhi was not yet thirty, and Xu Kongmu was already forty, but the two had known each other for several years and had a good private relationship. Xu Kongmu was also a generous and open-minded person, and they often had meals together, with both paying for the meals and entertaining each other.

In fact, Kongmu was not an official, but a clerk without any rank. However, Kongmu was the highest-ranking official in the town except for the county magistrate.

He is also an official in the eyes of ordinary people.

Even though the two of them were friends, Xia Yuanzhi also respected Xu Kongmu.

This was the first time that Xia Yuanzhi invited Xu Kongmu to his home for dinner, and he couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

He briefly told Xu Kongmu, "My wife said there is a young lady who is a good cook. She specially asked her to prepare a table of food for Xu Kongmu at home. She said that the food is better than that of Donglaiju. I usually eat the braised herring and meat buns made by her. They are really delicious. I thought that other dishes might be good too, so I asked Xu Kongmu to taste them together."

Xu Kongmu didn't really care where to eat dinner, so he nodded and said, "Then I'll go to Brother Xia's house to bother you today."

"Where, where."

The two soon arrived at the Xia family's house.

A table full of delicious dishes was already placed in the main hall of the front yard. Just by smelling the food, Xia Yuanzhi couldn't help swallowing his saliva. The food was indeed much more fragrant than the ones at Donglai Ju, but he didn't know how it would taste.

Even Xu Kongmu couldn't help but linger on the dishes on the table for a while.

Wu asked Zhuzi and Xiaocui to bring the dishes over from Miss Xu. Wu picked up some food that Shao Ge'er could eat and brought it to the back to feed Shao Ge. Then she quickly asked Zhuzi to send the dishes to the front yard and set them on the table. She also bought the best Huadiao wine in town and prepared some for Xu Kongmu, all in order to let him enjoy the meal and have a new impression of Miss Xu. In the future, he could also go to Miss Xu to buy and order food and establish a relationship with her.

Xia Yuanzhi invited Xu Kongmu to sit down, and Zhuzi served them and filled their glasses with wine.

I saw Xu Kongmu pick up the dish in the middle of the table. It was red in color and sprinkled with sesame seeds, peppercorns and dogwood, which looked very appetizing.

Remove the scallions, peppercorns and other ingredients from the top, and you'll find fish pieces and large intestine underneath.

Xu Kongmu raised his eyebrows and put the fat intestine into his mouth. He couldn't help but hissed when he put it in his mouth. The fat intestine was cut into large pieces and tasted very satisfying. It was chewy and fragrant, oily, and spicy.

His family had plenty of food and even a cook, but he had never eaten anything as delicious as this.

Xu Kongmu couldn't help but nodded and praised, "It's delicious."

He usually ate at Donglaiju but never said the food was delicious, so Xia Yuanzhi knew it was safe and followed suit, picking up a piece of fatty intestines with chopsticks.

Xia Yuanzhi was shocked as soon as he took a bite. They were clearly the same pig intestines and herring that he ate every day, but the cooking method was changed and the taste was completely different, spicy and numb. His tongue was jumping in his mouth and it was very satisfying.

Zhuzi then said, "This is fatty fish."

I just got home on such a cold day and it was so comfortable to eat such a dish. It warmed my whole body and stomach.

Whenever Xu Kongmu asked for a dish, Zhuzi would tell him the name.

“Steamed spareribs with flour.”

“Braised pork trotters with soybeans.”

"Glutinous rice and fatty intestines."

“Braised chicken with bamboo shoots.”

“Stir-fried pork with mushrooms.”

"Drawing yam."

“Stir-fried lotus root slices.”