14 Iced Lemonade (I)
◎Xie Linchuan is a man of great stature and vigor◎
After renting the house, Jiang Qinglan's life became much more convenient.
Therefore, a few days ago, in addition to purchasing necessary items such as pots, pans, beddings, clothes, etc., she also bought a set of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, as well as a few books.
I buy books not to read them, but to learn how to write traditional Chinese characters.
To be a good businessman, writing is essential. Accounting, bookkeeping, signing contracts, and writing advertisements all require writing.
Fortunately, Jiang Qinglan had a good foundation. He learned the Liu style of calligraphy and also knew traditional Chinese characters.
Now, Zhongwa's business is only open at night, so she has plenty of time to practice calligraphy during the day.
In this way, within a few days, she had learned most of the commonly used traditional Chinese characters.
That afternoon, she wrote a lot of big words on a piece of paper and called Tuantuan, who was sitting on the doorstep playing with a twirl of strings:
"Sister, do you know these words?"
Tuantuan was confused early. Although he couldn't write, he knew it. He tilted his head and read: "Replenish strong vitality, shoot with full energy."
Looking again, there was a horizontal note that said "Ice Lemonade".
Tuan Tuan pondered: "Hey, what is this lemonade? It seems that drinking it can make people stronger."
Jiang Qinglan was delighted. This was exactly the effect the advertisement wanted!
She explained to her sister, "It's a sweet and sour drink. It makes the Cuju players stronger."
She had inquired and found out that the Xishan Cuju Field outside Jiahui Gate could not sell regular meals, only snacks such as melon seeds and drinks.
However, this restriction does not apply to the private rooms upstairs. After all, the rooms are occupied by high-ranking officials and dignitaries, who would naturally ask Fenglelou to deliver their food.
The event organizers do not have a monopoly on the sale of melon seeds, drinks, etc. There are stalls set up by officials from the Lin'an Prefecture in the venue.
However, no matter how hard you try to sell melon seeds and drinks, you can never come up with something new.
It’s just a matter of who stir-fries the food more fragrantly and whose drink is sweeter.
Besides, everyone’s attention is on the game on the field, so they don’t have much demand for food.
But this gave Jiang Qinglan an opportunity.
Playing football consumes a lot of physical energy, so sell sports drinks!
She had inquired and found out that in every game, in the later stages, some Cuju players would become exhausted and even be carried off the field.
Therefore, unlike modern football matches, there were a lot of substitute players in the Cuju matches at that time.
When the exhausted Cuju players left the field, the doctor's solution was simple: let them eat.
But after strenuous exercise, people only want to drink water and it is difficult to eat quickly.
So, these Cuju players had to leave the field and let the substitutes take their place.
As a modern person, Jiang Qinglan knew that this was due to a lack of electrolytes even without watching football games.
After strenuous exercise, the human body not only loses water, but also loses a large amount of trace elements such as calcium and potassium.
This will make you feel listless and physically exhausted.
Drinking electrolyte water can solve this problem. The simplest one is lemon water with salt.
Lemons are rich in vitamin C, and salt contains potassium, which can replenish rapidly lost water and minerals.
When Jiang Qinglan thought about business, his mind wandered and his eyes sparkled.
Suddenly, a furry head came up and said, "Sister, why do I feel like there's something fuzzy?"
"Ouch!" Jiang Qinglan came back to his senses, stamped his feet, quickly put down his brush, and ran to the kitchen, "There's mutton soup stewing in the pot!"
They are rich now.
Nowadays, the braised skewers are filled with meat—beef, pork belly, chicken wings, duck gizzards. The profit is also higher, with a net profit of seven or eight coins every night.
Adding the remaining thirty-eight taels from the lottery and the three or four taels earned before, and putting aside the expenses of these days, there is still more than thirty taels in savings.
Therefore, they can eat meat every meal. Tonight, it is white radish and mutton soup.
The two sisters quickly pulled out the firewood, put it out, and opened the lid of the pot. There was no soup, and the white radish was burnt black.
The mutton was well-cooked, chunks and lumps of it still looked a bit like meat.
Tuantuan pouted: "Meat, what a pity."
Jiang Qinglan gritted his teeth: "It's okay, we can still make lamb skewers!"
The mutton soup turns directly into barbecue.
Jiang Qinglan cut the large piece of mutton into small pieces, threaded the lean and fat meat onto bamboo skewers, and kept turning it over the small charcoal fire.
Soon, the lamb skewers were sizzling, with oil and smoke coming out.
Jiang Qinglan sprinkled a handful of cumin and cornus powder at the right time to ensure that each piece of meat was evenly dipped.
Tuantuan picked up a bunch of them, put his nose close to them, and took a deep breath: "Ah - it smells so good -"
After finishing a bunch of them and taking a sip of freshly mixed lemonade, it was sweet and sour. Tuan Tuan had already transformed into a glutton without any instructions...
——
Xie Linchuan rode his horse very fast.
When he arrived at the Ministry of Finance, the staff had already been dismissed and Yang Song was locking the door.
"Yang Langjun, wait a minute," Xie Linchuan pointed fiercely, still holding the sleek black whip in his hand, "I have something else to ask."
Yang Song was a timid man, and he trembled with fear when the whip pointed at him.
Mr. Yan had gone out in the afternoon. He had thought he wouldn't be back, but he came back with a horsewhip. "Mr. Yan... what... what's the matter?"
Xie Linchuan turned sideways and brushed past Yang Song, then kicked the door open and ran to the cabinet in the corner like the wind, rummaging through it.
Yang Song was alone, feeling uneasy.
A few days ago, in front of Mrs. Zhong Wajiang's stall, he heard with his own ears that Mr. Yan called the girl "Amei" and was shocked on the spot.
Because he knew that the girl was none other than the official's biological daughter, Her Royal Highness the Princess.
That year, a Cuju tournament was held in the palace. As a minor official in the government office, he was assisting the imperial guards in enforcing the law in the outer field. Unexpectedly, two women in tight clothes came towards him.
At first, they were talking and laughing, but for some reason, they soon started arguing and ended up wrestling with each other, one pulling out a bunch of the other's hair.
The two girls were fighting for their lives, and the maids behind them couldn't stop them, so he had to run up and separate them.
It was a trivial matter, and he had forgotten it in a flash. Little did he know that later, he would hear rumors circulating in the government office that Princess Baoqing and Princess Fu'an had been fighting, and that the emperor was furious. Then... couldn't those be the two women he had tried to break up that day? Yang Song was stunned.
However, he couldn't tell who was Princess Baoqing and who was Princess Fu'an.
That night, Mr. Yan said again that the princess was his sister, so he was... was... Yang Song was about to break out in a cold sweat again.
Just as he was trembling with fear, Xie Linchuan came out and slapped a piece of paper on his chest: "Yang Langjun, I would like to take two days off tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Here is the leave note, do you think it is feasible?"
The roll call system in Lin'an Prefecture was quite strict.
Except for the death of one’s father or mother, and statutory holidays such as the birthday of the emperor, Christmas[1] and the Lantern Festival, one cannot take leave without reason.
The imperial court had a special inspection team that came every now and then to check for vacancies, causing panic among grassroots officials.
But that's only in theory. Rules are static, but people are dynamic. In reality, how they behave depends on how they act.
"Of course it's possible!" Yang Song nodded and said yes.
Not to mention Mr. Yan, many people have asked for leave in the government office these days, just for the finals between the Flame Team and Qiyun Society tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
This is the most exciting game in the folk Cuju competition. Only the winning team can compete against the imperial guards Cuju team in the palace.
Yang Song wiped the sweat from his forehead and pretended to glance at the note. This time, he really saw something wrong:
"Mr. Yan...Mr. Yan, there's a missing reason on your leave application. Why not just write...sick leave?"
Xie Linchuan is a strong and vigorous man with endless energy.
If he were sick, there would be no healthy people in the world.
Hearing this, he laughed, revealing his white teeth: "Okay, I'll take sick leave."
After saying that, he left like the wind with a smile on his face.
When he reached the door, he remembered something, pulled off something from his waist, threw it far away, and said loudly: "This, I give it to you to play with."
Yang Song quickly opened his hand to take it, and felt a cold touch.
When he opened his hand and took a look, his eyes widened: A Hetian jade pendant worth hundreds...hundreds of gold!
【Author’s words】
[1] This Christmas refers to the emperor’s birthday.
We are about to go to the Cuju field. In addition to helping the heroine's career, there are also important new characters appearing [rainbow fart]
Continue to ask for collection [Let me Kang Kang]
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