17 Peach Jam Double Skin Milk
◎Lu Jilang is already a person of the past◎
Lu Fei was stunned, his heart feeling like it was being slowly cut by a blunt knife. With every breath, the blade went a little deeper.
After suffering silently for a long time, he finally endured it and turned to go to the back room of the Cuju field.
Back at the Lu Mansion, the servant Yansheng came running over with a bundle in his hands, and said excitedly:
"My dear, this is the silver the Flame Team gave us today, one thousand taels."
Lu Fei waved his hand and asked him to hand it over to the accounting office in the back.
"Uncle——" Two little boys called him outside the door in a baby voice.
The threshold was too high for the little boys to step over, so they crawled down and climbed in from outside the door.
As soon as they stood still, they opened their little arms, moved their little legs quickly, and threw themselves into Lu Fei's arms.
Lu Fei smiled and hugged one of them with each hand.
The little ones were barely two years old, at the peak of their mischievousness. Their features resembled those of their older brothers—and also of themselves.
"You are covered in dust, don't dirty your uncle's clothes." A woman's voice followed.
It was Zhang, the eldest daughter-in-law of the Lu family, who helped Old Madam Lu into the house.
Lu Fei saluted the two of them: "Mother, sister-in-law."
Madam Lu nodded.
Zhang was a little nervous, her eyes evading, and she lowered her head and returned the greeting: "Uncle."
Lu Fei said: "Don't worry, sister-in-law, brother will be fine."
Zhang's face froze and she almost burst into tears.
Fortunately, the two little children interrupted the conversation. When they saw their mother coming, they hugged her legs, one on each side, twisting them like candy and laughing.
Madam Lu gave a wink, and Zhang immediately took the two children away and let Lu Fei and his mother talk.
Madam Lu was worried: "Erlang, where did you go today? Why did you take so long to come home?"
Mrs. Lu didn't know that Lu Fei was helping the Flames play Cuju. She just thought he was upset and didn't want to go home. She was also afraid that he would do something bad if he got upset.
Lu Fei said: "I just walked around the city, I didn't go anywhere."
Madam Lu sighed and simply said:
"I know you're still blaming me for forcing you to divorce. But, mother has no other choice. Your eldest brother was harmed by his boss and can't save himself. At this time, our Lu family can no longer have anything to do with the Jiang family."
Some time ago, the censor Xue Lian carried a coffin to the court and uncovered the Tanzhou Zhenzhu corruption case.
The story is quite simple. A Guangzhou merchant named Meng was traveling north to sell pearls. While passing through Tanzhou, he fell ill and died. Officials of Tanzhou, both high and low, then secretly took the pearls.
Unexpectedly, the matter was discovered by the son of a merchant named Meng, and after being reported by several imperial censors, it was brought to Lin'an.
Emperor Chengping immediately ordered the Ministry of Revenue to investigate, but unexpectedly the officials involved had complicated backgrounds.
The Ministry of Revenue, adhering to the principle of making a big deal out of a small matter and a small matter out of nothing, gave light sentences to several people in an attempt to cover up the matter.
Unexpectedly, there was a fearless censor named Xue Lian among them. He carried the coffin to the court and insisted on re-investigating the matter, causing a stir throughout the country.
After the final investigation, the Ministry of Revenue removed the officials involved in the incident in Tanzhou and pushed Lu Yun, the Zuo Cao Langzhong who had the least foundation, to take the blame.
Today, Lu Yun is still in prison.[1]
For so long, although everyone knew about the divorce, it had never been discussed openly.
Now, when Mrs. Lu mentioned it, although Lu Fei's face was calm, his heart felt like a sharp blade was slowly spinning.
He couldn't help but take a deep breath.
"Big brother, ride a horse! Ride a horse, look for the baby!" A childish voice came. It was probably two little boys riding bamboo horses outside.
They spoke unclearly and said "jia jia jia" as "dada da".
Lu Fei glanced at the mottled bamboo branches outside the window, endured for a moment, and finally pursed his lips and said nothing.
Madam Lu continued:
"Husband and wife are birds of a feather, but when disaster strikes, they fly away separately. Besides, you haven't even finished your day as husband and wife. Now, I've given her the divorce papers, which is all I can do."
"You are still young and have a bright future ahead of you. Mother will find a better one for you later. Don't feel bad about yourself. Ah, with your character and appearance, you won't have to worry..."
"Mother!" Lu Fei interrupted quickly, his long, handsome eyebrows furrowed. "Stop talking about this. I'm tired. Please get settled quickly."
After Lu Fei finished speaking, regardless of Mrs. Lu's expression, he lifted his robe and went to the courtyard corridor through the back door.
Madam Lu was just sighing when Zhang came in from the front yard, lowering her brows and saying, "It's us who have put Uncle in a difficult position."
Madam Lu liked her obedient appearance very much and patted her hands: "We are a family, why are you saying so much? His last name is Lu, so he must take on the responsibilities of the Lu family!"
——
At dusk, Jiang Qinglan and her sister sat in a carriage and headed towards their home in Jiangmi Lane.
Tuantuan finished the rice ball in his hand and was still excited:
"I knew that Brother Lu wouldn't abandon us! Sister, why did you pull me aside at that time? I'm going to go find him and ask him clearly!"
Jiang Qinglan shook his head. What kind of magic potion had this Lu family's Erlang given Nizi before?
At that moment, she said seriously: "We have already divorced and have nothing to do with each other anymore. What is there to ask?"
Tuantuan: "No, I saw him today. He was very sad. He must have had his reasons."
"Even if he had his own difficulties at that time, why didn't he come to look for us after we were wandering outside for so long?" Jiang Qinglan was determined to make the little girl give up today, and every word he said was heartbreaking.
Tuantuan frowned and tried to excuse him:
"Maybe... maybe Madam Lu locked him up? You know, his madam is very powerful."
"He's an official and has to go on duty every day. How could he be locked up? Even if he was locked up, it would be fine to send him a letter. It wouldn't be difficult to ask his servant to send him some money. Why didn't he send it?"
"I happened to see him today, and he just turned and left. Don't you understand? Mencius said: 'It's not that I can't, it's that I don't want to.' Daddy taught you this before."
"This..." Tuantuan was speechless, and the golden beans fell to the ground with a clatter.
She sniffed, wiped her face vigorously with the back of her hand, and said firmly:
"I absolutely do not believe that Brother Lu is a bad person. His kindness is definitely not fake. Father and Mother will not be wrong about him."
Jiang Qinglan was speechless. The problem was, he had made a mistake.
Even if Lu Fei is not a bad person, he is definitely not a good person.
Seeing that the little girl was about to lose her temper, she stopped arguing and instead pulled her into her arms, saying softly,
"Okay, okay, I know Lu Erlang is a good man. But he couldn't protect us. As far as I'm concerned, he's already a bygone era."
"Besides, we earn our own money and spend it on our own now, which is great. Why bother thinking about him anymore?"
She thought for a moment and then said, "Sister has learned how to make a dessert called double-skin milk. I'll make it for you tonight."
Tuantuan was truly exhausted, and cried heartbrokenly again. The jolting carriage made it easy to doze off, and she fell asleep to Jiang Qinglan's soft whispers.
After returning home, Jiang Qinglan took Tuantuan to the inner room.
Thanks to the coachman Chen Si'er, he kindly moved the ice bucket and other heavy objects to the kitchen.
Jiang Qinglan paid an extra fifteen cents for this - five cents more than what he had said in the morning.
After Chen Si'er left and everything was tidied up, Jiang Qinglan started making double-skin milk.
Now that I have money, of course I have to drink milk. In addition to drinking it directly, milk is also indispensable for making desserts, such as double skin milk.
Boil the milk, divide it into four small bowls and let it cool, so that a layer of milk skin forms on the surface of each bowl of milk.
Now, what Jiang Qinglan needs to do is to pour out all the milk in the bowl, but keep the milk skin, so that the milk skin originally on the surface will become the bottom of the bowl.
This is the "lower skin" of "double skin milk", which is fragrant, smooth and delicious.
Once the "lower skin" is done, the dessert is half successful.
Then mix the cooled milk with egg white, lemon juice, sugar, etc., stir and filter, and pour it back into the four small bowls.
Finally, place the four plates upside down on the bowl and steam them in the steamer.
Four small bowls were placed neatly on the kitchen table.
The steamed milk turns from liquid into a paste, which is white and tender, like a baby's skin, so delicate that it can be broken with a touch.
Because it was just served, it was still bubbling and shaking. The layer of milk skin on the top was clearly visible, echoing the lower skin at the bottom of the bowl.
When Tuan Tuan rubbed his eyes and walked into the kitchen, the rich aroma of milk was spreading along with the steam.
She took a deep breath, feeling refreshed, and then sighed with heartfelt emotion:
"What a nice smell, it's the smell of milk, but richer!"
Standing by the stove, looking at the milk jelly in the white steam, she said blankly: "How delicious this must be——"
Jiang Qinglan was pounding peach jam. Seeing that the little girl had forgotten about Lu Fei, she breathed a sigh of relief, but her hands did not stop.
When it comes to double skin milk, it has to be paired with soft red beans, or at least sweet mangoes.
Unfortunately, processing red beans takes a long time, and mangoes are not available at the moment, so she mashed peaches and made a paste to spread on the double skin milk.
The white, tender custard was covered with pink peach jam. When held in the hand, the whole piece trembled slightly, almost fragile.
Tuantuan scooped up a spoonful with a small spoon, slid it into his mouth, and his eyes immediately lit up.
After eating a few more spoonfuls, she said, "Sister, how come this... is even better than egg custard?"
Haha, of course it tastes better than egg custard, Jiang Qinglan thought to himself.
The egg custard is soft, smooth and fragrant, but it is fishy, so it needs to be suppressed with green onions and sesame oil; secondly, it is not delicate enough. If the fire is a little too high, it will form honeycombs and become overcooked.
This double-skin milk is the product of years of research by the Guangdong people, which has resulted in its current flavor. It has no fishy smell, is delicate and smooth, and is rich and fragrant.
Another thing is that eating only double skin milk, although it is fragrant and smooth, is a bit monotonous after all.
Adding jam makes it sour and sweet, with sweetness in the milky aroma and sourness in the mellowness. It is really the icing on the cake.
Eating this double-skin milk is like pinching a baby's face - it never gets greasy.
Jiang Qinglan made a total of four small bowls of double-skin milk. He ate one bowl himself and let Tuantuan eat three bowls.
After cleaning up the pots and pans, and settling the accounts, I prepared to go to bed.
There's another Cuju match tomorrow. It's the last one, so there will definitely be more people and they'll be even busier.
The courtyard gate had been closed long ago, but the door to the main house was still half open to let in some cool air from the night breeze.
Tuantuan was washing his feet in the main room.
She sat on a small wooden stool and put her snow-white feet into the wooden basin.
She swung her two feet and hit the warm water against each other, having a lot of fun.
"Don't get your trouser legs wet." Jiang Qinglan squatted down and helped her tie her trouser legs higher with the belt.
When children play in the water, they become very restless and won't listen no matter what you say.
Tuan Tuan was no exception. His fat legs kicked around in the water, making it difficult for her sister to swim.
Finally it was done, Jiang Qinglan stood up, feeling a little dizzy.
At a glance, I seemed to see a shadow flash across the courtyard wall.
She was suspicious. Then she looked again. The stars were shining brightly, the shadows of the trees were swaying, and everything was pitch black. Where was the person?
She shook her head, thinking she was just seeing things.
【Author’s words】
[1] The Tanzhou Zhenzhu corruption case actually happened during the Northern Song Dynasty, but some changes have been made here.
It's so cold [explosive crying][explosive crying], sisters, starting from tomorrow I will change the update to 12 noon to try, every bit counts. [explosive crying]
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