22 Osmanthus Fermented Rice Balls
◎Feast at Fengle Building◎
After Xie Linchuan finished his shower, he came out of the bathroom with his temples still wet.
As soon as he opened the curtain, he saw the leader and the coach of Qiyun Society kneeling at the door.
When the two saw him come out, they quickly fell to the ground and touched the ground with their foreheads.
Xie Linchuan was in a good mood, smiled slightly, and ordered: "Get up."
The two of them became trembling with fear, hunched their bodies, and looked honest.
Guo Chaofeng smiled apologetically:
"I will never forget your great kindness, Your Highness. I have already prepared a banquet at Fengle Tower. Please do me the honor of attending."
Xie Linchuan sat down on the armchair and waved his hand: "No need, I still have things to do."
After hearing this, Guo Chaofeng hurriedly picked up the tray on the table next to him and pulled off the red cloth.
In an instant, a field of small, round, golden balls dazzled people.
"Your Highness, I won't eat at the banquet, but I must accept the prize. I know this little money is not worthy of your attention. However, our Cuju tournament has always had this rule. I beg Your Highness to give Qiyun Society a favor."
He said it was true.
The organizers of the event prepare a small football made of gold as a prize, which belongs to the winner.
Xie Linchuan picked up a small golden foot and played with it in his hand.
"I'll take this one. You can give the rest to the other members of Qiyun Society."
The two were stunned for a moment, and then became happy.
Especially the coach, he gets paid monthly just like the players, so this reward is unexpected money.
Just as his heart was surging, he heard Xie Linchuan say, "Take the money, but keep your mouth shut. Only you two know my identity."
When the two heard this warning, they were so frightened that they almost broke out in a cold sweat and fell to their knees again.
"I'll save that."
Xie Linchuan raised his foot and was about to leave.
The coach, for some unknown reason, blurted out, "I dare to ask, Your Highness, why do you support the Qiyun Society?"
"Assist?" Xie Linchuan stopped, "Who said I assisted Qiyun Society? I just wanted to fight with that Lu Fei."
He glanced at the bright sky outside and raised the corner of his lips: "Now it seems that it is nothing more than this."
After this sentence, there was no more sound.
The two of them lay on the ground for a long time before slowly raising their heads.
There was no one there, only the breeze blowing the curtains, bringing the excitement and bustle outside into the house.
On this side, Xie Linchuan was full of pride. On the other side, Lu Fei, sitting in the carriage on the way back, had a blank expression on his face.
Yanshu looked at his expression and opened the red cloth tray:
"This is the silver given by the Flame Team, five hundred taels. I counted it, no more, no less."
Lu Fei stared at the green curtain in a daze, and said "hmm" as a response.
Yanshu said cautiously:
"Don't be angry, my dear. Even though we lost the game, at least we got five hundred taels of silver."
"Dai Chaofeng also said that Langjun won the second game, which made the Flames make a lot of money from Guan Puzhong, and Langjun will get a share of the profits."
Lu Fei came back to his senses, pinched his eyebrows, and said lightly:
"Don't look at me like that, and don't take that look home with you. It's just a trifle. If I lose, I lose. Why would I care?"
He has always been low-key. If the Lu family was not short of money at the moment and the Flames team had not promised him a generous reward regardless of winning or losing, he would not have gone to the game.
Yanshu was very happy to get the response, and got out of the car with a "Hey".
Lu Fei's two handsome long eyebrows twisted together again.
The green figure beside the Cuju field flashed through his mind.
——
Jiang Qinglan made a fortune and was in high spirits.
After she sent the things back to Jiangmi Lane, she packed up quickly and went out to the street to celebrate.
Tuantuan was a little depressed when he saw Lu Fei lost the game, but when he heard that they were going to go out to the streets to celebrate, he became excited.
They learned their lesson again and went to the bank to deposit the extra money before going to the dining area.
However, the small restaurants they like to eat at are mostly around Zhongwa, which is quite a distance away.
Just as he was talking about hiring another carriage, Jiang Qinglan suddenly stopped moving.
She smiled mysteriously and pointed to the ostentatious wine curtains on a tall building not far away:
"Let's not hire a carriage, and go eat there."
Tuan Tuan took a look and widened his eyes: "Feng Le Tower!"
Historically, the real Fengle Tower, also known as Baifan Tower and Fan Tower, was a famous high-end restaurant in Bianliang, Northern Song Dynasty.
It is said that standing on the west tower, one can even overlook the imperial palace.
Although Fengle Tower here does not have such a gimmick, it is still crowded with guests every day and the streets are filled with dignitaries.
Cheers from all around:
"Are we already that rich? When Daddy was around, I could only go out for a meal on my birthday."
Jiang Qinglan said proudly: "Yes, sister said that she would let Tuantuan live a good life."
Suddenly, Tuantuan's eyes were brighter than stars.
When we entered the building, we saw glass lamps and mica screens, a luxurious scene.
The waiter who led the way curled his lips when he saw that the sisters were dressed simply.
He led the two of them to a remote corner and asked them to sit down. He then reminded them:
"Madam, do you know the rules of our Fengle Building? We do not give credit."
This wasn't the first time Jiang Qinglan had encountered this kind of thing.
In her previous life, she didn't like dressing up and preferred to wear cotton T-shirts and the like.
Sometimes, when she accompanied her teacher to work on projects or attend meetings, she would inevitably meet one or two people who looked down on others.
At the moment, she didn't get angry: "No credit."
I flipped through the menu and ordered some of the signature meat dishes, vegetarian dishes, snacks and drinks.
The waiter said kindly:
"My dear, you two can't eat so many dishes. When the time comes, you can't return the dishes. Don't blame me for not reminding you."
The nostrils were almost turned up to the sky.
In fact, Jiang Qinglan had another plan for coming to Fengle Tower besides celebrating his fortune.
It is to inspect the dishes of high-end restaurants.
So far, the candied fruits and braised skewers she sells at her stall are all low-end products.
But now that she has the capital and is preparing to rent a shop to open a store, she has to investigate the best competitors.
That's why she ordered a few more dishes.
Who knew that this guy was really...
She is the kind of person who, if you are nice to me, I will be nice to you, but if you look down on me, of course I will be disgusted with you too.
The upstart Jiang Qinglan suddenly became cocky and said with a smile:
"Don't worry, little brother. If we can't finish it, we can take it back and feed it to the dog."
"My big yellow dog is so nice. When he saw us coming back, he wagged his tail vigorously and was very affectionate. He's not like some other creatures that always look down on us."
After hearing this, Tuantuan laughed.
The young man was speechless when he heard this and laughed awkwardly twice.
Then, he ran to the kitchen with a red face, as if there was a ghost chasing him.
The dishes were soon ready, two meat dishes, one vegetable dish and one dessert - fried quail, fish with bean paste, chopped lettuce, and osmanthus glutinous rice balls.
Children like sweet food, so Tuantuan decided to eat meatballs first.
The small balls made of glutinous rice look like small snowballs, cooked until they are plump and soft.
The bowl was moved back and forth, and the meatballs inside were shaking slightly, which was very cute.
The most common way to make osmanthus meatballs is to add some fermented rice wine to take advantage of its sweetness and slight alcoholic flavor.
The sweetness in the slight intoxication tastes better.
In addition to the meatballs, the bowl also contains jujube, wolfberry and other nourishing foods. It looks deep red and orange, and the ingredients are very rich.
Tuantuan's stomach was empty, so he scooped a spoonful of honey water first.
Oh, it’s pure sweetness, but not greasy, and has the fragrance of osmanthus. It makes your whole body warm after drinking it.
Because glutinous rice flour is mixed into the water, it tastes a bit pastey and the flavor lingers longer on your lips and teeth.
Another spoonful of meatballs.
Fresh osmanthus flowers cling to the balls, red dates, and wolfberries. When chewing, the glutinous rice balls are mostly soft and chewy, while the remaining small part is the slightly woody texture of dried red dates and wolfberries.
What you see is not the whole picture.
Tuantuan took a few bites and stirred the bottom of the bowl, only to find that there was a fried egg underneath.
As soon as you bite it, the golden runny meat almost flows out!
It is not as choking as a hard-boiled egg, and it does not have the fishy smell of raw eggs at all. It is fresh and tender.
A bite of soft-boiled egg, a bite of glutinous rice balls, and a sip of sweet soup, and in no time, this small bowl of osmanthus honey glutinous rice balls is finished.
Jiang Qinglan laughed at her: "The main event hasn't even started yet, and you've already filled your stomach."
As he said this, he went to pick up the fish with bean paste.
Stir-fry soybean paste, pickled beans, pickled radish, etc. together, add water and starch to make a sauce, pour it on the fried whole fish, and then steam it in a steamer for a few minutes to make soybean paste fish.
When you take a bite, the fish is tender, the beans and radishes are crispy, and the sauce is rich and fragrant. All kinds of flavors are gathered in one mouthful, which is very delicious.
In fact, this method is a bit like the Sichuan cuisine of Houttuynia cordata fish.
However, it lacks spiciness, is not salty enough, and has no patchouli.
But looking back, compared to the Jiangnan cuisine of later generations in her impression, this dish was already very strong in flavor.
In her previous life, she always drooled when she saw crab roe noodles and soup dumplings in food videos.
But when she actually went to Suzhou and Hangzhou, she found that she could not get used to the sweet taste at all.
After traveling to this time and space, she was a little worried that the diet of the upper class would also be too sweet.
If that happens, her business will be in trouble.
Fortunately, judging from Fenglelou’s signature dishes, they can still accept strong aroma and heavy oil.
Just as I was thinking about it, two boys came over carrying a pot, which was a bit similar to the copper pot used for modern mutton hot pot.
They said in unison:
"My dear, the antique soup you ordered is here. Be careful not to burn yourself."
【Author’s words】
I feel that the serialization period is much more difficult than the manuscript storage period [covering face and laughing and crying]
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