32 Cucumber Rose Rolls
◎Bad love◎
Ten days later, at Xinghua Restaurant.
A young man had walked to the door, holding up an oil-paper bag filled with braised pig's trotters, and nodded towards this side with a smile.
This man's surname is Gao, and his given name is An.
Ever since he drank the lemon drink at the Xishan Cuju Field, he has been thinking about Jiang Qinglan.
He heard from the old man who was selling melon seeds at the stall with Jiang Qinglan that day that the young lady was setting up a stall in Zhongwa, so he went to look for her several times but found nothing.
A few days ago, Xinghua Restaurant opened and he happened to pass by Bazi Bridge. He was pleasantly surprised to meet an old friend.
These days, he comes every day, eats whatever is available, and says everything is good.
I ate pig's trotters today and brought a few big bags home.
Jiang Qinglan and Wang Huiniang smiled back when they saw him nod.
Seeing Mr. Gao walking away, Wang Huiniang whispered to Jiang Qinglan:
"This Mr. Gao has been coming to dinner a lot these past few days. I see his eyes are glued to you. I wonder if he's interested in you?"
Jiang Qinglan is picking green onions.
With a quick tug of two fingers, the muddy onion roots broke off, leaving only a white and green tender onion.
Hearing this, she burst out laughing. Mr. Gao's chin was still green.
"What are you thinking? That person looks like a child."
This Mr. Gao was probably only seventeen years old. In modern times, he would still be in high school. Why would she, a grown woman, be involved in a romantic affair with a high school student?
Besides, even if he was an adult and the law allowed it, she didn't like relationships between older and younger men. Young people were impulsive, fickle, immature, and unreliable.
Wang Huiniang was also amused by her condescending tone:
"What are you talking about? What child? At his age, it's not too early for him to get married. You are at most one or two years older than him. Besides, Mr. Yan and Mr. Yang are at most twenty years old. You are all about the same age."
Yang Langjun? Jiang Qinglan was stunned for a moment, then chuckled: "Is he only twenty years old?"
His dark face, small eyes, and deep forehead wrinkles suddenly appeared before my eyes.
Last time she was selling skewers in Zhongwa, she asked him to take some home for his children to eat. It was so embarrassing.
As for Mr. Yan, this tall, rich and handsome man is not in the same class as her.
Apart from fantasizing about his beauty like appreciating a male star, she had never thought about the details of this person in real life.
Naturally, I never considered how old he was.
At this time, when she put Yang and Yan together, she thought of Guo Degang and Lin Zhiying. These two people are the same age, but their appearances are completely different.
"Hahahaha——" Jiang Qinglan couldn't help laughing out loud, threw away the green onion, and wiped away the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes with the back of his hand.
As he was speaking, a tall figure suddenly ran in, stirring up a gust of wind.
Jiang Qinglan turned his head to look, and his heart skipped a beat – Speak of the devil, and here he comes! Clearly, you shouldn't talk about people behind their backs.
"Mrs. Jiang, give us two servings of fish paste porridge, two braised pig's trotters, a dish of braised lotus root, and a dish of mixed cucumber." Yang Song wiped the sweat from his forehead and said hurriedly.
Seeing that he was alone, Jiang Qinglan was about to ask where the "we" came from, but then he heard him say:
"By the way, can you remove the meat and skin from the pig's trotter?"
The pig's trotters were braised until tender, with the skin and meat hanging loosely on the bones, and they could be easily pulled off.
However, most people love the "gnawing" part when it comes to gnawing on pig's trotters. Gnawing the skin, meat, and tendons off the bones and chewing them together is both fun and delicious.
Especially the tip of the pig's trotter, although it is just skin and tendons, it is soaked with the aroma of the marinade. You can't take it apart, but you can only enjoy it by chewing it.
But some people are more particular and think it is not elegant to "chew" it with their hands, so they would make Yang Song's request.
"Of course, we'll unpack it and serve it up."
"Don't tear it apart, or I'll eat it with the bones!" With a delicate rebuke, a girl in red clothes walked in angrily. It was Princess Baoqing.
Jiang Qinglan also noticed it these days.
This little girl was pestering Mr. Yan, but Mr. Yan didn't want to pay any attention to her and sent Mr. Yang to deal with her. Judging from the situation today, she must have come up empty-handed again.
Jiang Qinglan understood everything and immediately turned around and went to the kitchen to prepare food.
Soon, all the dishes were served.
The first thing that catches your eye is the sugar-pickled cucumber.
I don't know how it was cut, but the cucumber slices were about two fingers wide, yet as long as the entire cucumber. Each slice was so thin it was transparent, and rolled into the shape of a rose.
The icing sugar soaked into it, almost melting, looked like white snow. Combined with the green melon slices, just one look at it could dispel the summer heat.
Princess Baoqing was feeling irritated, but she was still a child at heart. Seeing the green roses were lovely, she rolled them up with her chopsticks and picked one up.
Cucumbers are the freshest and crispest, with a light sweetness that is not greasy.
Surprisingly, it tasted like some thin, crunchy ice chips, which were cool and crisp. Upon closer inspection, I found that they were hidden in the rolled-up cucumber slices.
Princess Baoqing chewed a few, finding them crisp and refreshing, and said, "What a clever idea!"
Yang Song said, "My wife, try this pig's trotter. It's very fragrant and not spicy. It's also very delicious."
When Baoqing heard that it was not spicy, he was not afraid of the sausage mouth incident happening again, so he picked one up from the pile of burnt meat and bones.
Oh, the first thing you taste is the soft and sticky texture of the pig skin, and then you take a gentle sip and the meat comes down close to the bone.
Spit out the bones, the part that is chewy in your mouth is 40% lean meat, the part that melts in your mouth is 20% fat, and the part that does not break down after chewing and is soft and springy is a mixture of tendons and skin.
After several hours of slow cooking over low heat, the rich aroma of sauce and meat, together with the flavors of spices such as cinnamon and star anise, have been perfectly combined and linger in the mouth for a long time.
Princess Baoqing finished one in a few bites, and then her gluttony took over again, stuffing the whole thing into her mouth. When she spat out the bones, her eyes did not forget to look at the other delicacies on the table:
A dish of braised lotus roots, soaked in brine, was grey and unremarkable, but its hollows were stuffed with Sichuan peppercorns and dogwood bark.
As soon as she saw it, she remembered the braised skewers she had last time, and her mouth was watering, but she felt both love and fear in her heart.
There was also a bowl of soft porridge. Strands of green vegetables dotted the yellowish porridge, making it light and delicious. Simply put, it gave people a warm, homey feeling.
Yang Song lost no time in saying, "My wife, you've eaten some pig's trotters. Have some fish porridge to help you feel better."
Princess Baoqing said, "This ice rose is perfect for relieving greasiness, isn't it?"
Yang Song still pushed the fish porridge over:
"My dear, you've eaten too much pig's trotters. They're too oily, and if you eat something cold, it'll give you a stomachache. You should eat some porridge and wait until the ice in the cucumber melts, then eat less."
Princess Baoqing's mother often said these words, and her personal maid would occasionally mention them, but she just thought they were annoying. If it were any other time, she would definitely have retorted when she heard Yang Song say this.
But these days, she lives in Princess Anguo's mansion.
This aunt likes Princess Fu'an the most and is a little indifferent to other younger generations.
Besides, she had suffered a lot from Xie Linchuan.
When she heard these thoughtful words, she felt a pang of sadness in her heart and tears suddenly welled up in her eyes.
Yang Song was so frightened that he was in a panic: "Your Highness...you you you..."
He wanted to take out his handkerchief, but after taking it out, he felt it was inappropriate - how could he dare to let Her Royal Highness the Princess use his own things?
He hurriedly stuffed the teacup back in. Little did he know, his hands were shaking with panic, and he knocked the teacup over, spilling the tea all over the table.
"This, this, this... I, I, I..." He became even more panicked.
Seeing him panic and causing chaos everywhere, Princess Baoqing forgot to shed tears and said angrily, "Look at how clumsy you are!"
Yang Song said dully, "Yes, I am very stupid."
This idiot, he doesn't even know how to defend himself when he's being scolded! Princess Baoqing's eyes were filled with tears, but she burst out laughing.
She didn't know that Xie Linchuan, whom she was obsessed with, was right in front of the Xinghua Restaurant.
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