7 Glutinous Rice Balls
◎Sister, his legs are so long◎
That year, people were playing in the Qiantang River and competing for the prize. Prince Xie, wearing a silver mask and a red ribbon on his forehead, won the first prize among thousands of people, which was a very exciting sight.
She was extremely lucky. When Prince Xie was riding a tall horse in a parade, his mask fell off. She was under the horse at the time and she was the only one who saw it!
At that time, she thought that if one day, Prince Xie could look at her, it would be worth it even if she died.
God bless her! The Bodhisattva appeared! She actually has this day!
"Here, take it!" A silver ingot rolled at his feet. Qian Junjun didn't understand what it meant and looked at the man in confusion.
"Just now, where did you say you were from?"
"The day before yesterday, I followed the prince from Jianlong Temple..."
Xie Linchuan coughed lightly, stood straight, his eyes sharp, and his jawline tense.
“That’s enough!”
"I don't care where you're from. As long as you work for the Prince of Dongping's Palace, you represent the palace's reputation. It's only April now, aren't you cold wearing so little? If others see you and spread the news, they'll say that the Prince of Dongping's Palace mistreats its servants!"
Qian Junjun's face gradually turned redder, even to the base of her neck. But this time, her "shame" wasn't a delicate one. She pulled her bra up hard.
Xie Linchuan still didn't give up and continued to ask: "Tell me, has the palace treated you unfairly?"
"No...no." Qian Junjun said gritting his teeth.
"That's good," Xie Linchuan said righteously, "Take the money and buy yourself two sets of neat clothes."
…
Outside Lingquan Courtyard, Jinxiu, the maid of Princess Liang of Dongping, was hiding at the foot of the wall and peeking.
Seeing the girl running out crying, clutching her bodice tightly with her hands, she shook her head and went to the main courtyard to report.
After receiving the report, Liang said to Prince Xie Yan, "Sanlang suddenly brought a cook back from outside. We thought he knew what was going on, but it turns out we were mistaken."
Xie Linchuan also told them about this, saying that his grandmother loved the food cooked by this girl.
But Liang had tried it, and while her vegetarian stew was okay, the others were mediocre. Even the old lady herself, after trying it once or twice, remarked that it wasn't as tasty without the blessing of Jianlong Temple.
She saw that the cook was pretty and wondered if Sanlang had any special feelings for her.
Mrs. Qian often came to Lingquan Courtyard and seemed to have some intention of climbing up the social ladder, so she helped her to see her son's reaction.
Sure enough, after this try, he was still as wooden as ever, with no interest in matters between men and women at all.
In fact, she wasn't anxious. The dynasty advocated late marriage, and it was common for men to marry at 25 and women at 20. This was because the imperial examination system was very popular, and men who passed the examination and then married later brought honor to their family and also allowed them to marry women of wealth and status.
Of course, their family was not short of money or status. Rather, the prince was determined to have his family members follow the path of civil officials, and several of his sons had to take the imperial examinations.
But Sanlang wasn't a scholar. After three years, he didn't even pass the exam to become a scholar. When the teachers in Lin'an heard it was him, they refused to come to his house, no matter how much money they were offered. The prince felt ashamed every time he thought of this.
Since he wasn't good at studying, the prince wanted him to marry a princess. As a consort, he wouldn't be allowed to participate in government affairs, and he could live a life of leisure and wealth. Marrying into the royal family would preserve the Xie family's honor without becoming too successful and attracting suspicion from the emperor...
Sanlang was handsome and loved to appear on the royal Cuju team, so several princesses took notice. Once, Princess Baoqing and Princess Fu'an even had a fight over this, and the incident was reported to the emperor.
It seems that Princess Shang's path is a good one.
But the princess was a precious child, and she had to be cherished and protected. Sanlang was completely clueless about matters of love and affection, and had no idea what tenderness and consideration were. With his stubborn temper, if he married the princess and she died of anger, their entire family would suffer.
Thinking of this, Liang shook her head, feeling that there was no way out. She said to the Prince of Dongping, "This child has loved swordplay since he was young, but you didn't allow him to. You changed it to Cuju. It's just a ball, so just let him play."
Xie Yan, the Prince of Dongping, was the most calm and steady, always thinking ahead: "What do you know?" The couple talked in the inner room, without any outsiders around, and they had no taboos.
"The late emperor was a former minister of the previous dynasty, and rose to power through military prowess. After securing his throne, he feared nothing more than a repetition of past events, and so he exercised great caution against his military officials."
"Our father is his brother who has been through thick and thin together. If he can hold on to the throne, he should immediately hand over the military power. Otherwise, do you think our Xie family would still exist? The current emperor is a conservative and is deeply wary of military commanders."
The princess also knew a thing or two about these things:
"Yes, so the palace is completely different now than it was in my father's time. You are a civil official, and you don't know any martial arts at all. Our two sons-in-law are both Jinshi (imperial scholars) in the imperial examinations, and there is no military commander in our family anymore."
"Sanlang is just playing football. There are so many people playing in Lin'an City. What's the big deal if he's one more?"
Xie Yan said, "So, you have a woman's perspective. Serving the emperor is like serving a tiger; you must be careful at all times. If you can play Cuju today, you can handle a sword and a spear tomorrow. Look at General Zhu's sons. Who can play Cuju?"
"These days, first there was the Jiang Yuan case, then the Tanzhou Zhenzhu corruption case. How many people have been removed from their posts? The emperor is in a bad mood. Don't mess with him at this time!"
He waved his hand, not wanting to argue with her any further. "Anyway, I've already made an agreement with the prefect of Lin'an. Let this rebellious son go to the Ministry of Finance and Taxation and do some work first. There's no need to discuss anything else."
——
Jiang Qinglan packed up her things early in the morning and moved from Jianlong Temple to Qinglian Temple in Lin'an City. Qinglian Temple was very small, and the fee for staying overnight was 40 wen, and Tuantuan had to pay half the price, which meant that the two sisters had to pay 60 wen in total.
Although the accommodation fee is a bit expensive, Qinglian Temple is in the city, which makes it convenient to go to Zhongwa to set up a stall. Moreover, there are nuns in the temple, so life is more convenient for the two of them.
There is another level. In two days, it will be the seventh day after the death of the original body's parents. The sisters are going to Biyunling to visit the graves, which is also closer.
After settling in, it was almost noon. The two of them had no time to eat, so they took two glutinous rice balls that they had made earlier and rushed to the government office to get their certificates.
Because Qinglian Temple was in the north of Lin'an City, and the government office was in the south, it was a long way off, and they were reluctant to spend money to hire a carriage, so they had to rely on their two feet.
At that time, the wealthy ate three meals a day, but many ordinary people still followed the old tradition of cooking only in the morning and evening. If they were really hungry at noon, they would simply eat some leftover rice, cakes, etc. to fill their stomachs. These were all called "dim sum", which means "to comfort the stomach".
It seems that their "snacks" are not bad at all.
Last night, Jiang Qinglan saw that there was still some glutinous rice in the kitchen, so he thought of making Guizhou glutinous rice balls.
When she was studying for a master's degree in her previous life, she had a roommate who was from Guizhou. Every time she returned to school after vacation, she would bring glutinous rice balls for them to eat.
It contains: crispy fried dough sticks, rich-flavored watercress, sour pickled radish, and the deluxe version also has large slices of bacon, which is fragrant and salty, and makes you drool just thinking about it.
Later, the FamilyMart supermarket on campus also started selling Guizhou-style glutinous rice balls. They were a bit different from the ones my Guizhou roommates brought. They had less crunch and more Cantonese sausage, and the pickled radish was replaced with sour cowpeas, and peanuts were added. Perhaps because they'd been frozen, the glutinous rice was also a bit firmer.
Generally speaking, the taste is not bad. Jiang Qinglan often buys it to eat. It suits her taste better than Korean rice balls with a cumin smell and Japanese rice balls with no flavor.
But in the kitchen of Jianlong Temple, authentic Guizhou glutinous rice balls could not be made. There were no crispy fried dough sticks (oil residue), no meat dishes such as sausages, no watercress - of course not at this time of year, and peanuts had not been introduced at that time.
Without these ingredients, the soul of Guizhou cuisine would be lost. As for the fillings, you can only make whatever you can find.
I was lucky enough to find a kimchi stall. I picked up a radish. It was crispy but not sour enough. It was okay as long as I liked it.
I made a stew a couple of days ago and had a lot of mushrooms left over. Mushrooms are a treasure, a source of natural flavor. Just coat them in flour paste, fry them in oil, and sprinkle some salt on them, and they'll be a delicious dish.
Guizhou glutinous rice is dark brown because soy sauce, fragrant powder, and other seasonings are added midway through the steaming process. After kneading the rice thoroughly, it's steamed, resulting in a uniform, dark brown color and excellent flavor. Jiang Qinglan followed this recipe, achieving a dark brown color for her rice balls.
First, spread a layer of glutinous rice, then add fried mushrooms and pickled radish, a few spoonfuls of bean paste, and sprinkle a handful of Sichuan pepper powder - I can’t make chili oil now, so this is the only way for now - then cover it with new glutinous rice, pinch it, and the Jianlong Temple version of glutinous rice balls is ready.
Although it is not the authentic Guizhou-style glutinous rice ball, it is still delicious.
The glutinous rice is soft and fragrant, the fried mushrooms are full of flavor, and the pickled radish is responsible for the crispy texture. This big rice ball not only brings the feeling of fullness given by carbohydrates, but also satisfies the taste buds.
Just as Tuantuan and I finished our meal, a row of magnificent buildings appeared in front of us. On the plaque of the main entrance were four large characters in iron hooks and silver paintings - Lin'an Prefecture Office.
Two tall soldiers stood majestically at the door. Jiang Qinglan asked one of them where to get a certificate (production and business license). The soldier was very serious and didn't say anything. He just pointed to the small door to the west.
Compared to the main gate of the government office, this small gate is as shabby as a dog hole. Well, ordinary people like them who come to apply for a certificate will not be allowed to go through the magnificent main gate.
Jiang Qinglan led Tuan Tuan into the house.
It was a small courtyard with two entrances. In the middle stood a few sweet-scented osmanthus trees, tall and strong, but with few leaves left, they looked rather withered. In the east corner, a group of people gathered. Judging by their attire, they were ordinary folk. They were making a lot of noise and a commotion, but I had no idea what they were doing.
There was no staff in sight and no one cared, so Jiang Qinglan walked in again and entered the second courtyard. Hey, this time it was right. There was a sign with the words "dental post" hanging on the house in front of him, and the door was half open.
"Is anyone there?" Jiang Qinglan asked tentatively as he stepped into the house.
The room was quite large, with what appeared to be three offices. Two of them were empty, except for the one by the window, where a person's clothes peeked out from behind a pile of books.
It was a white sunflower robe with only a narrow strip of purple cut at the hem. The gold-sprinkled jacquard material reflected the brilliance of the sunlight, making it look very noble.
But the man's long legs were hanging casually, one leg bent and the other leg straight, looking quite relaxed.
Tuan Tuan muttered softly, "Sister, his legs are so long!"
"Shh..." Jiang Qinglan touched her lips with his hand, signaling her not to talk nonsense. He took another step closer and tried to greet her, "My dear?"
As I got closer, I realized the man had fallen asleep, his hands on the table and his face buried in his arms. There were a few open books on the table, and steam was still rising from the white porcelain cup of tea.
Jiang Qinglan was both angry and amused: drinking tea, chatting, reading tabloids, and sleeping during working hours, whose leader's relative is here to slack off?
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