27. Rice wine and mung bean ice dumplings (one)
◎Mrs. Jiang, this is very interesting...◎
"Crackle—crackle—"
After a string of firecrackers exploded, a thick cloud of white smoke rose up, and the Xinghua Restaurant was surrounded by a cloud of mist.
Jiang Qinglan stood by the door, covering Tuantuan's ears with his hands, and watched Hu Zi light another string of firecrackers on the tree.
To the left of the Xinghua Restaurant is a small workshop selling wine, and to the right is a cloth shop.
The shopkeepers and their employees heard the sound of firecrackers and came out to see.
The cloth seller was called Lady Sun, a short, plump woman with a friendly face. "Oh, are you open for business?"
Jiang Qinglan was well prepared and smiled as he stuffed a bowl of rice wine and mung bean ice dumplings into her hands.
Then he said to the people around him:
"Dear neighbors, my name is Jiang. I'm new here, so please take care of me."
"Our shop is opening today. It's hot out, so we're giving away our mung bean icy dumplings to cool you down. They're free, so please help yourself."
Wang Huiniang, Tuantuan and Hu Zi, who had just finished setting off firecrackers, brought bowls of icy glutinous rice balls and distributed them to everyone.
Mrs. Sun is fat and afraid of heat, so she always carries a round fan with her.
Now, holding the bowl of iced glutinous rice balls, she felt as if she was soaking in an ice hole, and her whole body was cold.
She looked again: in the small blue and white porcelain bowl, clusters of green and white were floating, emitting a wisp of cold air.
Such a color, just looking at it can relieve half of the heat.
It turned out that the small white balls were actually glutinous rice balls. Because they had been cooked in fermented rice wine, they had a faint aroma of wine.
The green part is mung beans that have been cooked until very soft and finely crushed, mixed with crushed smoothie.
With the addition of smoothie, no wonder it is so refreshing.
Mrs. Sun's son was only seven or eight years old, a little fat boy. He scooped up a full spoonful and swallowed it, his eyes shining:
"Oh my, mung beans can be so delicious?!"
After hearing this, Madam Sun's face turned red.
It turns out that mung beans have the effect of cooling down and reducing internal heat, so Mrs. Sun often cooks mung bean porridge.
But rice porridge has a bland taste to begin with, and with mung beans added, it becomes even more bland. The youngest son refused to eat it no matter what.
Now, when he ate this at the Xinghua Restaurant, he found the fermented rice cool and sweet, the glutinous rice balls soft and chewy. Even the unpleasant smell of mung beans became sweet.
For children, the desire for food is paramount. The little fat boy didn't care about Madam Sun's reaction, and his eyes were fixed on the braised meat in the bamboo winnowing basket.
There are braised chicken legs, braised pig ears, braised pig's trotters, and braised pork elbows, all of which are brown in color and exude the aroma of the marinade and meat.
The braised eggs are especially lovely.
They were all shelled, smooth and shiny, but had three cuts on their bodies to allow the rich, fragrant marinade to penetrate and enhance the flavor.
In the other winnowing basket were vegetables—braised kelp, black fungus, shiitake mushrooms, etc. There were some Sichuan peppercorns and dogwood slices that hadn't been salvaged, hidden in the holes of the braised lotus root slices and in the holes of the black fungus.
Just looking at these, you will feel the spicy, fresh and fragrant taste, which makes your mouth water.
Others, like Sun Niang and her son, praised the ice dumplings for cooling off in the summer heat, while others were interested in braised meats and dishes, and asked Wang Hui Niang and others about the prices.
Just as everyone was amazed and making noises, a young man came in from outside:
"Madam Jiang, you opened a restaurant here. It was so hard to find me!"
The man was about seventeen or eighteen years old, with some stubble on his chin.
His young face was filled with the excitement of meeting old friends again.
But Jiang Qinglan was a little face-blind, and after searching his mind for a while, he really had no impression.
That person said:
"Oh, you don't remember me!"
"My last name is Gao. I was at the Xishan Cuju Field. I brought some people here to buy your lemonade. Later, our Guo Chaofeng also bought your magic water recipe."
"Later, I went looking for you, but you had already closed your stall. I asked the old man selling melon seeds, and he said you were at Zhongwa. But I went there several times and didn't see you."
After he said that, Jiang Qinglan remembered.
This Mr. Gao was from the Qiyun Society and was one of the first to come and buy lemon juice. Later, he brought a few blue-shirted players to buy as well.
I don’t know whether it was Mr. Gao’s contribution that led Guo Chaofeng to buy her prescription later.
Jiang Qinglan smiled apologetically:
"Oh, I'm sorry. I was busy decorating here and didn't go to Zhongwa. It's my fault. Mr. Gao, please come in and have a bowl of iced glutinous rice balls to cool down."
As he spoke, he led the person in.
When passing by a little maid, Jiang Qinglan suddenly felt something was wrong and took a few more glances.
The little maidservant was a servant in the tavern next door, her name was Caizhu.
She was quite clever. She took her eyes away from Mr. Gao and said with a smile:
"Madam Jiang, these icy glutinous rice balls are delicious. Can I have another bowl?"
——
The sun has set and the night wind is a little cooler.
Yang Song held a large pot of peonies in his hand and walked down the Eight-Character Bridge with a heavy sigh.
After walking such a long way, when he arrived at the door of Xinghua Restaurant, he was sweating profusely even though there was a cool breeze.
Customers were constantly coming and going in the restaurant, some were buying braised meat, some were buying porridge, and some were just coming to get iced rice balls.
It was noisy everywhere and no one cared about the big fool standing at the door.
Yang Song crossed his arms and took a deep breath. Just as he was about to shout "Madam Jiang" at the top of his lungs, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a familiar figure between the green leaves and red flowers of the peony.
Immediately, his eyes widened.
"Ah, Mr. Yan." He immediately put down his crossed hands and performed a standard salute.
Seeing that the visitor hadn't said anything for a long time, he raised his head and asked curiously:
"Didn't you say you were busy? Why are you here?"
Xie Linchuan was wearing a sky-blue robe and holding a gold-sprinkled folding fan. He was handsome and suave.
Everyone walking on the street, regardless of gender, age or status, looked over here.
However, he strolled around the entrance of the Xinghua Restaurant, and sometimes hid himself in the darkness of the trees, which seemed quite sneaky.
When he heard Yang Song's question, he just rolled his eyes and didn't answer. He seemed to be more interested in the bunch of colorful peonies.
After staring for a while, he frowned slightly and asked, "Is this... a gift from you?"
"Yes." Yang Song blurted out.
However, after a while, seeing that Xie Linchuan had nothing in his hands except a fan, and his brows were furrowed more and more, he suddenly felt that something was wrong.
Yang Song looks stupid, but he is actually very wise. Otherwise, the prefect of Lin'an would not have sent him to deal with Xie Linchuan.
Suddenly, he suddenly understood and said:
"No, no, no, this is a gift from me for Mr. Yan!"
Xie Linchuan chuckled, two deep dimples forming at the corners of his lips.
He stopped thinking about the peonies.
He took two steps forward, half of his body hidden in the shadow of the tree, and looked up at the wine flag against the indigo sky.
The four big characters "Xinghua Restaurant" are neat but not rigid, gentle but not lacking in strength.
He had no interest in music, chess, calligraphy or painting since childhood, but he had one skill - painting and calligraphy. He could remember the handwriting of a person and identify the author's work just by taking a look at it.
He had never seen this word before.
Could it be that she wrote it herself?
Yang Song also looked up.
"Apricot blossoms?" He looked around, seeing only the deep green of locust trees and weeping willows. "No apricot blossom trees?"
Xie Linchuan said: "I listened to the spring rain in the small building all night, and sold apricot blossoms in the deep alley tomorrow morning. This is a poem by Lu Fangweng."
Yang Song's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Mr. Yan, you can recite poetry?"
He had seen the words he wrote, which were as sharp as iron hooks and silver strokes, like he was dancing with a sword.
He simply couldn't connect Mr. Yan with elegant poetry—and it was poetry he had never heard of before.
Xie Linchuan rolled his eyes at him again:
"Why? Can't I recite? I'm just too lazy to read. Your poems are childish and sour."
Yang Song didn't dare to speak.
In fact, Yang Song is not to blame for this. The Lu Fangweng of this time and space is not as famous as the patriotic poet Lu You in history.
He was just a scholar who mingled in the market, a bit like Liu Yong.
The reason why Xie Linchuan knew this poem was that he saw it while reading some random books when he was young.
He has an excellent memory and can almost remember everything he sees, so he can recall it immediately.
But people like Yang Song, who had been studying hard for the imperial examinations since childhood, had never read these idle books.
But at this time, Xie Linchuan had no time to care about those things.
What he was thinking was, how did Madam Jiang know this poem?
How could she, a common woman and the daughter of a merchant, know how to read?
Even the daughters of wealthy families would only read the "Rules for Women" and would never read such idle books.
This Madam Jiang is very interesting...
The two were lost in thought when a voice like a spring stream gurgling over rocks rang out: "Mr. Yang—"
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