Chapter 77 Chapter 77 Pickled mustard greens and pork noodles.
Feng and Zhu sat down at the table, each holding a cake and began to eat.
The aroma attracted everyone to crane their necks towards this place. A little boy came over and said:
"Girl, can you trade these chicken breasts and preserved radish for a bun for my young master?"
It was the little boy who had just been boiling water in the kitchen to make glutinous rice noodles. He handed over a piece of dried meat wrapped in a towel and asked.
The chicken breast was very convenient to eat dry, and the preserved radish could be taken home and cooked. Ji Feng agreed.
"Okay, I'll trade with you."
The boy took it with great joy, but saw that his master was a boy of seven or eight years old, who was studying in a foreign place and was used to eating dry rice noodles soaked in water, so he had no appetite at all.
As he took the meat pie and ate it, his face immediately lit up. Seeing his little boy drooling with greed, he tore off a small piece for him. As the master and servant ate, the air was filled with the aroma of onions and meat.
Princess Gan was sitting close to him. A Nai, who was setting up the food nearby, smelled it and said:
"Princess, do you want to eat that cake? I will also exchange our food for one."
I asked this because I saw that Princess Gan had a poor appetite. Princess Gan said with a stern face:
"I don't eat anything made by her family."
Anai knew that she was just being stubborn. Because she rejected coming to study, she disliked Ji Xu's family who had caused this incident. This was also the reason why the Gan family had not asked Ji Xu to be their chef since they had hosted the banquet for Mao Gong. It was all because of the Gan prince's daughter.
At that moment, there were three or two more people who wanted to exchange things with sisters Feng and Zhu. Seeing that their things were good and she would not suffer any loss, Ji Feng agreed to their request.
The fat boy named Zhang Guang was unable to open his face to speak for a while, and swallowed countless saliva from a distance.
When she returned home in the afternoon, Ji Feng's handkerchief contained chicken breast, preserved radish, and even two small pieces of beef breast.
Cows are very valuable nowadays, second only to horses in importance. Even wealthy families use them for pulling and carrying goods, and will not kill them for food easily.
In the market of their Niupi Township, the most common thing you see is butchers selling mutton and venison, but you have never seen raw beef.
"Take it back and let your sister try it. She will definitely like it." Ji Feng said.
"Yeah!" Jizhu nodded her little head.
The two sisters were reluctant to eat it, so they wrapped it carefully and waited for Ji Xu to come and pick it up. They took it home and then carefully opened it and presented it to Ji Xu like a treasure.
Ji Xu couldn't resist his sisters' enthusiasm, so he carefully tasted a piece of beef breast, which was dry, fragrant and chewy. He was thinking about what to prepare for lunch for his sisters tomorrow, and suddenly he had an idea.
I saw her go to the west room and scoop out two scoops of flour, adding water and making flour.
Seeing that the dough was stretched as thin as grass, Ji Feng decided to eat the water-infused cakes made by her sister for dinner. The water-infused cakes made by her sister were different from those made by other families. The dough was not stretched into thin strips, but into long strands.
But then I saw Ji Xu took a pair of chopsticks, put one on top and one on the bottom across the strips of noodles, pressed them together into a curled shape, and then put them into the hot oil pot to fry?
"Sister, aren't you making Shuiyinbing? Why do you need to fry it?"
The curly dough was fried until it turned slightly yellow and set in shape. Ji Xu took it out and said,
"It's a water-infused pancake, but after frying it like this, you and Xiaozhu can eat it even in the library."
"Really? How do you eat this?"
Ji Feng was very curious. This water-infused pasta contained soup. If it was made in the morning and brought to the library, it would have been soaked and swollen by the time it was eaten at noon. No one in the library would bring this kind of soupy pasta.
"Wait a little longer, the preserved meat and preserved radish that Sister Feng brought back can be used."
Ji Xu fried about ten dough cakes, cut the beef breast into dices, fished out a head of golden pickled mustard greens from the double-collared pot in the corner of the west room, shredded them, and put them in a small bamboo tube.
Take another bamboo tube and put it in the powder made from Huaixiang, pepper, cinnamon, dried fermented black beans and salt.
The next morning, he fried two extra egg cakes, wrapped them in bamboo leaves, and placed two large bowls in the sisters' bookcases, saying:
"Soak the bread, preserved meat and radish, egg biscuits, and pickled mustard greens in boiling water. Add a spoonful of lard paste and you're ready to eat."
Ji Feng nodded and remembered it. It sounds like there are a lot of things to do, but it is actually very convenient. You just need to soak it in water.
By noon, an overbearing sour fragrance lingered in the air, attracting fellow students from the library to come over.
In front of Feng and Zhu's desks, there was a bowl of golden food each.
"Is this a water cake?"
"Nonsense, Shuiyinbing isn't that thin."
"I recognize that egg pancake on the soup."
"Ji Feng, what on earth is this?"
Everyone was talking at once.
Ji Feng said, "This is pickled vegetable and pork noodles."
The two sisters couldn't wait any longer and started eating with their chopsticks.
The noodles slid into their mouths, and the fragrance spread more and more. The young men and women were all swallowing their saliva. When they went back and saw their dry and hard biscuits, they lost their appetite even more.
Yesterday, the little boy came to ask again, wanting to buy a portion of her food.
"I'll give you twenty dollars, is that okay?"
“I’ll buy it too!”
Even Zhang Guang, the fat boy who had made fun of people yesterday by saying "A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen", couldn't help but speak.
Speaking of Ji Xu, he went back and forth to the tofu shop as usual recently, thinking that his sister had been sent to primary school and that his family had a tiled house with a courtyard and a well in the courtyard.
A while ago, I bought a bamboo-framed leather clothes basket and a pine wood cabinet, which I placed in the east room where I sleep to store cloth, clothes, and shoe soles.
Now that the weather is warmer, they cover themselves with thinner spring quilts that were made a few days ago. The thicker one was put into the cupboard after being dried in the sun.
All the family money was spent on these big things, but we even managed to get such a big thing as my sister enrolled in a library.
Ji Xu thought about it. He had built a yard and a firewood shed at home. He could make a frame, raise the stone mill, and put it in the firewood shed. He could buy a donkey to pull the mill. This way, his arms wouldn't be sore from tiredness every day. The firewood shed would also allow the donkey to move more freely, and the yard would block the view from outside.
The donkey should be the last big item in the family. After buying it home, you can start saving money for future use. If you need to spend a lot of money in the future, you should be able to come up with it.
Coincidentally, Ji Feng told her that her comrades wanted to buy noodles.
"Sister, you haven't seen them. They can't move when they smell the fragrance."
Ji Xu was delighted when he heard this. "Twenty coins a piece, this is a good deal."
But of course, we can’t use beef breast anymore, we should switch to some economical pork breast or chicken breast.
As for preserved radish, she dried cabbage, sunflower, onion, radish, and turnip in the winter, and picked out the cabbage, sunflower, and onion to use as preserved radish.
We still have some flour stored at home, so we can use what we have.
She still fried one egg cake for each portion. Since the hens at home didn't lay enough eggs, she would go to the market and buy them for a penny each.
There is still a full jar of pickled mustard greens. If they are used up, I can just pick some from the backyard and soak them. I just planted some vegetable seeds in the spring, so there is always a supply of seasonal vegetables.
Ji Xu calculated that if he used up the five hu of flour left at home, he could make a total of 200 servings. If he could sell all of them, he could save 4,000 coins.
"Tell your fellow soldiers to come to the door of the library early in the morning to buy it. I will take you to the library, and then we can go to the tofu shop after selling it." Ji Xu said.
If Ji Feng were to take it in and sell it to his comrades, it would not only delay Ji Feng's study and learning, but also
Secondly, it was inconvenient to carry. Plastic bags were unavailable these days, so she had to wrap them individually in mulberry leaves and bring them with her. There were so many and so many pieces that my sister's bookcase couldn't hold them all. So she sorted them into baskets and put them on the oxcart. For every flatbread she sold, she would pick out a package for each person, which was actually quite cheap.
Third, if students buy and sell in the library, it may displease scholars like Mr. Yang.
"good!"
Ji Feng responded happily, saying that the family now had another business that could make money, so how could they not be happy?
The next day, many students indeed sent their children to buy the pickled vegetable and pork jerky noodles. They would make some at noon, and every bite would make them feel like they were in heaven.
"So chewy! Sour and spicy! A hundred times better than water-infused pancakes!"
“I’ll buy more tomorrow!”
Everyone had eaten till the bottom of their bowl, still feeling unsatisfied.
Especially the fat boy Zhang Guang, who bought two portions and still felt unsatisfied, said:
“Buy more tomorrow!”
"This is what I bought this morning. It's a quick-drinking noodle dish with pickled mustard greens and pork. Princess, would you like to try it?"
Anai brought it over and said, "Princess Gan was still too stubborn to eat it. She wanted to eat the one her family gave her." Anai then picked one up and ate it herself. The overbearing aroma had already aroused her appetite. She ate it in a short while, leaving not even a drop of juice.
After lunch, Anai pushed Princess Gan out for a walk as usual, fearing that the food would accumulate if she stayed still. Some children took a nap in the classroom, while others, who were more playful, played ji rang in the yard.
Jirang is somewhat similar to throwing bricks. Both are throwing games that children love to play. They are simple and quick to learn. A wooden piece shaped like a shoe sole is held upright and thrown with a wooden hand from thirty steps away. The winner is the one who hits the brick.
"Oh! It's my turn!"
The young boys and girls were divided into two teams to see which team had more chips. It was a lively party, and Feng and Zhu were among them.
Ji Zhu was not good at playing such games. She preferred to play the role of grandfather and mother. However, she had just arrived at the library and was not familiar with the place. In addition, she was introverted and shy, so she wanted to stick to Ji Feng, so she played together.
It was Ji Feng's turn to play. She was very impressive. She tossed the soil in her hands and stood behind the line.
"Look here, everyone! I'm famous in Bengu for my brick-throwing skills!"
After saying that, he threw the stick in his hand. The stick flew out like a dart and hit the stick thirty steps away, even knocking it down.
"Two! It's two!"
The companions in the same camp clapped their hands and cheered in unison, and their momentum was immediately much louder than that of the other side.
Because of her accurate throwing skills, Ji Feng became popular. Many little girls pulled her over to talk and asked her where she was from, how many words she knew, and what she liked to eat.
Ji Zhu, who was clinging to her second sister, was pushed outside. She looked around for a while and then sat obediently on the stone steps under the eaves. Anai had just pushed Princess Gan to this place. Because there was a gust of wind outside, she turned back to get a cloak for the princess.
Princess Shenggan sat where she was, looking at the hustle and bustle in the distance, her eyes fluctuating.
Ji Zhu, who was standing by, looked at the object with round wheels curiously and quietly. It could allow people to hang their legs down, sit on it, and push it around. She had never seen such a thing before. It was really strange. It looked like a small cart, and there were beautiful cloud patterns carved on the wooden handle. She stared at it for a moment.
Until the daughter of the Gan King turned around angrily and scolded:
"What are you looking at?"
She was so frightened that she turned her head away immediately and stood there in a daze like a little owl.
He wondered in his head why she was angry, whether he had offended her by looking at her for too long, and what he should say to reconcile. His heart went back and forth several times, like a sheepskin bag that had been inflated and then deflated. He never opened his mouth and just lowered his head silently.
Ji Feng was surrounded, dealing with the girls' enthusiasm, but she did not forget to look around to see where her sister was. Seeing her standing under the eaves, she called her,
"Xiaozhu! Come here, second sister. It will be your turn to throw the dice in a while."
"Oh, here she comes." Ji Zhu wanted to run towards her obediently, but she thought that if she left, there would be only one lonely person left under the eaves.
She still remembered the first time she rode an oxcart. Her sister taught her to wipe the girl's tears with a handkerchief and ask her name. She paused, mustered up her courage, inflated the sheepskin bag in her chest, and imitated her by asking:
"What's your name? Do you want to play Jirang with me?"
But the girl's cheeks became more and more red with anger, as if she had been greatly insulted, and her chest heaved up and down.
"She can't play!"
"Didn't you see the wheelchair she's in? She needs a servant to push her everywhere. How can someone with a disabled leg have fun?"
As soon as Ji Zhu finished speaking, the children's loud words were like a slap in the face of Princess Gan. She grabbed one of her empty legs, almost tearing the fabric, and gritted her teeth and said:
"Shut up! Who allowed you to talk to me? You pigs!"
However, most of the children who attended the elementary school here were from wealthy families in the surrounding area. Many of them were even richer than the Gan family. They were not afraid of her words and kept chattering:
"That's just the way she is. She's always cursing at people. Let's just have fun by ourselves and ignore her."
Ji Zhu was standing on her right side just now and hadn't noticed the missing left leg under the cloth. Now that everyone was talking, they realized that this wheeled object was called a wheelchair and was for people with missing legs. She realized that she had said the wrong thing and stuttered in anxiety.
"Don't be angry, I..."
"What's wrong with having a disabled leg? Jirang is played with hands, not legs, so you can still play it."
Only Ji Feng's voice could be heard, drowning out the rest of the chatter. She came around and pushed her over. Princess Gan had never had her wheelchair pushed by an outsider before, and she even rolled down two stone steps, holding on to the handrail tightly while shouting:
"Let go! I want my mother to tie you all up!"
After they reached the line, Ji Fengfang let go and handed her the soil. "It just so happens that their team is missing one person, so it would be fair if you came. Do you want to join us and compete?"
"But how can we play with her having such a disabled leg joining our team? It's still not fair."
"Then we still have Jizhu, a little guy who doesn't know how to play, on our team."
Someone on this side said, because he heard Ji Feng say:
"Why are you talking about my sister?" He didn't say anything more.
Princess Gan was mesmerized by the gaze and clenched her fists in silence for a moment.
Ji Feng said, "Just throw boldly. Your legs are crippled, so it's not your fault if you don't throw well. You'll get it with more practice."
When Princess Gan heard this, she glared at her even more and threw the soil with her hand. The soil was quite powerful and landed far away.
"Within the boundaries, it's half a chip!"
Although it didn't hit or knock down the standing Mu Rang, it still landed within the five-foot boundary around Mu Rang, so it also scored. That team started shouting. Their score was already behind Ji Feng's team, and now they had a scorer like Princess Gan, who was like a treasure, and they didn't say anything more.
"You told me you could play!"
"How can you throw so far while sitting?"
"Lend me your wheelchair, I want to sit in it and throw the dice!"
Suddenly, they lifted her up and brought her to the side. A girl sat on her and threw the soil, but the soil fell weakly nearby. Everyone laughed, and Princess Gan also showed a rare smile on her face.
Anai, who was hiding behind a pillar with her cloak in hand, was very pleased to see this scene. It was the first time that her princess saw the children playing Jirang in the library. She turned away silently, but when she got home she also set up a wooden stick to throw. At first, she could only throw it at her feet, but as time went by and the distance got farther, she gradually could throw it within the boundary.
Such games can exercise arm strength, and the lady was happy about it. Seeing that she was doing well in the game, Anai often asked her if she wanted to push her to play with her comrades. She was rejected every time. One day when she returned home, Princess Gan even got angry and ordered people to burn all the wood soil and hand soil.
After practicing long distances with great difficulty and thinking that there would be no more chances to throw, Anai never expected that he would see with his own eyes that piece of soil, in the middle of the crowd, closest to the crowd, being thrown the farthest.
The next day, Anai bought another bowl of pickled mustard greens and pork jerky noodles, thinking that if Princess Gan was still upset and didn't want it, he would just pick it up and eat it himself.
Unexpectedly, Princess Gan actually ate it with a good appetite, leaving nothing behind. This left Anai stunned. At the end, her young master even wiped his mouth and said:
"You made a great brew. This is all thanks to you."
"Have you finished eating? Are the noodles my sister made delicious?" Ji Feng asked when she saw that her bowl was empty.
Anai thought she was going to hear some harsh words, but unexpectedly, Princess Gan paused and actually nodded.
Ji Feng smiled immediately, "Do you want to play today?"
Princess Gan nodded again.
"Let's go!" Ji Feng pushed her and slipped out, with Ji Zhu following happily behind.
"Slow down!" Anai said hurriedly.
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