Chapter 119 Don't flirt with me in front of me
On the first day of the first lunar month, no one was still doing business. Everyone was busy greeting each other and congratulating each other. Even Old Lu went out to greet people on the street. Song Jin stayed in the shop with the two women, chatting around the fire.
"You'll help in the kitchen at the Chai family the day after tomorrow. Have you prepared everything?" Mrs. Chen's tone was soft, but Song Jin always felt a little strange listening to it. The deliberately narrowed distance made her a little sensitive.
She was not good at handling these relationships. Compared with doing business and flattering others, maintaining such family relationships was unfamiliar to her.
"Everything is ready. There were many cooks that day, so the Chai family only asked me to make a few of their signature dishes and a few snacks. Everything was already discussed."
"That's good, that's good."
Perhaps because it was the New Year, or perhaps because life had really gotten better, Mrs. Chen's smile was particularly bright today.
"On that day, bring two more servants with you. In the past, when the Bai family held New Year's banquets, there were two or three times more people in the kitchen than usual. This time at the Chai family, it's probably even more. Bring more people, and you'll be less busy."
Song Jin smiled and nodded: "I know, mother."
Mrs. Chen continued, "Mancao has become very capable. When he was only as tall as my waist, he followed me to learn how to cook. Now he has gone out with his servants to cook for the wealthy families."
She looked at Song Jin with somewhat obsessed eyes. Song Jin felt uncomfortable with her staring at him. If it were her, she would probably feel uncomfortable too.
My life is good, but my daughter can no longer enjoy it. Any mother would feel uncomfortable.
Feeling guilty, she could no longer truly enjoy herself. No wonder she had always been quiet, seldom smiled, and stayed in the kitchen all day. It was rare that she was willing to sit down and talk with Song Jin today.
"Mom, I will grow up. When people grow up and learn skills, life will naturally get better. It's the same no matter who you are or where you are."
Mrs. Chen suddenly smiled bitterly.
I hope her vines are growing better day by day.
This time, the Chai family's New Year's wine party was a grand occasion. On the afternoon of the second day of the New Year, Song Jin brought his servants and delivered all the necessary utensils and dishes to the Chai family in advance. When he arrived at the kitchen, he found that it was already full of things, and even the patio outside was filled with a lot of things.
Chickens, ducks and geese were squeaking in cages in the corner, fish, shrimps and turtles were swimming in the water tank, water was splashing from the flapping of a big carp's tail, and bundles of vegetables were piled at the foot of the wall like firewood. There were no less than five cooks hired from outside, and one even came from another county. He lived directly at Chai's house with his servants yesterday.
Song Jin couldn't help but become nervous, so much so that as soon as the rooster crowed the next day, she got up, washed, and went to Chai's house with some milk at daybreak.
Knowing that today would be a busy day, I was afraid that I would have to take off my new cotton-padded jacket after just a few hours because it would be too hot, so I prepared an old jacket.
She didn't have to cook much that day. She prepared the usual double skin milk and caramel pudding for dessert. Under the instruction of Manager Song, the tea leaves for the milk tea were replaced with Yuezhou Longjing provided by the Chai family.
Chunyun was already very good at making milk tea, so Song Jin handed it over to her.
Cold dishes are not popular in winter, so Song Jin gave up cold preserved eggs and boiled chicken and replaced them with bean sprouts in soup and braised pork with taro.
The Ming Dynasty was still unable to make bean curd, so Song Jin could only boil the tofu in boiling water to remove the bean smell, blanch the bean sprouts, and place them at the bottom of a bowl for later use.
Put century eggs and salted duck eggs in a wok, mash and stir-fry until bubbles appear. Add shredded ginger and boiling water and cook for a few moments. Then pour in bacon slices cut into fingernail-sized pieces and blanched tofu and bring to a boil. Finally, pour the sauce over the bean sprouts.
Braised pork with taro is a little more troublesome.
The taro had to be peeled and cut into cubes. Song Jin really found it itchy, and Meng Qi understood it well, so he just started cutting it neatly.
The pork belly also needs to be cut into dices, and slowly fried in the pan. When the oil is almost cooked, pour in the diced taro, stir-fry evenly, add salt and soy sauce for seasoning, add fennel and stir-fry, and finally add water to cover half of the meat, and simmer over low heat until the taro becomes soft and glutinous.
Song Jin closed the lid of the dish with braised pork with taro. Zhang Hongan had already cut the seasoning for the boiled shrimp and was currently slicing the mandarin fish. Song Jin then went to prepare a pot of casserole porridge.
She saw dried scallops here, and it turned out that they were indeed a wealthy family.
Song Jin was busy cooking casserole porridge, Meng Qi was frying crispy rice, Zhang Hongan was catching shrimps from the water tank, and Chunyun was helping to pour out the milk tea so that the servants of the Chai family could serve the cooked milk tea to the guests.
These were just the people Song Jin brought with him. The other cooks and waiters were also busy. The oil pots, water boilers, and pots were all steaming, and none of them stopped working.
Everyone was busy, and before the dishes were half done, Song Jin went out to change clothes. There was either a stove or a hot pot around, and several people couldn't help but change into thin clothes.
Needless to say, the Chai family's hall will become even more lively at this moment, and Ji Shubai must be among them.
This thought only flashed through Song Jin's mind before it was quickly suppressed. The important thing now was to prepare the dish.
After all the dishes were ready and the servants of the Chai family brought them out, Song Jin finally breathed a sigh of relief. He moved a cross stool and sat with everyone to talk, chat and bask in the sun.
"Fortunately the weather is good today, otherwise we would be soaked if we were busy working in the courtyard on a rainy day."
"Yes, the sun is shining brightly, and it's nice to be cool and refreshing."
"Whose cook are you?"
"I'm from Tianxianglou, what about you?"
"I'm from the VIP Pavilion."
"I'm from Wu County."
"Oh, you came from so far away."
"I can't help it. Mr. Chai is very generous. He ate the Yunlin goose I made last time he went to Wu County. He asked me to make it again this time. There is no reason for me not to come."
......
Song Jin didn't interrupt, fortunately there were many people around and no one paid attention to her, but there was one person who cared about her very much.
Milk tea is for customers to warm up their bodies. When Lu Junnian saw the tea, his expression turned strange and he poked Ji Shubai with his elbow.
"Is that little girl here too?"
Ji Shubai guessed that Song Jin would be here, but still said he didn't know, fearing that the two of them would start arguing here.
Lu Junnian didn't believe it. All he could think about was the question that had been tormenting him for a while. When the casserole porridge was served, he became more certain. He stood up and walked out.
Ji Shubai knew something was going on, and fearing that something might happen, he followed out as well.
Lu Junnian went straight out to find Manager Song and asked if the cook from Lu's restaurant was at Chai's house today. He asked her to come over as he had something to ask her.
Manager Song was a smart man. He could guess that Ji Shubai had some connection with Song Jin, so he just looked at Ji Shubai.
Ji Shubai said, "We are having New Year's Eve dinner today, don't make trouble. After this, I will invite her to my house and you can talk to her face to face."
"I can't wait any longer. That little girl is definitely playing tricks on me. There's no answer to that question. I want her to explain it to me right now."
After saying this, he sank down into the official hat chair, as if he would not stop until today.
Helplessly, Ji Shubai gave Manager Song a look, and Manager Song understood what he meant.
"Then please wait here for a moment, my lords. I will go and invite them myself."
After saying this, he turned and walked out of the hall, and went to the corridor through the octagonal door on the side. The first servant he met stopped him.
"Go, go to the kitchen and tell the cook at Lu's Food Shop that Master Lu and Master Ji are waiting for her in the hall, and ask her to come over quickly."
After saying this, he was about to leave, but after thinking about it, he turned around and added, "Remember to tell her that Lord Lu doesn't look well."
The servant agreed and ran quickly to the kitchen, while he went to the banquet hall to find Chai Heng.
It's New Year's Day, and he can't let a man in a black gauze hat start a quarrel in his master's house. Otherwise, if Chai Heng blames him, he will be in trouble.
Chai Heng heard what Manager Song whispered to him. He thought that nothing would go wrong with Ji Shubai around, but he was also curious about what kind of grudge Song Jin could have with Lu Junnian.
So he found an excuse to get away.
When Song Jin heard the servant's message, which specifically added that Lord Lu was in a bad mood, he couldn't help but think of Ji Shubai's words in the letter, "A lot of his black hair has been shaved off, and he looks old in middle age," and he wanted to laugh even more.
"Thank you for your instructions, young man. Please help lead the way."
Song Jin walked slowly to the hall and saw Lu Junnian and Ji Shubai sitting side by side at the bottom. When he saw Song Jin coming, Lu Junnian jumped up immediately.
"Come here, you have to solve the problem for me right now. If you can't solve it today, I will never forgive you!"
Seeing him lose his composure, Song Jin suppressed his smile and glanced at Ji Shubai first.
Ji Shubai smiled and nodded at her.
"Don't make eyes at each other in front of me, it makes me angry!"
Lu Jun was too angry and started to attack indiscriminately. Chai Heng happened to come out and tried to smooth things over after hearing what he said.
"Oh, Master Lu, what's wrong? Who made you so angry?"
"She!" Lu Junnian pointed at Song Jin.
"Oh my, what's going on? Why don't you apologize to Lord Lu? It's New Year's Day, we shouldn't bother with her."
Chai Heng wanted to protect Song Jin, but Song Jin just smiled and saluted, and said to Chai Heng: "Mr. Chai, can I borrow a pen and paper?"
"Of course." After saying that, he ordered Manager Song to arrange it. Song Jin requested that the paper be larger.
Soon, the four treasures of the study were placed on the Eight Immortals Table in the hall, and Manager Song ground the ink himself.
"Come, write it for me. If you can't write it today, I..."
Lu Junnian was so angry that he couldn't speak. Song Jin thought: Is it possible to plant the lost hair back?
"Anyway, write it down for me!"
Coincidentally, at this time, several colleagues came out to look for Chai Heng, and two of them were even the instructors of the prefectural school. When Lu Junnian saw them, he pulled them over and took the initiative to explain the questions, asking Song Jin to solve them for everyone on the spot.
Song Jin was not in a hurry, and Ji Shubai was the same. Perhaps because they had experienced so much, they had developed some tacit understanding. Ji Shubai knew that Song Jin must have a solution before he dared to ask questions, so he just watched her silently without saying a word.
Song Jin spread out the paper, asked someone to fetch some charcoal and a ruler, roughly drew an eighty-one square grid, and then picked up the brush and dipped it in ink.
"Lord Lu, can we use Arabic numerals to write it?"
"I don't care about your uncle, just write it down."
Song Jin smiled lightly, bent over the desk and finished the work in one go. After finishing, he blew on it. Before it was completely dry, Lu Junnian came over and started calculating silently in his mind.
Song Jin was pushed aside by Lu Junnian, and simply walked away and said, "Master, please take your time to calculate. If you can't figure it out, ask someone to use an abacus to calculate it."
"Don't interrupt me, your numbers are giving me a headache."
Fortunately, after he finished writing last time, he asked Minglu to teach him, otherwise it would be very embarrassing if he didn’t recognize these numbers at this moment.
Lu Junnian recognized it, but the people around him didn't quite recognize it. They all asked, "What is this word? How come we haven't seen it before?"
Song Jin explained: "A simpler and more convenient digital symbol. If you are interested, I will teach you later. Using this number to record in your notes is faster."
Lu Junnian was already annoyed when he saw Song Jin quickly write down the answer, and now he had to do some calculations, and he was not familiar with the numbers. They were still talking, which made him even more angry.
"What do you think, horizontally and vertically?"
"Three hundred and sixty-nine, sir."
Song Jin finished speaking with a smile, and Lu Junnian said with a stiff upper lip: "Bring me the abacus."
After a crackling sound, the abacus beads stopped at position 369 every time.
Lu Junnian slumped down in his chair.
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