Chapter 32: Scallion oil noodles are served in the backyard, either standing or sitting to eat
After making several servings of caramel pudding and double skin milk, Song Jin's cooking career for the day was temporarily over. She led Hong Xing and the old woman to pack up the tools they brought.
At this moment, the Chai family's steward came to find her, and the two went to the corridor to talk together.
"The young master likes the egg milk you made very much. Even Lord Lu and Lord Ji praised it. The master and the mistress hope to eat it often in the future."
"As long as you like it, the rules will still be the same. Will you send one the next day?"
Song Jin thought, this is a good idea. Just buy some milk and give away as much as you make. There is no need to worry about the Chai family not recognizing the debt.
But Manager Song didn't think so: "That's too much trouble. If the young master starts to make a fuss, he will have to eat it right away. I think you can teach this method to my kitchen servants, so that we don't have to bother the shopkeeper to deliver it. It can save trouble and won't delay the young master's meal. Isn't it convenient? Of course, you can name a price for the silver, and we can negotiate."
When Song Jin heard this, she thought that they wanted to buy a recipe, which was great, as she was not in the business of double skin milk and caramel pudding.
"Butler Song is really thoughtful."
Song Jin said it politely, but he was already very happy in his heart, but the price became a problem.
She knew how much a stone of grain cost in the Ming Dynasty, but what was the price of this recipe?
Seeing her hesitation, Manager Song simply spoke up, "Manager Wen, how about this? Two desserts, two recipes, a total of thirty taels of silver, is that okay?"
I can redeem myself soon.
Song Jin estimated the high or low price, and the only criterion was the price of his own redemption. If it was close to the high price, it would be high.
"It's done, it's done. The price offered by Manager Song must be the most fair."
Manager Song smiled, turned around and ordered someone to go to the accounting office to get cash. Not long after, a heavy bag of silver was in Song Jin's hands.
"Here is seventy taels of silver. In addition to buying the recipe, there is also the commission I promised you before and the money for the dishes. I'll trouble you today, Shopkeeper Wen."
This one sentence ended Song Jin's work for the day: thirty taels of money for the recipe, thirty taels of money for the commission, and ten taels of money for the food.
For a moment, Song Jin wanted to swallow all the money.
"Manager Wen?"
"Manager Wen?"
Song Jin held the silver and tried hard to suppress her urge to run away with the silver. Suddenly she heard Manager Song calling her and she realized that she had been obsessed with the silver.
"You called me?"
Manager Song smiled and said, "I'm sorry to bother you today. We have already hired a sedan chair for you. It's getting dark now, so be careful on the road."
This was a very polite way to see the guest off. Song Jin thanked him quickly and then went back to the kitchen with the silver.
There were no silver notes in the Ming Dynasty. The only advantage was that silver had become the universal currency. If she moved forward, she would only be able to hold on to copper coins.
The people in the kitchen saw Song Jin coming in with a package and stopped to watch.
"Oh, with such a big bag of silver, you have to be careful when walking on the road. It would be so painful if someone robbed it."
"Hahaha--"
Song Jin was also happy in his heart. He had already started calculating in his mind which money would be put into the account, which would be embezzled, and which would be used to win people's hearts.
While they were chatting and laughing, she glanced at Hong Xing and the old woman. Fortunately, her joy was greater than her jealousy, so she was able to win them over.
The three of them packed up their things. Since the Chai family had already paid for the remaining vegetables and meat, they didn't need to take them away. They only took some spices and a small pot that Song Jin had prepared himself, and went out and took a sedan chair to Shiding Tower.
Today is the Qixi Festival, the day for begging for cleverness. Song Jin, dressed as a man, did not go to the backyard of the Chai family to see how the festive lady was celebrating the festival. There were no women on the streets, but he did not know which building was singing:
"The grandson of heaven stopped his weaving machine overnight, while thousands of families in the world were busy begging for skills. I thought of the twin stars' thoughts and secrets. On the seventh day of the seventh month, I looked back and laughed at Sanlang."
Song Jin got off the sedan in front of Shidinglou. There were a few diners scattered around the restaurant. Song Jin went straight to the back with the silver in his arms.
It turns out that being in the same class makes it easier to empathize.
Song Jin almost didn't have to spend any effort. He directly told Arong how much he had earned this time and how much to record. Arong didn't ask any questions. He just recorded whatever he reported and took the money.
In the Bai family, there were some rewards during festivals, but they were all personal. When Song Jin arrived at the Chai family and received the reward, it naturally belonged to her, and no one wanted her to "confiscate" it.
Song Jin was not stupid. He would not take advantage of the situation by himself. When the diners in front had not finished eating, he took his people to the kitchen to prepare a big meal. As soon as the last customer left, everyone came up to the door and ate and drank together in the restaurant.
"Today is the Qiqiao Festival. Forget about us old ladies, but you young people, don't you make a purse for your loved ones?"
Song Jin smiled. She didn't know how to sew a purse. Even if she could, she would keep it even if it was just a copper coin to use to get rid of her official status.
However, the two girls of the same age beside her, Caiwei and Hongxing, murmured: "We are so busy every day, how can we have time to sew purses?"
Song Jin took a sip of wine, slowly savored these words, and sighed in his heart.
I was full of energy and ambition at first, and even thought about teaching Dujuan and the others to read. But after two months, I haven't been back yet.
Chunyun was pulled out, but it was a pity that she didn't get any good out of following him except being beaten and scolded. She was exhausted every day and slept deeper than anyone else at night.
She had boasted earlier that she would be able to learn quickly just by looking at the account book, but an abacus was enough to stump her. As the shopkeeper and the chef of the big dishes, she really didn't want to use the abacus after closing the stall at night.
People need time to breathe.
"I see that you all, except Chunyun who is still young, should think about getting married. If you don't choose someone you like, maybe your grandmother will decide to match you up one day."
After hearing this, Song Jin felt like he was breeding animals and started to feel uncomfortable.
"People like us can't make decisions for ourselves." Hong Xing picked up a piece of chicken with chopsticks and said while eating.
"It all depends on whether you want it or not. If you really want to, you can find one yourself and then ask for a favor. It may work. If the eldest lady doesn't want to marry you to a servant, will she marry you to the young master of the Bai family who can't even give birth? Or go to the underground to marry you to a master?"
A few people laughed.
"Do you think our master is ill? It's fine if he doesn't have a son, but how come he doesn't even have a daughter?"
"Who knows? Maybe he has done too many evil things, and God can't stand it, so he won't allow him to have any offspring."
"What evil have you committed?"
At this moment, Song Jin, who had been lazy, also pricked up his ears, but the old woman refused to elaborate.
"Let alone our Bai family, even in any wealthy family, who is clean? Take the Chai family we visited today, for example. They have a high-ranking official as their backer, otherwise why would they give up after failing the exam? It's enough to get the title of a juren."
Song Jin had heard of this. When one reached the level of Juren, land tax and corvée were all exempted. In other words, there was no need to pay taxes on farming, so many wealthy landowners would chase after Juren and give them money just to avoid taxes.
Song Jin thought, this should be the equity holding in the 16th century? Reasonable tax avoidance, everyone does this.
After reaching the Juren level, the next step is Jinshi. But even if you get Jinshi, what does it matter? How can there be so many vacancies to fill? It's not the founding of the country, when there were wars and killings and there was a shortage of talents everywhere.
For this reason, the trend of abandoning literature to pursue business became increasingly prevalent, and Confucian merchants almost became a phenomenon in the Ming Dynasty.
But if you just check the salaries of Ming Dynasty officials, it's not surprising.
Song Jin began to calculate Ji Shubai's monthly salary in his mind. As a fifth-rank official, he should have more than ten dan of rice. Converted into silver...
It would have been fine if he hadn't calculated it. After Song Jin did the math, he felt unhappy. One month's salary could buy two slaves.
No wonder in the Ming Dynasty, a small scholar would always bring a servant with him when he went out. It turns out that the cheapest thing was a slave.
The more Song Jin thought about it, the more he felt that his life was worthless. He angrily drank a glass of wine, washed up, and went to bed.
No matter how angry she was, life still had to go on. The next morning, Song Jin got up early to wash and dress. She was not in a hurry to remove the door panels. She left the task of killing the chicken to the maid and quietly made breakfast.
Today's breakfast is scallion oil noodles.
Song Jin was very patient. She slowly heated the iron pan over a low fire, using plenty of oil, as she had never been frugal enough in this regard.
When the oil is warm, put the washed and wiped scallions in. The fire should be low and the oil temperature should not be too hot, otherwise it will burn instantly and the taste will be wrong.
When the scallions are fried until yellow, you can turn off the heat and put the oil in a bowl. The residual heat of the oil will slowly fry the scallions until they turn black.
At this point, you can prepare to cook noodles, but the others haven't gotten up yet, so Song Jin is not in a hurry to cook noodles. Instead, he moves a bench and sits in the yard.
The sun had not yet risen, and the morning mist was slowly drifting through the yard. A few early-rising sparrows landed on the ground, chirping and pecking at something on the ground.
Song Jin enjoyed the silence for less than a quarter of an hour before it was broken by the creaking sound of a door opening.
"Oh, the shopkeeper got up so early. What's that smell? It's so fragrant."
Song Jin smiled and said, "I made some scallion oil. Let's have scallion oil noodles in the morning. I'm still waiting for you to pull the noodles."
"Okay, wait for me, I'll come after I wash up."
Song Jin doesn't have the skill to pull noodles. She is not very versatile in cooking. She only makes what she likes to eat and what can please her boss.
The old woman was quite good at it, kneading and pulling the dough. Song Jin felt like he was watching a thrilling performance.
When the water in the pot began to boil, a handful of noodles was sprinkled in. Song Jin specifically instructed that it should be finer.
By the time the noodles were out of the pot, the oil temperature had dropped.
Song Jin first picked the green onions into the bowl, added salt, sugar and soy sauce to the oil, stirred evenly, then scooped two spoonfuls into the noodle bowl and stirred evenly.
"It smells really good. The shopkeeper has so many ideas."
Song Jin smiled as he mixed the noodles and placed them one by one on the stove. The yard became lively at this time. Several people got up and went to the yard. After smelling the aroma of the scallion oil noodles, they did not bother to brush their teeth or wash their faces. They quickly rinsed their mouths and ran to the kitchen.
It’s strange that no one went to the table. Instead, they took the noodles and ate them in the backyard, either standing or sitting.
The morning air was cool, and the morning mist was mixed with the aroma of scallion oil. Song Jin stared at a few chirping sparrows not far away and ate a large bowl of noodles happily.
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