Chapter 286 Little Note Egg Tart
You can be angry with anything but your stomach. Su Ruojin didn't care why the two men followed her and just decided to eat first.
Zhao Lan picked up some food for her. Her cheeks were puffed up like a little squirrel after eating. She looked so cute that Zhao Lan smiled dotingly, "Don't worry, take your time."
In the lobby, a couple was enjoying their meal in great affection.
In the lobby, the young nobleman had a smiling face and looked gentle and casual. Upon closer inspection, the smile did not reach his eyes, and the slightly raised corners of his mouth showed his cleverness and calculation;
The noble young lady was delicate, intelligent and gentle, and at first glance she was obviously a lady from a wealthy family. However, when she saw the loving couple at the opposite table, her gentle face became tense and hideous, so cold that people dared not look directly at her.
The maids, old women and guards all lowered their heads and dared not breathe.
In the huge hall, only Su Ruojin's voice remained, "Brother Jin, don't pick up food for me, eat it yourself!"
Zhao Lan smiled without saying anything, picked out the fish bones, and put the tender fish meat into her bowl, "Eat more, you're smart."
Su Ruojin: ...
Isn't she smart now? She glared at Zhao Lan and reached out to pick up a piece of food for him, "Brother Jin, eat too. Become smarter."
A man and a woman at the next table: …
It's like they are scolding them for being stupid. They are implied to be stupid, but they have no evidence.
In their peripheral vision, the couple next to them were holding their chopsticks and not eating, as if they were very angry. Zhao Lan and Su Ruojin smiled at each other and said, "You deserve it. Who told you to be such followers?"
The two of them were flirting with each other and were about to go out to digest their meal after finishing their meal.
Mr. Su Xiangheng from Dongshan Academy knew that Zhao Lan was coming, so he came to play chess with him.
Su Ruojin: ...I was just about to go out for a walk to see the moon.
Su Xiangheng laughed, "Ah Jin, lend me your brother Jin for one night. I want to play five rounds with him."
Before Su Ruojin could speak, the Prince of Yingnan, who was sitting at the next table and didn't know if he had eaten yet, stood up and walked over with a smile, "Zhao Zijin is busy, but I am free. I wonder if Mr. Su would be willing to come and see me?"
Su Xiangheng had never seen the grandson of the King of Chu. "Your Excellency are..." Judging from the man's gorgeous clothes and extraordinary demeanor, his identity must be not low. However, he was also an expert in Bian Jing, and for a moment he wondered whose family this young master was.
"My name is Zhao Lin, courtesy name Zichu."
"So you are the grandson of the King of Chu - the Prince of Yingnan. I am sorry for being rude." Su Xiangheng hurried over to apologize, "I am sorry for being inconsiderate."
"Mr. Su, you are too polite. It is my fault that I did not post the message when I came here. I do not blame you."
Although Su Xiangheng was a teacher in the academy, in addition to teaching students, he also served as the vice-president in charge of foreign affairs of Dongshan Academy, which was equivalent to managing general affairs. He had dealt with almost all the famous nobles in the capital. After all, every family has a child, and most of those with children knew Su Xiangheng.
Su Xiangheng was quite familiar with Zhao Lan, and even had a special relationship with him, but that did not prevent him from making friends with Zhao Lin, whom he had just met. He smiled and said, "My chess skills are not very good. If the Prince of Yingnan County does not mind, I will play a game with him."
"Sir, you are too polite." Zhao Zichu said with a smile, "Even if I was in Chu, I have heard of Mr. Su from Dongshan Academy. He is proficient in all six arts, including playing the zither, chess, calligraphy, painting, riding and archery. It is a great honor to meet him today."
"Yingnan County..."
"If you don't mind, sir, please call me Zhao Zichu."
Su Xiangheng: ...He is just a very outgoing person. I didn’t expect that there is someone more outgoing than him.
After a pause, Su Xiangheng smiled and said, "Then I won't be polite."
"Then I will call you Big Brother, and we can compete in chess."
Su Ruojin: ...are these two getting so close? He glanced at Zhao Lan, whose face was gentle and expressionless, and smiled faintly.
Zhao Lan reached out and held her hand, and they went out for a walk side by side.
Su Xiangheng: ... He was just about to tell Zhao Lan, but he took his fiancée out for a walk. She was supposed to play chess with him, but the target changed. What the hell...
Zhao Lin happily pulled him to the room on the second floor, sat him down under the light in front of the window, set up the chessboard, and drank chrysanthemum tea while playing chess. It was such a joy.
Only Xie Qingyu was left standing in the lobby: ...
She is also a delicate girl, why doesn't anyone come to comfort her? Her gloomy eyes are darker than the night.
Su and Zhao wandered under the moonlight, they walked slowly and leisurely following the moon.
When the evening breeze blows, it brings bursts of osmanthus fragrance.
"It's late autumn now, are there still osmanthus flowers?"
Zhao Lan followed the scent of the flower and plucked a branch for her. "Would you like to come over tomorrow to pick some to make osmanthus cake?"
Su Ruojin turned around and said, "Sister Maoya, bring some people over to pick some tomorrow."
"Yes, Second Madam." After saying that, Mao Ya disappeared into the shadow of the trees again.
Su Ruojin raised her head and rested the back of her head on Zhao Lan's warm chest. "From the looks of it, autumn planting will definitely be good. Next year should also be a good year."
"Yeah." Zhao Lan half-hugged the young lady. She spoke and he listened, responding to every word.
Following behind, Xie Qingyu, who was hidden in the shadow of the tree, thought that the two of them would say some cheesy love words, but she didn't expect that they would talk about farming. It was really... He sneered inwardly, with extreme disdain.
But she was even more unwilling to accept it. Why could a vegetable farmer get Zhao Lan's wholehearted love? No matter what he did, Zhao Lan always put her first, holding her in his hands and spoiling her like a daughter.
That's not true. Who would pick out fish bones for their daughter? That's something that only wet nurses and servants do. Few of the masters and mistresses of wealthy families would personally pick out fish bones for their children.
Why...why...she is so dignified and virtuous, why don't you marry her, but have to marry a peasant who needs to be fed.
Xie Qingyu felt a pang of pain in his heart.
The eldest girl supported her tremblingly, "Yu Niang..." She wanted to persuade her, why did she have to be so hard on herself? Isn't the Prince of Yingnan also very good?
People’s hearts are always unsatisfied.
The two of them took a walk and did not return to the restaurant until the dew rose.
When they returned to the restaurant, Su Xiangheng and Zhao Lin were playing chess enthusiastically. Su Xiangheng saw Zhao Lan coming back and called him over to watch the game.
Su Ruojin went back to her room to rest, washed up, and just wanted to lie down on the bed and roll around for a few rounds - it was such a comfortable leisurely day arranged by someone.
Suddenly, the oil lamp flickered. Mao Ya's ears pricked up instantly, and she heard a slight sound from the door frame.
Everyone in the room was so frightened that they dared not breathe.
Mao Ya tiptoed to the door, listened outside, slowly opened the door, then jumped outside and looked around. There was nothing. She waited for a while in confusion, but still found nothing, so she turned around and went back to her room.
He walked to the door and stopped, leaving a small ball of paper on the ground.
Mao Ya quickly picked it up, took it into the room and closed the door.
"Second Madam, look--" She twisted open a small piece of paper, on which was written: See you at the fortune-telling stall in front of the pen and ink shop tomorrow.
Su Ruojin frowned. Who wanted to see her? Her first reaction was that someone wanted to kidnap her.
Ye Huaizhen still had this idea, "I'll give the note to Manager Hua and see what he says."
Su Ruojin nodded.
After seeing the note, Hua Ping went to investigate first. Most of the customers in Dongsheng Restaurant were here to do business, and only a small number came to Dongshan Academy to look after the children, or to look after the young masters for the host family. There was no one worthy of suspicion.
Ye Huaizhen asked, "Could it be Prince Yingnan and Miss Xie Wu? They want to lure the Second Lady out, and then..."
Hua Ping frowned, "These two people are not so stupid, right?"
If there is any disturbance in this restaurant, these two will definitely be the first suspects. Is it possible that they would commit a crime against the wind?
Xie Qingyu had a motive, she had improper thoughts about the young prince, but what about the Prince of Yingnan who had just arrived in Beijing? Why would he want to harm Madam Su Er?
Dongsheng Restaurant was Zhao Lan's business. Hua Ping and his men searched twice but found nothing. When Zhao Lan went back to his room to sleep, Hua Ping handed him the note. "Little Prince, who do you think threw the note in front of A Jin's door?"
Zhao Lan held the small piece of paper in his hand, squinting his eyes and staring at the oil lamp for a long time. "Ensure Ah Jin's safety and find out who this person is."
If it were somewhere else, Zhao Lan would not dare to let Su Ruojin take risks, but Wenshan Street is so small, and the calligraphy and painting shop is not far from the restaurant, so he can control it.
No words were spoken that night.
The next day, Su Ruojin woke up early because she had to go to the morning tea shop.
The Shi family heard that the young mistress had arrived last night, so they tidied the shop early this morning and waited for her at the door.
Su Ruojin waved her hands repeatedly, "You guys just do what you need to do, just treat me as a normal customer, I just want some breakfast."
Shi Er smiled so hard that his eyes could not see any cracks. "No way, the young master hasn't been here for a long time. You are not only the master now, but also the most distinguished guest."
Su Ruojin stood at the door and looked into the morning tea shop with a smile on her face. The shop was clean and tidy, with customers coming in and out. There was a quiet atmosphere in the bustle, and it had the atmosphere of an academy.
The Shi family is doing well in business, Su Ruojin nodded with a smile.
Shi Er was very happy to get the young host's approval, and quickly led her into the store, "My second son often studies the preferences of the teachers and students in the academy, and makes this place elegant and refined. The teachers and students love to come here, and not only can they have delicious food, but also good books, calligraphy and paintings to look at."
Su Ruojin gave Shi Xiaoer a thumbs up.
Shi Xiaoer scratched his head shyly, "As long as I didn't disappoint the young master."
"very good."
Su Ruojin had always been worried that family-run businesses would lead to corruption in the economy and a rigid management model. Unexpectedly, Shi Xiaoer was a man with ideas and managed the shop well.
During these years, the eldest son of the Shi family had married Yu Ashui, the daughter of the head of the village at the foot of the mountain, and had a son and a daughter. Shi Xiaoer also married Caiyun, a maid sent by Zhao Lan to work as a helper.
Although Su Ji Breakfast Shop belongs to Su Ruojin, isn't it also the place where the Shi family settles down?
If one prospers, all prosper. Only if they run the morning tea shop well, their lives will be better.
Su Ruojin and Zhao Lan sat down to have breakfast and ordered all the classic dishes here. The taste was still the same as it was back then, well made and quite authentic, but due to the unrest and natural disasters, there was almost no innovation.
After breakfast, she said, "Brother Jin, if you are busy, go ahead and do your work. I will teach Aunt Shi and the others how to make some snacks."
When Shi Er heard that there was a new variety, he was very happy and waited eagerly.
Zhao Lan said slowly, "I'm not busy." He came out just to accompany the young lady for fun.
Su Ruojin smiled and said, "Then wait until I make the new snacks, and you can help me taste them."
"Um."
The snacks made by Su Ruojin include Chinese-style kidney bean rolls, lotus root powder and cinnamon sugar cakes, and steamed sugar cheese, as well as Western-style egg tarts and milk rolls.
The reason why she taught so much at once was entirely because she didn't have many opportunities to return to the capital now. Now that her brother was no longer studying at Dongshan Academy, it was difficult for her to come here. If Zhao Lan hadn't brought her here this time, she would probably have waited until the New Year to check the accounts before coming here.
The ingredients of the several dim sum she taught this time are all seasonal ingredients, such as lotus root powder, jujube paste and yam, which can be bought on the market.
Kidney bean rolls are traditional medicinal snacks made with kidney beans and red beans as the main ingredients. They are white in color, soft and delicate in texture, and have sweet and refreshing fillings. They were once the imperial snacks of a certain empress dowager in a certain dynasty.
Peel the kidney beans, add alkali, steam them and scrape them into a paste. Roll the mixed kidney bean paste into round strips, put them in the middle of a wet cloth, press them into sheets, and then spread them into rectangular thin slices. Cover one-third of the wet cloth, then cover it with red bean paste or sesame paste. Cover the filling with the other half of the wet cloth and press it down.
Remove the wet cloth, roll half of the kidney bean paste into a large roll, pinch it firmly, remove the wet cloth, and use the same method to roll up the other half of the kidney bean paste to make a kidney bean roll.
Then wrap it with red bean paste or black sesame filling and roll it up gently. The beautiful, delicate and delicious snack is ready.
They are small, one bite at a time, and they are soft, sweet and sticky in your mouth.
Zhao Lan, who was waiting at the kitchen door, was the first to enjoy the sweetness.
The second dish is lotus root powder and cinnamon sugar cake, which is a seasonal snack and one of the traditional delicacies of Jiangnan. The lotus root is cut into slices, pounded in water to extract the juice and then filtered, poured into water, and finally the sediment (lotus root powder) is taken out and mixed with flour, white sugar and osmanthus and steamed, and a delicious dish is ready.
People who like chewy and chewy things will especially like this lotus root powder and cinnamon sugar cake. Of course, Zhao Lan, who likes sweets, also likes it very much and was the first to taste the lotus root powder and cinnamon sugar cake again.
The third dish, Steamed Cheese with Sugar, looks like a Western dessert at first glance, but it is actually a Chinese dairy product. The main ingredients are fresh milk, fermented rice wine, rock sugar, almond slices, etc., and it is steamed over low heat.
After it comes out of the pot, it is thin, white and smooth, garnished with wolfberries. I can scoop two bowls in one go.
Su Ruojin scooped two small bowls for herself. It was the same as egg custard, but much smoother.
After finishing the Chinese style, we will make the Western style. The first thing to serve is egg tart. Of course, in modern times, there are many flavors of egg tarts, such as Hong Kong style, Portuguese style and so on.
Now we don’t have the conditions, so we can only make the simplest and basic one, baking it with cow or goat milk, sugar, eggs, leather, etc.
The egg liquid inside is smooth and tender, while the egg tart crust outside is crispy and fragrant. It is so delicious when you take a bite.
Zhao Lan was eating red bean and raisin egg tarts elegantly with a small spoon when he heard an annoying voice.
"I woke up this morning to look for Zijin but she was nowhere to be found. It turns out she was eating here secretly!"
Whether the nobles are eating or having snacks, setting up the exquisite set of utensils can be exhausting, which is why there are so many maids and old women in the homes of wealthy nobles.
Su Ruojin rolled up her sleeves and cooked in the kitchen. Zhao Lan accompanied her. Sometimes he stood beside Su Ruojin and watched her cook, and sometimes he stood at the kitchen door and watched the white clouds passing by in the sky, enjoying the leisure time.
When the delicious food comes out of the pot and enters his stomach the first moment, the feeling is what people dream of - happiness.
Just when I was about to enjoy another happy time, the result...
Without even raising his eyes, he finished the egg tart in just three or two bites.
Shuang Rui quickly took the empty spoon and wiped his mouth and hands with a towel: "How about Su Ji's morning tea?"
Prince of Yingnan, Zhao Lin: ...
Are you asking him?
Zhao Lin was stunned for a moment, then immediately smiled and said, "I haven't eaten yet. I heard that the young prince was eating in the kitchen, so I couldn't help but come over to take a look." As he spoke, he looked into the kitchen, "Brother Zijin has indeed found a virtuous young lady. Even before they get married, she has already personally cooked for you. She is so virtuous!"
In ancient aristocrats, it was not a compliment for the mother of the household to cook by herself.
Xie Qingyu and her maid pretended to laugh, but before they could laugh out loud, they stopped abruptly when they saw Zhao Lan's murderous gaze.
Xie Qingyu's face turned pale and blue.
Zhao Lin seemed not to notice his fiancée's expression. He was the only one who ignored Zhao Lan's warning look. He looked into the kitchen and said with a smile, "Madam Su Er, what kind of snack are you making? It smells so good."
Su Ruojin was teaching Aunt Shi how to make the last dessert - milk roll.
It has a sweet taste and is made with milk and sugar. It looks simple, but it looks good, has a soft and delicate texture, is suitable for all ages and is especially delicious.
Anyone who comes is a guest.
Su Ruojin turned around and smiled, "If the prince wants to eat, please sit in the front hall. There is a snack book with everything you want to eat."
Zhao Lin didn't move, "I want to eat what Madam Su Er made right away."
"I'm sorry, little prince, this is a trial product and it hasn't been officially served yet. I'm afraid you won't be able to eat it today."
"I……"
Before Zhao Lin finished speaking, Su Ruojin picked up the most beautiful one and gave it to Zhao Lan with chopsticks.
Zhao Lan cooperated by lowering his head and taking a bite.
Su Ruojin looked expectantly, "How sweet is it?"
Zhao Lan thought about it and said, "Yeah, just right."
Su Ruojin turned around and snapped her fingers at Aunt Shi, "Aunt Shi, just follow this recipe and try making it. If it works, serve it on the dim sum sheet. Then we will have five more dim sum for Su's breakfast."
Seeing the uninvited nobleman's gloomy face, Shi Er's family was a little scared and replied awkwardly, "Okay...Okay..."
Su Ruojin turned around again and said, "Prince Zhao, I'm sorry, this trial product is not presentable. I hope you don't mind."
Zhao Lin glanced at Zhao Lan dimly and smiled again, "Zhao Lan and I are from the same clan, we are all family, Madam Su Er is too polite."
In front of a calligraphy and painting shop on Wenshan Street, there was a fortune teller sitting on the left side of the door, with his hands folded, watching people coming and going, hoping that someone would sit in front of his stool so that he could earn a few coppers, otherwise, he would have no place to stay tonight.
When he came back to his senses, he had not seen before. A skinny boy came over with a dirty face, as if he had escaped from somewhere. He asked curiously, "Little brother, where are you from?"
The young man sat down in front of his stall and said, "Sir, tell me your fortune."
"What is that?"
"Marriage."
The fortune teller immediately looked up at his dirty little face.
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