Chapter 67 Pickled Fish
After finishing the snacks and tea, others can relax and unwind, but Su Ruojin can't. She has to take Xianggui to make dinner: "Arong, I have guests at home and I don't have time to play with you!"
"It's okay. I'll help you."
Forget it! Su Ruojin quickly pushed the rich lady out: "I'll go play with you tomorrow afternoon." She was a real seven-year-old girl, it was good enough that she didn't make trouble, and she also helped.
Yang Si Niang didn't want to leave. Even if she stood at the kitchen door and talked to Su Ruojin who was busy inside, she didn't mind and was happy to stick to her.
Unable to drive her away, Su Ruojin could only let her do as she pleased. In order not to affect her cooking, she asked her to pick onions and peel garlic, which kept her so busy that she had no time to disturb her.
In May, the ingredients were quite abundant. In order to prepare dinner, Su Ruojin wrote a list and asked Shu Tong to go out to buy them. She bought ready-made braised duck and roast goose. She also cooked a few dishes. The meat dishes included braised pork with preserved vegetables, crispy pork, pickled fish, etc. The vegetarian dishes included stir-fried chrysanthemum, stir-fried celery with leeks, boiled edamame, and a sweet soup with white fungus. The staple food was leek boxes.
The leeks grow in the vegetable patch in the yard. They are very fresh and tender, and they are served on the table right after they are cut.
Originally there was a leg of lamb, but thinking it was too smoky and hot, he asked Shutong to buy some ice from outside and put it in the cellar to freeze before eating it two days later.
In order to understand why the dishes cooked by Su Er Niang were so delicious, Fan Yanjia also stood at the kitchen door like Yang Siniang, watching how she cooked. He found that for each dish, the young lady used a lot of seasonings, either this or that, making it dizzy and he couldn't understand it.
"Mrs. Su, why do you cook like the chef in my restaurant? You use so many seasonings!"
"Because Ajin is a great chef!" Yang Si Niang showed off her best friend's cooking skills without hesitation.
Fan Yanjia: ...He seemed to understand why the teacher's family was poor. It was because they were forced into poverty by overeating!
Su Ruojin was not a thorn in his stomach. If she had known what this guy was thinking, she would have swung the spatula at him long ago. There was no way she would have let him eat dinner.
Fan Yanjia really didn't think about studying at all. The Prince of Pingyang who didn't want to take the imperial examination was reading a book in the study room. He was reading a book about geography. When he saw something interesting, he asked Dr. Su, "Teacher, have you been to this place?"
Su Yanli nodded, "I have been there."
Zhao Lan was slightly surprised and looked up. "It is said to be three thousand miles."
"Yes." Su Yanli smiled. "When I was seventeen, I traveled for a year and a half. I started from Pingjiang Prefecture and went south to Lingnan, then from southwest to north, and finally from the ancient capital Chang'an to Luoyang, and finally to Bianjing."
Then he returned from Bian Jing to Pingjiang Prefecture to take the imperial examination. He thought he would fail, but unexpectedly, he passed smoothly. The next year, he went to the capital to take the imperial examination again, passed it again, and stayed in the capital.
Many people may need ten or twenty years of study to advance from the level of scholar, juren, to jinshi. However, whenever Su Yanli decided to take the exam, he would pass it every time. He became a jinshi at the age of twenty and was also very famous in Pingjiang Prefecture, with his name recorded in official documents.
It is true that reading thousands of books helps one travel thousands of miles. Zhao Lan has been asking "Who are you?" since this morning and I don't want to talk to you. Now, it seems that this person has some abilities and I am willing to make friends with him.
Su Yanli saw through it but didn't say anything. He remained gentle and humble, and told him about what he had seen in Lingnan. "It's a mountainous area with many ethnic groups. It's very different from the Han Chinese like me..."
The sun slowly sets in the west, and the rays of light are reflected on the horizon, magnificent and fantastic. A gentle breeze blows, bringing the spicy aroma of food from the kitchen.
Zhao Lan's nose moved and he took a deeper breath, and the spicy smell went straight to the top of his head through the tip of his nose.
"Ache..."
Su Dalang couldn't help sneezing, and said to Zhao Lan with a smile, "My sister made pickled fish with spicy ingredients such as dogwood and Sichuan pepper. It was too pungent. Sorry, I couldn't help it."
Pickled fish?
Shuang Rui glanced at the young master and smiled calmly, "This dish is so spicy, is it delicious?"
"Of course it's delicious." Su Dalang sneezed from the choking, but he still couldn't help but praise his sister, "This is me..." Thinking that the recipe should be spoken in the name of his mother, he changed the subject, "Mom and sister spent a long time in the kitchen to come up with it."
"I wonder when Madam Su and Second Lady Su figured it out?"
Su Dalang recalled: "It was about two years ago. We had just moved into Xu's house that year. The weather was very cold. The Imperial College distributed New Year's goods, including a big fish. My mother and sister thought of several ways to eat it. Among them, this pickled fish was spicy and sour. It was not only appetizing, but also warming."
More than two years ago, the Su family lived in poverty and had little delicious food. Suddenly, they had such delicious pickled fish, which attracted all the neighbors, including the landlord, Mrs. Xu.
"Mrs. Xu, is she the mother of the guy who caused trouble this morning?"
"Yes, it's her." The docile Su Dalang frowned and showed emotion rarely, but he didn't say that on that day, Mrs. Xu threatened to use rent to get the sauerkraut fish recipe that his sister had worked so hard to figure out.
She even detained Mother Dong and asked her to cook various recipes that her younger sisters had come up with. She had no idea how many of her younger sisters' recipes she had taken.
Fan Yanjia was so choked that he ran to the corridor, "Oh my god, Su Erniang, how much dogwood and pepper did you put in to make it so spicy? Is this dish still edible?"
Yang Si Niang was choked and sent back home.
"Young Master Fan isn't used to it, so he doesn't have to eat it." Su Ruojin gave a fake smile. Finally, all the dishes were ready. She asked Xianggui and Mao Ya to quickly set the table, and send the two guys away after the meal.
Although he was not satisfied with the choking pickled fish, Fan Yanjia stayed for the purpose of eating. He did not dare to eat the choking dishes, but the braised pork with preserved vegetables and crispy pork were delicious, especially the crispy pork, which was fried golden brown and felt soft and crispy in the mouth. He could not stop chewing it. If he had not been a guest at the teacher's house, he would have almost finished it all by himself with the plate in his arms.
No one expected that Zhao Lan, who is as beautiful as a flower but looks delicate, actually likes the strong-flavored pickled fish. She not only likes the tender, white and slippery fish fillets, but also the pickled cabbage stems and bean sprouts in it. Seeing her eating slowly and leisurely, she finished a quarter of the pot without realizing it.
Su Yanli: ...
Is this why we should not judge a book by its cover?
This was a truly worry-free day for Shuangrui. Whether it was eating, resting, or temper, the little master behaved very well today.
After eating and leaving, Shuangrui thanked the Su family sincerely, and even thought that he would bring a generous gift next time he came.
Zhao and Fan rode on their tall horses, returned home contentedly after their meal, strolled around and watched the people passing by on the street. The May night was really nice.
Fan Yanjia recalled the day at the Su family and couldn't help but say, "Xiaojun..."
"Zijin."
Fan Yanjia looked at Zhao Lan in surprise. Was he asking him to call out his name? So they would be close friends from now on?
(End of this chapter)
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