Chapter 256: Sauce Noodles
When Hua Ping was about to eat a big meal, the sound of horse hooves was heard on the gravel road. Everyone looked outside and saw a dozen tall horses coming, and two carriages following in the distance.
Everyone stood outside the wooden house.
Mangzhong shouted, "It's the young prince," and hurried over to greet him.
Hua Ping looked behind him and said, "It seems to be Ning Qilang and Ning Banniang behind them."
Su Ruojin also saw it. She thought it was normal for Zhao Lan to come, but why did the Ning siblings come again?
In the blink of an eye, the group arrived at the cabin parking lot.
Ningning jumped off the horse swiftly, raised her chin and smiled brightly, "It looks like Madam Su Er doesn't welcome us."
Zhao Lan, who was walking in front, turned his head and glanced at the young lady with the strange voice. The young lady raised her eyebrows and said, "It's not okay to just joke!"
Zhao Lan snorted softly, turned back, and looked at Su Ruojin, his eyebrows and eyes were gentle, and his face was full of smiles, "It smells so good, what delicious food did Ah Jin make?"
Foodie!
Su Ruojin smiled and said, "You didn't even tell me you were coming. If you had come a little later, they would have already finished eating."
Ning Ba Niang came up to the two of them and said with a smile: "Brother Jin wants to give you a surprise!"
Su Ruojin: ...
Zhao Lan: …
Squeezing in front of a pair of young lovers, don’t you feel like you’re redundant?
Ning Qilang saw his unnecessary sister and coughed lightly, "Aning, stop making trouble."
Ningning is not really naive, how could she not know? She did it on purpose. I don’t know why, but she felt it was distasteful to disturb other people’s sweetness.
In mid-February, at noon, the sun was warm, and Zhao Lan, Ning Qilang and others arrived. Su Ruojin moved the table to the door of the cabin, prepared the broth and sauce, put the pot on the small clay stove, washed and cut the various vegetables she had bought and placed them on the table, making a simple version of hot pot.
"Wow, Bo Xia Gong?" Ning Banniang seemed to like this way of eating very much. She asked the maids and the old woman to wash, slice and put the mutton they brought in the hot pot. She couldn't stop eating it.
The reason why Zhao Lan and Ning Qilang can hang out together, besides their friendship from fighting, is definitely because they love eating. They eat hotpot, meatballs, mushrooms, and boiled chicken greens. The two of them eat without saying a word.
Su Ruojin had always felt that something was missing around the vegetable garden, and after eating the excellent mutton, she suddenly realized, "Uncle Hua, tomorrow we will go buy a few lambs, a few pigs, and a few hundred ducks and chickens to raise."
Hua Ping was surprised: "Aren't you afraid that they will eat all the vegetables?"
"No, definitely not."
There are more than one hundred acres of land, and without any herbicides, crops grow one after another. She pays the villagers to pull the crops out, and they originally took them home to raise chickens and ducks, but now she can use them to raise chickens and ducks.
While eating, Ning Ning curiously listened to Su Ruojin and Hua Ping talking about the vegetable field, and smiled and said, "Second Madam, do you think my mutton is delicious?"
Su Ruojin admitted, "I wonder where Miss Ning bought the mutton?"
"They are raised on my farm." Ning Ning said proudly, "I will give you a few lambs later, but there is a condition. After the lambs are raised, you have to treat me to a meal like today's Bo Xia Gong."
"Of course." Su Ruojin agreed immediately. Not to mention one meal, as long as there was lamb, they could have ten meals.
Ning Qilang pointed at the sauce and said, "The sauce prepared by Miss Su is so delicious. I wonder what the spicy taste is made of. It doesn't have the astringent taste of dogwood at all. It tastes very refreshing."
The young man openly praised the sauce, but in fact he wanted the recipe for the sauce.
Su Ruojin grinned, "If the young general likes this sauce, he can go to the young prince's hot pot restaurant and buy it for two taels of silver per small jar."
Ning Qilang: ...Are you promoting your fiancé's shop right now?
He looked at Zhao Su and found that they were not a family yet, but their tacit understanding was like that of an old married couple. They were indeed childhood sweethearts! Why didn't he have a childhood sweetheart?
Quite interesting!
When young people show off their eating habits, it's really like "the little brat is going to bankrupt me". Su Ruojin prepared three days' worth of ingredients, and they were almost finished in one afternoon. Fortunately, both Zhao Lan and the Ning brothers and sisters brought their own ingredients.
Su Ruojin also saw the bedding they brought with them, "Are you here on vacation?"
Ning Ning smiled and said, "Second Lady guessed right."
Su Ruojin looked at the small wooden house behind her. Although it was small but had everything, it was really not very big. How could anyone live there?
"There are small wooden houses in all four corners." Ningning smiled and pointed at the small houses around.
The other three are occupied!
There was no other choice, Su Ruojin vacated the four small wooden houses for the three guests to live in. Hua Ping, Mangzhong and other men slept together on the floor of the small wooden house where Zhao Lan lived, while Ye Huaizhen and other women slept on the floor of the small wooden house where Su Ruojin lived.
The other two cabins were occupied by the Ning brothers and sisters and their servants.
Fortunately, in order to better manage the more than 100 acres of vegetable fields, small wooden houses were built in the four corners. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to live there except for staying in a farmer's house.
In the evening, the spring air was chilly and the conditions outside were not as good as at home in the county, so Su Ruojin made a simple noodle dish - sauerkraut noodles.
Saozi noodles is a traditional specialty noodle dish in the Northwest region. Wash and peel the pork belly, slice it with a top knife, then cut it into cubes, chop the scallion, ginger, and garlic, and dice the radish and cabbage. Heat oil in a pan and stir-fry the pork belly. Then add star anise and bay leaves and stir-fry until fragrant. Then add soybean paste, chili, scallion, ginger, garlic and other seasonings. Add water and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Add the cut noodles and cook until done. Serve in a bowl and finally pour the prepared marinade over the noodles.
The characteristics of臊子面 are that the noodles are thin and long, of uniform thickness, the臊子 is fresh and fragrant, the noodle soup is glossy and rosy, and the taste is fresh, fragrant and rich but not greasy. Zhao Lan and others were very enthusiastic and each of them ate two bowls, even the young lady - Ningning was no exception.
Probably realizing that she had eaten too much, the little girl was embarrassed and said, "I came here on horseback just like you guys, and it takes the same amount of energy, so it's nothing strange to eat more."
It’s not surprising, not surprising at all. Su Ruojin herself ate two large bowls of food and was so full that she needed to take a walk to digest the food.
Finally got rid of the Ning brothers and sisters.
Su Ruojin finally had time to ask, "Brother Jin, why did Young Master Ning Qi and Lady Ning Ba come with you?"
Zhao Lan smiled, "The Ningguo Mansion is currently arranging a marriage for the brother and sister, but the candidates are not what they like. When they heard that I was coming to see you, they came to me."
"I've never seen Brother Jin play with them before. Is it because you guys got to know each other well during the Northern Campaign last year?"
Zhao Lan nodded, "Yes."
Su Ruojin asked again: "Brother Jin, have you been reinstated now?" The implication was that he would have time to go out and play.
As if he could hear the young lady's thoughts, Zhao Lan turned around and smiled: "Are you using public power for personal gain?"
Su Ruojin: ...
"What if the Emperor knew?"
Zhao Lan smiled and said, "If there is nothing special wrong, His Majesty will pretend not to know."
No matter whether they are leaders or emperors, sometimes they have to learn when to be clear-headed and when to be muddle-headed. It is impossible for them to focus on such trivial matters.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com