Tang Jiu didn't leave after finishing his noodles. He walked to Lin Dan with the bowl in his hand and whispered, "People in Nancheng are all strangers and like to stick together. People from all places have hometown associations here. There are six hometown associations with the largest number of people: Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Hometown Association, Shuzhou Hometown Association, Baiyue Hometown Association, Jiangnan Hometown Association, Hubei-Hunan Hometown Association, and Yunnan-Guizhou Hometown Association. When you stir-fry臊子 in the future, just take out six pots and prepare six flavors. Don't worry about the other flavors. It's too troublesome."
"That's one way. If a customer specifies that he wants a particular flavor, I can help make it. Brother Tang Jiu, thank you for your advice." Lin Dan smiled gratefully. She knew how to avoid the trouble, but she really didn't know the population structure of South City.
"You're welcome. Give me another bowl of noodles, spicy and sour." Tang Jiu knocked on the empty bowl.
Lin Dan shook his head and laughed, then quickly cooked a bowl of noodles.
In order to entertain guests, Qin Erniang went to bed very late every day and naturally got up late during the day. She would never open her eyes until noon. But today was different. In a daze, she suddenly smelled an indescribable fragrance, a fragrance so strong and overbearing that not only did it make her saliva fly, but it also made her toss and turn and unable to fall asleep. She struggled on the bed for a long time, and finally had to get up in one go, put on her clothes, and ran outside to check.
"Where does this smell of braised meat come from? Go find it for me. If you find it, buy me half a pound of braised meat!" She instructed a few gigolos.
"Second Mother, let's go look for it now." Several turtles were getting ready to go out, their faces still sleepy from having just woken up. There was no doubt that they were also attracted by the fragrance. Soon, the girls upstairs also got up, leaned on the railing and waved coquettishly: "We want to eat braised meat too, bring some more back."
Several gigolos agreed well, but they never came back, and the aroma of the stew became stronger and stronger, and then turned into sour and spicy taste, onion aroma, and so on. All kinds of flavors mixed together, making people salivate. Qin Erniang first sat in the hall waiting, then ran to the door to look, and finally she couldn't wait any longer, so she waved her handkerchief at the girls and said, "I'll go out and take a look by myself, you guys go back to bed."
"How can we sleep when it smells so good?" the girls complained while rubbing their stomachs.
Qin Erniang was also attracted by the smell. She quickly ran into the alley at the fork in the road, and after a lot of twists and turns, she came to the small restaurant where she was sure to lose a lot of money yesterday. She was dumbfounded. She originally thought she had found the wrong place, so she stretched her neck to look, only to see a few gigolos from her own shop sitting in the hall eating noodles, wolfing them down in an anxious manner.
The large earthenware pot leaning against the door was bubbling with steam, and an aroma so strong that it made one's bones itch wafted out. Qin Erniang, who was struggling, finally compromised. She half covered her old face and walked in secretively.
"Sir, please come in," Xiao Zhu greeted him with a smile, and then said in surprise: "Hey, you are not the one from yesterday..."
"What are you talking about? Hurry up and give me half a pound of braised pork and a bowl of臊子面." Qin Erniang's old face turned red.
Lin Dan looked up in her busy schedule. Although she had recognized Qin Erniang, her eyes were full of gentle smiles. "Okay, from your accent, you must be from Qianzhou. How about I mix this braised dish for you with burnt chili peppers, litsea cubeba oil, and minced garlic water?" After traveling for many years, she understood the principle of harmony bringing wealth better than anyone else.
Qin Erniang, who was originally extremely embarrassed and afraid that Lin Dan would use yesterday's incident to ridicule her, suddenly became at ease, her old face smiling like a flower, "Okay, okay, help me mix it. This is how we mix braised meat in our hometown. Otherwise, it won't taste good! I haven't tasted this in more than ten years!" As she spoke, she wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, for fear that her saliva would flow out.
"You don't just cook braised meat like this. You also cook raw meat, pork liver, pig blood, and chicken blood. Especially cold-mixed raw pork and raw pork liver. Cut them into small pieces and mix them with rice wine, litsea cubeba, chili peppers, minced garlic, and balsamic vinegar. It tastes especially refreshing." Lin Dan casually added, but unexpectedly it made Qin Erniang so excited.
She stared at Lin Dan and said hopefully, "Yes, yes, that's how we do it. Little Boss, you really know a lot. Can you do it?"
"It's not good for your stomach to eat such heavy food in the morning. Why don't you come over at noon and I'll cook for you. I've been in Qianzhou for several months and I can cook some local specialties." Lin Dan nodded.
Qin Erniang nodded in agreement and then apologized, "Young Boss, I said the wrong thing yesterday. With your skills, you can open a shop in a corner without losing money!"
Lin Dan smiled and shook his head, his expression very gentle. Hearing the conversation, a customer came over and asked, "Boss, can you make rice noodles? People in our area are used to eating rice noodles in the morning and rarely eat noodles."
Lin Dan suddenly realized something and immediately said, "Look at my memory. I know how to make rice noodles, but I just forgot. If you come again tomorrow, you can have rice noodles. Oh, and rice tofu. It's especially delicious when eaten with hot and sour garlic sauce."
These people were so happy that they even said they would definitely come tomorrow, and not only tomorrow, but every day thereafter. They had never seen anyone who was a better cook than this young boss. It seemed that there was no delicacy from all over the world that she couldn't cook.
Seeing that Qin Erniang and others had hometown dishes to eat, the other diners could not sit still and ran to Lin Dan one after another to order dishes, their eyes full of hope. Fortunately, Lin Dan is knowledgeable and can cook most of the dishes. For some dishes he has never cooked before, he can figure out how to recreate the taste by asking diners to describe them in detail.
The atmosphere in the store was very lively. When talking about hometown delicacies, everyone seemed to open up and could talk for a long time. Lin Dan listened with a smile, his expression happy.
Tang Jiu had already eaten his fill, but he still sat on the chair and was reluctant to leave. He liked the atmosphere of this restaurant, which was warm like home, just like the feeling Lin Dan gave him.
Just at this moment, a group of people walked in from outside. Each of them had a face full of flesh and looked very difficult to deal with. They pushed Xiao Zhu and the two waiters away and shouted, "Where is your boss? Call him out! Anyone who opens a shop in this area must first go to our Daquan to pay their respects. Don't you know this rule?" It was obvious that they were here to collect protection money.
Tang Jiu basically knew all the big forces in South City and could deal with them, but he had never even heard of what this Big Circle Gang was. It is said that "it is easy to see the King of Hell, but it is difficult to deal with the little devils." These people are probably the little devils who are not worthy of being on the stage and specialize in bullying ordinary people without any background.
Just as Tang Jiu was about to step forward, Qin Erniang put down her bowl with a bang and cursed, "Where did you come from, you bastard? How dare you make such a fuss on my territory? Be careful, I'll cut off your tongue!"
These people didn't know Qin Erniang, so they just thought she was a shrew who was trying to get ahead and was ready to beat people up with her fists. A few old men threw down their chopsticks and rushed forward, ready to fight. Just as a fierce battle was about to begin, a group of people walked in from outside the door. Leading the group was a man who was eight feet tall and thin. He had extremely handsome features and was dressed very luxuriously. It was obvious that he was not an ordinary person. His lips were extremely pale, but his cheeks were stained with two abnormal blushes, and his clear eyes seemed to be drunk, making him very suave and dashing.
"Where did you come from, you little flies that are buzzing nonstop? Get out of my way!" He just waved his hand casually, and several guards with swords came out from behind him and pushed those little hooligans aside.
The noisy front hall suddenly became quiet. Everyone looked at each other, knowing that this man was probably a very wealthy and important person. He was accompanied by guards when he went out. With such a pomp and ceremony, he must be a general.
"Everyone sit down and continue eating. Don't worry about me." The handsome man smiled modestly, turned to look at Lin Dan, and said hesitantly: "Are you Shopkeeper Lin?"
"It's Lin." Lin Dan bowed neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"Do you still have Thousand Days Wine for sale? I want to buy a few jars. No, no, no, I don't want a few jars. I'll buy as many as you have and take them all away." As soon as the man opened his mouth, Lin Dan guessed his identity. He called himself the Marquis and looked drunk. He personally brought a group of guards out to buy wine before dawn. This man was probably the Marquis Weiyuan who was addicted to alcohol.
As to why Marquis Weiyuan suddenly came, the story started two days ago. Only that day, the bearded general brought a jar of thousand-day wine, but it was put aside by the housekeeper of the marquis's mansion. Suddenly one day, Marquis Weiyuan was in a good mood and took his guests to visit his wine cellar. He ordered his servants to take down the best jar of wine from the wine rack and share it with the guests. The servant staggered as he climbed down the ladder, causing the lightest bottle of Thousand Days Wine to fall off and shatter onto the ground.
It was just a jar of unknown wine without a label and not luxuriously packaged. Weiyuan Hou didn't care at all. He raised his foot and was about to leave, but the extremely strong aroma of the wine suddenly spread out, covering up the aroma of the entire wine cellar. The guest with the lowest alcohol tolerance blushed before he even tasted the wine and staggered a few times, while Marquis Weiyuan, who could drink a thousand cups without getting drunk, was already completely bewildered and intoxicated.
"What kind of wine is this?" He didn't care about the dirt on the ground, dipped his finger in some wine and put it in his mouth to taste it. His eyes suddenly lit up, "Good wine, it's really the best wine I have ever tasted!" As soon as he finished speaking, he realized what had happened before, and hurriedly absorbed it with cotton cloth. It was a pity that the wine cellar was laid with wooden floors and floor heating instead of marble for heat preservation. The wine soon leaked out through the cracks in the floor and could not be found at all.
There was a real immortal in a jar of wine right in front of him, but he didn't notice it. As soon as he found it, he broke it and didn't even get a taste of it. How could Weiyuan Hou accept this cruel reality? At that moment, he had no mood to entertain guests. He ordered the rough-handed servant to take the twenty lashes of the board, and then asked the butler to find the person who offered the wine. After two days of searching, he finally found Lin Dan, who came without waiting for dawn.
Lin Dan didn't know the twists and turns inside, but she could see that Marquis Weiyuan was very anxious. She looked at him carefully for a few times, shook her head and said, "I don't have Thousand Days Wine here, and even if I did, I wouldn't sell it to you."
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