Chapter 42

Shen Shaoguang carefully took a multi-layered sweet-scented osmanthus cake out of the mold, put it on a large plate, decorated it with dried fruits such as walnut kernels, hazelnut pulp, pine nuts, red dates and so on. Sweet and beautiful.

This is what people ordered for the sacrificial stove tonight.

A Yuan circled around the operating table, "Such a big cake must weigh about ten pounds."

Shen Shaoguang teased her while drenching nectar, "Where are you going? There are still 800 catties of cakes."

A Yuan stared at her round eyes, and the little lady with her face was deceiving again.

"In the previous dynasty, there was an old lady who lived a long life. There was a flower cake shop in Beijing. In order to please the old lady, I decided to buy a different birthday cake. But in the palace, what cake is there? How can it be different? What?" ①

Both A Chang and A Yuan tilted their heads to listen to Shen Shaoguang's lectures on the ancients, and Yu San glanced at them. The work under their hands kept on, but they also listened with open ears.

"The flower cake shop was thinking about it. Since the pattern is limited, let's make it bigger! If it's bigger, it will be spectacular, and it will also show my heavenly style, right?"

"This is a flower cake birthday peach of 800 catties. The question is, how could this thing reach the queen mother so easily? When the relationship in the palace is opened up, when the flower cake birthday peach is presented, it will grow on it. green hair."

A Yuan asked, "Then what?"

"Then threw it away." Shen Shaoguang gave her a look.

Ah Yuan stomped her feet and pouted.

Shen Shaoguang smiled and greeted A Yuan to put the decorated big osmanthus cake into the big food box with him.

After it was put away and the lid was closed, Shen Shaoguang added the ending of the story, "Then, a sentence came out, called 'eight hundred catties of big longevity peach - waste dim sum'."

A Yuan burst out laughing, "Little lady is too narrow!" A Chang also laughed, but Yu San also raised the corners of his mouth.

Shen Shaoguang also smiled slightly. This story tells us, don't have too full of dreams like the owner of the flower cake shop - such as buying back the old house.

Back from Lin's house that day, Shen Shaoguang continued to have several days of old dreams, most of which were about the current affairs of the original body, catching butterflies, fishing, swinging, writing and painting, eating cakes, Ye Niang looked young, and her brother was a cute little boy Young man, Shen Shaoguang always feels melancholy for a while after waking up.

In the past life, Shen Shaoguang slept very well, but now he has so many dreams, maybe it's time-travel syndrome?

It's funny, Shen Shaoguang even dreamed of something even more absurd. She is already grown up, but Aye Aniang is still young.

Aye was unhappy.

A Niang asked him, and Aye said, "Ali is going to get married, I really can't bear it."

A-Niang said helplessly, "Xiao Langzi is really hard to pick. A son of a noble family, a scholar and a first-class scholar, with such an appearance and a calm temperament, what else do you want? Besides, in this capital, if you want to see it, you can see it."

Brother A, who was still a teenager, shook his head with Aye, "After all, it's better to be at home when you're married."

The self in the dream was smiling, and Yu Huayinger caught a glimpse of a graceful figure.

...Oh, it turned out to be a spring dream.

Thinking of this dream, the single dog Shen Shaoguang looked at the kitchen full of pots and pans, flowers and desserts, and felt even more melancholy. What a pity, the flowers and leaves were too dense, and he didn't even see clearly what the fiance in the dream looked like. Maybe it was What about Louis Koo when he was young?

Someone came outside, "The shopkeeper's wife?"

Shen Shaoguang agreed and went out from the kitchen. The person who ordered the big sweet-scented osmanthus cake came to pick it up.

Shen Shaoguang lifted the lid of the food box, checked it for him, and put the other sweets he ordered in another food box, instructing him to be careful not to scatter it.

The butler-like guest left the money and thanked Shen Shaoguang with a smile.

Those who ordered the flower cake and honey offering came to pick it up one after another, and when the first twilight drum sounded, all the cakes ordered were taken away.

Shen Shaoguang asked A Yuan to put out the sign that it was closed tonight, and together with Yu San, he prepared his own food for the stove and dinner.

At this time, the sacrificial stove was much more solemn than in later generations, including chicken, duck, fish, meat, and cakes, especially wine and glutinous rice.

This gummy glutinous rice has lumps and strips, and it is not the "sugar melon" that Shen Shaoguang ate when he was a child.

Shen Shaoguang always felt that the sugar melon was more delicious, it was about the size of a small egg, similar to the shape of a melon, the skin was very thin, the inside was hollow, and the skin was decorated with green or orange-red patterns, took a bite, and started Very crispy, then sticky, sweet.

What's missing in the current glue mouth is that little bit of crispness.

No matter what kind of sugar, it is for the sake of sweet kitchen, and the same goes for wine. The most bizarre thing is that at this time, when offering sacrifices to the stove, wine and sugar are smeared on the kitchen master's mouth, which is like a child's game of pretending to be a family wine.

Zaojun was a man, and A Yuan was not easy to do the job of dipping a bamboo chopstick in wine and feeding Zaojun, so A Chang did it.

After he finished ordering, Shen Shaoguang prayed with a smile, hoping that Zaojun would go to heaven with a full meal, a long spoon and a short spoon, and beg for points from the return of the city...②

In fact, men usually do this sacrificial stove. The so-called "men do not worship the moon, and women do not sacrificial stoves", but there was no one else in the Shen family, so Shen Shaoguang had to come by himself.

Shen Shaoguang turned into paper money, paper horses, etc. Yu San A Yuan and A Chang also kowtowed, and sent the kitchen boss, the kitchen king, to heaven, and the sacrifice was over.

Then there is the New Year's Eve dinner. At this time, there was no "Xiao Nian" name, and there were no regulations on what to eat on this day. Most of them were eaten with the Kitchen God.

Shen Shaoguang prepared the pot, closed the shop door, and the four of them ate shabu-shabu lively.

Shen Shaoguang fished the rinsed tofu into a bowl, dipped it in the triple juice of sesame sauce, shrimp oil, and chive blossoms, and also rinsed sauerkraut, radish, and taro. Meatballs are fine.

A Yuan and A Chang are both meat-eating pie. They have no resistance to all kinds of meatballs, shredded belly, pig blood and duck blood tofu. They go to their own pots one by one, and they eat warmly and happily.

Yu San is much more restrained, and only uses milk soup pot to cook mutton and sauerkraut.

Seeing that Shen Shaoguang had eaten a few dumplings in soup, he stopped, and Yu San stood up, "I'm going to grab some houto, who would you like to eat?"

A Yuan and A Chang both shook their heads and were enjoying themselves. Who wants to eat hoto? How come you can't eat enough of this hot pot? Is it really like what the little lady said, she was a hot pot expert in her last life?

Shen Shaoguang raised his hand, "I want a little, thin, easy to cook and digest."

Yu San frowned and gave her a "why are you so picky" look, and went to get the reconciled noodles to make hoto.

Shen Shaoguang was disliked by the third princess Yu on a daily basis, and no master squinted and smiled majestically.

After a while, Yu San used a small bamboo drapery to hold some houto pieces out, some of which were delicately pleated petal houto pieces, and some were in the shape of ordinary leek leaves.

Shen Shaoguang smiled and took some flower petals and put them in his pot, while Yu San took the rest and threw them into his pot.

Shen Shaoguang and Yu San were full and only drank the drink while watching two small ones.

Shen Shaoguang remembered that when he was 16 or 17 years old in his previous life, he was very able to eat. If he could eat a roast chicken by himself, he had to add a roasted pancake. In fact, the age of this world is only nineteen years old now, why is the appetite not so good? Could it be that Appetite is still playing for two lifetimes? Seeing two hearty foodies, Shen Shaoguang was only envious.

The two little guys were full after eating meat and vegetables, and they didn't bother to make noodles again and again.

After eating, Yu San led A Yuan and A Chang to tidy up the kitchen and clean up, and Shen Shaoguang slowly walked back to the back house with the lantern that A Yuan had lit.

Lao Bai wrote a poem and said that after the small banquet, "the song goes back to the courtyard, and the lights go down the stairs."

Yan Shu thinks that this is "a person who is good at speaking and wealthy." And Kou Laoxi's "Old feeling that the waist is heavy and the pillow is cool" is vulgar, too vulgar, "not a rich and noble language".

Later, Mr. Lu Xun also believed that Bai Le was a genius who could really write about wealth and honor, and he didn't use words like gold, jade and splendid to decorate it.

Shen Shaoguang also thinks that Bai Shi is very rich, and believes that he has now achieved half of the achievements in Bai Shangshu's poems. There is no "shengge", but there is a "courtyard". Although there is no "roof", there are "lights"... think about it I am amused by myself, my sense of humour that has nowhere to go!

The one who really has a "loud platform", but there is no "shengge", is instructing the servants and maids who will spend the night with the grandmother. The charcoal fire in the house is too dry. Leave some warm water on the tea stove, and let her drink a little when Mrs. Tai wakes up. A mouthful or two. The maids all bowed and answered yes. After another two words, Lin Yan exited his grandmother's yard.

Behind her, the maid closed the courtyard door. The boy servant was holding the lamp in front, and Lin Yan walked to the study while thinking about the detailed arrangements for the Yuanzheng Da Dynasty meeting Jingzhao patrolling to be adjusted tonight.

The north wind swayed the dry branches in the courtyard, and through the carved lattice on the porch, brushed Lin Yan's somewhat grim face, ruffled the lace of his cloak, slapped the corners of his robe, and complied with the distant sound of drums. The footsteps of a master and a servant resounded in this cold and silent winter night.

The author has something to say:

① The allusion of "eight hundred catties of longevity peach - waste dim sum" is said to be related to Cixi. The story is still from "Story Club" or where to read it when I was a child, or it may be an extracurricular reading for elementary school students...

② Modified according to Song Fan Chengda's poem.