The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 121 Liang Zhu (Part )

Liu Tao and Luo Jun were walking on the street, and the neighbors along the way greeted them happily.

Luo Jun didn't respond, and looked expressionless with his hands in his pockets. Liu Tao, on the other hand, responded with a smile. The neighbors also looked accustomed to it, and after the two left, they couldn't help whispering to each other.

"Mr. Luo and Mrs. Luo have a really good relationship."

"You're going to Master Jiang's place again? Master Jiang's place isn't cheap either. Mr. and Mrs. Luo always eat at Wu's Restaurant or Master Jiang's. They must be very rich. Why would they stay here?"

"You don't understand this, I heard that Mrs. Luo liked that little Western-style house, so Mr. Luo bought it specially. This girl is called... something like Liqin, and they have a good relationship. Mr. Luo is from Shanghai, and he came back with Mrs. Luo to look for her relatives."

"I think Mrs. Luo is also very nice. Mr. Luo is always cold and ignores people, while Mrs. Luo smiles all the time and doesn't put on airs. She doesn't mind people going to the yard to listen to books."

"If I didn't have a sickly person at home to take care of, I would also go to listen to the book in the afternoon."

Mr. and Mrs. Luo, a loving couple, walked together and talked about family matters that the onlookers did not expect.

"You haven't read the pile of newspapers with the completed serials of "Xia Ke Jiang Hu Xing" in the northeast corner for two months. That place never gets much sun. If you don't want to read it again recently, I'll ask someone to dry the newspapers tomorrow and put them on the second floor. There are still a few places on the second floor that can get sun."

"Uncle Liang gave me an invitation this afternoon, saying that Mr. Huang in Shanghai's eldest son will marry Chief Wang's daughter next month, so he sent me an invitation specifically for this purpose. Should we…"

"Just bring the gift. It's a hassle to make this trip." Luo Jun said, "Anything else?"

"Ah?" Liu Tao was a little confused.

"Didn't I give you a letter this afternoon? Ask Miss Zhang to read it to you." Luo Jun said.

"Oh, that was written to me by troupe leader Liu. The troupe is leaving Shanghai. The war in the north is unsafe, so they plan to go south. Only Sister Hong is left in Shanghai. Didn't she get married again last year? Her husband is in Shanghai, so she didn't leave."

"She is... the one who taught you how to make tangerine peel tea?" Luo Jun asked.

Liu Tao nodded: "Sister Ah Hong's cooking skills are very good. All the soups I served to you before were cooked by Sister Ah Hong for me. But you have never drunk it. The only time you drank it was when I cooked it."

"It's not safe in Shanghai right now. Let Lao Liang tell them to get her a room in the concession. That'll be considered as tuition for her to teach you how to make tangerine peel tea." Luo Jun said.

Liu Tao smiled embarrassedly and nodded happily.

The two walked to the corner of the street.

At the corner of the street was an ordinary farmyard with a low house. There were vegetables planted in the yard and two children were sitting on the ground playing in the mud. The door of the low house was ajar, and Liu Tao went forward and knocked twice.

A young man walked out of the low house and welcomed Liu Tao and Luo Jun in with a smile.

"Mr. Luo, Mrs. Luo, you came at the perfect time. The last pot-fried tofu had just come out of the pot, and I was still wondering whether I should keep the food warm when you came."

There were two small tables in the low room. They were very simple but very clean.

There were three dishes and one soup on the table: pot-fried tofu, stir-fried shredded carrots, pan-fried fish and pork liver soup.

Among them, the pot-fried tofu looks very good. The tofu is boiled in seasonings and becomes dark in color. It is coated with egg liquid and fried until golden, and then poured with chicken soup. It looks good and has a good aroma. The tofu skin looks golden, crispy and slightly shiny. In this era, it is definitely a standard dish that makes the children next door cry with envy.

For the sake of the delicious food, Luo Jun did not mind the simple dining environment and sat down to eat.

He basically only ate tofu, occasionally had some crispy fried fish, and finally drank a few mouthfuls of pig liver soup to finish. He never reached for the shredded carrots. Luo Jun and Liu Tao ate in the house, while Master Jiang squatted by the stove to eat.

A standard chef's meal, he eats whatever the guests eat.

Master Jiang squatted by the stove and ate with relish a few pieces of pot-fried tofu that were obviously leftovers, half a bowl of shredded carrots, a fried fish, a bowl of pork liver soup without liver, and two sweet potatoes.

This made the kid next door cry with envy.

The kitchen has a back door, and the kid who was playing in the mud next door smelled the fragrance and sat at the back door to watch Master Jiang eat. Master Jiang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, so he could only put down his bowl to help the kid pat the mud off his body, wash his hands, and then stuff a piece of tofu into his mouth.

The child held the tofu in his mouth, hugged Master Jiang, and called out incoherently, "Mingming, Mingming."

This was the scene Liu Tao saw when she knocked on the door and entered the kitchen, wanting to discuss tomorrow's noodles with Master Jiang.

"Master Jiang Weiming, I never thought that there is someone who calls you Mingming." Liu Tao said with a smile.

Jiang Weiming put the child down and fed him another mouthful of shredded carrots. "The kid from the neighbor next door always likes to come to me. His father joked with me yesterday that he is now learning how to speak like me, with a northern accent."

Jiang Weiming's eyes dimmed as he spoke: "This child is about the same age as my nephew. I don't know where my eldest brother, his wife and my nephew are now."

"As long as you ask around, you'll get some news." Liu Tao said, "I want to discuss tomorrow's noodles with you."

"Can you continue to make carrot dough fruit tomorrow? But don't make it in the shape of carrots. You can make it in the shape of dates, apricots, apples, or pears. The filling must be carrots."

Hearing Liu Tao say this, Jiang Weiming subconsciously looked outside. Luo Jun thought the house was too low and went out after dinner. There were leftovers on the table outside, including half a plate of shredded carrots.

"Mr. Luo doesn't seem to like carrots very much." Jiang Weiming said.

"He doesn't like to eat carrots. He says carrots have a weird smell." Liu Tao smiled. "But he reads newspapers and books at home every day. Now the house we live in has no electric lights, so we can only light candles."

"Candles hurt the eyes. I remember when I was a child, there was an old embroiderer in the village. When she was young, she always lit a lamp to embroider at night. Before she was 30, she went blind."

"I heard from Dr. Liu that eating carrots is good for the eyes, but I also know that he doesn't like to eat them. I just want to ask if you can make carrots taste like he likes, or even make them look like he likes to eat."

"I know why he bought the house here. He knows I'm not used to living in foreign-style buildings in other places. Those places are good in every way, but... they don't think highly of me."

"I'm actually used to it, but I do like it here."

"I don't want him to damage his eyes by reading newspapers by candlelight, so I can only find a way to get him to eat carrots."

Jiang Weiming thought for a moment and said, "I'll... give it a try."

"I'm not really good at making noodles. I learned a little bit from my second brother when I was in Peking, when the Suzhou master my father hired taught him. I only know a few. Can I... study them?"

"Thank you so much." Liu Tao was very happy. "Then I will come early tomorrow to get the noodles. Please make them a little harder. My husband always eats them as a snack while reading the newspaper in the afternoon. He likes them harder."

Jiang Weiming accepted the dog food, sent Liu Tao away, and continued eating.

(End of this chapter)