Song Sanniang's Journey to Wealth

As soon as I entered the door, a waiter came up to greet me with a smile, "Sir, please come in. How many people are there?"

Song Lao Er: "Five."

The servant then glanced at Song Ersao and the others who were following behind him, and then smiled and said, "Sir, I see that you are a family with children. Please dine on the first floor. The two young ladies can look at the fish here, or you can go to the private room upstairs. However, the minimum consumption for the private room is ten taels."

Song Lao Er was a little surprised. To eat in the room, it would cost at least ten taels. This was too expensive. He still gave his signature silly smile and said, "Let's eat in the hall."

The servant still had that professional smile on his face, "Please come this way, sir." Then he led the family to a location near the fish pond.

The family sat down, and the waiter asked, "What kind of tea would you like to drink? We have all kinds of tea here, Tieguanyin, West Lake Longjing, Biluochun, Huangshan Maojian, and of course ordinary green tea, which is free of charge."

"Ordinary green tea." Song Lao Er guessed that other teas should not be cheap. Then, without waiting for the servant to continue asking, he said, "I heard that your fish sashimi and roast duck are very famous. How much is one serving of fish sashimi and one serving of roast duck?"

"A roast duck is half a portion. If you want other dishes, I suggest you order half a portion. We have half a portion. For the fish sashimi, you can choose any fish you want. We have sea bream, grass carp, dace, and sea bass."

Song Lao Er scratched his head and asked Song Ersao and Song Sanniang, "What kind of fish do you two want to eat?"

Song Ersao and Song Sanniang looked at each other, and Song Sanniang threw the question back to Song Ersao, "Mother, you decide. I'll eat anything."

Mrs. Song chose sea bass.

Then, at the recommendation of the waiter, they ordered a stir-fried squid and fish soup. The waiter memorized the menu, told Si Niang and the other two to find someone to watch the fish and not let anyone fall into the water, and then left.

After a while, a pot of tea was served, and Song Sanniang took the two little ones to see the fish. When Si Niang and Wu Niang saw the fish, they started screaming again, but were stopped by Sanniang. She didn't want to be the parent of naughty children.

The restaurant was also considerate enough to prepare fish food, but it said please do not feed too much, one portion is enough.

Song Sanniang gave the bait to the two people, and they happily threw it all in. The fish immediately swam over. These fish were all plump and beautiful, and ripples were created when they danced, like a moving painting with the beauty of clusters of flowers.

Finally, the two of them had seen enough, and the poor nanny San took them back to their seats. The fish stew had to be served first, because the taste of fish sashimi was light, so the fish sashimi had to be eaten first to prevent the taste of other dishes from affecting the taste.

The fish sashimi was served on a large white porcelain plate. Each piece of fish meat was the same size and cut as thin as a cicada's wing. It looked crystal clear, with a layer of cucumber slices underneath.

Next to it is a white round five-grid side dish plate with side dishes, peanuts, ginger, lemon leaves, taro, and onion.

Then the servant came up to show the family how to eat it. First, mix the fish with peanut oil and salt, and then add various side dishes. The servant handed the small dish of fish to Song Laoer to try.

Song Laoer didn't expect that fish sashimi would taste like this. It was extremely tender in the mouth, and refreshing and chewy when chewed, leaving a lingering fragrance in the mouth. Then there were the crispy peanuts, the sweet and spicy onion shreds, and the crispy taro shreds, which really made people unable to stop.

The servant left with a smile, leaving Song Laoer and his family to taste the fish sashimi.

Then the roast duck was served. The duck selected by the restaurant was plump and juicy, with a rosy hue on the surface. Song Laoer picked up a piece for each person. The duck meat was crispy and tender, with fat but not greasy. The duck meat was tender and juicy, lean but not dry.

Then the stir-fried squid came up. The squid was crisp and delicious, and the onions and celery on the side were also crisp and sweet.

The final dish, fish soup, has ordinary ingredients, but it wins because of the richness of the materials. It contains fish, shredded eggs, shredded wood ear, vermicelli, shredded mushrooms, and shredded carrots. But the first word to describe it is fresh, the second is smooth, and the third is tender. Moreover, the richness of the materials gives the taste buds a multi-level baptism.

Except for the fish sashimi which was a little smaller in portion, the other portions were very large. The whole family was actually full with just one bowl of rice each. The rice was refined, and each grain was plump and translucent. Compared with the brown rice we eat at home, it was like heaven and hell.

After finishing this meal, he didn't even need one or two ounces of rice, which was beyond Song Lao Er's expectation.

Mrs. Song was also very surprised. She was already worried that her purse would bleed heavily today, but she didn't expect that her purse would be saved.

But it was quite luxurious. The meal cost 350 wen. Fish sashimi was the most expensive dish, 200 wen per dish, roast duck 40 wen, squid 80 wen, and fish soup 30 wen.

The family left Jufulou and continued shopping to digest the food. The fourth and fifth mothers finally stopped drooling at the food stalls.

Their eyes began to focus on the circus. It was very lively here. There were jugglers, storytellers, people selling calligraphy and paintings, people singing songs, people selling picture books, fortune tellers, and everything else.

To prevent them from getting lost, Song Ersao and her daughter each held one of their children. They both wanted to watch the acrobatics. Si Niang and her two children were too short, but the audience was very kind and gave up their seats for them. So the family squeezed in at the front.

The circus troupe was led by a tall and thin man who was directing a monkey to kowtow to everyone. It looked like a little child, still wearing clothes and a melon-shaped hat. After it kowtowed, it took off the melon-shaped hat, walked around, and asked for rewards from the onlookers. If someone gave it a reward, it would bow to that person.

Not to mention the four women, even Song Lao Er and the other two were stunned.

The little monkey took a circle of rewards and started doing a series of somersaults without the man telling him to do so, which made everyone applaud.

The little monkey performed one show after another. Si Niang looked up at Song Lao Er pitifully, and Song Lao Er had no choice but to give her and Wu Niang a penny.

When the little monkey came to ask for a reward, the two sisters nervously put the money into their melon-shaped hats. The little monkey took the reward but did not leave. It seemed that it had never seen a child before. It made faces in front of them and bared its teeth at them, which scared the two sisters.

Song Laoer and the other two had no choice but to comfort them. The little monkey was just teasing them. After teasing them, the little monkey went back to the man with the melon-shaped hat in his hand, looking proud.

Fortunately, both children were not pretentious and soon acted as if nothing had happened. After watching the circus enough, they continued to stroll around.

I walked to the street of toys and sundries. There was everything here, including bookstores selling study items, current affairs books, etc.

Daily utensils and sundries such as bamboo sieves, fans, stools, bamboo hats, baskets, etc.

Agricultural production tools such as wooden forks, bamboo rakes, etc., as well as folk toys such as birds, bird cages, rattles, tumblers, clay figurines, masks, kites, windmills, etc.