Pastoral Splendor

Jian Yifei and Xu Yixuan were sitting in the backyard when they were greeted by a fragrant aroma. Xu Yixuan couldn't resist and stood up to go outside to see what was going on, but Liu Hua grabbed him and said, "Brother Xu, you can't go out."

Third Sister had asked her to bring them to the backyard because she didn't want those people to see her brother, the Crown Prince, and Brother Jian. How could the Crown Prince go out? She firmly tugged at Xu Yixuan's robe, refusing to budge an inch: "We want to listen to what Third Sister says! What Third Sister says is always right!"

Seeing that Liu Hua was quite stubborn, Jian Yifei smiled and said to Xu Yixuan, "Hurry up and sit down. After a while, Miss Xiao will call us out, and then you'll have something to eat."

"That's right!" Liu Hua rolled her eyes at Xu Yixuan: "Young Master, after they leave, you can ask Third Sister to make as much as you want to eat!"

Xu Yixuan smiled and sat down again: "I'm not a pig."

Aunt Xiao stood to the side, holding Qi Hua, her heart pounding with fear. Liu Hua was becoming increasingly ill-mannered; what if she offended a distinguished guest? She glanced cautiously at Xu Yixuan and, seeing no displeasure on his face, finally relaxed.

The kitchen was already filled with a wonderful aroma. Yan Ying's stir-fried minced pork with pickled bamboo shoots was ready. The plate was half full, with yellow-green pickled bamboo shoots, white minced pork with a hint of red, red chili peppers and green chives. The colors were distinct and looked really appealing.

Bamboo shoots absorb oil very well, and Yan Ying used plenty of oil, making them look glistening. Besides lard, she also added some sesame oil, which she had bought from Yuzhou City last time. A few days ago, she cleared out an unused room to grow mushrooms. Once she had grown enough, she could extract mushroom oil, which would be incredibly fragrant when used for stir-fries.

The shopkeeper looked at the plate of dishes and was so surprised that he couldn't take his eyes off it. This young lady Xiao looked very young, but she had excellent cooking skills. This stir-fried minced pork with pickled bamboo shoots was not only delicious to eat, but also very pleasing to the eye.

Yan Ying handed over a few pairs of chopsticks: "Uncle, please have a taste!"

The shopkeeper picked up his chopsticks, carefully took a bite, and chewed it. A delicious flavor spread from the tip of his tongue, filling his mouth with fragrance. The pickled bamboo shoots had a slightly sour taste, both refreshing and fragrant. The taste was delightful, and the aroma warmed his heart. He never expected that these unassuming little bamboo shoots could produce such a delicious flavor!

"Miss Xiao, how much silver do you want for this recipe?" The shopkeeper looked at Yan Ying standing beside him and asked with a smile, his beady eyes almost disappearing: "You don't want to set the price too high."

Yan Ying smiled and held up one finger: "This number."

"One tael of silver?" The shopkeeper was pleasantly surprised; he hadn't expected it to be so cheap! "Yes, yes, I'll buy it, I'll buy it!"

"One tael of silver? Shopkeeper, have you ever bought a recipe for such a low price?" Yan Ying glanced at the shopkeeper with disdain, making him feel extremely embarrassed. He felt as if he were bullying a young girl, and he stammered for a long time, unable to utter a word. Qian Xiaosi, standing beside her, asked with feigned cleverness, "Miss Xiao, do you perhaps want one hundred taels?"

"One hundred taels?" The shopkeeper felt a pang of pain in his heart and glared at Qian Xiaosi resentfully: "This is none of your business!"

Qian Xiaosi's face turned bright red: "Shopkeeper, I was just guessing."

"Guess! Guess my foot! If everyone guessed like you, our Ruyi Restaurant might as well close down and give away tons of money!" The manager glared angrily at Qian Xiaosi: "Shut up, if you keep talking nonsense, I won't take you out next time."

Once the excited shopkeeper had finally calmed down, Yan Ying smiled and said, "Uncle, please don't get excited. I don't need that much silver. Ten taels of silver will be enough for me."

"Ten taels of silver? Isn't that too much?" The shopkeeper looked troubled and shook his head. "Your stir-fried bamboo shoots with minced meat isn't a difficult dish to make. I saw you stir-fry the dish just like usual."

"Uncle, did you look carefully?" Yan Ying smiled and glanced at the shopkeeper. "Are you sure I just used ordinary stir-frying techniques?"

Seeing Yan Ying's smiling eyes crinkle, the shopkeeper felt a little uneasy. Could it be that he hadn't looked closely enough? Did Miss Xiao have some secret to cooking this dish? He carefully recalled Yan Ying's behavior just now, but the more he thought about it, the less he could figure it out. Yan Ying's cooking process suddenly seemed a bit mysterious, and he couldn't remember it no matter how hard he tried.

"Well... Miss Xiao, you should at least charge a little less silver, how about eight taels? Eight is a lucky number, isn't it?" The shopkeeper said cheerfully, "I'll give you the silver right away, just tell me the recipe."

"Eight taels? Why not eighteen taels? You really have to pay!" Yan Ying wouldn't budge an inch; two taels of silver could be quite a sum for her family! "Uncle, look at your clothes, they're made of the finest silk, worth at least several taels of silver, right? You're trying to bargain with a young girl like me for a tael or two? Isn't that a bit beneath you?" Yan Ying smiled at the shopkeeper, her dimples appearing and disappearing: "If I had as much silver as you, Uncle, I wouldn't even blink an eye at two taels!"

The shopkeeper thought and thought for a while, and finally sighed: "Alright, alright, ten taels it is!" He reached into his sleeve pocket and rummaged around for a while, and pulled out a large silver ingot: "This is ten taels each, and there are words engraved on the bottom, but I don't know if you can recognize them."

Yan Ying took the silver, weighed it in her hand, then turned it over and looked at the bottom. Sure enough, there was a character "拾" (shí, meaning "ten") engraved on it. Only then did she feel relieved and nodded to the shopkeeper with a smile: "Uncle, how could you lie to me? It can't be wrong."

"How many pickled bamboo shoots do you have left? I'd like to buy them all." The shopkeeper thought to himself, "These are such delicious vegetables. I should buy them quickly and introduce them to Ruyi Restaurant as a new dish. Plus, if that young master says they're good when he comes tomorrow, it will be great publicity for my restaurant."

This stir-fried pickled bamboo shoots with minced meat looks ordinary, but it tastes delicious and flavorful, far better than any dried scallops. The shopkeeper sat there, determined to buy some pickled bamboo shoots from this Miss Xiao.

Yan Ying was secretly delighted, but her face remained calm: "Shopkeeper, to tell you the truth, last time the young master of the Prince Yu's mansion passed through our Xiao Family Village, I had the pleasure of making this dish of stir-fried minced pork with pickled bamboo shoots for him. He said it was delicious and asked me to pickle more pickled bamboo shoots for him. He said he would come to pick them up when they were ready. I don't know when he will send someone to pick them up, so I can't rashly agree to sell them all to you, Uncle."

It turned out that the young master was indeed the heir of Prince Yu. The shopkeeper was somewhat alarmed, but when he saw Yan Ying standing in front of him, he was as if he had seen a savior: "Miss Xiao, the heir of Prince Yu can't eat much by himself. You can sell me half first."

"Alright." Yan Ying looked somewhat hesitant. "Considering the uncle's generosity, I'll agree."

She went to the next room and brought out a porcelain jar: "Uncle, look, this kind of jar can make about fifty dishes with the pickled bamboo shoots inside. I'll charge you three taels of silver, isn't that reasonable?"

The innkeeper quickly calculated in his mind that he planned to price the stir-fried minced pork with pickled bamboo shoots at half a tael of silver per plate—after all, everyone who ate at Ruyi Restaurant was a big spender, and no one cared about half a tael of silver. Fifty plates of dishes would bring in about twenty-five taels of silver, and three taels of silver for pickled bamboo shoots was really not expensive.

"Alright, alright, three taels of silver a jar." The shopkeeper nodded. "Miss Xiao, how many jars can you sell to me?"

Yan Ying smiled slightly: "I make my pickled bamboo shoots in batches. There wasn't enough time, so I can only sell you five jars right now. If the customers like them and your restaurant runs out of stock, just come to me to buy more. I can pickle more so that your restaurant won't run out of stock."

"Alright, alright, Miss Xiao, it's settled then. When my restaurant runs out of stock, I'll come to you for it." The manager was very happy: "Miss Xiao, please tell me the recipes quickly."

Yan Ying first put away the fifteen taels of silver. Qiu Yue carried five jars of pickled bamboo shoots into the main room, washed her hands, and took out paper and pen from the next room. The shopkeeper was dumbfounded: "Miss Xiao, will you write or should I write?"

Yan Ying didn't answer him. She placed the inkstone on the stove, scooped out a little water and put it in the inkstone, then ground the ink stick for a while. After waiting for the ink to become even, she picked up the brush and quickly wrote: "Take three ounces of pickled bamboo shoots, wash them clean, and add three ounces of minced meat..." Yan Ying wrote very quickly and finished in no time. She blew on the paper and handed the recipe to the shopkeeper: "Uncle, take a look."

The shopkeeper glanced at the note and was astonished. The words on it were written very clearly and neatly, appearing to be in regular script. He never expected that this farm girl could actually write! The shopkeeper looked at Yan Ying with an admiring expression: "Miss Xiao is truly intelligent and capable."

Yan Ying smiled and said, "Uncle, you flatter me. I only overheard a few things at a private school in a nearby village."

The shopkeeper carefully put away the menu, then led his men onto the mule cart parked at the courtyard gate, rumbling towards the village entrance. Qian Xiaosi glanced back at the several large jujube trees outside Old Master Xiao's house, a few questions swirling in his mind. After thinking for a moment, he kept quiet. The shopkeeper disliked him and told him not to speak, so it was best to say as little as possible—but why were there several horses tied to those locust trees? The Xiao family was truly mysterious! Sitting in their dilapidated mud-brick houses, they could still afford to buy horses, and five or six at once!

"Miss Xiao, Miss Xiao!" Xu Yixuan rushed in from the back of the house. Seeing the empty plate on the table, he took a deep breath and exclaimed, "I want to have dinner at your house tonight, and I want to eat this dish too!" He looked up at Yan Ying with a pitiful expression and asked, "You left some pickled bamboo shoots, didn't you?"

Yan Ying smiled and said, "Of course you're staying! How could we not? I was just about to suggest that you and Brother Jian stay for dinner, and you brought it up yourself!"

Jian Yifei stood behind Xu Yixuan and smiled slightly, looking at the empty plate with only a few leftover pickled bamboo shoot pieces, glistening with oil. "Miss Xiao's cooking is truly delicious. If only I could taste her cooking every day."

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