Shen Shaoguang continued advancing on her path of expanding the menu varieties.

After buying the catfish, within two days, she unexpectedly encountered that fish seller again and hurriedly went forward to strike up a conversation.

The fish seller lived in the suburbs. Now that the autumn harvest was over, he had free time and would occasionally go to the small river channels to net fish. If he caught many, he would keep them in vats and bring them into the city to sell the next morning.

Shen Shaoguang asked further, “How many can you catch each time?”

The man laughed, “Young lady, that’s an amateur question! How can anyone say for certain? Sometimes I get two or three-foot-long big fish, six or seven. The palm-sized ones are usually a bit more numerous, but there are times when I only catch inch or two-long fingerlings.” He added that he mainly caught silver carp, common carp, and crucian carp.

Shen Shaoguang asked with a smile, “So you’re saying I was lucky to get those two big catfish that day?”

The fish-selling uncle also smiled, “You truly were lucky. It’s not often we catch catfish – those creatures are cunning, especially ones that big.”

Shen Shaoguang negotiated with the fish seller to deliver fish directly to her shop whenever he caught them, regardless of size, as long as they were fresh and alive.

Not having to hawk his wares around, the fish seller naturally agreed with great enthusiasm.

Since the size and type of fish varied each time, naturally the cooking methods would differ too. It wouldn’t be good to write specifics on the menu, so after some consideration, Shen Shaoguang broadly categorized them into two types: “Silver Jade Foot-Length Scales” and “Brocade Mouth Small Fresh,” the former for large fish and the latter for small ones, not distinguishing species or cooking methods, pricing simply by size – straightforward and crude.

Today Shen Shaoguang received three silver carp about a foot or two in length, along with some inch-long small crucian carp.

The small crucian carp were easy to handle – they would be pickled as usual.

As for the silver carp, the head was the best part – large and tender. In her previous life, it would have been steamed with chopped chili peppers and drizzled with Sichuan pepper oil, creating a numbing, spicy, and savory delicacy. But without chili peppers now, she could only add tofu and braise it in a clay pot. As for the fish body, it would be good to make fish meatballs.

There was no great secret to braising silver carp head with tofu, but many people couldn’t achieve that rich, milky-white broth, making the presentation less appealing.

The secret to the milk soup lay in first frying in oil, then adding water and boiling over high heat.

The so-called milk soup was nothing more than the result of oil emulsification. The vigorous boiling helped the fat particles emulsify and fully combine with the water to become a water-in-oil emulsion. Without sufficient oil, or if simmered over low heat like braising marbled meat with “smoldering firewood and rising smoke,” one could never achieve such a rich, milky white color.

Looking at the pure white, rich broth before her that resembled milk, Shen Shaoguang clicked her tongue twice – this wasn’t just soup, this was a pot of fat!

But undoubtedly, it was delicious! The most delicious thing in the world is cholesterol and the least tasty is – healthy food①. These words couldn’t be more true.

Ward runners Liu Jin and Wang Qing ordered a corner of wine, fried lotus beans, cold-dressed Chinese celery as small dishes, and two large pork trotters, eating until their mouths were dripping with oil.

A Yuan brought over a bowl of fish head with tofu.

Though Liu Jin had drunk quite a bit, he wasn’t very drunk yet. “We didn’t order this, did we?”

Shen Shaoguang walked over with a smile and said, “This is complimentary from our establishment. It’s thanks to you gentlemen’s regular patronage that we can peacefully conduct our business.” This referred to the incident when the two had taken away the ruffians.

Liu Jin, not very tall, with an irregular triangular face and protruding eyes, looking somewhat like an ant spirit at first glance, was actually the head of the Wuhou Bureau in Chongxian Ward. He had a shrewd air about him and laughed, “Young lady is too kind!”

Shen Shaoguang took two empty bowls and personally ladled fish soup for them.

Liu Jin felt quite embarrassed, stood up to accept the bowl, and smiled, “Let me do it myself.”

His companion Wang Qing also belatedly stood up.

Shen Shaoguang still helped serve soup for both of them and smiled, “Please try it, gentlemen. Is it to your taste?”

Liu Jin smiled first: “If this isn’t good enough to eat, everything sold on the streets should be thrown into the gutters.”

They both tasted it and even though their tongues were numbed by wine and the rich pork trotters just moments ago, they were still struck by the rich and savory soup, “Excellent! Truly excellent!”

While Wang Qing lowered his head and ate heartily, Liu Jin didn’t rush to eat but smiled at Shen Shaoguang, “Young lady needn’t worry too much. You are a blessed person, with auspicious clouds protecting you.”

Shen Shaoguang raised an eyebrow with a smile – what did he mean by that?

Liu Jin naturally understood why this young proprietress was offering dishes and personally serving soup. As the head of the Wuhou Bureau in Chongxian Ward, he had some face with the Legal Assistant Secretary of Chang’an County who had tried those two ruffians, so he knew how they were sentenced.

Having accepted her hospitality, Liu Jin told her truthfully: “Those two received the rod punishment and definitely won’t dare cause trouble again.”

Having read some Tang Dynasty laws while in the palace, Shen Shaoguang knew that beatings under fifty strokes were called chi punishment, while sixty to one hundred strokes were called zhang punishment. These two had received quite severe punishment.

Shen Shaoguang nodded, “I suppose those ruffians targeted me because I’m a woman, so they came to make trouble.” Then shaking her head with a sigh, “It’s truly difficult for a woman to make her way in the world.”

Perhaps it was the alcohol, or perhaps it was seeing a beauty sigh – feeling somewhat sympathetic, but more importantly wanting to sell someone a favor, Liu Jin looked around to ensure no one was nearby and said in a low voice, “Young lady should be careful. I heard it’s because you run a food shop but sell wine and meat, and do such good business that it’s made the big wine shops lose face.” Then mysteriously, he dipped his finger in wine and wrote the character “yun” (cloud) on the table.

Shen Shaoguang had only been paranoid and testing the waters with casual remarks, but unexpectedly there was something fishy! Her small shop was leagues below the Cloud Come Wine House – was this necessary?

When Shen Shaoguang tried to inquire about the “auspicious clouds” protecting her, Liu Jin just smiled – how could he explain? That day, Guard Liu from Junior Governor Lin’s mansion had come to see him, and the Legal Assistant Secretary of Chang’an County had sentenced those two ruffians so heavily, presumably because he had put in a word there. This shop owner was young and beautiful, and Guard Liu was in his prime, well…

A minister’s doorkeeper is equivalent to a seventh-rank official. Though Junior Governor Lin wasn’t a minister, he was still a high-ranking official in crimson robes, and crucially, he was an official of the Capital Prefecture. Hadn’t they seen how even the Legal Assistant Secretary gave face to his guard? More importantly, the Lin mansion was right in this ward – they’d run into each other frequently, so maintaining good relations couldn’t hurt.

Or perhaps that Guard Liu was doing this on behalf of some noble… that would be even more significant! Liu Jin squinted his drunk eyes at Shen Shaoguang – indeed a beautiful woman, who knew what fortune might await her? This Chang’an city never lacked extraordinary people and events!

Seeing he wouldn’t say more, Shen Shaoguang let it go. Perhaps some customer was a deeply hidden big shot, like a current minister or something, who had been filled with righteous indignation and saved two weak women – herself and A Yuan – from their predicament?

The “weak woman” A Yuan came in carrying two bags of rice and flour, one in each hand. “Young lady, please come check the rice!”

Shen Shaoguang agreed, exchanged a few more pleasantries with Liu Jin and his companion, then went to the kitchen.

That evening while soaking their feet together at home, Shen Shaoguang told A Yuan about how the two ruffians had been sent by other wine shops to cause trouble.

Though brave enough to raise her fists against individual ruffians, when hearing they were up against big wine shops, A Yuan became somewhat timid. “What if they try something else?”

“If we’re afraid of mole crickets chirping, should we stop farming altogether?” Shen Shaoguang smiled, “We’ll continue as usual, just be more careful.”

A Yuan hesitated, but finally expressed her thoughts, “Why don’t we scale back and not sell so much wine and meat?”

Shen Shaoguang explained to her: “If we followed their wishes, we should only sell pancakes at the ward gate. And even selling pancakes might offend some people.” After saying this, she gave A Yuan a meaningful wink.

A Yuan laughed, knowing she meant Lu Sanniang.

“Living in this world, some people might feel you’re breathing the air they want to breathe, but we can’t stop breathing because of that, can we?”

A Yuan pondered this – indeed! Wouldn’t not breathing mean death?

“Not only must we breathe, but we must breathe openly and righteously, breathe big! Breathe special!” Shen Shaoguang said fiercely.

After a moment of silence, A Yuan said, “I heard breathing big and special is called ‘asthma’…”

Shen Shaoguang gritted her teeth and picked up a smelly sock, about to throw it at her head. A Yuan laughed.

Shen Shaoguang also laughed, putting down the sock, contemplating how to “breathe big and special.” Since it wasn’t proper for a food shop to sell wine and meat, they might as well expand the premises and officially rename it as a wine shop – make it legitimate and proper.

Of course, Shen Shaoguang was also prepared for them to try to strangle this effort. In that case, they could just move somewhere else and start over, selling pancakes from a stall… it wouldn’t be the first time…