The new cook Yu San’s fish-cooking skills pleasantly surprised Shen Shaoguang. He later prepared various fish dishes including vinegar fish, steamed fish, and Yu Yang Xian (Fish-Lamb Delicacy).
The customers were quite enthusiastic about these fish dishes, especially the Yu Yang Xian, which was the most popular.
This dish was rather complex: the lamb was first blanched, then stewed, and finally cooked together with a fish belly. Given its intricate preparation process, Shen Shaoguang confidently set it at the highest price.
Some dishes in this dynasty were so complex that they left Shen Shaoguang bewildered, like the renowned “Hun Yang Mo Hu.” It required a specially selected tender goose, stuffed with meat and glutinous rice, seasoned thoroughly, then placed inside a lamb cavity. The lamb would be roasted over an open fire, but once cooked, the lamb wasn’t eaten – only the goose was consumed…
Then there was Pao Shi, where dates were stuffed into a pig’s belly, wrapped in reeds, covered with mud, and roasted in fire. After roasting, when the mud and reeds were removed, the pig’s hair would naturally come off, revealing tender meat – similar to the “Beggar’s Chicken” of later times. But since this was nobility’s food, it was naturally more complicated than the beggar’s version. The meat had to be deep-fried again, then double-boiled for three days and nights before final seasoning…
Several such dishes appeared in imperial palace cuisine, which Shen Shaoguang categorized as the “Masters Eat Not Food But Trouble” series. These dishes were likely products of peaceful times when nobles had excess energy to overthink and overcomplicate things, similar to the intricate trim work on Qing Dynasty qipaos.
However, Shen Shaoguang did approve of their shop’s Yu Yang Xian – the lamb was pre-cooked because it was typically tough, and cooking it to 80% done before placing it in the fish belly allowed both types of meat to exchange flavors, creating the perfect “umami” taste.
But perhaps because people of this dynasty weren’t particular about pork, Yu San wasn’t skilled with pork dishes.
Yu San was amazed by Shen Shaoguang’s “Agate Pork” and “Lion’s Head Meatballs,” wondering how someone could cook pork to achieve such flavors…
They were discussing the value of pork dishes while Shen Shaoguang took A Yuan and Yu San out for an autumn excursion.
Climbing heights during the Double Ninth Festival was an old custom. Shen Shaoguang had already profited from selling Double Ninth cakes the day before. On the actual festival day, everyone had left early to go sightseeing on horseback or by carriage.
Initially, Shen Shaoguang considered setting up a stall at a tourist spot, but the autumn excursion locations weren’t concentrated. The less adventurous chose Le You Yuan, while the more ambitious headed to Zhongnan Mountain. Some scholars and artists chose Qu Jiang Pavilion or Lin Wei Pavilion for poetry composition beside flowing water. There were also temples and Taoist abbeys both inside and outside the city that served as excursion spots.
With such dispersed crowds, and considering that hiking was an active process, how many people would stop their horses or carriages to buy food?
After such calculations, Shen Shaoguang gave up the idea and instead decided to take a holiday with A Yuan and Yu San to relax.
Being lazy, when Shen Shaoguang didn’t want to make money, she avoided crowded places. After comparing Le You Yuan and Qu Jiang’s edge, she chose the latter – Shen Shaoguang felt this might be because she was more of a “wise person” than a “benevolent person.”
Shen Shaoguang’s choice proved wise. Though Chang’an’s citizens troubled Qu Jiang Pool 365 days a year, today there weren’t many visitors, as “climbing heights” was still the primary Double Ninth activity.
The autumn sky was brilliantly blue, and Qu Jiang’s water was crystal clear. A few pleasure boats dotted the river surface, and occasionally, young lords with their servants would pass by on horseback on the main road – Shen Shaoguang guessed there must be a banquet at Qu Jiang Pavilion.
That wasn’t her concern. The “wise” Shen Shaoguang took her servants in the opposite direction from Qu Jiang Pavilion. After walking for a while, they found a scenic spot where they spread out a felt blanket, took out a pot of milk drink, opened boxes containing walnut cookies, pea pastries, ai wo wo (mugwort dumplings), and chrysanthemum cakes, and brought out a paper bag of minced meat pastries.
A Yuan cheered, clearly preferring the savory meat dishes to the various sweets.
Looking at A Yuan’s waistline, Shen Shaoguang held her tongue – it wasn’t right to scold children during festivals.
The pastries were filled with the same meat mixture used for Lion’s Head meatballs. Though somewhat cold, they were still fragrant.
Recently, Shen Shaoguang’s pork dishes have become increasingly masterful, often transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary.
A Yuan took a bite and praised, “Young Miss’s cooking is the most fragrant!” She added, “Nothing tastes better than Young Miss’s pork dishes.”
Yu San, who had initially been quite surprised by the shop’s refined pork dishes, had grown accustomed to them over time.
Hearing A Yuan’s words, Yu San slowly inserted a barb: “Of course, how else could one make something cheap appear precious?” A plate of four Lion’s Head meatballs cost almost the same as a plate of sliced lamb, but what was the price of pork compared to lamb?
A Yuan couldn’t stand Yu San’s sarcastic tone: “How can you say that!”
Shen Shaoguang felt that while Yu San’s words held some truth, one needed to look beyond the surface.
Raising her hand to stop A Yuan, Shen Shaoguang gave her cook an economics lesson: “What you call ‘cheap’ is just the material cost, without considering labor costs, time costs, and intellectual costs.”
“A piece of pork might be cheap, but we blanch it, stir-fry it, stew it, steam it, add seasonings, serve it in fine vessels—” Shen Shaoguang paused, “Well, we don’t have fine vessels yet, but we will. After all this processing, this pork is no longer the same as before—”
A Yuan and Yu San both looked up at her.
“It’s pork worthy of grand banquets and noble palates!”
Yu San: “…”
After thinking for a moment, A Yuan nodded vigorously.
As Shen Shaoguang spoke, she began to draw broader parallels, “For instance, in the south, there are so-called ‘foster mothers’ who buy young girls from poor families and teach them various arts like chess, calligraphy, painting, and musical instruments. When these girls come of age, they’re sold to noble houses in the two capitals, or to brothels in Pingkang, or to wealthy merchants in the Two Huai region.” She wasn’t sure if this practice existed now, but she was referring to the “Yangzhou Skinny Horses” of later times.
“Those young girls might cost just one tael of silver when purchased, but could sell for eight hundred or a thousand taels.”
A Yuan gasped, calculating how many of herself could be bought with that amount.
Yu San looked at their new master, finding it somewhat difficult to respond.
“Why is this so? Because of the ‘foster mother’s’ educational investment! Just like our pork dishes…”
Suddenly hearing sounds from the grove behind them, Shen Shaoguang turned around, as did A Yuan and Yu San. They saw two young lords, one wearing a round-collared robe in crow-black and another in moon-white. The one in moon white was laughing heartily.
Who else could it be but Assistant Magistrate Lin and his friend?
Shen Shaoguang mentally rolled her eyes – eavesdropping so brazenly! She wondered where they came from, guessing they had escaped from the banquet at Qu Jiang Pavilion and wandered here through the grove. Running into them here – was this fate?
While internally grumbling, her expression remained warm as she curtsied to the two men with a smile: “Greetings, young lords.”
Lin Yan slightly pressed his lips and nodded in return, while Pei Fei said, “We meet again, Young Miss.”
Shen Shaoguang smiled.
“Last time I enjoyed Young Miss’s moon fortune cookies very much!” If not for the latter part about the “foster mothers,” Pei Fei might have teased Shen Shaoguang about what she had just said, but after her extended metaphor, bringing it up would have been inappropriate and vulgar, so he only mentioned the previous moon cake incident – Pei Fei had later asked Manager Zhou and learned those pastries were made by this Miss Shen.
Since crossing over to the Tang Dynasty, Shen Shaoguang had been following lady-like principles and had become more modest. She felt somewhat embarrassed that these two had overheard her rambling, but faced with Pei Fei, who seemed somewhat questionable himself, that embarrassment dissipated. She smiled and asked, “I trust the young lord had good fortune with his cookie?”
“Haha, of course, of course,” Pei Fei laughed.
Shen Shaoguang continued smiling, knowing there were no bad fortunes in those cookies… Indeed, humans naturally love to hear good things! If it weren’t for her exceptional culinary skills, with just this talent, she could achieve a middle-class lifestyle as a Taoist priestess or nun selling fortunes outside temples and abbeys. A half-immortal whose destiny was derailed by cooking skills!
“I find Young Miss’s fortunes as accurate as Master Le Chen from the Blue Dragon Temple,” Pei Fei once again found himself in sync with Shen Shaoguang’s thoughts.
What discerning eyes! A true confidant! Shen Shaoguang lowered her face demurely and smiled: “The young lord jests.”
Hearing these two’s playful banter and recalling Miss Shen’s startling words earlier, Lin Yan pressed his lips together again: “We won’t disturb the lady’s autumn excursion then.” He nodded slightly to Shen Shaoguang, looked at Pei Fei, and prepared to take his leave.
Pei Fei also nodded to Shen Shaoguang, “Enjoy your autumn outing in this fine weather, Young Miss.”
Shen Shaoguang curtsied again and smiled: “Enjoy your autumn excursion as well, young lords.”
A Yuan and Yu San also bowed.
Pei Fei caught up with Lin Yan, “Could it be you don’t think your moon cake fortune was accurate? You’re always so cold towards young ladies, how could the fortune be accurate…”
The autumn breeze carried their fading voices. Watching their retreating figures, Shen Shaoguang smiled mischievously – could it be that Assistant Magistrate Lin had drawn the “Will find a good wife” fortune?
Tsk! Tsk! Then my fortunes were incredibly accurate! That Minister’s granddaughter, in terms of looks and bearing, certainly qualified as “good,” and crucially, she seemed quite interested in this Assistant Magistrate… Even Pang Er’niang was quite lovely. Heh, tall, rich, and handsome – even with a poker face, girls would still fall head over heels for him.
These looks-obsessed people… Shen Shaoguang shook her head helplessly.