After practicing for several days, Shen Shaoguang’s pancake-making skills improved significantly. She could crack eggs with one hand – with just a slight force from her index and middle fingers, the yolk and white would roll out perfectly without any shell fragments. Then with a flourish, she’d toss the shell into a small bucket beside her, the motion quite stylish. She no longer needed her other hand to help flip the pancakes – doing it one-handed with rarely any breaking or folding over. Her scallion sprinkling was swift and even, giving her a feeling similar to the Taoist priests casting beans to summon soldiers.

Business was getting better too. Besides regular customers, there were new ones trying his food every day, including some from wealthy households who specifically sent servants to buy.

“My mistress loves your pancakes. She tried making them at home but just couldn’t get the same taste,” a young maid around ten years old chatted with Shen Shaoguang while waiting. She had a round face and looked very cheerful.

“The mistress says your sauce is especially good. What did you put in it?”

Shen Shaoguang smiled gently, “I’m here at this ward gate every day. If she likes them, just come over – why trouble yourself making them?”

The little maid tilted her head, thought for a moment, and agreed.

Male customers often had ulterior motives. “What’s your surname, young miss?” “Where are you from, young miss?” Such conversation starters typically came from self-proclaimed well-off merchants or gossipy servants from wealthy households.

She would raise an eyebrow at them, and when they thought she might get angry, Shen Shaoguang would just smile and ask, “Spicy sauce or sweet sauce?”

Having hit this semi-soft nail, and faced with a smiling young lady, most would find it beneath their dignity to make a scene and would give up.

Shen Shaoguang certainly wasn’t angry – compared to “Hey beautiful, can I get your WeChat?” this was quite subtle.

Today’s flirtatious customer was different though. He wasn’t smooth or deliberately trying to act charming and showed a hint of shyness. He was young, probably in his early twenties, wearing the light blue official uniform of the ninth rank, tall with a duck-like voice, and some acne scars on his face – reminding Shen Shaoguang of male university students from her previous life.

Those times from her past life that she could never return to, Shen Shaoguang sighed inwardly.

Because of this sentiment, Shen Shaoguang was especially patient with him, “Of course, this isn’t just plain flour – plain flour sticks to your teeth, you’d need fire tongs to pull it off.”①

The young man was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing.

Shen Shaoguang smiled and asked, “Spicy sauce or sweet sauce?”

The young man couldn’t decide on his preference, or perhaps to please Shen Shaoguang, so he ordered one of each type, thanked her with a smile, put them in the portable leather bag, and left.

The next day, the young man came again, this time ordering five pancakes at once.

Shen Shaoguang glanced at him, thinking ‘Are you treating this like buying breakfast for your whole college dorm?’

But money was money, so Shen Shaoguang efficiently made him three spicy ones and two non-spicy ones, then joked, “If the young sir buys ten, you’ll get one free.”

The young man shyly glanced at Shen Shaoguang, licked his lips, and said, “Thank you.”

This made Shen Shaoguang feel a bit embarrassed to continue teasing him.

On the third day, though it hadn’t increased to ten, it became seven sets.

Shen Shaoguang didn’t know what to say anymore but hoped this brother was buying breakfast for others. If he was paying with his own money, a ninth-rank official’s salary wouldn’t be enough to eat like this.

Inside the Capital Prefecture office, several young officials were each munching on a pancake.

“Thankfully we have Clerk Liu, otherwise we’d be working on empty stomachs,” said one with sleep still in his eyes.

Young people with rich nightlives went to bed late and naturally woke up late, dragging themselves out of bed at the last possible moment each day, barely having time to wash up and fix their appearance before rushing to the office – where would they find time for breakfast?

Clerk Liu Feng lived nearby, and once when he bought an extra pancake, a hungry colleague ate it and was instantly amazed. These egg pancakes wrapped with fried crullers became an instant hit among the middle and lower-ranking officials of the Capital Prefecture, and Clerk Liu thus embarked on his journey as a breakfast delivery guy.

“This spicy one is flavorful – after eating one, it makes me even hungrier. Liu San, help me get an extra one next time.”

“The key is how particular these pancakes are. When have you ever seen street food served in paper bags? Look, there’s even a small seal character ‘Shen’ in the corner of the bag.”

The refined-looking young man wiped the sauce from the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief, carefully smoothed out the paper bag, and pointed out the character to everyone, “It shows elegance and grace with natural vigor, unlike the current trend of forcing regular script into seal script. It somewhat resembles the style of Assistant Director Li from earlier times.”

While the dynasty had many masters of regular and cursive scripts, with scholars typically using both regular and running scripts in daily life, few were skilled in seal and clerical scripts. The most famous small seal script writer was Li Yangbing from Emperor Xuanzong’s time.

The others weren’t particularly knowledgeable about seal script, but being scholars, they all examined their bags.

One of them laughed, “I think it has a feminine touch – could the seal carver be a young lady?”

Everyone laughed.

Liu Feng’s face reddened slightly, showing a trace of confusion.

The one who had mentioned the feminine touch looked up and happened to see the Prefect and Deputy Prefect approaching. He quickly put down his pancake and stood up to bow.

Prefect Bai Jingshan was an extremely affable person who smiled and waved off the young ones, while Deputy Prefect Lin Yan merely nodded slightly before they both walked past.

The young officials exchanged knowing looks and raised eyebrows, quickly finished their food in a few bites, washed it down with tea, and returned to their offices.

Prefect Bai smiled, “It smells quite good – what are these youngsters eating?”

Smelling the familiar aroma that wafted through the ward gate every morning, Lin Yan smiled and said, “Nothing more than some pastries and pancakes.”

“When I was young, I too used to gnaw on flatbread while waiting in the examination hall. Young people always feel they can’t get enough sleep or food.”

Lin Yan smiled again.

Prefect Bai turned to look at his young deputy: “But I’ve never seen Anran have such moments. Perhaps you have no interest in these street delicacies?”

“This humble official’s palate is dull and cannot distinguish between flavors. I eat merely to sustain myself.”

Prefect Bai laughed heartily, “Anran comes from a family of great wealth and status – perhaps your taste buds were spoiled early on.”

Lin Yan just smiled faintly.

The ward gates opened, and breakfast time had passed, so Shen Shaoguang could finally rest her hands. She unhurriedly wiped down the counter and griddle with a cloth, cleaning up the spilled sauce and scattered scallions.

Lu Sanniang, who sold fried crullers, came over with a grin, “Sister Shen, your business is getting better and better.”

Shen Shaoguang continued working while just glancing up with a smile, “That’s thanks to Sister Lu’s excellent fried crullers.”

Fried crullers were similar to later generations’ sazi – long strips of dough fried crispy in oil. Some were made in bracelet shapes called ring cakes, which could be kept for several days and were essential for the Cold Food Festival, though many people bought them as regular snacks too.

Shen Shaoguang had ordered from Sister Lu, asking her to fry something similar to later generations’ thin crispy crackers, and she managed to make them quite similar, just with a bit of added sugar for sweetness. Since it wouldn’t be appropriate to ask someone to change their dough recipe just for a small order, Shen Shaoguang adjusted her sauce ingredients instead. After some mutual adaptation, the resulting pancakes tasted quite good.

Since starting her stall, Shen Shaoguang’s business has been excellent. How could the neighboring vendors not be envious? Though Lu Sanniang was envious, her cruller sales had increased significantly because of it, so she dared not show any jealousy. Now, with the young man’s pancake-buying becoming the talk of the street, she naturally had to tease Shen Shaoguang about it.

“No matter how well I fry my crullers, I don’t see that young gentleman coming to buy them daily,” Sister Lu said with a wink and a smile.

Shen Shaoguang paused her wiping and appeared to seriously consider this, “Oh? Then it must truly be that my pancakes are good.”

Sister Lu laughed with a “tsk,” “Just keep pretending.”

Shen Shaoguang gave a faint smile and continued wiping.

After cleaning up, she loaded the stove frame onto a small pull cart.

Qiu Da, who sold flatbread nearby, helped her lift the stove onto the cart.

Shen Shaoguang thanked him politely, and Qiu Da nodded to her awkwardly before walking away with his bread basket.

Lu Sanniang thought to herself, that being young and beautiful has its advantages. She reminisced about when I was young, some people would eat crullers three times a day just to come to see me.

•  This is a humorous reference to the consistency of the pancake batter – if it were made with plain flour alone, it would be too sticky.