Shen Shaoguang handed over the important task of picking chickens to A Yuan, washed her hands, and served Young Lord Lin a drink. “What would the young lord like to eat?” It wasn’t even lunchtime yet, why had he come?
“Grandmother has had a poor appetite these past few days and finds everything tasteless, so I came to see if there were any suitable fresh dishes.”
What a pity the ham wasn’t cured enough yet, otherwise they could try ham with shepherd’s purse. Slicing the ham and mixing it with shepherd’s purse in sanhe oil was Mr. Tang Lusun’s “recipe” for Zhang Henshui. Back when Zhang Henshui was writing “A Family of Golden Powder” Jin Yanxi and Jin Qishao fell ill, wanting two light porridge dishes, one was the rather “Dream of the Red Chamber” style “dressed duck feet”. Mr. Tang felt that wealthy young masters wouldn’t eat something so hard to digest when sick, and suggested changing it to ham with a shepherd’s purse instead. Later when Zhang fell ill with malaria in Chongqing and had poor appetite, he remembered this dish and had someone make it. He then wrote to Mr. Tang: “What was called a refined porridge dish, I have now found it.”
This dish would likely suit Lady Lin’s taste, but thinking of shepherd’s purse reminded Shen Shaoguang of how Young Lord Lin avoided mentioning his childhood name and only said “the former”, along with his expression at the time. Thinking back to the earlier talk of “killing for meat”, Shen Shaoguang couldn’t help but reflect: why do I keep teasing this proper person?
To show her reformed character, despite her mind full of improper thoughts, Shen Shaoguang spoke very properly: “If the Lady finds everything tasteless, it’s probably due to the season causing spring dryness. At such times, it’s best to drink some white fungus, red date, and lotus seed soup simmered until thick. Once she can eat porridge, add some honey for flavor – it moistens the lungs, relieves dryness, and regulates the spleen and stomach.”
Lin Yan nodded with a gentle smile. “Thank you, young miss.”
“If her digestion is good and she’s just tired of regular foods, I do have two seasonal fresh items here.” One couldn’t let guests leave empty-handed after all.
“Young Lord can try them first,” Shen Shaoguang said with a smile.
Lin Yan nodded. “Much obliged.”
Shen Shaoguang asked him to wait while she went to the back courtyard. In the corner, the previous elderly owner had planted many plants crowded together, none growing very well. Shen Shaoguang had pulled out and cut down the unwanted ones, leaving only one wisteria vine. After watering it and adding some fertilizer, the half-dead flowering tree had bloomed magnificently across half the wall in this late spring.
Such flowers couldn’t just be for looking at. These past days, Shen Shaoguang had preserved some in honey, some in sugar, made wisteria cakes by wrapping them in sanhe flour, mixed the juice with glutinous rice flour to make wisteria rice cakes, brewed wisteria tea, cooked wisteria porridge, and even wrapped some in the meat filling for dumplings. But after trying everything, Shen Shaoguang found that simply frying them was the most delicious.
Shen Shaoguang picked several fresh clusters of wisteria flowers, and without ceremony also grabbed a handful of tender mulberry leaves that had grown over the wall from the neighbor’s yard. She returned and washed them all clean. The wisteria flowers were battered in an egg and milk coating with flour and fried, while the tender mulberry leaves were battered in a salted egg flour coating and fried. Both were fried until crispy, then lifted out to drain oil and plated – sugar was sprinkled on the wisteria while the fried mulberry leaves were served with a small dish of pepper salt.
She also added three or four types of pastries made by Yu San to fill out the plate – pea cakes, green rice balls, hawthorn cakes, and snowflake cakes. Since it wasn’t a proper meal time, she prepared a bowl of kudzu starch drink and brought everything out on a large tray.
“Please try some wisteria fish to bid farewell to spring, Young Lord,” Shen Shaoguang said with a smile. Once the wisteria bloomed, summer was nearly here.
The fried wisteria flowers were golden on the outside while showing some purple from within, and being fried in whole clusters, they really did resemble fish.
Lin Yan picked up a piece of wisteria fish to eat, and after finishing praised: “It’s very fragrant and sweet.”
Shen Shaoguang then said, “Young Lord, please try these mulberry leaf cakes. You care about mulberry cultivation every day, but probably haven’t personally tasted these before.” Hopefully, he wouldn’t consider these as silkworm food and refuse to eat them.
Lin Yan’s chopsticks paused, and he looked up to meet Shen Shaoguang’s somewhat mischievous gaze. He looked away, casually picked up a piece of fried mulberry leaf, dipped it in the pepper salt beside it, and slowly chewed.
“This is quite good too,” he said after finishing.
Shen Shaoguang nodded, alright, he’s quite down-to-earth, and now Young Lord Lin seemed to have developed the excellent habit of giving praise while eating.
What a good habit indeed!
Although the praise level stayed at “quite good” – that compliment by the Qu River on the Third Day of the Third Month was probably unprecedented and unrepeatable – Shen Shaoguang was quite satisfied. She felt that getting even a “quite good” from this Young Lord in the capital was no easy feat. Most importantly, these “quite good” comments were always followed by generous tips!
Shen Shaoguang smiled and said, “Please enjoy, Young Lord Lin.” Then she turned back to check on A Yuan’s chicken selection.
Seeing A Yuan about to feed them millet directly, Shen Shaoguang stopped her, “Let them drink water first, then try feeding them some wet millet flour.”
A Yuan was skeptical since the grain shop ladies always fed millet directly, but trusting her mistress, she went to the kitchen to mix some wet millet flour on a plate and put it in the wooden box.
“Put a bowl upside down in the water dish, so the chicks don’t fall in and catch cold from taking a bath,” Shen Shaoguang directed further.
A Yuan nodded at her mistress’s thoughtfulness and immediately placed a bowl as instructed.
“Consider the chicks’ appetite, don’t put too much food at once. As the weather gets warmer, it can spoil easily and give them stomach trouble.”
“In a couple of days, add some finely chopped grass and vegetable leaves.”
Shen Shaoguang had raised chickens on her balcony when she was young, but only half-heartedly. They died before they could become biological weapons contaminating the indoor air, let alone reach the point of being ready for slaughter and eating. But this didn’t stop her from giving instructions.
A Yuan would never question her mistress’s orders and nodded in agreement to everything. Yu San, listening from the inner room, snorted laughter.
Under the paper windows of the tile-roofed house, enjoying the gentle breeze while facing a table full of beautiful spring tea treats, but hearing constant “cheep cheep cheep” and Young Miss Shen’s “chicken raising manual”, Lin Yan couldn’t help but smile. Whether it was melancholy about spring’s departure, or chicken feed and upturned bowls in water dishes, ah, Young Miss Shen…
“When they get bigger, they can be let out in the pen, but the fence needs to be woven tightly, otherwise they might escape and ruin the vegetable garden.”
“If there are insects in the vegetable garden, wouldn’t it be good for them to catch and eat them?”
“The chickens might do more damage than the insects. Oh right, remind me to thin out the mallow seedlings, and we need to set up supports for the cucumbers in advance.”
“Young Miss, the grapevine you transplanted has new leaves. Will we have grapes to eat this year?”
“That’s impossible, it’ll take two or three years at least, I think.”
“Two or three years is worth waiting for.”
“Adding sugar to grapes, you can make wine. Although I’ve never made it, if we get a lot of grapes then, we could try. Meat cooked in grape wine is delicious.”
Listening to the mistress and servant chatting endlessly about trivial matters, glancing at the “Mountain Village Tavern” painting hanging on the wall, Lin Yan took a sip of kudzu drink, finding some meaning in Meng Xiangyang’s “discussing farming over wine.”
“Young Miss Shen!” Ward runners Liu Jin and Wang Qing entered.
Shen Shaoguang went to meet them.
“Young Miss’s household registration-” Liu Jin caught sight of Lin Yan sitting by the window and hurriedly pulled Wang Qing forward to pay their respects.
“What brings you two here?”
“Reporting to the Young Lord, we’ve brought Young Miss Shen’s household registration booklet,” Liu Jin reported respectfully.
“Young Miss just bought these two properties, perfect timing to register the households,” Wang Qing explained with a simple smile.
Liu Jin glanced at his companion – he didn’t even know how to curry favor. How could Young Lord Lin not know about Young Miss Shen buying houses? It seems my previous guess wasn’t wrong – that Guard Liu was acting on his master’s behalf, and it was this Young Lord who had connections with Young Miss Shen.
Lin Yan looked at Shen Shaoguang, truly not expecting her to establish residence in the capital so quickly. Although household registration would go through the Capital Prefecture, why would the Young Lord need to personally stamp each one? There were dedicated clerks for that. Lin Yan couldn’t help but think back to meeting her at the palace gates that day.
Liu Jin glanced up, then quickly looked away again. Tsk tsk, these exchanged looks – the Young Lord was in deep!
Seeing the conversation between their superior and subordinate many many levels below him had concluded, Shen Shaoguang thanked the two ward runners and received her household registration booklet. She had wanted to invite them to stay for lunch at the tavern, but with Young Lord Lin present, they probably wouldn’t dare, so she could only extend a polite invitation for another day.
Liu Jin repeatedly said “We wouldn’t dare” and told Shen Shaoguang not to stand in the ceremony.
Liu and Wang paid their respects to Lin Yan before leaving, then politely and properly bid farewell to Shen Shaoguang, even greeting A Yuan who was tending to the chicks at the entrance before departing from Shen’s tavern.
Shen Shaoguang remarked that the quality of capital’s basic-level civil servants was truly excellent, and leadership was managed well. If flattery was needed, naturally it should be credited to this Young Lord, but in fact, the two ward runners had probably been in their positions much longer than this Young Lord – officials changed frequently in the capital!
Shen Shaoguang sincerely hoped Young Lord Lin could stay in this position longer. Though he had a poker face, he was a good person. If he could complete this term, it would show the Emperor’s approval, and being so young, if he were promoted further, perhaps he could become Prime Minister in the future.
While Shen Shaoguang was concerned about Lin Yan’s official career, Lin Yan was wondering whether he should give Young Miss Shen a housewarming gift, then surprised himself at having such a thought – they were merely familiar shop owners and customers after all.
Shen Shaoguang turned her head to see Lin Yan slightly furrowing his brow in thought. Hey, high positions aren’t all good – look, even eating isn’t peaceful. Who knows if he’s pondering state affairs or political factions? We common folk in hemp clothes eating simple meals don’t have such worries.
But Shen Shaoguang thought again – no, I want to be a commoner wearing silk, eating roasted meat, with a villa on Mount Zhongnan, and preferably a mansion in the city too.
When Young Lord Lin finished eating and was about to leave, Shen Shaoguang gave him a small jar of honey-preserved wisteria flowers: “The Lady is getting on in years, so it’s best not to eat too much oily food. She can drink this with water, or have the kitchen make it into pastries – at least it’s something seasonal and fresh.”
That same day, Shen Shaoguang received Lady Jiang’s return gift – a Xuanzhou tapestry, seven or eight chi long and over three chi wide, depicting a spring scene from Jiangnan with apricot blossoms in misty rain and a cowherd, bordered with elegant brown Su brocade, looking like an antique piece.
In the palace, Shen Shaoguang had seen larger Xuanzhou tapestries with peony patterns, more magnificent but not as elegant as this one.
Looking at the cowherd in the tapestry, then at the child she had painted in front of the village tavern – you know what, they did look somewhat similar.
Lady Jiang, no, Young Lord Lin’s return gift was a bit too generous…