Chapter 12: 012 Xiaolongbao and Shaomai

Chapter 12: 012 Xiaolongbao and Shaomai

Cheng Yingzhen asked, "How did she scare her?"

"Last time at the public housing, Prince Jin was punished by the Emperor. If she doesn't keep a low profile and causes more trouble, do you think the Emperor will let Prince Jin off the hook?"

To demand the return of an old servant and actually alarm the Emperor? That was too inconceivable!

Cheng Yingzhen shook her head in disbelief. "How is that possible?"

"Whether it's possible or not doesn't matter. Regardless, Mother Dong is back, isn't she?" Regardless of whether it was the skill with fried dough sticks or Mother Dong herself, Old Lady Xu wouldn't be making any more moves against them for the time being. As for whether she would try again in the future, that was a matter for another day.

Cheng Yingzhen remained skeptical....

Su Ruojin gave Mother Dong a look, and she immediately understood. She hurried forward to help her mistress lie down. "Madam, it is late. Please rest." Once she had helped her lie down, she straightened the corners of the quilt and tucked in the blankets at the feet.

"Mother, goodnight."

Su Ruojin led Mother Dong, and the two of them left the master bedroom together.

Cheng Yingzhen turned her head to watch them leave, feeling that her current life was somewhat surreal. Because of this house, she had dealt with Old Lady Xu for nearly two years; she knew better than anyone what kind of person she was—a stubborn, shameless rogue. How could a six-year-old daughter successfully demand Mother Dong back from her?

She simply couldn't believe it, but as soon as Mother Dong and her daughter disappeared from her sight, she had to believe it. But... whether it was her former family's Count's estate or her current eighth-rank husband, the Emperor was always far away from her. How could she have brought back an old servant!

It wasn't until Su Yanli returned from his sons' room and crawled into bed that Cheng Yingzhen finally understood. "Husband, do you think what A-jin said is true?"

Su Yanli was a man and a Doctor at the Imperial Academy; he understood what his wife did not. "Your daughter is merely using the wind to scare the ghosts."

Cheng Yingzhen understood even less and looked to her husband for an explanation.

Su Yanli smiled slightly, reached out to pull his wife into his arms, and closed his eyes. "Your daughter is a clever little thing."

Fully embraced by her husband, Cheng Yingzhen listened to the whistling cold wind outside the window, while inside, the man's embrace was as warm as spring. It was truly reassuring! As drowsiness set in, she couldn't help but grumble, "Why is it always one ghost after another..."

With no longer having to worry about their livelihood and with Mother Dong's return, the Su family's life was visibly improving, and everyone felt more relaxed. Su Yanli gently patted his wife. "Sleep."

With Mother Dong back and a fixed stall, it wouldn't do to just add tea eggs; Su Ruojin was about to introduce something new.

"Uncle Shutong, tomorrow morning after you pack up the stall, go and buy two small steamers, but make sure they have extra layers."

Shutong asked excitedly, "Steam what?"

Over the past few days, customers had been asking if there were any new varieties, mentioning in passing that they were tired of fried dough sticks and soy milk and wanted to buy breakfast from other stalls.

"Xiaolongbao and Shaomai."

Shutong had never heard of either.

"You've heard of mantou, right?"

Shutong remembered the ones the second daughter had made. "Smaller mantou?"

"Close... enough!" Su Ruojin was about to say they were different, but suddenly realized that since she was only six years old, why would she know such things? She quickly changed her tune.

Shutong didn't notice the little mistress's guilty expression; he was thinking, "Then what is the difference?"

"It's like this: last time when I was making pig trotter soup for Mother, the pork skin boiled until it was very soft. I placed it on the windowsill, and by the next day, it had frozen solid. When I was making mantou filling in the morning, I used some of it mixed with lean meat. When it was steamed and ready, I took a bite and found there was actually soup inside. It was delicious."

In the afternoon, the warm winter sun felt very pleasant on the skin.

Cheng Yingzhen had also come out to soak up some sun and happened to hear her daughter discussing adding new items to the breakfast stall with Shutong. Hearing about mantou with soup, she smiled and confirmed her daughter's words. "A-jin is right. That day, I ate three in one go."

Su Ruojin thought to herself with a smile: *Three is nothing. If you want to eat your fill, you'd need at least a whole steamer.*

Since both the Madam and the second daughter said they were delicious, they must be. Shutong asked again, "Then what is Shaomai? Burning wheat?"

*Uh... Uncle Shutong's thinking is quite literal. If words could be explained that way, there would be no complex matters in this world.*

"Didn't we have some leftover glutinous rice at home during the Dragon Boat Festival? But since there were no bamboo leaves, I had a sudden idea to wrap the glutinous rice in dough skins. But zongzi are boiled in water, and dough skins would turn mushy in water. So, what if they were steamed? I didn't expect my experiment to work."

Su Ruojin thought to herself, *Heavens, will I face retribution for lying like this?* In a deserted place, she repeatedly bowed toward the sky. This wasn't harming people; this was promoting delicious food so more people could enjoy it. It was a good deed, surely the Heavens wouldn't blame her.

Su Dalang said thoughtfully, "A-jin, was it about two months ago, during a festival midday, when Mother said she was hungry, and you found two small handfuls of glutinous rice, boiled them, and mixed them with soy sauce to make something that looked like a pomegranate?"

Su Ruojin smiled. "Yes, and Brother helped me stoke the fire."

"It clearly looked like a pomegranate, so why did you call it Shaomai?" Su Dalang expressed his confusion.

*Uh... this... I'm going to die.* Su Ruojin didn't know why Shaomai was called that either, and she really couldn't make up a lie. What should she do?

Just as Su Ruojin was racking her brains for a lie, Shutong pouted aggrievedly. "Why didn't I get to eat any?"

Su Ruojin quickly changed the subject. "I'm sorry, Uncle Shutong. We only found two small handfuls of rice and only made a few. We couldn't help ourselves and ate them all."

"Even the adults didn't eat any?"

"Mm-hmm," she nodded like a little chick pecking at grain.

She stole a glance at Su Dalang. That day, they had made eight pieces of Shaomai in total. Mother ate three, Su Dalang and Su Ruojin had two each, and since Su Sanlang was young and glutinous rice was hard to digest, he was only given one.

Originally, Su Dalang only wanted to eat one, saying he would save the other for Father, but he ended up "accidentally" eating it.

Since Shutong said he hadn't eaten any, Su Dalang felt embarrassed by his own greed.

The name "Shaomai" was finally diverted. Su Ruojin breathed a secret sigh of relief. It seemed that in the future, if she wanted to introduce a new food, she would have to plan out the explanation thoroughly first!

Since even the adults hadn't tasted this delicacy, Shutong no longer felt regretful. "How about you teach us how to make it while we make some to eat now?"

"Of course, no problem."

With delicious food and the chance to make money, everyone's enthusiasm was high. Even three-year-old Su Sanlang wanted to help scoop the flour for mixing.

Seeing that her mother had been out in the sun for quite a while, Su Ruojin quickly invited her into the bedroom. While everyone rushed to the kitchen, she whispered, "Mother, these two foods should still be presented as your recipes to the outside world. If anyone asks too many questions, just say you created them for the children, okay?"

Cheng Yingzhen nodded. "Mother understands."

First, she couldn't say they were brought from her maiden home. Although the breakfast stall only earned a few dozen taels, Cheng Yingzhen knew that the illegitimate sons of the Count's estate did not have easy lives. If they heard the recipe was related to the Count's estate, they might try to seize it. It absolutely could not be linked to her family.

Second, she couldn't say it was a recipe her daughter came up with. These were things that clearly required a master chef to create; her daughter was only six. People would think she was a monster... Cheng Yingzhen didn't dare think further.

*Why is it called Shaomai?*

*Even Bing He doesn't know!* (Covering mouth to giggle, welcome to leave comments in the comment section!)

*Mwah, waiting for you!*

(End of Chapter)