Meng was surprised.
There were salted duck eggs sold in the capital, and the kitchen staff had bought them a few times, cutting them up and putting them on the table, but the yolks looked so astringent that they did not whet the appetite.
She couldn’t help but say, “Let me taste it.”
Meng carefully plucked out a bit of the egg yolk and put it into her mouth, fresh, tender and fluffy, with a delicate graininess.
Meng couldn’t hide her surprise and plucked out another small piece to eat.
Sister Wu couldn’t help but smile as she watched. Even if Miss Sun’s cooking was good, she would only have a superficial taste, and had never been so eager to eat.
Song Wan Yue instructed Sister Wu to fish out the remaining few, “Give Grand Great Grandfather and Steward Jin a taste as well.”
Sister Wu answered, walked quickly into the house, fished out a few, ran them through the cold water and then asked the maid to send them over, just as she was about to say something, the boy watching the door came to the courtyard door, “Miss Sun, Xu Laosan’s family is here.”
The crowd turned to look and saw that Xu Lao’s daughter-in-law had come carrying a basket, and even though it was covered with a cloth, the hot air was still coming out along the cracks.
“Miss Song, this is the first pot.”
Xu Laosan’s daughter-in-law had a smile on her face and her steps were quick as she quickly walked over to Song Wangyue and lifted the covered cloth, and the tantalising aroma wafted out.
After Song Wangyue went to her that day, she quickly found a mansion and had Xu Laosan find someone to build several stoves as Song Wangyue had instructed, Song Wangyue taught her the method of marinating meat and left the rest alone.
She didn’t hire anyone either and asked Xu Laosan to give him a hand. She bought pork underwater and brined the first pot according to the method Song Wangyue had taught her.
Smelling the fragrance, Meng reached over with her chopsticks without thinking, and put a piece of meat into her mouth.
Seeing that she couldn’t put her chopsticks down, Sister Wu smiled and turned around to go inside to bring out a new pair of chopsticks for Song Wan Yue, who took them, put a piece of meat into her mouth, chewed it carefully and then nodded, “Not bad.”
Xu Laosan’s daughter-in-law’s eyebrows were squeezed together as she smiled.
“The restaurant will open in six days, you should have five pots ready by then, and you can find the manpower yourself, the wages will be twenty wen a day.”
Xu Laosan’s daughter-in-law smiled and answered yes, since Miss Song had put her in charge of this stall, Xu Laosan had become much more practical and didn’t go anywhere every day, just helping out by her side. If she were to offer him twenty yuan a day, he would be able to settle down and not be as out of tune as before.
Xu Laosan’s daughter-in-law put the basket down and left.
Song Wangyue asked her maid to bring some baskets over and put the marinated meat in several baskets, sending one back home so that the family could try it. One was to be sent to the dean. The other was sent to the head constable Zhang. The rest was divided into two portions, one for Sister Wu to take back and one for her to take to the old gentleman’s house.
The old gentleman had just eaten a duck egg and was drinking his tea while reminiscing about the taste, thinking that he must ask someone to prepare a few more in the evening.
A fragrance came in through the doorway, and when the old gentleman looked over, Song Wangyue entered the room with a plate of marinated meat and ordered Xu Liang, “Go and get a jar of wine, and call my father and Steward Jin to come.”
There was wine.
The old gentleman couldn’t help but sit up straight, ever since he had woken up from his poisoning, Song Wangyue had given strict orders to the family that no one was allowed to steal wine for him to drink.
“Freshly cooked marinara.”
Song Wangyue smiled as she carried the plate into the room.
The old gentleman’s eyes fell on the two plates; he had eaten the lo mein before, but he hadn’t felt it smelled this good.
Song Lin and Steward Jin soon arrived.
When he saw the lo mein, Steward Jin’s eyes lit up.
He had been around Qingping County these days, learning about the market price here and positioning the price of roast meat, but at the same time he was a little worried that it was set too low and would not make much profit, and when he saw the brisket, his worries receded by a large margin.
“Come on, come on, sit down, sit down!”
The old man greeted, impatiently gesturing for Xu Liang to pour wine for a few people.
Holding back a smile, Xu Liang opened the altar and poured three jars of wine and placed them in front of the three.
Song Lin hadn’t had a drink for some days, so he didn’t feel anything until he smelled it, but when he did, he wanted to take a sip.
Steward Jin also wanted to drink two or two, but since he came to know that Song Wan Yue did not allow the old man to drink, he did not have the heart to say that he wanted to drink.
When the old gentleman raised his wine, Song Lin and Steward Jin immediately followed him, and without saying anything, they both took a big sip, and the taste of the wine in their throats immediately made their whole bodies feel better.
Song Wangyue looked at them and laughed. After the three of them had put the marinated meat in their mouths, she said, “Six days later is the sixth day of the ninth month, and our restaurant is scheduled to open on that day.”
Steward Jin had long been impatient and nodded, “Yes.”
The old man and Song Lin were also very happy.
“Many people are bound to come then, so Steward Jin will take some trouble.”
Steward Jin responded.
He had long been prepared for this, not to mention the fact that Song Si was the Minister of Household Affairs, so many people would take advantage of the opportunity to curry favour with the Song family, not to mention the fact that there was an old gentleman sitting here, so I was afraid that more people would come to give gifts than to eat on the opening day.
“I only care until the opening day, after that whatever happens you report directly to Grandma, I will not be involved.”
Steward Jin nodded again.
“My father will trouble you to bring him around so that he can learn more from you.”
Song Lin didn’t want to learn, he wanted to go home and work in the workshop and save his mind over there. But this was his daughter’s business, so he couldn’t let his mother-in-law take care of it all the time and said, “Don’t worry, dad will learn properly.”
The old man stole several sips of wine while several people were talking, and as he secretly lifted his wine jug again, Song Wan Yue looked at him, “What does grandfather think of this marinated meat?”
When he was caught stealing a drink, the old gentleman didn’t blush, he simply drank all the wine left in the wine jar and gestured for Xu Liang to pour it for him.
The wrinkles at the corners of his eyes brought a smile to his face, “Delicious! If you don’t put it in a restaurant, if you open a shop to sell it, it will be snapped up.”
Steward Jin and Song Lin nodded their heads.
Song Wangyue took the chopsticks and put some on the plate in front of him, bending her eyebrows, “We’ll have it every day after the restaurant opens.”
Wouldn’t there be wine every day too?
The old man’s eyes lit up and he looked at Song Wangyue with a burning look.
Song Wangyue smiled, as they say, old children, old children, even if Grand Great Grandfather was a famous Confucian, he was still the same, pointing to the wine jar in front of him, “You can only drink this small jar a day.”
It was enough, and the old man laughed heartily.
……
The sixth day of September.
The Song family restaurant was filled with people long before.
They had heard about the opening of the restaurant a few days ago and had come to see what all the fuss was about.
At the beginning of the hour, the doors of the restaurant were opened from the inside and Song Wangyue led Steward Jin and a group of fellows out.