After trying Shen Miao’s baked buns, she had completely abandoned her previous vow to follow the strict dietary practices of the monks at Daxiangguo Temple, who abstained from food after noon and refused to eat snacks or drink flavored beverages.
She had been determined to stick to this practice, but after tasting Shen Miao’s baked buns, she had broken her vow and couldn’t stop indulging.
Today it was a box of egg yolk pastries, tomorrow a plate of cricket cakes.
She had completely forgotten her earlier declarations.
As a result, the person in the Xie household who consumed the most egg yolk pastries and cricket cakes wasn’t Yanshu, but the Eleventh Sister.
So, when Ninth Brother insisted on going out despite his injured leg, she had eagerly sent her maid to remind him to bring back some delicious snacks.
Anything new and tasty would do.
Xie Qi also remembered his sister’s eager anticipation.
If he returned empty-handed, she would surely complain for days.
So he turned to Shen Miao, “I almost forgot. Shen Miao, do you have any baked buns or other pastries left?”
“I did make some, but the baked buns sold out early this morning,”
Shen Miao thought for a moment and shook her head,
“It’s probably too late to make more now.”
Xie Qi had guessed as much.
Shen Miao’s cooking was so good that even when she had a street stall, her food never went unsold.
Now that she had a shop, it was even more popular.
He nodded regretfully, “Then we won’t trouble you.”
Just as they were about to leave, two children, barely taller than the table, walked in hand in hand.
They were about four years old, with identical topknots, one wearing a sapphire-blue shirt and the other a crimson-red shirt.
Around their necks hung small silver locks that jingled as they clumsily stepped over the threshold.
They called out in their childish voices, “Sister Shen!”
Shen Miao recognized them.
They were the twins from the Gu family, who lived behind the water house and ran an oil shop.
The children were still young and hadn’t been given formal names yet.
The chubbier one was called Abao, the older sister, and the thinner one was called Adi, the younger brother.
They were well-known in the alley-everyone recognized them.
Their birth had caused quite a stir in the alley, as they were the first pair of twins born safely in Willow East Alley in decades, and they were even a boy and girl.
Since then, whenever there was a wedding in the alley, the couple would often borrow these two to serve as lantern bearers or bed rollers.
When Shen Miao had married Rong Dalang, these two had just learned to walk and were led by their parents to carry the lanterns for her.
Shen Miao bent down to talk to them, “What brings you two here? Where are your parents?”
They had brought a large ceramic bowl, and Adi held it up to Shen Miao,
“Sister Xiang said you have noodles that can be eaten just by pouring hot water over them. Mother sent us to buy a bowl to see if it’s really that amazing.”
Abao took out a handful of oily coins and said crisply, “Sister Shen, we brought money!”
Even Sister Xiang was advertising among her friends?
Shen Miao was both amused and exasperated.
She took the bowl and the money, “Alright, wait a moment.”
She then turned to Xie Qi, “Ninth Brother, wait a bit. I’ll pack the noodles for them, and then Yanshu and I will help you out. The threshold in my shop is a bit high to keep out rats, so be careful not to trip with your injured leg.”
Xie Qi instinctively wanted to say it wasn’t necessary, but for some reason, he felt a strange, soft itch in his heart, and his feet seemed glued to the ground, unable to move.
Shen Miao placed a fried noodle cake in the ceramic bowl, added a piece of pre-prepared broth, and tossed in some vegetable scraps and a marinated egg.
In no time, she lifted the curtain and came out, bending down to hand the bowl to the children,
“Take this home, pour boiling water over it, and cover it with a plate or a large bowl. Can you count? Slowly count to two hundred, then uncover it. Once the noodles have absorbed the water and softened, give it a stir, and it’s ready to eat.”
Abao listened carefully, then nodded and curtsied to Shen Miao,
“Thank you, Sister Shen. We’ll be going now.”
Adi imitated his sister’s curtsy, but Abao corrected him,
“That’s a girl’s curtsy! You’re supposed to clasp your hands. You forgot again!”
Adi stuck out his tongue, then clasped his hands and bowed before running after his sister.
“Be careful! Don’t run, or you’ll spill it!” Shen Miao watched as they chased each other out of the shop and into the alley, worried about the noodles in their bowl.
Thankfully, it was dry noodles.
Xie Qi was distracted by Shen Miao’s offer to help him out, but Yanshu’s eyes lit up as he saw the noodles in the children’s bowl.
He had caught a whiff of the aroma!
The noodles that could be ready just by pouring hot water smelled amazing!
He leaned in and asked eagerly,
“Sister Shen, what kind of noodles are those? How did you make them so quickly?”
Shen Miao explained, “It’s a specialty of my shop-instant fried noodles. You just pour boiling water over them, and they’re ready to eat. It’s very convenient. Have you and Ninth Brother tried them yet? Would you like some?”
Yanshu was very tempted.
He glanced at Xie Qi, who was standing there like a wooden statue, seemingly lost in thought.
Yanshu grew impatient and tugged at Xie Qi’s sleeve,
“Ninth Brother, Ninth Brother, let’s buy some instant noodles too! We can bring some back for Eleventh Sister-she’s probably never had them before! And when you’re studying late at night, I can just boil some water and make them for you. It’s so convenient!”
“We won’t have to wake up Fang the cook anymore. Last time, he was so sleepy while making midnight snacks that he almost burned his eyebrows off.”
Xie Qi snapped out of his daze and nodded repeatedly, “Alright, let’s buy some. We haven’t paid yet anyway.”
He hadn’t really heard what Yanshu said, but he was afraid of appearing too flustered in front of Shen Miao.
Whenever they went out, Yanshu was in charge of his master’s money pouch.
So he confidently held out both hands, counting on his fingers,
“Ninth Brother and I will each have a bowl, and we won’t leave any for Qiuhao. Eleventh Sister and her maid Juyi will each have a bowl, Madam and Xima will each have a bowl, Third Brother… is Third Brother even home today?”
“Well, let’s include him and Mochi too, and then there’s Father and Grandmother… Sister Shen, we’ll take fourteen bowls!”
So many?
Shen Miao was momentarily stunned before slapping her thigh and running to the kitchen,
“Wait, let me check how many noodle cakes are left. I think I only fried seventy this morning.”
She opened the cupboard and counted.
Fortunately, there were still fifteen left.
She hadn’t expected the instant noodles to sell so quickly!
By evening, they’d be out of stock, so she’d have to fry another batch.
She still had the oil for frying the noodles saved up.
In the pot, the oil had settled, but it couldn’t be fried again.
Once Xie Qi left, she planned to clean up and start a new batch of frying.
Generally, Shen Miao would reuse the oil after frying.
Fried oil isn’t inedible; if it’s only been used once, the oil remains clear, with just a small amount of residue at the bottom, so she only needed to discard the murky part with the sediment.
However, leftover oil from frying is more prone to rancidity, so it’s best not to use it for high-temperature cooking.
Shen Miao typically used it for making dumplings or buns, or when kneading dough for steamed buns, sometimes needing to grease the dough with this leftover oil.
It could also be used for dressing cold dishes or for sautéing before stir-frying.
Although frying pancakes requires quite a bit of oil, since she often made dough and buns, it wasn’t too wasteful to reuse it.
Of course, Xie Qi didn’t bring a bowl when he left.
Shen Miao thought for a moment and cut a large piece of oil paper, wrapping the pancakes, sauce blocks, vegetable packets, and braised eggs separately.
Finally, she found a large wicker basket and packed all fourteen pancakes and their accompaniments inside.
A basket isn’t worth much; Jiu Ge’er and Yan Shu could be considered her benefactors, so it was no trouble to give it away.
Shen Miao was quite bold in her approach; for most people who wanted takeout, she would tie it up with a piece of hemp rope.
Right!
Instant noodles can be taken away!
How could she have forgotten such a great business opportunity!
Shen Miao had a flash of inspiration and hurried to Ji Ge’er’s room to find his writing supplies.
When she came out with the basket, her eyes sparkled, and she slightly tilted her head to Xie Qi, saying,
“Jiu Ge’er, could you please help me draw a quick guide for making instant noodles? I want to put it up in the shop, so if someone buys it, they can follow the instructions without me having to explain it all.”
Such a simple request, of course, Xie Qi had no reason to refuse.
So Shen Miao dictated how to pour water, add the seasoning packet, pour water again, cover it…
He took the brush, pondered for a moment, and began to draw.
Before long, he had produced several illustrations.
Shen Miao discovered that not only was Xie Qi’s handwriting beautiful, but his drawings were also vivid:
The first illustration showed two hands unwrapping the dry noodle pancake from the oil paper, the second showed two hands placing the dry noodle pancake into a bowl, the third depicted two hands adding the sauce, the fourth illustrated one hand pouring water from a kettle into the noodle bowl, with steam rising; the fifth showed a flat plate covering the bowl, and the sixth featured a young woman lifting the lid to eat the noodles.
As she reached the end, Shen Miao suddenly felt that the young woman depicted in Xie Qi’s sketches bore a slight resemblance to herself, and she smiled knowingly.
These were her noodles, and Jiu Ge’er had drawn her eating them.
After finishing, Shen Miao asked him to label each small drawing with brief annotations, such as
“1. Place the dry noodle pancake,”
“2. Pour boiling water,” and so on.
Although most people couldn’t read, Shen Miao still preferred to write it out.
She then used glue to stick this “instant noodle tutorial” on the empty wall.
Some people couldn’t read, while others could; in this era where illiteracy was prevalent, those who couldn’t read would instinctively look at the pictures on the wall, while those who could read would definitely feel a greater sense of recognition towards a place with written words.
It was just like when she opened a private dining restaurant in her previous life; she had intentionally used paintings by the same artist for the decor, which attracted diners who loved that artist’s work to come back often, sometimes bringing friends along.
Yan Shu was also thrilled.
Before they started drawing, he had taken the wicker basket that Shen Miao was carrying on her arm.
Later, while Shen Miao and Xie Qi were drawing side by side, he squatted there, inhaling the aroma of the fried soup pancakes, looking utterly enchanted.
This must be delicious!
Even before boiling, it already smelled amazing.
Yan Shu even discovered some fallen pancake crumbs in the basket, picked up a small pinch with his fingers, and popped it into his mouth.
It was crispy and made a sound, carrying a natural wheat fragrance and saltiness, perfectly fried.
It seemed that even without soaking, it was delicious.
Yan Shu held the basket, swaying his head in delight.
Meanwhile, Shen Miao and Xie Qi had also finished their work.
The two of them looked up at the illustrations of the soup pancake preparation on the wall.
Xie Qi instinctively smiled at the young woman in the last drawing, while Shen Miao thought to herself that being tall was great; she could just reach up to stick it without needing a stool.
His eyesight was also good; he hadn’t stuck it crookedly, it was just right!
“Sorry to trouble you again, Jiu Ge’er, thank you so much! It seems like every time I run into you, I have to thank you, but I truly appreciate it.”
Shen Miao tilted her head and smiled at him, revealing her small tiger teeth said,