Chapter 366 New Year’s Eve Treats (2)

Zhao Mengzhuo's gaze was so obvious that Ji Caimai couldn't pretend not to see it. He grabbed some sweet and spicy dried fish in an oil paper bag and handed it to Zhao Mengzhuo.

He saw this dried fish, which was much smaller than his little finger, when he passed by the market a few months ago. He thought it was really cheap at the time, so he bought a lot of it despite the hawker's persuasion.

But I regretted it after buying it. What can you do with this dried fish? Apart from going back to feed his cat, I really can't think of any other use.

But when Master Wen saw the dried fish, his eyes lit up, and he couldn't help but sell the dried fish in his hand, and then... He didn't see the dried fish for several months after that, until today.

Sure enough, nothing tastes bad in Master Wen's hands.

Watching Master Wen fry the soaked dried fish until crispy and dry, then stir-fry the dried fish with pepper, ginger, garlic, sugar, wine, soy sauce, etc., and sprinkle with cooked white sesame seeds before serving. Stir fry again and it comes out of the pot.

I have to say that the dried fish I thought I fed to my cat immediately changed after being stir-fried like this. The smell of fresh fish mixed with the aroma of sweet and spicy sauce and sesame is really alluring.

Although Master Wen said that it would taste better if it was eaten cold, they couldn't stand the alluring aroma, so several people couldn't help but stretched out their chopsticks and tasted the dried fish that no one wanted at first.

Although it has the fresh taste of fish, the texture of dried fish is completely different from the tenderness of fish meat. The sun-dried and crispy dried fish has a chewy texture. As you chew it, the sweet and spicy sauce and the aroma of cooked white sesame become more and more fragrant. It is almost addictive.

After tasting it, since there were still important things at hand, the snack maker was making snacks and the snack maker was taking orders, so the dried fish was put aside to cool down for the time being.

Mature thought, the dried fish was now cold, but they had not finished what they were doing. Before they had time to taste the cooled dried fish, Zhao Mengzhuo was summoned.

After receiving the dried fish from Ji Caimai, Zhao Mengzhuo only had time to put it to his nose and smell it. Before he could take his mouthful, a guard came in from outside looking for him.

Although he was in a hurry to celebrate the New Year, there were still a lot of trivial matters in the yamen. Zhao Mengzhuo had no choice but to put the bag of dried fish that he didn't know how to taste into his sleeve pocket and left with the servant.

When Ji Caimai saw this, he grabbed another handful with oil paper and stuffed it into his mouth. After he finished eating and swallowed it, he said, "Fortunately, Mr. Zhao has not tasted it, otherwise...the taste of this sweet and spicy dried fish is very good, but the quantity is... Not much, just enough for me to have a taste."

Watching Ji Cai buy it and taste it, Ah Bing and the glutinous rice balls in the compartment were not far behind. They all reached out to grab the dried fish that had been left to cool down. As expected, it had cooled down compared to when it was hot, and the crispy and dry texture was stronger. More delicious.

A few people gave each other a handful and quickly divided up the dried fish. After licking his lips, Ji Cai was still interested in buying and said: "Next time I see these kinds of dried fish for sale at the market, I will buy them all and share them with Master Wen." Make this sweet and spicy dried fish!”

After eating the dried fish, he picked up the fishnet and was about to continue frying the glutinous rice balls with crab apples. He suddenly said "Eh" and asked, "Will Bai Sicheng and Liu Sicheng come back today after leaving yesterday?"

Her father, Yuan, is their coachman. If these two people don't come back, her father won't come back either.

That group of people left yesterday after noon and half past noon. If there were no big delays on the way, they would definitely be able to reach Xianyang before the city gates closed. In this way... After sleeping all night, I will be busy all day today, and I will be back tomorrow at the latest. If you work quickly, you can be back today if you only slept for half the night yesterday.

Wen Mingtang said "hmm", looked at the glutinous rice dumplings in his hands that had stopped, took the sieves from the glutinous rice balls' hands, put the prepared crabapple cakes into the sieves, and carefully sank the sieves into the oil pan.

Pastries such as crabapple cakes and lotus cakes require low-temperature frying, which is a delicate job and obviously not suitable for the absent-minded glutinous rice balls at the moment.

There is nothing wrong with a daughter worrying about her father, not to mention... looking at Tangyuan with a clearly worried look on her face, this girl's eyelids have been twitching since morning and she feels a little uneasy.

There is a folk saying that "the left eye jumps to wealth, the right eye jumps to misfortune." Wen Mingtang doesn't know if this saying has any origin, but in the past, when Lao Yuan followed those officials to the scene of a murder, even if the other party was a very vicious person, Tangyuan would never be so distracted. . So, he patted Tang Yuan on the shoulder and brought a bowl of hot milk and glutinous rice balls.

Tangyuan sat down next to Ah Bing, who was watching the fire behind the stove, and drank a bowl of hot milk. I don't know whether it was the warmth of the stove or the milk, or maybe Ah Bing leaning next to her made her feel at ease. Tangyuan, who rarely took a nap, actually fell asleep leaning against Ah Bing.

The afternoon snacks are no longer served today, and there are no ingredients on the table. It is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

Therefore, no one came in to disturb the entire public kitchen all afternoon.

Concentration naturally makes things faster. In one afternoon, Wen Mingtang was almost done with the pastries that needed to be fried in oil.

She was making pastries quite smoothly on this side, but the glutinous rice balls that were resting on Ah Bing's knees during the nap seemed a little uneasy and kept tossing and turning.

When the time was approaching, Wen Mingtang looked at A Bing sitting behind the stove hole.

Ah Bing nodded towards her, knowing that it was time to cook the evening meal, so he gestured to her. When he was about to reach out to pat the glutinous rice balls, he saw Ah Bing on the other side suddenly screamed "Ah" and sat down. stand up.

This reaction really startled the two of them. When they came back to their senses and were about to look at Tangyuan, they saw Tangyuan looking at the two of them with red eyes. When they met their eyes, they suddenly said, " "Teng" stood up and said: "I...I want to go see my dad!"

Such a meaningless sentence really made the two of them stunned.

Wen Mingtang reacted first, thinking about her restless behavior this afternoon, and hurriedly asked Tangyuan: "But you had a nightmare?"

Tang Yuan nodded, and when Wen Mingtang asked what the nightmare was about, he refused to tell him. He could only keep mumbling, tears falling down: "I... I want to go see my dad!"

If Lao Yuan was in Chang'an City, she would just take a look. There were not many people eating in the past few days, and she had prepared all the dishes early, so she could cook them alone.

But Lao Yuan is not in Chang'an right now, but in Xianyang...

Wen Mingtang was also a little worried. At this moment, A Bing looked at Tang Yuan who was weeping and couldn't help but said: "Master Wen, can Tang Yuan and I take a leave of absence?"

While he was talking, the movement here attracted the attention of Ji Caimai, who was settling accounts. He walked over, heard the words, and after a moment of hesitation, he immediately asked Wen Mingtang: "Can Master Wen cook the evening meal by himself?"

Wen Mingtang nodded and understood what Ji Caimai meant. He thought about it and said, "If there is a carriage and an experienced driver, we can send the two children to Xianyang!"

It's Shenshi now, and Bai Zhu and Liu Yuan left yesterday only half an hour earlier than now. There are so many people returning home during the New Year that Xianyang and other places deliberately delay the closing of city gates for an hour. If the road goes smoothly, it will not be too late.

After hearing this, Ji Caimai nodded and said, "My second nephew has just returned from a foreign country in the past few days. Although he is young, he is an experienced driver. He has time to take the two children for a trip, but Bing's family needs to send someone to tell them."

Hearing this, Wen Mingtang immediately said, "When Zhao You comes to pick up food later, I'll just ask him to go there."

So...it was finalized. After saying hello to Wen Mingtang, Ji Caimai took Ah Bing and the glutinous rice balls out of the public kitchen.