"and you……"
The calico cat stretched its neck again and stared at the spices that the Taoist put on the table. He looked at them again and again: "I bought so many fruits, millet, wheat, and bark and cocoon leaves. Are they used to make that powder again?"
"Some are used to make powder."
"Some~"
"There's some left……"
"There's some left!"
The Taoist showed a look of reminiscence and said to her: "It's almost the Chinese New Year, so I'll cook a pot of braised pork to make it decent."
"Braised pork!"
"We eat braised pork during the Chinese New Year."
"Have you ever eaten braised pork, Sanhua Empress?"
"how could I know?"
"How come you don't know?"
"I am not smart."
"you do not……"
The calico cat couldn't help but froze mid-sentence.
Then he raised his head and stared at him blankly.
At this time, I heard another Taoist say: "It is up to Sanhua Empress herself to know whether she has eaten it or not."
"Ms. Sanhua herself doesn't know."
"Why is that?"
"because……"
The calico cat couldn't help but froze mid-sentence.
Continue to raise your head and stare at him blankly.
"Wow..."
The calico cat quickly shook its head until it became a round shape, its facial features deformed, and then it sat upright and raised its paws to lick, as if what had just happened had been shaken off and had not happened, so it was very calm. He replied to the Taoist again: "I remember Sanhua Empress has never eaten it."
"I probably haven't eaten it before either."
"should!"
"I'll eat it in a few days."
"In a few days!"
"pity……"
Song You couldn't help but think of the short-lived old man again.
In fact, there are early forms of braised vegetables these days.
Perhaps thousands of years ago, Yizhou people began to use salt and Sichuan peppercorns to make brine. Later, Yizhou people appreciated the taste and spiciness, so they came up with the saying of "taofu five flavors". But so far, there has not been a large amount of spices used to make a perfect braised food. When Song You was in Guanzhong, he tried to make it, and it was highly recognized by his own experts. However, firstly, he was trying to figure out the technology at that time, secondly, the spices he bought were not perfect, and thirdly, he lacked such an important spicy seasoning. Material, after all, it makes no sense.
While thinking about it, he took out a small clay pot from the quilt bag. It was originally a clay pot for tea, which could ensure dryness and no odor. When he opened it, it was filled with dried chili peppers.
Song You only carefully took out one, cut it open, and took out a seed.
Just when he was about to turn around to get the flower pot, he saw that the calico cat had turned into a little girl at some point. As if knowing his intention, it was already holding the flower pot filled with soil in both hands, raising it high and handing it to him.
"Thank you, Miss Sanhua."
Song You took the flower pot and put it in the window, dug out a shallow hole with his fingers, put the pepper seeds in, and carefully covered it with soil.
When he turned around, the little girl came back with a kettle, still holding it high and handing it to him.
At the same time, he stared at him with a serious face.
"Thank you, Miss Sanhua."
"You're welcome."
The little girl then sat back down.
Then he saw the Taoist pouring water in the flower pot, then returned to the house, put the kettle on, and washed himself and went to bed.
Just like in Changjing two years ago, tonight is also a cold night. The north wind is still howling. The pepper seeds sprout quickly, break through the soil layer, and grow during the night. By midnight, they have grown into a plant and bloomed. The flowers are blown by the night wind. It trembled suddenly, and when it dawned the next morning, it had already produced fruits, but they were not yellow, but red peppers, like small lanterns.
Song You lay on the bed and slept peacefully all night. When he opened his eyes in a daze, he heard the conversation between two little demons coming from the window:
"It seems to be cooked!"
"It's just ripe..."
"Why do you always stand in the tree?"
"Birds... shouldn't birds be in trees?"
"Why are you always so far away from Empress Sanhua?"
"I'm afraid of cats."
"Sanhua Empress doesn't eat monsters! Taoist priests said that eating monsters is the same as eating people. It's not okay!" Sanhua Cat's voice paused, "And we are in the same group. After Sanhua Empress met you, there was no such thing as eating monsters." I’ve eaten swallows, not even birds! I rarely go to the trees to dig out bird eggs and eat them!”
"you……"
"Why are you still afraid?"
"you……"
"You are cowardly!"
"You have eaten swallows before!!"
"Cats themselves want to eat birds. Unless they are stupid cats, they can't catch them. The Sanhua Empress is very powerful." The Sanhua Cat's voice was clear and pleasant, "I didn't know you before, so I will definitely eat the ones I catch. Oh, except Don’t eat the swallows that make their nests on the door of Sanhua Empress’ temple.”
"Aren't you just like humans and don't hurt your own swallows?"
"No." Sanhua Empress said honestly, "I save it for when there is nothing else to eat."
"..."
Although Song You was still lying on the bed, from this angle he couldn't see the scene by the window at all, let alone the little swallow on the tree outside the window, but he could still imagine the scared look on the swallow's face.
He must be shrinking his neck and shivering.
"cough……"
The Taoist cleared his throat and got up.
The conversation by the window also stopped immediately.
Immediately, the Taoist sat up and put on his shoes, and walked into the view of the calico cat. He saw the calico cat standing on the window sill, guarding the pot of chili peppers, but turned his head and stared at him.
When their eyes met, she seemed to have received a signal and said to the Taoist:
"Taoist priest, the peppers you planted are ripe!"
"knew."
The Taoist glanced at them, pursed his lips, said nothing, and just stepped over to check.
The peppers were indeed ripe.
And the knot is pretty good.
It's red bell pepper.
In the past two years, the Taoist has almost fully understood the pepper seeds brought back by Yanxian.
There are several types in total.
One is finger to palm long, dried and fragrant but not spicy, suitable for cooking; one is thin and curved, little finger long, spicy and fragrant; one is like a red lantern, medium spicy and heavy fragrant; one is about the size of a fingernail , like small round beads, spicy but not fragrant; a small topaz lantern, which looks good, but a suitable way to eat it has not yet been developed.
Song You usually likes to eat one or two kinds.
When making braised food, mix a variety of them.
It's better to plant only one plant in one night. If you don't have enough time, you can use magic to make them dry faster, which is really a helpless approach.
"Thank you so much, Miss Sanhua, and thank you so much Yan An."
The Taoist knew that they had kept watch all night and watered it when the soil was dry, so he thanked it, which made the two little demons very happy.
Then he stretched out his hand and scratched the calico cat's forehead, which made her narrow her eyes. Then she went back to the house and got a plate, and put the pot of ripe peppers into it one by one. Then she leaned out the window and looked around, looking for Find a place with plenty of direct sunlight and leave it to dry for a day.
It's a busy job that actually doesn't take much time.
After finishing his work, he went to wash up. When he finished washing up, Sanhua Empress also transformed into a human form and bought steamed buns for breakfast from opposite the inn.
But she was so confused——
She knew that there were cheaper steamed buns for sale, but the steamed buns contained meat. She wanted to save money, but also wanted to feed the Taoist priests meat. She was really in a dilemma. Why couldn't steamed buns with meat be cheaper than steamed buns without meat? ?
Slowly arrived in the afternoon.
The temperature is still very low, but the weather is good. The sky is clear and the sun is so hot that it makes people blind.
There was another noise from the teahouse next door.
Song You went to look at the peppers he was drying and felt that the progress was good. He had no intention of speeding up, so he called Lady Sanhua and went to the teahouse again.
Such a life is really leisurely.
Same thing in the morning——
The Taoist had been idle all morning. He had no practice, no enlightenment, and almost no serious work. He just sat on a small bench at the door of the inn, basking in the winter sun, holding his cat and stroking it, watching the people walking around on the New Year Street in this small town. , empty your mind and let time go by. What can be expected is that this will probably be the case for some time to come.
The past two years have been really busy, busy with exterminating demons, and busy on the road, with little time to rest. The reason why I stopped in this small town now is naturally to rest.
Cultivation also cultivates the mind, rest also cultivates the mind.
The Taoist planned to take more care of the business of the tea house and the storyteller.
But Taoists are not the only ones who want to relax.
There are many people during the Chinese New Year, and the afternoon is the time when the teahouse’s business is at its best. Perhaps the stories told by the storyteller earlier also helped to attract more people. At this moment, the storyteller has just arrived, and almost half of the people are already sitting in the teahouse, and there are also many people standing outside the door.
Song You immediately saw the young man named Xu Qiu'an mixed in the crowd.
The Taoist stopped and couldn't help but smile at him.
"..."
The young man couldn't help feeling embarrassed——
I just said it last night. Although the city is small, it is not easy to meet. He also had a cold face and tried his best to imbue it with a Jianghu air to make him look like a free and easy Jianghu person. In the end, he was the second best. We met again the next afternoon, which was somewhat embarrassing.
The Taoist didn't care and smiled calmly at him:
"Young hero, see you again."
The young man also tried his best to pretend to be calm and composed, and held hands with him: "We meet again, sir."
"Destined."
"It's fate..."
"Yesterday I said that if we meet again, I will thank you for your kindness." Song You smiled at him, then turned to look inside the teahouse, and then said, "There is nothing to thank you for, since it's We met at the door of this teahouse. The young hero is also a person who loves to listen to stories. I drink a pot of tea by myself, and I always have to scatter some. This is not good, so I invite the young hero to sit down in the teahouse and drink a pot of tea together. "
"..."
The young man thought for a while, and then he handed over to him again:
"Then thank you sir!"
So we entered the teahouse together and found a table and chairs to sit down.
Song You still ordered a pot of ordinary tea.
Not daring to be polite, the gentleman on the stage took a sip of tea, spit out some foam, and started to make a sound.
The Taoist turned over the bowl and poured tea while listening.
The young man sat upright, straightened his back, stretched his neck and stared at the storyteller on the stage, his eyes bright.
By the way, I deliberately didn't watch the Taoist pouring tea.
Until the Taoist put a bowl of tea in front of him.
"please."
"oh!"
The young man seemed to have just discovered it.
"Many...thank you very much."
"The last book mentioned that the last part of the Saibei grassland also fled into the depths of the grassland, and there was a great victory in the north. This is my Dayan facing the Saibei royal court. After the victory more than ten years ago, there is another great victory. For thousands of years No one in the past dynasties has ever won such a great victory! However, General Chen, who was camped eight hundred miles away from the border, did not return his troops. Instead, he sent people back to report that he would continue to march to the north of the Great Wall, once and for all!"
There was a bang and a slap on the table.
This is the story told last night.
It's hard for Song You to say whether he listened or not.
It’s true that I didn’t come down to listen again.
However, this teahouse is right next to the inn. The storytellers these days are really capable, their voices are so loud, and the town is so quiet at night that Song You can hear it even in the room. I didn't intentionally listen to people bragging about my ideas, but it was just too noisy, so I lay on the bed until the storyteller in the teahouse took a break before falling asleep.
(End of chapter)
