Baozi Xishi's Struggle

Everyone in the family had already gotten up. Li was washing up when she heard the gate open and saw Shen Yu coming back. Li asked, "Why did you go to the market gate again? I slept so deeply at night that I didn't hear you go out. When I woke up and saw that you were not in the room, I guessed that you went there again."

Shen Yu nodded and said, "I went to the door to see what the guests like to buy. I felt more confident. At the beginning, I have to make some food that the guests like, so that I can make money."

As he said this, he placed the vegetarian cakes he had bought on the small table in the room, wondering whether he should cook some porridge for breakfast. He turned around and saw Yutao carefully carrying a bowl of steaming mixed noodle porridge and placing it on the table, and then went to the kitchen to get the remaining bowls.

After Shen Yu had simply washed up and the porridge had cooled to warm temperature, a plate of finely chopped pickles drizzled with sesame oil was placed in the middle of the table. The family sat around drinking porridge and eating pancakes, while they discussed the division of labor for shopping after dinner.

After dinner, as agreed, Li took Yutao and Yucheng and pushed the cart to Dongmen Street to buy the stuffing and vegetables that had been ordered yesterday. In the morning, vegetable farmers from the suburbs set up stalls on the street, offering a wide variety of vegetables, which were cheap and fresh. The weather was hot, so the meat and vegetables had to be bought and used immediately. In addition, taking them along could help her get familiar with the road, making it convenient to buy things later.

Shen Yu stayed at home to knead the dough. While waiting for it to rise, she went to the street to buy a large water jar.

I had just kneaded the dough and covered it with a cloth to let it rise. I was about to wash my hands and put my clothes on to go out when I heard the door open and someone asked, "Is anyone home?"

Shen Yu agreed and went to open the gate. There were two young women standing at the gate. One of them was someone she knew, the wife of the Qi family who set up a herbal tea stall at the entrance of the market. The other one had a round face and was a little plump. She also had a friendly smile on her face and looked somewhat similar to the landlord Mrs. Liu.

Shen Yu hurriedly smiled and said, "It turns out to be Sister Qi. Come in and sit down."

The Qi family lady smiled and said, "The young lady has indeed moved here. I heard from Mrs. Liu that the house was rented to you that day. I thought that the house needed to be cleaned up before people could live in it. I will come to see you after you move in. I also live in this alley. We are all neighbors. We should take care of each other in the future."

Shen Yu hurriedly took off her apron, dusted off the small stool in the yard, moved it for the two of them to sit on, and poured two bowls of herbal tea that she had brewed and cooled in the morning into the newly bought tea bowls.

Madam Qi introduced Shen Yu: "This is Zheng Sanniang. Sister Liu is her cousin. Sanniang also lives in this alley."

It turned out that Mrs. Liu's maiden name was Zheng, and Shen Yu memorized it in his mind.

Zheng Sanniang was a bit shy, while Qi Niang was more lively. She sat there and looked at the small courtyard, smiling and saying, "It's only been a few days, and the courtyard has been cleaned up so neatly. It's obvious that the girl is capable."

Shen Yu felt a little embarrassed by the compliment, and Madam Qi continued to ask: "I don't know your surname yet, we will live in the same alley from now on, just like a family."

When Shen Yu answered her surname, Madam Qi said straightforwardly, "Then I will call you Miss Shen from now on. Isn't Aunt Shen at home? You are alone at home. If there is anything you don't know how to use, just borrow it from my house or Sanniang's. My house is the second house in this alley, and Sanniang's house is diagonally opposite yours. Sister Liu's family runs a fruit stall, and they are busy setting up the stall all day long, so they are often not at home."

Zheng Sanniang, who was standing by, also echoed, "A distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor. If you need anything, just come to my house and borrow it. I'm always at home."

Shen Yu was very grateful and quickly replied, "Thank you, Sister Qi and Sister Zheng. My nickname is Yuzhi, so you can call me Yuzhi from now on. My mother, brother, and sister are out shopping for food."

When Madam Qi heard this, she knew that she was busy preparing to sell food, so she and Madam Zheng got up and said goodbye.

After seeing the two off, Shen Yu took his purse, closed the door, and went straight to the store where he had bought the stove and kitchenware yesterday. For only eighty cents, he bought two large coarse earthenware jars, which were then pulled back by the shop assistant on a cart.

The guy moved the water jar down and placed it at the kitchen door, then hurriedly pulled the cart away.

Shen Yu laid broken bricks in a corner of the kitchen, looked at the two large vats that had been cleaned with some embarrassment, and held both sides of the vat with his arms, trying to see if he could move it into the kitchen. Then, Li's voice was heard at the gate of the courtyard. It turned out that they had returned from buying ingredients.

Several people pushed the cart with half a cart of food into the yard. Seeing two large water vats placed in the yard, Li asked Shen Yu with some pain: "Yuzhi, one water vat is enough, why did you buy two? One water vat costs a lot of money!"

As Shen Yu took the ingredients they bought to the kitchen, she said, "Mom, the water in one water tank is used to make tea and cook, and the other water tank is filled with well water to chill the prepared fillings and vegetables."

Because there were no refrigerators in that era and it was still July and the weather was hot, Shen Yu thought of the mutton and slaughtered chickens and ducks delivered to the kitchen early in the morning when he was in the restaurant. Chef Lu would ask Xiao Liuzi to clean them up and add seasonings, then put them into special earthenware jars with ears and lids, and then tie them with ropes and hang them in the well water to keep them fresh. Sometimes the meat, chickens and ducks brought out from the well would be fresh and odorless.

Although the water in the water tank cannot stay cold like the well water, it should be enough to keep the prepared meat filling cold for most of the day.

Li had never done it before, so she didn't quite understand what was going on, but she knew that every household used well water to rinse fruits and vegetables to keep cool in the summer.

After listening to Shen Yu's explanation, Li pretended to understand and said "oh", and stopped asking questions.

Li, Shen Yu and Yutao worked together to carefully move the water tank into the kitchen and placed it securely. Yutao then asked Yucheng to fetch water with a wooden bucket.

Li drank a bowl of herbal tea and came to the kitchen to help Shen Yu.

Li had never made dough that needed to be fermented before. She heard that this kind of steamed bread was very delicious with soft dough and fresh meat filling after steaming, but it was troublesome to make. She didn't know what to help with for a while, so she had to watch from the side and wait for Shen Yu to assign her work.

After purchasing all the ingredients, it is no longer difficult for Shen Yu to make a basket of steamed buns at home.

Today I'm going to make a small amount to taste it. It's not even noon yet, so once it's steamed, it'll be just right for the family to have lunch.

Three kinds of fillings, pork and green onion filling, green vegetable and mushroom filling, and red bean paste and candied date filling, are steamed in one basket each. The heat of the steamed buns on the wood stove must be controlled well. In my heart, I silently missed the modern gas stoves that are clean and convenient, and can be used as soon as the fire is lit, without the need for someone to burn firewood. Then I started to work skillfully.

She asked Li to help wash the green onions, green vegetables, fresh mushrooms and other vegetables, drain them and let them dry.

I started to prepare the fillings for the three kinds of buns.

Use a knife to smash a piece of fresh ginger and cut it into minced ginger. Take only the white part of the green onion, smash it to loosen it and cut it into shreds diagonally. Take a large bowl and put the chopped ginger and green onion shreds into it. Pour some warm water into it and soak it for a while. Squeeze it a few times with your hands, filter out the green onion and ginger juice for later use.

Since we were doing a food tasting today, we didn’t make the broth first. The pork bones and chicken bones we bought were extremely cheap, almost like they were given away for free at the butcher’s shop. We would wait until after lunch to make the broth slowly.