Food for the people

This mulberry wine was brewed together by Qiao Yu and Zhao Kang. The aroma of the wine was mixed with the sweetness of mulberries. Put a pot in a small porcelain pot and serve it to the table. As soon as the cork was opened, it floated everywhere.

I don't know who took the first sip, and praised: "This wine is delicious!"

"It's not strong enough, but the taste is good." Someone followed suit.

Meng Zhao opened the cork on the porcelain pot and poured himself a glass. The wine was clear, with the blue-purple color of mulberry juice. , sweet in the mouth, mellow in the aftertaste, although it is different from the wine he is used to drinking, but it is really hard to stop.

Wanniang has always been a drinker, and as far as drinking capacity is concerned, she is no less than a man. She also tasted a glass of mulberry wine and sighed: "I like this mulberry wine, brother, sell it to me when I leave later." pot."

Wanniang and Qiao Yu are familiar, and she has long said that she would come to support his business. She is bold and speaks a lot in West Street. Everyone doesn't believe others, but they can always listen to her and come in with her. Some of them are still tentatively looking around to see if they are going to sit down. Now, after listening to her, those who can drink or not will find someone they know well and sit in front of them.

"Is this wine good? Come, let me have a drink too."

Those who were more stingy immediately covered their jugs: "Go, go, go, the shopkeeper said, just send this jug, I don't have enough for myself."

In front of Wanniang was a jug given to her by Chen Cong alone. Hearing this, she poured a cup from her own jug and handed it to the man.

"Taste it for you, lest you say I'm lying to you."

The room went from quiet to noisy in just a moment.

Qiao Yu himself did not expect so many people to come this time, each of the seven tables in the hall can seat eight people, and they are already full.

Everyone got together, some ordered one or two dishes, and some shared a plate with others, all wanting to taste the taste of this restaurant first.

Many of the things written on Qiao Yu's sign are ready.

The grilled ribs were kneaded and marinated with spices one by one yesterday, and hung on the water well to keep cold and keep warm. When Zhao Kang came in the morning, he took some of them and hung them on hooks, and hung them in the oven to bake. The first batch was almost cooked, Qiao Yu opened the oven and took out the strips, brushed them with honey water one by one, hung them up again, and added a few pieces of charcoal to the bottom of the oven to make the temperature rise even higher. higher.

It won't be long before the strips are completely baked. Qiao Yu took off the first batch of strips, and the strips hung on the hook were roasted brown and fragrant. Finally, the honey water that was brushed on it formed a layer of oily shine. Qiao Yu took the burnt and tangy strips into the house, chopped them into evenly sized pieces and put them in a basin. He took the spice powder ground with spices and peppers and sprinkled it evenly on top, and then added another layer. A pinch of fried sesame seeds and a pinch of green chives, after a little flipping, three plates were assembled, and the color was attractive so that Sanqi was served on the table.

The rest is buckled with a basin and placed next to the stove, using the temperature emitted from the stove hole to keep it warm.

These three dishes were placed on Wanniang's table, Meng Zhao's table, and another table.

As soon as it was on the table, people were amazed: "What kind of dish is this?"

Sanqi's saliva was about to flow down, and he glanced at the plate reluctantly, and said, "Grilled ribs."

The man let out a groan, remembering that this was a row that he ordered casually.

This dish is more than 20 yuan per dish, which is a bit high on Qiao Yu's board. Ordinary people can buy a catty of meat. When this person ordered it, he thought the price was not cheap, because bones are cheaper than meat in this era. There is not much meat in a catty bone.

But as soon as the dish came out, the man thought with straight eyes, maybe it was really worth the price, even [-] cents at Yipinlou could not buy a dish.

The strips sprinkled with chili powder and sesame chives are brown in color, full of aroma, burnt in the mouth, but soft and tender inside.

Seeing that the man had a piece of meat to eat, everyone looked away. Their mouths were watering at the sight of it. The meat looked so delicious.

Meng Zhao also tasted a piece of fragrant grilled ribs that was delivered to him, then narrowed his eyes and looked at Lu Jincheng.

"I only know that Princess Yan is good-looking, but I never thought that there is such a skill. Your lord, you are very lucky."

Lu Jincheng glanced at him, and said, "Just keep your mouth shut and eat, where are you talking so much?"

Meng Zhao laughed, and really couldn't care less about talking now.

As soon as this fragrant grilled ribs came up, it was like giving everyone a reassurance. Those who had already ordered dishes wanted to try another dish, but thinking that this dish was so delicious, don’t Of course, the dishes are not bad, and those who are still on the sidelines and have not ordered, all follow suit.

"Shopkeeper, I also want a copy of this or something."

"Make me another serving and wrap it up. I'll take it home and give it to my family to try."

There is no need to worry about the ones that Qiao Yuduo prepared, and they will be distributed soon.

But in the morning, the business in Yulou is booming. Qiao Yu has been busy for a moment since entering the kitchen, and the same is true for Zhao Kang and Aunt Qiufeng. Zhao Kang is busy cooking other dishes, Qiufeng Auntie turned around to wash the dishes, and helped them clean up the dishes that needed to be cleaned.

On the first day today, Aunt Qiufeng didn't know how Qiao Yu's business was going and how busy she was, so she didn't take Wensheng with her and left it at Grandma Song's house. Looking at it now, it was really correct not to bring Wensheng with her. The choice, the hall is full of people, bringing Wen Sheng here, there may not even be a place to sit.

Qiao Yu kept his feet on the floor in a hurry, and never came out once he entered the kitchen. When Lu Jincheng entered, he was frying crispy meat. The meat was marinated in advance like ribs, and now they were wrapped in batter one by one. After the first layer, put it into the pot, fry it in hot oil until it is mature, take it out, and then go in and fry it again after raising the oil temperature. The shell of the crispy meat will become golden, and the first time it is fried The fat will also be spit out, so it won't be too greasy to eat.

Standing at the door of the kitchen, Lu Jincheng watched Qiao Yu busy with his head down by the stove, and didn't notice him coming for a long time.

He was really distressed, but he could tell from the look on Qiao Yu's face that he was very happy to be busy, and he didn't feel tired at all.

Lu Jincheng sighed, and then quietly retreated out.

Seeing that Prince Yan had left, Zhao Kang raised his head and said to Qiao Yu while he was busy with the work in hand, "The prince came in just now."

Qiao Yu immediately raised her head when she heard the words: "Where is the person?"

Zhao Kang thought in his heart: Seeing that you are so busy, I am sorry to leave.

Qiao Yu didn't understand Zhao Kang's silence, instead she glanced at Aunt Qiufeng and said, "No, Aunt Qiufeng can't do so much work by herself, so I have to recruit two more people when I go back today."

The work of washing dishes may not seem heavy, but bending over for a long time will definitely be unbearable after a long time.

Aunt Qiufeng thought it was okay at the moment, but seeing that the business of this restaurant was so good, she knew that what Qiao Yu said was also reasonable, so she let out an ah and nodded at Qiao Yu.

A few people were busy behind for a while, and finally sent away a large group of people who came in to join in the fun.

Everyone was very satisfied with the meal, and they kept praising when they left, saying that they would definitely come back more often in the future, completely forgetting that they were the ones who said they didn't want to come in at the beginning.

Everyone left almost, and in the end only Wanniang and Meng Zhao were left in the hall.

When Wanniang came, Qiao Yu had already entered the back kitchen, and now she had time to come out to say hello to her when she was done with work. When Wanniang saw Qiao Yu, she laughed: "Look, what am I talking about? If the craftsman opens a restaurant, the business must be booming, it seems that what I said is correct, isn't the business booming right after it opened?"

Qiao Yu accepted Wanniang's compliment with a smile. He was holding an oiled paper bag full of crispy meat, and handed it to Wanniang, saying, "Take it back and give it to Chaosheng."

Wanniang knew Qiao Yu well, so she wasn't polite to him, she took the oil-paper bag from Qiao Yu's hand and said, "Then I won't be polite, Chaosheng likes your handicraft the most, since you stopped selling noodles on the street After that, he talked to me every day, if he didn't have to go to the school today, he would definitely come with me."

She came here today to praise Qiao Yu, and her rouge shop hadn't opened yet, so Qiao Yu didn't let her talk too much, and after a few more pleasantries, he sent him out the door.

Now apart from Sanqi Chen Cong and Lu Jincheng, only Meng Zhao was left in the store.

There were a lot of things in front of him, and he was eating slowly without being in a hurry. Seeing that Qiao Yu came back after sending people off, he praised him without hesitation: "Let me see, the taste of this first-class building is not as good as Qiao Yu's." Your son's workmanship is good."

Qiao Yu smiled: "Yipinlou is a delicacy from mountains and seas. I don't have any of them here. They are all ordinary things. Don't go against your will."

Meng Zhao shook his head: "It's because it's an ordinary thing that you say you're good at it. The delicacies of mountains and seas have their own special features, and it's only natural that they taste good. To me, it's a real skill to make such an ordinary thing so delicious. .”

Qiao Yu listened and walked to Lu Jincheng's side. Lu Jincheng picked up the cup of tea in front of him and handed it to Qiao Yu. After watching Qiao Yu take two sips, he glanced at Meng Zhao and said in a deep voice, "Even if If you boast about the flowers today, the silver you should be given is indispensable."

Meng Zhao was taken aback, and almost choked on a sip of wine. After a long time, he stood up and put a silver ingot in front of Lu Jincheng, saying, "Why is your lord so stingy?"

Lu Jincheng took the silver ingot, flicked his abacus again, and said to Sanqi, "Give him another jug ​​of wine, this silver is just right, you don't need to look for a penny."

Seeing this, Qiao Yu rolled his eyes and laughed too.

He leaned over to get closer to Lu Jincheng, and whispered in his ear: "Prince Yan really looks like the shopkeeper of Deyulou."

Lu Jincheng tilted his head, brushed his lips against Qiao Yu's ear, and said, "This jade tower belongs to Qiao Er. The relationship between me and Qiao Er can't afford to be called the shopkeeper?"

Qiao Yuergen was rubbed red by him, and he didn't dare to be presumptuous in broad daylight, with a very serious face, he said: "If you can afford it, you can afford it."

Lu Jincheng saw that Qiao Yu's ears turned red as he wished, and the smile on his face deepened, and then he turned to Meng Zhao and said, "You must not be here for dinner today, are you?"

Meng Zhaogang saw Prince Yan showing his affection in front of him, and now he missed his family Jiang Chuxi very much. Hearing Yan's doubts, he said, "Why did you say that?"

Lu Jincheng said: "If you really come to eat, you will come with your family, Jiang Chuxi, at noon."

Meng Zhao nodded and smiled, "Yan Jin really understands me."

"Tell me, what else do you need?" Lu Jincheng asked with raised eyes while kneading Qiao Yu's hand.

Only then did Meng Zhao put down his chopsticks, and after smiling at Lu Jincheng, he looked at Qiao Yu.

"The opening of Deyu Tower today is of course to congratulate Mr. Qiao."

Qiao Yu was suddenly called, and then looked at him suspiciously: "Didn't you already say goodbye and give gifts?"

Meng Zhao responded with a smile: "I did, but the emperor hasn't."

Qiao Yu: ...

Meng Zhao got up, took out a scroll of Minghuang imperial edict from his bosom, and shook it open. It was embroidered with a golden dragon with its fangs and claws all the time, as if flying with both feet, majestic and domineering, looking at Qiao Yu.

"The common people, Qiao Sheng, accepted the order."

Qiao Yu was stunned for two seconds, then looked back at Lu Jincheng, only to see this man smiled at him, he lifted his robe and knelt down first, then realized that he had to kneel to listen to the order.

He vaguely guessed what Meng Zhao was going to say, but he couldn't believe it in his heart. After kneeling on the ground with Lu Jincheng, he heard Meng Zhao read in a deep voice.

"Qiao Sheng, the son of the Qiao family, is virtuous, outstanding in appearance, respectful and kind-hearted, and the king of Yan admires him. I think the two of you agree with each other wholeheartedly. Today, I marry you here. The Ministry of Rites and Prince Yan's residence will jointly handle the matter, and we will choose a good day to get married."

Meng Zhao finished reading in a deep voice, then closed the imperial decree, looked at Qiao Yu and Lu Jincheng with a smile and said, "Young Master Qiao, this is the emperor's congratulatory gift, so hurry up and follow it."

Qiao Yu was already stunned, her fingers trembling slightly, before she bent down and saluted after a long time, she said, "Qiao Sheng, a grassroots man, accepts the order."