Ancient Foodie Survival Guide Chapter 24 (Part 1)
Tled by Serena Love
Unedited
Chapter 24 (1): Candied Haws’
Xie Xun picked up the chopsticks, and under everyone's eyes, he picked up a piece of rice ball with seaweed.
The crystal white rice was tightly wrapped in seaweed. There was a faint scent of sesame oil. Cucumber, fried egg, and crab meat were sandwiched inside. The color was bright and had a refreshing aroma.
Xie Xun put the rice in his mouth and tasted it carefully.
In order to increase the stickiness of the rice, Jiang Shuyao added a small amount of glutinous rice to the seaweed rice. After it was kneaded, it was sticky and chewy. After a bite of the cucumber inside, it was crisp and refreshing. The fresh vegetable fragrance was mixed with the mellow omelet, refreshing but not too weak.
There was no expression on Xie Xun's face, and a few more pieces entered his mouth. The seaweed was full of seafood flavor, but it was neutralized with the long aftertaste of the rice. It was salty and suitable. It tastes rich but not greasy. A few pieces will leave only a faint aftertaste in the mouth.
Seeing him eating slowly, Lin Cheng was anxious. "Give me a piece to try."
Xie Xun's eyes quickly swept over the rice balls, counting quickly. Seeing that there were a lot of them, he put down his chopsticks and passed it to Lin Cheng.
Lin Cheng picked a piece of rice ball with salad dressing, and stuffed it with his mouth wide open.
"This white sauce is interesting, it is salty and creamy. It has a strong mellow flavor. I don't know what it is made of."
Xie Xun couldn't answer, but before he could say anything, Lin Cheng unceremoniously picked up another rice ball again, this time the seaweed rice with a little salad dressing, and put it in his mouth. The seaweed was not robbed of its limelight by the salad dressing. The original refreshing rice scent instantly filled his lips and cheeks.
He nodded while chewing, and commented, "The method should be quite simple. When I go back tonight, I will let the cooks in my house to think about it, and I will bring it as well tomorrow."
Xie Xun corrected him, "The difficulty is not about the skills, but the ingenuity."
Lin Cheng ignored him and praised him instead, "But this white sauce is really delicious. It tastes very fresh, it is sweet and sour. The sourness is not like taste of vinegar, especially after eaten, there is still an endless aftertaste of the mellow fragrance." He also has some experience in eating, "Just by itself, it can be eaten with some other food."
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Xie Xun didn't care how Lin Cheng praised him, and his face remained calm. Anyway, he can boast until the flowers come, but Lin Cheng still couldn't eat in his house.
Lin Cheng didn't know what he was thinking, so he leaned forward to him in a casual way. "Hey, Bo Yuan, how about you bring me some of this sauce?"
Xie Xun avoided him. "That won't work. Letting my wife cook for you, how is it going to look like?"
After Lin Cheng realized it, it sounded a little bit strange. Eh? Isn't Xie Xun's wife Miss Jiang from the Xiangyang house?
No, if what he said was true, then he was uneasy lately and couldn't eat, what happened?
He was quiet, and he didn't know what kind of love and hatred he had unintentionally encountered. He looked at Xie Xun with a complicated expression and went back to his seat to do his work.
There were only two or three people left, and Xie Xun generously handed them his chopsticks. each person tasted a few pieces and was full of praise.
After enjoying the rice, Xie Xun opened the second layer of the lunch box and took out a small bamboo basket filled with crispy pork. Although the small pieces of crispy pork has been deep-fried, Jiang Shuyao deliberately drained the oil before put it in the lunch box. The pork was crispy and not greasy, so it was suitable as a snack.
Jiang Shuyao prepared three pairs of chopsticks on the second layer. It seemed that she was worried that Xie Xun would not eat different dishes with the same pair of chopsticks. This gave the gluttonous colleagues a chance to share Xie Xun's loving lunch.
They stood beside him without talking. They just stared quietly and grievously. Xie Xun's eyebrows twitched a few times, and he couldn't bear it. He said, "Take the chopsticks and let's eat them together."
So the small pieces of pork were all snatched away. After biting into the crispy, slightly spicy, crunchy skin, the meat inside was fresh and juicy, tender and delicious. With the salt and pepper seasoning, the more you chew, the more fragrant it is.
The ingredients for the crispy fried pork were tender meat that was balanced between lean meat and fat. If there was too little fat, it will be dry when fried, and if there was too much fat, it will be too oily. Only when the fat and lean meat were just right, the fried crispy meat would be fragrant and not greasy. The fat would melt while fried, and the outer crust made of egg batter would also have the unique oily aroma from the fat.
A few people took a bite, chewing with crunch. It was crispy and delicious, salty and spicy. The peppery and savory taste of meat made people can't help but get addicted.
"If there are such snacks on the table daily, discussing political affairs will not be boring."
"Exactly. Exactly."
A few cheeky people swept away Xie Xun's snacks, and left with endless aftertastes. Now, they stretched their chopsticks onto Xie Xun's spicy jelly without caring.
Xie Xun collected the lunch box calmly, put it under his chair, and waited for the lunch time to take it out and eat.
He sighed with relief silently in his heart. Fortunately, they hadn't touch the bowl of spicy jelly. When he ate the dishes with spicy oil made by Jiang Shuyao for the first time, he just gorged himself and didn't want to stop. Don't mention these gluttons, it would be impossible for them to live anymore.
What's more, today's spicy oil seems to be more refined and delicious. He can imagine how wonderful it will be just by smelling the hot and sour taste.
While dealing with affairs, he planned to share some of his leftover food with Lin Cheng at noon. Well, but he can't eat too much, just taste it, he doesn't have enough for himself.
＊
At sunset, officials stepped out of the palace one after another.
Lin Cheng caught up with Xie Xun "casually", tried to go home with him.
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These days Xie Xun always rushed home early, and Lin Cheng was accustomed to it. After he got on the horse, he walked towards home subconsciously. However, he didn't expect Xie Xun to walk out of the long street and go to the market.
Lin Cheng swiftly shifted his horse to keep up, and he was delighted to see Xie Xun stand up and get off his horse and walk towards the street lined with bookstores.
This is the Xie Boyuan he knew.
He trotted to keep up and said, "Bo Yuan, we haven't been here for a long time to search for books." Xie Xun nodded. "The books here are not as good as the books in the library after all."
"True, but some materials are rare."
The two of them chatted indiscriminately. Xie Xun led Lin Cheng into the most popular bookstore, turned around for a while and didn't find that he wanted, and went to the next one.
He went to bookstores one by one, Xie Xun searched carefully, but he was not satisfied.
Lin Cheng was curious. "Does Bo Yuan have a category you want to find?"
Xie Xun's eyes kept looking at the lines of books on the shelves. "Yes, but I haven't read this kind of book."
Finally, at a small bookstore at the end of the street, Xie Xun finally found a few books that no one cares about in the corner.
Lin Cheng thought it was a strange book. He peeked and saw that there were three big characters written on the cover: "Feng Yue Lu"
[T/N: "Feng Yue Lu" literally means "Wind and Moon Record", it's basically a romance novel]
Xie Xun's face remained unchanged, as if he was holding an ancient book in his hand. He calmly paid and left with a book about a bunch of talented scholars and beautiful ladies.
Lin Cheng's heart vibrated. God, what happened. What made Bo Yuan start reading this kind of miscellaneous books to comfort himself.
Xie Xun bought the novel, thought that he could read this book in the future, and walked out briskly.
In the evening, it was a lively time in the market. Xie Xun walked through the crowd. After seeing a seller next to him, he hesitated and walked towards the stall.
The sugar haws seller was preparing to close the stall, and suddenly saw a young man in noble clothing walking towards him. He was a little nervous, fearing that he would unintentionally upset the nobles.
Unexpectedly, the nobleman didn't even ask the price, and directly said, "Give me one, no, two of these."
The vendor hurriedly smiled and took two candied haws for Xie Xun.
Lin Cheng was confused, he had thoughts that his friend had been possessed by a ghost or something.
Xie Xun got on the horse and hung the bunch of miscellaneous books on the horse. He was still holding two candied haws in his hands, held the horse's rein lightly, and traveled home leisurely.
The setting sun sprinkled on Xie Xun's face, drawing a hazy and warm light circle around him, making his upright back revealed a bit of laziness. Lin Cheng looked at the lunchboxes and miscellaneous books hanging on his horse, and then watched him gracefully holding the candied haws, his eyelids twitched. Although since he was a child he had hoped that Xie Boyuan would have some popularity, but it was not in this way.
Xie Xun returned to the mansion, and the people rushed up to take the books for him. He held the candied haws and walked through the courtyard under the surprised eyes of the everyone.
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