Although Qiao Mu was a new tenant, he was obviously much more familiar with Mingzhou City than she, a outsider. When he entered Yueyang Tower, all the dishes he ordered were signature dishes.
Hao Cheng was concentrating on tasting the dishes, while Qiao Mu opposite him was paying attention to Hao Cheng's every move.
From his sitting posture to his dining habits, Hao Cheng was definitely not noble, but he was elegant and pleasing to the eye, far exceeding Qiao Mu's expectations.
She originally thought that he was a poor scholar with no manners, but now it seems that this scholar is much better than she imagined.
The hotel where Hao Cheng worked in her previous life was a four-star hotel. They paid great attention to the training of all employees. She learned table manners very well, but they were relatively Westernized. Even though she ate Chinese food, it was by no means as classical as the ancients.
Her table manners are naturally at odds with the elegant and classical beauty of this world, but are unique in their own way. In the eyes of others, they are pleasing to the eye, and at least people don't think she is undisciplined.
Hao Cheng savored the flavors of the dishes carefully and answered his new neighbor's questions in a disjointed manner.
She had developed the ability to multitask in her previous life and her mind was full of recipes and ingredients for dishes, but she would never show it in a way that would make Qiao Mu feel she was being perfunctory.
Qiao Mu looked at the scholar and felt quite satisfied. Her previous question had already made Hao Cheng wary, and although she wanted to dig up every detail of Hao Cheng's ancestors, she couldn't make it seem too abrupt.
She had no choice but to talk about topics related to childhood fun, trying to get Hao Cheng to talk without leaving any trace. Originally, she only knew Hao Cheng's name and age. After a meal, she also learned that he had passed the examination for a scholar, and now wanted to do some business and then pass the examination for a juren.
Qiao Mu was satisfied. In a metropolis like Mingzhou City, there were many scholars aged 13 or 14, but few scholars aged 17 or 18. Hao Cheng's teacher was not good enough to rely on his own efforts. He was a promising person.
Although her parents are both dead, it is easy to handle with such a background. If her family background is not good, she can just work hard to make it better.
Her family didn't ask Qiao Yu to marry into a wealthy family, they just wanted him to live a happy life. If she married Hao Cheng, at least there wouldn't be an evil father-in-law tormenting her brother.
As for the mourning period, Hao Cheng only has to observe mourning for one year anyway, and her brother is only sixteen years old. It is not impossible for him to stay at home for two years first to cultivate their relationship.
It didn't matter that Hao Cheng had no intention now, the main thing was that her brother liked her. This man was just a poor scholar, and her brother was handsome and noble, and he was good at both literature and martial arts. There was no reason for Hao Cheng to refuse.
Hao Cheng felt a little uneasy when she saw the look in her new neighbor's eyes. She realized that the other party was trying to act as a matchmaker, so she deliberately omitted the fact that she was in mourning and had no interest in marriage. As a result, the other party's eyes became even weirder.
After finishing her meal and helping her neighbor tidy up her things, she found an excuse to leave and ignored the other party's enthusiastic attempts to keep her.
The next day, the blacksmith shop delivered the stove and spatula that Hao Cheng had requested. A batch of oil paper bags that she had specially ordered were also delivered.
Xuan paper for writing is incredibly expensive, but oil paper for making lanterns and storing food is very cheap, otherwise Hao Cheng would not have come up with the idea of making scallion pancakes.
Qiao Mu was an early riser. When he saw this strange-looking thing, he leaned over and asked curiously, "Chengmei, did someone beat you up? What kind of weird thing is this?"
"It's nothing rare, just an oven for making pancakes. If you haven't had breakfast yet, you can come and try my cooking."
She was not very clear about the taste of the people in Mingzhou City. From the signature dishes yesterday, she only figured out that these people had a lighter taste. She didn't know whether this hand-pulled pancake would be popular.
Qiao Mu was obviously an expert in gourmet food and a good experimental subject. Hao Cheng paid the money, put the coal into the stove, lit the fire, and took out the ingredients that had been prepared earlier from the yard.
She poured a thin layer of oil on the hot iron plate. When the oil was hot enough, she placed the kneaded dough in the center of the iron plate and flattened it with a spatula.
"Do you like tenderloin or lean meat? Do you want to add eggs?" Pork in this place is very expensive but chicken and duck are relatively cheap. She bought a small batch of ingredients and planned to test the waters first. If they don't sell well, she will switch to other food.
"Lean meat. I don't like chicken. I want eggs!" Qiao Mu answered subconsciously. He stood aside and watched Hao Cheng flip the dough skillfully. "You want to make this and sell it just to save enough money to go to Beijing for the imperial examination? Why bother setting up a stall so hard? I can introduce you to be a retainer of a noble man."
Those dignitaries don't mind supporting some poor but talented guests. Even if only one out of a hundred becomes famous, they can still benefit from it.
Hao Cheng shook his head: "Thank you for your kindness, Sister Qiao, but compared to being a guest, I would rather rely on my own hands than on charity from others."
After all, a hanger is a person who lives under someone else's roof. If she can make money on her own, she certainly doesn't want to rely on others to support her. Although being a hanger makes money easily, the pressure is actually not small, and she can't avoid intrigues with others.
What's more, selling cakes is just a short-term way for her to accumulate popularity and funds. Her goal is much longer-term than this.
"As long as you don't set up a stall all the time, it'll be fine." It is said that when you marry a chicken, you follow the chicken; when you marry a dog, you follow the dog. If Hao Cheng just wants to be a pancake vendor, wouldn't her brother have to suffer as well
When Qiao Mu imagined the scene of his younger brother setting up a stall with Hao Cheng, he felt a chill.
Hao Cheng smiled slightly, and used a spatula to pry open a thin crack in the pancake, and the cracked egg penetrated into it. The already somewhat soft pancake immediately had a layer of golden filling.
She moved her left and right hands at the same time, flipping the new pancake with one hand and picking up the fried lean meat and lettuce on the side with the other hand and placing them in the middle of the fried pancake.
In just two minutes, the pancake was freshly baked. She wrapped it in an oil paper bag that she had prepared long ago, and handed the pancake, which exuded an enticing aroma, to Qiao Mu.
She evenly spread different sauces on the pancake in three parts: salad dressing, ketchup and sweet and spicy sauce. She didn't have the ingredients for black pepper flavor and couldn't make it herself in this environment, so she gave up on making this sauce.
Qiao Mu watched her movements and took a bite doubtfully. The crispy and soft feeling of the pancake wrapped around it immediately aroused the taste buds on her tongue.
The cooking temperature of the fried egg is just right. The pancake is crispy on the outside and soft to the touch. The fried egg is hidden inside, with just the right amount of saltiness and a tender texture.
The lean meat inside was even better than she had imagined, not dry at all, and the fried lettuce was crispy, just right to alleviate the dryness and greasiness of the pancake. The sauce was the finishing touch.
It was just a pancake with simple ingredients, but it was so delicious that she almost swallowed her tongue.
Qiao Mu finished it in a few bites, still not satisfied, and said, "Two more, both with that sweet and sour sauce."
Of the three sauces, she liked the sweet and sour one best. After finishing a few pies, she held her bulging belly and sighed contentedly: "How much do these pies cost? I'll pay you."
Hao Cheng smiled and said, "I don't need Sister Qiao's money. I'll just trouble you to write a few words for my sign. I won't charge you any money when Sister Qiao comes in the future."
When she was helping to clean the house yesterday, she saw the calligraphy and paintings written by Qiao Mu himself, and she already had this idea in her mind.
Qiao Mu followed the instructions of his adopted sister and wrote signs and did publicity for her. Meanwhile, Jiang Mengzhen's motorcade finally arrived in Mingzhou City after almost a month of travel.