Lin Dan is a taciturn person, but works very seriously. No matter how dirty or tiring the old woman's daughter-in-law assigns her, she can finish it silently without cutting corners. Over time, the daughter-in-law was relieved and stopped staring at her all the time. The old woman took advantage of the time when the daughter-in-law was running out to be lazy and slippery. ball.
After three months, Lin Dan learned this dish, said goodbye to the reluctant old woman, and left the town with the Qi family. Since then, she has traveled all over the world to learn arts from teachers and other people who don't want to teach her. She works in the person's shop or at home, impressing them with sincerity. If the other party still doesn't want to, she won't complain and just leave silently.
She ate all the delicacies from all over the country of Chu, met all kinds of people, and experienced different life experiences. It took ten years.
Ten years later, in the early spring, a group of trains approached from a mountain trail, with strong bodyguards guarding the front and rear, as if a big family was migrating. When they reached the fork in the road, the convoy slowly stopped, and a middle-aged man with a pot belly jumped out of the most luxurious car, ran to the last carriage with small steps, and asked in a low voice, "Manager Lin , are you feeling better?"
"Cough cough..." A hoarse voice came from the carriage: "It's much better, thank you Boss Shen for your care along the way, and hope to see you again in the future."
"It's all right, I still have some medicines here, you can take them." Boss Shen hurriedly asked the servant to present the long-prepared gift box, and finally said with a face: "See you, I will definitely meet again. See, if you open a shop in the capital, I will visit you from thousands of miles away. With your illness, I won't be able to eat anything."
Listening to the voice, the shopkeeper Lin in the carriage should be a woman, and Boss Shen's last words seemed to be teasing, but the people inside and outside the carriage didn't realize what was wrong, and even laughed in unison. .
Seeing this scene, a strong man standing beside the convoy showed a mocking expression, and hit his partner's waist with his elbow, and said silently with his mouth: "Look, you can also hook up with a car halfway, so women don't. It's time to show up.
His companion nodded silently, with a teasing expression on his face, and then went to look at the leader, only to find that he was still sitting on the horse, with long and narrow phoenix eyes staring at the fork in the road with great vigilance, and there was no slack in the slightest. The two froze in their hearts, and then stopped.
Manager Lin seemed to be worried that he would pass on his sickness to others, so he only opened the car curtain a crack, stretched out his hands to receive the gift box, and finally ordered: "Xiaozhu, give the gift I prepared to Boss Shen, these days. Thanks to Boss Shen for taking care of us, otherwise we wouldn't be able to get to the capital."
A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old boy immediately jumped out of a carriage in front, holding a wine jar in his arms. Seeing the wine jar, Boss Shen's already rosy face seemed to be able to shine, although he kept saying humbly, he couldn't wait to reach out with his hands, and his thin eyes almost disappeared from laughter, "Oh, Mr. Lin is really polite, so do I. It's just a little effort!" While speaking, he sniffed the mouth of the altar, showing an intoxicated expression.
"It's a big effort for you, but it's a great kindness for us. It's getting late, Boss Shen, let's go quickly, we'll say goodbye here, and we'll meet in Beijing in the future. I'll definitely invite you to dinner." Manager Lin said sincerely. .
Boss Shen laughed so hard that his teeth could not be seen, and reiterated: "Manager Lin, in order to prevent your nobleman from forgetting too much, I will record this meal on the ledger first, and I will definitely come to the capital to collect debts in the future."
"I can't forget, see you again." Manager Lin laughed softly.
After the two said their goodbyes, the long motorcade was also divided into two. The first ten carriages went to Jiaozhou along the fork in the road, and the five behind them went straight ahead to the capital. The guards who were protecting the convoy also split into two groups. One of them continued to follow Boss Shen all the way, and the other three strong men fell behind Manager Lin's convoy and rode their horses.
Manager Lin seemed to have seen the three of them through the car curtain, so he dispatched a servant to say hello.
The servant's face was a little timid, but he still summoned up his courage and asked, "Three eldest brothers, are you going to the capital?"
One of them said with a half-smile, "So what?"
"If yes, our shopkeeper wants to hire you to escort you. As long as we can be safely transported to the capital, the shopkeeper will give each of you 10 taels of silver and food and drinks along the way. Is that okay?"
"Not good." The strong man laughed, but the words he said could choke people to death. His companion snorted softly, as if he despised twelve taels of silver.
The little servant blushed with anger, but he still insisted patiently: "The three eldest brothers should think about it again, we have meals and drinks. Our meals and drinks are really good, we can't lose you."
"Ten taels of silver, I don't like it, can I still like your food? Go go, don't delay us on our way!" The strong man became impatient, as if he was going to whip the whip around his waist.
The leading man was the tallest and most terrifying. He was dark-skinned, handsome in appearance, and a knife scar barely rubbed his forehead into his temples, which made him even more hostile. It seemed that his subordinates were too public, so he glanced coldly, and the two strong men immediately restrained their faces and explained: "We are in a hurry, we will take a shortcut back to Beijing, and we cannot go with you."
To take a shortcut, you have to go up the mountain. The mountain road is rough and narrow. Only horses can pass through it, but vehicles cannot pass. After hearing this, the servant hurriedly bid farewell to him, and before leaving, he quickly glanced at the man at the head, and his heart jumped again. I saw the man riding on a tall horse, with a pair of long and narrow phoenix eyes that were cold and sharp, and a strong figure wrapped in a jet-black outfit.
This man is so hostile, isn't he a bandit? Thinking of this, the little servant ran faster and faster.
Manager Lin's carriage was very close to several people, so he didn't ask any more since he heard these words. A group of people hurrying quietly, seeing that it was noon, they rested in an open space by the water. Two little girls went to the river to fetch water with clay pots, and three servants brought stones to build a stove, ready to build a fire here to cook.
Both sides of the mountain road are full of pink wild roses, and the fragrance of the flowers is moistened by the drizzle, which is very pleasant. Manager Lin lifted the curtain of the car to enjoy the view, drank another bowl of tangerine peel and ginger water, and then slowly climbed out of the car, saying, "After staying in the car for a long time, my bones are exhausted, so I have to come down and do some activities. Today Let me cook my lunch, and you go and remove my kitchen utensils."
"Yeah, that's great, Sister Lin is cooking today!" The two little girls shouted happily, and several servants also looked overjoyed.
The three strong men followed the team all the way, and the shopkeeper Lin became ill all the way. Today was the first time they met, so he couldn't help but stare at him. I saw that the other party was in his early twenties, wearing a woman's bun, tall and beautiful, but his skin was not fair, but a faint wheat color, which could be said to be completely inconsistent with the current aesthetic. But there is a heroic spirit between her brows, which makes people look very comfortable.
It turned out that this was Boss Shen's always attentive shopkeeper Lin, which was completely different from the stunner or the alluring beauty in his imagination. The two strong men were very disappointed, but their leader stared at each other for a long time.
Manager Lin, also known as Lin Dan, immediately noticed the man's strange gaze, and turned his head to look at him. The eyes of the two met, one was surprised, the other was quite puzzled.
"Excuse me, this eldest brother, have we met before?" Lin Dan cupped his hands and asked, graciously.
After hesitating for a moment, the man said solemnly, "Never."
Lin Dan looked at him carefully and decided that he had never seen him before, so he stopped paying attention. The other party looked so handsome and his aura was so terrifying, if she saw it once, she would definitely not forget it.
When Lin Dan walked away, one of the strong men lowered his voice and asked, "Boss, do you know this shopkeeper Lin?"
The man did not answer, but silently took out the dry food and water bag, and swallowed it with difficulty. Another strong man tore off a piece of hard dried bun and stuffed it into his companion's mouth, scolding, "Eat your food, don't ask questions."
The brawny man spit out the hard buns, pouted again, and complained: "Mother, how many days has this bun been left? It's even harder than a stone! If I eat these things every day, birds will fade out of Laozi's mouth!"
"Just be patient, at the next intersection, let's take a small road and rush back to the capital. At that time, we will eat a big meal, and then go home and have a good sleep." The companion showed a longing look.
"How far is the next intersection?"
"Not far, maybe tomorrow morning."
"Mummy, it's not far from tomorrow morning? I can't wait to put my wings on and fly back!"
The two were talking while eating the buns, but the man in the lead never said a word. He just looked up at Shopkeeper Lin from time to time, as if he cared about her.
Lin Dan was busy preparing lunch, unaware of the man's attention. She took out a few pieces of fat and thin bacon and roasted them on the fire. After the skin was oily and watery, and the unshaved pig hair was also licked off by the flames, they were washed in the river water, and the black stains were scraped off with a knife blade.
The two little girls got her order and ran into the woods to dig a few handfuls of wild onions and bamboo shoots for later use, and a few servants built a fire to cook rice.
Lin Dan cut the washed bacon into slices and put them into the pot to stir fry. After frying enough fat, he threw in a few light red dumplings made of unknown ingredients, and stirred gently with a spatula. broken. An indescribable sour smell mixed with the strong aroma of bacon filled the air, causing the three men to stretch their necks frequently.
"Mother, what's this smell? It's a little sour and a little stinky." Although the brawny man was disgusted, his saliva had already drooled three feet.
"I don't know, I've never seen it before." His companion stood on tiptoe and stared straight at the cauldron that Lin Dan kept stirring.
A few light red dumplings had been completely crushed by Lin Dan, and turned into fine powder mixed with bacon slices. The dish was not really good-looking, but the aroma was extremely strong, and it was a bit irritating to the nose, but somehow, it was hooked. Mouthwatering. The so-called smell is mixed with strange fragrance, which is probably the case.
The handsome man who never said a word finally spoke up: "That's pickled bean dregs, a specialty of Anqing Prefecture. When the weather is fine, crush the bean curd dregs, put them in a jar, add some salt, pepper and other things for storage. If you think the taste is not strong enough, you can also use pork bones to make thick bone soup, add bean dregs to seal with lotus leaves, and wait for fermentation. The bean dregs are rich in sour, spicy, salty, and numb flavors, and the meat aroma is also mixed with the aroma of beans, making it very unique.”