Chapter 9 – Mala Crayfish (Part 2)
Rehosted by – Kitchennovel.com
Translated by Prosperousfood.com
Retranslated and Edited by Gumihou
The baby lobster is much easier to catch compared to the slippery fish. Each throw of their net brought in excellent yields. Soon, their bucket was filled with the leaping crayfish. Xiao Qi held up on of the wriggling creatures, “Sister, we’re eating this guy tonight?”
The guy in question wriggled and somehow managed to slip out of her fingers. With a plop, it fell into the muddy water and disappeared.
“It ran away!” Xiao Qi ran to chase it, but was pulled back by Xhiyu.
“Let it go, ba. We still have a lot.”
“En, en.” Xiao Qi immediately agreed and ran off to pick flowers.
Shiyu smiled at her skipping figure. Behind her the boys, Lao Er, Xiao Wu and Xiao Liu, followed with pails in hand.
Xiao Qi soon ran back to them, flowers looped into a simple garland in hand. She placed one onto Shiyu’s hair, and one on her own. Shiyu laughed joyfully at this carefree happiness.
A gentle breeze, flower garlands, playful youths, against ancient China’s rural background… this kind of life was truly not bad.
As they trotted through the city with their bounty, quite a few people saw them and asked, “What are you guys doing with these?”
“To make something delicious.” Xiao Qi’s mouth immediately watered as she imagined just what delicious thing her elder sister could make from these things.
“These things stinks and are difficult to clean. It’s like eating prickly mud, what’s so good about it?” the people around them curled their lips.
“Only commoners would eat these.” A group of rich young ladies sneered as they passed by.
“Aih, how pitiful. These people would probably never know the taste of spiritual meat in their life!” One of the young ladies reached into her coin bag and threw a few copper coins onto the ground. She jerked her chin at Shiyu, “Here, I bestow these to you.”
Shiyu, “… …”
Are you seriously feeling superior over a few copper coins?
Taking hold of Xiao Qi’s hand, Shiyu lead her followers away.
When the young lady did not received the gratitude she expected, she grew angry, “Wei! You bunch of lowly brats! I’ve just given you money out of the goodness of my heart, where’s your gratefulness? At the very least, you should kneel down and kowtow to my benevolence. Hmph, looks like you’re not only poor in money, you’re poor in manners as well!”
This kind of talk was the something Shiyu hated most.
Who in the world is not born with nothing? Just because they’re poor they’re not lacking in character.
Shiyu reached into her shirt and brought out a piece of silver. She chucked the small piece of silver at the young lady, saying “This is madam’s gift for you. No need to kneel down in thanks. This madam is short of time.”
While the young lady was stunned silly by the gesture, Shiyu quickly dragged her posse away. When she reached the alley, a sharp scream was heard behind them.
“Let’s run!” Shiyu grabbed one of the heavier pails and rushed into the maze of alleyways. The poorer area of the city was filled with twists and dead ends. Only someone familiar with this place would not get lost. There was no way that young lady could ever catch them.
Only, this was too rash of her, she would have to be more careful and remain more low-key in the future.
Back at home, the crayfish were placed in a bucket of clean water. This would encourage the crayfish to spit out mud. While waiting, Shiyu got on with the prep work for tonight’s dinner.
Unexpectedly however, two guests turned up at their house that afternoon.
That they would turned up was something that Shiyu had been expecting. She got Lao Er to put away the crayfish before opening the door.
The people who walked in were none other than, Chef Li as well as his disciple Bu Yan.
Chef Li stepped in and looked around. He praised, “This is very well done, everything is very clean and orderly.”
Shiyu, too, smiled as Xiao Qi brought cups of water out to serve their guests.
Chef Li did not bother with formality and sat down in their chair and said, “Little Shi girl, I heard you’ve been selling steamed buns. I even heard that there are many people lining up to buy the buns every morning. May I know if this is true?”
Shiyu smiled coldly, “It’s just a small business, we’re grateful for everyone’s support.”
“Haih, there’s no need for you to be so modest.” The smile on Chef Li’s face deepened, “I understand your skill well, and shall not waste words with you. Will you sell your steamed bun recipe?”
“… …” Shiyu never thought of the making of steamed bun as anything as fancy as a recipe.
At Shiyu’s silence, Chef Li thought that she was hesitating and proceeded to apply pressure, “Do you know how many people’s eyes you’ve attracted? Your business is doing incredibly well, blocking other merchant’s road to fortune. I expect someone will cause trouble for you in less than three days! It will be too bad if your stall is destroyed and your people beaten up.”
The things Chef Li said were something that Shiyu had been fearing. Just how many restaurants were there in Qing Shan City? Even taverns which sold food and snacks would hate them for causing this city wide addiction to steamed buns. It was inevitable that they would cause envy and hatred.
“How much are you willing to pay?” She said calmly.
Chef Li smiled, and held out two fingers.
“??? … 200 taels of silver?” Said Shiyu.
“Pfft.” Spit exploded from Chef Li’s mouth, “Two taels, it’s merely a steamed bun recipe, only worth two taels.”
“… …” Shiyu smiled back gamely.
She was really pissed off.
Just what kind of village idiot did Chef Li thinks she was? In these past few days, she made at least one or two silver taels on the sale of buns. Now he wants to buy this recipe for just two silver taels? This was just… pure greed!
Chef Li saw her smile, and thought this idiot girl was feeling happy and immediately took out the money. “Here’s the two silver taels, now tell me the recipe.”
Shiyu really did not want to bother with this greedy idiot, but after some thought, she decided that now was not the time to get into a power struggle. Especially since she had practically none right now, it’s better to accept the money and swallow this anger now. “Very well, listen carefully.”
At this point, Bu Yan discreetly left them alone.
After a short while, Chef Li left them, perfectly happy. Before he left, however, he bade Bu Yan to stay back, “You’re close to her in age, see if you can get along with her.”
At this, Shiyu frowned.
Bu Yan too felt that his master was a bit too much. He turned an awkward face at Shiyu, “B-begging your pardon.”
“No need for pardon, this has nothing to do with you. It’s unfortunate that your master is this kind of man, are you sure you still want to follow him?” Shiyu said.
Bu Yan lowered his head, “Master treats me well.”
“No need for lies. Just look at your clothes. The last time I saw you, there’s a hole in your shirt. That hole is still there. If he really treats you well, no need for fine robes, he should at least make sure you look presentable, ba! Whatever, it’s all up to you. Since you’re here, have dinner, ba!”
Shiyu felt that this Bu Yan person was not a bad kid. It’s just too bad that such a kind-hearted child ended up calling that greedy pig as master. Vaguely, she wondered what his potential was.
As considered all this, she ushered him to the kitchen, saying, “I’ll treat you to something good. But, please don’t tell your master what you’ve seen today, alright? I trust you can keep a secret?”
Bu Yan shook his head, “I won’t tell, please be at ease.”
Shiyu smiled happily, Chef Li clearly left Bu Yan here find out if she had any other interesting recipes, and to steal them if possible.
Thank you for reading this chapter at prosperous food dot com.
[Gumihou: Why is your IQ so low, Chef Li?]
^_^
Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
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