Chapter 36.1 The Guests of Winter Solstice
It snowed heavily for three days, blanketing the imperial capital in white. On the fourth day, the sun finally rose from the east, resembling the lone yolk in a large bowl of white noodles.
Shen Shaoguang glanced at A’Yuan, who made the metaphor, and then turned back to observe the sun. "Indeed, quite similar."
"And it’s the raw kind." A’Yuan covered her cold face, sniffled, and added. It wouldn't be this cold if it was cooked!
Amidst the northern wind at daybreak, Shen Shaoguang took Yu San, A’Chang and A’Yuan to sweep the snow at the front of their store. The coldest time was not during snowfall, but when the snow melted. Fortunately, they all just finished a hot serving of mutton noodle soup, otherwise everyone would have frozen to death.
Shen Shaoguang also sniffed, and when she spoke, a small cloud of white mist would emit from her mouth, "Yes, it must be raw."
Besides them was A’Chang, who had a toothy smile.
While Yu San was solely engrossed in rustling about with his broom.
Shen Shaoguang continued to lament, "It truly lives up to the Winter Solstice."
In a blink of an eye, it was already the Winter Solstice, the day with the longest night and the shortest period of daylight. In this dynasty, the Winter Solstice was a rather important solar term[1], second only to New Year’s Day. Government officials were mandated a seven-day holiday, and even their servants were also given a three-day holiday.
On the day of the Winter Solstice, there will be a grand court meeting and a banquet for hundreds of officials in the imperial palace. In certain years, the Emperor would go to the Circular Mound Altar in the southern suburbs to sacrifice to the Heavens. In the evening, there would be a family banquet in the palace. For the Emperor, it was a busy and toiling day.
It was much more laxed for the imperial wives and concubines. The favored ones only needed to fret about what clothes and jewelry to wear for the evening family banquet, while the unfavored ones would finish the mutton hand-pulled-dough noodle soup ‘conferred by the Emperor’ and then pass the time by drawing a Nine Nine Xiao Han Diagram[2] with the palace maids.
This was also a joyful time for the palace maids. Wearing their like-new rarely worn festive clothes, they drank their hand-pulled-dough noodle soups with seldomly-seen plentiful meats— though it was a little cooled. It was best to be warmed above a small stove, otherwise there would be a thin layer of mutton tallow floating above.
In the past few months, breakfast had always been prepared by Yu San, but this morning it was Shen Shaoguang who personally made the mutton hand-pulled-dough noodle soup, in the style served in the imperial palace.
It's very simple to make. The mutton was to be minced into small pieces the night before and stewed until very tender. In the morning, knead a dough that was prepared with warm water, shape the noodles, cook it in a pot with water, drain, and then divide evenly into the serving bowls. Add the rolling mutton together. Pour the boiling broth and meat on top, and it's done! It's a wonderful bowl of noodles to eat while it's hot during the frosty winter weather.
Compared with the stir-fried mutton noodle soup made by Yu San the last couple of days, this kind of mutton hand-pulled-dough noodle soup seemed to have a longer-lasting aftertaste, but lacked an ‘explosive element’. If asked about its uniqueness, then it would be their Miss’s skillful craftsmanship. The hand-pulled-dough noodles were shaped into garlic chives, while others were in the shape of extremely detailed petals, some were in the shape of goldfish, and others resembled butterflies. Each of the four bowls of noodles were different.
A’Yuan looked at Shen Shaoguang, realizing that she was spoiling her, so she picked the flower bowl. Shen Shaoguang picked the goldfish one, Yu San took the garlic chives one, and A’Chang took the bowl of butterflies with a grin.
Fearing that they would not be full, Shen Shaoguang also made a few savory egg crepes. Unfortunately there was no sauce to spread inside the crepes.
Now that they were outside in the cold and moving about, all the food they had just consumed was soon completely digested.
Shen Shaoguang smiled and said to the three, "Let's have large quarter-moon wontons for lunch."
The ‘large quarter-moon wontons’ mentioned by Shen Shaoguang were actually just dumplings. At this time, the name ‘dumpling’ had yet to appear, so they were currently regarded as a sub branch of wontons, and most of them were eaten in soup.
In her previous life, all the festivals meant eating a feast, and for northerners, half of these feasts used dumplings as the main course; this was especially true for winter festivals. The days near Chinese New Year, Shen Shaoguang would be fed various different types of dumplings. Although each one was of different fillings, she still lost her appetite eventually.
At that time, Shen Shaoguang had sworn that when she had a small family of her own, they would definitely eat rice, hot pot, pizza, barbecue, and even instant noodles just to avoid having to consume dumplings.
Who would have thought that when she came to this different time and space, she really became the head of the family, and transformed into ‘team dumpling’?
A’Yuan was not rebellious like Shen Shaoguang in her previous life and happily agreed before mentioning the shrimp and pork quarter-moon wontons made last time were really delicious.
Thus, Shen Shaoguang made the decision. "Then let's have shrimp and pork filling again today."
A’Yuan's speed of sweeping the snow sped up visibly.
On such a major holiday, every family would be eating a reunion dinner and enjoying time together with their family. Very few people were expected to visit their taverns today, therefore, there were limited ingredients and foods available for the guests.
Thus, Shen Shaoguang led the other three to celebrate the festival with peace of mind.
Shen Shaoguang washed a few copper coins and put them aside, she then also prepared a piece of white tofu.
A’Yuan looked at her in bewilderment, even Yu San didn't know what their Miss was up to.
Just like how other parents teach their children, Shen Shaoguang patiently explained to the three while adding the coins into the dumplings, "Whoever eats a wontons with money in it will be blessed with great prosperity the following year."
Yu San scoffed, while A’Yuan and A’Chang really laughed.
A’Yuan cheerfully exclaimed, "That's good, that's good. I have a big appetite and eat a lot. I will definitely be able to eat a wonton with the money in it."
Shen Shaoguang nodded, she learned to use probability quite well.
"Once I get it, I’ll give it to you, Miss. If you are blessed with prosperity, I will naturally also be."
A’Yuan’s words brought warmth to her heart, Shen Shaoguang couldn’t help but laugh.
A’Chang gleefully added, "If I also find one, I'll give it to Miss too."
Shen Shaoguang looked at Yu San with a smile.
Yu San expressionlessly folded the pleats of the dumplings. "They've all taken a bite. Don't you think it's too unsanitary, Miss?"
Shen Shaoguang’s eyes curved into crescents. "I don't mind, they can finish the quarter-moon wontons, I only want the coin."
Yu San: "..."
After rendering Yu San speechless for words, Shen Shaoguang felt refreshed and went on to enlighten A’Yuan and the others a piece of popular belief, "There will be some wontons that are filled with purely tofu, whoever eats them will be blessed with fortune[3]." In order to prevent A’Yuan from saying that she’ll give her piece to her, Shen Shaoguang quickly added, "I have enough good luck. Eat more to replenish your good fortune."
A’Yuan and A’Chang both nodded.
Yu San had nothing to say, he just hoped to finish quickly and keep his distance from these goofuses.
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Footnotes:
[1] solar term (节气 / 節氣) - is any of twenty-four periods in traditional Chinese lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon. The points are spaced 15° apart along the ecliptic and are used by lunisolar calendars to stay synchronized with the seasons, which is crucial for agrarian societies. The solar terms are also used to calculate intercalary months; which month is repeated depends on the position of the sun at the time. Here's a cool video about the winter solace and why people celebrate it - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6qel02Hw4c
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_term