Sure enough, as soon as Li Menglan lowered herself and softened her stance first, Zhao Qingyun’s face immediately cleared, his smile blooming. “Lan’er, did you come to see Big Brother Zhao today for something?”
Good! Zhao Qingyun at last remembered to ask why Li Menglan’s family had come. After all, though Zhao Qingyun was a young master of a great household, he was no fool like Jia Baoyu, ignorant of worldly affairs. He knew that with Li Menglan’s character, she would never come knocking without a reason!
“Big Brother Zhao, I wonder how the sugar-fried chestnuts I sold to your Xiankeju the last two times did? Did they sell well?” Li Menglan did not directly tell Zhao Qingyun why she had come. Instead, she first asked how well the sugar-fried chestnuts had been selling at Xiankeju.
At Li Menglan’s words, the smile on Zhao Qingyun’s face became even more obvious. “Hehe… Lan’er, don’t even mention it. Those sugar-fried chestnuts from your family aren’t just delicious; they’re extremely popular with everyone. Look, the hundred-plus jin delivered just yesterday sold more than half in a single day.”
The Zhao family was very rich… and not lacking in money… but the sugar-fried chestnut business had been personally arranged by Zhao Qingyun. To him, it held a different kind of meaning. Since the sugar-fried chestnuts were well received and sold well, it was only natural that Zhao Qingyun would be very pleased.
“That’s good.” Li Menglan’s heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled.
“What? Uncle Li, are you here to deliver more sugar-fried chestnuts today?” Zhao Qingyun finally noticed the sacks carried on the backs of Li Dazhu, Li Zhiming, Li Zhihao, and the others.
“Xiao Si, didn’t I tell you? If Uncle Li brings sugar-fried chestnuts to Xiankeju again, there’s no need to come ask me. Just accept them at the original price.” When Zhao Qingyun looked toward Xiao Si, his brows unconsciously furrowed together.
Uh… was he, this young master, a little too easy to talk to? Why were all these shop assistants so slow? Zhao Qingyun could not help silently reflecting on himself.
“Big Brother Zhao, it’s not Brother Xiao Si’s fault.” Li Menglan spoke before Xiao Si could open his mouth. “What we brought today isn’t sugar-fried chestnuts, but another new kind of snack. I asked Brother Xiao Si to bring us over to see Big Brother Zhao, to find out whether Xiankeju wants this new snack or not.”
Xiao Si had originally brought their family over out of goodwill. Li Menglan did not want him to be scolded over this.
“A new snack?” Sure enough, Zhao Qingyun’s attention was diverted by Li Menglan. “What is it? Take it out and let me have a look.”
Ever since the sugar-fried chestnuts, Zhao Qingyun had grown fond of that sweet, soft, glutinous taste. Now, hearing Li Menglan say she had a new snack, he naturally became greatly interested and immediately grew eager.
“Dad, give me the basket.” Li Menglan had long since prepared some loose dried persimmon cakes in the basket, originally intending to let people try their flavor and texture.
“Oh… here you go, daughter.” Li Dazhu stepped forward and handed the basket to Li Menglan.
“Big Brother Zhao, this is the new snack I made this time. It’s called a dried persimmon cake. Try it and see how it tastes.” Li Menglan lifted the cloth covering the basket, took out the dried persimmon cakes wrapped in a clean handkerchief, picked one up, and handed it to Zhao Qingyun.
“Brother Xiao Si, here… you help me taste it too. See how it tastes, whether it’s good or not.” Li Menglan also picked up a dried persimmon cake and placed it in Xiao Si’s hand.
Dried persimmon cakes were cake-shaped foods made by drying persimmons by hand. They were also called dried persimmons, and could be used as filling for snacks. Their color was grayish-white, while the cut surface was golden, semi-transparent, and gelatinous; they were soft and sweet. They were sweet and moist in nature, non-toxic, nourishing to the heart and lungs, able to relieve coughs and phlegm, clear heat and quench thirst, strengthen the spleen, and astringe the intestines.
The flesh was dry and clean, the flavor light and sweet, and they could be stored for a long time without spoiling. Dried persimmon cakes contained sucrose, glucose, fructose, protein, carotene, vitamin C, citrulline, iodine, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and other components. They had the effects of lowering blood pressure, stopping bleeding, clearing heat, and astringing the intestines.
Compared with sugar-fried chestnuts, these dried persimmon cakes naturally did not taste inferior. On the contrary, they were even slightly better.
However, there were still some taboos when eating dried persimmon cakes. For example—diabetics, those with spleen deficiency and diarrhea, loose stools, weak constitutions, frequent illness, postpartum women, and those suffering from externally contracted wind-cold should avoid eating them. Those with chronic gastritis, delayed gastric emptying, indigestion, and other conditions of weak stomach motility, as well as those who had undergone partial gastrectomy, should not eat persimmons.
Also… they should not be eaten together with pickled cabbage or black dates, otherwise stones could form. Nor should they be eaten with goose meat, crabs, sweet potatoes, or eggs, otherwise they could cause abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and other symptoms. One also could not consume vinegar before or after eating persimmons, and so on.
In truth, dried persimmon cakes were best eaten after meals. But Xiankeju was a teahouse, so Li Menglan was not at all worried about these taboos.
Li Menglan watched as Zhao Qingyun elegantly finished the dried persimmon cake in his hand, one small bite at a time. With a nervous expression, she asked, “Big Brother Zhao, what do you think of the taste of this dried persimmon cake? Is it all right… does your Xiankeju want it?”
Seeing Li Menglan’s little face full of nervousness, Zhao Qingyun could not help smiling faintly. As if possessed, he reached out and patted her head, saying kindly, “Lan’er, look at you, your nervous little face is all scrunched up. Don’t be nervous. The taste of this dried persimmon cake is much better than sugar-fried chestnuts.”
“Really?” Li Menglan forcefully held back the joy leaping in her heart and asked with wide eyes.
“Qingyun, what is it that’s even tastier than sugar-fried chestnuts?” The one who answered Li Menglan was not Zhao Qingyun. A resonant voice came in from outside the courtyard. “Did you brat secretly find something delicious behind your grandfather’s back again and hide it away? Hm… planning to eat it all by yourself?”
From outside the courtyard strode in an old man in coarse hemp robes, his hair and beard completely white, yet still hale and hearty, growing only stronger with age.
This was a kindly old man. His hair was combed with great care, without the slightest disorder. Yet those strands of silver-white hair flashed with a dazzling light beneath the refraction of the sun. Within his slightly sunken eye sockets, a pair of dark-brown eyes quietly told of the vicissitudes of time.
Although he wore only a simple hemp robe, it still could not conceal the proud bearing that only someone long accustomed to a high position would possess. One look was enough to tell that this old man was no ordinary person.
“Grandfather, how are your ears so sharp? There’s a whole wall between us and you still heard it.” Zhao Qingyun felt both a headache and helplessness toward this grandfather of his, whose temperament became more childlike the older he grew.
The old master of their family had served as a general all his life. He had no hobbies in life except for one typical thing—he was a glutton!
Uh… to put it plainly, the old master of the Zhao family was purely obsessed with delicacies. Anything that flew in the sky or swam in the water… as long as it looked edible, there was nothing Old Master Zhao did not like or love.
Take the sugar-fried chestnuts Li Menglan’s family delivered to Xiankeju, for example. Not to mention anything else… at the very least, one-tenth of them had gone into the belly of this Old Master Zhao before their eyes.
And even that amount was only the result of Zhao Qingyun forcibly limiting him because he was worried his grandfather was too old and that eating too many sweets would be bad for him.
Uh… from this, one could imagine just how much this old man could eat.