Han You licked the corners of his mouth, scraping up even the cilantro garnish from the edge of the porcelain bowl.
He still wanted more. One bowl wasn’t quite enough, but he was afraid he would be stuffed if he ordered another full bowl. He looked at Jiang Mo with hesitation. The burly man nearby felt the same. The wontons were incredibly delicious, but one bowl wasn’t enough, and paying another forty coins for a second bowl was a bit painful for his wallet.
He leaned toward Han You. “What are you thinking?”
Han You: “If I act a little coquettish with the boss, do you think she’d sell me half a bowl?”
The burly man urged him, “Then hurry up! If it works, I’ll do it too!”
Han You: “……?” He turned to look at the man. The man winked at him.
Jiang Mo, having accidentally overheard them: “……” She imagined the two of them acting coy and shuddered. “I can sell you each half a bowl for ten coins.” Jiang Mo decided to nip their coquettish plans in the bud.
Both men lit up. The burly man scrambled to push his bowl forward. “The boss is as kind as she is beautiful! Tell you what, I’ll take eight wontons, and give him seven—he’s thin and doesn’t eat as much!”
Han You: “？？？”
Jiang Mo didn’t skimp on a wonton or two; she served them eight each and topped them off with extra broth. Watching them eat with satisfaction, their bellies round and full, she felt a sense of relief. At least she didn’t have to witness the burly man acting coquettish.
As the pier grew more crowded, more people were drawn by the aroma of the wontons. Jiang Mo and Iris gradually became quite busy.
Back on the boat, Xu Chuanhua was still simmering with frustration. They looked like the most ordinary wontons, after all. Nothing worth obsessing over. But there are some things that, the less you can get your hands on, the more they haunt your thoughts. That soup was so fragrant; it must taste incredible. The skin looked thin, semi-translucent enough to see the meat filling—it must melt in the mouth.
Xu Chuanhua, face dark, handed twenty coins to her ten-year-old son, telling him to go buy her a bowl of wontons. She couldn’t bring herself to go buy them personally. She also gave him seven extra coins to buy himself two buns.
Xu Xiaobao went off happily. When he found the stall his mother described, he saw it was packed with people, three layers deep. Even with so many people, they couldn’t block the scent wafting from the stall.
Xu Xiaobao sniffed. Wow! It smells so good!
After finally squeezing in and seeing the beautiful, oily chicken soup wontons, his stomach immediately gave a loud, uncooperative growl.
“Big Sister! Two bowls of chicken soup wontons!” He put all his coins on the table.
“Little brother, there’s only one bowl left,” Jiang Mo said, glancing at the coins. “And you don’t have enough for two bowls anyway.”
Xu Xiaobao didn’t hesitate: “Then I’ll take one!” With wontons this fragrant, who would want to eat those buns? Mom is so unfair, trying to keep all the good food for herself!
He was glad he found out early. Good food should be shared by the whole family. With fifteen wontons, he, his father, and his mother could have five each.
Xu Xiaobao sat at the stall eating, his cheeks bulging. Before he knew it, he had eaten six. He licked his lips. Whatever, I already ate one extra, I might as well finish Dad’s portion too. After eating ten, he looked at the final five. Sigh. If I only bring Mom’s portion back, Dad will surely be upset. I’ll just eat them all! It will save them from arguing over a few wontons! I really am a thoughtful child!
The chicken soup wontons were an immediate success. They sold thirty bowls in the morning and earned six hundred coins.
Jiang Mo instructed Iris to take the donkey cart back to Qingli Villa while she tucked the bag of copper coins into her sleeve and headed to the busiest market in Jiangzhou. It was the best time of the morning, when the produce brought in by merchants from the surrounding counties was at its freshest.
Jiang Mo bought some vegetables and, carrying her basket, stopped in front of the Qianjin Building, the most famous shop for ladies’ jewelry and clothing. She gazed at the exquisite glass lanterns in front of the door, where noblewomen and young ladies dressed in expensive furs chatted and laughed. She touched her six hundred hard-earned coins, sighed, and turned away.
Passing a vendor’s stall, Jiang Mo stopped. “How do you sell these hawthorn fruits?”
The basket was filled with bright red hawthorns, plump and fresh—clearly just picked. The vendor, seeing a graceful young woman speaking to him, blushed before he could even answer. “These… these mountain fruits are very sour. They aren’t good to eat.”
Jiang Mo couldn’t help but laugh. “If you do business this way, you’ll never make money.”
Who tells a customer that their own fruit is bad?
The vendor blushed even deeper at her laughter and hurried to pull out a smaller basket covered with rough cloth. “These red fruits are sweet. Young ladies love them.”
Jiang Mo leaned in and was pleasantly surprised. It was a basket of strawberries! In this era, there was no specialized cultivation; both hawthorns and strawberries were wild and therefore rare and expensive. If I earn enough money, buying a small estate to grow the fruits and vegetables I like would be nice.
“I’ll take all of these—the hawthorns and the red fruits!”
The blushing vendor froze. “Mi-miss, you want them all?” He couldn’t believe it. Buying strawberries was one thing, but who bought so many sour mountain fruits? Usually, only families with pregnant women bought those.
Jiang Mo started counting out the money. “How much?”
“Four coins a pound for the mountain fruits; this basket is twenty pounds. And three pounds of the red fruits at thirty coins a pound. A total of one hundred and seventy coins.”
Jiang Mo nodded. “I can’t carry this. Can you help me deliver it to Qingli Villa?”
The vendor agreed instantly. As they parted, Jiang Mo added, “If you see these two kinds of fruits in the mountains again, pick them, and I’ll take them all.” The vendor was overjoyed and thanked her repeatedly.
When Iris saw that Jiang Mo had bought a whole basket of hawthorns, she nearly rushed out. “Miss, why did you buy these sour fruits? You must have been cheated—they’re so sour they’re inedible!”
Jiang Mo stopped her. “When it comes to food, who could ever trick your mistress?”
Iris was confused. “Then these are…”
“Of course, they’re for selling.”
Who doesn’t love sweet and sour candied hawthorns (bingtang hulu)?
Iris, who had never heard of turning mountain fruit into a delicacy, was filled with worry. Jiang Mo had her process the hawthorns—soaking them in salt water to clean them, picking out the bad ones, and letting them dry. Iris was suspicious. Aren’t these the same sour fruits I know?
She secretly took a bite of one. Ouch! My teeth!
Jiang Mo went to a hardware shop to buy bamboo skewers and toothpicks, and then bought two pounds of sugar. Sugar was a luxury, costing half a tael per pound. The money she earned today was spent in the blink of an eye, and she even had to dip into her savings for a pair of silver earrings.
Jiang Mo looked cold and detached. Hmph. What is spent will eventually return in another way. If it doesn’t, I’ll mentally hit Shen Zhengze a hundred times!! No reason needed!
Back at the courtyard, Jiang Mo began boiling the sugar, instructing Iris to core the hawthorns and string eight of them on each skewer. The key to successful candied hawthorns was in the sugar syrup. White sugar and water were boiled over a low fire, changing from white to a deep amber color. When the bubbles changed from large to small, emitting a faint toasted fragrance, she turned off the fire.
She took the skewers of hawthorns, rolled them through the hot syrup, and placed them on an iron tray to cool. After a few moments, the crystal-clear, mouth-watering candied hawthorns were ready!
The mistress and maid worked all day to finish. Jiang Mo generously handed the first skewer to Iris, but she was met with a hesitant look. Iris reached out, pulled back, reached out again…
Jiang Mo: “……?”