The Guandong Zhu stove required charcoal burning. With limited funds, Mu Simiao broke the purchased charcoal pieces with a hammer. Only after pushing the cart to the stall did she light the charcoal.
As the charcoal fire burned, the heat transferred through metal sheets kept the water in the container constantly warm. When Mu Simiao lifted the lid, an aromatic fragrance instantly spread, causing neighboring stall owners to crane their necks curiously.
Noticing this, Mu Simiao distributed several vegetarian skewers to them, deliberately avoiding the “copycat” stall owner. That vendor snorted disdainfully, muttering just loud enough for Mu Simiao to hear. She merely glanced coolly at the woman.
That glance revealed something familiar – besides Liangmian, the copycat stall now also featured a bucket of soup whose scent remarkably resembled Sour Jujube Drink. Though suspicions arose in Mu Simiao’s mind, she refused to believe it.
When the school bell rang, Mu Simiao arranged her items and placed the trial operation sign on the stall. Though crowds surged, only half the usual students queued at Si Miao Cold Noodles today – the other half had gathered at the copycat stall.
“Boss, any new dishes?” a female student asked, peering at the sign before reading softly, “Guandong Zhu… I’ve never seen this before.”
“Naturally,” Mu Simiao replied mysteriously. “This ancestral secret recipe was nearly lost. I experimented many times before perfecting the seasoning.” Intrigued, the student immediately said, “Then I must try it.”
She ordered two chicken meatball skewers, one lotus root slice, and one potato chunk. Mu Simiao prepared her order while Qi Yuze served the Liangmian. Having not brought Sour Jujube Drink today, they offered complimentary Guandong Zhu Tang to anyone wanting soup.
Seeing the new offering, customers from the opposite Liangmian stall crowded over to queue. Noticing the Sour Jujube Drink in their hands, Mu Simiao inquired casually, “Is that Sour Jujube Drink you’re holding?”
The student raised her cup nodding, “Yes, it tastes just like yours! It comes free with their Liangmian purchase. Their noodle quality has improved too.”
Though the remark was innocently made, Mu Simiao took special note. She maintained composure while packing the Guandong Zhu, stealing another glance at the opposing stall. The flowing queue indicated good business, yet something felt fundamentally wrong.
Withdrawing her gaze, she glimpsed the nearly-empty Liangmian bag in the customer’s hand – the food must have tasted decent.
The Guandong Zhu proved particularly eye-catching. With limited ingredients prepared, it sold out quickly, though considerable Liangmian remained in the bucket.
Qi Yuze looked at the leftover noodles, hesitating to speak. Sensing his concern, Mu Simiao reassured him, “Don’t worry. We have more ancestral recipes than just this. The real crisis should be felt by our competition.”
Recognizing her attempt to comfort him, Qi Yuze nodded silently while cleaning the stall. Mu Simiao remained motionless, lost in thought.
“I’m going out briefly. Please keep cleaning up.”
After instructing him, Mu Simiao left for the marketplace where she found a young girl. Trading some candy for an errand, she waited until the girl returned with copycat Liangmian and Sour Jujube Drink. Thanking the child, she carried the items back in a cloth bundle.
Only upon reaching the courtyard did Mu Simiao open the bundle, dividing the Liangmian between two bowls and pouring out the Sour Jujube Drink for examination.
“Come try this.” Mu Simiao beckoned Qi Yuze over, handing him chopsticks. As the Liangmian entered his mouth, the familiar flavor instantly assaulted his taste buds. Mu Simiao had already suspected this might happen, so she wasn’t particularly shocked.
Qi Yuze wasn’t as good at hiding his emotions. His pupils constricted abruptly as he stared at Mu Simiao in disbelief: “Mu Niang.”
“You recognized it?” Mu Simiao set down her chopsticks and shook her head silently. “It seems my suspicions were correct. Liu Haoxuan has been secretly observing and recording our recipes these past few days while staying with us. I just don’t understand why he would be connected to that street vendor.”
The two finished the leftover noodles from lunch. After eating, Mu Simiao sat on a stone bench holding Yue’er, watching Qi Yuze keep accounts while pondering: “He showed no unusual behavior until recently. It was only after Granny Liu took him home that he started focusing on our recipes. The problem must lie with his engagement arrangement.”
She hadn’t paid much attention when the engagement was mentioned that day, since men here were always expected to get engaged eventually. But thinking back now, it was indeed strange – there had been no prior mentions of it, and only after he started working at their stall and the copycat vendor appeared did someone propose to him.
Unless the person he’s engaged to is the vendor across the street.
But this was merely speculation – concrete evidence was still needed. After Qi Yuze finished bookkeeping, she headed to the market. While purchasing ingredients, she deliberately walked toward the alley where Liu Haoxuan lived, avoiding Granny Liu’s hairpin stall and instead inquiring at the adjacent dessert shop.
“Granny, have you heard of the Liu family in this alley? I’d like to ask you something.” Mu Simiao spoke while packing desserts into paper bags. The shop owner, being naturally accommodating to customers’ requests, accepted payment and smiled while asking, “Granny Liu’s family? Yes, I know them. What would you like to ask, miss?”
“I heard their son got engaged. Would you happen to know which family he’s engaged to?”
The shop owner thought Mu Simiao had taken a liking to the young man and gave her a probing look: “You’ve asked the right person. The family that proposed is the Wang family from west street. They’re merchants – I heard the betrothal gift was ten taels of silver…”
Mu Simiao had indeed heard about the betrothal gift – Liu Haoxuan had mentioned it that day. But she didn’t know if this Wang family was the same as the vendor across the street: “Might you know where the Wang family head works?”
“On the street in front of the private school, selling some kind of noodles if I recall correctly. This old woman isn’t too sure.” After the shop owner’s directions, Mu Simiao was already fairly certain. She deliberately walked past the Wang residence several times, eventually spotting Liu Haoxuan mixing sauce in the courtyard.
She never expected Liu Haoxuan would come to the Wang family to prepare the sauce. Feeling disappointed, Mu Simiao stood silently watching for a while before turning to leave.
Since the Liangmian liaozhi recipe had been exposed, Mu Simiao had no choice but to change ingredients, switching from Liangmian to mixed noodles. There were many types of mixed noodles, with Cong You Banmian being the simplest. Without much deliberation, she settled on this direction.
Anyway, this was just a temporary measure. In a few days when temperatures dropped, they would remove noodles from their stall and focus mainly on selling Guandong Zhu and Jidan guanbing.
That day, they only had time to prepare meatballs and vegetable dishes. Mu Simiao pre-cooked the ingredients needed for Guandong Zhu the night before. The next morning, while Qi Yuze was boiling noodles, she began preparing the sauce needed for Cong You Banmian.
She washed and chopped the scallions, separating the white and green parts. Starting with a cold pan, she added the white parts and waited for the oil to gradually heat up. Once the white parts turned golden, she added the green parts and cooked until all were uniformly golden. She then removed the scallions, added one spoonful of sugar, two spoonfuls of light soy sauce, half a spoonful of dark soy sauce, and half a spoonful of sauce, stirring until well combined. Finally, she poured the mixture into two compartments of the Guandong Zhu.