The next day, Lu Yan put the sliced fish cakes on display.
“Fish cake! Fish cake! Made entirely from fish! Add fish cake to your bun for only three wen! One day only—first come, first served!”
The regular customers who came to buy buns were thrilled to see that Lu Yan had introduced a new item. But when they heard it was made entirely of fish and only cost three wen, they were puzzled.
“Young lady,” one man in line asked hesitantly, “is this fish cake really made entirely from fish? Why is it so cheap?”
Lu Yan smiled.
“I caught the fish myself, so it’s inexpensive. But making this is a lot of work, so today is probably the only time I’ll sell it. It’s just for everyone to try something new—first come, first served! Once it’s gone, there won’t be any more.”
The moment she said first come, first served, the customers went wild.
No matter what they had originally intended to buy, almost everyone added a serving of fish cake.
Around the chen hour, Song Bowen arrived as expected.
He took a letter from inside his robe and handed it over somewhat shyly.
“This is for Lu Sheng.”
Well then. It seemed the two had already become friends if they were exchanging letters and even knew each other’s names now.
Lu Yan put away the letter and took out a box and an oil-paper package from her insulated container.
“The fish cake is in the paper bag,” she said. “The box contains wontons I wrapped. They’re uncooked, so just have your family’s cook boil them when you get home.”
As Song Bowen accepted the food, he looked embarrassed.
“Miss Lu, the truth is, when I gave you that half tael of silver the other day, I wasn’t shamelessly expecting you to make food for me. It’s just that your cooking is so delicious that I simply can’t refuse…”
Lu Yan laughed.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
At noon, Lu Yan’s fish cake and fish wontons appeared on the Song family’s dining table.
By now, Master Song had grown accustomed to his son bringing home new and interesting foods every day.
This time, the fish wontons didn’t disappoint him either.
Watching his parents eat with satisfaction, a thought suddenly occurred to Song Bowen.
“Father, although the stall owner is young, she’s truly remarkable when it comes to food,” he said meaningfully. “She’s definitely not some ignorant woman without learning. And she has a younger brother who’s also a scholar and writes an excellent hand.”
Master Song’s interest was piqued.
“Oh? Tell me more.”
“The sign at her stall says ‘Lu’s’ in large characters. I first became acquainted with her because I admired that handwriting. Her younger brother wrote it. At such a young age, his calligraphy already has great character and strength.”
Song Bowen continued,
“The two siblings are no ordinary people. Perhaps they might be able to offer some help with the matter that’s troubling Father…”
Master Song’s expression turned thoughtful.
“The handwriting… is it really that good?”
Song Bowen nodded.
“Like iron strokes and silver hooks—its strength seems to penetrate the paper.”
Master Song fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, back at the Lu household…
For the past few days, Lu Yan had been craving sweets.
Since she was always trying to train Lu Sheng in various ways, she decided to have him whip egg whites for her today.
The key to making cake wasn’t actually the oven. Steaming worked perfectly well.
In her previous life, steamed cakes had been incredibly popular, their advertisements everywhere. Everyone knew the slogan: ‘Steamed cake is delicious and won’t make you feel overheated.’
She had made them herself before, and they tasted no different from the ones sold in supermarkets.
The truly important part of making cake was whipping the egg whites.
There were no electric mixers here. Beating egg whites until they were stiff enough to hold a chopstick upright was incredibly difficult.
Lu Yan had already asked Lu Da to make her a set of molds and a whisk similar to modern ones. At least it was easier than using chopsticks.
Under Lu Yan’s constant care and plentiful food, Lu Sheng looked much healthier now. She often found excuses to make him exercise, and even the sickly air around him seemed to have faded somewhat, though the change wasn’t obvious yet.
Even so, he spent a full forty-five minutes beating the egg whites before they were finally ready.
By then, he couldn’t even lift his arms.
He glared at Lu Yan resentfully.
“If this doesn’t taste good, we’re having a serious talk.”
“It’ll definitely be delicious!” Lu Yan promised. “The moment you taste it, you’ll feel all your effort was worth it.”
Low-gluten flour was easy enough to make—just mix regular flour and starch in the proper proportions.
Ever since she’d decided to make shrimp dumplings, Lu Yan had prepared a whole batch of starches for future use: wheat starch, potato starch, sweet potato starch…
As long as she had free time, she made starch.
She folded the whipped egg whites into the egg yolks, added her homemade low-gluten flour, greased the molds, poured in the batter, and placed everything in the steamer.
Before the cakes were even done steaming, their sweet fragrance had already filled the entire courtyard.
Lu Sheng had long since given up studying and was squatting at the kitchen door, staring inside eagerly.
Ancient people had never experienced modern pastry shops.
To them, this aroma was simply overwhelming.
After steaming for half an hour, the cakes were finally done.
Each had puffed up into a plump, adorable little shape inside its mold.
Steamed Cake
While the cakes cooled, Lu Yan also cooked down hawthorn berries and rock sugar into a jam.
Once the cakes had cooled, she sliced half of them open and spread the jam inside.
She picked up a plain one for herself, broke off a piece, and put it into her mouth.
Her eyes narrowed with satisfaction.
This was it.
She could finally eat dessert again!
The cakes were an enormous hit in the Lu household.
Although they were only pastries and couldn’t serve as a full meal, the fact that candied hawthorns sold for more than meat in town showed just how luxurious sweets were.
The three members of the Lu family had never tasted anything with this texture before.
At first glance, the cakes looked rather plain, almost like ordinary steamed sponge cakes.
But the moment they took a bite, the difference was obvious.
They were soft, delicate, fluffy, and tender.
It felt as though they were eating a cloud.
The plain version was rich with the fragrance of eggs and sweetness.
The hawthorn-jam version had even more layers of flavor. After being cooked with rock sugar, the jam was no longer sharply sour but pleasantly sweet and tangy, fresh and refreshing when spread inside the cake.
Lu Sheng praised it repeatedly.
“What is this pastry called?”
“Cake,” Lu Yan replied.
“…Well, I suppose that’s accurate, but it’s far too straightforward,” Lu Sheng said. “Why not call it Cloud Cake?”
Lu Yan thought about it and shook her head.
“There’s something even more cloud-like than this. I’ll make you a real Cloud Cake someday.”
If they were talking about food that truly resembled clouds, then a French soufflé deserved to enter the competition.
“Are you planning to sell this?” Lu Sheng asked again.
“No,” Lu Yan replied. “I’ll bring a couple for Song Bowen tomorrow, but the people in our town wouldn’t bear to spend money on this. We’ll keep it for ourselves.”
Hearing that, Lu Sheng happily ate another one.
The next day, at the Song family’s table…
The moment Master Song sat down, he noticed that today’s new dish was a plate of pastries.
There were two cakes: one plain and one spread with hawthorn jam.
The molds Lu Da had made for Lu Yan were shaped like little flowers, so every cake came out in the shape of a blossom, looking extremely cute.
Master Song picked one up and took a bite.
He was instantly conquered by its light and airy texture.
He narrowed his eyes in enjoyment and finished the entire piece.
Then he took a sip of tea, suddenly grabbed his son’s hand, and said,
“I think the matter you mentioned the other day… might actually work.”