“It’s no matter; this is a new food I plan to sell tomorrow. Please eat without worry, Auntie, and consider it a favor to help me test the flavor.”
Xue Li was sweet-tongued and had been kind to everyone since setting up her stall. Hearing her say this, the auntie stopped declining. She gave a bashful smile and lowered her head to blow the heat off the bun.
The milky-white steam slowly dissipated, but the rich aroma of meat insistently drifted into her nose, making her mouth water before she even took a bite.
The Guoduo auntie endured the heat and took a bite. She felt the outer skin of the bun give way effortlessly; the dough was flaky and soft, unfolding between her teeth like blooming flower petals. The filling inside immediately released its tempting flavor. The pork fat, melted by the wood fire, had seeped into the dough, creating a texture that was rich but not greasy. The salty fragrance of the fermented bean sauce intertwined with the crispness of the diced bamboo shoots, added to by the mellow scent of the mushrooms. With a flick of her tongue, she tasted an indescribable freshness.
Xue Li leaned in slightly, her eyes wide as she watched the auntie’s expression. Suddenly, she saw the auntie’s eyes go wide as she stared back.
Could it be… that it tastes so bad it struck her dumb?!
Xue Li felt a jolt of alarm, and her heart sank. Her brows drooped as she secretly lamented that she might be destined to have no luck with food in both of her lives.
This wasn’t like the last time when someone was intentionally looking for trouble; this time, she might actually end up languishing in a Song Dynasty prison for several years.
She lowered her head with a mournful face, but the auntie was just coming back to her senses from her shock. It was as if she couldn’t believe such a small pastry could be this delicious. With a mouthful of hot filling still in her mouth, she couldn’t help but take another bite immediately.
This time, it wasn’t a cautious nibble but a hearty feast. The piping hot filling made her gasp for air, yet she cared for nothing but taking one bite after another.
“Little lady, you look so young… I never expected your culinary skills to be so exquisite!” The auntie spoke with one cheek bulging, her voice muffled but full of praise.
Xue Li suddenly looked up, overjoyed. “Auntie, you think it’s good?”
“Of course it’s good.” The auntie glanced at her, seemingly amused by her lack of confidence. “It’s flaky without falling apart, fragrant without being cloying. I’ve lived for more than half my life and have never eaten such a unique pastry. But… this isn’t an ordinary mantou, is it? What is this called?”
Right, she hadn’t given it a name yet. She couldn’t keep calling it “Broken Crust Bun.”
Xue Li paused, her mind racing. She blurted out almost instantly, “This is called the ‘Cloud Flaky Bun’!”
“Cloud Flaky Bun?”
“Yes, that’s the name.” Xue Li smiled radiantly. “The crust is as thin as the clouds and mist; shouldn’t it be called a Cloud Flaky Bun?”
“A very good name, a very good name!”
As the two were discussing the flavor of the Cloud Flaky Buns, Xue Li accidentally noticed a crowd gathering at the street corner where the official notices were posted.
Coincidentally, a customer arrived at the auntie’s Guoduo stall. Seeing Xue Li looking over there curiously, the customer helpfully remarked, “You want to know about that Imperial Proclamation? It’s nothing much, just the Emperor seeking a chef for the Marquis of Ningwu.”
Seeking a chef? Xue Li was puzzled.
She had heard of Emperors choosing concubines, scholars, or famous doctors, but she hadn’t expected there to be a search for a chef.
As if reading Xue Li’s mind, the auntie asked while serving a fresh bowl of quail guoduo to the customer, “The Manor of the Marquis of Ningwu is so grand and wealthy; why does the Emperor need to worry about their chef?”
The customer replied, “Don’t you know yet? The Marquis of Ningwu led his troops to attack the Northern Han, but a traitor in the army defected to the enemy, leaked military intelligence, and he returned heavily wounded. I heard his new injuries have triggered old ailments. The Marquis’s current physical condition is not optimistic.”
“He’s that ill?” Amidst her shock, the auntie felt a pang of pity. She turned around and saw Xue Li with her round eyes wide open, looking innocent and confused, which made the auntie feel a bit annoyed.
How can the youngsters of today not care about the life and death of a hero of our dynasty?
The auntie said with deep grief and earnestness, “The Marquis of Ningwu has followed his father to war since he first tied his hair. By his twentieth year, he was the bravest in the three armies, invincible in battle! He has spent his life on horseback for the Great Song; he is a truly loyal general! Now that his life hangs in the balance, how can you be so indifferent, child?”
Xue Li was a newcomer; how could she have had the time to find out who the important officials in the current court were? Seeing the auntie staring at her with a “disappointed in her lack of ambition” look, she feared being accused of being an enemy spy. She hurriedly replied, “The Marquis of Ningwu is incredibly brave. Since such a thing has happened, I am naturally heartbroken for the nation’s loss of a general… but with a little woman’s culinary skills like mine, I couldn’t possibly answer that Imperial Proclamation, could I?”
The auntie was stumped by this counter-question. She choked for a moment, originally wanting to say, “Your skill in making Cloud Flaky Buns is quite astounding,” or something of the sort. But the customer at the wooden table nodded in agreement. “The Marquis comes from a noble lineage; naturally, his taste in food is very discerning. Before the yellow proclamation was posted, famous chefs from Bianjing went to the Marquis’s manor to test their dishes, and without exception, they all returned having failed. If the little lady had the ability to cook dragons and phoenixes, she wouldn’t be setting up a stall in front of Xingguo Temple, would she?”
Xue Li nodded repeatedly.
The Guoduo auntie looked at her, the words stuck in her throat.
As the sun set in the west, Xue Li packed up her bun stall. Pushing her small cart and listening to the clatter of copper coins in the money box beneath, she strolled home at a leisurely pace.
The porridge shops and soup noodle stalls in the morning market usually opened at the crack of dawn and packed up around the hour of the Dragon (7-9 AM). Xue Li opened later and packed up even later.
She had thought about staying until the night market to make another profit, but on second thought, she had to prepare the filling for the Cloud Flaky Buns tonight and get up early tomorrow to steam them. It was better to head home early to rest and gather her spirits.
The caramelized scent of roasted chestnuts wafted from a shop along the street. The hunger pangs in Xue Li’s stomach were slowly awakened. Just as she slowed her pace and looked toward the shop with shining eyes, a small child holding a sugar painting suddenly dashed out from the side, nearly knocking over her cart.
Xue Li was startled. By the time she recovered, the child’s parents had already rushed up to apologize.
The child’s father looked like a refined scholar. Deeply apologetic for his son’s reckless behavior, he bowed with his hands clasped and apologized repeatedly with such a solemn expression that she felt she might lose years of her life just accepting it.
“It’s no matter to me, as long as your child is alright.”
The child’s mother also gave Xue Li an apologetic smile, then hurriedly chased after her still-playing son, calling out, “Eldest slave, don’t run, be careful not to soak your underclothes with sweat.”
The family of three hurried away. Watching their warm silhouettes, Xue Li felt a pang of pity for the original owner of this body, who shared her name.
The original owner was the daughter of an ordinary family. Her father ran a family-inherited pharmacy and was preparing for the imperial exams, while her mother ran a small eatery with her excellent cooking skills. The family of three lived happily and harmoniously. But heaven does not always follow human wishes; her father was obsessed with achieving fame and failed the exams for many years, and the pharmacy went bankrupt due to poor management. Because of the family’s decline, her mother was perpetually worried, eventually falling ill from sorrow and passing away.
The original owner and her father depended on each other, but misfortunes never come singly. One late night, her father, drunk and missing his wife, stumbled and hit his head on a large stone by the river, dying instantly.
With both parents gone, the original owner was naturally devastated. In a fit of despair, she threw herself into the well, which led to the scene where Xue Li had scrambled out of the well in the overgrown courtyard when she first arrived.
It was truly a pity. Such a fine young lady had not only inherited her mother’s culinary talent but also, through contact with her father’s medicine, mastered the pairing of various ingredients and herbs. That she would choose to end her life by jumping into a well, leaving behind her youth and her many skills—how could Xue Li not feel heartbroken?
However, since she had borrowed this body to gain a new life, she would surely revive the family business to comfort the spirits of the Xue family in heaven!
The first step to a comeback!
Escape poverty and get rich!
Although the original Xue family wasn’t poor, a lot of wealth had already been spent on her father’s exams and her mother’s medical treatments. Coupled with the successive deaths of her parents and the fact that Song Dynasty people often chose expensive burials, the remaining money she had on hand after all expenses was only fifteen guan.
Xue Li had already calculated it; her bun stall had been doing good business these past few days.
Mutton buns sold for ten wen each, bamboo shoot and meat for eight, sugar-filled for six, and vegetarian for four. According to the Song Dynasty’s profit margin standard of thirty to fifty percent for the catering industry, this was within a reasonable range. Selling at least two hundred buns a day, minus the cost of ingredients and stall taxes, she could earn five hundred wen a day just by selling buns. Not to mention, in the future, she wanted to take over a small shop space near Xingguo Temple to sell more medicinal meals and pastries.
However, renting a shop immediately was still a bit unrealistic.
After all, Xingguo Temple was a prosperous area in Bianjing, and the monthly rent alone was eight guan. She would stick with the small cart for a while and save up some capital first.
The Xue ancestors had worked hard and accumulated significant wealth, and they had always valued family. Therefore, the ancestral pharmacy was not located in the front courtyard of the residence but was specially rented elsewhere to avoid disturbing the peace of the home.
The Xue residence was a two-entry quadrangle house with deep gray brick walls. The main house sat to the north, with side wings to the east and west. In the courtyard, pines and cypresses were lush, and plum blossoms braved the cold—useful both as medicine and for viewing. There were two narrow rooms in the backyard; one was used to store various medicinal materials, though most had rotted or gone moldy since the death of the father due to a lack of care. The other was filled with pots, pans, and bowls. Since the mother’s illness, few people had moved them, and the utensils were covered in a thick layer of dust.
Xue Li pushed the cart into the courtyard and parked it. She stood with her hands on her hips, tilting her head back to relax her neck. In that brief moment, she caught sight of the decorative tiles on the roof opposite her. The tiles were stamped with auspicious words like “Peace, Longevity, Luck, and Prosperity,” with fine patterns carved around the edges. Seeing this, she couldn’t help but sigh. If not for her father’s failure and her mother’s illness, the life of this little lady Xue would have been beautiful and comfortable.
Taking advantage of the fact that it wasn’t completely dark yet, Xue Li briskly grabbed her tools and began renovating her small cart.
After all, tomorrow she would be selling the very first “Cloud Flaky Buns” in all of Bianjing. As the stall owner, she had to advertise properly.
Cloud Flaky Buns were valuable because of that one word: “Flaky.”
If she could have a sample ready by the steamer for reference, letting customers see the layers of crust as thin as cicada wings and the fresh, juicy filling, she could naturally entice them to drool. Unfortunately, given the current conditions, once the steamed buns cooled slightly, they became fragile and weren’t suitable for long-term display.
After a moment of thought, Xue Li had an idea. She fetched bamboo paper, a brush, and paints, her brush flying across the page.
With just a few strokes, three Cloud Flaky Buns leaped onto the paper. At the very top was a whole, plump white bun, with a brush dipped in white clay slurry to create a wisp of white mist, looking as if it had just been taken out of the steamer, piping hot. In the middle and at the bottom were two buns torn in half, their flaky layers revealed, with the golden-brown sauce-meat filling and the dark red, fragrant bean paste filling looking as if they were about to flow out.
Just looking at the simple sketch was enough to make one swallow their saliva.
Xue Li wiped away a bead of sweat and mounted the drawing, hanging it on the sunshade canopy. Standing back to look at it, she still felt it lacked a certain something.
Since it was an advertisement, how could it be without a slogan?
She fetched another wooden board, dipped her brush deep into cinnabar red, and wrote six large characters in a flowing style.
[Author’s Note]
In different periods of the Song Dynasty, the price of mutton fluctuated quite a bit. During the reign of Emperor Yingzong, it was as low as 30-40 wen per catty, while in the Southern Song, it soared to 900 wen per catty (though that is an extreme case). This story uses 40 wen per catty as the price benchmark.