The two snacks Shen Xuan decided on were fried chicken and spicy skewers (红油串串). Both were intensely flavored and emitted strong aromas, making them more likely to attract passing customers.
He planned to rent a very small storefront, as he'd only be selling these two snacks, and just enough space would suffice.
As the shizi's fiancé, he couldn't personally hawk the goods, so he would need to hire two people from the labor market.
These tasks, though simple to describe, couldn't be accomplished overnight. First, there was the flavor of the snacks.
Take fried chicken, for instance. Shen Xuan had eaten it many times and even made it himself while studying in the modern world, but most of those times involved pre-made marinades.
Now, opening a shop in Great Jin, it wouldn't be so easy. He'd have to prepare the marinades himself.
***
The next day, Shen Xuan left early again. He first went to the market, following his taste memories to buy various spices and ingredients: garlic, onions, black and white pepper, chili, turmeric, fennel, Sichuan peppercorns, cumin, sesame, peanuts, dried shrimp, dried scallops, and more.
Once home, he went into the kitchen, claiming he craved his hometown's food and wanted to make it himself.
While wealthy households in the capital had many rules for ger and women, cooking was not forbidden.
In fact, even if they didn't cook themselves, they were symbolically expected to learn some basic culinary skills before marriage to demonstrate their virtuousness.
So, when Shen Xuan wanted to enter the kitchen, even Mama You couldn't say anything and just let him.
Since the cook was sent by Xue Fenglin and belonged to neither Bai Shi nor the Ye family, Shen Xuan kept her to help him as an assistant.
However, when it came to secret recipes, the fewer people who knew, the better. So, Shen Xuan took precautions with her for the crucial parts.
He didn't let her come close but instead had her prepare meals for everyone else in the house.
He started by stir-frying all dozen or so purchased ingredients until dry, then grinding them into powder.
This was a massive undertaking, and even with the cook's help, Shen Xuan worked on it all day, his hands aching.
***
The next day, Shen Xuan finally proportioned the powders, added flour, salt, powdered sugar, cornstarch, and glutinous rice flour to create a coating mix.
Then, he had someone buy a few spring chickens and, using egg wash mixed with the coating, tried deep-frying one chicken.
The aroma of Shen Xuan's fried chicken seasoning was incredibly enticing. As soon as the spring chicken hit the oil, the entire kitchen was filled with its fragrance, even drawing over the cook, who was stewing soup on another stove.
"Shen Ger, where did you get the recipe for this fried chicken? It's incredibly fragrant; I've never smelled chicken this good before," asked Cook Huang, unable to help but swallow as she watched Shen Xuan retrieve the golden fried chicken from the oil and place it on a plate.
Shen Xuan tore off a chicken wing and offered it to her, saying, "Try this fried chicken and tell me what you think."
Cook Huang's eyes widened after just one bite. Then, her mouth greasy, she gnawed the chicken wing clean, praising it enthusiastically.
"Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside. It smells delicious, and it tastes even better. This fried chicken is so good, Shen Ger, why don't you teach me how to make it? Then, when you want to eat it, you won't have to do it yourself."
Shen Xuan knew she was after the recipe and wanted to learn, but he couldn't teach her. He simply smiled and said,
"This is an ancestral Shen family recipe. I just recreated it from childhood memories." He said nothing more.
Cook Huang understood that Shen Xuan didn't want to tell her. She wasn't tactless, she knew that many such ancestral recipes were family secrets and wouldn't be easily shared. So, she discreetly stepped aside.
***
Shen Xuan then broke off another chicken wing and ate it. After the first bite, he frowned slightly. The fried chicken tasted right, but the crispiness was a notch below what he remembered from the modern world.
He recalled that fried chicken coatings in that world often included breadcrumbs. However, there was no bread in Great Jin, let alone breadcrumbs, so the texture was naturally a bit lacking.
After some thought, Shen Xuan suddenly turned and went back to his room. There were still some pastries from the Ye family there, including some walnut shortbread sold by Zhiwei Zhai, which tasted quite good.
Shen Xuan casually took a few pieces, crumbled them into powder, put them in a teacup, and then took the cup of shortbread powder to the kitchen, mixing it into the fried chicken coating.
This time, he re-coated and fried another spring chicken. When this chicken came out of the pot, its skin was noticeably crispier than the previous one.
Shen Xuan called Cook Huang again and had her try this chicken. Cook Huang tasted it and immediately found that this batch of fried chicken was even crispier and more delicious than the last.
She was even more surprised, wondering what seasoning Shen Xuan had added to achieve such an effect.
"How's the taste this time?" Shen Xuan asked.
"The skin is much crispier than last time, and it tastes even better," Cook Huang honestly replied.
Shen Xuan then tasted it himself and confirmed that the flavor was indeed excellent.
He then called Jinzhi and Jingui from outside, divided the second fried chicken among them, and asked them to deliver the first fried chicken to Suyun and Suyue.
Jinzhi and Jingui had smelled the fried chicken as soon as they entered, initially thinking Cook Huang had made it. They were surprised to learn Shen Xuan had cooked it himself.
Seeing Shen Xuan give them the fried chicken he personally made, Jinzhi and Jingui were flattered. They felt a sense of gratitude, thinking that Shen Ger was truly the best master.
Since they started following Shen Xuan, they had almost always enjoyed delicious food and drink, and their palates had become much more discerning.
But after tasting the fried chicken, Jinzhi and Jingui were still amazed by its flavor. This chicken was probably the best they had ever eaten in their lives, even better than the roasted chicken served at the Marquis's banquets.
Even the famous He's Roasted Chicken from outside couldn't compare!
After finishing the fried chicken, Jingui took the first plate of fried chicken to Suyun and Suyue. Since Suyun and Suyue came to the Shen family, although their monthly allowance still came from the Ye family, they had endured a lot of annoyance from Mama You.
Initially, they had some animosity towards Jinzhi and Jingui, who came from the Xue mansion with them. But seeing how Jinzhi and Jingui had also been reprimanded by Mama You last night, their animosity towards them lessened a bit.
Seeing Jingui bring over the fried chicken, Suyun and Suyue politely invited him into the room to sit. Jingui placed the fried chicken on the table and said,
"This was just made by Shen Ger himself. He made two chickens and only used a few wings, saying the rest were to be shared among the servants, so he specially asked me to bring this one over."
"Did Shen Ger really make this himself?" Suyun asked, surprised. Although he was skilled in making pastries and sweet soups, he couldn't make such a fried chicken. He never expected Shen Ger's cooking skills to be so good?
"That's certainly true," Jingui said with a smile, then deliberately added in a low voice, "Only two fried chickens were made in total, and Mama You didn't get any. You two shouldn't let it slip."
Suyun and Suyue had a terrible relationship with Mama You and hardly spoke to her, so they certainly wouldn't tell her anything like this.
However, hearing Jingui's words still pleased them greatly. They thought that Shen Xuan must have sent Jingui to show them goodwill, and they began to feel a sense of shared purpose with Jinzhi and Jingui against a common enemy.
While sharing the fried chicken, they said to Jingui, "That old hag bickers all day and doesn't even respect a master like Shen Ger. She deserves a good beating and to be thrown out; why should she get any food?"
Jingui then nodded in agreement, "Yes, Shen Ger doesn't say anything out of respect for her being from the Marquis's mansion and an old servant by Madam Xue's side. But she abuses her power, even stepping on the master's head."
"Speaking of which, Shen Ger is also pitiful, coming to the capital all alone with no family to back him up."
"He's an exceptionally kind person, he couldn't be better to us servants. We can rest once our tasks are done, and he never makes us abide by strict rules. Can you find another master like that in the entire capital?"
Hearing Jinzhi constantly speak well of Shen Xuan, Suyun and Suyue exchanged glances, and some ideas began to form in their minds.
***
After Jingui left, Suyue spoke up, "Isn't this Jingui a personal attendant from the Xue family? I heard he was only assigned to Shen Ger after Shen Ger arrived in the capital. Why is he always speaking up for Shen Ger?"
Suyun thought for a moment before saying, "Before, I only heard that this Shen Ger was from the countryside and thought he'd be easy to manipulate. But now that I've thought about it carefully, I don't think so. Look how quickly he managed to win over Jinzhi and Jingui. He must have some tricks up his sleeve."
"Although Mama You outwardly manages the household, all the actual tasks have been split off by Shen Ger. She's been hollowed out of power."
"Do you mean?" Suyue asked in surprise, "That the tasks we have were specifically taken from Mama You by Shen Ger? Can he really plan that deeply?"
"But if he truly plans that much, he'd know we were sent by the Ye family to keep an eye on him. Why would he let Jingui win us over? Are you overthinking it?"
"I don't know," Suyun shook her head. "However, our current enemy is that old hag, Mama You. For now, we're on the same boat as him. We should just side with him."
***
Jingui returned to his room and recounted his conversation with Suyun and Suyue to Shen Xuan in full detail.
Shen Xuan hadn't expected Jingui to be so perceptive. He knew this was an attempt to express loyalty, and he regarded Jingui a bit more highly.
He praised him a few times, then asked, "Jingui, would you like to learn to read and write?"
In the Marquis's mansion, first-class servants could read and write because higher positions involved managing many accounts and rosters.
If one was illiterate, many tasks would be inaccessible. At most, one could only be a second-class attendant.
Jingui was overjoyed when Shen Xuan asked if he wanted to learn to read and write. He knew this meant Shen Xuan wanted to promote him.
He immediately answered loudly, "Of course, I want to learn! But my parents are illiterate, and I never had the chance to learn in the Marquis's mansion. Please, Shen Ger, guide me."
Shen Xuan listened, then had him bring paper and a brush. On it, he wrote the characters for one, two, three, four, and the names "Jingui" and "Jinzhi."
He handed the characters and the brush to him, saying, "These are the numbers one to four, and these are your and Jinzhi's names. Recognize them. Later, go practice by yourself. Remember to burn the papers when you're done. Don't let Mama You see them."
Jingui had expected Shen Xuan to assign Suyue to teach him, but he never thought Shen Xuan would teach him personally.
He was both shocked and excited, never imagining that Shen Ger, despite growing up in the countryside, would know so much.
Tian Jie'er (甜姐儿 ) Concubine Wen's daughter in the Marquis's mansion, was already eight years old but had only just begun to learn to read.
Concubine Wen herself was illiterate, and Madam Bai didn't care much for other people's daughters.
It was the shizi who, seeing Tian Jie'er couldn't even read invitations and saying she couldn't be a illiterate for fear of being deceived after marriage, hired a literate aunt from outside.
She came every three days to teach, with the cost coming from the public accounts.
Jingui now realized that Shen Ger could write and calculate, was an excellent cook, and knew how to do business.
He thought to himself, 'No wonder the shizi treats Shen Ger so well and didn't disdain his humble background, secretly sending him so many things. Looking at it now, Shen Ger truly has no flaws except his birth. Just his ability to do business and make money—even the Marquis's wife can't compare to him. He's much stronger than many masters in the mansion.'
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