Chapter 355 Plum Blossom Cake (2)

  The plum blossom cake pan was delivered two days ago. When Wen Mingtang got it, he was once again impressed by the many skilled craftsmen in Darong.

  It was just because some vegetables that were not easy to store were used early, so I delayed for two days, and made porridge and traditional morning meals with noodles for two days, so that they could be used with vegetables.

  Today, finally, there is no need to worry about the inventory in the warehouse, so Wen Mingtang can let Wen Mingtang do his best.

Plum Blossom Cake is a popular snack in the south of the Yangtze River. It is poured into the pot with special fermented flour paste, put in bean paste, fresh meat, sesame and other fillings, then poured into the flour paste, sprinkled with white sugar, red and green wax gourd shreds and baked. Serve.

  The plum blossom cake made in this way is the most traditional plum blossom cake. Wen Mingtang also prepared some auxiliary materials such as rice dumplings, pine nuts and raisins, etc., for everyone who comes to eat Chaoshi to choose whether to add it or not.

  Always a colleague who has worked together for several years, Bai Zhuzi, who is already familiar with Liu Yuan's taboos and likes, chose "all plus" without having to make an extra trip back to ask Liu Yuan.

  Poured a cup of tea for himself, took the oiled paper bag from Bai Zhu, looked at the plum cake inside, and Liu Yuan yelled out "ah".

  Bai Zhu, who was biting open the plum cake and tasted the delicate and sweet bean paste filling, raised his eyelids, glanced at him, and asked, "What's wrong?"

   While asking questions, the tip of the tongue is also pushing and pushing the bean paste stuffing. I don’t know if it’s his illusion, but I always feel that there seems to be a faint fragrance of roses in the red bean paste filling today. The sweetness of red beans has a hint of rose fragrance, but it is unexpectedly unobtrusive. Not only that, the bean paste The aroma and floral aroma are well integrated, more fragrant than ordinary red bean paste fillings, and the taste is so rich.

Looking at the pastry that was baked into golden yellow and shaped like a plum blossom in his hand, Liu Yuan said: "You said plum blossom cake. I thought it was an ordinary pastry. It was made by adding shredded plum blossom to the flour. I didn't realize that the word plum blossom was so prominent. above its shape."

   After finishing speaking, without waiting for Bai Zhu to answer, he blew on the plum blossom cake that was still hot, and took a bite.

  The shape or shape is still second, whether it tastes good or not is the key.

  Plum Blossom Cake has been baked until slightly crispy on the outside, but the inside is still soft. Once you bite down, the outside is burnt and the inside is tender. But it is different from the ordinary cakes that are burnt on the outside and tender on the inside. The taste of this plum blossom cake is burnt on the outside and tender on the inside. It also has some indescribable tenacity. Unique caramel aroma.

The texture of the cake skin alone is very sweet and delicious, and the filling inside is unmistakable: the red bean paste is delicate and soft with the aroma of roses, and the sesame seeds are smooth in texture. When you bite the cake skin, it is thick and smooth. The slippery filling flows out of it, which greatly stimulates people's taste buds.

Needless to say, the sweet stuffing, from the cake skin to the filling, plus the topping of the rice balls, pine nuts and other small ingredients, one bite, the aroma of wheat mixed with the concentrated sweet aroma, and then mixed with the warm stuffing, really Delicious.

   Can't wait to finish eating two sweet plum cakes, drink two sips of tea to clear his mouth, Liu Yuan can't wait to reach out for the plum cakes filled with fresh meat. The same tough and caramel-flavored cake crust is paired with salty, sweet and delicious fresh meat fillings. It is not inferior to the deliciousness of sweet fillings, and there is a special umami taste in the salty and sweet.

  Bai Zhu watched from the side. Before he opened his mouth to eat, Liu Yuan, who said he wanted to watch while eating, hadn't even glanced at the opened file when he finished eating three plum cakes, and shook his head, but he didn't feel strange.

  With Liu Yuan's temperament, it's strange that he can't help eating while watching. It's not too late to eat Chaoshi, and let's take a look at the case after completely accepting it.

   After eating the last bite of plum cake in his hand, Bai Zhu drank a few sips of tea to clear the sweetness in his mouth, and then began to sort out the clues he had found in the past few days.

  The Spring Festival is getting closer and Lin Shaoqing has more and more things to do. Although he knows the temperament of the above peak, he must have plans. But the progress of this case was really slow in the hands of him and Liu Yuan.

  In this case... it is even more necessary to make up for one's weakness with diligence, and not to be neglected.

When picking up a pen to record and sort out clues, he glanced at the vacant seat on the other side of Liu Yuan: After finding out the source of the diarrhea in the city that day was the Niu Guanshi from the internal affairs yamen, it turned out that old Wei Neng came to the yamen to report, but it turned out to be early the next morning , I heard that when Wei was repairing the roof at night, he fell off the roof and broke his leg.

   Now it’s all right, I’ve taken sick leave one after another, seeing how old Wei hangs his legs, I guess he won’t be able to come to the Yamen until after the Spring Festival.

He was looking at Wei Fu's seat, and Liu Yuan, who was wiping his mouth after eating the plum cake, also glanced at Wei Fu's vacant seat, and while he piled up the sundries on Wei Fu's case, he said: "Old Wei People really... don't know if it was intentional or not."

"Why did he do this on purpose?" Bai Zhu shook his head and said, "The reason why he broke his leg was because he was repairing the roof of his house. Waiting for him, even if he pretends to be sick, he won't make fun of such things. When I went to Lao Wei's house to ask about things a few days ago, I saw Lao Wei worrying about his legs and feet. I wish I could report to the yamen sooner! "

Right now there are three temple ministers in Dali Temple, Lao Wei has a family to support, and Liu Yuan has to worry about buying a house. He will marry a wife and have children in the future. Assets, the days of helping to buy a house in Chang'an City early have been a little better.

  They are not ordinary people, and their lives are much better than ordinary ordinary people, but they still have to worry about making a living.

However, there are some people who have a large amount of money of unknown origin on hand. If the money is used to buy a house in Chang'an City, it is enough to buy a dozen houses. Enough is enough.

"It's not that merchants are not allowed to do business to get rich, my old Bai's family is in business," Bai Zhu said, looking down at the clues he had sorted out in the past few days, "Su Fuhai and Lu Yuanlin belong to a tea merchant and a Wenwan merchant. The money accounts are really not right."

"This Su Fuhai claims to have opened a tea house, but the scale of the tea house is pitifully small. Before opening the tea house, Su Fuhai was just an ordinary villager, not considered rich; They are all imitations and fakes, and what he brought on board is also an imitation painting. The shop is pitifully small, and his family made a living by hunting before he made his fortune. It’s fine to call him a ‘merchant’, but calling him a ‘rich merchant’ is a bit misleading. " Bai Zhu said, "I even took the account books of the Su and Lu families back home and looked for my old accountants. They all said that it was just a small business. How could they earn money in less than twenty years? A golden mountain?"

  As for Qian Chengli, it's not like Su and Lu have a large amount of money hidden in their family. Like Zhang Wulin, the flower and tree business was passed down from the ancestors, and the money account also matches.

   Qian Chengli's problem is his brother Qian Chengyi who helps take care of the flower garden.

"This generation of the Qian family had four brothers, two of whom died young, and only Qian Chengli and Qian Chengyi grew up." Bai Zhu said, "According to the neighbors and his family's flower farmers, this Qian Chengyi is an experienced My son, fights fiercely every day, and wants to kill people with an unreasonable word. There have been several times when people were injured before, and it was Qian Chengli who came forward and used money for personal gain."

"Qian Chengyi makes troubles every day, and he and his elder brother Qian Chengli once ran away from home several times. Every time he left home, he relied on his fists to find a job as a guard for a while." Liu Yuan continued, "According to Liu Sanqing's supervisor As the guard said, Qian Chengyi was hired by Liu Sanqing as a guard, and he went to the mine several times with him. Qian Chengyi knew Liu Sanqing through Qian Chengyi. Not only did he know Liu Sanqing, he also knew Zhang Wulin, and he also helped to send him off as a guard Several precious four treasures of the study."

   This person Qian Chengyi is also the biggest achievement they have found these days: this person can not only connect Liu Sanqing and Zhang Wulin, but also...

"In the few days between Feng Tong's disappearance and the accident, he happened to have a conflict with Qian Chengli, and he ran away from home and was no longer at home." Liu Yuan said, "The day after Feng Tong's body was found, he went home. , is too coincidental."

Of course, it was not on a whim that he would focus on Qian Chengyi, Bai Zhu lightly said: "Although Lao Wei has sued for leave, he really knows a lot about the flowers and plants. The pot of hydrangea that Seung-ri brought aboard was..."

Before the words were finished, a servant hurried in from outside the hall, walked up to the two of them, and said, "Bai Si Cheng, Liu Si Cheng, a man named Qian Chengli came outside, and he wanted to see the two Si Cheng Cheng."

   Bai Zhu, who hadn't finished speaking, didn't continue what he just said, but turned to look at Liu Yuan. The two looked at each other, and a smile flashed in their eyes: Isn't this... someone is coming?

  Wei Fu understands flowers and plants. Qian Chengli, a flower and tree merchant, doesn't care about flower gardens, but also deals with flowers and plants a lot, so how could he not understand?

  Walking into the hall where the message was delivered, Qian Chengli's face turned pale, and his eyes were dark. It was obvious that he hadn't had a good rest in the past few days. It seemed that since the two of them left that day, Qian Chengli must have guessed something.

After seeing the two people walking in, Qian Chengli got up quickly, stepped forward to salute and called "My lord", and before he could speak, he heard Liu Yuan say, "You are here today because of that pot of hydrangeas. ?”

Qian Chengli's expression froze obviously, but he smiled wryly immediately, and said: "The flowers bloom there, and the flower growers can see them every day, but now they are gone, so how can they be fake? I didn't expect these flowers to be planted on a whim." , The secret that my younger brother hid was revealed in front of people without any concealment."

  The Qian family is indeed a flower and wood merchant, but what they buy and sell are peonies and some pine bonsai, which are sought after by people at that time.

   Chang'an is not suitable for planting this flower, and it is quite laborious to grow it. Even though he worked hard, he only planted a small piece. Because of the hard work and rarity, he would bring it to the cruise ship for people to enjoy on the Mid-Autumn Festival.

  This flower...shortly after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it disappeared due to the cold weather. It took only a few months to plant it, but it "said" everything.

  Qian Chengli sighed, and said: "This flower has something interesting, not only beautiful, but also change color."

  (end of this chapter)