Chang’an Small Restaurant

Chapter 2: Five-colored Vegetarian Noodles

Translated by: Milky

Shen Shaoguang straightened her neck and slightly tightened her jawline, showing a reserved smile on her tense face. There was a saying, one could not lose their posture even if they had lost their face, she had to spread her wings even if there were no feathers on it left.

The Buddhist nun was deluded by her vehemence, with hesitation, she decided to bring her to the abbot in the end.

The abbot was about fifty or sixty years old with a round and kind face: “Shen - could it be, the young lady of Luoyang’s Shen Family?”

Shen Shaoguang smiled emotionally and said softly, “We were a disgrace to our ancestors, it's better not to mention it.”

Then it is. The abbot nodded, “No wonder you have a charm of prestige within.” 

To the decent people in this dynasty, praising one’s charm was about the equivalent of the latter-day’s Taobao five-star reviews, an act of a simple favor. Shen Shaoguang smiled and accepted that.

The abbot was an easy-going person. She immediately agreed to Shen Shaoguang’s request to stay in the convent.

Although the abbot did not care, Shen Shaoguang insisted to pay the convent three months’ rent according to the amount of money needed if one decided to put up a short stay in the convent, “Elderly Buddhist nun took me in with kindness, I can’t be impolite.”

The elderly Buddhist nun laughed and said, “Since this young lady insists on such politeness, it’s settled then.”

Shen Shaoguang was a bit embarrassed, what she did was nothing about politeness, it was clearly an act of a villain’s heart. Others kindly took her in, yet all she thought was to prevent them from changing their mind… ‘renting’ was more assuring than ‘lenting’.

It so happened that there were no other guests who stayed over in the convent, and there were no other female nuns that put up a short stay in the convent like she did. Perhaps it was also related to her surname ‘Shen’ and her ‘prestige charm’, Shen Shaoguang was given two great main meditation rooms, both spacious and bright.

As a token of appreciation, Shen Shaoguang personally made a bowl of five-colored vegetarian noodles and sent it to the abbot.

In fact, there was nothing too praiseworthy about this bowl of noodles, but it was a hassle to cook.

It was mixing sunflowers, the juices of smashed perilla, proso millet flours, sesame powders, and others respectively with white flour to make up the five colors. When cooking, she had to boil water in separate pots for each of them so that the soup would not be cloudy and to prevent the colors from mixing too soon.

The noodles had one job, which is to look pretty. The taste of this delicacy was all up to the soup base. The soup base was made of mushrooms, which were rich in various amino acids that were able to produce a meat-like flavor. Only such aromatic soup would blend the unique flavors of the five-colored noodles well together.

When Shen Shaoguang brought it over, the abbot had actually eaten her dinner, but the bowl of noodles looked so nice that one could not resist eating it.

“Sunflower, perilla, proso millet, well, the sesame one is the most fragrant…” The abbot had a very spiritual tongue.

Seeing the abbot finish the bowl of noodles, the disciples next to her pursed their lips, and the abbot said they had to go on a diet to nourish their body today! Their master's words really could not be trusted! Though that bowl of noodles…smelled and looked really good, none of them expected Young Lady Shen had such skills.

The bowl of noodles stimulated the abbot’s interest to talk. The old lady counted the various kinds of noodles she had eaten, “The sheep-flavored soup noodle in Xibei tastes great with lots of pepper in it, and best if one eats until their sideburns sweat; the herbal noodles in Hangzhou tastes good with pure chicken soup; the sauce marinated vegetarian noodles in Heshuo is the best with bird's meat fried in sauce, accompanied by shredded cucumber and coriander; our cold noodles in Chang'an is most refreshing with shrimp or Mandarin fish…”

Shen Shaoguang listened with a smile, she did not expect the abbot to have traveled so many places, how nice! The point here was, this old lady eats meat…does that mean she did not need to be a vegetarian when she stayed here?

To pamper this old lady, Shen Shaoguang followed her words and started talking nonsense.

“Elderly Buddhist nun, what you just said is true. The appetizing delicacies vary in different times, places and people.”

Shen Shaoguang’s cooking skills could only be considered around third-rate, but her commentary skills were superb. She continued with a smile, “Eating cold noodles in a cold month would be less refreshing even if it was good, this is the variation of time; in Hangzhou, they would think the taste of the pepper sheep-flavored soup noodle is too heavy while in Xibei they would think the taste of herbal noodles in chicken soup is too dull, this is the variation of places; to scholar officials, it is best to eat cold noodles with mandarin fish, but ordinary people might think that marinated pork, especially the five-flowered and three-layered pork is fragrant and delicious enough, this is the variation of people.”

In a few words, the topic was elevated to a theoretical level.

The abbot clapped and laughed, “Excellent! No one has ever said anything as thorough as this. What we have said today is enough to write ‘Noodles Scripture’.”

Shen Shaoguang made a joke: “The ‘Noodles Scripture’ can only be written by someone like elderly Buddhist nun, who has traveled thousands of mountains and seas and tasted hundreds of delicacies. If you write it, I would like to spread the paper and grind the ink for you.”

And then she added a sentence, “Scholar Lu has already written ‘Tea Scripture’, if elderly Buddhist nun writes ‘Noodles Scripture’, this will be great for the people’s eating future.”

Hearing Shen Shaoguang compare herself with Lu Yu, the elderly Buddhist nun smiled more and more cheerfully, this child was really a flatterer. She just simply mentioned about the ‘Noodles Scripture’, yet now she was urged into having some interest, maybe she should write one. Otherwise, the places she’d been through and the delicacies she ate would come to a waste.

Qingjing smiled indulgently with some helplessness within, her master had no other hobbies than eating. Alas like her master said, none of her disciples had the ‘talent’, now she finally met her bosom friend…

Not long after Shen Shaoguang left, Jingqing took the Buddhist nun with the eyebrows of the word eight, Jingci, out to send over pots of flowers. There was a pot of peony and a pot of jasmine, both in full bloom.

Jingqing smiled and said, “Master asked us to send two pots of flowers to help increase some fragrance.

Shen Shaoguang knew that this was a return gift for the bowl of noodles, so she hurriedly expressed her appreciation. After a few words of courtesy, she sent the two Buddhist nuns out.

“Senior, even if this Young Lady Shen was from Luoyang Shen Family, she is a withered branch of the Shen family and has fallen into disrepute, so why is she treated with such courtesy?” Seeing how shabby Shen Shaoguang’s place was, and without any maids by her side, she was really poor.

Jingci could not admit that her master was greedy for making a bond all because of a bowl of noodles so she made an excuse, thinking it was her master being kind.

Jingci shook her head rather unimpressed, how nice it was to have a good family name.

Since she was now settled down in Chongxian Square’s Light Convent, Shen Shaoguang began planning her catering business.

The first step was to undergo detailed market research. She passed by and roughly checked it through before, but when she really wanted to start her business, ‘roughly’ was not enough.

The Buddhist nuns in the convent had to do morning classes, and they got up when the first morning drum beat. Although Shen Shaoguang does not do the morning class, she still got up early. After a simple wash up, she left the convent with a little money with her.

Yet it was still too early, there were not many people on the street and only two or three restaurants opened their doors. She could see the light of the oven baking sesame Hu Bing from afar and even smell the aroma of sesame.

The baker was a young man with thick eyebrows, it was unclear what time he woke up but he had baked two ovens of Hubing now, all put in a bamboo basket aside covered with a small quilt.

Seeing an unfamiliar face of Shen Shaoguang, and seeing her, a young lady buying Hubings at this hour, he could not help but to take an extra few glances at her due to surprise.

Shen Shaiguang raised her eyebrows.

The ears of the seller were a little red, and he hurriedly wiped his hands on his apron and took out a Hu Bing from the basket and handed it to her.

Shen Shaoguang took a bite while it was still hot, the skin was crispy while the flesh was soft and there was the taste of pepper salt inside, it was quite tasty. It was only sold for three *Wen, so it was really hard-earned money.

*Unit of the money, assume it as 3 pennies 

Not far away, there was another noodle vendor who already had his boiling water ready.

Further ahead, there was a larger restaurant. Shen Shaoguang went in and saw that there were about two dozen tables, and there were food signs hanging on the counter that wrote lamb steamed cakes, *Gulouzi, honey dates and fragrant rice porridge, lamb soup cakes and so on.

*Hubing with lamb filling

There were only two customers in the store, Shen Shaoguang picked up the most side of the table to sit down. She bought a bowl of mutton soup, then tore the Hubing she just bought into pieces and soaked them in the soup to eat.

There were only three or five pieces of mutton in the soup, yet the taste of the soup was very thick. Those who loved it will say it smelled fragrant but those who did not love it would think it smells. A bowl like this was sold for 10 Wen.

After finishing the soup and wandering around a few streets, Shen Shaoguang came to the front of the square. She waited straight until the square's main door opened, officially lifting the curfew. Then she wandered for a little longer until the sun rose high, with that, she went back to the convent.

She went out the next day, and the day after that, her itinerary was almost the same, just the food she chose to eat was different.

When the inspection was done, she finally made up her mind. Now it was time for her to prepare her utilities and buy ingredients. That almost spent all her savings, though in the end she still opened her very own business.