Border Cook

Chapter 207 Shaomai
He worked hard to be a blacksmith and earned his money through hard work. Now Lu Qiyan is asked to work hard himself. How can he run his business?
I found out that the couple in my family were really reincarnated in the wrong way.

Madam Xia is a businesswoman, but every time she comes to his blacksmith shop, she does business efficiently and effectively, never lowers the price, and only sells good products on a grand scale.

On the contrary, this Captain Lu, who is in the military camp and holds a high position, should have been a straightforward person, but he turns out to be a petty person.

I really don’t know what to say.

When Shopkeeper Guo looked at Lu Qiyan again, there was a hint of disdain in his eyes.

Lu Qiyan, "..."

Touching his nose awkwardly, Lu Qiyan said, "Don't worry, Shopkeeper Guo, I won't lose your money. I just want to beat him a few times myself."

Upon hearing this, Manager Guo's expression softened a lot, but he still didn't quite understand why Lu Qiyan wanted to make the kitchen knife himself.

Blacksmithing is a strenuous job. After paying the money, no one would be stupid enough to continue working hard. But Lu Qiyan is such a fool.

As expected, there were few smart people in the military camp, and all of them had energy but nowhere to use it.

Manager Guo curled his lips but nodded, "Alright, since Captain Lu has said so, I can't refuse. I'll just do whatever I ask Captain Lu to do later."

Don't cause trouble.

"Okay." Lu Qiyan nodded in agreement.

The two agreed and started forging the kitchen knife.

At Lu Qiyan's request, this kitchen knife must be sturdy and durable, have a certain weight but not too heavy, and be made of good materials.

Upon seeing this, Shopkeeper Guo decided to use his special skills to forge a top-quality steel-clad kitchen knife.

Forging a kitchen knife requires more than ten procedures including blank forging, heating, steel clamping, smelting, rough forging, and scraping the blade, which is quite troublesome.

Moreover, it takes more than two thousand blows to make a kitchen knife.

Such kitchen knives are expensive and no one wants them normally. Shopkeeper Guo is too lazy to make them. But now there happened to be free labor, so Shopkeeper Guo didn't hesitate and planned to let Lu Qiyan hammer out the more than 2,000 yuan.

Lu Qiyan looked lean and strong. At first, he didn't know how to control the strength when forging iron, so Manager Guo scolded him for a few words. After a little adjustment, he was able to control the strength and accuracy.

Next, each hammer strike became more precise than the last.

Manager Guo's eyes gradually softened from the initial pickyness, and later even showed some admiration, "When I first learned this blacksmithing skill, I practiced the accuracy of the hammer for more than ten days, and practiced the control of strength for another half a month. Lu Dutou can do it so well in just one hour. He is really a good blacksmith."

If Lu Qiyan had not been the head of the army, Manager Guo felt that he would have to trick him into working in the blacksmith shop no matter what.

I'd be happy to receive more wages!
Lu Qiyan received the praise and smiled. Seeing that the rough piece on the anvil was almost finished, he followed Manager Guo's instructions and put the rough piece into the furnace to continue heating it.

Then there was another beating...

The clanging sounds of hammering, the wheezing sounds of pulling the air, and the crackling sounds of burning flames made the whole blacksmith shop seem quite lively.

Lu Qiyan was busy in the blacksmith shop until noon, and the kitchen knife on the anvil had already taken shape.

Manager Guo picked up the kitchen knife and looked at it carefully. "It's time for dinner. Captain Lu, go back and eat. There is still some finishing work left. I will finish it later. Captain Lu can come and get it in the afternoon."

"Manager Guo, why don't you stop for a while and wait for me to come in the afternoon to do it?" Lu Qiyan said. Since he had already started, he might as well make a complete kitchen knife. This way, he could make it by himself and it would have some meaning.

Shopkeeper Guo: "..."

It really is like I have no place to use all my strength.

Or maybe, this Lu Dutou's hobby is blacksmithing, so he has to do it to his heart's content now, and he feels comfortable with it?

But no matter what the reason is, it's Lu Qiyan who is doing the hard work, so he can just take a break and have some free time. Why not do it?
Shopkeeper Guo nodded hurriedly, "Then do as Captain Lu said, and we'll continue when you come this afternoon."

"Okay." Seeing this, Lu Qi Yan smiled and left.

When Manager Guo saw him walking away, he frowned and shook his head, "He is really a fool. I don't know how he became the head of the city."

"I think it's not Lu Dutou who is stupid, it's you." Manager Guo's wife, Mrs. Ge, curled her lips.

"How am I stupid?" Shopkeeper Guo was dissatisfied.

"Can't you see?" Ge's eyes almost rolled up to the sky. "This Lu Dutou is the Dutou in the army, and now he comes to you and beats a kitchen knife with his own hands, and he doesn't even owe you a penny. Why is that?"

Why?

Shopkeeper Guo almost scratched the back of his head, and stammered for a long time, "I think he is just stupid. If he is not stupid, why would he come here and make such an effort?"

Ge: "..."

Forget it, I won’t get angry with a fool!
Mrs. Ge waved her hands and went to the backyard angrily.

Manager Guo was left with his hands spread out.

He didn't say anything wrong, so why are you angry?

This woman's mind is really hard to guess...

When Lu Qiyan returned home, Xia Mingyue was making lunch.

Shaomai, Shaomai in one place.

Duyichu Shaomai was once famous for the plaque bestowed by Emperor Qianlong. It is also famous for its skin which is as thin as a cicada's wing and as white as jade. Each Shaomai skin has 24 flower folds and looks as beautiful as a flower.

Moreover, Du Yi Chu Shaomai is not rigidly adhered to the rules, and the fillings of Shaomai also change with the seasons. In spring, there are jade Shaomai with shepherd's purse as the main ingredient, in summer there are winter melon Shaomai, in autumn there are shrimps, and in winter there are glutinous rice Shaomai. The products of each season are different, but they all taste wonderful.

What Xia Mingyue made today was glutinous rice steamed buns, or to be more precise, glutinous rice and meat steamed buns.

Soak the glutinous rice in advance for half a day, steam it with bone soup until it is 80% cooked, let it cool down, then mix it with soaked and chopped diced mushrooms, diced black fungus, diced carrots, fried minced pork, soy sauce, salt, pepper and other seasonings to make the filling for steamed dumplings.

Mix flour with a little corn starch and knead it into a smooth dough, then cut it into small dough pieces. First use an ordinary rolling pin to roll them into round dumpling skins. Then hold the dough in one hand and gently roll it with the end of the rolling pin with the other hand to roll it into a wrinkled lotus leaf-shaped skin.

Put the filling in the center of the siomai wrapper, tighten the wrapper at the folded edge, and gently press the filling with your fingers to ensure that the entire siomai is upright and well-shaped.

Put the wrapped siomai into a pot with boiling water and steam for a cup of tea, until the skin becomes crystal clear and transparent, then it is ready to be served.

This was Xia Mingyue's first time trying to make steamed dumplings, so she picked one up to taste it.