novelSusiti Chapter 131 The Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty
Chapter 131 The Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty
Chapter 131 The Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty
Li Chengqian forced himself to say something.
No sooner had he finished speaking than his stomach let out a loud protest.
The gurgling sound was exceptionally clear in the quiet, snowy morning.
Little Sizi clapped his hands and laughed so hard his eyes disappeared.
"Big brother's a glutton too! His stomach's already rumbling!"
Su Mu turned and walked into the house.
"Your Highness is quite lucky to have gotten lost and ended up in the woodshed. Since your stomach is rumbling, come in and sit for a while. Skipping class on an empty stomach won't take you far."
Li Chengqian hesitated for a moment, but still stepped into the house.
The room was warm and cozy, with the heated kang (a traditional brick bed) radiating warmth.
Su Mu took out two packages of ingredients from the cabinet.
This is the reward the system just gave me: top-grade wild-caught fresh shrimp, and orange starch that has never appeared before in this era.
"Brother, what kind of duck do you want today?"
Little Sizi moved a small stool and sat down, resting her chin on her hands.
Su Mu ignored Li Chengqian's restraint and busied himself with his work.
He first poured the wheat starch into a basin, then boiled a kettle of water and poured it directly onto the starch.
"This is called scalded noodles."
While stirring, Su Mu explained the science to the thief next to him.
The scalded wheat starch gradually turned into a semi-transparent state, with a jade-like texture.
He kneaded the dough extremely quickly, and with his hands moving in a crisscross motion, the dough became soft and elastic.
Next, he processed the fresh shrimp.
The shrimp shells peeled off, revealing tender pink meat.
Su Mu did not chop it up with a knife, but instead gently tapped it with the back of the knife.
When the shrimp meat is subjected to force, it deforms slightly, but retains the most complete fibrous texture.
I added a tiny bit of finely chopped fatty pork and a few crunchy bamboo shoot pieces.
Sprinkle with a little white pepper and drizzle with rendered pork fat.
"Big brother, this dough is all shiny!"
Little Si couldn't resist reaching out and poking it, extremely curious.
Li Chengqian sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), looking at Su Mu's hands.
Those hands danced across the cutting board, each movement exuding composure.
Su Mu casually cut off a piece of dough and turned it with a special pressing plate.
A round skin, as thin as a cicada's wing and almost transparent, appeared before everyone's eyes.
Fill with filling, then fold in half.
Su Mu quickly rubbed the edge of the semicircle with his thumb and forefinger.
It only takes a few breaths.
A dumpling shaped like a crescent moon, with twelve neat pleats, is thus formed.
But these dumplings are different from the ones we usually eat.
Instead of being cooked in a pot, it was neatly arranged in a bamboo steamer.
When the fire is heated, the water boils and smoke rises.
"Just wait, it will take the time it takes for an incense stick to burn."
Su Mu sat opposite Li Chengqian and poured himself a cup of water from the teapot.
Li Chengqian looked at the snow outside the window, his voice low.
"My father said that as the crown prince, I should restrain myself and follow the proper etiquette, and not indulge in the desires of food and drink."
Su Mu took a sip of water and responded indifferently.
"When your stomach is empty, you're more likely to do bad things. How can you govern a country if you can't even get enough to eat? Those great Confucian scholars teach you these things all day long, but they probably eat a lot of meat themselves behind the scenes."
Li Chengqian was stunned. Such shocking words were absolutely unheard of at Chongwen Academy.
The steam quickly filled the room.
The fresh aroma wafted out through the gaps in the bamboo drawer.
It doesn't have the heavy, gamey aroma of mutton, nor the rich, oily flavor of braised pork.
It is an extremely pure flavor, with the salty freshness of the sea and the aroma of noodles.
The flavor was light yet incredibly potent, causing Li Chengqian's mouth to involuntarily produce saliva.
"It smells so good! Boss, is the duck cooked yet?"
The little ox has already started circling around the stove.
Su Mu timed it perfectly, turned off the engine, and lifted the hood.
Whoosh—!
The thick white fog dissipated instantly.
Li Chengqian subconsciously moved forward.
After the white mist dissipated, the scene inside the bamboo drawer left him completely stunned.
That place is still dumplings.
They are clearly huge pearls embedded in the bamboo mat!
No, it's even more translucent than a pearl.
The dumpling wrapper had become completely transparent, so thin that one worried it might break at any moment.
Through that translucent skin, you can clearly see the pink shrimp meatballs inside.
The colors are red and white, with a hint of tender yellow showing through the bamboo shoot pieces.
Under the rising steam, these dumplings shimmered with a subtle, glossy sheen.
"Wow! The shrimp is alive!"
The little ox let out a gasp and eagerly reached out to grab it.
"hot!"
Su Mu slapped her little hand away and took a pair of small chopsticks.
"Eat."
Xiao Sizi picked up a crystal shrimp dumpling; the dumpling trembled slightly on the tip of her chopsticks, incredibly bouncy and chewy.
She leaned in, blew on it twice, and then bit down hard.
"Ugh—!"
The little girl's eyes widened instantly.
The dumpling skin melts in your mouth, incredibly soft and chewy, yet without sticking to your teeth at all.
The shrimp inside burst open between your teeth, producing a crisp texture with a soft crackling sound.
Immediately afterwards, the sweet and juicy juice burst open.
"So good I want to roll around on the floor!"
The little girl's mouth was stuffed full, her two little feet were swinging wildly in the air, and she was twisting and turning on the kang mat.
The reaction was as if all the grievances of a lifetime had been filled in by this one bite of sweetness.
Li Chengqian shakily picked one up as well.
He had never seen such exquisite and beautiful food.
The instant it enters the mouth.
The crispness of the shrimp, the aroma of the lard, and the glutinous texture of the dough create a perfect balance on the tongue.
That pure deliciousness was like a warm current flowing down his throat and into his heart.
He felt that the scriptures he couldn't memorize these days, and the policy essays he couldn't write well, all became unimportant at this moment.
This overwhelming sense of satisfaction almost made him cry.
If you can't understand the book, eat first.
Su Mu looked at the down-on-his-luck young man.
"An empty stomach leads to an empty mind, and an empty mind is easily filled with grand theories. Only when you're full do you have the energy to think about what you really want to do."
Li Chengqian stopped what he was doing, with half a shrimp dumpling still in his mouth.
He looked at Su Mu and felt that this man was more unfathomable than all the teachers in the palace.
"I—I have learned a great deal."
Li Chengqian's voice trembled slightly, a long-lost sense of relaxation.
A large steamer of shrimp dumplings was quickly devoured by the two gluttons, one big and one small.
Little Sizi rubbed its round little belly, leaned against Su Mu's leg, and yawned comfortably.
"Brother, can you come and steal Meat Seven more often from now on?"
Su Mu glanced at Li Chengqian.
"That depends on whether his skills in circumventing the Great Firewall have improved."
Li Chengqian's pale face finally regained some color.
He stood up and cupped his hands in a respectful gesture towards Su Mu.
Then, he took a hollowed-out jade pendant with a cloud and dragon pattern from his waist and gently placed it on the table.
"I left in a hurry and didn't bring any money with me, so I'll use this to pay for my meal."
Su Mu didn't stand on ceremony, reached out and grabbed the priceless jade pendant, then casually tossed it aside.
Clang!
The jade pendant traced an arc and landed precisely in an earthenware jar containing garlic next to the stove.
Inside, there was already a jade pendant given to him by Li Shimin.
Li Chengqian's eyes twitched as he watched this scene.
That was a token of the Crown Prince's favor.
"Then I shall take my leave."
"9
Li Chengqian walked to the door and paused for a moment.
"Thank you for today."
After saying that, he climbed over the wall again and disappeared into the snow.
Little Sizi looked in the direction where Li Chengqian disappeared and asked in her childish voice.
"Brother, will your older brother be losing his baby teeth next year? He was eating dumplings really slowly just now."
Su Mu patted her head.
"He's not losing a tooth, he's just blocked up here."
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