After breakfast, Li Siye said to Li Meier, who was sitting under the eaves of the main room playing alone, "You stay at home alone while I go to the West Market."
"I also need to go."
Li Siye hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay."
He entered the east wing, took out two bunches of copper coins hidden in the water jar and put them in his arms. He went out with Li Meier and locked the door with a copper lock.
He first wanted to rent a shop in the West Market. If he went to find it by himself, he would be at a loss. He still needed to ask an acquaintance, so he found Zhang Xiaojing, and Zhang Xiaojing found Zhao Lu. Zhao Lu took them to find his colleagues in the West Market.
.
A middleman like Zhao Lu is called a charlatan. He is the least popular among the charlatans. The real charlatans in the Western Market are those who have a lot of money.
Facts have proved that Li Siye was right to find someone. There are many rules in the West Market, one of which is that you must find a charlatan for large-scale transactions and leasing shops. Even if you go directly, they may not rent to you.
All the land in the West Market belongs to the West Market Department, and the subletting, construction, and repairs of the shops must be approved by the West Market Department. The charlatan introduced by Zhao Lu was very familiar with the business. After seeing the store, he directly contacted Li Siye
After agreeing on the price, he went to the city office to have the official document stamped. Li Siye gritted his teeth and paid half a year's rent in advance. He only had a face-to-face meeting with the owner of the shop, and the matter was done.
Ya Ji led them to a side street in the West Market. There were shops selling Hu cakes and Biluo, as well as wine shops and cooked mutton shops. The shop he was about to rent was located in the middle of the street. On the left and right sides and opposite there were shops selling
For soup cakes and Hu cakes, the location is not ideal.
The shop was in the style of an ordinary house, with two small windows on the left and right. The door panels were inserted into grooves up and down and could be removed. He had to go in through the small door on the side to remove the door panels from inside the house.
The shop was three feet deep and only five feet wide, which was enough for a small businessman like him. The arrogant person handed the sealed official document to his hand and left after the delivery was completed.
Zhao Lu stood at the door of the shop and shook his head. He really couldn't understand that Li Siye had already won the favor of the prince, and instead of waiting at home for someone from the prince's palace to call him, he actually started doing business here.
"Si Yelang, the businessman is the lowest, the public servant is the highest. What on earth do you think?"
While Li Siye and Mei'er were cleaning up the shop, he said, "I can't do the work of serving people. I'm afraid of making mistakes, so it's better to do business."
Zhao Lu groaned twice as if he had a toothache. Sure enough, everyone in this world has it.
Li Siye spent an afternoon going to the West Market to buy red clay for the stove, an iron spatula from the blacksmith's shop, and two loads of firewood from the woodcutter. The rest purchased wooden cases and put them in full bloom.
A wooden container for the bread, two measures of flour, a bundle of wild onions, three ounces of peppercorns, and hardened mutton fat.
After Zhang Xiaojing and Zhao Lu finished helping, they returned to Wannian County. They also had their own businesses.
Li Siye's green onion pancake shop opened the next morning, quietly without any celebration ceremony.
He built a stove with red mud, lit the firewood and smoked it from the bottom up until the soft clay hearth was burned into a hard scab. He placed the cleaned spatula on the stove, and then used the dough to bake it.
Roll it out with a rolling pin, apply mutton oil, sprinkle with chopped green onions, salt and roasted dried Sichuan peppercorns, grind them into powder, and sprinkle evenly on the pancake.
Apply the mutton on the hot griddle, use bamboo sticks to knead the rolled dough, and place it on the griddle. It immediately makes a chirping sound, and the fragrance gradually comes out, wafting out along the streets.
.
The Sogdian man guarding the pancake stall opposite smelled the fragrance, and stared at Li Siye who was leisurely cooking pancakes opposite him with wide eyes. The Sogdian man noticed the lethality of the fragrance, and his eyes glanced at the freshly fried scallion pancakes.
.I was secretly wondering what kind of cake variation this was. This person must have taken advantage of it and changed the recipe.
The pancake looks so good, both sides are golden, and there seem to be countless layers mixed in the pancake. What are the dark green condiments? The Sogdian people in the Hu Cake Shop salivated unconsciously.
Li Siye put the cake, which had been baked into a brown color on both sides, on the chopping board, cut it into six even pieces with a knife, sandwiched one piece with thin hemp paper and handed it to Li Meier.
Li Meier took the cake and immediately started chewing it.
Li Siye turned around and asked her: "Mei'er, is it delicious?"
Li Meier's mouth was covered with oil stains, and even her lips reflected the greasy sheen. She swallowed the cake in her mouth and nodded: "It's so delicious, brother, we will definitely make a lot of money."
Zhang Xiaojing and Zhao Lu did not come to attend the opening today, so they were not lucky enough.
After spreading several large cakes in succession, Li Siye removed the firewood from the stove and squatted at the door waiting for the guests to come.
The first person to arrive was a scholar. He first walked to the Hu Cake stall opposite, suddenly smelled a scent, and followed the smell and walked over.
The cakes arranged on the chopping board were brown in color and looked very good. The scholar pointed at them and asked Li Siye: "Is this Biluo?"
Li Siye shook his head: "No, this is green onion pancake."
"I've never seen anything like this."
"You can try it first."
The scholar tore a piece off the cake, chewed it in his mouth, nodded and asked, "How much does it cost?"
"Five cents a piece."
The scholar took a breath and said, "This is a bit expensive for you."
However, Li Siye suddenly turned his head to the entrance of the street. He always felt that someone was peering at him in the dark, and then he turned back with a normal expression: "It's not expensive, how about you get two?"
The scholar thought about it for a moment, looked up at the shop and said, "Your shop hasn't put up a front yet. How about I write you a piece of writing in exchange for four pieces of cake?"
Without waiting for Li Siye to answer, he added: "How about I write another poem for you to help your business prosper."
Li Siye had prepared a linen blanket in his shop, but he hadn't had time to buy pen and ink yet, and besides, he knew nothing about calligraphy.
He spread his hands and shook his head: "But I don't have pen and ink."
"I have it!" The scholar didn't wait for Li Siye to nod in agreement, walked around the stove and walked into the shop with him, took out the cloth bag from his arms, shook it open, and found that there was indeed a pen and inkstone inside.
The only counter in the store was serving cakes at the entrance of the store. The scholar put the inkstone on the ground, squatted down and began to grind ink.
"Bring me the cloth!"
Li Siye smacked his lips, what the scholar said was quite impressive.
The scholar asked Li Siye: "What's your last name?"
"The surname is Li."
Li Meier took the linen roll over and spread it on the floor. He found the thickest one from the millimeter tube and wrote a few large characters on the ground: Li Ji Scallion Cake Shop.
Li Siye looked at the words on the ground, then raised his head and looked at the scholar carefully. He was nearly forty years old, with a beard as sparse as weeds, and the temperament of a wanderer, with desolate eyes but focused energy.
He wanted to say something, a few words of praise, but he couldn't remember certain words, so he had to hold back a breath and said, "Okay."
The scholar was quite concerned about the word "good". He smiled and strode outside the door. He waved his sleeves and wiped them on the wooden wall a few times. He changed to a thinner millimeter tube and wiped it vertically on the wall.
I wrote four lines of small characters, and finally added my name in the lower right corner.
"It's finished."
He put the bamboo hat on the fine tube in his hand, wrapped the inkstone and the cloth in the cloth, and stuffed it into his arms again.
Li Siye and Li Meier stood in front of the wall, identifying the scrawled handwriting on it. They wanted to know what the scholar had written. They barely recognized the first line of the words. The golden cake was crisp and green,
The scholar stood in front of the counter in the booth, stretched out his hand and said to Li Siye: "I took the cake."
Li Siye was pondering those words and waved his hand impatiently: "Take it."
He pinched the four cakes and didn't feel greasy, so he put them directly into his sleeves, turned around and walked towards the end of the alley.
Li Siye finally recognized all the poems. The golden cake was crispy with green onions, and the green heart was decorated with thousands of layers. The fragrance passed through the Western Market, and the sound lingered long enough. The inscription at the bottom seemed to be, Wang Changling.