NOVEL NEXT Chapter 188 5 Color Rice
At the beginning of summer, the temperature gradually rises and everything grows.
At dawn, Ms. Chen and her daughter Ajiao were planting fruits in the farmland. Mao Xi and Xiaodouzi also returned to Liujia Village to help with the farm work.
The beginning of summer is the best time to plant sweet potato seedlings.
Neighbor Brother Chunsheng helped Chen plant the sweet potato seedlings one by one into the soil.
During the three dynasties of Beginning of Xia, there was hoeing all over the place.
At the beginning of summer, the grass grows very fast, and it needs to be hoeed every three days.
Mao Xi and Xiaodouzi were hoeing grass in the field with small hoes.
The uncles and aunts in the village, who hadn't seen Mao Xi for a long time, all came together to chat.
"Ah Shu, I heard that your shop is doing well, and you have opened two more shops in Kaitang County. When will the restaurant in Lihua Town be sold, I can provide you with food at a low price."
Aunt Baozhu finally caught Mao Xi in the village, so she had to talk about it carefully.
Mao Xi wiped the sweat from his forehead and said politely: "Of course, I will buy it when I save enough money!"
Now, in addition to the vegetables supplied by Liuxiang Snacks’ own fields, other vegetables are purchased from Brother Chunsheng, who delivers some seasonal vegetables to the shop every day.
"Aren't you busy at the shop today? Do you want to come to my house for tea later?" Aunt Baozhu continued to tease her.
"Auntie, you are too polite. You have to go back to the shop."
When Mao Xi saw that the grass was almost hoeed, she took some rice balls from her arms and gave them to her younger siblings, grandma, and Brother Chunsheng.
Brother Chunsheng saw that the rice ball was made of five-color rice, made into a triangle, and wrapped with a piece of seaweed. It looked very novel.
"Ah Shu, are you making five-color rice balls?"
"Well, I steamed it in the morning and added some soy sauce to wrap it up. Today is the beginning of summer, so I want to eat five-color rice!"
"Why did you make it into a triangle? You also attached a piece of seaweed. It looks really interesting."
This rice ball, before Mao Xi traveled through time, he worked the early morning shift every day and had no time to eat, so he often bought a rice ball to deal with it.
There were no nori flakes, so she baked some nori flakes herself.
Ajiao bit into the rice ball and ate the filling of the steamed rice bun: "Sister, sister, you also wrapped the meat floss!"
"Eat quickly, and then help my mother pull weeds after eating."
Everyone simply ate some rice balls and continued weeding and planting seedlings.
At Chen's time, after hoeing, Mao Xi took Xiaodouzi to Songjian Academy before returning to the shop.
Xiao Qing has already steamed two pots of "five-color rice" according to Mao Xi's request yesterday.
Five-color rice, also called Beginning of Summer rice. It is steamed with red beans, soybeans, black beans, mung beans, green beans and white japonica rice.
One pot of five-color rice is provided to diners in need, directly replacing the rice. Another pot of Maoxi adds some soy sauce to the rice and kneads it into rice balls, wraps it with chicken or meat floss, and sells it as rice balls.
The rice balls in the shop are made into round balls and placed on bamboo leaves. One portion contains two rice balls and sells for 10 yuan.
If there are guests who are out or on the road that day, the waiter will recommend a rice ball to take with them as dry food.
A groom came to the shop named Ma Baili.
He originally wanted to buy some grilled naan before going on the road, but Ah Xing, the waiter, said that today was the beginning of summer and everyone was eating five-color rice, so he asked Ma Baili to try the rice balls.
"Isn't your rice ball easy to carry without grilled naan?" Ma Baili questioned.
"Sir, during the beginning of summer this year, we sell five-color rice. After eating it, you will be more motivated to go out and whet your appetite."
Ma Baili was persuaded and bought two copies. Waiter is wrapped in bamboo leaves and tied in oil paper.
Seeing that this diner was delivering goods, Mao Xi stopped him.
"Sir, can you help with the delivery?"
"My name is Ma Baili, the shopkeeper wants to deliver goods?"
"Exactly, Brother Ma, let's talk inside."
Summer is coming, and a lot of fresh fruits are needed. Mao Xi can't go to South Island to buy coconuts in person often. Fruits from Baiyuan Village and Damao Village have to be bought regularly.
Ma Baili's freight price was affordable, so he took the order to pick up millet and deliver fruits.
You don’t have to go shopping in person, which frees up your hands.
After the arrangements were made, Mao Xi took 7 gold and went to the Zhou Mansion. The Fried Chicken Shop still has the balance to pay to Ms. Zhou. Now that they have enough money, they have to make up the money quickly.
At the door of Zhou's mansion, the housekeeper opened the door to welcome him.
"Miss Zhou is not in the house today. Shopkeeper Liu can come back another day."
Just as Ma Xi was about to leave, the housekeeper stopped her again: "Shopkeeper Liu, our master has an invitation."
The housekeeper took Shu Xi to Master Zhou's living room.
There were also two shopkeepers from other Kaitang fruit cake shops sitting in the hall.
Mr. Zhou warmly invited Mao Xi to join the Chamber of Commerce in Kaitang.
Because she had some issues with the shopkeepers of the two bakeries before, Shui Xi was still hesitant to wait and see.
Shopkeeper Huang of the cake shop was the first to speak: "Shopkeeper Liu, we have offended several cake shops in Kaitang before. Please forgive me. From now on, we will work together and we must look after each other after joining the Chamber of Commerce."
Shopkeeper Jin of the cake shop also echoed: "Yes, let's join the Chamber of Commerce together. We can discuss things together in the future."
They all said this, and the steps were given. Recalling that I had been threatened by the Lin family bully a few days ago, I did need the protection of the Chamber of Commerce.
Mao Xi readily agreed and said politely: "Thank you, Mr. Zhou, for the invitation. It is an honor for me to join the Chamber of Commerce."
"Okay! It's settled then, we are all in the same boat." Mr. Zhou laughed heartily.
Miss Zhou happened to return to the Zhou Mansion, and the maid invited Mao Xi over.
Mao Xi gave the remaining money to buy the shop to Miss Zhou: "Miss Zhou, thank you for your mediation. Mr. Zhou just invited me to join the Chamber of Commerce."
"Last time I heard that you fell down in Linglong Mountain, I expected that it was the Lin family. Fortunately, you were fine in the end. If you have any questions about the Chamber of Commerce in the future, you can ask me."
Mao Xi noticed a plate of fried chicken and sweet potatoes on Miss Zhou's table.
It's what's hot in her shop. It turns out that Miss Zhou went out to her shop.
"Ms. Zhou, why didn't you buy sour plum soup?"
"Maybe I ate too many sour plums in the past period and I'm a little tired of it. I've lost my appetite in the past few days."
"Miss Zhou, today is the beginning of summer, have you eaten the five-color rice?"
"Not yet."
"Can I borrow Miss Zhou's kitchen?"
Ever since Ms. Zhou was not pregnant, her maid Xiaohong had not come to Liuxiang Snacks for a long time to eat. Without this regular diner, Mao Xi had to whet her appetite again.
She uses local ingredients and steams them first. The five grains she chooses are: purple rice, mung beans, red beans, brown rice, and quinoa.
After steaming, simmer for ten minutes, then add soy sauce and syrup, mix well, shape into a round shape, pour some shredded seaweed and minced pork floss on top.
Seeing how exquisite the presentation was, Miss Zhou asked, "How can this five-color rice be made as exquisite as a fruit dessert?"
"If Miss Zhou likes it, you can come to Liuxiang Snack Shop to buy it in the past few days. You can also take it with you as dry food when you travel."
"That's a good suggestion, Ah Shu. I'm going to accompany my mother to enjoy the flowers in two days. Some ladies from Beidu have come to socialize. Then I'll ask Xiaohong to go to your shop to buy some of these five-color rice and fruits. The fruits are delicious. It needs to be done more delicately.”