In the Ming Dynasty 1498, my restaurant connects two worlds.

"You're Xiao Yi? Xiao Yi's back!" Old Chen, the peppercorn seller, was pleasantly surprised to find Song Xiao Yi standing in front of him. "What do you need so many peppercorns for? To make your Song family's hand-pulled mutton?"

"Grandpa Chen really knows his stuff; he guessed it as soon as he saw I was buying Sichuan peppercorns."

"Of course, I ate a lot of Lao Song's braised pork back in the day. We do have Sichuan peppercorns from Jiangjin; they said they were just air-freighted in yesterday, so I bought some, and it's in the fridge. But two pounds? Do you really need that much?"

"It's alright. I got a decent piece of local pork and I'm going to cook it all. I'll put any leftover Sichuan peppercorns and rattan peppercorns in the refrigerator. I know how to preserve them."

"Okay, wait here, I'll get it for you."

Two catties of each of the three types of peppercorns, which were quite expensive, were offered. Grandpa Chen, an old neighbor, and his grandfather were old chess friends, and they insisted on not paying for the peppercorns. But Song Xiaoyi couldn't refuse to pay. They were both in business, and besides, he was definitely going to make money from this business, making money from the people of the Ming Dynasty, so he couldn't let his old neighbor suffer a loss.

In the end, Song Xiaoyi scanned the code and paid the cost price of 300 yuan. Even the most expensive Sichuan peppercorns in modern times are still cheaper than in the Ming Dynasty. In ancient times, good seasonings were more valuable than gold.

Before leaving, Song Xiaoyi gave Grandpa Chen another greeting, "I'll bring over the three flavors I've made for you to taste first, and you can judge for yourself how they compare to yours."

"That's great! When it comes to eating meat, I, Old Chen, can really give you some opinions. I used to beat Old Song a lot of meat back in the day."

"Haha, you're amazing! Grandpa's just not very good at it, but he loves to play and never admits defeat..."

"well…"

"Grandpa Chen, it's hot, and the meat won't keep well at home, so I'll head back now."

If we don't leave now, Old Chen's wave of nostalgia will start and we won't be able to leave.

When you get home with fresh Sichuan peppercorns, set aside a certain amount according to the recipe, and stuff the rest into your storage space.

Wash the meat thoroughly and stew half of it first.

While Song Xiaoyi was making hand-pulled meat, the three paintings that Wu Lao from Xun Gu Zhai brought back were studied by many experts, and the results were found: these should be playful works by Tang Bohu, Wen Zhengming and Gu Qian before they stayed in Nanjing to participate in the provincial examination.

The three of them were probably staying at a friend's house with Zhu Zhishan.

Based on scattered historical records, it is inferred that the friend lived near Taoye Ferry, which confirms the previous guesses of the group: Song Xiaoyi's ancestral restaurant was located in Taoye Ferry, and the group often went there to drink and eat, often paying for their meals and drinks with paintings they created in a playful manner. Later, they became acquainted, and Wen Zhengming wrote the signboard for the restaurant...

Mr. Wu asked his secretary to tell Song Xiaoyi the news via WeChat, mainly so that Song Xiaoyi could look for the original manuscript of the signboard written by Wen Zhengming back then, and also keep an eye out for any other games.

"Business delivered to my door..." Song Xiaoyi looked at WeChat, but didn't rush to reply. How much money he made wasn't important; expanding his system space was his real need.

"Brother Fei, you installed a security camera in our attic, didn't you?" Song Xiaoyi thought for a moment, then replied with a shocked expression.

Secretary Wu on the other end of the WeChat conversation immediately understood and replied, "What's going on? It really is?"

"I just found Wen Zhengming's original manuscript at noon, and there's also a cursive manuscript that I don't recognize, with Zhu Zhishan's seal. I don't know if it's real or not. I was just about to send a message to Fei Ge when you arrived first! Tell me if you installed surveillance cameras in our house."

"Haha~ Brother Xiao Yi, that's really fate. It's fate that we Xun Gu Zhai have with you, and we have an even stronger connection with that manuscript. Take a picture of it first and let me see it."

Take a photo with your phone and send it via WeChat.

A few minutes later, I received a message on WeChat: You wait, don't tell anyone!

Judging from this, is Old Wu going to fly over immediately again?

Song Xiaoyi replied: Okay, I'm making our family's ancestral hand-pulled pork, and I'd like to invite Elder Wu and Brother Fei to taste it.

The other party responded with an "OK" gesture.

Putting down his phone, Song Xiaoyi thought to himself, "Old Wu is my benefactor. It would be too stingy to just give him a small amount of meat."

Looking at the ingredients he had just received, Song Xiaoyi decided to first cook rice with Ming Dynasty rice, then select three fish to make "Song Family Spicy Braised Crucian Carp," mutton, offal, and radish to make "Song Family White Jade Lamb Soup," and ten wild ducks to make "Song Family Roasted Duck." Any leftovers could be given to Old Wu and the guests to take home.

Mr. Wu from Beijing was introduced by Teacher Zhu'er. It would be very unethical for Teacher Zhu'er not to inform him of his return trip.

Song Xiaoyi called Zhu'er at the Jinling Museum and asked her to inform her teacher to come to dinner that evening. Since Chen Tanqiu had been invited, the director should naturally be invited as well; as the old saying goes in Jinling, "Every village has its share of guests."

Looking at the ingredients again, there are shiitake mushrooms and chicken, perfect for shiitake mushroom stewed chicken. The next day, I'll add water and the remaining half of the modern shiitake mushroom chicken stew to continue stewing, along with instant noodles and flatbread, and sell it to the Ming Dynasty people—see if you still complain that my shiitake mushroom stewed chicken has no shiitake mushrooms and no chicken!

Finally, add "Songfu Fried Shrimp".

That should be enough; I can't handle any more than that.

After finishing the phone call, Song Xiaoyi returned to the kitchen to wash rice, cook, and prepare vegetables. Busy but happy, Song Xiaoyi felt her little restaurant was finally starting to resemble a proper "restaurant."

Select the best parts of the lamb for stewing, such as the head and offal, and clean them thoroughly before putting them in the pot to stew. The freshest ingredients only require the most basic cooking methods. The old hen from Daming is also stewed first. Then, wash the radishes and mushrooms from Daming and set them aside. Start preparing the wild duck.

The wild ducks of Songjia Lane also have a unique skill: "Songfu Roasted Duck". After cleaning the wild ducks, flatten them completely, prepare a fire in a dry pot, and after both sides are almost cooked, add the ingredients and roast the whole duck slowly. The kitchen has an earthen oven, so you can just light a fire and hang the wild ducks on it to roast.

This batch consists of old wild ducks, which can only be roasted slowly over low heat, and oil must be applied from time to time.

If you have a tender wild duck, you can steam it whole; it's also a secret recipe from the Song Dynasty.

After all the previous dishes were cooked, we began to carefully prepare the crucian carp. Wild crucian carp from the Ming Dynasty were large and firm, and this kind of fresh wild crucian carp would be an excellent choice for stewing tofu soup. However, since we had already prepared two soups, it would not be appropriate to make soup with crucian carp as well.

The key to "Songfu Spicy Braised Crucian Carp" is to gut the fish, clean it thoroughly, and then cook it directly in a pot without scaling it. Instead, scald the fish with boiling water to remove the scales, stuff the fish belly with seasoned minced pork, put the fish belly back together, and simmer it in a small amount of broth over low heat.

The method of making "Songfu Fried Shrimp" is actually quite common nowadays. It involves first stir-frying the shrimp in hot oil until cooked, then adding soy sauce, vinegar, scallions, or just salt to adjust the flavor. The method combines the characteristics of stir-fried shrimp with scallions and salt and pepper shrimp.

Two hours later, the first batch of "Songfu Hand-Pulled Meat" was ready. Song Xiaoyi cut off a small piece to taste and felt good about it. He cut a few pieces of each of the three flavors and divided them into boxes to send to Grandpa Chen and his familiar neighbors. He then continued to make the next batch.

As Song Xiaoyi put the last batch of "Song Family Hand-Pulled Meat" into the refrigerator, Zhu'er led the large group to their doorstep, familiar with the way.

It's the same group of people, not a single one is missing.