Courtyard House: Passing through the Silly Pillar, Activating the Blessed Cave Heaven

15

On the other side, after He Daqing coaxed He Yushui to sleep, he began to knead the dough.

He poured the flour into a bowl, added the fermented yeast, and poured in warm water in several batches, kneading the flour into a smooth dough.

To allow the dough to ferment fully, he placed the basin next to the coal stove for warmth.

"Zhu Zi, go to bed early. We need to get up early tomorrow to make steamed buns."

He Yuzhu returned to the west room and lay down, thinking to himself that when he sold steamed buns tomorrow, he must avoid the soldiers.

He wondered if he could take this opportunity to secretly save some money on his own—after all, it was really not right to always ask his father for money.

He drifted off to sleep contentedly at the thought of soon having his own little treasure trove.

Before dawn, He Daqing woke up the sleeping He Yuzhu.

After getting dressed and washing up, he looked at the clock; it was only 5:05.

He Daqing was mixing the minced meat and cabbage he had prepared the night before, adding sesame oil, salt and other seasonings in turn. While stirring the filling, he explained the proportions of each ingredient to his son.

He Yuzhu listened attentively on the surface, but in his heart he didn't take it seriously—as the head chef of a restaurant in his previous life, he had long been familiar with these basic cooking skills.

He Daqing prepared the filling for the steamed buns and set it aside for later use. Then he lifted the lid of the basin next to the coal stove.

After fermenting overnight, the dough in the basin had expanded considerably.

He added alkaline water to the basin in batches, kneading the dough repeatedly after each addition. When he felt it was kneaded enough, he would pinch off a piece and place it on the work surface to continue kneading.

After kneading for about five minutes, he divided the dough into small, evenly sized portions and picked up a rolling pin to start rolling out the dumpling wrappers.

He Yuzhu took the rolled-out dough and held it in his left palm. With his right hand, he used chopsticks to pick up a pinch of filling from the filling bowl and placed it in the center of the dough. He skillfully twisted the edges of the dough with his fingers and in the blink of an eye, he had created a plump bun with even pleats.

He Daqing was in charge of rolling out the dough, while He Yuzhu was only responsible for wrapping the buns.

About half an hour later, the father and son finished wrapping all the buns.

While the steamed buns were rising for the second time, He Daqing took out the large iron pot in his house, washed it clean, added more than half a pot of water, turned on the coal stove to boil the water, and also added a few pieces of coal into the firebox.

Twenty minutes later, the water boiled, and he placed the buns one by one into the steamer, twenty buns on each layer, stacking them in five layers, with only twelve on the top layer, for a total of ninety-two plump white buns, steaming hot.

"Zhuzi, after breakfast, pack these buns into a box lined with a quilt, and carry it to Wangfujing or Qianmen Street to sell them."

"Each steamed bun costs two hundred yuan in legal tender. Be careful when collecting money, don't make a mistake." He Daqing calculated that if all these steamed buns were sold, he could earn five thousand yuan in legal tender. He couldn't help but mutter to himself that money was becoming less and less valuable these days.

After eating the steamed buns and some corn porridge, He Daqing helped pack the buns into a box, gave his son a few more instructions, and then carried He Yushui to work at the steel mill.

He Yuzhu tested the weight of the box, which was about 30 or 40 kilograms. Luckily, he was sturdy, otherwise he would have collapsed from exhaustion carrying such a heavy box to Wangfujing.

After locking the courtyard gate and walking south, he started shouting at the top of his lungs as soon as he stepped out of Nanluoguxiang: "Freshly steamed meat buns! Fragrant pork and cabbage filling, come and have a taste!"

He hadn't gone far when a middle-aged man stopped him: "Young man, how much are your steamed buns?"