My Beloved Fulang

Chapter 19

Early in the morning, Bai Yichen woke up in his husband's arms and kissed him "good morning husband ". Long Mingyu was sound asleep so Bai Yichen got up and went out of the room.

After washing up, he boiled water for Long Mingyu to wash up. Then, he started preparing the items for momo. He prepared the dipping sauce, one using perilla seeds and other without using perilla seeds. Hearing the sound of stone clashing, Long Mingyu also got up.

After he washed up, he went to help his cute little fulang. He started peeling red onions and ginger. Uncle Yang knocked after some time and brought the grinded meat. Bai Yichen wanted him to come inside and have hot water to drink, but Uncle Yang was in a hurry so he left quickly.

Bai Yichen took the meat inside the kitchen and mixed it with ginger paste, onions, turmeric, oil and salt. He covered it with a lid to marinate for some time.
At that time he quickly prepared dough and rolled it into thin sheets.

Long Mingyu put an appropriate amount of stuffing into the sheets while Bai Yichen gave them shape. Together they quickly prepared momo.

As they were about to finish preparing it, Chen Feiyu and Chen Xiaobao came knocking at the door.
Long Mingyu went to open the door and led them inside the kitchen.

"Yichen, Amu sent bowls and utensils over. He said it was collectively prepared by Yang Amu and him and you don't need to return it."

Bai Yichen appreciated their kindness and thanked them.

"It's okay. Just say what we can help you with oh."

"Well let's put these into a steamer to steam. But make sure they are separated from each other , else they stick together."

They steam the prepared dumplings in batches and put them in a barrel. After it was time for riding a bullock cart, they carries barrels full of food and dipping sauce as well as utensils and steamers.

When the four of them reached the site for bullock cart, they were seen by other villagers.

"Hm it smells meaty but also tangy and spicy. So good."

"I also smell meat, it must be delicious."

"Yo are you going to sell it in the town?"

Bai Yichen greeted them enthusiastically, these villagers can be his first salesperson.
"Yes we are thinking of selling it at the dock."

"It smells delicious, what is it that you are going to sell ?"

"It's a dumpling called momo with pork stuffing."

"Wow it is mouthwatering, we will surely come to your stall to eat in the afternoon and support you."

Everyone nodded their heads. These villagers are simple minded and they have seen Bai Yichen struggles since he was a child. These people feel sympathy for him but couldn't help him due to their own financial condition and his stingy uncle. When they saw his life really getting better after marriage they were really wishing for this hardworking ger to live a good life.

The bullock cart slowly moved towards the town amidst people's thoughts.

After they reached the town each of them paid 2 copper coins and went for their own businesses.
The four of them went to the southern street towards their rented stall.

The advantage of a rented stall is that it comes with a ready made furnace where people can cook. The yamen will take care of the furnace when the stall is not rented but after it is rented the owner is responsible for keeping it operational and functional.

Everyone is afraid of yamen so the tenant would not neglect the maintenance of the furnace. After each working day, the people will clean the furnace and apply a coat of red mud to maintain it's appearance and prevent it from collapse due to excessive heating.

They also provide firewood for cooking, but these bundles need to be brought with money. The government buys the firewood bundles from local villagers at the same price as they sell without taking any profit, thus alleviating poverty at some level. Each bundle costs two copper coins and can last in cooking till noon for  a one mouthed furnace.

As they reached southern streets, they found that some of the vendors had already set up a stall. They went to their rented stall so that they won't lag behind others.

Chen Feiyu went to the well constructed by the yamen to facilitate drinking water and fetched a barrel of it.
Chen Xiaobao lit a fire with a fire stick and Bai Yichen started steaming the dumplings.

After some time the dock became lively and people started looking for breakfast. The four of them each held a bowl of dumplings and sat at the tools in front of the stall to eat their breakfast. These tools were rented by the yamen and each of them is a property of the government.

When people saw them eating with relish and couldn't resist the tangy meaty aroma they came to their stall to have some.They gathered around the stall but nobody wanted to be the first to try it.  A middle aged man couldn't help it and asked first.

"Hey brother, where is the stall owner?"

"It's me customer." Bai Yichen stood up and greeted him. When Long Mingyu saw him standing up, he also wanted to get up and follow his fulang but Bai Yichen wanted him to eat his breakfast as he had already anticipated the situation and ate his breakfast quickly. Long Mingyu sat dejectedly and chewed the food like chewing wax. Bai Yichen just shook his head after seeing his actions.

"What is it that you are eating?"

"It's a dumpling called momo, it has pork stuffing inside and is served with a dipping sauce called achar. Customer who eats is guaranteed to have a big bite of pork."

The man gulped his saliva. " How much does it cost for one serving?"

"It's 8 copper coins per serving."

The people who heard it gasped.
"Well isn't it expensive? You can eat a huge bowl of pork noodles at 5 copper coins and the customer is still guaranteed to leave the stall with a full stomach. Your momo can be eaten in one bite, can it make us full, why don't you go rob it?"

Bai Yichen wasn't offended instead he said " Each serving has nine pieces and each piece is filled with pork and spices. The 5 copper coins per serving can't even cover the initial prices that cost us for making it. The customer is also guaranteed to leave the stall with a full stomach and an aftertaste as it's made of fatty meat."

Still the customer wasn't persuaded and wanted to say something.

"When you bite into our momo, the pork will melt in your mouth, it's fat will get melted into juice and together with thin dough that is soaked in its juices, you will want to have it again and again. Not to mention that our dipping sauce is spicy, tangy and hot and we have two varieties of it to suit the customer's taste. As it's our first day of opening we will give customers a free sample taste of our sauces so they can choose it themselves but this offer is only limited to today. So customer do you want it?"

Noticeable sounds of gulping were heard, together with the delicious aroma some people couldn't resist it and brought it including the questioning man himself.

Bai Yichen quickly prepared to steam it, Chen Feiyu, Chen Xiaobao and Long Mingyu quickly ate and went to help him serve the dishes.

When the first customer was served with sauce according to his preference and he bit the momo. It's juices which is actually it's melted fat burst into his mouth and the meat and stuffing were so smooth he could just swallow it. In addition to the tangy and spicy flavour of dipping sauce he even wanted to swallow his tongue.

"Brother how is it?" The surrounding people couldn't wait to hear his reviews.

"It's so delicious, I can swallow my tongue. It's also fatty meat and you can be full while eating it."
Hearing it the hesitating people also gave their order and enjoyed themselves in eating it.