Chang’an Small Restaurant Chapter 30 (Part 2)
Translated by Pure
Chapter 30.2 Shaoguang Economics
Although Yu San's words were true, Shen Shaoguang believed he still needed to ‘look past the appearance to grasp the essence’.
Raising her hand to stop A’Yuan from speaking, Shen Shaoguang began to educate her chef on the theory of economics, "What you believe and call 'cheap' is just the raw material, this does not include the cost of labor, time, and the mental work put into the recipe."
"A piece of pig meat is certainly cheap, but we blanch it, stir-fry it, stewed it, steamed it, add seasonings to it, and serve it on a beautiful presentation—" Shen Shaoguang paused, "Of course we don’t have the ‘beautiful presentation’ currently, but there will be in the future. After all these actions, this piece of pork is no longer just regular ol’ pork—”
Both A’Yuan and Yu San looked up at her.
"This is a pork dish that can be served at a big banquet, befitting for a noble!"
Yu San: "..."
After thinking about it, A’Yuan abruptly nodded in agreement.
As Shen Shaoguang continued to talk, she began ‘to quote the classics’, "For example, there are so-called 'foster mothers' in the south who buy young girls from poor families and teach them various skills such as the four arts (zither, Go, calligraphy, painting), singing, dancing, and playing multiple instruments. Once those girls are of age, they would be sold to a noble man's mansion, or high-class brothels[1], or perhaps to one of the rich merchants in Lianghuai." Though she wasn’t sure if such a thing was happening in this era, Shen Shaoguang was referring to the ‘Yangzhou Thin Horses[2]’ popularized during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.
"The young girl would only cost one tael of silver, but when she is later sold, the price would reach upwards of a thousand taels of silver."
A’Yuan gasped, and did the math. A thousand taels could buy countless of me(s)!
Yu San looked at his new owner and didn’t know what to say or think.
"Why is that? It's the expense the 'foster mother' used to nurture those girls! It's like our pork dish..."
Suddenly she heard a sound from the woods behind her. Shen Shaoguang, A’Yuan, and Yu San all turned their heads to see two men standing in a close distance. One man was in a dark forest green round-neck gown while the other wore a bluish-white robe; the man in the bluish-white robe was laughing so hard that his whole body was trembling.
Who else could it be but Deputy Magistrate Lin and his friend?
Shen Shaoguang inwardly rolled her eyes, how could he act so unbridled after eavesdropping on someone's conversation! Her thoughts then wandered as to where these two people came from; most probably escaped from the banquet held at Qujiang Pravalion, and just so happened to bump into them after following the path in the woods. Isn’t this too much of a coincidence; was this the so-called ‘ill-fated relationship’?
Although grimacing in her mind, Shen Shaoguang curtsied to the two men with a smile and warmly greeted, "Salutations, good sirs."
In response, Lin Yan lightly pursed his lips and nodded back while Pei Fei laughed and said, "We meet again, Miss."
Shen Shaoguang faintly smiled.
"I tried your Inscribed Mooncake last time, it was very good!" If she hadn’t mentioned the latter part about the ‘foster mother’, Pei Fei might have made fun of what Shen Shaoguang said just now. However, since she ‘quoted so extensively’, it would be disrespectful and vulgar to bring it up again, thus Pei Fei decided to talk about the mooncakes— It was later after Pei Fei asked Housekeeper Zhou, did he find out that the cakes were made by Miss Shen.
Since she’s been living in the Tang Dynasty, Shen Shaoguang had gradually confirmed and acted accordingly to the principles of a wise and virtuous woman, and had become more thin-skinned. She felt a bit embarrassed for her blather just now to be overheard by these two men, but with one of them being the ‘somewhat-roguish’ Pei Fei, she was no longer as ashamed. Thus, she said with a smile, "Then I presume you must have luckily drawn a good fortune, sir."
"Hahaha, of course, of course." Pei Fei laughed.
Shen Shaoguang continued to smile. Of course, there wasn’t a single ‘misfortunate’ draw in any of the mooncakes... Sure enough, it was human nature to enjoy being praised! If she didn’t have a mastery in cooking, just with this ability, she could also make a good living by becoming a taoist or nun and set up a stall at the entrance of a monastery to perform kau chim and divinations with inscribed bamboo sticks. A semi-immortal who was delayed by their own cooking skills!
"I believe your inscriptions are very accurate, comparable to Master Chen from Qinglong Temple." Pei Fei and Shen Shaoguang once again had a meeting of minds.
How insightful! A true comrade! Shen Shaoguang lowered her face halfway, and smiled reservedly, "You jest, sir."
While the two continued to bicker nonsense back and forth, Lin Yan recalled the astonishing words Miss Shen had said before and flattened the corner of his lips. "In any case, we will no longer disturb your autumn excursion, Miss." Then he nodded slightly to Shen Shaoguang, and then looked at Pei Fei, ready to depart after bidding goodbye.
Pei Fei also nodded to Shen Shaoguang before departing, "It’s a clear and refreshing autumn day, all the best on your autumn outing, Miss."
Shen Shaoguang curtsied and reciprocated their well wishes with a smile, "All the best on your autumn outing."
A’Yuan and Yu San also saluted.
Pei Fei caught up with Lin Yan. "Did you think the inscribed mooncake you drew was inaccurate? You are always so indifferent to the ladies, you don’t give those inscriptions a chance to be accurate..."
The gentle autumn breeze carried over their conversation, albeit faintly. Shen Shaoguang looked at the backs of the two departing men and vulgarly smiled. Could it be? Be it could! Did Deputy Magistrate Lin draw the ‘beautiful wife’ inscripted mooncake?
Tsk! Tsk! Then my inscriptions are just too accurate! That Chancellor's granddaughter, in terms of appearance and demeanor, could all be considered to be ‘refined’. The key point was that she seemed to be quite interested in this Deputy Magistrate... In fact, even Second Young Lady Pang was quite cute. Heh, as a ‘tall, handsome, rich’, even if he had facial nerve paralysis, there were countless infatuated girls willing to be with such a man.
Facecons[3]... Shen Shaoguang shook her head helplessly.
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Footnotes:
[1] brothels - Keep in mind these are high-end brothels. The girls in these live an unique way of life and long training; they are seen as skilled entertainers, performers, and hostesses; only some sell sexual services.
[2] ‘Yangzhou Thin Horses’ (扬州瘦马) - Thin horses (瘦马) was a term used to denote girls reared specifically for the purpose of supplying Yangzhou's market in concubines. Many people in Yangzhou buy young girls from poor families, teach them to read and write, sing and dance, and when they are older they are sold off as slave girls for prices of up to a thousand taels.
In former times, it was basically sanctioned practice for wealthy men to take in concubines and buy slave girls. In large prosperous cities, there were not only introduction agencies where people made a business of buying and selling slave girls, but also training centers specially for rearing 'qualified' girls as slaves and concubines for the great households: these were the 'thin-horse breeders'.
There's a translated journal publishing scholarly research all about this, you can read it here: https://www.eastasianhistory.org/sites/default/files/article-content/09/EAH09_03.pdf
[3] facecons - 颜狗 is a internet slang. Basically a term to mock/satirize those people who are weak to pretty faces. The best equivalent was the word facecon, which is japanese derived and shortened from the words 'face complex'.
