Su Yujin squinted her eyes for a long time before saying, “Mama Liu’s body is generally quite healthy, but her body is hot and humid. She has to pay attention to her diet on weekdays, otherwise she will easily grow some eczema pimples.”

“Besides, Mama Liu’s lungs are not good, so she needs to take more care of herself. Now that the red pears are coming down, Mama Liu will stew more red pears with rock sugar to eat to nourish her lungs. These are not important. It turns out that Mother Liu’s anger is a bit strong…”

“I think normal meals are no longer enough. It is better to use acupuncture to reduce the anger. Otherwise, it will easily cause other diseases.”

Su Yujin had good medical skills, and Mother Liu heard this. At this, she nodded hurriedly again, “Then just listen to Miss.”

Then she was a little embarrassed and said, “I am really bothering Miss.”

After all, she was a servant, and Su Yujin was the master.

“It’s no trouble. Since you follow me, you are part of my family. So there is no need to say polite words.” Su Yujin laughed, asked Mother Liu to lie down on the bed, and then applied acupuncture on her back.

After showing off her skills, Su Yujin was satisfied. Mother Liu also felt smooth all over and thanked Su Yujin repeatedly.

Ai Cao felt itchy and was eager to try.

So Su Yujin once again became addicted to being a master.

After finishing the work, she happily put away the needles carefully.

Because she was in a good mood, Su Yujin went to the kitchen at noon and made a dish of scallion chicken.

The whole chicken was cooked and shredded, served with a sauce made of salt, sugar, scallion oil, soy sauce, etc., and sprinkled with some chives, coriander, and white sesame seeds. The chicken tasted tender and smooth, with a rich flavor.

At noon, she ate half a bowl of rice more.

By late afternoon, as the sun began to set in the west, Shuangye arrived and informed Su Yujin that a peddler had arrived at the shop selling Shisanxiang. The aroma seemed of good quality, so she had come specifically to ask if Su Yujin needed to purchase any.

The so-called “Shisanxiang” refers to a mixture of various seasonings proportionately combined, dried, ground into powder, and sealed for preservation. When used, the powder is directly added to dishes, imparting a rich and unique aroma, greatly appreciated by many people.

There were many recipes for Shisanxiang, but generally, they came down to those for stir-frying, stewing meat, and making soups. However, most of the ones sold on the market are made from a common formula consisting of ingredients such as Sichuan peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon, amomum villosum, dried tangerine peel, nutmeg, dried ginger, cardamom, white atractylodes, cloves, Amomum kravanh, caraway, and galangal.

This recipe could be said to be versatile.

But the disadvantage of being versatile was that it went with everything, so nothing stood out.

Ordinary people liked to use spices like Shisanxiang when cooking to avoid making mistakes. However, Su Yujin had good cooking skills and adapted to local conditions when cooking, so she didn’t like such general seasonings.

“Reply to the other party and say that we make our own ingredients and don’t need these ‘Shisanxiang’.” Su Yujin was not interested in these ‘Shisanxiang’.

“The maid replied as such, but that person said his Shisanxiang was different from others. Miss, you’ll know once you go and see,” Shuangye answered. “The maid also noticed that the man seemed very confident in what he said, which is why she came back to tell you.”

A unique Shisanxiang?

Su Yujin blinked, and after thinking for a moment, she said, “You go back first, I will go there later.”

Go and see what kind of Shisanxiang it was that was different from others.

When Shuangye went out, Su Yujin asked Ai Cao to change into a thicker coat and then went to Su Ji.

The salesman was standing at the door of Su Ji, with bamboo baskets hanging on both ends of the pole at his feet. The bamboo baskets were wrapped firmly in oil paper, and it was impossible to see what was inside.

But even so, Su Yujin still smelled the strong smell of seasoning coming from the oil paper.

When the peddler saw Su Yujin approaching, he quickly bowed respectfully. “So you’re the manager of Su’s store, Miss Su? My name is Zeng Dayong, and my master and I specialize in selling Shisanxiang.”

It was freezing cold, so Su Yujin invited people to Su Ji’s shop, and after sitting down, she said, “Just now, the waiter said that the Shisanxiang that you have is vastly different from the others, but I don’t know what the difference is.”

As soon as this topic was brought up, Zeng Dayong immediately raised his chin proudly. “I’m not bragging, but the Shisanxiang I sell, no one else on the market can make them. This is my master’s top-secret recipe. Whether it’s stewed or stir-fried meat, just add this Shisanxiang, and the fragrance will spread for thirteen miles around!”

“Miss Su’s Suji is doing well now, bustling with people coming and going. It was already good, but if you use the Shisanxiang I sell, I guarantee the flavor will rise to another level, and your profits will double.”

With animated gestures and fervent speech, Zeng Dayong talked for quite a while. Seeing that Su Yujin seemed uninterested, he cleared his throat and said, “Talking a thousand words is not as good as seeing it with your own eyes, Miss Su. Why don’t you take a look at our Shisanxiang?”

After saying that, Zeng Dayong took some Shisanxiang from the bamboo basket and put a small piece of oil paper in front of Su Yujin, “Miss Su, smell this fragrance?”

Su Yujin took the oil paper over and carefully looked at the powder of Shisanxiang.

It felt delicate and did not stick to your hands, which meant it had been ground finely enough, passed through the sieve, and fried dry enough without moisture return. Then she put it under her nose and smelled the fragrance…

Su Yujin was stunned for a moment. But she was a little unsure, and then she smelled it again.

This was indeed a bit different from the ordinary version of Shisanxiang.

However, the versions of Shisanxiang were not all the same. Even for similar purposes, the ingredients could vary due to personal preferences. But this particular Shisanxiang seemed to have been quite different.

Su Yujin glanced at Zeng Dayong, “Did you make this Shisanxiang yourself?”

“It’s my master’s recipe. We master and apprentice polished it ourselves!” Zeng Dayong said with a smile, “Miss Su smelled this, do you think the fragrance is very good?”

“Indeed.” Su Yujin said, “It contains some dried tangerine peel and hawthorn that are not commonly used in Shisanxiang. The most important thing is that it has glutinous rice flour.”

Zeng Dayong was stunned for a moment. After standing there for a long time, he opened his mouth, “How did Miss Su know?”

“The glutinous rice flour has a rich flavor. You can smell it as soon as you smell it. It’s not difficult to distinguish.” Su Yujin said with a smile, “It’s just that it’s quite troublesome to make the glutinous rice flour. Not many people know the method, most ordinary people don’t know it.”

“You just said that these Shisanxiang were made by your master. I guess this powder was also made by your master. Since your master has this kind of craftsmanship, why is he just making these Shisanxiang to sell?”

Being able to make mustard powder is an extraordinary skill. It’s a bit of a waste to only make Shisanxiang that needs to be sold along the street.

Or maybe he was originally a master chef and wanted to live a life of seclusion?

Su Yujin was really curious.

“This… is an old story, it’s really hard to talk about.” Zeng Dayong scratched his head in embarrassment.

Author’s Note: Popularization of knowledge: Thirteen incense is not a modern product. It began to exist in the Ming Dynasty. This article is fictitious and does not take into account the era. In addition, 鑑 (ji sounds) powder, that is, chicken powder. Chicken powder is not a modern product. It was in the ancient Southern and Northern Dynasties. There is a prototype, which was invented by the ancient cooking god Zhan Wang.

(End of chapter)

---

Here is a recipe for the Scallion Chicken mentioned in the chapter.