Flowery Hair: A Maidservant

Chapter 21 Tea Crisps

"Tea leaves for desserts? Are you out of your mind?"

Donggua was panting heavily. She thought something had happened to Meng Shu, so she ran out of the small kitchen covered in sweat, only to find out that she had come to tease her!

"Can't it be done? How will you know if you can't do it if you don't try?" Meng Shu didn't want to give up.

Seeing her best friend so serious for the first time, Donggua wiped her sweat as she explained:

"How can I make it work? I've been to Fu'anju twice and had to drink their tea. It tastes worse than dishwater, neither bitter nor astringent. If I were to use it to make pastries, wouldn't that be a waste of flour?"

“You’ve always been smart. Think about it, when we make desserts, we either use mung beans or red beans, or we use icing sugar. I’ve never seen anyone use tea leaves, have I? Tea leaves may not taste good, but they are still a very precious thing. Who would be so wasteful as to squander their brains like that?”

Meng Shu was taken aback. "...I just had a sudden thought. What if I added some powdered sugar in addition to tea when kneading the dough?"

Donggua had always thought Meng Shu was smart, but this time he suddenly thought she was a bit silly. He chuckled and said, "It's both bitter and sweet, what must it taste like? Don't let anyone get poisoned and die from it."

Seeing that Meng Shu did not give up, she anxiously told her about her past experiences. In the past, when her village suffered from a drought, a neighboring family was so hungry that they went to the mountains and dug up some things to cook and eat. Now the grass on their graves has grown several times over.

Meng Shu also doubted that she was being a bit far-fetched. If tea could be used to make desserts, chefs would have already made them, and it would be impossible for her to do so.

When she returned to Langya Courtyard, Meng Shu realized that she knew nothing about tea ceremony and had nowhere to ask for help. As for buying books related to tea, she had no money.

These kinds of books cost at least one or two taels of silver, and she has only managed to save up a little over nine hundred coins.

The turning point came that evening when Donggua quietly came to Meng Shu's room.

The two sisters snuggled together on one bed. After hearing Donggua's words, Meng Shu's eyes lit up.

“Aunt An’s reminder is right.”

"At first I only thought of using tea soup to make the dough, but actually grinding the tea leaves into powder is something I could try."

Donggua nodded. "Aunt An just mentioned it casually. I thought it might be useful, so I came to tell you. We can give it a try, but we can't use the ingredients from the small kitchen. We need to bring our own. I can ask Aunt An to be accommodating and let us use the oven from the small kitchen."

Seeing them chatting and laughing, enjoying tea and snacks, Green Willow couldn't help but pour cold water on their enthusiasm, saying, "Tea is a precious commodity. I've heard that the tea from our Lin'an tea garden is highly sought after in the northern grasslands and overseas."

Using tea leaves to make pastries is just like a spendthrift throwing money away.

Meng Shu said with a grin, "Let's just throw some silver coins around this time."

To avoid bothering two people, Meng Shu went to see Mother An the next day and took some silver to buy some inferior tea.

With a smile, Mrs. An took out a small jar of tea from the cabinet in the corner. "This jar of green tea was a gift from the old lady last year. I don't really like the taste, so you can use it for fun."

Meng Shu immediately accepted it without hesitation, saying, "Aunt An, I really need it urgently, so I won't refuse you. I promise to give you even better things in the future."

Mother An also liked Meng Shu's unpretentious nature. If she were to serve the old lady or the young ladies in the mansion in the future, she could reluctantly be treated as one of her own.

"However, I would still like to trouble you, Mother An. I think there are many kinds of tea. If you really want to try, you might as well try a few different kinds. Subtle differences are often the key to success."

Hearing this, Mother An took another look at Meng Shu and couldn't help but wonder if this was really a ten-year-old child. She secretly felt sorry that if she had been born a boy, she would have been so smart and thoughtful, with a limitless future.

“Alright, I happen to be going to the estate on business today, and I’ll buy you some of each kind when I pass by a teahouse.”

Meng Shu then said shyly, "Please trouble Mama An to buy only the lowest grade of broken tea leaves, and bring back some coarse sugar with the remaining hundred coins."

Madam An smiled and tapped her little head, "The small kitchen doesn't have tea leaves, so you don't need to bring your own. What's wrong with using some sugar or something? Does our Tang family lack such a small thing?"

If it were truly successful, and offered to the old lady and all the masters to enjoy, it would be thanks to Mother An, so she was not stingy in giving some help.

Meng Shu has never lacked a positive and enterprising attitude. She was born beautiful and was pampered by her mother. She had few playmates and made books her friends from a young age. All her knowledge and wisdom came from the books and ancient books left by her mother and maternal grandfather.

So this impromptu operation was immediately launched in full swing, and she and Donggua took advantage of the spare time in the small kitchen to dive in.

Cooking was not Meng Shu's forte, so she could only assist. However, while the winter melon was being cooked, she would occasionally come up with a couple of ideas, such as experimenting with egg whites and yolks separately, or whether adding oil would be more suitable, whether to use lard or vegetable oil, and further, how many times to stir, whether it would be better to grind the green tea into powder or leave it in granules, and so on.

These seemingly whimsical yet somewhat reasonable ideas nearly drove Donggua, a newcomer to the industry, to the brink of collapse.

In no time, Donggua was being bossed around by Meng Shu. He was sweating profusely in the sweltering summer heat, and with her dark red clothes, he looked exactly like a roasted winter melon.

Lacking paper and pen, Meng Shu used charcoal in the kitchen to record the ingredients and proportions for each different experiment. In the end, she calculated that there were dozens of permutations and combinations. After adjusting the proportions to the perfect level, she conducted final experiments with different tea powders and finally produced a finished product.

Their ostentatious display naturally displeased the others in the small kitchen, but they were all calmed down by An Mama. A few ignorant people complained to Suwen, but Suwen dismissed them without even glancing at them.

What kind of complaints are you making? The old lady privately told her to give many kinds of tea to Mother An, so there's no need to bother the old lady with these complaints.

Suwen was just lamenting that the young maids probably didn't know their stuff and were wasting the old lady's tea when she saw An Mama carrying a food box into the main courtyard with a happy expression.

"It really turned out great! It's crispy yet not crumbly, fragrant yet not greasy, and infused with the delicate aroma of tea." Mother An's smile smoothed out many of the wrinkles on her face.

After the old lady tasted it with great interest, she also said it was good. "It's amazing that these two girls are so studious. They can integrate recipes that no one before them had thought of. This tea pastry seems to be made with Longjing tea."

"Replying to the old lady, there is another one made with black tea, which also tastes excellent."

The crispness of the tea pastry intertwines with the delicate texture of the tea leaves, and the perfect balance of sweetness and slight bitterness creates a unique and layered flavor profile.

The old lady had Suwen distribute them to the head maids. Huaying, her mouth full of the tea aroma, couldn't help but eat a whole one. "Such fine tea pastries, if paired with top-quality Tianmu Longjing tea, would be something even the gods wouldn't trade."

The old lady pointed at her and teased, "You little monkey, you've probably been eyeing my good tea for a while now. Quick, Suwen, have someone brew Huaying a cup of the best Tianmu Longjing tea."

Huaying was the best at making the old lady happy. The old lady was wealthy and had seen and tasted all kinds of good things. Huaying's sincere request to drink the old lady's good tea made the old lady very happy.

“Grandma, those two maids in the small kitchen have done a great job this time. You should reward them.” Suwen asked when she saw the old lady smile.

Mu Jin took a small bite of the red tea pastry and put it down. She rolled her eyes and walked up to the old lady, smiling sweetly, "This little girl named Meng Shu is quite knowledgeable in the kitchen. Why don't you call her to work in the small kitchen in our courtyard? Maybe she can come up with even better ideas."

Upon hearing this, Mother An frowned. Meng Shu had no talent for cooking; her silly apprentice had figured it out bit by bit. Besides, it was a bit of a waste of Meng Shu's talents to work in the kitchen.

The old lady sat upright in a huanghuali wood armchair, glancing at Mujin until Mujin became a little nervous before she spoke.

"This girl has a place to go. As for the reward, I'll have her come to see me after the council meeting."