A Little Miaojiang Eatery in Ancient Times (A Food Story Set During a Famine)

◆ Coming next month. Please add it to your collection~~ When the Seven Stars aligned and spiritual qi revived, shockingly, Bian Pingting really did transmigrate. When Bian Pingting looked back at all the supplies she'd stocked up in preparation for transmigrating, she discovered that the rooftop guesthouse where she'd stored them had come along with her. Not only that, but the only male tenant staying at the guesthouse had come too! Meanwhile, every prefecture and province in the dynasty was beset by one natural disaster and political upheaval after another. Earthquakes, rat infestations, torrential rain, floods, plagues, locusts, droughts, hail, frost, wind, snow, fires, and warfare... Bian Pingting: No need to panic! She retreated to the mountains of Miaojiang with the guesthouse. She had a home, supplies, cooking skills, and a man. She wouldn't starve or come to harm. - One winter day, several starving scholars tried a tender, fall-off-the-bone leg of lamb with almonds. Delighted, they ground their ink and wrote a book on the spot. After going to the capital for the imperial examinations and passing with honors, their book became widely read. From then on, food lovers from all over were willing to cross mountains and rivers and travel far and wide just to enjoy a meal at the little eatery. Wolf-fat-fried badger liver, rice wine-soaked Gu worms Poria cakes as thin as paper, salted fish and eggplant soup with a hint of plum Pearl dumplings blanched in clear broth, tender bamboo shoots braised with red sausage Hot and spicy saliva chicken, chewy bowl cakes Deep-fried stuffed peppers, traditional grass jelly Everything that flies in the sky, runs on land, or swims in water was on the menu. Sweet, sour, spicy, or bitter... Whatever the taste, she could satisfy it. The landlady's specialty was tiger-skin Gu-insect claws: numbing, spicy, and tenderly chewy, with a rich sauce, fresh, soft, and fatty enough to whet anyone's appetite. - Bian Pingting never imagined that her little eatery would become famous in ancient Miaojiang, then spread to prosperous Jiangnan, the island of Qiongzhou, and even the bustling capital. The guesthouse eatery was packed with carriages and guests every day. [This is a story about bringing a guesthouse and an unfamiliar man to ancient Miaojiang, opening an inn at the foot of the mountains, cooking delicious food, weathering hardships, making and eating Gu, building a fortune, and opening a chain of little restaurants.] Thanks to artist BS for the illustration. Left on 2021.9.29, revised 2022.6.21 Theme: Eating and drinking, frying all kinds of Gu (crossed out: slurp, my mouth is watering), and joining hands to overcome hardships.