Chapter 227

While the stone mill was rotating at a uniform velocity with a sound of “Zhiya Zhiya”, the fragrance of the glutinous rice flour slightly spread out . Nevertheless, it was far from enough . Yuan Zhou rolled it for another 4 circles and then grounded the glutinous rice into the thin flour .

“How fragrant the glutinous rice is!” Since Yuan Zhou was wearing the face mask, his voice sounded a little hollow .

The fragrance of the glutinous rice had been fully grounded by the stone mill out of the flour while Yuan Zhou rolled the stone mill in a way that could contain all the fragrance in the flour .

As a matter of fact, the pastry was very simple to make . It was merely making the flour into paste and then steaming it until it was well-cooked, or making the flour into wet starch and then steaming it . The problem was that this method was a little difficult and an ordinary novice wasn’t able to master it .

Another way was that people could make the flour into a dough, cut it into small pieces, and then cook it by steaming or boiling . They could also roast them in the modern oven . All these were the methods that could be used as civilization progressed .

The pastry actually had a very long history and various varieties . It could be traced back as early as the Northern and Southern Dynasties . The popularity of the pastry could then be seen .

There were particular pastries in the 12 solar terms of the ancient Chinese calendar . Divided by categories, there were birthday pastries or cake for the birthday party of the aged; the honey cake or pastries for the daughters that were to be married; the haircut pastries and the celebration pastries for one-month-old infants and one-year-old kids; the flat pastries for the children’s entrance to a school; the Dingsheng pastry for setting the roof beams in place and the housewarming party . It had so many varieties that one could hardly list all of them .

What Yuan Zhou was cooking today was the colored pastry, of five colors in particular . They were dark reddish purple, bright orange, dark green, snowy white and rose . The flavors were naturally different from each other .

There was a certain particular sequence to make the pastry in each color . Yuan Zhou selected to make the pure white pastry to start with, therefore he had to make the stuffing of it beforehand .

While Yuan Zhou was busy cooking in the kitchen, Shen Min, likewise, didn’t idle at all . Out of the side street was a bus stop board, where she stood and waited for the bus to the university town .

During the time, Shen Min took out an old used Nokia and began to make a call .

Currently, young people basically used the iPhones while fans of China-made goods used Xiaomi or Huawei phones . Only Shen Min was still using the old and used Nokia, which was so hard that it could be used to smash walnuts .

For this reason, she was even teased by her roommates .

“Min Min, are you using the Nokia to defend yourself?” The girl who was asking said curiously .

“You are wrong . Even if Min Min wants to defend herself, she should use the newly-marketed Nokia phone, which is pentagon shaped . ” Another girl at the side followed .

“Pentagon? What exactly is the phone like?” The girl who first asked became astounded . Including Shen Min, all of them looked at this classmate with curiosity .

“It’s a kind of irregular pentagon with a pointed right angle . With the quality of Nokia, the phone can definitely be used to poke a person to death . ” The classmate climbed onto the bed neatly and then explained .

“Incredible! It seems that we should truly buy such a phone to defend ourselves . If there was a thief, we could poke him dead if smashing doesn’t work . ” The girl who first asked about it said after awakening from her daze .

The phone was so peculiar that Shen Min would recall the matter every time she took her Nokia phone out . Luckily, the phone got through in a little while .

“What’s up, Min Min?” From the other end of the phone passed a clear female voice . It sounded like that the girl was also young .

“Xiao Jia, have you found a job?” Shen Min first asked her tentatively .

“That’s not easy . I don’t have a university degree and basically can’t find a job with two days off per week . What’s wrong?” The girl called Xiao Jia said straightforwardly . Despite saying that, she didn’t seem to be frustrated .

“I just got one . It’s a part-time job . ” Shen Min wasn’t an optimistic person, therefore she didn’t tell her friend directly that she wanted her to come to work .

“Terrific! Congratulations . I will bring your favorite dried tofu to you the next time when we meet . ” Xiao Jia was very happy .

“Thank you . But the boss needs another attendant working during the daytime from Monday to Friday while I only work in the evening and at weekends . Every week, we can get paid by 1300 RMB and two of us can split the money up . Xiao Jia, can you accept that?” Seeing Xiao Jia so happy for her, Shen Min was relieved and then straightforwardly brought out her purpose .

“Wow, 1300 RMB per week . That’s really a good price . Are you serious? I don’t have any problems going to work,” Xiao Jia said delightedly on the phone .

“Sure . The boss wants us to go there together tomorrow . . . . ” After Xiao Jia agreed, Shen Min began to explain to her smilingly . Then the two of them started to discuss how to split the salary on the phone .

Both of them appeared happy and harmonious . It seemed that the staff of Yuan Zhou was finally confirmed .

While Yuan Zhou was making the white pastry, he added some gluten-free flour inside . The gluten-free flour had broad applications and during the preparation of snacks, it also brought about great benefits . It could increase the transparency of the white pastry . Apart from that, the texture and fragrance would become more plentiful as the gluten-free flour was made from the wheat with gluten and all other things were removed; hence, it still carried some fragrance of the wheat .

The key point now, however, was to make the stuffing of the white pastry .

Dry red dates were required to be used after they were soaked in the water again . Therefore, Yuan Zhou directly looked for where the dry red dates were stored and then found them as expected .

“The color is bright while the fragrance is as strong as fresh ones . System, are these newly-dried red dates?” Yuan Zhou picked one up to identify it carefully . He even peeled the skin and then tasted it .

The system displayed, “Each red date is worth 10 RMB . “

“What the f*ck . It was just a habit of being a chef to taste the food ingredient . 10 RMB for one? Even if I’m not short of money, you cannot treat me like that . ” Yuan Zhou looked at the red date of which he had bit a little and felt quite speechless .

The system displayed, “From the selection of fresh fruits to the preparation technique, these red dates are of the highest grade . “

In case Yuan Zhou didn’t understand, the system straightforwardly turned on the mode of acting cool .

The system displayed, “The red date originates from China and has a planting history of more than 8000 years . It has been regarded as one of the five fruits (chestnut, peach, plum, apricot and date) ever since the ancient times and is the 7th dried fruit worldwide . The main characteristic is its very high content of vitamins . Due to that, it enjoys the good reputation as natural vitamin pills . ”

“The system selected Liulinmu Jujube, which has a cultivation history of more than 1300 years . The red date that has been selected is from the parent trees of over 1000 years . “

“The red date of Liulinmu Jujube has a small stone, thick flesh, and high sugar content . It is the best choice to make date paste . The paste made out of the particular red dates is bright in color; the fragrance will linger in the air; the flesh is as smooth as oil; the sugar filament is long and bright; and the taste is extraordinarily sweet . “

Wouldn’t the tree become a demon after more than 1000 years?

All the system’s introductions could be summarized by one sentence, that is, it was already a friendship price in charging 10 RMB for one .

However, Yuan Zhou didn’t have any gratitude towards the system . Instead, he just wanted to give a slap to it when he faced with the long paragraphs of the introduction .

The primitive power could hardly be controlled anymore .

“System, I feel that the red date is so precious that it can even be sold separately . ” Yuan Zhou took the red date and looked over it again and again . In the end, he gulped it down completely .

“10 RMB for each . Hooo, I can’t waste it since I have paid for it . ” Babbled Yuan Zhou . If the date stone was edible, Yuan Zhou would have already chewed it to pieces and swallowed it up . A red date worth 10 RMB! It was definitely the middle-class people’s life to eat such an expensive red date .

He picked an appropriate amount of red dates into a special basket . After washing them clean, Yuan Zhou began to soak them in the water right away .

The soaking time wasn’t for too long . After that, he started to boil them with a medium flame without changing the water until the red dates became soft . Having scooped up them again, he started to peel the skin and remove the stone without delay .

Along with the fragrance of the dates rising upward, Yuan Zhou took out a new bamboo knife and prepared to remove the date stone .