The sky in the east has just turned white, and the curfew in Chang'an City has finally been lifted. The gates of various shops have been opened one after another. Chang'an Street has become active again. If the most lively places in Chang'an City are naturally the two cities in the east and west, but in the morning, most of the shops in the east and west cities have not yet opened. At this time, the most lively places are the vegetable markets. Almost every shop in Chang'an City has its own vegetable market, but the largest and most complete vegetable markets are the Le'an Vegetable Market near Anhuamen.

Le'an Vegetable Market is naturally in Le'anfang, and Le'anfang is one of the markets closest to Anhuamen. Because it is convenient to enter and exit the city gate, many vegetable farmers outside the city will send their own vegetables here to sell. The powerful families in the city also like to choose fresh vegetables and meat here. Over time, a largest and most complete vegetable market has been formed here. As long as there are those that are sold on the market, you can almost find it here.

Manager Su brought two slaves to Le'an Vegetable Market in a carriage. After getting off the carriage, he rushed into the vegetable market to select the ingredients needed by the mansion. The rice, flour, oil and salt were all within the scope of his purchase. Many vendors in the market knew him. When they saw him, they greeted him and sold his products to him. However, Manager Su was very picky when he bought things. He would never take a look at them if the quality was not good.

Speaking of Manager Su, he has a very good background. His master was Pei Ji, who was known as the No. 1 prime minister of the Tang Dynasty. When Li Yuan was still in Taiyuan, Pei Ji was the deputy supervisor of the Jinyang Palace in Taiyuan. Moreover, they had old friends, so they often drank and had fun together at that time, and even women could play with each other. The deep friendship was no longer like friends, but more like a pair of good gay friends.

Later, when Li Yuan raised an army, Pei Ji also made great efforts. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, he was named the Shangshu Youpushe. Moreover, Li Yuan was a nostalgic person. Even if he became an emperor, he still called Pei Ji "Pei Jian". This was Pei Ji's old name when he was in Taiyuan. From this, we can see Li Yuan's favor to him.

Liu Wenjing, another important hero who raised the army with Li Yuan a few years ago, was jealous of Pei Ji's higher official position than him and often targeted Pei Ji. In the end, Li Yuan actually killed Liu Wenjing. Later, Pei Ji was defeated when he attacked Song Jingang, but he was only symbolically demoted by Li Yuan and soon resumed his official position. He also favored him as the first. With a master like Pei Ji, even if Manager Su is just a small purchasing manager in the Pei family, he is not something that ordinary people dare to offend.

The staple food was bought soon, but Manager Su was worried at this time. Others only saw the glory of him, the manager of the Pei family, but they didn't know his difficulties. Mr. Pei is famously scheming, and the ingredients for cooking have strict regulations, such as eating only Huainan rice, mutton only eating Guanzhong sheep, etc. Although these requirements are cumbersome, it is still possible to take some thoughts, but some requirements are more troublesome. For example, in winter, Mr. Pei requires at least one plate of vegetables a day, and it cannot be repeated within three days, which is more troublesome.

Eating fresh vegetables every day in winter is almost impossible for many great nobles. Only the royal family can barely do it. There are hot springs in Xishan, and some vegetables can be grown in winter, but the yield is not high and can only be supplied to the royal family. However, Pei Ji and Li Yuan have a special relationship, so his mansion also enjoys the same treatment. However, this autumn, the locust plague occurred in Guanzhong, and the Xishan area was also affected. The number of vegetables produced is even smaller. Now it can be delivered once every five days, and it is only enough to eat for two days. He has to solve the remaining three days by himself.

It was a little better some time ago, because the weather was just colder and fewer vegetables, and I could find some of them after paying some money. However, as the weather became colder, Manager Su could not find vegetables even if he had money. He had bought radishes for several days in the past few days. This thing was buried underground and could be hidden for a winter. But his husband is the prime minister of a country, so it is not a big deal to keep eating radishes. And the housekeeper had scolded him yesterday. If he buys radishes again today, he would stuff the whole radish into his nostrils.

Thinking of this, Manager Su couldn't help but sigh. He bought all the things he needed to buy today, and there were only fresh vegetables. Now he only hoped to see someone selling lotus roots in the vegetable market. In the past, people transported lotus roots from the south every winter, but this year Liu Heita returned, occupying many places in Hebei and Shandong, especially the northern section of the canal, which fell into the hands of each other. Without this waterway, goods from the north and south are difficult to transport, so he has never seen anyone selling lotus roots this year.

Manager Su went to several familiar vendors to ask, but the answer he received was extremely disappointed. There was no lotus root to sell in the entire Le'an vegetable market. The reason was because of Liu Heita's rebellion, which made him curse the other party in his heart. He heard that in order to suppress the rebellion, the prince personally led his troops. In addition, the third lady with great military achievements, the prince's sister, Princess Pingyang, also went to suppress the rebellion with her. It is estimated that Liu Heita would not be able to jump for long!

Manager Su is just a small person and is not very interested in such military and national affairs. After cursing Liu Heita for a few words, he could only wander around the huge vegetable market with his last hope, hoping to find vegetables other than radishes, otherwise he would wait to accept the punishment after he went back.

"Huh? What's so fragrant?" Just as Manager Su was wandering around the vegetable market aimlessly, he suddenly smelled a strange fragrance, which looked like the fragrance emitted when cooking in the kitchen. However, he often wandered around the kitchen in his mansion, but he had never smelled this fragrance before. Moreover, this fragrance was particularly attractive. Just this slight smell made him drool.

In fact, it was not just Manager Su, but many people around him also smelled this tempting fragrance, which made many people want to find where the smell came from. As a result, after a while, someone finally found the source of the fragrance in an inconspicuous corner of the vegetable market.

This is a strange vegetable stall. There are several large baskets on the ground, but the basket is covered with white cloth, making it difficult to see what is in the basket. There are two honest country men squatting behind the stall. They look no different from those farmers who come to buy vegetables as soon as possible. However, these two people squat there and don’t shout. No one knows what they are selling?

Behind this small stall, a simple curtain was built with two pieces of rags. The sound of a crisp collision between the iron spoon and the iron pot was heard behind the curtain. Manager Su was very familiar with this sound. When the chef in the mansion was cooking, he could hear this sound through several yards. The fragrance from behind the curtain also confirmed that there were indeed people cooking here.

With curiosity in his heart, Manager Su finally stepped forward to ask the two country men behind the stall, "Two brothers, why are you cooking here in the curtain behind you? This is a vegetable market rather than a restaurant?"

The two country men were very polite. When they heard Manager Su’s question, one of them immediately stood up and smiled honestly: “Wait for this customer, the dishes inside are about to be prepared. The guests can taste it later!”

The man didn't say what kind of dish it was, which made Manager Su even more curious. However, as soon as he finished speaking, the sound of cooking behind the curtain finally stopped. Then he picked up the curtain and a country woman with thick hands and feet came out with a small basin. The basin was steaming and emitted an attractive fragrance, which made Manager Su and others sniff involuntarily.

Because of the scent, the stall was surrounded by people. At this time, the country man behind the stall said loudly: "Brothers, we are farmers in Lijiazhuang outside the city. This time we have grown a new vegetable, which tastes very delicious. If you don't believe it, this is a dish that my wife just made with vegetables. You can try it, it's not a good deal!"

The country man said, pointing to the small pot in the peasant woman's hand, he saw a strange vegetable in the pot, which was only a few inches long and very thin, one by one, crystal clear and beautiful, but no one has ever seen this vegetable.

"Let me try it!" Manager Su had long been attracted by this fragrance, and he was not polite at the moment. He picked up the chopsticks from the small basin and held them in his mouth. It was fragrant, crispy, tender, and refreshing, with a bit of sour taste that makes people feel so popular. There should be vinegar inside, so people want to eat it again after eating it.

"It's delicious, so delicious!" Manager Su praised loudly while eating. As the chef in Pei's mansion, he had almost tasted all the food in the world, but this was the first time he had eaten such delicious food. Moreover, he was very keen to find that the dish itself tasted refreshing and was indeed a rare good vegetable, but the most important thing was this unknown cooking method. He dared to bet that the chefs in the mansion would definitely not have this cooking method.

There were also many other noble residences who came to buy the business. Some of them knew Manager Su. Seeing that even he praised the dish, many people immediately gathered around to taste it. After tasting it, they all praised it loudly. Manager Su reacted the fastest. While others were tasting it, he threw down his chopsticks and ran to the stall and shouted to the country man: "How much does your dish cost? Give me ten kilograms!"

"Two... twenty cents per pound!" The country man said embarrassedly. Twenty cents per pound seemed to him as a sky-high price, and this price could be bought for a bucket of grain.

"No problem, come with the money!" Manager Su did not bargain at all, and immediately instructed his mother behind him, because at this time in previous years, the price of lotus roots was much more expensive than this one, and fresh vegetables worth 20 cents per pound were already very cheap.

The servants of Pei's mansion immediately took out two hundred cigarettes and delivered them to the stall. Looking at the two hundred cigarettes of copper coins delivered to him, the two country men behind the stall, including the cooking woman, also showed a look of surprise. They probably didn't expect that they would sell so much so easily. However, the country man suddenly smiled bitterly and said, "I can't sell this customer to you!"
Chapter completed!