Facts have proved that a person's development cannot always be smooth sailing.
Maybe it was because things were going too smoothly before, but recently, Zhou Peirong's things have not been so smooth.
The people sent to Shifang County failed to bring back the potassium nitrate ore.
Therefore, although Zhou Peirong refined sulfur, he could not go further and conduct experiments on making black powder.
However, Zhou Peirong said he was not in a hurry.
Just as he had thought before, it would be no problem to get the fireworks and firecrackers out sooner or later.
It’s okay to use a bamboo tube to push it up!
As time goes by, the New Year is getting closer and closer.
Under Zhou Peirong's efforts, the entire Xifeng Town finally had some New Year's atmosphere.
Of course, Zhou Peirong doesn't need to take care of the New Year's shopping.
But Zhou Peirong still has to take care of other aspects.
The first thing is this firecracker.
Zhou Peirong did not ask how many bamboos other people had stored.
Zhou Peirong's own home alone has a reserve of fifty bamboos.
These bamboos are enough for Zhou Peirong and Wenxi to play with for a while.
In addition to firecrackers, Zhou Peirong is also planning to write some couplets and paste them inside and outside his home.
And just as Zhou Peirong was preparing for the New Year, an acquaintance whom he had not seen for a long time suddenly came to see him.
This acquaintance was none other than the magistrate of Liming County, Wei An.
"Master Wei! What gust of wind brought you here? Come on, come on, sit down, sit down!"
With a smile on his face, Zhou Peirong personally brought Wei An in and immediately asked Li Yulian to serve tea and snacks.
The two exchanged simple greetings, and then Wei An got straight to the point and said: "I came to you because I want to inform you of something.
My brother-in-law has received the news that it has been decided that he will go to the capital to serve as an official.
Now, my brother-in-law has gone to Beijing to take care of things.
If nothing else happens, after my sister-in-law enters the capital and becomes an official, the position of governor of Shu County may belong to me, Wei An!"
"Then I would like to congratulate Mr. Wei in advance on his promotion!"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Peirong immediately clasped his fists at Wei An and congratulated him heartily.
"Haha, thank you, Boss Zhou!"
Wei An was naturally very satisfied with Zhou Peirong's attitude.
After thinking about it, Wei An then continued: "Although the matter has not been settled yet, I still decided to celebrate in advance.
Boss Zhou, I’m going to set up a few banquet tables at your Rongquan Restaurant. When the time comes, you must attend the banquet!”
"Don't worry, Mr. Wei, I will not only attend the banquet, but I will also cook it myself.
By then, I still have some ideas that I can try out.
I hope Master Wei, you don’t blame me for doing experiments on you!”
"How could it be!"
Wei An waved his hands and said in a nonchalant voice.
"If I can get promoted, it will be because of your help and contribution, Boss Zhou.
I'll give you a little help, that's what I should do.
But I'm curious, what is the experiment you want to do?"
"Ah, actually I just thought of another recipe. I want to find time to make it and let Mr. Wei come and taste it!
And this recipe is related to celebrating a promotion.
It’s just that I couldn’t find some ingredients, so I could only make part of it.”
Zhou Peirong did not hide anything, but spoke out his thoughts in detail.
After listening to Zhou Peirong's story, Wei An's eyes immediately glowed with anticipation.
"After listening to what you said, I am looking forward to it more and more!"
Wei An chuckled, raised his hand and patted Zhou Peirong's shoulder, and said with a smile: "I have scheduled the banquet in three days. By then, no matter how many new dishes you come up with, I will eat them!"
"Don't worry, I'm by your side. When have you ever let me down, Mr. Wei?"
Zhou Peirong raised his chin, and a faint confident smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
After the serious conversation was over, the two chatted for a few more words before Wei An said goodbye and left.
When leaving, Wei An also took away several pairs of couplets and a large bag of bamboo tube firecrackers.
After sending Wei An away, Zhou Peirong stopped writing couplets.
After thinking about it, Zhou Peirong and Li Yulian counted the ingredients available at home.
In order to reproduce the dishes on the recipe he mentioned, Zhou Peirong had to make a lot of preparations.
You know, the recipe he was talking about was the most famous tail-burning banquet of the Tang Dynasty in the previous life!
The recipe for this roast tail banquet contains a total of fifty-eight dishes!
Among the fifty-eight dishes, the one that is the least difficult to replicate is Mao Geng, which is rabbit broth.
As for the other dishes, although they were not difficult to make, Zhou Peirong really didn't have the ingredients, so he had no choice but to give up.
After careful consideration and selection, Zhou Peirong finally decided on eight dishes.
The first dish of these eight dishes is called Shengjin Twenty-four Qi Wonton.
The difficulty of making this dish is only slightly higher than that of Mao Geng.
Shengjin Twenty-four Qi Wonton, as the name suggests, is a flower-shaped bowl of chaos with different fillings.
There can only be twenty-four wontons in this bowl, and the shape and fillings of each wonton cannot be the same.
The reason why this dish is only slightly more difficult to make than Mao Geng is because the process of making this dish is just a little more complicated.
As long as you find twenty-four kinds of fillings and think of twenty-four different shapes...
Well, this is actually hard to get right.
But compared to the preparation process of those big dishes at the Shaowei Banquet, the preparation of the 24-Qi wonton is really simple.
As for the remaining dishes, they actually just require more ingredients.
In terms of cooking difficulty, these dishes are only a little more difficult to make than the Mao Geng and the 24-year-old wontons.
After two days of careful testing and preparation, Zhou Peirong finally gained enough confidence.
Early the next morning, Zhou Peirong got up early and, together with Li Yulian, brought the ingredients to Liming County.
Rongquan Restaurant has been notified a long time ago.
By the time Zhou Peirong arrived, the restaurant's chef and waiters had already made complete preparations.
Zhou Peirong did not neglect, but waved his hand and led his men to get busy.
By the time Wei An and the guests arrived, Zhou Peirong was almost ready for this 'roasting tail banquet'.
"Master Wei, you will also have good luck today, and you will also have luck.
If you don’t give me more benefits in the future, you will be sorry for my efforts in the past three days!"
Zhou Peirong said to Wei An half-jokingly and half-seriously.
"Don't worry, Boss Zhou. When have I, Wei An, ever been short of your benefits?"
Wei An assured him, and then gave Zhou Peirong an urging look.
"When can this tail-burning feast begin? I can't wait!"