Lu Xihua asked the shopkeeper, and the shopkeeper answered carefully.

"Ice and snow" is similar to today's ice cream. In the winter, the shop uses a copper basin to connect a basin of clean water, put sugar in the water, or put some juice and pectin, and then bring it outside to let it freeze. Once the water is frozen, it is transported to the ice cellar and cut into small pieces (or carved into small animal shapes) the following summer to be sold in cold drink shops.

"Cool pulp" is made of rice, whether it is rice or millet, boil it in a thick half pot, add half a pot of cold water after boiling, mix evenly, pour it into a vat, cover it and let it ferment naturally. After five or six days, the rice will be saccharified, and then poured out to strain the thick one, as long as the rice juice is divided, put it in a small porcelain bottle, put it in an ice bucket and take a town, and the cold syrup will become, sweet and sour is very delicious. When going to the grave on the Qingming Festival, in addition to making offerings to relatives, you also have to sprinkle a few "cold syrup water and rice" for lonely souls and wild ghosts. Rice is actually semi-fermented rice juice, but it is not a cold drink until it is chilled.

In addition, there are two major categories of cold drinks, which are called "thirsty water" and "cooked water".

The process of making thirsty water is particularly troublesome: find a bunch of lychees, or a bunch of apples, plums, oranges, bayberry, grapes, etc., in short, all the fat and juicy fruits can be, wash them, peel and remove the core, leaving only the juice and pulp into the pot, add water, boil over high heat, and then change to low heat to boil slowly, boil until it is about to stick to the pan, filter it again, filter out the dregs that have not been selected just now, continue to boil, stir while boiling, until the water is all dry, and there is only a large mass of viscous in the pot. A translucent substance that can pull out filaments, which Lu Xihua calls "pectin". Put the pectin out, put it in a small porcelain jar, seal it tightly, when you want to drink a cold drink, scoop it out of the porcelain jar, mix it well with ice water, it is thirsty water.

Compared to thirsty water, making cooked water is very simple. As the name suggests, of course, to make cooked water, you need to boil the water, but this alone must not be called cooked water, only boiled water. The shop makes cooked water by washing bamboo leaves, rice leaves or orange leaves, drying them, putting them in a pot and stir-frying them slightly, then boiling a pot of water, putting a handful of leaves into it, covering the pot and simmering for a while, taking out the leaves and throwing them away, adding some sugar, and finally putting the water into a clay pot and hoisting it into a deep well. The drink is very comfortable to drink, very cool, and has a faint, all-natural aroma.

"Licorice soup" is chilled licorice water, and "medicinal papaya" is a refreshing drink made by pickling papaya with honey and several Chinese medicinal herbs, boiling it in boiling water until it turns white, mashing it into a puree, and then mixing it with ice water.

"Water papaya" is relatively simple. Peel the papaya, remove the pulp, cut it into small cubes, and soak it in ice water. "Cold water lychee paste" basically has nothing to do with lychee, it belongs to thirsty water, mainly boiled with black plum to gum, and then the pectin is mixed into ice water.

The store's ice is stored in advance when there is ice in winter. Now that the weather is hot, the ice cubes will melt away soon as they come out of the ice cellar, so the store has eight double-layer large wooden barrels in the four corners of the house, with a pedestal at the bottom, a round lid on it, and a white copper wrap at the interface. When the store's cold drinks are ready, they are put into a large vat for refrigeration, which can not only be refrigerated, but also used as an air conditioner.

Lu Xihua handed the little second brother a tip of 50 yuan, and called for a total of 140 yuan for "medicinal papaya" and "cold water lychee paste", and asked the little second brother to see if there were any snacks at the door, come a little, and have a big meal in the evening.

After a while, the second brother brought a man who carried the burden, it turned out to be a seller of braised beef, Lu Xihua thought about it, one hundred pounds a catty, and cut three catties as snacks.

Ask the store if there is an inn in Lin'an County, the store introduced one or two, and Lu Xihua looked for them one by one along the road. As a result, the identity of this official office is not enough to enter, the conditions of this private office are too poor, it is uncomfortable to sleep, and the other is a temple, which is also operated as an inn, but Lu Xihua touched his bald head, or don't deal with the temple too much, lest he really become a monk.

When the sun is setting, can I only go home? Just when I was at a loss and didn't know where to go, Lu Xihua heard that there was a street around the corner, and the warbler Yanyan was so hot that he couldn't help but walk over quickly.

I saw a frontage in front of me, so it was not lively, red doors and green columns, carved flowers, wind curtains and green curtains, ushered in and sent, and the traffic was busy. Yes, this is a major feature of the Great Song Dynasty ~ Qinglou.

In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, one tael of silver could be exchanged for consistent copper coins, and in the era of Huizong, due to the large number of copper coins issued by the imperial court, one or two silver could be exchanged for six or seven copper coins. The eight hundred and sixty copper coins in Lu Xihua's hand were also exchanged for five hundred taels of silver and sixty copper coins in the money store in the city, and there was no problem in eating a meal and sleeping well, so he strode towards one of the Qinglou wine inns called "May Tower".

As soon as he entered the door, a small servant came to lead the way, although Lu Xihua was not good-looking, dressed in a cloth shirt, but his bearing was extraordinary, and his skin was like jade, so he didn't look like an ordinary son, "May I ask if the son is here for the first time?" asked the bustard's mother.

Lu Xihua nodded, "It's the first time I've come to Lin'an, other places don't look good, you have a good environment here, I want to come and stay for one night." ”

The bustard's mother didn't understand what the environment meant, but when she saw Lu Xihua nodding again and again, she must be satisfied, it must be a good word, and she hurriedly smiled, "The guests are coming from afar, and they are invited to visit the tea." ”

Whether there is money or not, you can see it at this time, the guests who come to the Qinglou for the first time, in order not to pay the bill, must first show their financial resources, and first serve a cup of fragrant tea, the price ranges from hundreds of Wen to several times. If you take the money, you will continue, and if you can't get the money, you can't continue to stay, so you can only leave.

How much money you give for this cup of tea, the store will know what kind of service you need, and there will be no high-end service for hundreds of tea;

Lu Xihua smiled, handed two copper coins and handed them to the bustard's mother, "There is no need for tea, take me up to sit first." ”

The bustard's mother took the copper coin and handed it to the others, and said with a smile, "The guest is in a hurry, and he will go upstairs with me." ”

Lu Xihua entered the building, only to see that the stairs from the door to the main corridor upstairs are about 100 steps, in the middle is the rockery fish pond, there is the light of the sky into the well, the translucent is abnormal, surrounded by dozens of tables of tea, for the guests to explore the tea and use with the guests. At the top of the tea enclosure, hundreds of spherical lanterns hang down on the second floor, tied with red ropes, and there are bright candles, on which are written the names of the young ladies. If the lady is clicked by a guest, the lady comes to the tea circle to talk to the guest, and after wishful thinking, the lantern belonging to the lady will be lit, indicating that the lady has a guest. Lu Xihua fixed his eyes on "Qiao", "Rou", "Lan", "Fang", "Qiu", and "Ying...... The names are varied, and they are very appropriate.

There are dozens of small pavilions in the north and south, and there are hundreds of women holding their heads in the surrounding corridors, Luo makeup and powder, holding musical instruments and small fans, warblers and swallows, fragrant, but quiet, standing by the corridor pole waiting for the guests to call, and indeed have the style of a modern entertainment city. It's just that most of the young ladies here are talented and good-looking, which is far from being comparable to modern times.

Lu Xihua said with a smile, "I also asked my mother to find a secluded place, preferably a place where you can see the magnificent scenery outside the window, and I will have a good drink." ”

The bustard's mother is only twenty-six or seventeen years old, and Qing Luo Xiaofan covered her mouth and smiled, "Don't worry, please come with me." ”

Lu Xihua followed the bustard's mother to the third floor, and the women on the side of the corridor bent down to salute one after another, and came to a private room on the south side and west, with the name of the room "Red Pink".

The bustard mother pushed open the door and stepped aside, "Guest, please come in." ”

Lu Xihua smiled, "Pink with a beauty, I want to see how it is inside, whether it is worthy of me as a stranger beauty." "Take a step forward.