Chapter 135: Five-Spice Roasted Melon Seeds

Qi Changwen agreed to Jiaoyan's proposal merely on the off chance of trying his luck. Since the loss was already a foregone conclusion, it would be better if some could be salvaged; if not, he would simply have to resign himself to fate.

Without further delay, Qi Changwen instructed his son to go to the fields and pick ten of the largest, fully ripened melons. Xuemei's father and uncle immediately got up to pick the melons.

"Grandpa Qi, please send the melons directly to the Miao family instead of my home," Jiaoyan called out hastily.

With too many eyes and ears in the Gu family, Jiaoyan did not feel at ease. Although she intended to help the Qi family, she had no desire to leak the method for making five-spice melon seeds. In Jiaoyan's heart, Miao Suwen, her son, and Ruyun were much more reliable than the Gu family. Furthermore, Miao Suwen never pried into Jiaoyan's affairs, whereas in the Gu family, Lady Li would never allow Jiaoyan to meddle in things at will.

Because of these two reasons, Jiaoyan naturally wanted to make the melon seeds at the Miao family's house. Having the melons delivered straight there saved her the trouble of moving them laboriously. "Grandpa Qi, Grandma Qi, it will probably take three to five days to make them. For the next few days, don't pick any more melons from the fields. The riper the melons, the more solid and plump the seeds inside will be." After giving a few instructions, Jiaoyan bid farewell to the Qi family and prepared to return to the Miao family.

Xuemei hurriedly packed the plums and sand pears she had just picked into a container for Jiaoyan to take back. "Take these back for Brother Wensxiu and the others to taste. If you like them, come over and pick more whenever you have time."

Jiaoyan did not stand on ceremony and left carrying the fruit. As soon as she returned to the Miao family's courtyard, she saw that the Qi family had indeed delivered a dozen or so melons. "Uncle Qi, just leave the melons in the courtyard. In a few days, once the melon seeds are done, I'll send some over for you to taste."

Following Jiaoyan's wishes, the Qi family placed the melons in the courtyard and then took their leave. Once they were gone, Jiaoyan called Shaoyuan for help. "Brother Shaoyuan, help me get the seeds out of these melons."

Shaoyuan came out of the house and looked at the yard full of watermelons with great puzzlement. "Yanyan, what are you doing? Bringing back so many watermelons, can we possibly finish eating them all?"

Speechless, Jiaoyan really didn't want to explain. "Brother Shaoyuan, don't ask questions yet. Just help me cut these melons open and take out the seeds inside. I need to use them."

Though full of doubts, Shaoyuan was accustomed to helping Jiaoyan with things; he would do whatever she told him to, and this time was no exception. So, he went inside to fetch a knife, came back out, and cut a melon open directly. "Aiah, why are there only seeds in here? How can this be eaten? Whose house did you buy these from? Aren't they swindling you?" Upon looking inside, Shaoyuan grew angry, assuming someone had cheated Jiaoyan.

Jiaoyan chuckled, patted Shaoyuan's hand, and placated him. "Brother Shaoyuan, no one cheated me. I specifically wanted melons like this. We will eat the flesh of these melons, but you must save all the seeds for me. I need the seeds." Jiaoyan remembered that these oil-seed melons actually tasted quite good, so she decided to eat one first to try it, and worry about the rest later.

Half-doubting, Shaoyuan reached for the knife to cut another melon, but Jiaoyan stopped him. "Get a spoon. Scoop it out with a spoon to eat." Cutting with a knife would inevitably damage the seeds, so using a spoon was better. Jiaoyan found a small woven rattan basket to hold the seeds.

Shaoyuan brought out a spoon, and the two of them used spoons to scoop out the melon pulp to eat. To be fair, the flavor of this melon was really quite good—very sweet and wonderfully grainy. "The melon tastes nice enough, but there are simply too many seeds. Good grief, I'm doing nothing but spitting out seeds the whole time," Shaoyuan complained.

Jiaoyan said nothing and merely smiled. After the two of them finished half a melon, the remaining half was taken to Miao Suwen, Ruyun, and Ruyue to eat. Of course, Jiaoyan forbade them from wasting any seeds; every single one was spat into the small rattan basket.

Having eaten one melon, they certainly couldn't continue eating the rest the same way. Consequently, Jiaoyan came up with a different method. "Brother Shaoyuan, find a piece of coarse linen cloth. We'll squeeze the pulp out; this time, we only want the seeds. Wait for me to make you something delicious."

Seeing Jiaoyan's look of absolute confidence, Shaoyuan shook his head involuntarily and muttered, "I have no idea what you're up to this time. Fine, wait here, I'll go find some cloth." With that, he went into the house to ask Miao Suwen for the material. Before long, Shaoyuan returned with two pieces of unbleached coarse linen. "Tell me, how do we do this?"

Directing Shaoyuan, the two of them scooped out the melon pulp, wrapped it inside the coarse linen, and placed it in a wooden basin to scrub vigorously. In this way, the seeds and the pulp were separated. Afterward, they rinsed everything with clean water, scooped the seeds out with a bamboo skimmer a couple of times, and managed to retrieve all the seeds completely.

Once the seeds were gathered, they needed to be soaked in lime water of the appropriate concentration for a period of time, then scrubbed and washed again to remove the thin membrane on their outer surface. Following that, they were rinsed clean with clear water and spread out on a tattered mat to dry. Once dried, the seeds were transferred into a large wooden basin, where water and certain ingredients were added to soak them overnight. Early the next morning, Jiaoyan came back over, poured the seeds together with the water from the wooden basin into a pot, brought it to a boil, and cooked the seeds for a while.

The boiled seeds were scooped out again to dry. Since this would take some time, Jiaoyan spread all the seeds out on the old mat to dry in the sun, then went off to do other chores.

Although Miao Suwen, Ruyun, and the others all saw Jiaoyan puttering around with those melon seeds, they had no inkling of what she was trying to achieve. However, seeing how much effort and care Jiaoyan was putting into it, none of them said anything and simply tried their best to help her out.

At that time, although the weather wasn't scorching hot, it was extremely dry—the absolute best time for sun-drying various things. Thus, after a little more than a day, the seeds were completely dry. Jiaoyan grabbed a few to taste. Not bad; the flavor was quite good, and the seed kernels inside had taken on a five-spice flavor. However, seeds dried like this weren't quite fragrant enough; they needed to be stir-fried once more.

"Master, do me a favor and stir-fry these melon seeds in a pot." Jiaoyan was still small, and her height wasn't quite enough for stir-frying things in a wok, so she asked Miao Suwen for help.

Since she had nothing pressing to do that day and was idle anyway, Miao Suwen built a fire and helped Jiaoyan roast the seeds in the wok until they were done. Strictly speaking, they weren't being cooked from raw since they had already been boiled; this step was merely to dry them out a bit more and release a wave of rich fragrance.

The seeds were scooped into a shallow wicker dustpan to cool down slowly. Afterward, Jiaoyan grabbed a handful and let Miao Suwen, Shaoyuan, Ruyun, and the others taste them.

Miao Suwen pinched one between her fingers, put it in her mouth to crack it open, and found the plump seed kernel inside carried a hint of saltiness and a five-spice flavor. Eating it left a truly unique aftertaste. "Mm, this tastes quite good. It's much tastier than the sunflower seeds we usually eat," Miao Suwen nodded approvingly.

Over on the other side, Shaoyuan, Ruyun, and the others had also tasted them and declared them delicious. Jiaoyan smiled, her big eyes curving into crescents. "How is it? Delicious, right? I told you I was going to make something good for you. All right, keep some to eat, and I'll take the rest to Grandpa Qi's house. These melons came from their field, and with so many of them growing there, Grandpa Qi was nearly at his wit's end worrying about them." With that, Jiaoyan filled half a cloth sack with the seeds and left the rest for Miao Suwen and the others to enjoy.

Having successfully made five-spice flavored melon seeds according to her own ideas, Jiaoyan felt quite pleased with herself. Carrying the small sack, she headed over to the Qi family. As luck would have it, the Qi family members had nothing much to do today and were all idling around at home. Seeing Jiaoyan approach, Qi Changwen smiled. "Little lass, have you whipped up something tasty?"

With a smug and proud smile, Jiaoyan handed the cloth sack in her hand to Qi Changwen. "Grandpa, taste this first, and then we'll talk." Jiaoyan was full of confidence; this item was something most people would surely love.

Qi Changwen opened the sack, scooped out a handful of melon seeds, and distributed them to Grandma Qi and his daughters-in-law. "Have a taste, everyone, and see what kind of good thing our little lass managed to make." Qi Changwen still harbored a trace of skepticism—could those watermelon seeds possibly have any culinary appeal?

As a result, the moment a few seeds entered their mouths, Qi Changwen's expression shifted. The seed kernels were already quite large to begin with, and combined with the five-spice seasoning, they made people want to keep eating one after another, creating an almost irresistible craving. "Aiah, I never expected you, little lass, to actually be able to whip up something so good. Mmm, delicious." Qi Changwen nodded in satisfaction.

"Grandpa, don't you think this stuff would sell well if we sent it to a roasted snack shop? Or perhaps places like opera houses, teahouses, and taverns should carry them too. It's still a bit early before the New Year, but when the New Year arrives, every household will buy various snacks to entertain guests. I reckon this will sell like hotcakes then," Jiaoyan said with a proud smile, her impish and clever expression bringing a smile to everyone's face.

Hearing Jiaoyan's words, Qi Changwen pondered quietly. It was indeed a sound idea. These melon seeds tasted vastly superior to sunflower seeds, and furthermore, they were something completely unseen in these parts. They ought to be quite popular. The Qi family was a prominent household in the village and maintained extensive connections outside; finding a few roasted snack shops to help sell these would be a piece of cake.

"Little lass, your idea is truly wonderful. How about this: you help Grandpa make some more, and I'll take them out for people to try. If it works out, once these melon seeds are sold for money, I'll give you half the profits. How does that sound?" Qi Changwen was well aware that Jiaoyan undoubtedly held the exclusive recipe. However, he had no intention of demanding it from her; as long as he could dispose of those melons on his hands without taking a financial loss, he would be content.

Moreover, Jiaoyan was helping out of the goodness of her heart, and Qi Changwen was not the type to bully a little girl. With the Qi family's upright reputation, they would never take advantage of anyone in such a manner.

Jiaoyan's big eyes darted around briskly. Naturally, she was well aware of the boundless business potential here. She wasn't particularly surprised that Qi Changwen offered to split the profits fifty-fifty with her; the Qi family members were all decent people and not blinded by greed. She smiled and said, "Grandpa Qi, it seems to me you ought to set aside a batch of seeds first. Otherwise, in case this product really makes a fortune and you forget to keep the seeds, I wonder what you'll use to make money next year?"