After the Winter Solstice passed, it wasn't long before Laba Festival arrived. At this time, there wasn't yet the nationwide tradition of eating porridge that would come in later generations—only temples and nunneries prepared "medicinal food" to distribute to devout households.
At Luminous Nunnery, several disciples were distributing the medicinal food to devotees at the main hall entrance, while others specially delivered portions to noble households they had connections with.
Due to Shen Shaoguang's ties with Luminous Nunnery, Jingqing made a special stop before leaving the neighborhood, stepping down from her carriage to deliver a bowl to her. Shen Shaoguang accepted it with a smile and exchanged a few pleasantries. Noticing Jingqing's hurried demeanor, she understood she still had many households to visit. So, she tucked a monetary offering into the basket holding the porridge jar and personally saw her off.
Jingqing grew somewhat embarrassed. "Between us, why stand on ceremony? We've enjoyed so many of your delicacies before—this time, we're just letting you sample our medicinal food."
Shen Shaoguang chuckled. "We've also prepared some eight-treasure porridge here, similar to your medicinal food. I'll send some to the nunnery later—you must try it when you return and see how it compares."
Jingqing laughed. "I certainly will."
They bid farewell at the gate, and Shen Shaoguang watched as Jingqing boarded her carriage and departed.
True to her word, Shen Shaoguang personally delivered a jar of eight-treasure porridge to the nunnery.
This porridge was naturally prepared according to the customs of later generations. In her previous life, like most young people, Shen Shaoguang hadn't paid much attention to traditional festivals. But now, as a stranger in a foreign land, she found herself unexpectedly nostalgic for them.
It was like her former classmates who had studied abroad—while in their homeland, they had embraced Western styles as much as possible, but once overseas, they'd do things like drive from New York to Washington while belting out patriotic songs the whole way.
When one such classmate mentioned this during a video call, Shen Shaoguang had teased her: "Does your playlist even have that many songs? Or were you just looping the same one?"
The classmate grinned. "The point was expressing my love for the motherland, okay?"
Shen Shaoguang, too, was filled with affection for her old world. Now that she was her own master, she celebrated every festival just as she had before.
Though the variety of fruits and vegetables available now paled in comparison to later times, the staple grains were mostly the same. Rice, millet, glutinous millet, barley, and red beans were all essential, as were the porridge toppings—lotus seeds, hazelnut kernels, pine nuts, walnuts, and chestnuts. But most crucial were the red dates.
It was said that the most refined method of preparing the dates involved peeling and pitting them, adding them only after the porridge was cooked. The peels weren't discarded either—they were boiled to extract their fragrance, and the resulting water was used to cook the porridge.
Shen Shaoguang had never tasted such meticulously prepared Laba porridge before. The porridge she'd eaten had whole dates tossed in, so drinking it often meant spitting out pits, with the occasional peel sticking to the roof of her mouth.
Now that she was making it herself, Shen Shaoguang experimented by soaking the dates, removing the pits, then grinding them into a paste with a small mill. She strained out the peels with a fine sieve—a bit crude, perhaps, but it solved the issue of peels and pits.
This eight-treasure porridge earned high praise from Yuanjue.
The congealed porridge skin was adorned with pine nuts, hazelnut kernels, and other crispy toppings—small, artful piles of various ingredients. Stirring it with a spoon and taking a sip, one found the grains tender and the toppings crisp, pleasing to both the tongue and teeth—a far cry from the usual mush that aimed only for softness.
Yuanjue smiled. "Next year, perhaps we should prepare our medicinal food this way too."Shen Shaoguang felt the absurdity of a time traveler "teaching their ancestors"—perhaps Laba congee evolved from medicinal foods of this era, and now she was trying to replace it? But after all, it was just a nunnery, just a type of food—no need to take it too seriously.
Aside from distributing the Laba congee to neighbors and Luminous Nunnery, she also gave some to customers. Among them was someone who claimed his elderly mistress loved congee the most and wanted to buy a jar. At first, she didn’t recognize him, but now she knew—this was a servant from Lord Lin’s household. Shen Shaoguang gave him a jar, just as she had done for the nunnery.
Who would have thought that this single jar of congee would give Shen Shaoguang the chance to revisit her "former home"?
Though the saying "After Laba, it’s practically New Year" didn’t exist yet, in reality, people had lived this way for centuries. After Laba, the pace of New Year preparations quickened, and the festive atmosphere grew stronger.
The shop had stocked up on preserved meats, grains, wine, and long-lasting vegetables like radishes and cabbage, preparing for the day when butcher shops and grain stores would close for the holiday. Instead of waiting until after the 23rd of the twelfth month to clean, the shop and residence had already begun their year-end deep cleaning.
Shen Shaoguang had also commissioned new New Year clothes for herself, A Yuan, and the others—her own needlework was mediocre, and A Yuan couldn’t even thread a needle, so they had to leave the sewing to professionals.
Perhaps officials were busy with year-end performance reports, or merchants were taking stock and collecting—or dodging—debts. The number of leisurely drinkers in the tavern had dwindled, allowing Shen Shaoguang to calmly prepare for the New Year with Yu San, A Yuan, and A Chang, occasionally taking orders for steamed pastries.
Ever since the Double Seventh Cake had gained fame, people would come to buy flower cakes for gifts or offerings during festivals. A batch had been made for the winter solstice not long ago, earning Shen Shaoguang a tidy sum.
The New Year was naturally incomparable to the winter solstice. After the tenth day of the twelfth month, many came to exchange New Year gifts, and those who knew of Shen Ji’s flower cakes often included two boxes for the occasion.
That afternoon, as Shen Shaoguang was decorating cloud-slice cakes, the servant from Lord Lin’s household approached and said with an apologetic smile, "I have an impertinent request to trouble you with, young mistress."
Shen Shaoguang invited him to speak.
"My elderly mistress drank your congee the other day and found it excellent. Today, she remembered it and had the kitchen try to recreate it, but they couldn’t get the flavor right. Would your shop be willing to prepare a bowl for her? The cost is no issue."
Making eight-treasure congee was time-consuming, and Shen Shaoguang was about to explain when the servant added quietly, "At midday today, my mistress barely ate anything."
So they needed it now?
Shen Shaoguang considered for a moment. "The lotus seed eight-treasure congee won’t be ready anytime soon, but there’s another sweet congee that can be made faster, with a very pleasant taste—and it’s more suitable for elderly ladies." She was referring to walnut paste.
Whether it was jade tip noodles, pastries, hot pot, or meat and vegetable dishes, Shen Ji’s offerings had always pleased the elderly mistress. The servant trusted Shen Shaoguang—and besides, there was no other option. "Then we’ll trouble you, young mistress. When should I come to fetch it?"
Though it took less time than eight-treasure congee, walnut paste was still labor-intensive. Out of consideration for the elderly lady—and Lord Lin’s generous tips—Shen Shaoguang took on this private catering job.Upon hearing the servant's words, Shen Shaoguang suddenly had another idea: "The time required is hard to estimate, but it certainly won't be later than evening meal. The guest needn't come to collect it—we'll deliver it when ready."
The servant naturally had no objections and smiled, "Then we'll leave it entirely in your hands, young mistress."
After the servant left, Shen Shaoguang handed the task of decorating the cloud slice cakes to Yu San while she began peeling walnuts, removing date pits, and grinding rice paste to prepare walnut paste.
Yu San was somewhat puzzled about why Shen Shaoguang had agreed to cook a bowl of porridge, but then it occurred to her that such a bowl might fetch the price of an entire pot of cakes—it would be strange if the young mistress refused...
What Shen Shaoguang was actually thinking about was her former residence. Since arriving in this district, she hadn't yet entered it—that "home" existed only in her memories and dreams.
Though Shen Shaoguang couldn't clearly say whether it truly counted as her home, just as she couldn't definitively say whether Shen Qian and his wife or Shen Zhiwen—the youth nicknamed A Zhang—counted as her parents and elder brother, she still wanted to go back and see, especially after A Yuan's recent report about what she'd seen in that house.
As Shen Shaoguang reminisced, she tossed the peeled walnut kernels into boiling water to blanch them. After blanching, the bitter outer skins could be easily removed. Actually, microwaving would achieve the same result—but of course, there were no microwaves in this era.
In an age with modern kitchen appliances, walnut paste would be incredibly easy to make. Now, however, it had to be done "completely by hand."
Making eight-treasure porridge required peeling and pitting dates to extract the flesh, just as making walnut paste did. But since Shen Shaoguang hadn't soaked any dates and was only making a small bowl, she didn't use the rough method—instead, she carefully shaved the date skins off with a small knife.
The shop was quiet. Yu San finished the cloud slice cakes and turned to see Shen Shaoguang wearing an apron, sitting cross-legged at the food preparation table, meticulously extracting date flesh. Nearby, A Yuan was sorting beans, while through the open kitchen door behind them, A Chang dozed by the stove, his head nodding. Yu San smiled, checked the fire in the stove, and didn't wake A Chang.
Once the walnuts were peeled and the dates prepared, they were ground into paste along with soaked rice using a small mill, then cooked in a pot.
Soon, the sweet aroma of dates and rice filled the air around the stove.
A Yuan came over and sniffed. "It smells wonderful."
Shen Shaoguang smiled. With the shop filled with the scents of rice cakes and meat, it was impressive she could still detect this light porridge fragrance.
Seeing it was almost done, Shen Shaoguang added a bit of sugar for flavor, then ladled it into a white porcelain jar. After sealing it with a lid and wrapping it in a small white cloth pad, she placed it in a food box.
"Shall I deliver it?" A Yuan asked.
Shen Shaoguang pointed to the extra bowl. "You and A Chang can share this."
A Yuan agreed cheerfully.
Yu San glanced at her. "You spoil them too much."
Shen Shaoguang blinked. Wasn't spoiling children just what one did?
Ignoring Princess Yu San, Shen Shaoguang picked up the food box and left the shop.
Apparently, the servant had informed the gatekeeper, because as soon as Shen Shaoguang mentioned it, she was allowed entry.
Guided by a servant of the Lin residence, Shen Shaoguang passed through the ceremonial gate, exited the passage hall, traversed the corridor, circled the front courtyard, and entered the rear quarters.
As she walked, Shen Shaoguang compared what she saw with her memories—most matched, though there were some differences.The bamboo was much thicker than remembered, and the crabapple tree had grown taller, yet the floral carvings on the corridor remained unchanged from the past.
Shen Shaoguang looked up and happened to see Lord Lin at the end of the hallway, dressed in a scholar's white robe, as pure and elegant as the breeze and moonlight.
Author's note: ①The Tang Dynasty Laba customs referenced some materials but also contain fictional elements—please don't scrutinize too closely.
The complex method of cooking Laba porridge and the arrangement of dried fruits on its surface were referenced from Tang Lusun's essay "Recalling Laba in the Cold Winter." The walnut paste section drew from Liang Shiqiu's writings.
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