Legend of Eating Toutang During the Duanwu Festival 端午节吃透糖的传说

传说中国古代一个小城镇--淮安，城内有一个小茶食店，店里有父女两人，姑娘乳名叫莲儿，才十六岁，生得心灵手巧，做得一手好糕点。小小的茶食店，天天顾客盈门。
Legend has it that there was a small shop selling cakes and in Huai’an, a small town in China in ancient times which was run by a father and his daughter. The pet name of the 16-year-old girl is Lian’er who is ingenious and can make delicious cakes. The small shop welcomed endless customers every day.
小店的名气越来越大，生意越做越好，这可气坏了那些大字号的茶食店店主们。一天，他们把全城茶食业同行召集在一起，莲儿的父亲也被邀来。一个大店主说：“端午节快到了，大家该想想，能不能制作一种新奇、独特、外地没有的应节糕点啊！”别的店主们纷纷应和：“对呀，对呀！”停了一会，有人对莲儿父亲说：“你家莲儿姑娘心眼伶俐，手艺精巧，你回去何不叫她翻翻花样，拿出一手来给同行看看呢？！”莲儿父亲知道这些人存心捉弄他。只好含糊地回答：“难啊。”
The shop became ever-famous and its business got booming day by day, angering well-known shop owners. Someday, they gathered together industry peers, including Lian’er’s father. An owner of a big name shop said “the Duanwu Festival is just around the corner. We should think hard and produce a novel, unique cake typical of our region.” The idea was strongly echoed by other shop owners. A short while later someone said to Lian’er’s father that “your daughter Lian’er is clever with exquisite skills. Why not ask her to change patterns and bring out her best?!” Lian’er’s father knew these people made fun of him intentionally. He had to answer vaguely “it’s too difficult.”
莲儿父亲回去，把这件事告诉了莲儿。莲儿说；“他们想捉弄我啊，我倒要搞出点名堂来给他们看看！”莲儿盘算了一夜，第二天就动手把平时卖糕点积下的各种各样的碎屑儿，统统收拢在一起，过了秤，算了算斤两，再兑上些新鲜面粉，揉和成大面团儿。接着切成小方块儿，再用刀顺着每个块儿的正中划一条浅浅的沟纹。随即引火烧锅，倒入麻油，放进油里炸熟，再捞起来放在铁丝络上晾，然后装进瓷皿，浇上白糖、桂花、玫瑰卤儿，调和而成。
When getting back, he let Lian’er know the truth. Lian’er said “now that they want to embarrass me, I will work to surprise them!” After a night of meditation, she began collecting all scraps accumulated from daily sales, took the weight and mixed with fresh flour to rub up to big paste. Then, she cut paste to small pieces and drew a shallow line in the middle of each diamond with knife. After that, she stroke a fire to heat the pot, poured into sesame oil and fried pieces in the oil; aired pieces on iron wire net, put them on porcelain dish, sprinkling white sugar, sweet-scented osmanthus and rose sauce.
隔了一天，莲儿打开大瓷皿一看，饼儿在甜汁里泡浸了一天，卤汁大半都渗进去，已经变得松软酥透了。她用筷子拣起来尝尝，又甜又香，又酥又粘。她高兴地朝店堂喊道：“爹，成功啦！”父亲跑来一看，莲儿用筷子拣起一块饼儿递进他嘴里，一尝，真是又惊又喜。他问姑娘：“这种新糕点该起个什么名字呀”？莲儿想了想说：“就叫它‘透糖’好啦，糖卤儿都渗到饼里嘛！”父亲频频点头：“叫‘透糖’？行行行！”
A day later, Lian’er found that after a day of immersion in the porcelain dish, most of the sweet sauce was penetrated, making the cake mellow and crisp. She took up chopsticks to taste the sweet, fragrant, crisp and stick cake and shouted to the shop excitedly, “dad, I make it.” Her father rushed in and Lian’er picked one cake for her father, who was surprised and pleased after having a taste. He asked “what’s the name of the new cake?” Lian’er thought a while and said “I would call it ‘Toutang’ as sugar sauce was totally penetrated into the cake!” Her father nodded his head “name it ‘Toutang’? Ok, great!”
端午节前两天，莲儿店里的透糖上市啦，全城只此一家，别无分店。顾客们觉得新鲜，争着要买到一尝，人人赞不绝口。接连五、六天，做出的透糖一拿到店里，很快就卖光了。
Toutang appeared in Lian’er’s store two days before the Duanwu Festival, the one and only shop in the city. It’s novel for customers, so they rushed to have a taste and highly praised the new product. In the ensuring five to six days, it was sold out as soon as it was offered.
消息一传开，那些原先想捉弄莲儿的大茶食店店主们，虽然心里不服气，但是为了做生意挣钱，也只得硬着头皮去向莲儿讨教。都照着莲儿教给的方法制作透糖，大量应市。从那以后，家家户户端午吃透糖，就成为淮安的一种民俗了。
When the news got about, operators of large shops who hoped to made fun of Lian’er had to ask for advice from her to make money despite of their unwillingness. They produced Toutang according to the methods taught by Lian’er to meet market demands. After that, eating Toutang during the Duanwu Festival has become a folk custom in Huai’an.