Zhao You was puzzled and said: “Is there even a need to talk about it? Where can I go to eat if I don’t come to the public kitchen?”

This sentence blocked Liu Yuan and Ji Caimai and they were speechless.

The public kitchen of Dali Temple was indeed a place specially designed for preparing court meals for officials of Dali Temple. But the public chef, Sun and Wang, their “skills” was enough to scare people away. Who would come to the public kitchen to eat breakfast?

There was no way to avoid eating lunch and evening meals because these meals cost too much money, but morning meals were usually settled at home or bought while passing by a morning stall. So, naturally, there was no need to come to the public kitchen to suffer.

Not to mention, before meeting Master Wen, who knew that breakfast could have so many tricks?

Seeing that Liu Yuan and Ji Caimai were standing still, Zhao You stretched out his hand and swept the two of them aside, saying: “Let’s go! Let’s go! I’m going in to get the court food, and I want to bring Lin Shaoqing’s share!”

This word was a reminder for Ji Caimai: “It’s no wonder that Lin Shaoqing reminded me of Sun Dingren and Wang Junshan’s tricks two days ago. It turns out that Lin Shaoqing also knew that Master Wen’s Chaoshi¹ is delicious.”

Liu Yuan looked at Ji Caimai, Ji Caimai didn’t need to hide anything, so he told the story of the salty soy milk and Master Sun grabbing sugar two days ago. Liu Yuan rolled his eyes and couldn’t help saying: “I don’t have much ability, but the villain’s behavior is very good!”

By that time, Zhao You had already run to the counter, looking at the stacked side dishes on the counter, his mouth was almost drooling, he quickly stretched out a hand, and said, “I’ll take… I’ll count…five servings!”

As Liu Yuan and Ji Caimai entered the public kitchen, their steps involuntarily halted at the sight beneath their feet: Five portions?

“If he’s having this for both lunch and dinner, considering his appetite, how could he possibly not finish it?” Liu Yuan and Ji Caimai exchanged a glance as they regained their senses, shook their heads, and walked over.

Before he got close, he heard Liu Yuan’s surprised “Huh”.

Ji Caimai asked him: “What’s the matter?”

Liu Yuan looked at the young girl who was busy behind the counter, and said, “I recognize her.”

One sentence aroused Ji Caimai’s squinting eyes: “How do you know Master Wen? She just came from the palace. It’s only been a few days since it was released! Don’t just recognize her because she’s pretty. If you start randomly recognizing girls², just wait until your colleagues inform your hometown fiancée about it!”

Liu Yuan was taken aback by these words, quickly waved his hands, and said, “Ji Caimai, why do you think of me as a nasty person? What I meant by recognition is true recognition, not random recognition.”

After speaking, he quickly pulled Ji Caimai aside and whispered a few words in his ear. After recounting the incident at Zhao Ji Restaurant that day, he couldn’t help but stroke his chin and said, “It seems that wicked woman just couldn’t tolerate her! But at least her culinary skills are good, and now she’s in our public kitchen… Wait a minute, something’s not right! If that’s the case, then the scrambled egg noodles…”

Thinking of the pumpkin pie he ate yesterday, and remembering the first scent he smelt that day at Zhao Ji Restaurant, and Lin Shaoqing’s egg-fried noodles with the same ingredients as theirs, but they were like two kinds of food… Liu Yuan twitched the corners of his mouth.

Everything can be connected in series, which made sense.

It was not that Shangfeng’s taste was strange, it was that what he ate was not the same as what they ate.

Thinking of this, Liu Yuan was even more annoyed. If he knew that the new public chef for breakfast was this Master Wen, he could have come here, why bother to spend so much money?

Just thinking about it, while the girl was twisting and rolling, the sweet and salty zīfàn tuán arranged side by side were ready and put into the food box brought by Zhao You.

Looking at a box full of zīfàn tuán, even Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but look at the happy Zhao You more, and said, “The zīfàn tuán are quite heavy, I’m afraid that this is more than enough for three people…”

Before she finished speaking, she heard a burst of laughter coming from behind Zhao You. Wen Mingtang looked up and saw a familiar face protruding from behind Zhao You. He laughed loudly and said, “It’s not three people, it’s two! This fellow’s appetite is equivalent to several people combined! Master Wen, don’t worry about it!”

Wen Mingtang looked at the person who made the sound, bowed to him, and said, “I have to thank Liu Sicheng³ for helping me last time!”

If there was no Liu Yuan, there could have been a lot of trouble for nothing.

Liu Yuan quickly waved his hand and said, “No worries, let’s not talk about the heroic tales from the books where one draws a sword to help when injustice is encountered on the road. It’s just dealing with cases of injustice and misunderstanding that one should handle as the Deputy Minister of Dali Temple.”

While he was speaking, Zhao You had already run away with the food box. Ji Caimai also surrounded her, looked at the side dishes in each bowl with great interest, and asked, “Is this the zīfàn tuán?”

Wen Mingtang nodded: “I have prepared two kinds, both salty and sweet.”

“Then I will have one of each!” Ji Caimai looked at the full side dishes and said, “There is no taboo.”

Liu Yuan on the side also nodded and said: “I’ll have one too, there’s no taboo.”

The girl nodded and spread out a damp cloth. She then placed the youtiao, rousong, scrambled eggs, and pickled beans one by one onto the spread-out glutinous rice. The abundant toppings made both of them nervous, fearing that she might not be able to wrap it all up. Fortunately, she had a damp cloth underneath and the stickiness of the glutinous rice helped. To their surprise, she managed to wrap up all the toppings in a large roll.

When the wet cloth was removed and the zīfàn tuán was revealed, the two couldn’t help but take half of it and start eating.

The moment he took a bite, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but let out a sigh of satisfaction.

The outer layer of glutinous rice was soft and sticky, with just the right amount of stickiness. Next came the savory and crispy rou song, mixed with the fragrance of white sesame seeds, which made one’s appetite soar. Finally, they got to experience the youtiao, which had a crisp exterior and a moist and chewy interior. To their surprise, it lacked the usual greasy feeling of regular youtiao but instead had a unique flavor. Moving on, they encountered the tangy and spicy pickled cowpea. When they took a bite, the juicy flavors splashed onto the tender yellow egg shreds, creating a distinctive and flavorful sensation.

Layers of side dishes were all rolled together, but each taste was distinct, and they didn’t conflict but complimented each other. The taste was rich and wonderful, it was indescribable.

The two ate one mouthful after another, and when the girl handed over half of the sweet zīfàn tuán, only the last bit of the salty zīfàn tuán was left.

Stuffing the last sporadic bit into their mouths, the two couldn’t wait to take half of the sweet zīfàn tuán.

The sweet and greasy glutinous rice balls mixed with sesame seeds were not as rich as the salty ones, but they had a different flavor. After all, no sweet lover will refuse the combination of glutinous rice and white sugar, not to mention the rich sesame aroma added to it.

When the two of them finished eating zīfàn tuán and walked outside the public kitchen, they looked at each other in unison, showing satisfied smiles.

Liu Yuan burped contentedly, glanced at Wen Mingtang and the others who were starting to clean up the workstations in the public kitchen, and then winked at Ji Cai Mai. He said, “Old Ji, Master Wen’s breakfast is delicious. You should stock up more ingredients for her to use. It’ll make it easier for her to work. Otherwise, providing those ingredients to that Sun fellow and that Wang fellow is just a waste! No matter how good the ingredients are, in their hand, it will all turn into pig food.”

Ji Caimai glanced at him and said: “What do you think? Otherwise, where did the meat floss in the zīfàn tuán come from? Didn’t I snatch it from Wang Junshan’s mouth? Don’t worry! It’s for this morning’s food, I know it in my heart!”

Hearing him say “I know it”, Liu Yuan immediately heaved a sigh of relief, looked at the sun gradually climbing to the center of his head, and couldn’t help but sigh with emotion: “It would be great if Master Wen could also cook the lunch and evening meals!”

---

Footnote

1. Breakfast
2. I am guessing Ji Caimai thought that he was going to make Wen his god sister or something like this.
3. This was his post.