The “Water Ghost” case developed in a new direction.

Looking at the time on the sundial, it was not yet Xu¹ time.

Today’s overnight interrogation ended earlier than they expected, and they could go back to sleep after taking a hot bath.

Rolling the files in their hands, they were about to tell Shangfeng that they were going back when an inexplicable, mouth-watering fragrance wafted from nowhere at that moment.

Liu Yuan and the others took a deep breath, and glanced in the direction of the source of the scent: it was blocked by a wall, but it seemed to be coming from the direction of the public kitchen.

“What is it?” Bai Zhu took several breaths, and couldn’t help but wonder, “I’ve never smelled such a smell before, it smells so good! It smells like charcoal fire, and meat and vegetables…”

Wei Fu on the side also asked. He couldn’t help interjecting: “Not only that! It seems to be mixed with the spices of the Hu people from the Western Regions. These flavors are mixed together. It smells like the roasted lamb of the Hu people, but it is different. It is not mutton or something…”

Speaking After a while, another smell wafted over, and the smell… became stronger!

Liu Yuan couldn’t help but swallow his saliva, touched the grumbling stomach, and said, “I… let’s see!”

As for the idea of not eating after noon, whatever! The evening meal prepared by Chef Wang was so unappetizing that it was hard to swallow. He reluctantly managed to take a few bites. After a lengthy interrogation, he was starving to the point that his front and back were sticking together.

And at this time, there was such a smell, who can bear it?

Oh no! Lin Shaoqing seemed to be able to bear it.

Glancing at them, Lin Fei said, “After sorting out today’s files, you can go!”

The implication of “going” was that they could do whatever they wanted.

Several people answered “yes” quickly, and then rushed to the lobby in a hurry.

Quickly sorted out the file of the water ghost case at hand, and went to see what the public chef was cooking.

……

……

Wen Mingtang, who had been missed for a while, put down the skewers in her hand, walked aside and sneezed. After cleaning her hands, she put a cloth on her mouth and nose.

Seasonings such as cumin and pepper were very pungent when blown by the wind, and with the burning charcoal smoke, it was better to cover the mouth and nose with a cloth. Seeing that Wen Mingtang covered her mouth and nose with a piece of cloth, Ah Bing, Tangyuan, and Ji Caimai, who hadn’t returned home in Xushi, did the same thing and covered their mouth and nose with a piece of cloth. Then they continued to turn over the meat and vegetables skewered on bamboo sticks in their hands.

As for why they were eating these things at night, it started with Wen Mingtang taking Ah Bing and Tangyuan to get the ingredients.

The two masters, Master Wang and Master Sun didn’t pay attention to what they are cooking, but they have a lot of attention on the other side. Originally Wen Mingtang’s court food was full of praise from the jailers, which already worried the two of them, but now they heard that Ji Caimai was eating the breakfast court food for two days in a row. The two of them became even more anxious and had blistered on their lips.

But Ji Caimai had a short mouth and began to keep an eye on the two of them. They couldn’t find any chance to start, so they became more and more absent-minded while cooking so after picking up an extra bucket of glutinous rice yesterday, today they were doing it again. When cooking, a pot of washed vegetables and meat was just forgotten!

Ji Caimai was very annoyed, pointed at the heads of the two and cursed for a long time before sending them back.

After Sun and Wang were blown away, Ji Caimai summoned Wen Mingtang, originally planning to give Wen Mingtang vegetables and meat, so that she could take care of tomorrow’s morning meal and not waste it.

After carefully examining the washed vegetables and meat in the basin, Wen Mingtang suggested, “Why not go for a shāokǎo ?”

Ji Caimai had never heard of shāokǎo before. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but be curious, and asked, “What is shāokǎo?”

Wen Mingtang introduced it. Ji Caimai became very interested and immediately decided to have a shāokǎo as a late-night snack that night.

Professional barbecue equipment needed to be custom-made, so Wen Mingtang sketched the design herself. She instructed Ji Caimai to find someone to place the order, which also required quite a bit of effort.

But it didn’t matter if you didn’t have a barbecue stove, you could use the charcoal basin used for heating in winter. And it just happened that there was a lot of charcoal left from the winter last year. So Ji Caimai immediately went to the cellar to get the things out.

When Ji Cai went shopping to get things, Wen Mingtang instructed Ah Bing and Tangyuan to prepare the vegetables and meat.

Cut the meat into small pieces, marinate them lightly with salt, sugar, sauce, pepper, chilli powder and the egg whites left over from cooking and set aside. As for the vegetables, most of the vegetables left by Master Wang and Master Sun were chopped but the knife work was a bit sloppy. So, Wen Mingtang decided to re-cut them carefully.

When everything was ready, they started stringing the ingredients.

Ji Caimai came over with a large string of slender bamboo sticks and threw the bamboo sticks into the water. Wen Mingtang pressed the bamboo sticks into the water and soaked them.

Seeing Wen Mingtang’s actions, Ah Bing and Tangyuan were very puzzled.

“Why do bamboo sticks have to be soaked in water?”

Wen Mingtang said: “Let the water seep into the bamboo sticks, and it won’t get dry and break when roasting.”

Before the words had fully left her mouth, Ah Bing and Tangyuan hadn’t even finished exclaiming, “Master Wen is so knowledgeable,” when they saw Ji Caimai nodding and saying, “That’s right! Lin Shaoqing also mentioned the same thing.”

Lin Shaoqing?

Ah Bing and Tangyuan were even more surprised: “Lin Shaoqing and others also cook this shāokǎo?”

Looking at Lin Shaoqing’s usual appearance… they really couldn’t imagine it!

Ji Caimai gave the two of them a sideways look, and said, “How is that possible? Do you think Duke Jingguo is so poor that he can’t even afford to raise his grandson, or that Marquis Jingyun can’t support his son? It was used in a case last year where a person was killed by being stabbed with a bamboo skewer. Lin Shaoqing got these bamboo skewers at that time…”

Before he finished speaking, the faces of the three in front of him suddenly changed.²

Ji Caimai realized the ambiguity in his words, he quickly clarified, “I didn’t mean these bamboo skewers were used for murder. Lin Shaoqing got them to practice with. This batch is leftover, unused, and brand new!”

Seeing the three of them relaxing a bit, he added with a hint of annoyance, “After all, it’s something I’m going to eat myself. Why would I use bamboo skewers that have been used to kill someone?”

They might doubt his character, but he wouldn’t act recklessly when it came to something he was going to eat.

Wen Mingtang moved her hands on the first plate of barbecue, brushing the vegetables and meat on the stick with a brush dipped in oil, accompanied by the sound of “sizzling” oil, occasionally a drop or two fell into the charcoal fire, splashing a little pinch of flame. All these made the whole grilling process more vivid, making people want to try it out.

When the aroma of cumin, pepper, meat, and vegetables diffuses along with the rich aroma of the charcoal fire, the first plate of shāokǎo is ready.

Ji Caimai and the others who had already been waiting at the side stretched out their hands, but before touching the plate of shāokǎo, they heard a familiar voice.

“Master Wen made a late-night snack?” Zhao You jumped off the roof.

The tall man fell to the ground without even making a sound. When he saw the plate of shāokǎo, his eyes were straightened, and he swallowed visibly, “I want…”

“What do you want?” Ji Caimai interrupted him unceremoniously, and stretched out his hand to forcefully stop Zhao You, who came forward, “The public kitchen only serves three meals, and late-night snack is not included.”

Is that so? Zhao You looked at the strong blocking hand, and said, “Lin Shaoqing asked me to take it.”

The strong blocking hand retracted all of a sudden, Ji Caimai’s face froze, and he glanced suspiciously at Zhao You: “Really?”

---

Footnote

1. Between 7 and 9 PM
2. I laughed so loud imagining their faces!!

And here is a video of grilled meat I had in a night market in Hanoi, in my recent holiday.