Before talking about his encounter with Wen Xiutang, Wen Mingtang first told about the sudden intervention of the Household Department in the public kitchen a few days ago.

Liu Yuan suddenly realized: “No wonder Master Wen has been making dumpling wrappers for the morning meal for several days. It turns out there is nothing else you could do!”

Wen Mingtang nodded and said, “After taking over Master Wang’s evening meal, I went out with Ah Bing and Tangyuan to buy ingredients. We visited the Su Shan store and ran into my zújiě.”

Liu Yuan had not yet reacted, but Lin Fei had already understood: “The highly sought-after top courtesan would choose to eat Su Shan. Sending someone out for a trip would suffice, why bother going out personally? Even if going out personally, why would one go to a random Su Shan shop on the roadside? Most likely, they would go to those shops with the most variety and the most exquisite styles.”

Wen Mingtang, Tangyuan, and Ah Bing going to the Su Shan shop was not strange, but Wen Xiutang being there in person was strange.

Wen Mingtang nodded and said: “I just felt something was wrong, and something went wrong with Master Wang, and she showed up. So I was more careful and brought a knife to defend myself.”

It was best if nothing happened, but if something happened… It was always good to bring a knife.

Facts had proved that the knife was useful.

When Liu Yuan heard this, he couldn’t help but sigh: “After all, they are sisters of the same clan, and they are all affected by the family. Why would she do this?”

Wen Mingtang lowered her eyes, was silent for a moment, and said, “Yeting’s life is not good. Damn, she was always the most delicate at home. She had good food, clothing, and shelter. How can she live like that?”

“I understand that she can’t bear the hardship, so she gave up her innocence to go to the Jiaofang. It’s fine if she wants to live a good life, but I don’t know why she treated me this way,” said Wen Mingtang.

Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh quietly after hearing this: The family suffered changes, and there were only a few people left in the clan. She finally met a zújiě, but she never imagined that this zújiě would help outsiders hunt her down. Who would feel better about this?

The more Liu Yuan thought about it, the more sad he felt in his heart. Just when he was about to say a few words to comfort the girl, the girl raised her head and said to them, “I want to go back.”

“Go back to Dali Temple?” Liu Yuan asked instinctively, “Go back together later?”

Wen Mingtang shook his head, and before she could speak, Lin Fei from the opposite side said, “To the Jiofang. She has not been gone for long, and the pursuers have already arrived. Their methods are blatantly exposed, obviously not considering her a significant threat. There’s no need for them to hide their tracks. Going there now, the person who had her clan sister do these things is very likely still around.”

The girl went over, obviously wanting to take a look. What does that person look like and what was his identity?

Liu Yuan suddenly understood, immediately beat his chest excitedly, and said: “It’s easy to say, I will go with you…”

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Lin Fei: “You stay here.” He stuffed the long knife dripping with blood into Liu Yuan’s hands.

Liu Yuan’s wrist sank under the weight of his initial move, and he almost missed catching the knife.

Lin Fei took the soft sword from Wen Mingtang, put it back on his waist, and said, “I’ll go over with her to have a look.”

Liu Yuan said “Ah”, but Lin Fei had already taken two steps, turned around, and glanced at Wen Mingtang, who had not yet followed. Wen Mingtang spread her hands toward Liu Yuan and followed Lin Fei.

It was not that Liu Yuan was bad or anything, but since he saw Lin Fei’s skills just now, it would be great to have Lin Fei with such good skills by her side.

Turning around and walking near the Jiaofang, Lin Fei asked Wen Mingtang: “Front door or back door?”

Wen Mingtang said: “They led me through the back door, but the person she clung to must have gone through the front door.”

Lin Fei said “Hmm”, looked around, and walked towards the entrance of the alley where Wen Mingtang squatted in the morning. Wen Mingtang followed, and the two of them ducked into the entrance of the alley.

The alley was shaded and there was no direct sunlight, so it was not hot anymore, but it was clearly time for lunch now, and she was a little hungry.

Wen Mingtang touched her belly and glanced at Lin Fei, who was standing aside as if he did not eat fireworks from the world. She was silent, took out an oil paper bag from her arms, opened the oil paper bag, and asked Lin Fei: “Lin Shaoqing, did you have lunch? Do you like to pad your belly first?”

Lin Fei turned back and looked at her.

Although there was no big emotion in his eyes, for some reason, Wen Mingtang suddenly understood as if he was blessed with a soul, and explained: “I am a cook.” How could there be a lack of food around the cook?

Lin Fei nodded and looked down at the food in the oil paper bag in Wen Mingtang’s hand: the thin to translucent skin looked like the dough used to wrap the roasted duck the other day. However, what was wrapped inside was not a roast duck. He glanced at the contents inside the translucent leather: pork meat, thousand-layer tofu, carrots cut into strips, plus enoki mushrooms, mung bean sprouts, leeks, etc. were all wrapped in it.

“What is this?” Lin Fei asked Wen Mingtang.

Wen Mingtang said: “Spring rolls that have not been fried.” After a pause, before Lin Fei could speak, he added, “They are also made from dumpling wrappers sent by the Household Department. The wrappers are the same as roast duck wrappers.”

Lin Fei: “…”

Only then did Wen Mingtang realize that her words were suspected of suing the Household Department in front of Lin Fei. Just as she was about to explain a few words, Lin Fei had already taken away a spring roll.

She originally made them as snacks, but the fried spring rolls would not taste good if they were taken out for a long time. Wen Mingtang didn’t make fried ones but made them like dipped spring rolls, suitable for takeout.

Lin Fei took a bite of this different spring roll through the oil paper. In fact, if you have eaten roast duck, you can already guess that these spring rolls will not taste bad. The pork meat was still processed in her usual way. After frying, it was extremely tender. Thousand-layer tofu, carrots, enoki mushrooms, etc. were fried until soft and then wrapped in the sauce. But it was not the sweet noodle sauce that was used to dip the roast duck that day. Instead, it was sour and spicy, served with vegetables and pork, and the whole spring roll was fragrant and spicy. For Lin Fei, who loved spicy food, it was very suitable for his appetite.

So in the blink of an eye, the oil paper bag in Wen Mingtang’s hand was empty.

Wen Mingtang rubbed her belly. In fact, she took out these spring rolls to eat for lunch. However, most of them were taken away by Lin Fei. She would have to find a restaurant to eat some lunch later.

Just as she was thinking about this, there was movement at the door of the Jiofang.

She saw the maid who had led her to see Wen Xiutang in the morning and was arrogant with her nostrils turned to the sky. At this time, she was bowing her head and hunched over, following the group of people out of the Jiofang.

Wen Mingtang’s heart skipped a beat when she saw it, and she immediately looked at the person in the lead.

He was wearing a rich attire and a golden crown, and the deerskin boots on his feet were embellished with two huge pearls. At a glance, you can tell that he is a wealthy man.

The man’s face was fair and his facial features were pretty good, but the way he looked at people with half-lidded eyes always gave people a feeling of being superior and domineering.

Facts have proved that Wen Mingtang’s feeling was correct. After the man stepped on the young man’s back and stepped onto the carriage, he seemed to think that the soles of his shoes were dirty, so he rubbed his soles on the young man’s back. Then he kicked the young man to the side, lifted the curtain, and got into the carriage. The process was done very skillfully, and it was obviously not the first time.

Just as she was thinking this, she heard Lin Fei next to her say “Huh” and say: “So it’s him!”

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From the description of the food, I think it is like Vietnamese Spring Roll. On our recent Vietnam-Cambodia holiday, we had a cooking session in the cruise we had in Halong Bay where I learned how to make them. Here is a video of that and the end result.