He hurriedly took the bowl of Sauerkraut Fish and found a nearby seat to sit down. Liu Yuan couldn’t wait to stretch out his chopsticks to pick up the fish fillets.

The extremely thin slices of fish had almost no visible bones. As they were brought to the mouth and gently tasted, they crumbled easily. The texture of the fish was incredibly tender, and the fish slices, soaked in the broth, had no hint of fishiness, retaining only the unique freshness of the fish. The combination of the fish’s freshness with the tangy and spicy broth created a medley of flavors — sour, refreshing, spicy, and fresh. The main dish, coated with hot oil, not only lacked any greasiness but was surprisingly appetizing.

After swallowing the tender and delicious fish fillet in one bite, Liu Yuan’s chopsticks reached for the side dishes at the bottom: the fungus was crispy, the mushrooms were delicious, and they were wrapped in spicy and sour soup. Several kinds of umami flavors were combined, and the flavors were layered and rich to the extreme.

The most surprising thing among them was the sauerkraut, which originally looked ordinary and was only used as a side dish with porridge. He had eaten the sauerkraut served at Zhuangzi, and it tasted good, but the ones he tasted on normal days were far less amazing than the bowl of sauerkraut with fish. It seemed that Master Wen had specially added ingredients and stir-fried it. The sour aroma had a different kind of deliciousness. A mouthful of sauerkraut paired with a big mouthful of rice was really incomparable when used as a meal.

Liu Yuan ate hard, and one bowl of rice was still not enough. He walked twice, and when he added the third bowl, Tangyuan glanced at his bulging belly through his clothes, and said: “Liu Sicheng, it’s almost night, I’m afraid you will accumulate food if you eat too much.”

Liu Yuan: “…”

How can you blame me? Wasn’t it because the bowl of sauerkraut fish was too appetizing?

However, though he felt that he hadn’t fully enjoyed it, it was indeed not advisable to eat too much late at night. Liu Yuan did not ask for a third bowl of rice. Instead, he returned to his bowl of sauerkraut fish, lifted the remaining soup, drank it all, licked his lips, and then left.

Looking at the empty rice bucket on hand, Tangyuan couldn’t help but say: “If you continue to eat like this, everyone in Dali Temple will probably gain five to ten pounds.”

Wen Mingtang: “…”

Enjoy the meal, Ji Caimai, who was picking his teeth at the side, paused when he heard this as if he had not remembered this until now. He stretched out his hand to touch his bulging belly, remained silent for a moment, and turned around to leave.

…

…

Early the next morning, Wen Mingtang looked at Ji Caimai as she saw that the ingredients had been reduced a lot compared to usual.

Ji Caimai said: “I’ve eaten a lot these days, and occasionally I need to change my appetite, so just cook some porridge and serve it with steamed buns!”

Today’s breakfast in Dali Temple was mushroom and pork congee with steamed buns, a truly common morning meal that everyone recognizes.

However, even if it was the same breakfast, they didn’t know if it was due to psychology, but they always felt that the pork congee cooked by Master Wen seemed to be more delicious than the pork congee cooked by others, and the pork meat was also more tender!

After eating the morning meal, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu went out.

When the morning meal time passed, Wen Mingtang handed over the kitchen to Master Sun, who took over for lunch and went back to the small courtyard to make sauces.

Whether it was bean paste, sweet noodle paste, soybean paste, or plum paste, she had almost used all the sauces she brought from the palace, and it was time to prepare some.

…

After running around for a day, it was already dusk in a flash. Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu rushed back to Dali Temple and ate a bowl of bīngfěn distributed by Dali Temple before going to see Lin Fei.

When they saw Lin Fei, they saw Zhao You holding the soft sword in his hand and showing it to Lin Fei.

“Lin Shaoqing, what do you think?”

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu looked at the slightly modified soft sword: compared with the previous one, the biggest difference was probably that the gems were dug out.

Lin Fei took the soft sword, weighed it briefly in his hand, said “Hmm”, put the soft sword aside, and then looked at Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu who came in.

The two of them were shocked by the sight, and quickly handed over the files in their hands, and then started talking.

“Lin Shaoqing, we found it! In addition to her daily opera performances, family banquets, and visitors, Old Lady Zhou once served porridge outside the city more than a year ago.” Liu Yuan said, “Huaishan County Prince’s Palace has always had a good reputation. It seems that he has done a lot of charity work such as giving out porridge. More than a year ago, that is, before Fuzi started to find an opera troupe to sing, a little beggar starved to death in a temple outside the city. Hearing that, the Prince’s Palace opened a porridge stand for three days. Old Lady Zhou showed up in person when giving porridge on those three days.”

Individuals of high status, such as Old Lady Zhou, wouldn’t have easily appeared in public. After so many years of peace, it was peculiar that an incident occurred at that particular time. Something might have happened when she made an appearance and caught someone’s attention.

But…why was it that the Prince of Huaishan and his family, who were out and about every day, were fine when they showed up, but something went wrong when Old Lady Zhou showed up?

Lin Fei took four chess pieces from the chess box on the corner of the table and placed them on the table. He said, “Replacing the Huaishan County Prince’s family, there was a couple and a child. The couple took the place of the Marquis and his wife, and the child replaced the still-in-infancy Li Zhao at that time.” As he spoke, he pushed three of them aside, pointing to the lone remaining chess piece, saying, “The remaining one, no one replaced.”

The Huaishan County Prince and his family took a detour. It seemed that something unexpected had happened in Salt Lake City, and the replacement was a last-minute idea. Naturally, most of the escorts that ordinary people brought with them when traveling were in their prime. For example, Steward Song and his wife brought an infant child with them. Perhaps it was because the child was too young to be separated from others. But if this family had another purpose in going to Salt Lake City, they would not bring an elderly person with mobility issues.

Therefore, Old Lady Zhou herself was very likely to be irreplaceable.

Lin Fei picked up the lone chess piece, holding it in his hand, and said, “At that time, Madam Zhou went elsewhere with Fuzi, who was still in infancy with the other two. Later, something unexpected happened, an incident occurred. The couple died, and Fuzi was considered dead. Only Madam Zhou managed to salvage her life.”

In this way, some things could be explained.

But…

“If it was just a matter of having servants replace them, what difference would it make for Old Lady Zhou to be alive?” Bai Zhu furrowed his brows, saying, “Even if there were some private indiscretions, could it lead to the downfall of her entire family? Why did Old Lady Zhou suddenly suffer a heart attack and pass away?”

What did the Huaishan County Prince and his family do back then? What secret was being kept hidden?

Lin Fei lowered his eyes and stared at the file for a moment, then suddenly pulled out a piece of paper from the corner of the table. Then pointed to the names of the people on the paper and asked Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu: “These retired Salt Lake City veterans, what are they doing now?”

The two were startled after hearing this, and Liu Yuan instinctively replied: “They all live on the third street and nine lanes in the west of the city. They are ordinary people, not too wealthy. Two of them still have old injuries. Life is very tight here…”

Lin Fei heard this and interrupted him: “Giving porridge outside the city, will those two people who are living a tight life go to pick up the porridge outside the city?”

The two of them suddenly stopped talking. Suddenly, they understood what Lin Fei meant: “So, it is very possible that those two veterans met Old Lady Zhou more than a year ago?”

Lin Fei was noncommittal, and no matter how accurate a guess was, evidence was needed to prove it.

“Go and find them quickly!” Lin Fei said this, paused, and then said, “You should also ask where did the old injuries on the two veterans came from?”

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