It was almost Xu hour¹ when Wen Mingtang and Shuangxi followed Li Yuan and appeared at the entrance of Third Street and Nine Alleys carrying a food box.

There was no need to ask, as soon as he saw the house surrounded by the guards, he knew where Lin Fei and his party were.

Li Yuan walked over with Shuangxi and Wen Mingtang. Before they reached the front of the house, Zhao You stretched out his hand to block his way.

“Go away! Little Prince, don’t cause trouble. We are busy investigating the case!” Zhao You exclaimed.

Li Yuan glared at him, and his gaze paused on Zhao You’s open arms and legs. Thinking about the situation when he was brought back to the prison by him earlier, he slowed down his pace: a wise man does not suffer losses in front of him! He didn’t move forward, instead shouting into the house, “Lin Fei, I’ve brought your dinner. Come out and have dinner!”

As soon as he said this, Zhao You’s eyes fell on Wen Mingtang, who was behind Li Yuan… she had the food box in her hand, and his stomach grumbled in response to the situation.

Master Wen was here with a food box! Was it filled with today’s dinner menu? He hasn’t eaten the evening meal yet!

The servant who came over after hearing about the evening meal said that the chef’s evening meal today was called cold noodles with shredded chicken. It was lighter than yesterday’s sauerkraut fish, but it was still delicious!

There was a moment of silence in the room, and Lin Fei walked out with Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu.

Glancing at Li Yuan, whose eyes were wandering and looking around, Lin Fei took off the gloves he was sewing and handed them into the hands of a nearby servant, then crossed the crowd and walked to Wen Mingtang, who was carrying a food box.

Wen Mingtang understood immediately, opened the food box, and said: “Pour the sauce on the noodles, mix well, and eat.”

Lin Fei nodded and took away the top portion of shredded chicken cold noodles.

Seeing Lin Fei bring the cold noodles with shredded chicken to eat, Zhao You and others, who were already hungry and had their chests pressed against their backs, hurried forward and quickly took away the cold noodles with shredded chicken from Wen Mingtang and Shuangxi’s food box.

After mixing it for a while, they walked to the street corner, squatted down, and started eating the evening meal.

To be fair, this scene was actually not uncommon. There were many ordinary people eating dinner on the street corner with their rice bowls in their hands. At the entrance of another alley not far away, a few men were squatting and eating while chatting!

But Liu Yuan and others had never done this kind of thing before. They looked around a little unaccustomedly and saw that Lin Fei had squatted down with a noodle bowl, and they were stunned when the corner of his crimson official robe touched the ground. If he didn’t realize it, he also paused, used chopsticks to mix the noodles and vegetables in the bowl, covered them with the burnt brown sauce, and started eating.

Lin Fei ate quite gracefully. After the bowl of shredded chicken cold noodles with rich sesame and soy sauce aroma was spread evenly, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but start to swallow.

There was a saying when eating that “everything is best eaten while it’s hot.” As the name suggests, when food was hot, its taste and aroma were most intense.

He had eaten such cold noodles before. Although it was the beginning of spring and summer, skipping the inconvenience of sweating while eating was a bit refreshing. However, it came at the cost of sacrificing the warm aroma that came with the hot bite.

Master Wen’s bowl of cold noodles spreads evenly with the aroma of sauce. The strong aroma of sesame, oil, scallion oil, and sauce were intertwined and exuded. Although it was cold noodles, it was not inferior to the aroma of hot food.

The cold noodles wrapped in the sauce were brought into the mouth. They were smooth and chewy. The cucumber shreds were crisp and clear, the carrot shreds had a bit of sweetness when chewed carefully, and the soybean sprouts were refreshing and rich. All the side dishes were quite chewy. It had a crispy texture, and the shredded chicken mixed in added a bit of delicate toughness to the crispy texture. The sesame sauce had a salty and sweet flavor, mixed with whole sesame seeds and ground peanuts, giving it a more grainy feel. It even had a hint of scallion oil that everyone loved.

Liu Yuan enjoyed the rich and flavorful cold noodles with a mix of salty and sweet sesame in his mouth. The corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the bowl in Lin Shaoqing’s hand. When he saw the overall reddish sauce in his bowl, he suddenly paused. Coming back to his senses, it seemed that each bowl of cold noodles had been modified according to their individual preferences.

In Lin Shaoqing’s bowl, there was an extra-large spoonful of the fragrant aroma of spicy oil. Li Yuan, who was sitting beside him, couldn’t handle spice as well as Lin Shaoqing but better than the others. He added a small half-spoon of spice to his, while the remaining bowls for Shuangxi and Zhao You were made without any spiciness.

Master Wen proved to be remarkably attentive! She hadn’t been in the public kitchen for long, yet she had already discerned people’s preferences quite well. It was nothing like those two, Master Sun and Master Wang. Thinking about the lunch dish with an excessive amount of chili poured into the stir-fried meat, Liu Yuan’s face turned pale.

Chilies weren’t commonly used in public kitchens before. Since Master Wen arrived, they began using them more frequently. Those two, upon seeing the trend, got envious and decided to secretly learn. The result was a poor imitation – all heat and no flavor. What’s the use of that?

After putting the last chopstick of cold noodles in the bowl into his mouth, Liu Yuan sipped the remaining sauce aroma on the chopsticks, put the bowl and chopsticks into the food box with unfinished thoughts, stood up, and burped.

When your stomach was full, you could continue to work.

Wen Mingtang took away the bowls and chopsticks, put them in the food box, and prepared to leave with the food box on her shoulder.

On the other hand, Li Yuan, who had finished eating and started picking his teeth, called out to her once again, saying, “You’re leaving now? Since you’re here, take a look around before going!”

Wen Mingtang said, “Respecting the deceased is the priority. What’s there to look at?”

Li Yuan: “…” His words made it sound like he didn’t respect the deceased. No, he came here for a different reason…

When he thought about this, Li Yuan quickly looked at Lin Fei who was about to enter the house again. He stopped him and asked: “Lin Fei, the case at Brother Zhao’s house has not been settled yet?”

Lin Fei turned around and said “Hmm”, pointed to the room, and said: “Two veterans who saved his family back then are dead.”

Li Yuan choked and remained silent, then said: “That’s his savior, so we can’t ignore it. Who killed these two people?”

Lin Fei looked at Li Yuan, who was looking at him with curiosity and fell silent. After a while, he suddenly said: “Then you have to ask Brother Zhao!”

Upon hearing this, Li Yuan shuddered, and his expression changed immediately. “What do you mean? Are you suggesting that Zhao Ge would go and kill the lifesaver who saved him and his family?”

Compared to Li Yuan’s excitement, Lin Fei’s face was calm. He looked at Li Yuan in front of him quietly and said coldly: “If it hadn’t been getting late today, I would have entered the palace right now. Face the Emperor, and ask him to hold the Huaishan County Prince’s family to account!”

As soon as these words came out, Li Yuan felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He was stunned on the spot. He looked at Lin Fei in front of him in disbelief: “You…what did you say?”

The Prince of Huaishan and his family were close relatives of the royal family. Unless they committed a colossal wrongdoing, why would they be summoned to the palace?

However, once summoned to the palace, losing the royal status and being demoted to a commoner was a mild consequence. Especially considering Lin Fei’s expression, Li Yuan couldn’t shake the feeling that a storm was about to hit.

“I…I don’t believe it.” Li Yuan murmured and looked at Lin Fei. After a pause, he yelled again at the top of his voice, “I don’t believe it. I’ll ask Brother Zhao.” Then he turned around and rushed out.

Shuangxi saw this and quickly followed.

After Li Yuan ran out, Lin Fei turned around and looked at Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu who were standing there, looking at them with confused expressions, and said: “Be prepared tonight… I’m afraid There is a tough battle to be fought.”

(End of chapter)

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Footnote

1. 7 PM to 9 PM