Wen Mingtang didn’t know how Zhao Mengzhuo felt after she left. After going back, she washed up and fell asleep.

Master Wang, who had done something wrong and lingered outside to peek at the wall, looked at the room where the light quickly went out, scratched the back of his head, and couldn’t help but mutter: “You really don’t care about the sauce?”

After tossing and turning all night, he couldn’t sleep. When he woke up the next morning and saw that everything in Dali Temple was as usual, Master Wang was completely relieved. For the first time, he wandered over to the public kitchen to see the breakfast that Wen Mingtang had cooked today.

For today’s morning meal, Wen Mingtang used soybean flour, corn flour, millet flour, sorghum flour, buckwheat flour, and peanut flour to make a multigrain batter to cook multigrain jiānbǐng.

When Master Wang came over, many officers were gathered in front of the stage to watch Wen Mingtang making jiānbǐng.

The mixed grain paste, slightly thick, was spooned onto the iron plate, and then a layer was spread using a scraper. The excess paste was scraped back into the paste pot. The aroma of the mixed grain paste instantly filled the air when heated. Many guards standing in front of the counter couldn’t help but take a few deep breaths. They continued to watch as Wen Mingtang cracked an egg on the paste, spread it evenly, and then sprinkled green onions, black sesame seeds, cilantro, and diced radishes. Subsequently, she placed fried pork tenderloin, shredded potatoes, and shredded meat floss in the middle, followed by using a spatula to circle the edges. After that, she lifted the entire pancake, folded it slightly from one side, brushed on a sauce, placed a thin, crispy layer made from fried dumpling skin, folded it into a long strip, and then used the spatula to cut through the middle, dividing it into two halves. She quickly wrapped them in oil paper and handed them to the guards in front.

Master Wang, who had witnessed the whole process, couldn’t help but swallow his saliva. When he saw the guard getting the multigrain jiānbǐng, he couldn’t wait to lift the multigrain jiānbǐng to his mouth, regardless of how hot they were.

Bite into it, the dry batter jiānbǐng exuding the aroma of multigrain cereals was wrapped with various toppings inside. With the sound of the crisp being bitten off, a mouthful of jiānbǐng was brought into your mouth.

While eating the multigrain jiānbǐng, the guard kept nodding his head and repeatedly praised, “It’s delicious!” “It’s delicious!”

Master Wang resisted and took his eyes away from the multi-grain pancakes in the guard’s hands, and turned to the sauce jar Wen Mingtang placed next to the batter pot.

That jar… Wasn’t it the sauce he stole yesterday? How… Could this Miss with the surname Wen have made so many? But when he sneaked into her room yesterday, he only saw a row of jars in the corner!

Just when he was surprised, Zhao You, who was rushing in, bumped into him. When he saw Master Wang, he was stunned for a moment, then he lowered his face and coldly snorted: “What are you doing here?”

This stubborn person really showed everything on his face, and he didn’t know how to be polite. Master Wang twitched the corner of his mouth, saw Zhao You’s unkind expression, turned around and ran away.

This stubborn guy was not a reasonable person. If he didn’t like it, he might just beat him up.

After Master Wang left in a hurry, Zhao You walked up to the counter and said, “Bring a few servings of breakfast and I’ll take Lin Shaoqing’s as well. Make his extra spicy.”

Wen Mingtang raised her head and said “Hmm”, glanced past Zhao You, glanced at the back of Master Wang who was running away behind Zhao You, smiled, lowered her head, and continued to make multigrain jiānbǐngs.

After the multigrain jiānbǐng was handed over to Zhao You, Zhao You hurriedly took a bite.

The skin of the multigrain jiānbǐng was dry, and the very rich multigrain aroma was mixed with a thin layer of egg aroma. The jianbing was crispy and delicious. Every bite was so crispy that a lot of crumbs fell. The tenderloin was still the same. It was smooth and tender, the shredded potatoes were crispy and slightly spicy, the floss was crispy and fragrant, and the diced radish was sour and appetizing. The texture in each bite was amazing. Zhao You nodded repeatedly and gave a thumbs up to Wen Mingtang. He turned around and left with the breakfast.

Master Wen’s breakfast had never disappointed. It was only after he had Master Wen’s food that he realized that there were so many different ways to make this kind of food.

After working hard all morning, when it was time to clean up the countertops, Ah Bing and Tangyuan, who had endured all morning, couldn’t wait to walk to Wen Mingtang and said: “Master Wen, I saw that bastard Master Wang this morning. Maybe he came to find out the truth!”

Wen Mingtang shook her head at the two of them and said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter.”

Was this okay? Master Wen was too generous! What about a big jar of sauce? Ah Bing and Tang Yuan were a little angry when they heard this.

This anger lasted until lunchtime when a few people who looked like restaurant owners ran to the gate of Dali Temple and shouted to find someone to appease their grievances.

“Kindly ask the esteemed chef of the yamen, Master Wang, to come out!” The leading restaurant owner, with a protruding belly, smiled without saying a word, appearing amiable. However, the enforcer with the cudgel behind him made it clear that this person was not someone to be trifled with.

The bewildered guards glanced at the portly restaurant owner and his enforcers behind him. They couldn’t quite understand the situation and thought that Master Wang might not be a good person either. Birds of a feather flock together, and people tend to associate with those similar to them—perhaps they were friends! With this in mind, they entered and called Master Wang to come out.

Master Wang, who still didn’t know what had happened, stepped out of the gate of Dali Temple. When he saw the thug carrying the stick, he was instinctively startled. He shouted “No”, turned around and was about to run away… The thugs were not there for nothing. Seeing this, they immediately rushed up and stopped Master Wang.

When Master Wang was brought to the fat restaurant owner, he sneered and asked the thugs to hold Master Wang down, and then stuffed his head into the unsealed sauce in his hand.

This was no joke! Master Wang was shocked when he saw this and shouted loudly.

The people from the Dali Temple, originally bored during lunch, were unaware of the essence of the food. Now, hearing a commotion outside, someone immediately ran out to see what was happening. Afterward… they brought Master Wang Junshan and the group led by the portly restaurant owner inside.

Liu Yuan used a toothpick to pick out the food stuck in his teeth, walked up to Master Wang, whose face was covered with sauce, and the angry portly restaurant owner, and asked: “What’s going on?”

Even if you were from Dali Temple, you still had to be reasonable. Furthermore, who could open a restaurant in a place like Chang’an City without a backer?

Therefore, the portly restaurant owner and his group, who knew the truth, immediately pointed at Master Wang and cursed: “This damn scoundrel, cheated me out of thirty taels, sold me some nonsense! The esteemed guests who ate at my place are now sick. If I don’t hold this scoundrel accountable, who else should I go after?”

Liu Yuan said “Oh” when he heard this, looked at Master Wang whose face was covered with sauce, stepped forward and smelled the smell on his face, and said, “What did you sell?”

Master Wang opened his mouth. He didn’t want to say anything at first, but the portly restaurant owner shouted “The distinguished guest was sick after eating”. So now feared that the matter would get worse and the distinguished guest would be killed. That was not a trivial matter! So after a brief weighing, he immediately named Wen Mingtang without even thinking about it.

“How do I know what this is? This is from Master Wen’s room!”

Everyone in Dali Temple: “…”

Hearing this, Bai Zhu couldn’t help but say, “Where did you get the things from a girl’s house, Master Wen?”

Wang Junshan: “I…I…”

Before he finished speaking, he heard Ah Bing, who came in from outside, snort: “I’m afraid it was stolen!”

Wen Mingtang, who walked in behind A Bing, said: “I asked why my special flower mud was missing? I thought it was because I had a bad memory and misremembered it. I had already poured it into a potted plant. It turned out to be Master Wang sneaked into my room and took it!”

Upon hearing the words “flower mud,” the portly innkeeper’s face changed suddenly. No wonder the esteemed guest mentioned tasting a strange earthy smell! It seemed like today the prestigious signboard of the Hongyan Restaurant would likely be shattered due to this plate of flower mud!

This was no joke! How should he deal with that distinguished guest?

Just now, he understood from Master Wang’s few words that the so-called special sauce may have come from some shady origin. So he immediately pointed at Master Wang and shouted: “Do you know who has been harmed by this plate of flower mud?” After a pause, before Master Wang could speak, the portly restaurant owner immediately bowed his hands to everyone in Dali Temple and said, “I want to sue the official!”

Hongyanlou must not be asked to handle this matter!

(End of this chapter)

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