There was a lawsuit in Dali Temple… Many Dali Temple officials were very excited and quickly figured out the whole story.

Master Wang secretly sneaked into Wen Mingtang’s house to steal the sauce, but he stole the special flower mud in the corner of Wen Mingtang’s wall as sauce, and then sold the sauce to Hongyan Tower in the city to make a “secret sauce”. There was nothing wrong with the top layer of the “dense sauce”, but it smells earthy when you dig it down. All the guests in the Hongyan Tower were distinguished guests, so if it smelled earthy, they would naturally be rude.

Speaking of this, Master Wang was naturally indignant. He couldn’t clear his name this time, but how could Wen Mingtang escape unscathed? Master Wang was so agitated that he jumped up, determined to drag her into the water along with him.

“This treacherous girl obviously did it on purpose. Which flower mud could be made looking like a sauce?”

Before he could finish speaking, Wei Fu interrupted, twirling his beard and saying, “The peonies cultivated in Luoyang are watered with a special bone and meat soup. Even Master Wen’s sauce, used for nourishing the soil, might not be unsuitable for growing flowers.”

Everyone present was immediately enlightened by what he said.

Then it was not wrong to use sauce to nourish the soil! What’s more, the flower mud was placed in her own house, and Master Wang was not supposed to steal it from her house!

One sentence made Master Wang speechless.

On the other hand, the portly restaurant owner of the Hongyan Tower naturally refused to take responsibility, leaving Master Wang to bear the blame.

Amidst all the noise and commotion throughout the lunchtime, Master Wang was eventually taken away on charges of theft.

A jar of sauce costs thirty taels, which was not expensive at all. So he wasn’t going to spend long in jail, and he could be released in a year and a half. But the problem was that Master Wang, the public chef of Dali Temple, had completely lost his job.

After the yamen officers pulled Master Wang away, Liu Yuan winked at Wen Mingtang and whispered: “Master Wen, your position as the cook for the evening meal is secure.”

Wen Mingtang: “…”

Bai Zhu on the side glanced at the happy Liu Yuan and said coolly: “We have one more chef to add to our list of chefs at Dali Temple.”

The reputation of Dali Temple’s public chef among the chefs in the capital was probably going to be even worse.

“No worries, with Master Wen, we’re fine!” Liu Yuan heard this but was skeptical. After a pause, he said, “In fact, spending a year or so in jail is a trivial matter. Offending the Hongyan Tower and those esteemed guests who ate the flower mud, this Master Wang… we might actually hope he stays in jail longer. While in prison, he may be confined, but once he’s out, that’s when the real trouble might begin!”

Wen Mingtang smiled and turned around. Just as she was about to leave the lobby of Dali Temple, she saw Lin Fei standing in the corridor not far away, looking here. She didn’t know how long he had been here, but he looked at Wen Mingtang with a subtle look.

Although Wei Fu had already helped to explain the jar of flower mud sauce in her room, but… not to mention Lin Fei, even Liu Yuan, and Bai Zhu knew that the flower mud was a little subtle, and this play was quite like the other day when she wandered around on the road attracting murderers.

But… suspicion was suspicion. If Master Wang didn’t have that thought, Wen Mingtang’s flower mud jars wouldn’t have mattered.

Nodding towards Lin Fei, Wen Mingtang turned around and walked towards the back office. When passing by the public kitchen, Master Sun was cleaning up the countertops with two helpers. They probably knew about Wang Junshan. When Wen Mingtang poked her head in and said hello to him, Master Sun’s face turned pale and he was as honest as a quail. He nodded and wiped the table under his hands vigorously.

This girl named Wen… was so cruel! Without making any noise, she actually set up a trap and directly took Master Wang away!

As soon as Master Wang left… Master Sun shivered for no reason: I hope they can get rid of this girl quickly! If this girl wasn’t removed from here, this time it was Master Wang, maybe it will be his turn next time!

Master Sun was so frightened that he made another bucket of rice absentmindedly the next day and was scolded by Ji Caimai.

“Master Wang has already left. I see that you are going to follow in his footsteps, right?”

Master Sun lowered his head and was scolded, but he knew in his heart that all the officials in Dali Temple who had eaten the lunch were eager to get rid of him!

After Ji Caimai finished scolding him and waved him away, Wen Mingtang appeared. She took the initiative to find Ji Caimai and said, “Ji Caimai, I heard that Master Sun made an extra bucket of rice when making lunch. , I thought it would be a pity to waste it, why not give it to me and I will make fried rice for it.”

Master Sun looked up at Wen Mingtang, who had arrived belatedly, with an aggrieved look: She only appeared after he was scolded. He really didn’t know if it was intentional.

Just as he was muttering that he was getting scolded in vain, Ji Caimai listened to Wen Mingtang’s words, nodded to Wen Mingtang, and said gently: “Every time this bastard messes up the basket and wastes rice, you are the one who cleans up the aftermath. !” After saying that, he turned back and glared at Master Sun, then pointed at his nose and cursed.

Master Sun: “……”

Wen Mingtang did not disturb Ji Caimai scolding Master Sun, but took the bucket of rice away with Ah Bing and Tangyuan.

As the Dragon Boat Festival approached, the newly delivered glutinous rice filled the wooden barrels in the warehouse, and the rice dumpling leaves were also delivered. On the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, rice dumplings were made and eaten.

In addition to glutinous rice and rice dumpling leaves, Zhuangzi also sent a lot of salted duck eggs.

Wen Mingtang was immediately interested when she saw the pile of salted duck eggs. She originally wanted to make an extra bucket of overnight rice. Now that Master Sun “took the initiative” to prepare the rice, she took it and used it.

Putting the rice aside, Ah Bing, Tangyuan, and her, each took a salted duck egg and chatted while cracking the shell.

Tangyuan folded a ghost storybook borrowed from Liu Yuan and said with emotion: “Master Wen’s story about the painted-skinned monster last time was the scariest. Liu Si Cheng’s monsters with their bloody mouths are not scary at all!”

Wen Mingtang said “haha” twice and thought to herself: After all, it was a classic among ghost stories, so of course it had its own uniqueness.

While chatting, she inserted her chopsticks into the salted duck eggs. The orange-yellow and red oil immediately poured out the moment the chopsticks were inserted.

T/N

What I learned about it, I am guessing the Zhuangzi sent the salted duck eggs already steamed or they steamed it themselves. Please let me know if I am wrong or it can be eaten directly from shell without cooking.

The three of them quickly took out the salted duck eggs, both white and yellow, and put them into the white porridge.

The tender egg white, eaten on its own, is slightly salty, and when paired with a bowl of white porridge, it’s a delightful combination. Mixing the egg white into a spoonful of white porridge, then adding the golden-yellow egg yolk, the oil-rich yolk bursts in the mouth, offering a noticeable granular texture. As you roll it on your tongue, the large granules of egg yolk transform into a sandy consistency, delivering a salty and fragrant taste. Eating it plain is also a satisfying experience.

Put all the egg whites and yolks in the eggshells into the white porridge. Then the three of them threw away the eggshells in their hands and continued to drink the porridge with their heads down.

After finishing the bowl of porridge, Ah Bing burped with Tangyuan, stood up, and said goodbye to Wen Mingtang: “Master Wen, I’m going home later!”

Originally they were going back after their busy work, but tonight, Zhuangzi sent salted duck eggs. They hadn’t eaten salted duck eggs for a long time. The three of them were all greedy, so they drank another bowl of white porridge as a midnight snack, and then they were delayed by not less than half an hour.

Wen Mingtang nodded to the two of them and sent them to the entrance of Dali Temple. They did not live in the dormitory of Dali Temple like her. Their home was not far from Dali Temple, so they simply went home to live.

Looking outside at the misty night, Tangyuan, who was full and burping, shivered inexplicably.

When Ah Bing saw this, he couldn’t help teasing her: “What’s the matter? Have you thought of a ghost story?”

Ah Bing didn’t have any bad intentions, but a boy of this age had a very out-of-control temper, and he often scared little girls.

Tangyuan immediately glared at him and said, “What nonsense are you talking about?” After that, she raised her feet and rushed into the night.

Wen Mingtang shook her head, looked at the misty night, and turned back to Dali Temple.

(End of this chapter)

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