Looking at the bright red lipstick on the deceased’s lips, Wu Bucai and Liu Yuan came forward and looked carefully for a while, but… they didn’t see anything special.

When Lin Fei saw this, he explained: “The watery red color contains some cinnabar red and dark red. Young ladies don’t use much lipstick of this color, but older women use it more.”

Wu Bucai And Liu Yuan: “…”

Lin Shaoqing was really well-informed! In their opinion, whether it was a woman or a young lady, the color of the lipstick on her mouth was all the same red, and they couldn’t tell the difference.

“Look for a piece of white paper!” Lin Fei didn’t intend to explain to the two of them, he just said and squatted down.

There was a white paper in the box, Wu Bucai found it and handed it over.

Lin Fei took the white paper and raised his hand to wipe off the red lipstick on the deceased’s lips.

After the lipstick was wiped off, black and purple lips were revealed.

When Liu Yuan saw this, he secretly said, “Sure enough.”

This man was indeed poisoned to death.

On the other side, Lin Fei looked at the red lipstick on the white paper. He brought the white paper stained with lipstick close to his nose and smelled it. After a long while, he said: “Begonia flowers were mixed with the smell of jasmine and impatiens. When I go back home, I will ask my mother how many rouge shops sell this kind of lip balm in the capital.”

Liu Yuan was dumbfounded by the actions he witnessed. When he finally came to his senses, he couldn’t help but sigh: Lin Shaoqing was truly impressive! If it weren’t for Lin Shaoqing being here, he and Wu Bucai might have ended up in a confrontation.

In that case, such important evidence could have been missed.

Because of the special color of the lipstick, when Wu Bucai was going to wipe the deceased’s face with a wet wipe, he couldn’t help but ask Lin Fei: “Lin Shaoqing, the powder on this person’s face…”

“You can see it everywhere, it’s nothing special.” Lin Fei waved his hand and said, “Wipe it off!”

Wu Bucai said “Oh”, breathed a sigh of relief, and reached out to wipe the makeup on the deceased’s face.

When the makeup on the deceased’s face was wiped off, revealing the true face of the deceased, Liu Yuan immediately raised his eyebrows and said with emotion: “This person looks pretty good!”

After the horrific makeup on the face was wiped off, it revealed a face that can be called gentle and handsome.

Without the cover of makeup, with the long-sleeved robe and bun that resembled the legacy of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, he could be called a “beautiful Langjun”.¹

However, the black and purple lips of this “beautiful Langjun” showed that this man had been poisoned for a long time.

Wu Bucai reached out and pinched the deceased’s lips apart and began to examine the body.

Lin Fei stood up and did not disturb Wu Bucai. He just took the pen and paper from the guard beside him and started drawing on the dead man lying on the ground. After sketching the face of the deceased with a few strokes, Lin Fei returned the pen and paper to the officer and left with the drawing paper.

…

…

After Wen Mingtang took Tangyuan away, she strolled around the market, bought quite a few snacks, and then returned to the Dali Temple alone with a candied hawthorn stick in hand.

With the comfort of candied haws and snacks, Tangyuan’s mood calmed down a lot, and she was able to start talking to Wen Mingtang about last night’s events.

“Last night, I went back as usual, because it was foggy at night, and it was really gloomy, just like the place where ghost stories happen in the storybook,” Tangyuan said while biting the candied haws.

Wen Mingtang lowered her head, poured the beaten raw egg liquid into the overnight rice, and stirred it up. While stirring, she asked Tangyuan: “What next?”

Tangyuan made a “click” sound and bit into the rock sugar icing wrapped around the candied haws. : “Then I was walking and passed by the entrance of the alley. It was so hazy that I couldn’t even see a human figure around.”

“The shadow of the walking stick and lantern flickered like a monster, and I became more and more scared. When I passed the entrance of the alley, I noticed something seemed to be coming towards me. When I turned around, I saw the monster coming out of the painting, and then fell straight back.”

Wen Mingtang heard this and endured. She couldn’t help but look up and glance at Tangyuan who was eating candied haws and talking at the same time. The little girl didn’t cry as much as she did in the morning, and her mood was calm, but the confession she made was…the same as in the morning.

She shook her head. Of course, there was no need to tell Liu Yuan and the others about this confession, so she continued to dig down the salted duck eggs and separated the yolks from the whites.

When she saw those salted duck eggs yesterday, she was thinking about making ěrguāng chǎofàn.

Tangyuan was biting the candied haws on the side and exclaimed: “Master Wen, I didn’t believe it before, but now I found out that there really are monsters in the world!”

Wen Mingtang smiled, chuckled lightly, and casually responded. After blanching the peas, carrots, and shrimp, she started to cook fried rice.

She poured vegetable oil into the pot, fried the shrimp heads that were separated earlier into the pot to get the shrimp oil, then poured in the scooped salted egg yolk, stir-fried the egg yolk, and countless tiny bubbles boiled in the pot.

Together with the boiling bubbles, there was also the indescribable fragrance of egg yolk. While Tangyuan was enjoying the candied hawthorn, the action of biting into the candied fruit suddenly paused. She took a deep breath and suddenly felt that the candied hawthorn in his mouth no longer tasted as sweet.

Wen Mingtang stir-fried the egg yolks, poured in the overnight rice mixed with egg liquid, stir-fried the peas and carrots again, and poured in the crushed salted egg whites and shrimp in the last wave.

Tangyuan on the side held up the candied haws in her hands and couldn’t help but circle twice around the fried rice that Wen Mingtang was frying, and exclaimed: “Master Wen, your fried rice is so delicious!”

Wen Mingtang smiled and said, “I also think this method is very fragrant. That’s why some people call this fried rice ‘ěrguāng chǎofàn.’”

Fried rice that refuses to let go even after being slapped? Tangyuan was a little confused after hearing Wen Mingtang’s explanation, but she didn’t care. After Wen Mingtang took the fried rice out of the pot, she quickly put the candied haws in her hand aside, found a bowl, and handed it over.

Wen Mingtang returned with a full bowl of fried rice. The grains of rice were distinct and evenly wrapped in shrimp oil, egg yolk, and egg liquid. Each grain was golden in color. Tangyuan couldn’t help but swallow her saliva and muttered: “It’s golden as if it’s glowing.”

This fried rice not only looked good, but it also tasted delicious. The fried shrimp oil added a unique umami flavor to the fried rice. The unique salty aroma of salted egg yolk was surprisingly rich in the fried rice. The peas, carrots, and shrimp not only added color but also mixed in the rice grains with a spoonful, adding to the taste and giving it a bit of richness.

Seeing Tangyuan immersed in eating, Wen Mingtang took out the stewed eggs from the steamer on the side, poured a spoonful of sesame oil and a spoonful of sauce, sprinkled some chopped green onions on top, and then handed the stewed eggs over.

Fried rice was always fried, although it was fragrant, but eating it dry was always greasy. Wen Mingtang’s bowl of stewed eggs came at just the right time. Tangyuan quickly took it, and the spoon dug into the smooth and non-porous stewed eggs on the outside.

When you dug in with a spoon, the stewed egg that came out was as tender as tofu. When you took the spoon out, the stewed egg on the spoon could still tremble slightly like tofu.

Just looking at that, made Tangyuan swallow her saliva. Just as she was about to put them into her mouth, she heard a voice coming from outside.

“I came back early and didn’t expect to be able to eat the evening meal in advance!” Liu Yuantong said to several of the guards, stepped in, smelled the fragrance in the air, and immediately asked, “Master Wen, what did you make today?”

(End of this chapter)

Footnote

1. my husband and master (archaic) / playboy of rich family / pimp

T/N Check out the link in the image, it is the closest I could find to the recipe written here.