The Buddhist beads in Zhou Dagui’s hand… Of course, Liu Yuan certainly remembered the Buddhist beads on Zhou Dagui’s hands. The style of the beads was plain and even somewhat rough, commonly seen in the market, unlike the intricately carved Buddhist beads worn by the wealthy and influential.

There seemed to be nothing special about wearing a string of Buddhist beads. In the lobby of Dali Temple, you could easily catch a few people wearing Buddhist beads on their hands. For example, Wei Fu wore a bunch of Buddhist beads on his hands.

“There is nothing special about wearing a string of Buddhist beads.” Lin Fei said, “But people who wear Buddhist beads believe in Buddhism. Won’t they visit the mountain temple and nunnery from time to time?”

Liu Yuan was startled by this sentence, and he reacted suddenly: “That’s right! Lin Shaoqing’s words reminded me that there was indeed a Bodhisattva statue enshrined in Zhou Dagui’s house, and he must believe in Buddhism.”

Before Lin Fei could speak, Liu Yuan said again: “Since you believe in Buddhism, isn’t there a nunnery on Yishan Mountain? Lin Shaoqing, do you mean that Zhou Dagui will go to that nunnery?”

Lin Fei lightly tapped the table and said, “It is possible.”

“So, should we go to the nunnery to inquire about the situation?” Just as he was thinking this, a rumbling sound came from his stomach. Liu Yuan glanced down at the source of the sound—his own stomach—and chuckled awkwardly. He then asked Lin Fei, “Lin Shaoqing, should we go now or wait until tomorrow?”

If they went there now, he was afraid they wouldn’t have time to eat the evening meal.

Lin Fei glanced at Liu Yuan, who was rubbing his stomach and frowning, and said, “Let’s go tomorrow!”

People…should not be able to run away, or it can be said that they cannot run at all.

Liu Yuan said “Oh” and after listening to Lin Fei’s explanation, he immediately returned to the lobby with the file. After briefly recording and sorting it out, when the bell rang for the evening meal, he just put down the pen in his hand. He stood up hurriedly and walked towards the kitchen.

…

For today’s evening meal, Chef Wen had once again come up with something new. The first thing Liu Yuan noticed when he went over was the meat dish.

In a plain white porcelain bowl, a chicken, diced with skin intact, was neatly arranged “as is” in the bowl. Except for the top, most of the “body” was submerged in the surrounding red oil, sprinkled with roasted white sesame seeds. At the very top of the chicken pieces, not immersed in the red oil, were red chili flakes and chopped scallions. On the side, there were chopped cilantro leaves. Those who enjoyed cilantro would add an extra pinch on top, while those who didn’t would omit it.

It looked like a cold dish, but it was said that cold dishes were far less fragrant than hot dishes. But today, you didn’t even need to be close to the chicken dish made by Master Wen, and there was a smell of red oil mixed with sesame oil and various ingredients. The aroma of the mixed sauce hit your face.

This alluring aroma was not inferior to hot dishes at all!

Most likely due to the fragrance of the red oil, it made mouths water uncontrollably. Liu Yuan stared at the chicken dish for a moment, only to realize that his mouth was watering when reminded by several bailiffs behind him.

Liu Yuan reacted after being reminded, but he did not show any embarrassment to the group of colleagues who were looking up and down, but said frankly: “The smell of this red oil will make people drool.”

“So true!” Several colleagues behind him nodded after hearing this, and then saw the servant at the front who had already received the dish and said, “That’s why Master Wen calls this dish saliva chicken!”

‘Saliva chicken’? That name was quite suitable for the occasion! Liu Yuan subconsciously stretched his neck, rubbed his hands, and looked at the drooling chicken on the table with anticipation and nervousness: He was rarely so nervous when handling a case!

When it was finally his turn, he nodded towards Tangyuan in charge of putting the coriander, reached out to take a bowl of Kou Shui Ji, and asked Wen Mingtang nervously: “Master Wen, this Kou Shui Ji looks like a very spicy dish. I don’t know…”

“Don’t worry, I know it well. It just looks spicy. It’s not spicy enough and the aroma is stronger.” Wen Mingtang said with a smile.

After working as a public chef for so many days, she learned a lot about the tastes of everyone in Dali Temple.

Except for a few special ones, most of them eat “lightly spicy” food, and few eat “heavy spicy food”.

Hearing what Wen Mingtang said, Liu Yuan breathed a sigh of relief, received some vegetarian dishes, rice and soup, and then went to find a table to sit down and eat the evening meal.

This was the first time Liu Yuan had ever tasted a chicken dish prepared by Chef Wen Mingtang! He picked up a piece of the mouthwatering chicken with his chopsticks, watched the red oil drip from it, hesitated for a moment, and then eagerly put it into his mouth.

As soon as he bit into the chicken, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief: the skin of the chicken was very elastic and smooth. He didn’t know how the chicken was processed. It tasted tender and firm, not old at all, just when you bit into it, the aroma of red pepper and sesame seeds seemed to have the umami flavor of chicken juice, which was very fresh and tender.

The red oil that looked spicy made people’s mouths water, but when it was put into the mouth, it was found that the aroma and peppercorns brought more numbness than the spiciness. He was sure Master Wen specially mixed it according to everyone’s taste.

Of course, not everyone avoided spicy food. Looking at Lin Fei who suddenly appeared at the door of the public kitchen, Liu Yuan, who was eating Kou Shui Ji, secretly said: Here comes the spicy food person!

Wen Mingtang made a “mildly spicy” version of the mouthwatering chicken according to everyone’s taste, but she also didn’t forget the preferences of those who enjoyed spicy food like Lin Fei, Ji Caimai, and others. Therefore, she specially made several bowls of mouthwatering chicken with a normal level of spiciness.

Today’s chicken dish Kou Shui Ji was just right for Lin Fei’s appetite. After Lin Fei walked to the stage, his eyes kept falling on the bowls of Kou Shui Ji, intentionally or unintentionally. Wen Mingtang added coriander and brought the chicken over.

Lin Fei took the evening food, nodded towards her, walked to the opposite side of Liu Yuan with the evening food, sat down and started eating the evening food.

Liu Yuan, who was taking a spoon to pour the sauce of the Kou Shui Ji on top of the rice and eat it, saw Shang Feng coming over and paused slightly. He looked at Lin Fei’s bowl opposite and saw that there was obviously more pepper in that bowl than his. Liu Yuan paused for a moment, then turned to pick up the vegetarian dishes on the side. The stir-fried lotus root slices and edamame were fresh, tender and crispy, which relieved a lot of the spiciness.

After finishing his evening meal, Liu Yuan looked at Lin Fei’s bowl with half of the evening meal still in it, “Lin Shaoqing, I’ve finished my evening meal. If there’s nothing else to do today, I’ll…”

Before he could finish speaking, Liu Yuan saw Lin Fei nodding across from him. Seeing this, Liu Yuan immediately breathed a sigh of relief, got up, and left.

By the time Lin Fei finished eating, the evening meal was almost over.

The “slightly spicy” version of the Kou Shui Ji was all taken away, but there were two portions of the normal spicy version left. Although Tangyuan and Ah Bing, who usually take out meals, liked Wen Mingtang’s cooking, they still couldn’t accept the spiciness.

When the two of them were still hesitating about whether to take it back, someone took the Kou Shui Ji away first.

Looking at Lin Fei carrying a food box out of the public kitchen, Tangyuan sighed: “Lin Shaoqing seems to really like this dish called Kou Shui Ji!”

Wen Mingtang said while clearing the table: “Listening to what Zhao You say, after the cook from Sichuan in Marquis Jingyun’s mansion returned to his hometown a few years ago, Jingyun Furen has been unable to find a suitable cook. Lin Shaoqing’s taste followed Madam Hou’s, so she will definitely like the dish of Kou Shui Ji. When I was cooking just now, Zhao You came over specifically to talk to me about this matter.”

Of course, a dignified and upright man like the Dali Temple Shaoqing would not take anything from the public kitchen at will.

Wen Mingtang touched the bag of money bulging in his purse: Lin Shaoqing was really generous with his actions. Not only did he ask Jicai to pay for the ingredients, but he also didn’t forget to give her money for her “coolie work”.

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