Wen Mingtang wanted to continue listening, but Liang Hongjin opened her mouth. She originally tried to explain the intricate relationship between the Goguryeo envoys clearly, but the words did not come to her lips. She did not know where to start.

After trying several times unsuccessfully, Liang Hongjin had no choice but to give up. She shrugged and said, “As you know, compared to my martial arts skills, my verbal skills are lacking. It would be better to have those assistant ministers from the Dali Court explain it to you another day.”

Wen Mingtang laughed “haha” after hearing this, said “ok” several times, and exchanged a few words with Liang Hongjin before returning to Dali Temple.

Compared with the Goguryeo envoys, the elixir of immortality, etc., preparing for the evening meal in Dali Temple today was what she should do.

The meat dish delivered from the village today was pork meat. There were layers of fat, and the color of the pork meat was very beautiful with alternating layers of fat and meat, making it pink and white.

Although breakfast menu of húntúns were delicious and popular, that little chewy pork meat was not enough to fill the gap between your teeth. The amount of pork sent by the owner was enough. After eating this meal in the evening, Wen Mingtang was no longer stingy about the pork and was going to make an old dish – braised pork.

The preparation of braised pork was very similar, but the real key to making this old dish well lay in the details. Wen Mingtang found a large piece of black iron mesh from Lin Fei’s “room” where he kept his treasures.

Every time she went to Lin Fei’s house, Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but sigh: Lin Fei really had a lot of good things to use here.

Put the pork skin down on the iron mesh and grill it on the stove. When the skin is slightly rolled up, take it aside immediately, and then gently scrape it with a knife to remove all the hair on the skin.

“It turns out that it’s done just by roasting it over fire!” Looking at the smooth and hairless pork skin, Ah Bing couldn’t help but say. Thinking of the errands assigned to him when making braised pork, he grimaced, “If I had known this, I would spend hours plucking the hairs one by one?”

It was not just tiring, but the key was that they still couldn’t be plucked out completely. After it was cooked, looking at the unplucked hair on the surface of the pork meat was really off-putting and difficult to swallow.

Tangyuan burst out laughing when she heard this. Watching Wen Mingtang put the pork belly cut into squares into the pot, she laughed and said, “So, you still have to ask Master Wen. Master Wen always has a convenient solution.”

Put the pork belly into the pot, add wine, green onions, and ginger slices. When the water boiled, she took it out and saw Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu walking to the kitchen with serious faces.

Seeing these two people approaching, Tangyuan subconsciously glanced at the sky outside, and then reminded them: “Liu Sicheng and Bai Sicheng, it’s still early for the evening meal!”

The pork belly was just blanched once. Why were people here now?

Liu Yuan sighed, “The only way to relieve sorrow is through the delicious delicacies here at Master Wen’s place.”

Wen Mingtang looked at the retrieved pork belly and admitted, “It still needs a lot of effort to reach the level of deliciousness. Tonight’s dish of braised pork belly is a dish that requires skill!”

She poured some oil into the pot and started frying the meat.

The sound of frying meat was ringing in the ears, but it was not noisy at all. The smell of oil and meat coming from the pot gave people a strange sense of tranquility!

Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh: “I thought I could spend ten and a half days reading story books and eating Master Wen’s delicacies every day! Unexpectedly, in just a few days, things happened again!” 

Tangyuan was a little surprised when she heard this sigh. The last painting case she “personally” participated in had only passed a few days ago. She didn’t expect that there would be a new case in Dali Temple so soon. But…

“What case happened again? Why didn’t we see the yìmen going out?” Tangyuan was a little puzzled.

Liu Yuan glanced at her and said: “There is no case. It’s just a wave of people coming from all the way, and they are all troublemakers!”

When the imperial decree arrived, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, being the type of people they were, naturally went out immediately to inquire. Through their inquiries, they quickly learned about the deeds of this group of Goguryeo envoys, which started to worry them.

“This is just visiting someone else’s home as guests. If there’s anything we can’t handle, can’t we just deal with it at home?” Liu Yuan said with a grim face, “What’s the point of going to someone else’s home to cause trouble?”

“It’s because causing trouble at home could lead to trouble. So… being away from home, without constraints, is what led to this complete uproar!” Bai Zhu’s expression was equally grim, indicating that he had come to understand the illustrious deeds of these Goguryeo envoys quite clearly.

Now, along with the imperial edict, there was another important matter.

“The elixir of immortality that they sent as tribute from Goguryeo has disappeared. Liu Yuan and I are asked to go find the elixir!” Bai Zhu helplessly raised his forehead.

When Wen Mingtang, who was frying meat, heard this, she couldn’t help but raise her head and asked the two of them: “Does His Majesty really want to eat the elixir?”

“Of course, His Majesty doesn’t want to.” Liu Yuan on the side heard this and interjected, “His Majesty is not the Late Emperor. With lofty ambitions and a beautiful woman like the Empress at his side, he naturally wants to live a long life and leave his name in history. Why would he want to go to see the Late Emperor before he achieved all these?”

“His Majesty doesn’t care about this!” Bai Zhu continued, “Anyone with a clear mind would not chew something the size of a fist, which is said to be an elixir. The problem is that the people in Goguryeo insist on finding the national treasure they sent, saying that it represents the good relationship between the two countries.”

It had risen to the point of friendship between the two countries. Even if His Majesty didn’t care, he still had to find this elixir.

“His Majesty has already cleared the court after he ascended the throne. Those who wanted to take advantage of the elixir like the Late Emperor have already followed him to serve the Late Emperor.” Liu Yuan clicked his tongue, really not wanting to waste time looking for these useless things, “Nowadays, everyone inside and outside the court avoids such things. Who would want to steal something of unknown origin?”

“I think it’s probably their own people who stole it.” 

“Yes!” When Liu Yuan said this, he saw Wen Mingtang picking up the fried pork and pouring in the sugar, he asked casually, “What is Master Wen doing?”

The sugar in the pot, upon encountering the oil, was fried into a golden-brown liquid. Wen Mingtang stared at the melted sugar in the pot and said, “Caramelizing the sugar.” With that, she poured the pork belly into the pot and began to stir-fry it.

“It turns out that cooking is so particular.” Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh as he watched Wen Mingtang pour the stir-fried pork meat with sauce, salt, sugar, and various spices into a large casserole and add water.

“Indeed, everything is like this, cooking naturally follows the same principle!” Wen Mingtang remarked as he covered the pot with its lid. Braised pork belly is a dish that requires skill; the rest is just a matter of waiting.

Today’s vegetable salad of shredded lettuce was a simple one, so there was no need to prepare it early. Wen Mingtang, A Bing, and Tang Yuan took a break and sat behind the counter to chat with Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu.

“Since everyone is idle, why isn’t anyone else taking the call?” A figure flashed in Wen Mingtang’s mind, “I see that Lin Shaoqing is a case-happy person, and he is so free that he doesn’t interfere?”

 As soon as these words came out, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu were stunned. They looked at each other, and a subtle look appeared on their faces. After coughing slightly, Liu Yuandao said: “Lin Shaoqing is studying an old unsolved case, so naturally he has no time to take care of this small theft case.”

An old case? Wen Mingtang casually picked up the conversation, “What old case?”

Seeing no one around, Liu Yuan winked at her and whispered: “It’s an old case that has something to do with His Royal Highness King Yu.”

If it had turned out that this old case was truly related to King Yu, then when the lawsuit arises, even as a royal relative, if the Emperor doesn’t show any enthusiasm towards King Yu, he would be in deep trouble. Even if he didn’t lose his life, he would have to suffer a great loss.

This could save Wen Mingtang a lot of trouble!

(End of chapter)

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