It was lunch, but the public kitchen was still not crowded. The people who stayed in the Dali Temple to eat had gloomy faces and the food tasted like chewing wax.

How shameless of this Master Sun! Previously, he worked with Master Wang, and their cooking skills were just edible, so it would have been fine if they had no ambition to improve. Now he works with Master Wen and sees Master Wen making different kinds of food every day, but he still cooks so badly. How shameless of him!

Not only did he not make any progress, but Master Sun, who was guarding the table, didn’t seem to pay attention to the food in front of him. He was absent-minded even when serving the dishes, and even served the wrong dishes.

Looking at the wilted vegetables in the bowl that were covered with three spoonfuls of stir-fry, the expression on the face of the servant who came to collect the food was not much better than that of the vegetables. He looked up at Master Sun, whose eyes were vacant, and immediately turned his face away: “Mr. Sun, what are you doing? If you don’t want to stay in the public kitchen, then leave. Don’t stay here and take up a seat without doing anything!”

The sudden high voice startled the absent-minded Master Sun. When he came to his senses, he was stunned when he saw the rude officer above him, but he didn’t get scared like before. Instead, he didn’t know why he spoke directly to the officer in front of him: “If you like it, eat it. If you don’t like it, go out and buy it with money! If you have the ability, ask the Ministry of Internal Affairs to dismiss me, Sun Dingren!”

This sentence immediately angered the officer, who threw a plate of green vegetables on Sun Dingren’s head.

When Ji Caimai, who was lying in the room taking a nap, heard the news, the public kitchen was already a mess. From the food and bowls on the floor, one could get a glimpse of the “great battle” just now.

Ji Caimai pointed at the mess on the ground with a gloomy face and said to Wen Mingtang, A Bing, and Tangyuan who came rushing over after hearing the news: “Look, look! What is this Sun Dingren still doing in our Dali Temple? He just wants to cause trouble all day long!”

Wen Mingtang and the others fell silent. Before the three of them could speak, they heard a loud noise coming from outside the courtyard. They turned around and saw several officers pushing and shoving into the courtyard with Master Sun with unfriendly faces. One of them raised a pile of medicine bags in his hand and shouted to Wen Mingtang and Ji Caimai: “During the argument just now, this Sun ran into his own courtyard. We found out when we chased him in that there was a bag of Croton seeds on the table! Why would a chef in a public kitchen buy so many Croton seeds? Who is he going to harm?”

Another officer sneered, looked at Master Sun, and snorted, “I’m afraid he can’t stand Master Wen’s good cooking skills, so he plans to secretly put croton seeds in the dishes made by Master Wen!”

Opposite him, Ji Caimai’s expression had already darkened upon hearing this. “Oh, really? So, after failing to trouble Master Wen with the takeaway matter, you’re now planning to harm people with croton seeds?”

Master Sun’s face turned pale upon hearing this, but when he faced Ji Caimai, he still stood straight and said, “Where’s the evidence? Can’t I buy rat poison?”

Which rat poison used croton seeds? What was the purpose? Were you going to let the rats collapse and catch them to raise them?

No matter how good Master Sun was at arguing, he couldn’t withstand so many accusations. After a quarrel, he “took in sick leave”, and before “taking leave”, he didn’t forget to take away the big bag of Croton seeds.

“What a troublemaker!” Watching Master Sun’s back as he left, Ji Caimai turned to Wen Mingtang and said, “Sun Dingren is on leave for a few days, so you can take over the lunch!” As he spoke, he glanced at Ah Bing and Tangyuan, and said, “You two should also study hard! Of course, if there are good chefs, I will also recruit them.”

It was indeed not enough for a public kitchen in Dali Temple to have only Master Wen on the table! Fortunately, both Ah Bing and Tangyuan were smart, otherwise, it would have been a mess.

“You’ll be quite busy!” Ji Caimai said to Wen Mingtang. “I’ll assign the few kitchen helpers to you now. You won’t have to worry about serving meals and cleaning up these minor tasks anymore; just focus on preparing the three main meals.”

Wen Mingtang nodded and said, “Alright.” Glancing in the direction where Master Sun had left, he thought for a moment and then asked, somewhat puzzled, “Why would he think of buying croton seeds? If there really was an issue with the food here, I believe the Dali Temple would have no trouble finding out who the ‘mastermind’ is, right?”

“Who knows!” Ji Caimai snorted coldly as he looked in the direction where Master Sun left, turned around, and said to Wen Mingtang, “It has nothing to do with you, Master Wen, just cook well! By the way, Master Wen, what are you going to make for dinner tonight?”

Wen Mingtang thought for a while and said, “It’s hot and most people don’t have much appetite, let’s make some liangpi!”

Liangpi! Ji Caimai said “Oh”, with a little more expectation in his tone: “There are new dishes to eat. I will come early at dusk!” Then he went back to his room to catch up on his sleep.

There was a commotion in the Dali Temple, but Liu Yuan and others who were busy outside did not rest. They hurriedly ate in the restaurant and went to the inn to deal with the envoys from Goguryeo.

Lin Fei went straight to the palace to see the Emperor.

When he heard Lin Fei say that he came for the “elixir of immortality”, the Emperor dismissed his attendants.

After all the palace servants had left, the Emperor who was sitting behind the desk reviewing memorials put down his pen, looked at Lin Fei, and said, “Ah Fei, you should know about this elixir.” As he spoke, he moved a few pens in the pen holder on the desk. After a sound of opening and closing, a square-sized secret compartment appeared on the desk where the Emperor reviewed the memorials.

The Emperor reached into the secret compartment and soon, like catching a ball, he fished out a fist-sized purple pill from it and said, “The elixir is in my hand!”

The tribute that was meant to be “taken” was simply held in his hand. The Emperor had no intention of “taking” the elixir.

However, this was interesting! This lost “elixir” that the Goguryeo envoy had been looking for for a long time was actually taken away by the Emperor?

Lin Fei did not show any surprise on his face, he just leaned over and bowed, saying, “Your Majesty is wise!”

The Emperor took away not only this elixir but also the “immortal master” who asked for immortality a few years ago. The late Emperor was incompetent, but he was his father after all. The Emperor, who was still the prince at that time, naturally did not dare to take any action in public, and only dared to deal with this spy who was called “immortal master” in private, but in fact, his origin was unknown.

“The envoys of Goguryeo are still investigating,” Lin Fei said, “I went to the palace today to deal with Cháoān Gōngzhǔ.”

“Chao’an?” The Emperor frowned, and he had an impression of this half-sister, but they had a mediocre relationship and were not close.

“What’s wrong with her?” the Emperor asked.

Lin Fei told the story of Prince Yu, and then said: “Cháoān Gōngzhǔ’s husband hinted that someone had confused the royal bloodline!”

Hearing this, the Emperor’s expression immediately condensed: “This matter should be investigated!”

Although he was not close to this imperial sister and raised her as a rich and idle person, it did not mean that the Emperor did not care about this gōngzhǔ. Or, it can be said that the emperor was not concerned about Cháoān Gōngzhǔ, but the Li Fei who raised Cháoān Gōngzhǔ.

Cháoān Gōngzhǔ’s mother was a talented woman who died of complications during childbirth. She was raised by Li Fei, who did not have a blood relationship with her but was more like a biological mother and daughter. Although Li Fei died of illness a few years ago, she was always favored in the harem of the late Emperor. To be favored by the late Emperor, she must be beautiful. But in addition to her beauty, the reason why Li Fei was still favored was that she was a “female immortal master” who practiced “cultivation” before entering the palace.

(End of this chapter)

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