When the late emperor was alive, His Majesty was under the obligation of filial piety, so he could not openly “disobey” his father. Even if the appearance of the Goguryeo “immortal master” was really strange, he could only secretly send people to help the “immortal master” “ascend to paradise” early.

Now, the Goguryeo envoys came again, and not only came, but also seemed to have a thousand connections with the group of people back then. In this case, how could His Majesty miss this opportunity to investigate the spies?

“Your Majesty,” Lin Fei lowered his eyelids and said, “As you wish!”

This case was unusual from the beginning.

……

……

Although it was not difficult to make liangpi, there was no such thing as cold noodles in this dynasty. Wen Mingtang pointed to the layered washing water and said to Ah Bing and Tang Yuan: “Pour out the water on the top, and the paste at the bottom is what we use to make liangpi. The remaining gluten is steamed in the pot. After being steamed, it can be used as a side dish for liangpi.”

The two of them seemed to understand what he said. Compared with this, they thought the process of washing noodles was quite interesting: Can the dough be washed?

Not only could it be washed, but it could also be eaten!

Pour out the washing water, scoop a spoonful of batter into the special flat plate, steam it in hot water, and wait until the batter turns from jade white to transparent. The liangpi were ready. Brush a layer of oil and take it off.

It was really not difficult, but it took a lot of thought and effort to make. Ah Bing’s patience was almost exhausted after a while. After making two pieces of liangpi in a row, Wen Mingtang called him aside to deal with the side dishes.

Tangyuan should be the one to do the meticulous work. Seeing the cold skins piled up by the little girl, each with distinct layers, Wen Mingtang couldn’t help laughing and said, “I suddenly feel that Tangyuan should be a great pastry chef!”

Tangyuan, who had just pulled a piece of cold skin off the flat plate, was stunned when he heard this, but asked happily, “What pastry is Master Wen talking about? I’ll try it tomorrow!”

Wen Mingtang said, “I’ll teach you next time how to make qiāncéng bǐng¹!”

While making this liangpi, she wanted to eat a qiāncéng bǐng! There was milk, taro, and sweet potato here, so it was not impossible to make it! Wen Mingtang thought so.

Ah Bing, who was standing by, was not particularly good at making liangpi, but he had honed his knife skills. Looking at the neatly arranged cucumber shreds, Wen Mingtang smiled and nodded her head, saying, “We also need to prepare some coriander, garlic juice, and peanuts!”

Of course, the most important thing was the spoonful of chili oil. After all the ingredients were prepared, the liangpi skins made by Tangyuan were almost done.

At this moment, Zhao You’s face suddenly poked in from the door of the public kitchen. Before Wen Mingtang could say goodbye, Zhao You shrank back. Soon, the sound of his footsteps running away accompanied by Zhao You’s whisper, oh no, loud muttering, reached everyone’s ears.

“Aren’t those the two plates on the big scale that Lin Shaoqing made when he solved the case before? Master Wen can even take down the plates on the scale to cook, he’s really amazing!”

The sincere praise and admiration in that tone made Wen Mingtang silent. She glanced at the plates on the table and said quietly, “There are so many good things in Lin Shaoqing’s room. He can put together a set of kitchen utensils for me without any help!”

Tangyuan finally finished making the liangpi, put the flat plate aside, rubbed his sore shoulders, and said to Wen Mingtang, “Master Wen, with Officer Zhao’s voice, if we really want to conspire with him about something, he will definitely conspire loudly in broad daylight, and by then, I guarantee that the conspiracies will be known to everyone!”

Therefore, whispers and secrets must not be known to Officer Zhao.

Zhao You, who was standing guard at the door, suddenly sneezed. Liu Yuan, who was talking about the Goguryeo envoys, was startled. He turned his head to look at the yawning Zhao You, and saw him rubbing his nose, then lowering his head to play with ants. He continued to talk to Lin Fei: “The relationships among this group of Goguryeo envoys are very complicated. I think anyone you pick at random and put them in the middle can be used to draw a network with that person as the center.”

“The matters about the princess who was to be married to the Emperor, the son of a high-ranking Goguryeo official, and his fiancée are the most ‘superficial’ among these people. The trouble is those older ones.” Liu Yuan said, “When Bai Zhu and I investigated, they were covering for each other, saying that they had to consider Goguryeo’s face and could not bring the dirty things to our country. They changed their words several times!”

Of course, what Lin Fei said now was after Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu had confirmed it in every way, and they had not found anything wrong for the time being, so let’s just say it was the truth!

“The envoys coming this time can be roughly divided into three groups. The younger ones are princesses, fiancées, and the like. They are just some romantic affairs between men and women, which we have no right to control.”

“The other two groups belong to two factions. In the words of our Dayong, one group supports the only son of the Goguryeo Emperor, and the other group supports the younger brother of the Goguryeo Emperor. The two parties are not in harmony with each other and have secretly tripped each other up countless times.” When Liu Yuan said this, he couldn’t help but sigh, “I even doubt whether the Goguryeo Emperor is really old and confused. People from both sides of the internal struggle were actually arranged in the envoy team to Dayong. It can be said that it is really embarrassing for Dayong!”

One was the only son, and the other was the younger brother. It was easy to imagine that they were mostly arguing about the dragon chair under the Goguryeo Emperor’s buttocks.

When Wei Fu heard this, he said “Huh”, as if he was a little puzzled.

“Although I have never been to Goguryeo, I have heard about Goguryeo. Isn’t their emperor’s succession the same as ours? Since the prince is still alive, how can it be the Emperor’s younger brother’s turn?” Wei Fu paused for a moment, thought for a moment, and said, “Is it because the Emperor’s younger brother has a high status and reputation in Goguryeo?”

Liu Yuan shook his head: “Not really, the Emperor’s younger brother is also a mediocre person.”

How could that be… Wei Fu was a little puzzled.

Bai Zhu on the side said: “That’s because the prince is even less suitable to sit on that seat!”

What did this mean?

Liu Yuan pointed to his head: “The prince was born with a brain disease. If he ascended to the throne…”

If a fool ascended to the throne, the entire Goguryeo would be finished!

The Goguryeo Emperor was not stupid. No matter how much he favored his only son, he would not support such a prince to the throne. The reason why the two could still confront each other was that although the prince had a brain disease, he was physically healthy. He married a wife and had a son a few years ago. The grandson looked quite smart.

On one side was the smart but young grandson who had not grown up yet, and on the other side was the mediocre but old and powerful younger brother. The two sides were naturally hostile to each other and neither would submit to the other.

“Now, whether it was the elixir that Goguryeo lost, or the news that the Goguryeo people heard from somewhere, knowing that you, Lin Shaoqing, were investigating the case of the year, the two sides are now accusing each other of being related to this!” Liu Yuan said here, and couldn’t help but hold his forehead, “It’s quite a headache. I don’t know which one is true and which one is just a lie to attack the other!”

(End of this chapter)

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Footnote

1. A kind of dessert. You can find it here.

The place where I live has a large population of Nepali, Bhutia and other hill communities. One dish that they prepare is very much like this called Laphing. However, instead of eating it with chilli oil, it is stuffed with wai wai, a brand of instant noodles from Nepal that can be eaten raw. There used to be shop in front of my home who made it really well. Here is a pic of that dish.