“If Sudan had not died, such a temper and personality could still attract people’s appreciation. His talent was not just a rumor. In this case… Even if he didn’t make it into the top three, it won’t be difficult to get a ranking. If he couldn’t become the top scholar, it was not bad to be a minor official and live a stable life,” Wei Fu said, sighing, “Perhaps his clan won’t be in a hurry to arrange a marriage for his sister.”

But there was no “if”. Sudan Sheng was already dead, and his death was unclear.

After Lin Fei lowered his eyes and pondered for a moment, he asked the clerk beside him who was sighing with emotion: “Have all the relics of Sudan Sheng been taken away?”

The clerk was slightly startled when he heard this, then shook his head and said, “Su’s father and mother left in a hurry, and I didn’t see them when they left. Of course, I couldn’t give them all of Sudan’s belongings. When I met them on the street two years ago, I wanted to give them the things, but I forgot about it because of Miss Su’s matter.”

So, the things were still in the warehouse.

“But they were all unimportant things: the articles he wrote, the poems he composed, the letters he sent to his family after coming to Chang’an to report his safety, and so on.” The clerk turned around and prepared to go to the storehouse to get Sudan’s belongings. After taking two steps, he said to Lin Fei, “The important things such as clothes were taken back by his clansmen for the funeral.”

For the people in the clan, things like clothes were obviously more important than articles.

That pile of articles, poems, and letters made people feel even more depressed.

Upon hearing this, Lin Fei said, “What I want are the poems, articles, and letters that Sudan Sheng wrote back then.”

To understand what kind of person the deceased Sudan was, clothes and other personal items were obviously not as effective as articles and poems that express his true feelings.

The clerk left in response and returned soon with a large box.

After wiping the dust off the box, the clerk sighed, opened the box, pointed to the piles of poems and essays inside, and said, “They are all here.”

Lin Fei hummed, glanced at the clerk with a sad face, and said, “There’s nothing to do here for now, you can go and get busy!”

The clerk responded and turned away.

Liu Yuan turned around and watched the clerk sighing as he left. He touched his nose and said, “Just as I thought. He went to the public kitchen!”

When you are sad, you always need some comfort. Master Wen had a wide range of snacks and side dishes.

This was probably what Master Wen meant by “turning grief and anger into appetite”!

“Master Wen said that when people are sad, eating something delicious and sweet can comfort them.” Liu Yuan said to Wei Fu, who was watching the clerk’s back with emotion, “I heard that it was said by a sage named ‘Science’.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Fu nodded and said, “Based on my many years of experience, what this person called ‘science’ said makes a lot of sense.”
“But he also said a lot of annoying things, like not eating too much before going to bed in the middle of the night. It makes people love and hate him!” Liu Yuan sighed.

“A-choo!” Wen Mingtang, who was mentioned, sneezed and looked at the clerk who suddenly came to the public kitchen to buy snacks.

Tangyuan looked at the clerk who was eating his snacks silently with his head down for a while, then turned to Wen Mingtang and whispered, “Look at how he is sighing and his eyes are red. He is probably so sad because he is not destined to be with the girl he likes. Several of my tángxiōng and biǎoxiōng ​​are like this!”

Ji Caimai, who was counting on an abacus, glanced at Tang Yuan and said with sympathy: “Then your tángxiōng and biǎoxiōng​​ are all quite pitiful!”

It seemed that the boys in Old Yuan’s family were not very popular with girls!

The bell for the evening meal rang, and the clerk who was eating snacks stood up and walked to the table to receive tonight’s evening meal. The two vegetarian dishes and the soup were all seen before, but the meat dish was the first time he had seen it.

“Tonight’s new dish is called Fuqi Feipian, which uses beef, tripe, heart, tongue and other beef offal. It’s a cold dish,” Tangyuan said as she handed over the prepared Fuqi Feipian and asked the clerk, “Do you eat coriander?”

The clerk nodded, took the evening meal, walked to the table, sat down, buried his head in the food, and shed tears as he ate.

Liu Yuan, who came to eat the evening meal, was shocked by the sight of this. Looking at the cold dish covered with red oil sauce in front of the clerk, he couldn’t help but ask Wen Mingtang: “Is the dish very spicy today?”

Wen Mingtang shook her head and pointed at a few portions placed to the side, saying, “Only a few people in the entire Dali Temple eat spicy food; the rest of the Fuqi Feipian is like yours.”

Liu Yuan said “Oh”, took the food, and sighed: “So it’s because of the name. He must have been reminded of the past!”

The few people behind the counter exchanged glances, suddenly understanding.

Though they sympathized with the plight of that low-ranking official, they still had to eat.

Liu Yuan took his evening meal to a nearby table and sat down. The bowl full of Fuqi Feipian (Chinese beef lung slices) contained most of the beef’s ingredients, which was perfect for people who liked to try new things.

Pick up a piece of beef and put it in your mouth. The meat was firm and not dry. Pick up another piece of tripe. It was chewy and springy. Then pick up a piece of beef heart. It was softer than the beef and tripe. Then came the beef tongue. It was much firmer than the beef heart but different from the dry beef, it was obviously smoother… The taste of each bite was almost different, wrapped in the red oil sauce full of sesame, with a slight spicy taste, but it was extremely appetizing.

“Although the ingredients seem to be similar to those of the saliva chicken, the taste is different.” Liu Yuan nodded while eating. “Master Wen is Master Wen. She never fails in cooking!”

He lowered his head and ate while muttering to himself, but unexpectedly, a familiar voice came from the other side: “Is the saliva chicken also prepared in the same way?”

Liu Yuan paused while stuffing his food into his mouth, and looked up at Yu Jijiu who was sitting across from him with a piece of beef wrapped in coriander. He laughed dryly twice, called out “Yu Jijiu”, nodded, and said, “The method is similar, and the ingredients are somewhat similar, but the taste is completely different.”

Across from him, Yu Jijiu was clearly someone who loved cilantro immensely. Looking at the half bowl of cilantro dipped in red oil sauce in his bowl, Liu Yuan shook his head, feeling ashamed in comparison.

Yu Jijiu said “Hmm”, which was not vague. He put down the chopsticks he was eating, stood up, and walked towards Ji Caimai.

Seeing this, Ji Caimai behind the window hurriedly moved the abacus, and the beads made two “bang” sounds, which seemed to be a greeting to Yu Jijiu.

This way of greeting was really special! Yu Jijiu glanced at Ji Caimai who was grinning from ear to ear, but he didn’t care. Instead, he asked, “I see that this Fuqi Feipian is also available for takeout, but I haven’t tried the saliva chicken that Liu Sicheng mentioned. Is it a takeaway dish as well?”

“Tomorrow the farm will send chickens,” Ji Caimai looked at Yu Jijiu and said with a smile, “We will have this dish for lunch.”

That was more like it! Yu Jijiu touched the bulging purse on his waist, not caring at all about Ji Caimai’s look as if he was looking at the “God of Wealth”: The price of the food in the public kitchen of the Dali Temple was much cheaper than that in the restaurants outside. He ate out and took away seven or eight portions every day, so he didn’t feel bad.

However… speaking of which, Yu Jijiu suddenly remembered something: he glanced back at Wen Mingtang, who was standing behind the counter, and then turned to ask Ji Caimai, “I need to host a banquet in a few days to entertain some close friends from the scholarly circles. Could I borrow your Master Wen for a day?”

(End of this chapter)

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