As soon as the noon bell rang, people came over to have lunch.

Looking at Ah Bing and Tangyuan, who were serving and preparing dishes with serious faces behind the table, Liu Yuan, who was waiting in line behind the crowd for lunch, said to Bai Zhu who was eating with him, “Look at these two kids, they look like public chefs!”

“Not only does it look good, but this chicken is really well made!” The servant who received the lunch first and had already sat down to eat took a piece of chicken with chopsticks and put it into his mouth, saying, “It’s really well made. It seems that our Master Bing and Master Tangyuan will become public chefs in no time!”

After saying this, the servants who were eating looked at the older servants helping to clean up then looked at the two serious little faces, and couldn’t help but sigh: “Following the right master does have some benefits!”

Working in the Dali Temple’s public kitchen meant you didn’t have to worry about starving to death, but the monthly salary of a handyman was different from that of a public chef. Of course, it was much better to be a chef who makes a living with his skills than to be a handyman.

Liu Yuan nodded, glanced at Ji Caimai who was sitting behind the counter not far away and counting the money while selling braised duck and bingfen, and looked around the public kitchen. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “Huh?” and said to Bai Zhu behind him, “Master Wen is on leave today, so it’s fine if she doesn’t come! But Yu Jijiu, who has been coming here every day, didn’t come today!”

At this point, looking at the serious faces of Ah Bing and Tangyuan behind the counter, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but complain on their behalf, “Does Yu Jijiu look down on our Master Ah Bing and Master Tangyuan?”

As soon as he said this, Bai Zhu shook his head and said to him, “You are wrongly blaming Yu Jijiu. It’s not that he looks down on Ah Bing and Tangyuan, but there is a banquet today!”

Speaking of this “banquet”, many people still knew about it. Several servants who had received lunch early and started eating interrupted and said, “We have heard about this too! Today, Yu Jijiu called Master Wen to help prepare the banquet. He said that he invited many old friends to come and hold a banquet for scholars!”

So this was the reason. Liu Yuan suddenly realized and asked casually, “Where is he hosting the banquet?”

The officer said, “I heard it’s in Mount Li!”

Mount Li! Lin Fei, who had just stepped into the public kitchen, frowned slightly when he heard this. He listened to Liu Yuan sighing, “The scenery of Mount Li is good at this time, but the most beautiful is the autumn scenery.”

He did not interrupt, but lowered his eyes and lined up with everyone to get food.

The case of the Goguryeo envoy had just been concluded, and the Dali Temple had been unusually idle these days. Even Lin Fei had a few scripts borrowed from Liu Yuan on his desk.

Thinking of this, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh: I didn’t expect that the superiors would also read the storybooks he read!

Not only would he read the storybooks, he would even ask for leave to go to the mountains for fun!

After lunch, Liu Yuan returned to the lobby to sort out the files and took back the notebook from Lin Fei. He also received a note of leave written by his superior.

Because Dali Temple Minister Zhao Mengzhuo was not in the yamen, Lin Fei asked Liu Yuan to pass the note to Zhao Mengzhuo. The reason for the leave written on it was that he wanted to go to the mountains for a few days.

Liu Yuan was stunned by this reason: it was the first time he saw a leave request that didn’t even bother to come up with a reason and just stated the truth!

Lin Fei ignored Liu Yuan’s astonishment, handed in the note, turned around and left the Dali Temple, went back to Jingyun Marquis Mansion, changed into a pair of convenient clothes, and then left the city.

…

Let’s not talk about everything in the Dali Temple for now. Here at Wen Mingtang’s place, the famous scholars had also arrived at Mount Li and entered for the banquet.

The timing was perfect! Just as the fruits, snacks, and cold dishes were served, the guests arrived!

Wen Mingtang breathed a sigh of relief and was about to start preparing the hot dishes when she heard the servant say, “Master Wen, there is a gentleman named Wang He at the banquet who said that he had traveled a long way and was very hungry. He asked if we could send the food up first?”

This kind of arbitrary and unconventional behavior made even the servants twitch their lips and sigh, “Sorry to trouble Master Wen!”

Wen Mingtang said: “…It’s okay!”

The Zhútǒng Fàn was cooked early and was now ready. Since Wang He wanted to eat first, she could just send the Zhútǒng Fàn over first.

At the banquet, before they had a chance to try the few unfamiliar cold dishes in front of them, they heard Wang He clamoring to eat, and a few other míngshì couldn’t help but shake their heads in helplessness: “Wang He, if you eat so early, how will you savor the dishes that follow?”

“I, Wang He, have tasted all the delicacies in the world. Most of them are cooked in the same way. There is nothing special about them.” Wang He didn’t think much of it. He said, “You guys taste yours. I have to eat first!”

Seeing that they couldn’t persuade him, the famous míngshìfamous scholar / worthy / celebrity, esp. distinguished literary person having no official post were helpless and stopped paying attention to him. They just listened to Yu Jijiu introducing the names of several cold dishes in front of them while picking up their chopsticks.

“This dish is called kǒushuǐ jī. The chicken is very tender and tastes slightly spicy and fresh. This dish is called suōyī huángguā… This dish is called…”

Having tasted several dishes in a row, they all received a round of praise from their old friends. Yu Jijiu was very satisfied, knowing that the dishes made by a chef who impressed him would certainly also impress his usually picky friends. Except for… Seeing Wang He in the front right, whose chopsticks hadn’t moved at all, Yu Jijiu sighed. Just as he was about to speak, he saw a few servants bringing over the specific meal Wang He had requested.

However, it was different from the bowl of white rice they had imagined. What the servant brought over was actually two bamboo tubes placed side by side with a “window” opened in the upper half of the bamboo tubes. However, as the “bamboo window” was still covered and not opened, they could not see what was inside the bamboo tubes.

Eh? This was… rice?

After tasting a few mouthfuls of cold dishes, everyone looked at the bamboo tube in the servant’s hand.

Under the gaze of everyone, the servant walked up to Wang He with a tray of bamboo tube rice and said, “Sir, the rice is here. This rice is called Zhútǒng Fàn and it comes in two flavors. You can open it and taste it!”

After that, he placed the Zhútǒng Fàn in front of Wang He and retreated with the tray.

Seeing the two pieces of bamboo tubes that looked like small boats, a famous míngshì immediately urged: “Wang He, quickly open the bamboo tubes and show us the food inside the bamboo boats, called Zhútǒng Fàn!”

Most míngshì liked bamboo, and Wang He himself was a leader among them, often using bamboo to describe himself. Therefore, no matter how rebellious he was, the moment he saw these two pieces of “bamboo boats”, he was already interested, and under the urging of everyone, he opened one of the “bamboo windows”.

The moment it was opened, a rich fragrance wafted into the air. Wang He, who was closest to it, couldn’t help but take a deep breath and looked down at the situation in the bamboo boat.

The entire “bamboo boat” was filled with a thin layer of shiny rice grains, dark brown diced bacon, bright green edamame, golden corn, and orange diced carrots. The bright colors were pleasing to the eye at first glance, not to mention the aroma of bacon, glutinous rice, and green bamboo.

The famous míngshì standing beside Wang He stood up and walked to Wang He’s table to take a look. Smelling the rich aroma, the famous míngshì swallowed his saliva and could not help but turn around and ask Yu Jijiu, who was sitting there with a smug look on his face, “Where did you find the chef, Brother Shinan? How could he have such skills?”

(End of this chapter)

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