Ever since the half bag of táng chǎo bǎn that Zhao You gave him was placed on Lin Shaoqing’s desk, Lin Shaoqing’s painting movements became noticeably slower.

Seeing that he had just finished drawing a stroke, Lin Fei involuntarily reached out to pick up the chestnuts on the table, pressed lightly, peeled the chestnuts, and threw them into his mouth skillfully. Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu looked at each other, winked at each other, and said nothing.

After they told Lin Shaoqing about the Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival, Lin Shaoqing did not refuse and nodded in agreement immediately.

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu were not surprised by this reaction. Lin Shaoqing, who was rumored to have a “Shura heart”, was clearly not the easiest person to talk to! This “Shura heart” was always directed at the most vicious and evil people, not at his own people.

It happened to be a rare free time, so Lin Fei took a piece of drawing paper on the spot and prepared to draw a pattern for the beauty lamp face of the Dali Temple. However, Lin Shaoqing, who was always quick and efficient in doing things, immediately procrastinated when he came across the bag of táng chǎo bǎn.

He picked up the brush and sketched two strokes, then put down the wolf hair brush and went to peel the táng chǎo bǎn on the table. After an afternoon of work, Lin Shaoqing left behind a half-painted beauty lamp and a pile of peeled chestnut shells on the table.

It seemed that Master Wen was enough to pull Lin Shaoqing down from the “pedestal”.

…

“A-choo!” Wen Mingtang, who was being talked about, sneezed, washed her hands, and returned to the public kitchen to prepare for the evening meal.

When the evening bell rang, the public kitchen immediately became lively.

After all, they had been talking about táng chǎo bǎn for the whole afternoon, and finally, they could legitimately come to get them at dusk, so how could they not be anxious?

Ji Caimai, who had expected this, simply put the táng chǎo bǎn that everyone could get at the takeout stall, with a serious face, trying to scare the people from the Dali Temple who came to get snacks into behaving.

But no matter how serious he was, what kind of expression had everyone not seen on Ji Caimai’s face? As soon as everyone arrived, they followed the smell of táng chǎo bǎn and squeezed into the takeout stall. They ignored the serious face and just kept urging him, “Ji Caimai, hurry up!”

Ji Caimai, who had already wrapped the food in oil paper, rolled his eyes and handed over the sugar-roasted chestnuts while saying, “Isn’t it just a snack? Why are you in such a hurry? Don’t rush me! Take it home and eat it slowly…”

Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by several officers at the front of the line. Those officers pointed at the corners of his mouth and said to Ji Caimai, “Ji Caimai, if you wipe the corners of your mouth clean, your words will be more convincing!”

Looking at the chestnut meat that was not wiped clean at the corner of his mouth, it was obvious that Ji Caimai had secretly eaten a lot in the afternoon!

Ji Caimai, who failed to scare the crowd, said: “…”

After receiving the táng chǎo bǎn, the officers could not wait to go to the food counter to get the evening meal, but they were stunned when they saw the meat dish in the evening meal.

“This is……”

The pork and the shelled chestnut meat were wrapped in a thick brown sauce and quietly lay in a small beige casserole: the braised pork had been stewed for a long time and had already turned into a very beautiful agate color. The fat part was slightly translucent, and the braised sauce slid down from the top and slowly flowed into the depths of the pork.

Those who had tasted braised pork several times could already taste the sticky, slightly gelatinous braised pork sauce as soon as they saw this scene.

The fat melted in your mouth, the lean meat was soft but not mushy, and the fat and lean flavors were distinct. Pour a spoonful of the sauce into the rice, and you can easily finish half a bowl of rice with the taste of the braised sauce alone.

This time, Master Wen chose chestnuts as a partner for braised pork. The crowd, who had not yet recovered from the sweet caramel aroma of the táng chǎo bǎn, soon tried another way of eating chestnuts.

This time, it was not the sweet aroma of caramel, but the slightly sweet braised sauce mixed with the chestnut meat. Picking up a chestnut and putting it into the mouth, the glutinous and sweet taste was not inferior to the táng chǎo bǎn at all, but compared with them, each had its own merits.

“This chestnut braised pork goes really well with rice!” Liu Yuan exclaimed, and simply turned the whole bowl of rice upside down into the small beige casserole, and stuffed the rice mixed with sauce and the chestnut braised pork into his mouth.

Many people ate as heartily as he did. Seeing the people from the Dali Temple eating silently, Yu Jijiu, who had come a little later tonight, was startled. He hissed and couldn’t help but sigh: “Eating like this… No wonder many familiar faces are getting plump!”

Ji Caimai, who was sitting at the takeaway stall distributing táng chǎo bǎn, heard this and looked up at Yu Jijiu. Seeing the wealthy customer coming, he immediately smiled and said, “Jijiu, can you smell that fragrance? Those are the táng chǎo bǎn made by Master Wen. Would you like to take one and try it?”

Yu Jijiu, who was just now lamenting that the familiar faces were becoming rounder and rounder, said: “…”

A true gentleman should bow his head immediately when it was time to do so before anyone saw him!

After sniffing his nose, Yu Jijiu decisively approached Ji Caimai’s stall, coughed lightly, and said, “I smelled that smell as soon as I walked into your Dali Temple. Give me some to try!”

As the days went by, they became plumper and plumper. Haven’t you heard the old saying “put on weight in autumn”? Mid-Autumn Festival was coming soon, so what was wrong with putting on weight?

Then, as usual, they finished eating and took away. Yu Jijiu waved his hand generously. Because Wang He and others were still in the capital, he took away not only the portions for his family but also the portions for Wang He and others.

Ji Caimai was always generous to such distinguished guests as Yu Jijiu. Not only did he give Yu Jijiu an extra portion of táng chǎo bǎn, but he also personally called over a few strong servants to help Yu Jijiu deliver the lunch boxes and other items he had taken away.

Seeing Yu Jijiu being personally sent off by Ji Caimai, Liu Yuan, who was taking a portion of roasted chestnut pork and a portion of táng chǎo bǎn back to share with his family, could not help but sigh: “It is true that money can make the devil work! Yu Jijiu was even personally sent off by Ji Caimai!”

Ji Caimai, who had not yet returned after seeing the person off, heard his sigh and turned around to glance at him and said, “You also want an old man like me to see you off?”

Liu Yuan twitched his lips, thinking of the mountain of food that Yu Jijiu had bought, and quickly shook his head and said, “That’s not necessary!”

There weren’t that many people in his family, so why did he buy so much food? Wasn’t it a waste of money?

As the Mid-Autumn Festival approached, Wen Mingtang began to prepare mooncakes for the festival, while Ji Caimai found a carpenter to customize mooncake gift boxes for the Dali Temple. He was determined to take advantage of the momentum of the Mid-Autumn Festival to build up a good reputation for the Dali Temple’s public kitchen.

Compared to the busy people in the public kitchen, the officials in the lobby of the Dali Temple had nothing to do and were very idle. They were usually busy studying how to make the lanterns for the lantern festival look better.

“Our Dali Temple is doing fine these days, but whenever a festival approaches, Jingzhao Prefecture is always the busiest!” While checking the frame of the lantern, Bai Zhu chatted with Liu Yuan who was peeling sugar-roasted chestnuts nearby.

“Let’s not talk about holding lantern festivals and having fun with the people. Whenever a festival is approaching, the officials of Jingzhao Prefecture will go out to patrol the streets. Sometimes, they can catch several kidnappers in a day!” Bai Zhu said this, sighed, and said, “When I came here this morning, I passed by the gate of Jingzhao Prefecture and saw someone reporting to the police that someone in his family was missing!”

(End of this chapter)

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