When Lin Fei came to the public kitchen after a visit, Wen Mingtang and others were sitting at the dining table eating red bean paste xiǎoyuánzi. Their batch of red bean paste xiǎoyuánzi were more delicious than those eaten by others, as some peeled chestnuts were thrown into them, making a portion of chestnut red bean paste xiǎoyuánzi.

The soft, sweet, and fragrant chestnuts blend into the sweet fragrance of the red bean paste not only without being abrupt, but the fusion seems to complement each other.

Scooping the chestnut and red bean paste xiǎoyuánzi from the bowl, Tangyuan bit into the chestnut meat and said, “You can put some other sticky things in it.”

Wen Mingtang scooped a spoonful into her mouth and nodded: “The soft and sticky taro is also OK.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Tangyuan, Ah Bing, and Ji Caimai who were standing nearby nodded in agreement.

“As soon as Master Wen mentioned it, I could imagine the taste!”

These people were really getting better and better at eating!

As Lin Fei stepped into the public kitchen, the people who were chatting and laughing heard the voice and looked at him. They were quite surprised to see Lin Shaoqing coming back.

Without waiting for the others to speak, Lin Fei spoke up: “Do you remember what the vendors selling masks to you at the Lantern Festival looked like?”

As soon as these words came out, Wen Mingtang and the others who were scooping red bean paste xiǎoyuánzi stopped what they were doing. After the three of them looked at each other, Tang Yuan said helplessly: “There are three stall owners, but they are wearing masks of cats, rabbits, and foxes on their faces!”

What kind of appearance could you expect from a vendor wearing a mask? Lin Fei frowned.

Seeing Lin Fei’s expression, the three of them also vaguely guessed something: After all, Zhao You had just made two trips to take all the masks away, could it be that there was something wrong with the mask vendor?

But at that time, the Lantern Festival was very lively, and the mask vendor wearing a mask to promote his own stall was not an eye-catching move, so they didn’t pay too much attention to it.

However, although they couldn’t remember anything about their appearance, they could still recall something about them from their memories.

“The hair of all three of them was black, and one of them had very curly hair. Even with oil on it, you could still see the curls!” Tangyuan thought for a while and said.

Wen Mingtang added: “There was also a lot of white hair on his head, and the hand that handed over the mask had a lot of wrinkles, so he must be quite old.”

“Those three people were not short. They were about half a head shorter than the tallest officer Zhao in our Dali Temple.” Ah Bing said again.

Boys of his age were most concerned about how tall they could grow when they grew up, so they cared a lot about this.

To be fair, for an ordinary person, being able to pay attention to these three masked vendors was already a very good thing.

But there were a lot of people who met these characteristics in the whole city of Chang’an. Could they go and see each one of them? This was obviously not feasible.

They needed to come up with something special that separated them from others.

Wen Mingtang rubbed her nose, closed her eyes, and recalled for a while, then said, “It was the Lantern Festival at that time, and there were people all around, so I couldn’t be too sure! But when I took the mask, I seemed to smell a faint fragrance from the half-white-haired, older man.”

Lin Fei, who was frowning, immediately looked at Wen Mingtang when he heard this.

Meeting Lin Fei’s gaze, Wen Mingtang waved her hands and said, “It’s not the flower scent on the mask!”

Most cooks have good noses, such as Wen Mingtang, and she could smell the smell from the mask.

“That smell is not the fragrance of flowers, but…” Wen Mingtang rubbed her nose and said, “It seemed to be the smell of incense ash. I seemed to smell the smell of incense ash the moment the wind blew over, but it was only for a moment, and I can’t be sure if it is right!”

Incense ash? Lin Fei was thoughtful after hearing this. After a moment, he looked at Wen Mingtang and nodded, “Thank you!”

Compared with the previous descriptions, “incense ash” was much more specific. In addition to incense ash, another more specific thing was the floral scent in the mask.

The flower that could make Lin Fei and Wen Mingtang, both of whom had good noses, unable to tell the specific scent of the flower must not be an ordinary flower.

So, to find the so-called fragrance of flowers, you had to go somewhere and take a walk.

Early the next morning, after having breakfast in the public kitchen, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu left the Dali Temple and walked east for half an hour before finally finding the place.

Before he went in, Liu Yuan, who was standing outside, sneezed and couldn’t help but sigh, “It smells so good!”

It was really the most fragrant place besides the public kitchen! The difference was that the fragrance of the public kitchen was the fragrance of edible food, while the fragrance here was the elegant fragrance of the best of the best.

After expressing their feelings, the two entered the room without further ado. They showed their badges and stated their purpose: “We would like to ask the master perfumer from your shop to identify the scent of this mask for us!”

The manager naturally did not dare to slack off when he saw the waist badge, and hurriedly called out the master of Xiangzhai. After hearing the purpose of the two people’s visit, the master of Xiangzhai took the mask handed over by the two people suspiciously, and then he put it to his nose and smelled it, and his face changed.

Liu Yuantong and Bai Zhu saw this change in expression and were immediately delighted. Just as they were about to ask a question, the old master spoke.

“Where did you get this mask?”

After hearing the two say that this was the mask lost by the lost young lady, the old master of Xiangzhai nodded and said with emotion: “No wonder!”

…

Half an hour later, the two left Xiangzhai and hurried back to Dali Temple.

“Lin Shaoqing, this flower was not originally from our country. It was introduced to our country along with those missionary monks from the Western Regions. It is used by their Western Regions sect in ceremonies.”¹ Liu Yuan paused here, his face slightly changed, “This flower is called DaturaThe Datura flower, known for its large, trumpet-shaped blooms, is a highly toxic plant with hallucinogenic properties. It contains alkaloids like atropine and scopolamine, which can induce severe hallucinations and delirium. Due to its dangerous effects, Datura should be handled with caution and is used sparingly in traditional and ritualistic contexts., and it has a hallucinogenic effect.”

The young ladies were taken away for no reason, which was definitely something that the people in Jingzhao Prefecture thought was unpleasant. If the other party wanted to take them away, they would either knock them unconscious or fight with them.

So when the officers were looking for suspicious people in the crowd that day, they were looking for young ladies who had “fainted”, or people who were struggling with young ladies.

After such a search, naturally, nothing was found except a few young ladies who were quarreling with their families.

Now, the appearance of Datura had explained how they took the people away that day. The young ladies who had worn the masks for a long time had hallucinations and could not distinguish between reality and illusion, and gradually became separated from their families. The villains who had been eyeing them in the crowd took the opportunity to come over and take the people away.

Because the ladies didn’t struggle, the officers couldn’t see anything unusual. Many of them might have passed by the officers when they were taken away!

So… Thinking of Wen Mingtang, Ah Bing, and Tangyuan who bought the masks, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but gasp: “Master Wen and the others really escaped danger!”

After sighing at the luck of Wen Mingtang and others, they returned to the topic of “Datura”.

“Such a bewitching and poisonous flower was banned after being discovered, and for several dynasties, any found or planted in the common people’s homes was burned to eliminate future threats,” Bai Zhu said. “According to the master at the Xiangzhai, because mandrake flowers have remarkable effects in treating sores and children’s convulsions, the few Datura flowers left today are grown by the court. They can only be bought in pharmacies, and each portion’s destination must be documented!”

(End of this chapter)

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Footnote

1. This is most probably referring to Hinduism as Datura or Dhutura as it is known in my mother tongue Bengali is used in worshipping Lord Shiva. According to our mythology, when all the good things in the world was lost in the great flood (yes there is a flood myth in Hinduism as well), the Devas and Asuras churned the ocean together to find the elixir of immortality. But the first thing that came out of the churning was the most toxic poison called ‘Halahal’. To save the world, Lord Shiva drank it. His wife held his throat to save him, and the poison didn’t go below his neck, turning this neck blue. Then this flower emerged from his chest with some of its toxicity which relieved him. So, this flower is offered only to Lord Shiva because only he can take this toxic plant and have no reaction.