Things would be easier if they knew where the flowers went. If there was any problem with the whereabouts of the datura flowers in any pharmacy, we could invite the person to the Dali Temple for questioning.

Glancing at the excited Liu Yuan, Lin Fei said, “I’ll leave this matter to you!”

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan immediately agreed. Seeing Lin Fei waving his hand, he turned around and went out to do his work without saying anything else.

After Liu Yuan left, Lin Fei looked at Bai Zhu who was standing there, and said, “There is one more thing I need you to check…”

…

At that time, Wen Mingtang and the others were still unaware of the problem with the flower’s fragrance, and they nearly suffered harm. If they hadn’t decided to avoid bumping into the masks all over the street, they might have continued wearing them for a while longer. The young lady, worried about losing her mask, would have had to get a couple more.

Wen Mingtang and others didn’t know, but Xun Zhou, who had never attended the Lantern Festival, knew about it.

Looking at Xun Zhou, whose face was pale, Lin Fei said, “With people like this around, the young ladies in Chang’an City probably won’t dare to go out with peace of mind!”

Xun Zhou murmured, “If this is true, how can I face my mentor? Oh, does Sister Mingtang know about this?”

Lin Fei said: “She doesn’t know yet.” Although she didn’t know, she could guess something from their questions about the mask.

Hearing that Wen Mingtang didn’t know yet, Xun Zhou breathed a sigh of relief, patted his chest with his hand, and sighed: “That’s good, it’s better not to tell her about this, so as not to scare her!”

Lin Fei glanced at Xun Zhou: Scare her? Did this guy have any misunderstanding about his sister Mingtang?

However, looking at Xun Zhou’s slightly pale face, Lin Fei thought about it and said “Hmm”, thinking that he should not scare this guy.

“So this guy must be caught as soon as possible!” Xun Zhou sighed for a moment, and said to Lin Fei seriously, “Mr. Lin, I will definitely do my best to cooperate in this matter, and I swear to catch the villain!”

Lin Fei looked at Xun Zhou who was ready to fight and nodded: “I will arrange an identity for you shortly. Don’t worry, I will send someone to follow you later!”

“What do I have to be afraid of as a man?” Xun Zhou heard this and immediately said, “I’m sure I can play this role well and won’t reveal any flaws before I catch the bad guys!”

Was that so? Lin Fei glanced at Xun Zhou and said nothing.

All Xun Zhou needed to do was show up. They would do the rest. There was no need to be so brave!

…

After putting the prepared lunch into the food box, Wen Mingtang took out some money from her purse and handed it over.

Now that the takeaway stall had been set up, they had to pay for bringing in some food.

Looking at the lunch in Wen Mingtang’s lunch box, Ji Caimai took the money, wrote down the bill, and looked up to ask Wen Mingtang: “Are you going out to meet your friends?”

The case of the young lady’s disappearance was still under investigation, and it always made people feel uneasy when Master Wen went out alone.

“I’m going to see Liang Hongjin!” Wen Mingtang said, “Today is her birthday!”

When he heard that it was Liang Hongjin, Ji Caimai nodded and said, “Then go! Take the main road, don’t take the small road, the sooner you go, the sooner you will come back!”

Although the Liang female general was a woman, her fists could defeat several men, so there was no need to worry about her safety.

Wen Mingtang thanked Ji Caimai for his concern, said goodbye to Tangyuan and Ah Bing, and left the Dali Temple.

The road from Dali Temple all the way to Tongming Gate was a long way. After waiting for a while outside Tongming Gate, Liang Hongjin, with a sweat towel around her neck, came out with a black-faced Ganzhiwei.

The black-faced Ganzhiwei hung his head and followed Liang Hongjin, nodding as he walked along with her, as if he was being scolded.

When she got closer, Wen Mingtang finally heard what Liang Hongjin said.

“That’s a lot of money. How many years have you been saving it?”

The black-faced Ganzhi Guard hung his head, but still said honestly: “It’s been almost five years!”

“You spent five years’ worth of money on such a liar. I don’t want to feel bad for you, but I do!” Liang Hongjin tapped his head and scolded him, “How many delicious foods can you buy with that much money? How many precious swords can you buy?”

The black-faced Ganzhiwei said with a bitter face: “What should we do? The liar has already spent the money…”

It was really impossible to catch up with him!

Liang Hongjin was so angry that she jumped up and down: “The young lady has a childhood sweetheart in her hometown, so don’t even think about it! What are you really saying? You’ve lost money and your wife!”

After a scolding, the black-faced Ganzhiwei was almost crying.

It was not until she looked up and saw Wen Mingtang that Liang Hongjin waved her hand and asked the black-faced Ganzhiwei to go back.

Wen Mingtang shook her head at the unlucky Ganzhiwei who had been deceived, stepped forward, and handed the food box in his hand to Liang Hongjin: “I know you will celebrate your birthday with Zhao Sishan in the palace tonight, so let me have it during the day!”

She had guests and a party both daytime and nighttime. It sounded like Liang Hongjin was quite popular. She was quite popular! Liang Hongjin blushed and coughed dryly, “That’s fine!” She couldn’t help but reach out to lift the lid of the food box and peeked, “What delicious food did you bring for me today?”

Wen Mingtang said: “Zhēn zhū wán zi!”

…

…

It was another day when Master Wen went out to do some work, leaving only Ah Bing and Tangyuan at home.

However, even though the chef was away, the lunch dishes would not be disappointing.

The lovely meatballs were placed in the steaming tray, taken down from the steamer along with the steamer, and delivered to everyone’s hands.

After only one look, Yu Jijiu couldn’t help but sigh: “No wonder it’s called Zhēn zhū wán zi!”

The glutinous rice tightly wrapped around the pork meatballs absorbed the salty fragrance and gravy of the pork. After steaming, the originally crystal clear glutinous rice seemed to have a layer of light. Didn’t it look like grains of rice pearls?

The zhēn zhū wán zi, which were already beautiful enough with their white and jade-like texture, were garnished with two red wolfberries and some green onions sprinkled around them.

The brilliant colors of white, red, and green added a touch of elegance to this vegetarian dish of pork.

“It will certainly be eye-catching at a banquet!” Yu Jijiu commented, and after sitting down, he couldn’t wait to pick up a zhēn zhū wán zi with his chopsticks.

The outer layer of glutinous rice that has absorbed the gravy has an indescribable freshness, and the inner layer of pork meat was thick and appropriate. The chopsticks holding the pearl meatballs only held them lightly, and you could see the juice overflowing without squeezing them hard.

The pork was firm and not dry, just right, but more than that, when you took a bite, you could feel the fresh and tender pork mixed with some water chestnuts, which immediately reduced the greasy taste of the pork. In this way, from the outside to the inside, the taste was layered, and before you knew it, one had been swallowed, and Yu Jijiu immediately reached out his chopsticks to grab the second one.

…

Liang Hongjin, who sat down with Wen Mingtang, was also eating the zhēn zhū wán zi in the food box. The water chestnut pork was naturally delicious, but compared to this, Liang Hongjin loved the outer layer of glutinous rice that absorbed the gravy. She felt that the outermost layer of glutinous rice was the soul of the food.

Wen Mingtang watched from the sidelines as Liang Hongjin stuffed the zhēn zhū wán zi into her mouth one by one. When they finished a plate of zhēn zhū wán zi, Liang Hongjin touched her stomach and said with satisfaction, “I’ve filled my stomach a little bit, and it feels really good! Xiao Mingtang, where are we going?”

Wen Mingtang stood up with a smile and said, “Go get your birthday present.”

(End of this chapter)

---