After sending off Li Yuan who “found her interesting”, Wen Mingtang breathed a sigh of relief and brought the bowl of untouched hóngshāo yú kuài to Ji Caimai who was looking over at the takeaway stall, and said, “Ji Caimai, this hóngshāo yú kuài…”
Ji Caimai calculated and said, “Let’s divide it up and eat it!” Without waiting for Wen Mingtang to speak, he added, “It’s already been taken away. Although he didn’t touch it, it’s not good to sell it to others!”
Wen Mingtang said “Hmm”, and turned her head to glance at Tangyuan and Ah Bing, who had just received Wen Mingtang’s gaze and did not interrupt and nodded.
After being busy for the whole evening meal, the two children, who were a little hungry, cheered immediately after hearing the words and turned to scoop rice from the wooden barrel.
Children of this age were the biggest eaters!
Wen Mingtang looked at it, smiled, shook her head, and then heard Ji Caimai say: “This little prince needs to pay for his meals in the future, we can’t let him eat for free!”
Now that the takeaway stall was set up, he had to pay for the food to be taken away!
If at the beginning he was a little wary and prejudiced against the young and pretty cook because of the relationship with Chef Zhou, after spending such a long time together, Ji Caimai gradually got to know Wen Mingtang well, and just now he didn’t say a word.
After Li Yuan left, and he finished talking about the “giving money” matter, Ji Caimai told Wen Mingtang what had just happened: “It’s not that this young prince is a bad person! But leaving aside his family, some habits are really in his bones, and people like me who are tough can’t stand it.”
Wen Mingtang also nodded and said, “But he is still young and so thinks I am interesting. Such thoughts come and go quickly!”
Ji Caimai said “Hmm” and agreed with her: “Don’t worry too much about this. If he meets someone interesting tomorrow, maybe this little prince will change his mind.”
Compared to this…
“Who his yuǎnfáng biǎojiě is, is more important!” Ji Caimai said, “If we hadn’t told others, we would have checked who his Yuǎnfáng biǎojiě was and how she knew this!”
When Lin Fei handed Li Yuan to his family’s guards and turned back, he heard Wen Mingtang and Ji Caimai talking about the “yuǎnfáng biǎojiě”. Hearing this, he thought about it, walked over, and told Wen Mingtang a “big surprise”.
“Li Yuan’s biǎoxiōng will come to Chang’an in a few days!”
Wen Mingtang and others looked at Lin Fei: They were talking about his yuǎnfáng biǎojiě, why did he mention his biǎoxiōng?
Meeting everyone’s gazes, Lin Fei looked toward Wen Mingtang. His expression remained calm and his tone was unmoved, but for some reason, the next sentence made people hear a hint of inexplicable mockery in it.
“You also recognize his biǎoxiōng,” Lin Fei said, “He’s your ex-fiancé!”
Wen Mingtang: “…”
Everyone: “…”
After a long silence, Wen Mingtang said quietly, “If I had known this, I shouldn’t have met Li Yuan!”
As soon as these words were spoken, they immediately attracted responses from Ji Caimai and others.
Considering that Lin Fei had mentioned the matter of the childhood fiancé to Wen Mingtang without hiding it from others, Ji Caimai and others also knew exactly what kind of person this fiancé was. Now thinking about Li Yuan who had just turned his back on them, didn’t they “shouldn’t have known this pair of cousins”?
Seeing everyone nod, Lin Fei looked at Wen Mingtang and said, “It doesn’t hurt to get to know each other earlier. After all, it will be beneficial for you to know the other party’s background more clearly!”
Wen Mingtang: “…”
What Lin Fei said… was about finding out the details in advance, as if she was going to join the battlefield as soon as her ex-fiancé arrived.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard Lin Fei speak again. He glanced at the moonlight that had already reached the zenith outside and said seriously, “I’m here for evening food!”
It was supposed to be the end of the evening meal, but… Wen Mingtang thought of how he had just helped her out and turned back to the kitchen.
Lin Fei definitely did not want the bowl of hóngshāo yú kuài that was handed to Li Yuan, so… there was only half a pot of hóngshāo yú kuài left, which was naturally not enough. Wen Mingtang went back to the public kitchen and found half a head of leftover lettuce, so she simply added an egg, made a fried lettuce and egg dish, and sent it to Lin Fei.
Although it was just a casual stir-fry, the scrambled eggs with lettuce were quite appetizing to Lin Fei thanks to the aroma from the freshly-cooked pan. When he finished his meal and got up to leave, there was not a single grain of rice left on the plate in front of him.
After seeing Lin Fei off and handing the task of cleaning the table to the handyman, Wen Mingtang and others left the public kitchen.
After a busy day, she was already exhausted. She had a good night’s sleep when she got back to her residence!
…
Xun Zhou, who also had a good night’s sleep, woke up at dawn.
Instead of lying on the bed with the quilt in his arms and fighting with Zhou GongZhou Gong or Duke of Zhou, was an important historical and cultural figure in ancient China. He lived during the early Zhou Dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE) and played a crucial role in establishing and solidifying the rule of the Zhou Dynasty after the overthrow of the Shang Dynasty. He is linked to sleep in Chinese culture due to his legendary ability to interpret dreams, symbolizing wisdom, guidance, and meaningful dream experiences. as he did in the past, Xun Zhou got up immediately after opening his eyes, washed up, changed into the robe of a poor scholar, carried the paintings on his back, and went straight to the public kitchen of the Dali Temple.
The hóngshāo yú kuài that he ate yesterday were so delicious that after a night of eating, his stomach is now empty. He just needed sister Mingtang’s breakfast to fill it up.
Before even stepping into the public kitchen, an inexplicable aroma that made one’s saliva salivate hit him in the face.
Xun Zhou, who had never smelled such a fragrance before, subconsciously stopped and sniffed several times the fragrance wafting from the public kitchen. He was surprised and said, “What is this smell? How can it be so fragrant?”
God had mercy on him. He had traveled with his teacher for many years and had been to major cities such as Chang’anChang’an, now Xi’an, was the ancient capital of multiple Chinese dynasties and a key hub of culture, trade, and governance along the Silk Road., LuoyangPresent-day Luoyang is located in Henan Province,and is one of China’s Four Great Ancient Capitals, playing a pivotal role in Chinese history, renowned for its cultural heritage and as a Buddhist center., and JinlingJinling, modern-day Nanjing, served as a historic capital of China, known for its cultural, political, and strategic significance through various dynasties.! Every time he arrived at a place, he was all for trying out all the local delicacies. However, he had never smelled such an indescribable fragrance from any delicacy before.
Seeing Xun Zhou’s excited expression, the several “secretly dressed” runners who were coming towards him seemed to be used to it. They responded to his excited expression and explained, “This is the scallion oil fragrance!”
Such a calm tone, as if he were an old gourmet who was proficient in this!
Facing Xun Zhou’s eager eyes, several officers coughed and said, “Master Wen used this to make scallion oil noodles. It was very delicious. She also boiled a lot of scallion oil sauce for us to take back. It is really delicious when mixed with noodles!”
At this point, several officers looked expectant: “Could it be that today’s breakfast is scallion oil noodles?”
But when they rubbed their nose, they found that the aroma was indeed the aroma of scallion oil, but it seemed a little different from the aroma they had when she made scallion oil noodles before!
Instead of guessing here, they might as well walk in and take a look.
Several people hurried into the public kitchen, and at a glance, they saw Ah Bing in front of the oil pan. At this time, he was holding an iron tong in his hand. On one end of the iron tongs was a round pancake with a brown fried skin. The chopped green onion leaves dotted in the round pancake could be vaguely seen through the brown skin.
This was……
“Scallion pancakes
!” Seeing everyone eagerly looking at him as they entered the communal kitchen, Ah Bing immediately said, then he glanced at Tangyuan mixing in a large pot not far away, and said, “Today’s breakfast also comes with a bowl of soy milk and yam porridge!”
(End of this chapter)

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