With the sudden inability of the owner of Linliu Manor, the people in Dali Temple may not be able to sleep tonight. Before that, they should have eaten their fill at dusk!

Wen Mingtang, who was being nagged by everyone in advance, sneezed, glanced at the servants in front of her who had specially trotted back to tell her that she should prepare more dusk meals, and asked them: “Is there any time when our public kitchen does not have enough dusk meals?”

“That’s not the case!” The servant laughed and swallowed back what he wanted to say.

These days, he went out incognito and wandered around the market. He saw that there were many snacks in the market. Today, there were even Hu people selling roasted lamb legs there. The taste was really…tsk tsk. In short, looking at the snacks in the market these days really aroused the greed in people’s hearts.

He wanted to ask Master Wen to help prepare some snacks, but when he thought about the delicious snacks made by Master Wen, he was afraid that something would happen if he took them with him while he was spying, no matter how delicious they were or how much he missed eating them. It would be better to ask Master Wen to make some new snacks after the case was over!

Even without the nagging of the yamen runners, the evening meal prepared by Wen Mingtang today was enough to fully occupy her time. She glanced at Ah Bing who was kneading the dough skillfully behind her. Noticing Wen Mingtang’s gaze, Ah Bing raised his head and made a face at her, patting his chest and assuring her, “Master Wen, don’t worry, I’m already familiar with pulling noodles!”

He had made oil-splashed noodles countless times, and he knew how to pull them wide or thin, thick or thin.

Wen Mingtang glanced at the proud Ah Bing and shook her head, then turned around and continued to cut vegetables and prepare dishes with Tangyuan. Today’s evening meal was dàpán jī, the main ingredient was chicken thighs, and the auxiliary ingredients were potatoes, green and red peppers, onions, and other things.

Because there were noodles and potatoes in it, this dàpán jī was naturally very filling.

With a “sizzle”, the chicken pieces that had been washed clean of blood were put into the pot, and the fragrance spread.

…

…

Because Bai Zhu had made a discovery, only Wei Fu was left to follow Xunzhou.

Lin Fei took Liu Yuan back to the Dali Temple in advance and began to arrange the arrangements for everyone in the Dali Temple after nightfall today.

The feng shui map of Chang’an City was thus spread out on the table. Everyone gathered around it, looking at several locations marked with vermilion ink, which were the places where officers had been stationed for the night.

But just catching the owner of Linliu Manor who had half a foot in the coffin board was not enough to catch all these people in one fell swoop. Therefore, although it was a strict arrangement, it couldn’t be announced to prevent the snake from being alerted.

The arrangements had already been made earlier. Now, looking at the feng shui map spread out before him, Liu Yuan couldn’t help but sigh emotionally: “Whether it’s the Master of Linliu Manor or the people behind the scenes, whether they’re the ones paying or the ones receiving the money, they are all utterly despicable!”

People needed to be caught, and not only that but also controlled, to cast a long line to catch big fish!

“At the end of the Xu¹ hour and the beginning of the Hai² hour, when the night market in the city gradually disappears, it’s the most suitable time to do things that hide from the eyes and ears of others! Those people in Linliu Manor will start to act from then on.” Lin Fei picked up the inkstone on the corner of the table and pressed down the feng shui map in front of him that was “rustling” in the wind. He looked at the sky outside and said, “Eat dinner first, then go home, change into regular clothes, and set off!”

…

…

Relying on the flat bun to survive until the end of the market, Xun Zhou collected the paintings and calligraphy on the table and returned the table. When he was about to leave, he had only taken two steps when he was stopped by two vendors who also came to return the table.

“We saw someone causing trouble at your painting stall this morning!” The turbaned vendor smiled, stepped forward, and patted his shoulder. “Young master, you’ve only been here for two days, so you wouldn’t know—almost every stall in this market has dealt with unreasonable customers like that. Don’t take it to heart!”

Xun Zhou nodded, looked at the two vendors in turbans in front of him, sighed, and said, “Isn’t it? Look at that fair-faced boy and you can tell that he wants to show off in front of that woman and is deliberately picking on me!” Having said this, he paused and couldn’t help but snort again, saying, “If my family hadn’t fallen on hard times, it wouldn’t have been his turn… Oh, never mind, let’s not talk about it!”

This act of wanting to say something but stopping and sighing repeatedly The two turbaned vendors looked at each other and continued to comfort Xun Zhou: “Young Master, just let it go!” At this point, he pointed to the place opposite him and said, “We set up a stall there every day to sell some bowls and chopsticks. You can come and chat when you are free!”

Xun Zhou said “Oh”, nodded and thanked him, then looked at the two vendors and said, “I can see that your stall is better than mine. There are some businesses. Unlike me, I haven’t sold a single painting in two days!” Upon hearing this, the vendors laughed and said, “Don’t worry, don’t worry!”

“It’s always like this at the beginning, it will be fine in a few days” and so on.

After a brief greeting, Xun Zhou raised his hand to the two people, walked into the crowd with a bundle of scrolls on his back, and soon turned into the alley with the crowd and disappeared.

The two watched Xun Zhou’s back. The smile when they talked to Xun Zhou had faded, and they squinted their eyes and examined the direction he left. After watching for a while, one of them rubbed his chin, tilted his head, and said to the vendor next to him: “I said he looked much more useful than that empty-headed fool named Yang. If he was dressed up, he would definitely be the son of a powerful noble. Now it seems that his family has fallen on hard times!”

“This kind of bait works much better, naturally!” Another vendor nodded and said, “That air of disdainful arrogance towards that Yang fellow is exactly what those young ladies like the most!”

“Check it out. If there is no problem, you can take him back as soon as possible, otherwise, that face will be known to too many people and become a familiar face, causing trouble!”

The vendor who spoke first said, “Maybe he can seduce a few young ladies in Chang’an City. After the limelight is over, move to another place, such as Luoyang and Jinling, and use him again!”

Xun Zhou, who had already been on someone’s mind, sneezed twice in a row. When he returned to his residence, he found that not only had dinner been delivered, but there was also someone there eating it!

“Are you back?” Liu Yuan, who had just taken out a large casserole wrapped in layers of thick cloth from the food box, greeted him and said, “It’s getting cold, so used a casserole to keep it from getting cold. Let’s eat together!”

Xun Zhou: “…”

Was it necessary to do this? He didn’t have the habit of having someone accompany him when he ate dinner! Besides, Sister Mingtang was such a good cook, and when he was too absorbed in eating, his eating manner was often a bit unsightly.

As he was thinking about this, Liu Yuan, who had greeted him, had already sat down. While lifting the thick cloth wrapped around his head, he explained, “There is no time to run back to the public kitchen to eat slowly, so I’ll eat here with you. I’m going to leave the city!” After that, he pulled at his casual clothes, “I’m afraid there will be another hard battle today!”

It was not an easy task to control the entire Linliu Village!

(End of this chapter)

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Footnote

1. Between 7 PM to 9 Pm
2. Between 9 PM to 11 PM