Since it was the time after lunch, the afternoon market was nearly deserted. With so few people around, vendors along the roadside and in their shops simply set up makeshift tents and dozed off inside.

This was the scene Lin Fei and his companions encountered when they arrived at the market.

Although the country’s market and its surrounding area were managed according to some regulations, it was still a market, and even after cleaning, the air was still thick with the pungent smell of vegetables, meat, and slaughtered poultry and livestock.

This smell was quite unpleasant to Liu Yuan, who was accustomed to working with writing implements. His impression of food and drink was mostly from the public kitchen, especially since Master Wen had arrived, where the only culinary delights were the enticing aromas. When had he ever smelled such a pungent odor in a public kitchen?

Even at the market, which he had visited before, the pungent smell was something Liu Yuan hadn’t anticipated.

“Is it because it’s close to the end of the year and there’s been too much slaughtering of poultry and livestock?” Bai Zhu said, rubbing his nose. “The market doesn’t usually smell this strong.”

Lin Fei, who was always quite sensitive to smells, frowned but didn’t speak. Instead, he glanced at the vendors who were dozing off before looking towards the slaughter stalls.

At this moment, there were signs saying “Rest and Do Not Disturb” hanging in front of the slaughter stalls, and the butchers were resting in their respective tents.

Lin Fei raised his hand to rub his nose and took a deep breath.

Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who were covering their noses, were about to express their admiration. After all, with Lin Fei’s unusually sensitive nose, this breath must have felt extraordinary.

Lin Fei paused slightly after taking a deep breath, then immediately walked towards the slaughter stalls not far away.

The slaughterhouse had been tidied up; after all, the laws of the country were in place, and tidying it up was necessary whether one wanted to or not. But the stench of blood was impossible to remove.

The sound of the group walking towards them was not loud, but it startled a bald butcher in the center of the slaughterhouse. Hearing the noise, the butcher got up from his stall and instinctively picked up a knife from the row of various knives laid out on the stall, looking at the group.

This bald butcher already had a fierce and angry look, and the way he was holding the knife startled Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu, who instinctively stopped and looked up to meet his gaze.

After a moment of eye contact, the bald butcher’s gaze lingered on the two of them for a moment, and when they belatedly realized what he was looking at, they discovered that he was looking at their official robes. After a brief standoff, the bald butcher put his knife back in the distance, glanced at the two men, and then turned his gaze to Lin Fei, who had already walked to a swill bucket. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Swill buckets are such filthy things that should not offend your eyes, sir. The smell of the rotten waste inside is harmful to your health. You should not go near it!” His voice was hoarse and rough, and with his fierce appearance and the row of knives in front of him, Liu Yuan thought that this man, judging from his appearance alone, really resembled the portrayal of a villain in a storybook.

Lin Fei grunted in acknowledgement, glancing up at the bald butcher. Unfazed by his menacing appearance, he nodded, then looked at the swill bucket and asked, “Is the filth inside fresh today?”

The butcher nodded, casually picking up a knife and sharpening the blade as he replied, “With the year-end approaching, more people are slaughtering poultry and livestock. It fills up in less than half a day, so we replace it daily.”

Lin Fei glanced at the remaining swill buckets nearby; this one was clearly the fullest. After surveying the slaughterhouses, Lin Fei asked, “Is this swill bucket shared or divided among you?”

“It’s kind of a division of labor!” the bald butcher said while sharpening his knife. “There was a misunderstanding before about the slaughtering, with suspicions that I switched the poultry or something. You might not know, but there are many such trivial matters in the market! To avoid any confusion and the need for investigation later, generally speaking, the waste from the first business in the morning is put into the same bin, and that’s how it’s been until the bin is changed.”

Lin Fei hummed in agreement and looked at the bald butcher, his face calm but his eyes clear: “Of all the slaughtering stalls, yours has the strongest stench, so is your business the best?”

The bald butcher paused slightly, glancing instinctively at Lin Fei, but still nodded, saying, “That’s right!” He then explained, “Buying groceries isn’t like strolling through a market. Grocery shoppers don’t have that much patience; whoever’s quick gets the customers to their stall!”

The implication was that among all the people, he was the most efficient.

Lin Fei nodded again, pointing to the overflowing swill bucket, and asked, “Is this swill bucket yours?”

The bald butcher glanced at the bucket and replied, “Yes, it is!”

Hearing this, Lin Fei scrutinized the butcher’s expression, narrowed his eyes, and said, “The smell inside is off. I need to check what’s inside.” As he spoke, he turned and glanced at Bai Zhu.

Bai Zhu immediately understood, turning and running quickly towards the Dali Temple office.

…   

After the boneless chicken strips sold out early, Wen Mingtang returned to the kitchen and started working on a large, rather “beautiful” piece of pork belly with distinct layers of fat and lean meat.

The snacks were in high demand, not because they didn’t want to make more—after all, making one or two portions was the same as making five or six. It was just that there was only so much chicken breast available each day; once it was sold out, it was gone. This was something they had to consider regarding the estate’s food supply.   

Without chicken breast, other meats would do.   

Today, after returning from the estate, Ji Caimai excitedly pulled Wen Mingtang aside and showed her a large, “truly beautiful” piece of pork belly, saying happily, “The pork on the estate today looked really good! When I went there, I saw many people scrambling for it, so I rushed over and finally managed to grab this piece!”   

To be fair, this piece of pork belly was quite large; for a family, it would be enough for several meals! But among so many people in the communal kitchen, it probably wouldn’t even be enough for one meal, so it certainly wouldn’t be used for a main meal.   

It could be used as a snack without being a main meal! Wen Mingtang had a snack she had been craving for a long time that required such beautiful pork belly.   

Hearing Wen Mingtang say that she had been craving this snack for a long time, Ji Caimai immediately became interested and simply held her milk tea while watching her, Ah Bing, and Tangyuan make the snack, chatting with them at the same time.   

Wen Mingtang was always “picky” when it came to cooking. After she, Ah Bing, and Tangyuan had thoroughly removed the hair from the pork belly, they put it in the pot and cooked it with peppercorns, scallions, ginger, wine, and other ingredients.   

Rubbing her slightly sore arms, Tangyuan was just thinking, ‘Removing the hair is not easy. I must be the first to have a serving of this snack when it’s done,’ when several constables with serious expressions entered the kitchen and went straight to Wen Mingtang, asking, “Master Wen, may I ask some questions about the use of knives in this kitchen?”   

(End of this chapter)

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