“He hurt his hand,” Lin Fei said, “about last night.”

A cook hurt his hand… Liu Yuan, who was standing nearby, couldn’t help but shake his head upon hearing this. Thinking of how Wen Mingtang had cut her finger and had no choice but to hand over the kitchen to Ah Bing and Tang Yuan, he said, “Isn’t that the same as being crippled?”

Not crippled! Lin Fei glanced at Liu Yuan and said, “He just hurt his arm. He couldn’t control his strength when cutting vegetables.”

Liu Yuan nodded with an “Oh,” but then looked at Wen Mingtang not far away and said, “It’s not surprising that Chef Wen hurt her finger while cutting vegetables, but how can a cook hurt his arm while cooking?”

“He didn’t hurt himself while cooking,” Lin Fei said. “I heard that he got up in the middle of the night and didn’t see the road clearly, tripped and fell, twisting his ankle and scraping his arm.”

So that was how it was! Liu Yuan suddenly realized, and was about to let the matter drop when he heard Lin Fei say to Wen Mingtang, “In a few days, I will give you the menu prepared by Chef Xing. Take a look at the dishes on it.”

Wen Mingtang thought for a moment and nodded, “Okay.”

Lin Fei added, “I will prepare quite a lot of pork belly. You can have the crispy pork belly cooked and brought over directly.”

Wen Mingtang: “…” She really didn’t know whether Lin Fei invited her for the whole table of dishes or just for the crispy pork belly.

But it didn’t matter. When it came to small matters like “money”, their Lin Shaoqing was always generous, and Wen Mingtang wouldn’t care about such a small thing.

After saying this, Lin Fei sent over the “deposit” in just two days. Along with the “deposit”, he also sent several large pieces of beautiful pork belly. Of course, these pieces of pork belly weren’t just for Lin Fei; they also belonged to Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu.

Whether it was one piece or several pieces, it was all the same. Wen Mingtang smiled and received a knowing look from Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu.

Besides the “deposit” and the pork belly, there was also the menu that Chef Xing had brought.

Opening the red-and-black menu, Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but exclaim, “Beautiful handwriting!”

Indeed, looking at the calligraphy, which resembled the styles of Yan Zhenqing and Liu Gongquan, Ji Caimai, standing nearby, also reached for the menu and examined it closely. She then nodded and said, “Just like Chef Wen, such beautiful handwriting! It makes me wonder if it’s because you chefs, with your exceptional culinary skills, all possess such skillful hands that you can control the force so well, that you can write so beautifully!”

Upon hearing this, Ah Bing, who was responsible for chopping and mincing vegetables in the kitchen, immediately looked down at his hands: his knife skills were also quite good; could he also have the opportunity to develop handwriting as beautiful as Chef Wen’s?

Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but laugh, glancing at Ah Bing, who was watching her hands, and said, “This really has nothing to do with cooking. I learned my handwriting during my early childhood education.”

Her childhood memories were limited; Wen Xuance was a strict man, and he treated the original owner the same way. While young girls were playing, the original owner had already begun her formal education. Wen Xuance showed almost no warmth towards the original owner, but his strictness when checking her homework was almost etched into her mind, so much so that upon hearing Wen Xuance’s voice, she would instinctively sit up straight and tense up.

Wen Xuance was never a good father to the original owner. Wen Mingtang looked down at her hands; these beautiful characters were learned during that time.

Everyone knew about Wen Mingtang’s past. Upon hearing this, Ji Caimai glanced again at the beautifully written menu, thought for a moment, and said, “Could it be that Chef Xing also had a strict father?”

That was unknown! Wen Mingtang shook her head, no longer focusing on the beautiful handwriting, and instead looked at the menu.

Local Chang’an dishes were almost evenly split between spicy and non-spicy options. While Lady Jingyun Marquis enjoyed spicy food, it seemed that everyone in the Jingyun Marquis’s household, except for Lin Fei, had a similar tolerance for spice as Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu. Normally, catering to Lady Jingyun Marquis’s tastes would only require a few dishes, but this was almost entirely Sichuan cuisine…

Wen Mingtang thought for a moment and asked Liu Yuan, who had come to deliver the menu, “Could it be that Lady Jingyun has relatives from Sichuan visiting Chang’an?”

Liu Yuan, who was secretly eating roasted chestnuts, nodded as he peeled them, saying, “I knew I couldn’t hide it from Master Wen!” He paused, his tone quite proud, and said, “Those of us in the Dali Temple, whether they’re chefs or servants, all have excellent reasoning abilities. Master Wen was able to guess this just from the menu – not bad at all!”

Wen Mingtang glanced at Liu Yuan, who was praising him repeatedly, then looked down at the menu again. After a pause, he said, “There must be some young children among the relatives who came. I saw two snacks specifically for children.”

There were no children in the Jingyun Marquis’s residence at the moment; the heir and his future wife were not yet married, so naturally they didn’t have any children.

Upon hearing this, Liu Yuan nodded and said, “I heard she has two children.”

After eating a few roasted chestnuts and thinking that the case hadn’t made any progress yet, Liu Yuan simply sat down and started talking: “When Lady Jingyun was young, she was raised in Sichuan and contracted smallpox…”

Just as he said the word “smallpox”, Tangyuan couldn’t help but gasp, covering her mouth in surprise. “How is that possible?”

Not only Tangyuan, but even Wen Mingtang showed a hint of confusion.

One had to know that in her younger years, the Marchioness of Jingyun had been a renowned beauty. Otherwise, she could not possibly have given birth to a son with Lin Fei’s looks. Lin Fei resembled his mother, while the heir apparent took after the Marquis of Jingyun.

But smallpox – not to mention that young children rarely survived; even those who did often had pockmarks on their bodies and faces.

The Marchioness of Jingyun was famous for her beauty; she certainly wouldn’t be pockmarked.

Seeing the surprised and puzzled looks on everyone’s faces, Liu Yuan smiled and said, “I knew you would have such expressions. The fact that the Marchioness of Jingyun survived smallpox without even a mark on her face is a testament to the kindness of our guests.”

He paused, glancing at the sky outside the public kitchen, and continued, “The Marchioness of Jingyun is a person who cherishes kindness; she has always remembered this life-saving grace. Look, Lin Shaoqing isn’t here today; he was called to accompany her to the post station outside the city to pick up our guests.”

…

…

Lin Fei, the one being talked about, was waiting beside the Marchioness of Jingyun for the guests arriving from the official road.

The official road was still deserted, without a soul in sight. While waiting, the Marchioness of Jingyun began to recount the events of the past: “I was young then, and my family sent me to Sichuan…” She didn’t elaborate on the reason for being sent to Sichuan.

People are bound together by “kinship”, but unfortunately, not all relatives are kind. Driven by self-interest, whether it’s a powerful clan like the Zheng family of Xingyang or an ordinary household, many so-called relatives are far more terrifying than strangers. They greedily exploit you under the guise of “family”, squeezing every last bit of usable material out of you.

“Apart from a few old servants, no one cared for me. When I first arrived in Sichuan, I suffered from the change in environment, and my previously healthy body grew increasingly weak. It was then that I contracted smallpox,” the Marchioness of Jingyun said. “At that time, everyone thought I was doomed. The steward and servants of the Zheng family’s estate in Sichuan, bullying me, used the excuse that I might infect others to drive me and a few old servants out of the Zheng family’s residence.”

(End of Chapter)

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