This case was considered closed. In the coming days, there will be many wealthy and powerful families whose homes will be confiscated and whose clans will be exterminated!

However, this had little to do with the cooks like Wen Mingtang and others from the public kitchen. As she became more and more adept at cooking the dishes that Ah Bing and Tangyuan had prepared, Wen Mingtang focused her attention on creating all sorts of utensils to cook new dishes.

The snacks at the takeout stalls have become increasingly popular since the students from the Imperial Academy next door came to grab the snacks during their breaks. Often, after lunch, the snack takeout stalls would be completely sold out as soon as they opened! These students even learned to “pre-order”, ordering snacks for the next few days in advance.

As a result, the constables and officials in the Dali Temple found it increasingly difficult to get snacks, and suggestions to prepare more snacks were constantly being made.

The existing pots and pans in the public kitchen were a bit slow for making snacks, so Wen Mingtang drew up blueprints based on modern cookware and had them custom-made by the blacksmiths introduced by Lin Fei.

Once these cookwares arrived, there wouldn’t be a shortage of snacks, much to the relief of the constables and clerks in the Dali Temple who hadn’t managed to get any.

The students who had managed to get some snacks were still enjoying them and hadn’t gotten tired of them yet, but one can never have too many snacks. While eating roasted chestnuts, millet crisps, and braised duck, and sipping milk tea, the students began to offer suggestions to Wen Mingtang.

“Master Wen, could you prepare more snacks? We love them!” the students said, patting their bulging purses hanging at their waists, indicating they had plenty of money to buy more snacks.

Children this age love snacks, so Wen Mingtang smiled and replied to the suggestion, “New snacks will be available in a few days!”

However, she had a day off before preparing the new snacks.

As the year drew to a close, more families were slaughtering poultry and livestock; after all, it was the end of the year, a time when people began to treat themselves.

On her rare day off, Wen Mingtang didn’t stay in bed but got up early to take a stroll through the market.

Although it was only just dawn at the market, the butcher stalls, usually quiet, were already crowded with people carrying chickens, ducks, pigs, sheep, and other livestock. Every profession has its master. Passing the slaughter stalls, Wen Mingtang glanced at the row of butchers slaughtering chickens and ducks; the longest line was in front of a bald butcher in the center. A quick glance revealed the butcher wielding his cleaver with the skill of a master butcher, deftly dissecting an ox. In no time, he had slaughtered the chicken and duck, separating the meat from the bones – his knife work was remarkably refined!

The waiting villagers, after only a short while, left satisfied with their slaughtered livestock.

This scene reminded Wen Mingtang of Liang Hongjin’s remark a few days earlier about the cook’s excellent knife skills, and she couldn’t help but shake her head and chuckle.

While her knife skills in chopping vegetables and meat were good, butchers were far more adept at slaughtering poultry and livestock. The air was thick with the stench of blood from the slaughtering, an overwhelming smell that even made Wen Mingtang, a cook, uncomfortable. After watching for a moment, she picked up two pots of winter plum blossoms and left the market.

The ingredients for the Dali Temple’s public kitchen were all slaughtered by people from the estate and then delivered, so even though he was a cook, Wen Mingtang rarely smelled such a strong bloody odor.

Although she lived in the Dali Temple year-round and didn’t have her own house, it was still a place to live, and Wen Mingtang began buying New Year’s goods to add a festive atmosphere.

After returning to the Dali Temple with two pots of winter plum blossoms and placing them in the house, Wen Mingtang went out to find Ji Caimai.

Ji Caimai, who was squatting under the eaves, was already waiting for Wen Mingtang. Upon seeing her, he immediately stood up and said, “Let’s go!”

The new snack prepared by Master Wen was a dish called boneless chicken strips. Upon hearing this, he couldn’t help but ask the girl, “What are chicken strips? Which part of the chicken?”

He had heard of chicken legs, chicken wings, chicken feet, chicken necks, chicken heads, chicken hearts, and so on, but what was this “strips”?

Wen Mingtang replied, “It’s chicken breast.”

So it was chicken breast! After thinking for a moment and considering his options, Ji Caimai said to Wen Mingtang, “On your day off, come with me to the estate.” He then explained, “I’ll buy the whole chicken myself! Chicken legs and wings are common cuts and easy to price, but once the chicken is cut up, not many people want the chicken breast. The estate hasn’t set a price for it.”

Chicken breast had meat, but it was practically devoid of fat and oil, making it too firm and dry, far less popular than other parts.

Ji Caimai thought that during the year-end rush, when the estate was “on a killing spree”, he could partner with the cooks from the neighboring government offices to buy the unwanted chicken breasts from those who wanted chicken legs, wings, and other parts, saving a considerable amount of money. Wen Mingtang had worked in the public kitchen for over half a year and had used the estate’s ingredients for a long time, knowing they were quite good. Now that he had a rare opportunity to visit the estate himself, she certainly wouldn’t waste it! So, after picking up two pots of winter plum blossom wine from the market early in the morning, Wen Mingtang went to the manor with Ji Caimai. They traveled to the manor by oxcart. Wen Mingtang took the straw hat Ji Caimai handed her and put it on her head. They each sat on one side of the oxcart as they headed towards the manor.

Compared to a horse-drawn carriage, the oxcart was naturally much slower but much more leisurely! The two swayed along in the oxcart for a while and finally arrived at the manor around noon.

Standing outside the manor, they could hear the clamor of voices coming from inside. After following Ji Caimai into the manor, seeing the piles of various meat and vegetable ingredients and the officials haggling over prices, Wen Mingtang’s eyes lit up, and he couldn’t help but say to Ji Caimai, “It really is like a market!”

“The ingredients at the market are a mixed bag; some are good, but most are inferior,” Ji Caimai said, leading Wen Mingtang over. He nodded and greeted acquaintances as they passed by, adding, “The ingredients here won’t be a problem.”

Although he had brought Wen Mingtang to pick out chicken breasts, the daily groceries still needed to be bought first. After purchasing some ingredients for the communal kitchen’s three meals a day and having the servants help load them onto the oxcart and watch over them, Ji Caimai led Wen Mingtang into the area surrounded by… At a sparsely populated chicken and duck slaughtering stall, someone asked the government officials’ kitchen staff who were buying chickens and ducks, “Does anyone have chicken breasts they don’t want?”

Upon hearing this, someone turned around and said, “I have leftover chicken breasts here.”

Wen Mingtang, following behind Ji Caimai, looked over and saw the purchasing agent. Ji Caimai, who seemed to know almost everyone, was surprised to see the person. He exclaimed, “Eh?” and asked curiously, “Which government department are you from? This is the first time I’ve seen you.”

(End of Chapter)

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