jdhmnovel Chapter 357 The crisis behind the Jintai Banquet, Yingzong takes action!
Chapter 357 The crisis behind the Jintai Banquet, Yingzong takes action!
Before Sikong Changfeng could speak, Feng Qiuyu calmed himself down, then bowed slightly and saluted Wen Yanzhao and Baili Dongjun gracefully, saying:
"I'm Feng Qiuyu. I'm sorry to have embarrassed you two gentlemen."
Wen Yanzhao also nodded in response, "It's okay. Miss Feng is also a person of temperament. My brother Sikong Changfeng is so lucky to win Miss Feng's heart! He has cultivated for several lifetimes!"
Baili Dongjun looked at Feng Qiuyu for a few seconds, then looked at Sikong Changfeng with interest and said:
"Did you save Beili in your previous life? How come you got such a big advantage?"
Sikong Changfeng was speechless for a moment, and could only cover up and say:
"Where, where..."
"Dongjun, cousin, you guys chat first. I'll send Miss Feng back to rest. I'll come find you later~"
Wen Yanzhao and Baili Dongjun made way for them and watched the two of them push each other back into the room. Wen Yanzhao turned to look at his cousin, his tone somewhat disappointed:
"Tsk tsk tsk~"
"Xiao Baili, Xiao Baili, look at you! You've been with your fairy sister day and night for almost half a year, but how come you're not as good as Sikong Changfeng and Feng Qiuyu, who have only met twice?"
Baili Dongjun's neck trembled and his face turned red. He cursed in a strange voice:
"What do you care! My stinky cousin would just laugh at me! You're still the same, all alone now, with only those stinky centipedes and rotten scorpions to keep you company every day!"
After saying that, Baili Dongjun stuck out his tongue and rushed into the room.
Wen Yanzhao smiled helplessly and shook his head: "As for me... I have important things to do, how can I care about my children's feelings!"
……
Several people returned to the room. At this moment, the kitchen in the back hall of Qianjintai was busy preparing breakfast for the four "immortals".
The charcoal fire on the stove was burning brightly, and the lotus root powder buns and jade date rice cakes in the steamer were emitting a wonderful aroma. The sweet white fungus and lotus seed soup was boiling in the porridge pot. The cook reached out with a wooden spoon to stir it, and when she saw that the fire was right, she covered the pot.
The chef, Zhan Shusheng, is fat and short.
His head was as big as a bucket, and he was so fat that his neck was almost invisible. He had a tuft of gray beard under his chin, and was carefully preparing ingredients for lunch.
This person has been the head chef of Leyouyuan, the most prestigious restaurant in Tianqi City, for more than ten years. His superb cooking skills are well-known both inside and outside the city. Tu Zao also spent a lot of money to invite him and his kitchen assistants to Qianjintai.
He saw that the chicks, duck, scallops, ginseng and shark's fin were all prepared properly, but the beef he bought early in the morning was not to his liking.
Zhan Shu put down the kitchen knife, picked up a rag and wiped his hands, then said in a muffled voice to the young kitchen assistant who was cutting vegetables:
"Don't take care of those vegetables for now. Look at this fat beef we bought this morning. What kind of stuff is it?"
"Mr. Tu spent over a thousand taels of silver to invite us, Master and Disciple, to come and cook for the Immortal, and all he used was this filthy-marinated beef? How disgraceful!"
Upon hearing this, the young apprentice immediately put down the kitchen knife, took out the piece of beef from the wooden barrel next to him and looked at it for a few seconds.
The beef is not bad, with alternating fat and lean parts and distinct texture. It is considered good meat even in Leyouyuan.
It's just that it's more lean than fat, which makes it suitable for stewing. But if Zhan Shu uses it to make his signature Xiuyu roasted beef, it's a little disappointing.
Zhan Shu has extremely high requirements for ingredients, and since he is cooking for an "immortal" this time, he will certainly not allow any imperfections.
The young apprentice looked at the beef for a few seconds and asked respectfully:
"Master is right. In your opinion..."
Zhan Shupang waved his hand. "In my opinion... it's definitely not suitable for roasting. Change your clothes and go to the old market in the east of the city to find the butcher, Old Cao. Tell him what I, Zhan Laosi, said. Tell them to cut me ten pounds of that fat beef that looks like flower cakes (note: similar to the current A5 grade Wagyu beef, with evenly distributed intermuscular fat, like flower cakes)!"
"If the immortals really think that my cooking skills are not good enough at the banquet, then it will destroy the reputation of Leyouyuan that has been there for more than ten years!"
The young disciple dared not say anything more, and immediately washed his hands and agreed:
"Master is right. I'll go to the east of the city and buy a new one!"
Zhan Shu nodded, shook his wrist, picked up the kitchen knife and started cutting fresh bamboo shoots, autumn fungus and other ingredients.
The young disciple left Qianjintai through the back door, and had not taken a hundred steps when he was stared at by a pair of eyes.
The owner of those eyes was squatting on a pavilion outside the back door of Qianjintai. He was dressed in black and holding a long sword that was also as black as ink. He followed the footsteps of the little apprentice.
In the east of the city, at the old vegetable market, there is Cao’s Butcher Shop.
At the beginning of the morning, the market was no longer as noisy as it had been in the morning, with only a few pedestrians coming to buy vegetables.
The young apprentice ran straight to the butcher shop, and the unique fishy smell of beef and mutton filled his nostrils.
"Old man Cao! Cut me ten pounds of flower cake and fat beef!"
The young apprentice shouted while standing in front of the butcher block.
A sixty-year-old man with gray hair and beard but a strong body came out from the butcher shop. His hands and shoulders were covered with blood and grease.
Seeing that it was someone from Leyouyuan's kitchen, he smiled and said:
"Hey! It's Brother Liang, Master Zhan's senior disciple from Leyouyuan. Why are you here buying meat just now?"
The young disciple didn't say much to him, wrinkling his nose and said:
"Stop talking nonsense and start cutting the meat! My master needs it urgently. I can't afford to delay the immortal's banquet!"
When Old Man Cao heard this, he immediately understood and picked up the sharp meat-carving knife on the table and replied:
"Oh, it's a banquet for those immortals in the sky yesterday. We really can't delay any longer. I'll go cut the meat for you right now!"
The young apprentice took a few steps back in disgust, trying to avoid the overwhelming smell from the butcher shop:
"Remember to cut the best beef in your shop. My master specifically told me to cut the beef into flower cakes. Don't fool me!"
Old man Cao turned and walked to the inner cellar, answering as he walked:
"Gotta get it, gotta get it!"
"I'm very careful, I definitely can't fool Master Zhan!"
The cellar was cold and dry. Half of a prime beef carcass was placed on an elm rack. Old Man Cao cut a large piece from the back of the cow's neck where the fat was most evenly distributed.
After removing the excess fascia and inedible lean meat, he handed the meat to the guy at the cellar entrance and then crawled out.
The waiter carefully wrapped the beef with oil paper and then lifted the scale beam. The rope of the weight swayed at the ten-jin position on the high-raised scale beam and then was lowered.
"Brother Xiao Liang, ten pounds is enough! You caught it!"
The apprentice took the packaged beef, turned around and walked away, saying:
"Put it on the account of Leyouyuan's kitchen staff. Someone will come and take care of it at the end of the month!"
Old man Cao hunched over and replied, "Of course. Young Master, please take your time. If Master Zhan needs more meat, please come to my shop anytime!"
The young apprentice waved his hand without even turning his head, and walked quickly towards Qianjintai with the beef in his hand.
But I didn't expect that just after leaving the East City Vegetable Market, a tall and slender man in black suddenly appeared in front of me.
When the young disciple saw the man in black holding a long sword in his arms, he was shocked and panicked.
Unexpectedly, the man smiled and said, "Isn't this Master Liang from Leyouyuan? What a coincidence!"
Seeing that he had no ill intentions, the young disciple asked tentatively, "Sir, how did you recognize me?"
The man walked forward a few steps, put his arm around the apprentice's shoulder, and said with a smile, "I once went to Leyouyuan with a friend and happened to see you and Chef Zhan. Don't worry, I'm here to give you some good fortune."
"Rich? I'm just a lowly cook who hasn't even finished his apprenticeship. Sir, please don't tease me. I have to go back and deliver beef to my master!"
The young disciple was trembling with fear, and his voice was almost inaudible.
Unexpectedly, the man put his arm around the young apprentice's shoulders and took him into a teahouse nearby.
After the two sat down, the man was not in a hurry to drink tea, but took out a large silver ingot of fifty taels from his arms and placed it on the table.
"I wonder how much Master Liang earns per month? This ingot of silver should be enough for you to earn for five years, right?"
The young disciple swallowed his saliva, his eyes fixed on the silver for a long time, he said timidly:
"Sir, you're joking. I only make eight qian of silver a month, which is only one ounce in two months. This ingot of silver is enough for me to earn for ten years!"
The man in black smiled and took out another ingot of fifty taels of silver from his pocket and placed it in front of him:
"In that case, I'll give you a hundred taels. How about you do something for me?"
The young apprentice's eyes sparkled at the sight of the two ingots of silver, and he quickly responded, "Sir, are you serious?"
"Of course it's true!"
"Don't mention one thing, even if it's ten things, I will obey you!"
The man in black sneered, leaned over, pulled out a scarlet medicine bottle from his belt, handed it to the young apprentice, and whispered:
"I heard that the immortals who displayed their divine power in heaven yesterday were staying at Qianjintai. You put the powder here in their food, and this one hundred taels of silver will be yours!"
The young disciple's whole body trembled, his pupils shrank to the size of a needle tip, and he trembled:
"This...this...is absolutely not allowed!"
"Sir, you don't know that those immortals have extraordinary abilities. If the truth is revealed, even ten thousand lives of mine will not be enough!"
The man was not surprised, he just smiled faintly and said: "Keep your voice down!"
"You don't know, they are not immortals at all, but just some scoundrels who are deliberately making up stories to cheat people out of money!"
"I have received the imperial decree to eliminate them. You only need to make a move to accomplish this great task, and it will be considered a meritorious service to the court."
Little Liangtou was shaking like a rattle. Although he was a kitchen helper, he knew that some money could only be earned but not spent, so he refused outright:
"No, no, no... I'm just a kitchen helper. I'm in a hurry to buy some meat for Master. Sir, please keep the money. I'm leaving now!"
After saying that, he stood up and left.
"Snapped!"
The man stretched out his arm and pushed the young apprentice down!
The young disciple felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, and his body went limp and he sat back down.
The man's eyes flashed with ferocity, and he took out a strand of dry yellow and gray hair from his bosom and threw it in front of the young apprentice:
"Hmph! If you don't eat the toast, you will be punished with a drink!"
"Do you recognize this hair? It belongs to your mother, Liang Tu, right?"
The young apprentice took a closer look and found that it was indeed his mother's hair!
His mother was old and sick, and her hair had a characteristic yellow and gray color due to her frail health. The young apprentice was terrified and stammered:
"You, you, you...what did you do to my mother?!"
The man made a silent gesture and laughed sinisterly:
"I'm asking you for something, why would I do anything to your mother?"
"But I must warn you, if you don't obey, you won't earn the money, and you and your mother might not be able to save their lives!"
The young disciple felt his eyes go dark, and he collapsed on the chair as if he had fallen into an ice cave.
The man put down the silver and the scarlet medicine bottle, stood up with a sneer:
"I know you're a filial son. It depends on what you do: whether you earn this money and go back to support your mother in her old age, or whether you and your mother can live in that shabby house in Baoshi South City!"
After saying that, the man picked up his sword, paid for the tea, and disappeared into the streets, leaving the young apprentice sitting alone in the teahouse with a blank look in his eyes...
……