Chapter - 149 Repentance of the Haughty Dragon (2)

" But I cut off my finger in vain, because my gluttony remained.."

At this time, Huang Rong entered, smiling, carrying a large wooden plate, which she poised on the table. On the plate, were three bowls of white rice, a cup of wine and two large bowls containing the principal dishes. Guo Jing felt a delicious aroma, extremely appetizing, escaping: in one of the large bowls were laid out the beef sticks roasts which, apart from their odour, did not seem exceptional The other contained a clear soup the colour of jade, in which floated many red cherries and ten pink petals; on the bottom lay young fresh bamboo shoots. The association of the three colours, red, white and green, formed a multi-coloured whole that was extremely pleasant to the eye. The sense of smell was also engaged because the soup emitted a delicate scent of lotus.

Huang Rong poured wine in the cup which she placed in front of Qi Gong while smiling:

" Qi Gong, taste my dishes and tell me what you think of them!"

Hong didn't need to be told twice: without even drinking the wine, he brandished his chopsticks and seized two meat sticks that he engulfed voraciously. An exquisite taste filled his mouth: this was not merely beef! Whenever he chewed, different sensations struck him; sometimes an oily and juicy flavour, sometimes a succulent freshness. Scents succeeded themselves in complex and unpredictable variations, like the blows of a martial arts expert. Startled and delighted, Qi Gong examined the sticks more closely, and saw that each of them was formed by four small different intertwined sticks. He shut his eyes to savour the taste better:

" Hmm," he said, " there is mutton thigh on one stick, another of pig ears of milk, a third one of calf kidney, and the last one…the last one…"

" If you guess," said Huang Rong with a grin, "you're really fantastic…"

She had barely finished her sentence before Qi Gong cried:

" Deer thigh mixed with rabbit!"

" Bravo!" applauded the girl. " Well guessed! "

Guo Jing was completely stunned: " These meat sticks needed so much work!" he said to himself. " And Qi Gong is truly astonishing to have known to distinguish the five different meats! »

" There are only five meat types," Qi Gong went on, " but the blend of pork and mutton gives a certain taste, the deer with beef another… how many variations there is in all, that, I wouldn't like to say…"

" If one does not count the order of the variations," said Huang Rong with a smile, " there are some twenty-five, corresponding to the five times five petals of the plum flower. As the meat stick resembles a flute, then this dish has a name. It is called "Plum flowers fall to the jade flute's song" The « that » in the question means that there is a placement sort to the test. Qi Gong, you passed the test, you are the champion of all the gourmets!"

" Bravo!" the beggar cried to himself.

No one knew whether he applauded the name of the dish or his own skilfulness in discerning the tastes. Then he placed two cherries in a spoon and says while laughing:

" This bowl of lotus-leaf soup, with those bamboo sprouts and cherries, is so pretty to look at, one regrets almost to have to eat it!"

He swallowed and cried: « Ah! », Then he said to himself, astonished: « Eh? ». He took two more and exclaimed again: « Ah! » The freshness of the leaf of lotus, the taste of the bamboo sprouts, sweetness of the cherries, all that, obviously, leaps to the tastebuds, but what's more, the cherries, after having been pitted, had been stuck something…"

" In the cherries," says Qi Gong while hesitating, " what's there?"

He closed his eyes again, trying to recognise the taste:

" This is lark's meat!" he mumbled to himself. " No…if this is not partridge, this is turtledove! Yes, that's it, this is turtledove!"

He opened his eyes, saw that Huang Rong raised her thumb and was all to trust to have found:

" So what's the complex name of this soup with lotus leaves, bamboo sprouts, cherries and turtledove?"

" Elder," said Huang Rong, " you haven't mentioned one more ingredient."

" Ah yes?" Hong said, astonished.

He regarded the soup again:

" Yes," he agreed, " there are these flower petals…"

" Exactly!" confirmed Huang Rong. " The name of this soup, can you imagine it from these five ingredients?"

" If this a riddle game, I declare I've lost. Tell me quickly…"

" I'll give you a clue," said Huang Rong, it suffices you to think about the Book of the Odes!"

" Ah no!" Qi Gong protested, " I know nothing in the books!"

" The flower hints at a beauty's complexion," explained Huang Rong, the cherries to her small mouth, isn't that right?"

" Ah, this is therefore the «Beauty's Soup»?"

" No, said Huang Rong while shaking the head, the bamboo is a symbol of modesty, it therefore characterises a gentleman, just as the lotus is the most eminent of the flowers. Thus, bamboo and lotus relate to a gentleman."

" Oh," said Qi Gong, " this is therefore the «Gentleman and Beauty's Soup »?"

" What about the turtledove?" said Huang Rong. Indeed, all these elements meet again in the first poem of the Book of the Odes, that finishes thus: "The gentleman is in good company". Thus, this soup is called the "Soup of Good Company"!"

Qi Gong burst out laughing:

" Since there is such a complex and strange soup, it's good that it has such a complex and strange name. Very well! Very well! You're a complex and strange little one yourself, I would like to know which complex and strange father that sired you…In any case, this soup is truly exquisite, much better tasting than the soup with cherries that I ate, approximately ten years ago, in the kitchen of the Imperial Palace."

" You have a pass to the imperial kitchen?" asked Huang Rong. " Tell me, and see if I'll try to prepare something that will please you just as well."

Qi Gong devoured literally, and didn't have time to reply. He halted himself when he had reached the bottom of the bowls:

" In the imperial kitchen," he explained, " there are lots of good things of course, but nothing is worth the two dishes that here… Ah, if, there is well a «Five-flavoured slices of Mandarin duck » that was delicious, but I don't know how it was prepared."

" And it was the emperor that invited you?" asked Guo Jing.

" Absolutely," said Qi Gong while laughing, " the emperor treated me, but he didn't know that! I lived hidden on a big beam of the imperial kitchen for three months, while tasting each of the dishes intended for the emperor. If I found it to my taste, I kept it for me, otherwise, I left it to him! The cooks believed that there were ghosts!"

" This person really is excessively greedy, " thought Guo Jing and Huang Rong to themselves, " but he is also insanely audacious!"

" Little chap," said Qi Gong while laughing, your little girlfriend is the best cook in the world, your happiness is assured! Goodness! Why didn't I meet such a woman when I was young?"

He seemed sincerely sorry.

Huang Rong, with a hint of a smile, prepared the remainder for Guo Jing and for her. One bowl of rice was more than enough for her, while the young man put away four big bowls. As for the exquisite placement, it did not seem to make a difference to him. Qi Gong shook his head while sighing:

" Like a bull chewing on peonies! What a shame! What a shame!"

Huang Rong put a hand in front of her mouth to prevent herself from laughing.