CH 4

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Zhao Lian, who was scolded by Liu Shi, put down her chopsticks resentfully, touched the copper coins in her sleeve pocket, and went to the kitchen. She and Sister Wen will go out and buy pancakes to deal with it.

The two girls don’t have much appetite, so one pancake was enough for each of them.

After Zhao Lian left, Liu Shi glanced at Zhao Dalang who was sulking at the side, “Look! Look!” She pointed at Zhao Dalang’s nose, and cursed, “I told you that your sister, who worked as a palace cook, was not to be trusted. Now, haven’t I been proven right?”

“She won’t be out of the palace until next year! This year, she will ask this surnamed Wen from a criminal official’s family to come to our house for free!” Liu raised her hand angrily and slapped Zhao Dalang across the face.

Zhao Dalang covered his slapped face, and said in a low voice, “Maybe not! My younger sister said last time that Miss Wen will leave after only a few days.”

“Will go? Where can she go after being a family member of a criminal officer? Go down to find her relatives?” Liu sneered and scolded Zhao Dalang, who was covering his face, “Look at that girl surnamed Wen who has no face, no skin, and a smile. Isn’t she just like your weird sister who cooks in the kitchen? I just insulted her using Ah Mao’s name, but she didn’t even react. With such thick skin, why wouldn’t she just continue living here?”

It was already unbearable for Liu Shi that Wen was staying here, and what was even more unbearable was: “Your sister who is the cook will leave the palace next year. By then, will I be in charge of Zhao Ji restaurant or her?”

Zhao Dalang covered his swollen face in silence and said: “But…but the title deed of this restaurant belongs to her, and the restaurant is also built by her. She won’t make things too difficult for us. When the time comes, please be a little accommodating toward her…”

“You want me to accommodate her? Dream on!” Liu screamed and slapped Zhao Dalang’s face again, pointing at his nose. She scolded, “Let me tell you, Liu Suer doesn’t care about anyone’s feelings. Don’t even think about it!”

“If you don’t get the land deed and the shop before she leaves the palace, we will divorce!” cried Liu.

The sentence “divorce” made Zhao Dalang’s face pale with fright, and he said with a bitter expression, “But I can’t help it, the land deed…”

“So, listen to me and find a solution!” Liu didn’t want to listen to Zhao Dalang’s nonsense and interrupted him. She rolled her eyes and pointed in the direction of the kitchen at the back. She said, “Let’s start with that girl. If anything goes wrong with her, since your sister recommended her, she won’t be able to escape the consequences either. By using this leverage, when your sister leaves the palace, we can either sell her… um, marry her off and get some dowry. When you marry into a family, you follow their rules. Once she becomes someone else’s, won’t this property become ours?”

Listening to Liu’s plan to plot against his younger sister, Zhao Dalang didn’t even say a word, only bowed his head and hummed.

What are you talking about? Liu Shi was very satisfied with the look of letting others make decisions. Back then, she fell in love with Zhao Dalang’s useless appearance, plus a sister who was so powerful that she can give birth to golden eggs.

Through Zhao Dalang, wouldn’t it be easier to get his sister’s money than to go out and make money by herself?

Just as she was thinking, a scent rushed into her nostrils. Liu was taken aback for a moment, and when she realized that it was coming out of the kitchen, she immediately changed her face and said to Zhao Dalang who was still in a daze: “Look here. Go to the shop, I’ll go and have a look at the back!”

She said earlier that this little girl surnamed Wen didn’t treat herself as an outsider in the house. She still has some expensive meat in the kitchen.

Did this girl use her meat for food?

This was incredible! Liu Shi hurriedly walked towards the kitchen with a face.

…

…

Wen Mingtan who followed Liu Shi’s advice that “If it’s washed and cooked again, it can still be eaten,” was doing just that when Zhao Lian walked into the kitchen.

The bowl of noodles stained with pot ashes was indeed placed on the stove. Looking at the noodles in the bowl that had been deliberately sprinkled with pot ashes, Wen Mingtang didn’t care, and directly scooped a ladle of cold water into the bowl and stirred it.

Zhao Lian, who was ordered not to eat by Mrs. Liu, saw Wen Mingtang silently “washing the noodles” as soon as she entered the door.

Zhao Lian’s face turned red again. Seeing this, she hurriedly stepped forward to pull Wen Mingtang’s hand, and said, “Sister Wen, stop eating. I still have a few copper coins here. Let’s go to the street and buy two pancakes to eat!”

Wen Mingtang shook his head at her, and asked Zhao Lian with a smile, “Have you ever eaten fried noodles?”

She knows how to stir-fry vegetables, but can noodles and other boiled things also be fried?

“I haven’t eaten.” Zhao Lian looked at Wen Mingtang who was “washing the noodles”, and honestly shook her head, “I haven’t heard of it either.”

“Then you’re lucky today.” Wen Mingtang winked at her and said, “I’ll let you try fried noodles today.”

Asking Zhao Lian to look at the “washed noodles” in the kitchen, Wen Mingtang went back to the house and brought over ten eggs bought from the market, together with a handful of green vegetables and red onions.

Crack two eggs into a bowl, beat them well, remove the roots of the vegetables, and shred the onions.

Oil, salt, sauce, sugar, these things are generally present in the kitchen of ordinary people, let alone in the kitchen of restaurants.

Everything was ready, Wen Mingtang scooped a spoonful of vegetable oil into the pan, and when the oil became boiling hot, immediately poured in two beaten eggs.

The smell of scrambled eggs burst out immediately. Zhao Lian looked at the scrambled eggs and before she could react, she heard the sound of the iron spoon colliding with the iron pan. She put it aside, then poured another spoonful of vegetable oil down, and poured the greens and onions into it.

As soon as the onions met the oil, their fragrance was instantly released, and Zhao Lian, who had originally gone to the door upon seeing the onions, couldn’t resist and hurriedly ran back.

She has seen those dishes of the Hu1 people, and she knows this one was called onion. Once, when she was visiting the Luoma market with Liu Shi, she saw Hu people eating steamed buns with raw onions. The passerby who saw them eating were very curious about this vegetable. With Liu’s penchant for taking advantage of such situations, she also approached to ask for some. However, the result was disastrous. The spiciness of the raw onion nearly choked both of them. To make matters worse, Liu inadvertently touched her eyes with the hand that had been in contact with the onion, causing her tears to flow incessantly throughout the afternoon.

Since then, Zhao Lian detoured away when she saw the onion, but she didn’t expect the aroma of this onion to be so overbearing after being fried.

Zhao Lian couldn’t hold it back but felt the saliva coming out of her mouth and tongue uncontrollably, her eyes stared at the pot, reluctant to move away.

After stir-frying the vegetables and onions for a while, Wen Mingtang poured the “washed noodles” and eggs into the pot together, added sauce, sugar, and salt, and started to stir-fry.

Zhao Lian only saw that Wen Mingtang’s cooking method was fast and agile, not at all slower than her cooking method.

The already fragrant aroma of the onions, combined with the savory sauce, enticed the appetite and made the rumbling stomachs crave a taste.

Zhao Lian sniffed the aroma of fried noodles: she had been in her restaurant for so many years, and it was the first time she smelled such a fragrance.

When the fried noodles came out of the pot, Wen Mingtang poured the fried noodles into the two plates that Zhao Lian brought.

After pouring the fried noodles, Zhao Lian hurriedly picked up the plate and put chopsticks of fried noodles into her mouth.

Seeing this, Wen Mingtang hurriedly shouted: “Be careful!”

It was a pity that although she spoke quickly, she was still a step behind.

Zhao Lian, whose tongue was burned, looked at Wen Mingtang with tears in her eyes, but she couldn’t bear to spit out the fried noodles, but mumbled with the noodles in her mouth, “Okay…delicious!”

It looks like this…Wen Mingtang shook his head with a smile, and said to her: “Eat more if it tastes good! Eat slowly, there is enough for both of us!”

As soon as the voice fell, a sharp voice sounded from outside: “What are you eating slowly? Are you eating my meat?”

With that sharp voice, Liu rushed into the kitchen with an angry expression on her face. “The meat in the cupboard is for the customers, not for you! Who said you could eat it? Do you really think this place is your own home just because you’re working as a maid? How dare you take the meat?” she exclaimed.

Oh no! She had spent quite a bit of money on that large plate of prepared pork in the cupboard! She had been looking forward to enjoying the pork as a change of taste. This audacious girl dared to touch her meat! It was truly outrageous!