CH 13

Wen Mingtang was puzzled by the way Zhang Caimai shook his head repeatedly when he heard the public chef of Dali Temple. Now she heard old man Jiang say that the cook who went to the public kitchen of Dali Temple can still get a “single room”. Such a good condition, including food and lodging, how did it fall to the point where everyone hates it?

Wen Mingtang was very puzzled, but seeing that she had just finished asking, Zhang Caimai and Old Man Jiang Laosou who were opposite to each other, looked at each other, and then…they both showed indescribable expressions on their faces.

This expression…Wen Mingtang was even more surprised: What was so wrong?

Seeing the girl’s ignorant look, Old Man Jiang turned to Zhang Caimai and asked, “She doesn’t know?”

It shouldn’t be! This thing, it should be known to everyone in Chang’an City!

Zhang Caimai glanced at him sideways and said: “Although she is not from a foreign country, she was locked in the palace. How can she know about this?”

Old Jiang came back to his senses after saying a word: “No wonder!”

Why were you so indifferent about entering the public kitchen of Dali Temple!

Zhang Caimai, who was talking to Old Jiang, also opened his mouth to explain to Wen Mingtang: “At the end of last year, a piece of evaluation form for personnel changes in various ministries of the capital came out…”

Old Man Jiang followed up and said: “The public chef of this Dali Temple yamen ranks first after changing 12 cooks in half a year…”

From then on, the public kitchen of the Dali Temple yamen became famous for its culinary prowess and became a nightmare for all the chefs in the capital city.

The result of changing twelve in half a year was indeed a bit impressive… Even Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but tremble when she heard it.

But what made her tremble even more was yet to come.

Zhang Caimai paused and then said: “I heard that one of the twelve was a murderer who had been on the run for many years. The Dali Temple officials found out, caught him personally, and beheaded him within a month.”1

Wen Mingtang: ” …”

Old Jiang followed up and said, “There are two more who originally went in to be cooks. They have been helping the murderer cook for a long time and even helped kill people. Now they have been exiled to the coal mine to dig coal.”2

Wen Mingtang: “…”

Still, there was more; Zhang Caimai said again: “Last year, there was a series of heinous murders targeting chefs in the city of Chang’an. In total, five chefs were killed, and the public kitchen of the Dali Temple accounted for three of them.”3

Wen Mingtang fell silent when she heard this. After a long pause, she said quietly, “This place…is a bit fierce!”

Half of the twelve cooks were either exiled or killed…

“What about the remaining six?” She couldn’t help being curious and asked down.

“I don’t know.” Zhang Caimai glanced at her and said, “However, in the yamen of various ministries in the capital, the officials of Dali Temple are famous for their affairs! Long-winded and critical, it is really difficult to ‘serve’!”

Having said that, Zhang Caimai glanced at old man Jiang, “Master Jiang! How can you let Miss Wen go to such a place?”

Old man Jiang rubbed his nose and said with a dry smile, “I can’t help it!”

At these words, he quickly patted his chest and reassured him, “Don’t worry, I know all the public cooks in the capital’s yamen very well! Whenever there is a vacancy, I will be the first to think of Miss Wen. Right now, Miss Wen must first find a place to stay!”

Zhang Caimai glared at him, then turned to Wen Mingtang: “What does Miss Wen think?”

Wen Mingtang looked back at the messy Zhao Ji restaurant, and after a little hesitation, she agreed: “This Dali Temple Master Although the staff of the chef has changed… er… more frequently, but I am not the only cook. Maybe after a long stay, I will find that this place is also good!”

So sensible… Old man Jiang waved his hand, Immediately said: “Then Miss Wen, let me go there today…”

“Can I go there now?” Wen Mingtang couldn’t help being surprised when she heard this, “Don’t you need to give an exam?”

Old man Jiang glanced at Wen Mingtang, shook his head, and said, “The chef of Dali Temple who is in charge of recruiting people is the suspect who has been at large for many years. He has been arrested and beheaded right now, so he probably won’t be able to come to test you. If you really want to ask him to take the school exam…it’s better to burn some paper money and give it to him…”4

Wen Mingtang: “…”

“If it weren’t for that, I wouldn’t have taken the job of recruiting the public chef of Dali Temple!” Old Jiang said. As he spoke, he waved his hand, “Let’s go, I’ll take you there!”

Wen Mingtang didn’t refuse anymore, turned around, and went back to the room to get her luggage. Zhao Lian blushed and sent her to the door, awkwardly saying: “Sister Wen, I’m sorry… “

Wen Mingtang smiled at Zhao Lian, and said: “It’s okay, you don’t have to feel sorry for me.”

This Zhao Ji restaurant belonged to Zhao Sishan, if you accept this apology, then Zhao Sishan won’t forgive her. Zhao Sishan herself will come to clean up Zhao Dalang and others. She told Zhang Cai exactly what happened during the day when she lived in Zhao Ji Restaurant, and he would definitely tell Zhao Sishan.

The deeds were all in the name of Zhao Sishan, if Liu Shi really wanted to mess around…then today’s twenty sticks were just the beginning! Zhao Sishan and other female officials killed out of thousands of palace people are hard stubbles.

But before leaving, she had to find a place to cushion her stomach and eat evening food.

Speaking of evening food, Zhang Caimai felt a little regretful: “The food made by Miss Wen is really delicious. I thought you were going to take the exam for Miss Wen, but I can still learn about Miss Wen’s cooking skills. “

Old Man Jiang said with a smile: “Ding Caimai told me about Miss Wen’s cooking skills! However, the Zhao Ji restaurant is like this now, so don’t even think about borrowing the kitchen. The future will be long, and there will always be a chance to eat in the future Miss Wen’s craftsmanship!”

Even so, Old Man Jiang didn’t take it seriously. He was the head chef of Guozijian, and the dishes were not bad, not to mention the cooking skills of the imperial chef, how can a little lady’s cooking skills be so good?

As far as he was concerned, it was important to finish the matter at hand first.

Old Jiang took Wen Mingtang and Zhang Caimai to a snack shop selling pot stickers next to Mingdefang to settle their evening meals.

“The potstickers here are very good, I found them by accident.” Old Jiang took the two of them to the innermost seat and sat down, and said, “It’s stuffed with leeks and pork meat.”

The proprietress of the snack shop recognized him, a regular customer, responded with a smile, and asked again: “Should we still add eggs?”

Jiang Laosao nodded and looked at Zhang Caimai and Wen Mingtang: “What about you?”

The two shook their heads to indicate that they don’t need it.

After chatting for a while, three plates of pot stickers were brought out.

Zhang Caimai and Wen Mingtang’s ones were okay, they were just ordinary pot stickers, but Old Man Jiang’s had pot stickers with a spoonful of scrambled eggs on top.

Wen Mingtang’s eyes fell on the plate of pasta with eggs and he paused slightly.

Sensing the girl’s gaze, Old Man Jiang raised his head and looked at her: “Miss Wen also wants to add eggs?”

Wen Mingtang quickly shook his head, meeting the gaze of Old Man Jiang, and explained, “Actually, what I thought of when you said to add an egg and what the landlady bought, was quite different”

She originally thought that the so-called egg adding was to make pot stickers with eggs, but she didn’t realize that pot stickers were pot stickers, and eggs were eggs, two separate things.

Is that so? Old Man Jiang smiled and said, unperturbed, “Then next time, I can try the dish that Miss Wen was thinking about!”

After finishing speaking, he lowered his head and started eating.

Old man Jiang didn’t bother to take such a small matter to heart.

Wen Mingtang didn’t say anymore and lowered her head to eat the pot stickers.

The pot stickers that can be praised by Old Man Jiang’s tricky tongue were of course good: the leeks were fragrant, the pork meat was fresh, the taste was just right, and it was really delicious.

In the small storefront, diners flocked endlessly, and the proprietress was too busy.

Diners will use their feet to show whether it was delicious or not. The facade of Zhao Ji restaurant was more than twice the size of this pot sticker shop, but the customers, were not even a fraction of it.5

After eating the pot stickers, Old Man Jiang burped, took the two of them out of the food shop, and walked towards the Yamen of Dali Temple.