CH 14

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Wen Mingtang followed Old Man Jiang and Zhang Caimai1 with her luggage on his back.

On the way there, Old Jiang talked to her about the treatment of the public kitchen in Dali Temple.

“The treatment of public chefs in all government departments in the capital is the same. The monthly salary is 500 wen, and the monthly rest is of two days. All the food and lodging are in the yamen.”

Wen Mingtang was aware that Zhao Sishan won’t be arranging a bad job for her, but she didn’t expect it to be so rewarding. It should be noted that an average family of three would spend no more than eight hundred wen per month on all expenses. With her five hundred wen salary, including meals and accommodations, when calculated, she would have at least half of her salary as surplus every month.

Besides, this can be regarded as the position of the yamen. Unless the dynasty changes, the yamen of Dali Temple will not be closed. Hence, there was no need to worry about such things as the owner running away and cheating on wages.

It was a good job that was stable and included room and board! Of course, considering that this was the public kitchen of the Yamen of Dali Temple, the word “stable” needed to be said separately.

A group of people chatted while walking, and it was already late when they reached the Yamen of Dali Temple.

After dusk, it was time for the officials of various government departments in Chang’an City to take over their night shifts. However, for offices like the Dali Temple, due to the uncertainty of cases and other factors, it was difficult to determine the exact schedule for night shifts.

When Wen Mingtang and others arrived at Dali Temple, the yamen of Dali Temple was brightly lit like daytime.

“Guess what case happened again!” Old Jiang shook his head, said something casually, and led Wen Mingtang to the canteen of the Yamen.

The evening food in the dining hall had been withdrawn. At this time, there are no Dali Temple officials who were eating, only a few kitchen helpers were chatting around a pile of fried melon seeds around the table.

Seeing Old Man Jiang suddenly leading a young lady in, the handymen were startled, stood up quickly, and called “Master Jiang” unevenly.

Although he was the head chef of the Guozijian public kitchen next door, he was also a “temporary in-charge” of this kitchen. He was considered a half master of the place, so naturally they can’t be presumptuous.

Old Man Jiang smiled and nodded at them, and asked, “Where’s Ji Caimai?”

“He is in the room!” a crisp voice of a twelve or thirteen-year-old maid replied. “I’ll go call them right away!”

When the middle-aged man saw Old Man Jiang, he cupped his fists and gave a salute, calling out: “Master Jiang!”

Old Jiang nodded toward her and pointed to Wen Mingtang beside him, introducing, “This is the cook that the old man hired for your Dali Temple. She has just come out from the palace, and her culinary skills are excellent. Even the palace’s food supervisor has praised her repeatedly!”

When Ji Caimai heard that this was the new cook hired by Old Man Jiang, Ji Caimai was taken aback for a moment. And when he looked at her, his eyes fell on Wen Mingtang’s face, and when he looked carefully, his expression suddenly became subtle.

Wen Mingtang noticed the change in Ji Caimai’s face and knew that something was wrong.

Sure enough, Ji Caimai sneered the next moment, and said: “At that time, the chef Zhou was a close disciple of the main chef of Hongyun! In the end, not only the dishes were mediocre, but troubles were heard. If Lin Shaoqing2 hadn’t taken action to kill it at the source and transfer her away, it was not the Guozijian3 but our Dali Temple’s door that the family could have come to complain!”

Wen Mingtang couldn’t help but smile wryly after listening to the words. She didn’t expect that Cook Zhou in front would be such a disruptive person. She used to be here at Dali Temple before going to the Guozijian. It was really such a messy situation.

With such a “pearl and jade”4 in front of her, she was afraid that no one would hire a cook who was about the same age.

Those words were indeed somewhat impolite, but Old Jiang, being of advanced age, was not one to be easily offended. Upon hearing that, he immediately laughed and said, “Old Ji! The students in our Imperial Academy are only thirteen or fourteen years old at most. After all, they are still young kids and can’t make important decisions. But as for you officials of the Dali Temple, even the youngest among you is in their twenties. Is there a need for their family to come looking for you? Moreover, your public kitchen at the Dali Temple… tsk tsk!” At this point, Elder Jiang shook his head and winked at Ji CaiMai, saying, “When it comes to handling matters, who can compare to you folks at the Dali Temple?”

The unsaid words were: “Do you have no idea how hard is the post of chef in your Dali Temple?”

“The position of the cook in the public kitchen has been vacant for nearly half a year. It was not easy to find a replacement for you, so don’t be so picky!” Old Man Jiang said, patting Ji CaiMai on the shoulder and pointing at Wen Mingtang. He continued, “If Miss Wen doesn’t meet your satisfaction, then you can change her. Whether you have twelve or thirteen replacements, you still hold the top position. You are a trailblazer that other offices can’t catch up to, no matter how hard they try.”

Ji Caimai: “…”

Old Man Jiang’s words were really irrefutable. What’s more, there was indeed a lack of staff in the public kitchen of Dali Temple.

Therefore, after thinking about it, Ji Caimai finally nodded.

Then, without asking what Wen Mingtang was good at, Ji Caimai said: “At present, we have master chefs to cook the kitchen’s lunch and evening meals. But there is no one to cook the morning meals, can Miss Wen do the morning meals?”

Three meals a day were divided into morning breakfast, lunch, and evening food. Among them, lunch and evening food were “normal food” for most cooks, and they can make the most tricks, but morning food was not good. There were only a few kinds of patterns. Always the hardest to get ahead and the easiest to ignore.

It is hard to believe that Ji CaiMai, upon speaking, would simply assign someone to the position of breakfast chef. Was this not his intention of making things difficult for Wen Mingtang?

Wen Mingtang could not notice these discords, but how could someone like Old Jiang not notice it?

He was a little guilty at first, so he arranged the good-looking little lady into a place that everyone avoided, like the public kitchen of Dali Temple. Now, seeing that Ji Caimai gave Wen Mingtang a blow, Old Man Jiang Laoshou hurriedly tried to stop him.

He said: “Miss Wen is very good at making green plum ribs. If you arrange for her to sit for lunch or evening meal, you can let her play to her strengths.”

When Ding Caimai talked to him, he specifically mentioned this. The Little Lady Wen makes very good pork ribs with green plums very well, I think it was her specialty.

When a new chef took office, he or she generally first cooks a special dish, so that he or she could quickly gain a foothold.

Furthermore, although he mentioned to Zhang Caimai that if there was a vacancy in the yamen kitchen, Miss Wen will be transferred out of the Dali Temple kitchen. But it was really uncertain when there will be a vacancy in the public kitchen.

What if she has to wait a year and a half? It was always good to stand firm so as not to be picked on by those “notoriously picky” Dali Temple officials.

It seemed that Old Jiang’s help actually aroused even more displeasure from Ji CaiMai. He looked at Wen Mingtang with a smirk and said, “Master Jiang’s words are mistaken! Which government office in the capital city allows cooks to choose their specific mealtime positions? When things get busy, don’t they all have to handle all three meals? If Lady Wen is unable to handle breakfast, perhaps she should try her luck at an external restaurant. Some restaurants might actually be looking for chefs who specialize in lunch or dinner!”

One sentence made Old Jiang speechless. Although Ji Caimai’s words were a bit harsh, they were also true. All the cooks in this public kitchen cooked three meals a day. If Wen Mingtang only cooks lunch or evening meals, it really didn’t make sense.

But this breakfast chef…it was really hard to shine!

Old Man Jiang hesitated for a moment and looked at Wen Mingtang. “Lady Wen, are you capable of handling the breakfast service?”

Compared with his hesitation, the girl was ready! Smiling at him, she spoke, and said in a crisp voice: “It can be done!”

This straightforward response made the picky Ji Caimai raise his eyebrows, a little surprised. But thinking of that Cook Zhou from before, his somewhat good face sank again.

Indeed, Zhou, when she was a new cook, displayed the same efficiency and diligence.

No, or…Anyway, he didn’t dare to trust this little lady casually!