CH 15

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Seeing that Wen Mingtang had agreed, Old Man Jiang couldn’t say anything more.

His eyes swept over the group of kitchen helpers in front of him, and when he looked at a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy with a somewhat handsome appearance, Old Man Jiang waved to him and said, “Ah Bing, you and…” Old Jiang swayed his fingers among the group of helpers, and finally selected the girl who ran to call Ji Caimai just now, and said, “You can work with Miss Wen!” The cook needs to be accompanied by two helpers at least.

When Ah Bing heard the words, he replied, “Yes, Uncle Jiang!”

Being able to call Old Man Jiang “Uncle Jiang”, it can be seen that this young man named Ah Bing and Old Man Jiang knew each other.

Probably because he felt that Wen Mingtang had been cheated, old man Jiang specially ordered Ah Bing to help her, so as not to involve two more lazy people who can cause trouble as kitchen helpers.

With Ah Bing, a “backgrounder”, she can save a lot of trouble.

Ji Caimai naturally understood all the ins and outs of the situation, but he did not intervene to stop them.

He didn’t intend to trick the new cook on these matters, but he had higher “demands” and didn’t want to recruit more messy people. He was in no mood to deal with crooked minds like Cook Zhou before.

After ordering Ah Bing and the little girl to be Wen Mingtang’s helpers, Old Man Jiang greeted Ji Caimai, then turned and left.

Of course, before leaving, he did not forget to say to Wen Mingtang: “If Miss Wen needs any help, just come to me!”

Such kind words were of course good to hear, and Wen Mingtang was not a person who does not know etiquette. She nodded her thanked.

It was not convenient for Zhang Caimai to intervene from the beginning to the end. Right now, seeing that old man Jiang was leaving, he didn’t want to stay longer, but before leaving, he said to her: “If you need anything, just come to the old place to find me!”

The old man’s politeness and Zhang Caimai’s words were all sincere.

There was still a year before Yuerou leaves the palace, he has to take good care of this “niece” that Yuerou entrusted him to take care of.

After Old Man Jiang and Zhang Caimai had left, Ji Caimai glanced at her and said, “Then let Miss Wen cook tomorrow’s breakfast?”

Wen Mingtang agreed.

Ji Caimai took out a bunch of keys, turned around and walked out: “Follow me to the warehouse, and pick out the ingredients you will use tomorrow.”

The warehouse of the public kitchen of Dali Temple was at the back of the dining hall, and a large brass lock was hanging on it. The key to the brass lock was on Ji Caimai’s body, and he was in charge of the distribution of the daily ingredients needed by the public chef.

Wen Mingtang followed Ji Caimai into the warehouse with two small attendants, and when she looked up, he saw the neatly packed ingredients in the warehouse.

The staple food was placed on the ground in a large wooden barrel, and a note was pasted on the outside of the wooden barrel, indicating what was stored in the wooden barrel.

Wen Mingtang glanced at it: rice, millet, flour, red beans, mung beans, etc. The stock was complete and plentiful.

Compared with the staple food on the ground, vegetables and meat were placed in the cellar below for easy preservation.

Wen Mingtang glanced at the staple food section in the warehouse and was about to go down to the cellar with Ji Caimai to look at the vegetables and meat. But Ji Caimai just stood at the entrance of the cellar, pointing to the dazzling array of vegetables and meat inside, and let her see it. He glanced at it and then said with a smile that was not a smile: “Miss Wen is unlucky, my public kitchen in Dali Temple buys provisions once every ten days, and the vegetables and meat I buy each time are rationed, and the chef will list them. The list is sorted and items are purchased accordingly. The last purchase was two days ago, and there are still eight days before the next purchase…”

Wen Mingtang knew that “making things difficult” was coming when she heard Ji Caimai say “it’s unfortunate that Miss Wen came”.

Sure enough, when Ji Caimai said “There are still eight days before the next purchase”, he stopped and then said with a look of embarrassment: “The previous court food was prepared by Master Wang and Master Sun of the public kitchen in turn. The two of them didn’t have any vegetables and meat on the menu for breakfast, so…”

Hearing this, Wen Mingtang understood: “So, I can’t move the vegetables and meat in the cellar for the time being. They are the vegetables and meat ordered by the two masters. I have to wait until the purchase eight days later before I can make a list of vegetables and meat for Ji Cai to buy?”

Ji Caimai nodded, knowing in her heart that he had indeed given her a problem. Seeing Wen Mingtang’s thoughtful expression, Ji Caimai remembered that this little lady had never complained from the beginning to now. After thinking about it, in the end, he was still a little soft-hearted, so he said: “I’m afraid meat is a bit rare! But vegetables and eggs are delivered from Zhuangzi every morning, but the vegetables and meat will not be known until the next day. Little Lady Wen, do you think this is okay?”

In all fairness, today’s action was indeed suspected of making things difficult and undermining others.

But… it really wasn’t his intention!

Officials from Dali Temple rarely come to eat the court food for breakfast, and most of the time no one came.

No one came to eat, so he didn’t bother to think more about the breakfast menu! When Master Wang and Master Sun took turns making morning meals, it was either white flour steamed buns or noodles, or some porridge, served with stir-fry of whatever vegetables was available and eggs, to make do with it. Few people were eating in the morning, and all they wanted was a hearty breakfast, and very few people care about the items being served.

There were indeed individuals who would genuinely and obediently consume this breakfast.

Ji Caimai told Wen Mingtang the truth: “Officials in the public kitchen of Dali Temple don’t eat much food, and only prisoners who are arrested in the prison eat it. Even if it is monotonous, no one will talk.”

Indeed, it is unlikely for prisoners who have been incarcerated in the Dali Temple Prison to have any specific demands or preferences regarding their meals. Once they were imprisoned, and especially if they had been subjected to punishment, they may be unable to speak or communicate their preferences. As long as they were not served inedible food, that should be sufficient.

Therefore, the benefits and drawbacks of being a breakfast chef in the Dali temple prison kitchen were quite evident.

The downside was that she didn’t have anything to show off her culinary skills, but the upside was that people who were going to eat that meal were not picky eaters. So she didn’t have to worry about opinions or criticism. She could do whatever she wanted.

This was a seat that was very suitable for “goofing off” and was easily overlooked.

Wen Mingtang smiled at Ji Caimai when she heard the words and said “OK”.

In this way, Wen Mingtang’s position as the chef of the Dali Temple was tentatively settled.

After introducing Wen Mingtang, Ji Caimai turned and left.

Seeing Ji Caimai leave, Ah Bing, who was following Wen Mingtang, immediately said, “Master Ji, isn’t he trying to make things difficult for others? There is nothing here. What else can we eat in the morning besides white flour steamed buns, white boiled noodles, and white porridge?”

“That’s right! The morning food is just that, and Master Wang and Master Sun just messed around with it!” The twelve or thirteen-year-old girl sighed, worried, and said, “It’s hard to make any new dish! “

In fact, there weren’t many options when it came to breakfast items in this dynasty. Wen Mingtang, who surveyed breakfast shops this morning, had a deep understanding of this.

However, she wasn’t afraid of these limitations. In the future, there would be countless variations of breakfast options. Even if they only had staple foods for the next few days, she could come up with numerous creative ways to make them interesting and diverse.

As she was thinking about it, two men who looked like guards came over and knocked on the door frame outside the warehouse.

The three people in the warehouse looked over after hearing the knocking, and saw the two guards asking: “Which one is the new chef?”

Wen Mingtang stood up and said, “It’s me.”

The two guards glanced at her, as if somewhat surprised, they muttered, “Why is she so young?”

But after muttering this sentence, before Wen Mingtang could speak, the two explained their intentions: “Tomorrow, there will be a group of prisoners in the prison who need to be transferred to the Department of Punishments. It’s likely to be a hectic morning, and they may not have a chance to eat breakfast at the Department of Punishments. We’ve come to inform you that tomorrow’s breakfast should be prepared as both breakfast and lunch, ensuring it is filling. Don’t bother making gruels; we don’t want any complaints from the prisoners about mistreatment at the Dali Temple Prison due to hunger!”