CH 23

Master Wang, who was “highly expected”, had already entered the prison with a jug at this time.

Facing the several guards busy inside, Master Wang smiled and greeted them, “Hey, brothers, busy at work?”

The guards, who was checking the condition of the prisoners in the cell, glanced at him and replied with a grunt, “Yeah, what’s the matter?”

Master Wang placed the newly bought wine on the table of the attendant and said with a smile, “I heard that the sugar jar was borrowed by someone called Master Sun this morning, and as a result, the new kitchen cook, Xiao Ya, had no sugar to use. She made soy milk this morning, and there was no sugar for it…”

Before he could finish speaking, the guard interrupted him, saying, “No wonder Master Wen didn’t add sugar to the soy milk and made it taste salty! So, that’s the reason behind it!”

The other guard clicked his tongue and lamented, “The soy milk was cooked so well, rich and smooth, without any bean smell. When I was eating it earlier, I was thinking it must taste even better with some sugar. Who would have thought that guy named Sun would ruin it!”

Upon hearing this, Master Wang’s expression stiffened slightly, and he was taken aback. Unable to resist, he asked the attendant, “So, Master Wen served the salty soy milk in the morning?”

How could one possibly consume salty soy milk?

“Yeah!” The guard nodded, glanced at Master Wang, and said, “Master Wen’s cooking skills are really good. Master Wang, you and Master Sun need to improve a little bit!”

This “improve a little bit” was a modest statement. Originally, the three meals were equally unpalatable, but they could tolerate it.

Now, with the comparison of Master Wen’s cooking skills, the cooking skills of the two masters, Sun and Wang, were almost like pig chaff. They really didn’t know how they did it.

Before Master Wang, who was still in a daze, could react, the guard waved away the man: “Let’s go! I have work to do!”

Master Wang forced a laugh a couple of times and chuckled as he left the prison cell.

Once outside the cell, he immediately frowned, “How could one consume salty soy milk? Should I add some salt to it?”

But that wouldn’t taste good at all. Maybe I should buy some soy milk from outside to try?

As the idea crossed his mind, Master Wang felt it was worth a shot. Before heading out, he decided to visit the kitchen of the Ministry of Justice and told Sun, “Sun Ding, your plan has failed! That new maid somehow managed to find a recipe. Without sugar, she made salty soy milk, and the group of attendants couldn’t stop praising it!”

Upon hearing this, Sun, who was cooking, had a momentary expression of shock on his face. “What?” he asked.

“She made salty soy milk,” Master Wang replied and couldn’t help but ask Sun, “Have you tried it?”

“How could I eat that stuff?” Sun’s hands trembled as he accidentally added a large spoonful of sugar to the dish. He looked at Master Wang, thought for a moment, and said, “Why don’t you go buy a bowl of soy milk from the street and add some salt to try it?”

Master Wang nodded and said, “I had the same idea. You wait here.”

Sun replied with a grunt and looked down at the cooking dish. His hand holding the spoon froze for a moment, and he asked Master Wang, “Did I add sugar just now?”

Amid their conversation, he had forgotten whether he had added sugar or not.

Master Wang’s eyes flickered, and he said, “I don’t think you did.”

Master Sun said “Oh”, and added another spoonful of sugar. Seeing this, Master Wang turned around and walked towards the door of the public kitchen. When he stepped out of the public kitchen, he couldn’t help but sneer, and then quickly left the public kitchen.

The noon bell rang, and it was time for lunch. Dali Temple officials and servants dragged their tired feet into the public kitchen of Dali Temple. The dishes on the table were still the same, listless. The culinary skills of Master Wang and Master Sun were as stable as ever!

Without the slightest expectation, they ordered today’s lunch and returned to the table, and sat down. A hungry servant took the chopsticks from the chopstick holder on the table and immediately put a piece of food into it, and then let out a whole body of exclamation.

Coming to the public kitchen for lunch every day is like going to the execution ground, which made people feel timid and there was not the slightest interest in eating. Every mouthful of lunch tasted so bad that everyone was listless while eating.

At this time, someone suddenly heard an exclamation, and the officials and servants who had just put down their bowls and chopsticks and were about to move their chopsticks looked at the person who made the exclamation.

But one of the guards spit out the food in his mouth, and kept looking for water to drink while shouting: “What? Can this be eaten? It’s so sweet and horrible!”

How could he spit out all the pig chaff in the past? Could it be that Master Sun, who has always played steadily, can still play abnormally today?

The moment the guard uttered an exclamation, Master Sun’s face turned pale, and he instinctively put a piece of food into his mouth with the chopsticks in his hand, and then spit it out in one gulp, his face pale and ugly.

God damn Wang Junshan! He always knew that this old thing was not a good thing. On the one hand, he agreed to target the new cook together with him, and on the other hand, he secretly did not forget to trip him up!

But at this time, before he could curse Wang Junshan, the officials and servants of Dali Temple, who dipped their chopsticks in the vegetables and tasted them one after another, showed bitter expressions, spit out the food in their mouths, got up and left the public kitchen.

Some of them didn’t forget to sneer when they left and said to him: “I have to talk to Lao Ji about hiring another cook. The dishes you two cook are really hard to swallow!”

None of them had come to eat breakfast, so they didn’t know that the public kitchen had a new cook.

The public chef’s food was really unpalatable, so they had to go back to the lobby of the office hungry and sent someone to buy some food from the small restaurant outside.

For those who have never eaten in the public kitchen, you can also directly tell them not to go, after all, the dishes made by the public kitchen today were really hard to swallow.

Just throwing away the pen in his hand, Liu Yuan, who was about to get up to go to the public kitchen of Dali Temple for dinner, was stopped by Bai Zhutong and Wei Fu before he could get up: “Liu Yuan, Master Sun, who has always been stable in the public kitchen today, is not performing well today!”

Unstable? Liu Yuan was stunned for a moment, then his eyes lit up, and said, “Are you performing supernormally?”

Bai Zhu slapped him on the back of the head, and said, “What are you thinking? Master Sun’s ability… can be supernormal? It’s abnormal!”

Where can the pig-bran-like craftsmanship go wrong? This undead craftsmanship had already been the lowest of the low!

Bai Zhu said, “This meal is inedible even with eyes closed; it’s so sweet that it would make anyone nauseous! For those who can’t tolerate excessive sweetness, they might need to call a doctor on the spot!”

Liu Yuan: “…”

At first, he thought that Master Sun’s craftsmanship would not be able to go down anymore as he was already so low. But it turned out that he was wrong.

In this way, it was natural to go out to eat.

Bai Zhu poked Liu Yuan with his elbow, motioned to the innermost room, and said, “Last time, Lin Shaoqing invited us to lunch, and it’s time for us to return the favor today!”

Although the lunch at Zhao Ji Restaurant last time…well, it seemed that everyone except Lin Shaoqing suffered from it.

But since Shangfeng invited them, they naturally wanted to invite him back.

“Go and call Lin Shaoqing and ask him if he wants to go out to eat with us…”

Before he finished speaking, he heard a voice.

“No need, Your Excellency already had his lunch.”

Everyone looked at the person who spoke but saw that the one who spoke was the servant Zhao You who had just come out of the inner room. He wiped his oily mouth, hiccupped, and said, “Your Excellency had lunch, go and eat it yourself!”

T/N: I was laughing myself while translating this chapter. The description of the poor office workers and their canteen food was just perfect.