CH 25

Cōngyóu bàn miàn? What was that? Both Ah Bing and Tangyuan were at a loss.

Wen Mingtang just smiled and said to them, “You will know tomorrow morning.”

In the early morning of the next day, when the drum sounded to announce the dawn, Wen Mingtang, Ah Bing, and Tangyuan had already taken out the flour and spring onion they received yesterday for inspection.

Master Sun and Master Wang were sloppy, and the three of them were afraid that both could play something dirty behind their back.

After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the items, Wen Mingtang put the washed spring onion on the countertop, reserved a small handful for garnish, removed the root of the rest of the spring onion, cut them into slices, and began to cook the scallion oil.

Ah Bing and Tang Yuan both moved small tables to the side and curiously observed. They really couldn’t imagine what kind of taste the scallion oil would have after being simmered and prepared.

Until the spring onions were poured into the hot oil, a strong aroma of scallion oil spread out.

This smell… Ah Bing and Tang Yuan stared straight at the scallion oil in the pot when they smelled the smell. How could the oil made with this daily garnish have such an overbearing and thorough fragrance?

Wen Mingtang kept rolling the scallions in the pot with her long chopsticks until the scallions gradually turned from green to light burnt brown, and then she fished them out.

While making the scallion oil, the worker who was cleaning in front couldn’t help but run over when he smelled the scent, and asked, “What did you do? It smells so good?”

They had never smelled such a scent before. What was it?

Ah Bing and Tangyuan stared at the scallion oil in the pot and said, “Scallion oil!”

“What is scallion oil?” asked the workers.

Ah Bing shook his head with Tangyuan, staring at the pot of hot scallion oil without blinking, watching Wen Mingtang pour in the sauce, salt, sugar, vinegar, etc., stirring and cooking until the juice was finally collected, and a pot of scallion oil sauce was ready.

Scoop out the scallion sauce and set aside to cool.

Wen Mingtang prepared the spring onions for decoration and put the burnt brown scallions aside, and began to prepare the noodles.

It didn’t take much effort to boil the scallion oil, because the scallion oil was so fragrant, Ah Bing and Tangyuan just stared at the fragrant scallion oil and couldn’t help swallowing. When they realized that they weren’t doing anything, they hurried up and asked Wen Mingtang: “Master Wen making noodles? Will it be like the noodles made last time?”

Fine noodles were cut with a knife.

Today’s scallion noodles were much simpler than the previous You Po Mian or yesterday’s Dòujiāng Yóutiáo.

Seeing that Wen Mingtang finished the noodles with scallion oil so quickly, A Bing and Tangyuan looked at each other, and couldn’t help asking: “That’s… that’s all?”

Wen Mingtang nodded, “Yes”, and said, “Okay.”

As for whether it is delicious, you will know after eating it.

Wen Mingtang grabbed a handful of noodles and put them into the pot. The boiling water instantly calmed down, but soon small bubbles started to rise again, and it began boiling once more. Wen Mingtang occasionally stirred the noodles with chopsticks and, after they were about 70-80% cooked, she scooped them up and placed them in a bowl. She poured a spoonful of scallion oil sauce over the noodles, placed a pair of chopsticks with crispy brown scallion segments in the middle, and finally sprinkled some chopped scallions on top. He then served the dish in front of Ah Bing and Tangyuan.

Ah Bing and Tangyuan looked at the bowl of noodles in front of them. Obviously, the ingredients were nothing more than ordinary, just flour and green onions, and the cooking was simple, just simple noodles. They don’t know why, such simple ingredients, but what Master Wen made looks so attractive.

The sauce seeped down from the top, and the green onion and the fried brown green onion were on two sides, which looked inexplicably beautiful.

This simple bowl of noodles was also complete in color and fragrance.

As for the taste… After trying the You Po Mian and Dòujiāng Yóutiáo before, they didn’t need to think about it, it must be delicious.

Another bowl of noodles was pushed in front of the two of them.

Ah Bing and Tangyuan picked up their chopsticks and were about to eat when Wen Mingtang said: “Mix well and eat!”

Oh, oh! The two immediately stirred, and when the sauce covered the whole bowl of noodles, they couldn’t wait to put a chopstick into their mouths.

The moment the food entered their mouth, the eyes of the two of them straightened. The noodles wrapped in the sauce had a strong fragrance of green onion and noodles, and the texture was smooth and clear. The diced green onion mixed with the fried burnt brown onion bought a fresh taste to the dish.

This was also delicious.

Ah Bing mumbled as he swallowed the noodles, saying, “I’ve never had a breakfast tastier than this! Oh no, ‘You Po Mian’ and ‘Dòujiāng Yóutiáo’ were delicious too, but this scallion oil mixed noodles are simply heavenly!”

Tangyuan swallowed the noodles and “woo woo” couldn’t help nodding in agreement: Yes! She didn’t know how this little green onion can become so delicious.

The cleaners carrying a broom and sweeping the floor outside the public kitchen couldn’t bear it anymore!

Just now when the scallion oil was fragrant, the two of them were already standing there and their eyes were straightened by the smoke. At this time, they couldn’t bear the reaction of Ah Bing and Tang Yuan, so they quickly put the broom aside and said, “Give us some cōngyóu bàn miàn!”

After all, there are only a few dishes meant for breakfast, and with the two masters Sun and Wang as obstacles, can there be any new dishes?

After all, it was hard for a clever woman to cook without rice!

But… it turned out that they were still wrong.

The cleaner who received a bowl of cōngyóu bàn miàn, his eyes lit up as soon as he picked up the noodles with his chopsticks, and then picked up the chopsticks in his hands at a faster speed, and said while eating: “Delicious! I’ve never had such a tasty breakfast before! Whether it’s from a restaurant, diner, or even a fancy establishment, I’ve never had a breakfast this good!”

After listening to the words, Wen Mingtang smiled, made a bowl for himself, and walked aside to eat slowly.

After they finished eating the court food, they were going to send the court food to the prison of Dali Temple.

Due to the unavoidable delay on the way to the prison of Dali Temple, and the lumpy noodles, Wen Mingtang deliberately rinsed the noodles in cold water before pouring the scallion oil topping on them.

When the trolley was pushing the food delivery cart came to the gate of Dali Temple, the guards who had been waiting for a long time rushed out to greet them, sniffed their noses, and said, “What did you cook today? I smelled the fragrance just now, and it was so delicious!”

Right now, they were looking forward to the morning food every day. As soon as they ate today’s cōngyóu bàn miàn, they exclaimed “Delicious!”

Wen Mingtang smiled and took Ah Bing and Tangyuan to the cell to deliver the morning food. Pass the noodle bowl in from the food port under the prison cell, and add a sentence of “mix well and eat!”, which meant that the court food had been delivered.

Following the instructions one after another, Wen Mingtang squatted down before sending the noodle bowl in until it was delivered to the last room. Before she could speak, her arm was caught by a strong force. “Okay! I finally caught you!”

It was the young man’s voice, and he yelled inside, “Call Lin Fei here, or I’ll arrest the cook, so she won’t want to leave this prison…!”

“Ah!” A painful exclamation sounded from inside, Wen Mingtang withdrew her hand, looked at the red arm, got up, and said: “Mix well and eat!”