Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Ziyan knew the purpose of their journey, but why did she still ask such a question?
The answer was simple. She understood that revealing the truth to Ling Yuxuan and her Adoptive Father, who had accompanied her for so many years, would be incredibly difficult.
This situation was challenging for anyone. It would be hard to handle this sudden and dramatic experience, let alone have them describe it themselves!
However, the revenge plan could not continue as it was. How could she make these people abandon their plans and determination to take revenge on Ling Jianyu?
This was the most important matter at hand, and it needed to be addressed without delay.
Ziyan thought that since it was inconvenient to speak openly now, she would delay it further. When the time was right and she had enough ability to persuade them, she would inform Qin Ming and Old Man Mo, the two loyal generals, of the hidden truth.
She believed that with their affectionate feelings for Ling Yuxuan, which were both mentor-like and friendly, along with the current situation of Che Taemin An, they could dispel the revengeful thoughts that had faded over time.
By then, they would surely come to terms with it and no longer force Ling Yuxuan or themselves to cling to something that had lost its significance.
While Ziyan was questioning Qin Ming, she deliberately gave Ling Yuxuan a glance. She was signaling and hinting for Ling Yuxuan to cooperate with what she was about to say.
In this manner, Ziyan pretended to gaze at Ling Yuxuan with a look of sorrow before turning back to Qin Ming. “Master, I’ve already been informed by Brother Yuxuan about your actions, but this time you cannot proceed with your plan. You need to pause and focus on self-cultivation for a while. As the saying goes, 'While there are green mountains, one need not fear for firewood.'”
Qin Ming sensed something was amiss and glanced at Ling Yuxuan before staring intently at Ziyan. “Did you find out something?”
“We explored the palace last night and discovered that the Emperor is already aware of our plans. They have arranged nearly fifteen thousand elite guards waiting for us to fall into their trap. If it weren't for Xiang Wang Lingfeng's assistance last night, we might have already met our end!”
Ziyan feigned extreme shock, expressing her lingering fear as she reported to Qin Ming.
“What? How could this happen?” Qin Ming widened his eyes as he looked at Ling Yuxuan.
“Our internal ranks have already been infiltrated by an insider arranged by that person. So we must quickly evacuate the capital and devise a plan to slowly identify their insider once we return.”
“Is this really happening?” Qin Ming stared closely at Ziyan, finding it hard to believe.
"Absolutely, I heard it myself from Brother Yuxuan," Ziyan reaffirmed.
"Then does Young Master also think we should retreat first?" Qin Ming said, shifting his gaze to Ling Yuxuan, then asked ambiguously.
Ling Yuxuan naturally sided with Ziyan, so he met Qin Ming's gaze with determination and nodded in agreement, saying, "At this point, we can only temporarily withdraw."
"Sigh, we've missed another good opportunity. Who could the insider be?" Qin Ming lamented as he recalled Ziyan mentioning the insider.
"Then let's go back and inform Mo Old Man. You all can discuss the specifics of the retreat," Ziyan added promptly.
"Well, it seems we have no other choice," Qin Ming nodded slowly and helplessly, clearly in a bad mood.
After that, the carriage fell into a dead silence until they returned to the entrance of the Zi Family Spiced Braise restaurant.
Ziyan and Ling Yuxuan exchanged glances and nodded at each other. Ziyan encouraged Ling Yuxuan with a faint smile before they split up.
Because what Ziyan needed to do most urgently was to find the Executive Chef in the back kitchen, while Ling Yuxuan had to figure out how to persuade the other Old Man Mo to return to Chu County together.
As soon as Ziyan arrived in the back kitchen, she saw Chef Wang.
This head chef was originally brought here from Hengfeng County Town two years ago as a top-level chef among the Death Warriors. He was usually low-key and not very talkative, but he possessed exceptional talent and wisdom in culinary arts.
Over these two years, he had progressed beyond just being a technician who could only make Marinated Dishes. To ensure that these cooks understood basic culinary skills, Ziyan had hired some chefs two years ago with her partner, Xiang Wang Ye Ling Feng, to carefully teach them all the fundamentals of being a chef.
As the saying goes, practice makes perfect, and there must be deeper insights within skillful execution. So when Ziyan explained that she was entrusting him with a major banquet task of great significance,
he did not seem afraid at all. Initially, Ziyan worried that he might lack confidence or might refuse such an important responsibility.
Unexpectedly, when she pulled him aside to explain the situation, he surprisingly accepted without any hesitation or refusal, bowing respectfully while nodding in agreement.
Seeing his eager expression filled with confidence and readiness, Ziyan let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Immediately after, Ziyan entered the small room in the back kitchen, selecting and preparing the ingredients for her homemade spicy hot pot base and three-flavor hot pot base.
She was joking; the double-sided Iron Wok she brought from Chu County was no ordinary pot! Therefore, she naturally had to make two types of soup bases. Otherwise, how could she make this banquet shock the court and astonish the world?
Although there were still three full days until the Emperor's birthday, it was late summer and early autumn, and ingredients could spoil or lose their flavor if left out for too long.
Thus, she needed to prepare these hot pot bases in advance and let them sit for three to five days without any issues. In this era without refrigeration, there was only one thing that could preserve food for a short time: a large amount of edible vegetable oil. Please note! It had to be a large amount; a small quantity would definitely not work.
This meant that when making the base, she only needed to add several times more vegetable oil than usual, which would be enough to keep it from spoiling or losing flavor by that evening.
Of course, this would inevitably make the dish feel overly greasy when it came time to eat. However, being as clever as she was, Ziyan had already thought of a solution: when the hot pot base was heated and boiling, she would use a ladle to gently skim off the excess oil from the surface. This issue would be easily resolved.
Since oil always floats on water's surface, this task was not complicated. Thinking of this, Ziyan couldn't help but nod in secret pride at her plan and her own wisdom.
However, while making the soup base seemed easy in theory, it was not simple in practice.
So next, Ziyan worked tirelessly in the kitchen all morning, sweating profusely as she became enveloped in the strong aroma of hot pot ingredients.
By the time Xiang Wang Ye arrived in his splendid attire via WeChat, both types of hot pot bases were already prepared. The fragrant smell had long since spread throughout the entire back kitchen and courtyard, even wafting further away.
Ziyan worried that these mysterious "strange aromas" might attract uninvited guests, so she immediately ordered everyone in the back kitchen to close and seal all doors and windows. No one was allowed to enter or exit without permission.
Thus, when Xiang Wang Ye pushed open the door and saw everyone in the back kitchen with flushed faces and drenched in sweat, he was momentarily stunned and found it quite perplexing: how could they keep all doors and windows closed on such a hot day?
However, within less than a minute, Xiang Wang Ye himself was also quickly drenched in sweat from the almost airtight smoke-filled back kitchen.
Especially with the extremely unique aroma of the hot pot base making him pinch his nose tightly; after a while, he curiously stretched his neck to approach the two large pots of ingredients.
He glanced at one pot and then at the other, filled with great curiosity.
At that moment, Ziyan was busy making chive flower dipping sauce along with sesame dipping sauce. Of course, after finishing these two, she still needed to prepare some spicy sauce. Three types of dipping sauces would be enough for everyone to choose from, Ziyan thought to herself.
When Xiang Wang Lingfeng approached Ziyan like a curious little child, Ziyan smiled and offered him a small spoonful of spicy sauce to taste.
However, this prince had never eaten such a thing before and didn’t realize it was just a dipping sauce. He directly swallowed the entire spoonful of sauce in one go.
Next, everyone heard a few muffled sounds as Xiang Wang Lingfeng stretched out his tongue and urgently shouted to the attendants behind him, “Water, water, quickly give me water.”
Ziyan, who had been playfully teasing him, initially thought he was quite a clever person. She didn’t expect him to fall for it so quickly, and couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
“You—” Ling Feng said, his tongue sticking out as he pointed at Ziyan with the fan in his hand, clearly feeling a bit resentful towards her this time.
Seeing Ling Feng’s eyes wide open in shock, resembling two bright copper bells, Ziyan couldn’t help but shake her head again. Then she took another small spoon and scooped up some sesame paste, offering it to Ling Feng: “Here, just swallow this to stop the spiciness.”
But the already startled Xiang Wang Ye dared not take it anymore, his eyes fixed intently on the spoonful of sesame paste.
“Tsk, sigh—here stands the dignified Xiang Wang Ye, yet he’s scared off by some spicy sauce. Fine, believe it or not.”
Just as Ziyan was about to retract the small spoon from her hand, the next second, it was snatched away from her.
Then Ziyan watched as Ling Feng brought the spoonful of sesame paste close to his nose. After sniffing it cautiously from side to side, he finally carefully placed it into his mouth.
He nodded while swallowing the sesame paste.
Comment 0 Comment Count