Shopkeeper Song returned to his hometown in the countryside and found Old Man Song. When he told him the story, Old Man Song shook his head like a rattle. He had helped Chef Gao in the past, but this favor was getting less and less, so if it was not necessary, he should not go to him.
"Dad, our restaurant is now facing a life-or-death situation. You don't know how arrogant the owner of Qishanju is. He actually came to challenge us and said that if we lose, we will have to close the restaurant.
They are already riding on our necks and shitting…” Shopkeeper Song exaggerated and even pushed all the dirty things he had done onto Jiang Yunzhu. Anyway, the old man was staying in the countryside and didn’t know the situation.
Sure enough, Mr. Song became furious after hearing this. You are just a girl, even if you have some talent, why do you look down on me like this
The two of them set out immediately and went to Luzhou.
At the Anping Marquis' Mansion, the doorman told Gao Shun that someone wanted to see him. When he saw Old Man Song and Shopkeeper Song, it took him a long time to remember who they were.
After hearing their purpose, he felt that it was a lot of trouble.
At this time, Shopkeeper Song took out four hundred taels of silver, and he smiled. In this case, he decided to go.
However, the round trip would take at least four days, and he would have to ask for leave from the government.
Marquis Anping liked the food he cooked. He wanted to ask for leave, but the housekeeper in the mansion did not dare to make the decision on his own, so he went to ask the master of the mansion.
There are currently three people in charge of the Anping Marquis's Mansion: the Anping Marquis, his wife, and the eldest son, Lin Ting'an.
Marquis Anping and his wife went to Jinguang Temple to worship Buddha, which was not a big deal, so the housekeeper found Lin Tingan.
At this time, Lin Ting'an was reading in the study. The housekeeper came in and told him what happened. He casually replied "I know", and the housekeeper left.
After he left, Lin Ting'an felt his eyes sore. He looked at the sky outside and realized that he had been reading for two hours without realizing it.
He stood up, walked to the window and looked into the distance, thinking of many things.
Suddenly, he remembered an ancient book and immediately went to the bookshelf to look for it.
There was no painting on the front bookshelf, nor on the second, third, or fourth bookshelf. When he reached the fourth bookshelf, he saw a painting hanging there.
In the midst of the dazzling fireworks, a beautiful woman stood there with her eyes raised, her eyebrows and eyes full of smiles, her figure graceful, she seemed to be admiring the gorgeous fireworks, but also seemed to be in a world of her own, nothing was pleasing to her eyes. The feeling was so real and illusory, as if she was not in this human world.
Lin Tingan reached out and took the painting. He remembered this painting. It was painted after he returned home on the day of the Lantern Festival. He didn't expect it was still hanging here.
After taking a few more glances, he rolled up the painting, put it on the bookshelf beside him, and continued looking for the ancient book.
As for Jiang Yunzhu, she had just agreed on the prize for the competition with Shopkeeper Meng, and the news had already spread like wildfire outside.
Everyone was discussing this matter. If Jiang Yunzhu lost, would she have to work for Manager Meng for a year? Would Qishanju still be able to open? Would they no longer be able to eat at Qishanju
If Jiang Yunzhu wins, she will win a renovated shop, which is worth five hundred taels of silver. Five hundred taels of silver is nothing, many people can't earn it in their lifetime.
This game was truly a gamble. Everyone was guessing who would win, and the entire Wuling County seemed to become lively.
At mealtime, Qishanju was crowded again, and everyone wanted to see how Jiang Yunzhu was doing.
Unfortunately, they didn't see anyone.
Jiang Yunzhu was in the backyard at this time. She was prepared to give her all in this competition, so many things had to be prepared in advance.
Their competition was a best-of-three format, so she first had to consider which three dishes to cook on the day of the competition.
Ordinary dishes will definitely not work, we must strive to make a splash and take this opportunity to establish the reputation of Qishanju.
After much thought, she finally decided on three dishes. However, it was a bit troublesome to make these three dishes. One of them has been lost and was only restored by someone in later generations. She needed a reason to make it now.
This reminded her of the last time she wrote "Bright Moon and Clear Spring". That time, she borrowed Gu Yanzhou's mouth to speak the poem. This time...
She thought of Shen Fengming. Last time she mentioned pinhole imaging, he knew everything about it. Maybe he also knew about the book "Xiyuan Miscellaneous Talks". After all, his father was the academician Shen, who was well-versed in ancient and modern times. The Shen family should have this book.
Jiang Yunzhu got up and walked to Shen Fengming's door and knocked.
Soon, there were footsteps inside, the door opened, and Shen Fengming stood there, "Miss Jiang."
"I have something to ask you." Jiang Yunzhu said.
"Come in and sit down." Shen Fengming said.
Jiang Yunzhu came in.
Shen Fengming's room was very simply furnished, with a bed, a square table, and two chairs, just as he had when he first moved in. There were a few books, a stack of paper, and an inkstone on the table, and it seemed that he was reading or writing something just now.
Jiang Yunzhu looked around and felt that he was not a person who was greedy for enjoyment. After all, the Qilin Guards often went out in the rain or shine. If they were afraid of hardship and tiredness, they would not be able to do it.
However, the furnishings in this room were still too simple, and Jiang Yunzhu felt guilty. She had taken care of him before, but she only boiled medicine for him a few times, cooked for him a few days, and took him to buy clothes once, and she had never cared about anything else.
Just this, he still wants to repay her
She felt that she was not worthy of it.
After the competition, I'll decorate his room. I don't want to make it luxurious, but at least it shouldn't be so shabby.
Jiang Yunzhu thought to herself as she sat on the chair over there and talked about the purpose of her visit. There would be a cooking competition in five days and she wanted to research some new dishes. She wanted to ask Shen Fengming if he knew of any books about dishes that she wanted to refer to.
“There are “Food Diagnosis Records”, “Benxinzhai Cookbook”, “Shanjia Qinggong”… “Xiyuan Miscellaneous Talks”… “Yunlintang Food”…” Shen Fengming named them one by one, and Jiang Yunzhu’s eyes became brighter and brighter. No, doesn’t he know “Benxinzhai Cookbook” as well
This is a book that had been lost long ago. In her dream, she had been looking for it for two or three years but couldn't find it.
"Mr. Shen, these books?" Jiang Yunzhu felt like her breath was burning.
“If Miss Jiang wants to see it, I can memorize it for you.” Shen Fengming said.
"You remember everything?"
"Um."
Jiang Yunzhu didn't know what to say.
Her eyes were burning. Shen Fengming slightly shifted his gaze and picked up the pen. "Which book would you like to read first, Miss Jiang?"
"'Ben Xin Zhai Cookbook'." Jiang Yunzhu actually wanted to read 'Shan Jia Qing Gong', but thinking about the competition, she said, "'Xi Yuan Za Tan'."
"Okay." Shen Fengming began to write.
Jiang Yunzhu was sitting next to him and watching. Because she was anxious to read the next content, she moved closer and closer to him, until her shallow breath brushed his skin, and Shen Fengming's handwriting, which had always been very neat, suddenly became crooked.
In the evening, Jiang Yunzhu got "Ben Xinzhai Cookbook" and "Xiyuan Miscellaneous Talks". The latter was okay, but she felt like she had found a treasure, and read the former for a long time before going to bed.
The next day, she said she was going to Luzhou to buy some materials for the competition. Wuling County was still too small, and some things were simply not available.
Xue Jing and others wanted to go with her, while others wanted to go on her behalf.
Of course Jiang Yunzhu had to go in person, as she was afraid that the things others bought would not meet her requirements.
The store was already very busy, and after she left, everyone became even busier, so in the end Shen Fengming went with her.
At noon that day, Lin Yubai and Qin Yao came to Qishanju to have lunch.
This kind of thing happened in the store. In the past two days, Xie Chen has come to the store to help when he has time, so he is still standing at the counter today.
Qin Yao came in and chatted with Xie Chen seemingly unintentionally. All the words were very polite, but she felt very satisfied. She sat down and prepared to have a big meal.
When the food came, Lin Yubai took a bite and frowned slightly. Today's dish was not made by Jiang Yunzhu. Although it was delicious, it was a little off. Ordinary people might not be able to taste it, but he knew it.
Qin Yao didn't seem to notice the food, and was enjoying it very much. But she was also a little worried, "I don't know if Qishanju can win the competition in four days." She no longer cared about Jiang Yunzhu not selling her paintings before. She was there when Jiang Yunzhu challenged Boss Meng yesterday. She actually admired her very much and didn't want Qishanju to disappear like this.
"Don't worry, Qishanju will definitely win." Lin Yubai said.
"How do you know? I heard that Boss Meng is going to invite a top chef over." Qin Yao asked.
Lin Yubai just knew it.
Qin Yao was too lazy to pay attention to him.
On February 26th, Jiang Yunzhu came back with a bunch of things. She looked a little tired, but full of energy.
Tomorrow is the day of the competition. "How is it going?" Chen asked anxiously.
"Don't worry, Mom." Jiang Yunzhu said, and then she began to process the materials until very late.
After a sweet sleep, the streets became bustling early the next morning. Everyone wanted to see who would win or lose in today's competition.
As early as two days ago, a high platform had been built between Qishanju and Xishanju, with stoves, chopping boards and other items placed on both sides of the platform. Boss Meng also knew that if they won today, it would be the time for Xishanju to become famous, so he was much more active than Jiang Yunzhu in doing things, and he had people build this high platform.
It was almost 9 o'clock and the competition was about to begin. The stage was crowded with people and suddenly a gong sounded to clear the way.
When everyone looked back, they saw many yamen runners and a sedan chair behind them.
"It's the county magistrate." "Did they actually alarm the county magistrate?" Everyone was discussing in a low voice, and they were even more looking forward to today's game.
Jiang Yunzhu was making final preparations in Qishanju and was a little surprised to see this.
The magistrate is here. I wonder if it will have any impact on what happens today.
After a while, the sedan chair came down and County Magistrate Meng came out of it.
Everyone hurriedly saluted him, and he asked everyone to stand up and not to be polite.
He had also heard that Qishanju and Xishanju were going to compete in cooking. He thought it was a good thing, which showed that the people in their county were rich and talented. Maybe it would become a good story if it got out, so he decided to come and have a look.
There were already ten young men standing on the podium. They were all students of Wenyuan Academy and also ten famous young men in the county. They were the ones Jiang Yunzhu had invited to be referees after discussing with Manager Meng.
Now that County Magistrate Meng has arrived, it is natural that he should be included.