Miao Chu

Chapter 172 May I ask?
As soon as the man spoke, the attendant beside him immediately agreed and turned to walk away.

One of the subordinates at the same table stood up and said, "I'll go see what we have to eat today."

The two went to the kitchen together.

It was already time for the night to rest. Because there had been many people coming and going at the post station recently, the postman was extremely busy. He was carrying two large jugs to deliver hot water to each room when he saw the subordinate in charge. He immediately recognized him as the one who had been nitpicking yesterday.

He was startled and quickly stopped, saying, "Sir, you've worked hard, only returning now. There's food left in the kitchen, and our cook is here tonight. I'll call him over right away."

To the postman's surprise, the official who had been so critical yesterday, and who almost slammed his fist on the table when he learned that the cook was not there, shook his head and said, "No need. Since the food has been left, we can take it ourselves."

He then said, "I see the tea outside is empty. The deputy has just sat down. Go and refill it quickly."

The courier knew that the "deputy courier" referred to the deputy transport commissioner, so he dared not delay and hurriedly took the jug away.

The official and servant entered the kitchen, where the oil lamp was still lit, and began to rummage through the pots and pans.

The former went to flip the pot, and when he opened the lid, he saw several bowls of dishes inside, all of them thick with oil and dark soy sauce. Because they had been sitting in the pot for a long time and were kept in hot water, the meat was fine, but the braised cabbage and lettuce leaves had turned yellow and looked disgusting, so he couldn't help but frown.

The servant of the deputy transport commissioner leaned over and saw the many dogwood and mustard seeds in the other dishes, as well as the strong smell of dogwood. He was also troubled and said, "My lord had stomach pains twice today. He only ate half a steamed bun at noon, and then it was already late in the evening. He wanted to have a comfortable meal, but why is the kitchen serving such spicy dishes!"

Upon hearing this, the subordinate's expression changed slightly, and he asked casually, "Does the deputy have a bad stomach? I've never heard of this before. Yesterday he said he had no appetite, but he thought it was because the food was bland..."

The servant said, "When the master gets busy, he always forgets to eat, especially in the last two years..."

He stopped there and abruptly changed the subject, saying, "Tomorrow I'll talk to the kitchen and ask them to prepare at least one or two light dishes, otherwise the master won't be able to eat!"

The subordinate official replied, "I will handle this matter."

He then feigned dissatisfaction, frowning and scolding, "This innkeeper is utterly incompetent!"

If Chef Zhang were here, he would surely shout his grievances until his throat is hoarse!
—Hey!
Who doesn't know better?

Who the hell told the postmaster yesterday that my cooking was tasteless?! Wasn't that you?!
I finally gave you a taste of life, and now you're bringing up this "inn kitchen" thing again, one today and two tomorrow. Give me a straight answer!
Unfortunately, Chef Zhang was fast asleep in the storeroom and could not defend himself.

The two of them clicked their tongues and sighed as they took the food out of the pot and looked around for a tray. They found it on the table in the middle, and besides the tray, they saw a food box. They were about to use it to hold the food when they opened it and saw that it also contained food.

The subordinate official was even more disgusted, saying, "The post station kitchen in Huazhou is really lazy. Yesterday they still brought us food boxes and packed each meal individually, but today they only packed one meal and found it too troublesome. They're too lazy to prepare the rest!"

He then greeted the servants and diligently carried the food box and tray out to deliver the meal to his superior.

In the front hall, Wang Shuji, the deputy transport commissioner, seemed rather distracted.

Seeing the courier bring tea, he thanked him and asked, "When will the road to the capital be open? Do you have any news from your post station?"

The courier hurriedly said, "This year's rainfall has been particularly heavy, and the river has changed course. A tributary has blocked the main road. If the water doesn't recede, I'm afraid the road may not be passable unless we take a long detour. However, the weather has cleared up these past two days, and the water is receding. With the time it takes to take a long detour, I'm afraid the original main road will be mostly open by now."

Wang Shuji calculated the days in his mind and then asked, "How do we take the longer route?"

The courier said, "The floods are high this year, and the road ahead may not be passable. I can't guarantee anything. However, there is a group of people from the Capital Water Conservancy Bureau staying at the post station. They came by a detour. If you are in a hurry, sir, you might as well ask them if the way they came is passable."

Upon hearing the words "Water Conservancy Bureau," Wang Shuji exclaimed "Oh!" and pointed outside the door, saying, "All these fences, banners, signs, tables, and chairs—are they set up by the Water Conservancy Bureau to recruit people? Why such a grand setup?"

The courier hurriedly denied it, saying, "No, it's Miss Song recruiting people herself."

Because of the questioning from his superior, he had no choice but to repeat Song Miao's previous statement to the outside world.

Wang Shuji had served as an official for many years and naturally had some experience. He was quite annoyed, but after hearing the postman's explanation, he was amused.

After the courier had left, a young man sitting to Wang Shuji's right couldn't help but ask, "Uncle, what are you laughing at?"

Facing his nephew, Wang Shuji naturally made no attempt to hide anything, saying, "I was perfectly fine as the Director of Water Conservancy, but I was forced to borrow a young lady's name."

He added, “Huazhou… The prefect here must be the son-in-law of the Min family in Luzhou. That man is known for his shrewdness. He took on a post at the Water Conservancy Bureau, most likely to help Huazhou repair canals and manage water. This matter should have been handled by the prefectural government, which conscripted laborers. But now, instead of using laborers, they are spending money to recruit manpower, and each recruitment is for thousands. It’s obvious that this is the Water Conservancy Bureau’s doing. They’re using a cook’s name as an excuse, not daring to take the lead themselves. Nine times out of ten, it’s the local clerks who are making things difficult.”

As he spoke, he couldn't help but add a word of advice: "Remember this, in the world of officials and clerks, it's never a case of the East Wind prevailing over the West Wind, or vice versa. If you become an official in the future, and you can't control one person, your power will fall into the wrong hands, and you'll gain a bad reputation. Not only will you not get any benefits, but if things go wrong, it's not impossible for you to be dismissed from your post."

He told his nephew a few cases, such as a certain year, a certain person, because the clerks falsified the public account books, but he did not notice, so when the court came down to inspect, they found that the treasury and the accounts did not match, and he was given a low evaluation. Since this person could not find the culprit, he simply punished all the clerks involved and ordered everyone to make up the difference.

The following year, a severe drought struck. When the imperial court was about to open the granaries to provide disaster relief, it was discovered that half of the grain stored under his jurisdiction was missing.

Such a huge mess inevitably led to his demotion and demotion, and he was even detained in prison by the Provincial Judicial Commissioner, serving as a jailer for a long time.

He stopped talking when he saw the subordinate carrying a food box over.

When the subordinate official stepped forward, the nephew hurriedly went to greet him and helped to arrange the dishes on the tray one by one. As he did so, he shook his head and said, "Why are all the dishes like this? They're either pickled or have a bunch of dogwood on them."

He said to Wang Shuji, "Uncle, your stomach isn't good, you can't eat such spicy food. Why don't you ask the cook to prepare two more dishes?"

Wang Shuji shook his head and said, "I don't have much of an appetite, and nothing tastes good to me. Why make things difficult for others? It's already hard enough to cook so many dishes. Waking people up late at night and having to get up early to make breakfast tomorrow is just wasteful. We can't finish them all right now, so making more would be even more of a waste."

He then pointed to the yellowing cabbage and said, "It's not that they're all inedible; I'll eat this one."

As expected, he picked up a piece with his chopsticks and ate it to show the three of them. The cabbage absorbed the flavors, and there was plenty of vegetable oil and sauce. It was actually not bad at all when it was fresh out of the pot, but now that it had been sitting for half a night, it had become watery and had absorbed all the sauce flavor, making it quite salty.

—It's not Chef Zhang's fault, it's just that everyone came back too late, and no braised cabbage can withstand being left out like that.

After taking a bite of the dish, Wang Shuji didn't say anything. He just drank several large mouthfuls of tea and silently swallowed two mouthfuls of rice. When he picked up his chopsticks again, he didn't dare to pick up any more cabbage. Instead, he hovered his chopsticks around the table.

Just as he was wondering where to begin with each dish, his nephew took a bowl out of the food box.

The bowl contained half soup and half vegetables. The soup was thick and white, with a white and yellow fried egg and a piece of pork with a light pink tinge lying halfway in it. Several large, long, jujube-shaped meatballs were just peeking out. It was sprinkled with some chopped green onions, which were not quite green and had been sitting for a while, but they still tried their best to make a fresh garnish.

This dish looks like it's something his stomach can handle.

Wang Shuji ladled a spoonful into his bowl and ate a bite with his rice.

He chewed that bite for quite a while.

The subordinate official beside him was very considerate. Seeing this, he quickly said, "Deputy Chief, since you have a weak stomach, it's best not to force yourself. I see there are still some dishes in the kitchen. You should be considerate of the cook and not ask him to get up. How about I have someone cook these dishes a little more?"

He then made a gesture as if to pick up a tray and call someone over.

Wang Shuji had food in his mouth and couldn't speak, but he quickly waved his chopsticks and said after swallowing, "No need, no need, this dish is very good, it suits my taste perfectly."

As he spoke, he quickly ladled another spoonful into his bowl.

There's a shrimp ball in this spoonful.

The shrimp balls were lightly fried, with the outer layer only slightly browned, and because they had been soaking in the broth for a long time, they had absorbed a little bit of the broth.

While the meat and egg soup is certainly sweet and delicious, these shrimp balls are made entirely of shrimp meat, with no starch added except for egg white. When you bite into them, the texture is bouncy and firm.

Because he used his front teeth to bite, his four teeth in both the upper and lower rows seemed to be being tightly gripped by something exerting force against each other. After repeatedly biting through them, the shrimp juice locked inside finally slowly blended into the original meat and egg soup, adding a touch of shrimp freshness to the sweetness, along with a hint of celery freshness.

The soup was originally a pleasantly sweet and savory flavor, but now it has become even richer and more flavorful, with each layer enhancing the previous one.

As Wang Shuji ate this dish, he inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity, like when he was a teenager and read a comfortable and pleasant essay for the first time.

At first glance, it is elegant, fluent, and easy to read aloud. But when you reach the climax, it is like eating a very fresh meatball with egg, meat, and soup. You can even push it up layer by layer. Every sentence is metaphorical and every word is rhyming. When you finally finish reading, there is even a lingering aftertaste in your mouth and nasal sounds.

Although such writing may not be as famous as some other literary works, it has a unique freshness that lingers in the heart, making one want to think about it from time to time.

At this moment, Wang Shuji had not yet finished eating, but was already preparing to reminisce.

He ate a bite of meat and egg, a sip of soup, a bite of shrimp and a bite of rice, and he knew to chew slowly. While eating, he said to his nephew and the official, "You should eat quickly too, have a bite first. I didn't expect that the official road would be in such bad condition and the river would be so turbulent after the Yellow River changed its course. The long delay on the road has made you suffer with me."

Pointing to the meat, egg, shrimp, and date soup, he said, "Is this dish called 'human head dish'? When yours comes up, hurry up and try it too. It really tastes good, you can eat it often!"

He added, "Tomorrow we should ask those people from the Water Conservancy Bureau about where we came from. If we can leave, we should leave as soon as possible. The sooner we get to the capital, the sooner we can feel at ease."

"If we can't leave, we might have to stay a few more days. We might as well talk to the kitchen staff and ask if they can still make this dish. If it's inconvenient, I'll take out some money to help them out."

Wang Shuji was dreaming about tomorrow while on horseback, with the official post station just ahead. Kong Fuyang was also dreaming about tonight.

He has completed all the tasks assigned to him. The scholars from the prefecture have been selected and will report to the official post station together early tomorrow morning. He has also gone through the procedures for tomorrow and they are almost done.

Everything is ready, just waiting for tomorrow!
A huge weight was lifted from his heart, and finally, he was in the mood to eat!
His meat and egg soup! I tasted both the egg and the meat inside, and it's no wonder it's made by Miss Song! There were also long, long meatballs. Although I didn't taste them, the outer skin was slightly browned, and the cut surface was a light pink color, like shrimp. I don't know if they were shrimp meatballs, but they looked delicious!

I haven't had a chance to eat yet, hehe! Here comes Kong Fuyang!

Upon arriving at the official post station, he reined in his horse, dismounted, and greeted "Brother Liu" as he entered.

The courier, Brother Liu, didn't come out, presumably because he was busy. Kong Fuyang didn't think much of it and decided not to bother him. He tied up his horse, patted its rump a couple of times, added hay and water, and then, with a smile on his face, hopped towards the kitchen.

As he was leaving, he brushed past a servant who was carrying a tray of food.

Kong Fuyang stepped aside to let him pass.

As soon as he entered, he went straight to the central table.

The oil lamp was still lit, the room was still the same room, and the table hadn't changed much—except for his own food box!
Kong Fuyang had been starving the whole way, and it felt like the sky had fallen. He searched the kitchen, turning over pots and pans, but only managed to get half a pot of white rice. There was nothing else. He was so anxious and irritable that he almost wanted to scream to the heavens. At this moment, he finally remembered the servant from earlier. He couldn't remember if the servant had any of his Song dishes on the tray he was carrying. He hurriedly turned around and followed the direction the servant had taken towards the front hall.

It was quite late, and there were only two or three tables in the hall. The rest of the people were drinking tea. Only one table in the corner had a lot of dishes on it, and the servant from before was standing next to it. There was also a very conspicuous box of cooked food on another table.

—It was his food box!
Kong Fuyang still held a glimmer of hope, so he cautiously stepped forward, keeping a distance, and glanced at the other side.

That glance was enough to spot the bowl in front of Wang Shuji.

The thick white broth in the bowl was reduced to a thin layer at the bottom, and there was hardly any egg, meat, or long date-shaped meatballs left.

Whether from hunger or discomfort, Kong Fuyang nearly lost his balance. He stepped forward, bowed, and barely suppressed his anger as he asked, "Gentlemen, may I ask—where did you get these food boxes and dishes?"

(End of this chapter)