Volume 3: Dragon and Snake Movement Chapter 452: Try Before You Buy
Even Princess Yongping, who always believed that appearance may age but talent never does, was well-versed in poetry, songs, calligraphy, and painting, and had some knowledge of miscellaneous subjects. However, when she was faced with mathematics, which she could not even get started with and became more confused the more she listened, and which was even obviously more difficult to understand than the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art, she could not help but have the urge to roll her eyes like Zhu Ying.
So, seeing that Ge Yong didn't even bother to eat and was pulling Zhang Shou to ask questions endlessly, and that several eunuchs who had taken the serving plates from the waiter downstairs were walking upstairs, neither advancing nor retreating, she finally stood up and went forward in person.
Just now, she glanced at the dishes and remembered her previous topic that overly emphasized simplicity. She felt that Zhang Shou's sudden additional topic was just right. Otherwise, if she had put a table full of cheap and delicious snacks according to her request, it would certainly earn her a good reputation, but the old gentlemen and nobles present would not think so.
So, thinking of helping Zhang Shou out of the predicament, she came to Ge Yong and said with a smile: "Grand Master Ge, the chefs downstairs have worked hard to prepare the dishes and sent them up. Do you think it is…"
Disliking Princess Yongping's overly gentle attitude, Zhu Ying jumped up and pressed Ge Yong's shoulder and shouted, "Grandpa Ge, today is Mingyue's, A Shou's and my birthday. Can you please give A Shou a day off? At worst, you can order him to write down all these things clearly for you within a few days!"
“How many days does it take to write all this?”
Ge Yong laughed immediately: "Xiao Yingying, do you know how complicated these things are? When Zhang Shou was explaining it to us just now, he still had to think about how to say it. It is enough to show that this involves a lot of messy things. If he really wants to write it, it will not be like the previous things. It will not be completed in ten days or half a month!" He can't finish it in a year or two!
Seeing Zhu Ying interrupting and Princess Yongping trying to persuade him, Zhang Shou quickly took the opportunity to say, "There are some things I haven't thought about yet, so I use this as a topic to stimulate discussion. This is not to embarrass the students, but to see how they think. Of course, I need the help of the teacher and the two gentlemen. But Yingying is right, today is the imperial chef selection competition, don't turn it into a discussion meeting."
Seeing this, Qi Jingshan joked, "That's right, this is a grand gathering of chefs. Old Ge, don't let down the hard work of those chefs."
Following him, Chu Ying snorted, "Zhang Shou, you actually wasted your precious time on eating, and you never hide the fact that you are a foodie. Your talent is totally wasted! You accepted so many students last year, but now none of them are staying in Jiuzhang Hall. You have sent them all to do odd jobs everywhere. What the hell!"
Ge Yong could scold Zhang Shou himself, but he could never criticize others, so he immediately forgot the topic they had just argued about and slammed .
"Didn't you say before that I was a full man who didn't know the hunger of a hungry man? I see you are talking without any worries now! Most of the students in Jiuzhang Hall are poor students. If they don't have a proper job, who will support them in the future? You? If you pat your chest now, I will send all of my people to your home for you to support!"
"Old man Ge, do you think I'm as rich as you? I'm penniless, but I can barely support myself! You're disgusted by your last disciple meddling in trivial matters every day, and now that I say something, am I stepping on your tail or something?"
Seeing Chu Ying's eyes glaring, the two old men, whose combined age had already exceeded 150 years old, were about to quarrel. Zhang Shou could only quickly mediate between them, and Qi Jingshan also came out to persuade them helplessly, and finally the two old men who were fighting with each other sat down again. Fortunately, Ge Yong's anger came quickly and went away even faster, and he calmed down in a moment.
"Zhang Shou, you, Xiao Yingying and Princess Yongping are all birthday boys today, so the three of you should sit together, otherwise it won't look like a birthday party. You didn't see it, but I did. Xiao Yingying has been peeking at us so many times. If she keeps doing that, my back will itch! Besides, if you don't feel uncomfortable sitting with such a picky guy, I will!"
Before the angry Chu Ying could retort, Ge Yong dragged Zhang Shou up and pushed him to Zhu Ying's table, forcing him to sit down on a chair. He then turned around calmly, glanced at Zhu Jing, and said with a dry cough, "Duke Zhao, anyway, Zhang Shou and Xiao Yingying have already signed their marriage certificate and are already a family. You don't mind, do you?"
Even if I have an opinion, what can I do? You, old man, have already forced us to sit at the same table!
Zhu Jing sighed inwardly and couldn't help thinking that he really shouldn't have come today - but his mother and wife were all following him, and they kept saying that it was so hard for their daughter and future son-in-law to celebrate their birthday together in Beijing, and if they weren't afraid that after they came, they would definitely be separated into boys and girls, they would have come to join in the fun.
Therefore, he could only give a dry laugh as a response to Ge Yong, but when he saw Zhu Ying happily sitting next to Zhang Shou, he couldn't help but feel that this scene was really dazzling.
If both sons have wives, will he still be like this? No, definitely not! No wonder men are more tolerant of their daughters-in-law, but more picky about their sons-in-law!
As for Princess Yongping, she didn't mind Zhang Shou coming to the table. After all, she and Zhu Ying could stare at each other and bicker when they were alone. But in front of so many people, Zhu Ying didn't care about her face, but she had to maintain her princess's demeanor. However, as soon as Zhang Shou sat down, two young eunuchs hurriedly came forward to serve the dishes, and then she didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
Because Zhu Ying reached out her hand directly, took the pot of bright red fish on the boxwood plate, and placed it directly in front of Zhang Shou, followed by a plate of eel, and then a portion of duck. Three full plates were placed in front of Zhang Shou. Finally, there was no more room, so Zhu Ying placed the remaining two dishes in front of her princess, one was a long vegetarian dish, and the other was a yellow soup.
Even though Princess Yongping did eat more vegetables than meat on weekdays—she was not like Zhu Ying who exercised a lot, so she could not gain weight at all and had to pay attention to her body shape all the time—she was still shocked by Zhu Ying's blatant care for her lover. After a moment of stunned silence, she said angrily, "Zhu Ying, do you still think you are the child who ate alone?"
"I eat alone, but now I've asked Ah Shou to eat with me! Besides, I heard that you eat vegetarian food on the first and fifteenth of every month. Today is the fifteenth. Try the shredded potatoes and pumpkin soup. They are flavors you've never tasted before. I specially saved them for you. Try them. I guarantee they'll be delicious!"
Seeing Zhu Ying's posture of dividing the dishes just now, Zhang Shou couldn't help but think of those children who were guarding their food, and couldn't help but laugh and cry. So, facing Princess Yongping's delicate face, he could only act as a commentator.
"Princess, you have never eaten potatoes and pumpkins, right? These are shredded potatoes and pumpkin soup made with potatoes and pumpkins. I can't say for sure how the chefs prepare them, as I haven't tasted them. It is said that in Haidong Continent, the locals used these two ingredients as staple foods like rice and noodles here."
As he spoke, he glanced at Old Salted Fish and said with a smile, "Of course, if you want to use it as a staple food, you can boil it in salt water, then peel it and mash it into a paste. But now as a dish, the taste is very important. I don't know how the chef seasoned it. However, if I reveal the taste of potatoes and pumpkins in advance, it will be less of a surprise. Princess, why don't you try it first?"
Princess Yongping didn't trust Zhu Ying, but at least she knew that Zhang Shou was not the type to flatter people with sweet words.
However, she would never try anything she had never seen before - she had never been the type of person who liked new things. Caution and carefulness occupied most of her personality, just as impulsiveness and hot temper were always Zhu Ying's temperament.
At this moment, when she was hesitating, she saw Zhu Ying had unceremoniously extended her chopsticks across half the table.
She could only watch Zhu Ying snatch the food from the tiger's mouth, pick up a large chopstick of potato shreds and put it into her mouth, but her eyes widened after chewing twice. When she found that Zhu Ying's expression was obviously not right, Princess Yongping, who was still mumbling just now, was stunned for a moment, and then she had a bad premonition.
You know, although the poisoning incident in Kunning Palace was proved to be just a joke, it happened outside the palace now. Could something really happen?
"Hurry and get it..." Zhang Shou had just called out two words when a cup was stuffed into his hand. Noticing that the temperature was just right, he did not have time to see who was bringing him the tea. He directly helped Zhu Ying drink half the cup of water.
Sure enough, after gulping down half a glass of water, Zhu Ying breathed a sigh of relief.
"Which chef made this ? Oh my god, I knew it was spicy, but I didn't expect it to be this spicy! How can Dad and Grandpa Ge get used to it? This is just a rip-off! These chefs just got to know chili peppers today, how dare they put so many seasonings in it so carelessly?"
Zhang Shou picked up a piece of potato shreds with a strange look on his face, and then he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows. For him, who hadn't experienced the baptism of extreme spiciness in his previous life for many years, this potato shreds was actually quite good, but Zhu Ying's ability to eat spicy food was far worse than his, and it was understandable that she immediately had the same feeling as before after taking a bite. But as Zhu Ying said, is the chef downstairs that serious?
However, he was about to remind the people at the other two tables - after all, the four monks, three big and one small, and Old Salted Fish should be people who have been baptized by chili peppers for a long time and should not be so useless - but when he turned his head, he saw that at the table of nobles, Duke Zhao Zhu Jing, Duke Qin Zhang Chuan, and Earl of Weinan Zhang Kang, three people with three pairs of chopsticks almost simultaneously picked up a chopstick of shredded potatoes.
That’s not all. The same was true for Ge Yong, Qi Jingshan and Chu Ying at the other table.
If Zhu Ying had just said it was delicious, they might have been skeptical, but Zhu Ying's inappropriate behavior aroused their curiosity. So, almost immediately after they took a bite, at least three or four of the six people at the two tables coughed violently.
“Cough, cough, cough—”
Princess Yongping simply didn't know what expression she should show - it was okay for Zhu Ying to be reckless, but how could those elderly people act like children?
At this moment, she saw the low-key boy who had just silently handed Zhang Shou the teacup approach Zhang Shou and said with his head down, "It was Aunt Liu who told the chefs that you love spicy food."
Zhang Shou then realized that Ah Liu had come. He had not expected that Aunt Liu was the biggest contributor to this strange seasoning. He was so amused that he immediately said, "Go down and tell them to be careful when using the chili pepper. Not everyone can tolerate this novel taste. If it affects their judgment, they will be held responsible!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Ah Liu agreed. However, just as the young man went down to warn the chefs, Weinan Earl Zhang Kang suddenly said, "Although the taste is a bit strong, it is very memorable. I quite like it. This condiment is called chili? It is also an overseas specialty, grown in Cangzhou? When I go back to Beijing and see that it is grown, I will order ten kilograms a month!"
Ten kilograms per month... Zhang Shou was surprised. Weinan Bo, do you think you can finish it? Wait, I forgot that what we grow are fresh peppers, not dried peppers. Ten kilograms is not much. Dry them and grind them into powder, then sprinkle them on the grilled beef and mutton skewers. That should be very good. I wonder if this Mongolian who has been naturalized for many years still likes the rough stuff like barbecue.
Oh, there is more than just Zhang Kang in the Weinan Marquis' Mansion. There are dozens or even hundreds of people. If ten kilograms of chili peppers are delivered, most people probably won't even be able to drink a sip of the chili water...
As Zhang Shou was thinking, he suddenly recalled a friend who loved spicy food and bought ten kilograms of chili peppers for home. He burst out laughing. Then he saw the three young monks behind Guan Tao all showing their joy. He knew that as professionals who have been growing these for many years, they were very happy that the fruits of their labor were welcomed.
After Zhang Kang, Zhang Chuan said thoughtfully: "I can't get used to this pepper for a while, but the taste of this potato shreds is very special. If there is another way to cook it, it will be a good dish. And if it can be used as a staple food, I would like to study it. Then, after it is grown, send ten kilograms to my house every month... No, twenty kilograms."
Zhu Jing didn't want to admit that he had tasted it because of Zhu Ying's performance, and it was this taste that choked him. Neither the shredded potatoes nor the chili peppers suited his appetite, and he naturally had no intention of bringing them home, but he couldn't lose to Zhang Kang and Zhang Chuan.
Otherwise, after he returns, will the Madam and Jiu Niang blame him for not being willing to help their future son-in-law?
So he put down his chopsticks and said calmly, "Remember to send ten kilograms of peppers and twenty kilograms of potatoes to the mansion every month in the future."
Zhang Shou listened to the numbers one after another and couldn't help but be surprised. He felt that after the choking reaction just now, there were still orders. It seemed a bit abnormal! Sure enough, the next moment he heard Chu Ying's complaint.
"What kind of messed up flavors are these? You think they're good? I still prefer something lighter!"
