158 – Countrywide Cooking Competition

Lei Xiangren passed by the gate of the old house. He had already gone far and couldn’t help looking back at the locked gate.

Zhao Shi understood his thoughts. She sighed and said between gnashing teeth, “Family head, we had been cheated by Old Five back then. If he had not coaxed us with that 100 taels of silver, how could we have decided to separate? If there had been no separation, we would have been eating and drinking lavishly in the Capital by now.”

Lei Xiangren thought the same as what she said. However, he felt very disgraced getting grumbled at by his wife that he had to retort, “Old Five is just a junior officer now. How much profit can he dredge up?”¹

Zhu’er stood behind them with two heavy hoes on her shoulders. She secretly looked at the calluses on her hands and sighed in silence.

“It’s better than staying in the recess of the mountains!” Zhao Shi curled her lips, “We’re running out of money. What should we do in the future, ah?”

“What? It’s going to run out so soon?” Lei Xiangren stared at her, not daring to believe it.

Zhao Shi put her hands on her hips and stared with round eyes, “Can I even cheat you? Back then, Old Five gave—”

Lei Xiangren immediately interrupted her, “Go back first and talk later! Don’t you see where it is?”

The three of them quickly walked home.

“Zhu’er, bar the gate!”

“Aye.”

Lei Xiangren looked back at Zhu’er, and his eyes fell on her upturned butt. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

Zhao Shi didn’t notice as she took out the key to open the door of the main hall.

“Family head, go get a basin of water for me to wash my face. I’ll get the money box.”

“Get it yourself.” Lei Xiangren came to his senses and remembered that matter. He ran into the bedroom and took out a wooden box from the bottom of the suitcase and opened it with the key hanging around his neck. When he saw that there were only two pieces of broken silver and twenty pieces of copper left in the box, he narrowed his eyes and yelled out, “What are you wasting time for, smelly woman! Why don’t you come in?”

“Coming, coming.” Zhao Shi wiped her face with a towel and said with dissatisfaction, “What’s so urgent?”

“Where did you hide the silvers? I don’t believe that’s all the money left at home.” Lei Xiangren coldly stared at her as he spoke with suspicion.

Zhao Shi was taken aback. Then, she was so aggrieved she slapped her thigh and uttered cries of anguish, “You villain! When did I hide the silvers? Don’t you know how many times you take the money? Aiyah, there’s no way to live…”

“Enough!” Lei Xiangren had a headache when she quarreled with him. He started to count the account with his fingers. He and Zhao Shi were always lazy. Before they separated from the old house, they seldom found odd jobs and had no money to save. At most, they just took advantage to deduct some money when Du Shi gave them money to buy some commodity or food for the family. They didn’t save the money. They bought snacks and ate them in a few days. After the separation, they had Lei Xiangzhi’s 100 silver taels plus 40 silver taels from selling the charcoal burning formula, all of which added up to 140 silver taels. Aside from building the new house, buying furniture, digging well, he bought Zhao Shi jewelry, bought a long-life lock for each Dabao and Erbao, bought a jade pendant for himself, paid for Dabao and Erbao’s school, and made clothes for his family…

The more Lei Xiangren calculated, the more frightened he was. His body froze and his eyes were round. After calculating all of that, they only had 2 silver taels at most! To him, who had formed the bad habit of spending money lavishly, and Zhao Shi, who liked to look good in the eyes of others, this was as good as a thunderbolt out of a clear sky.

Zhao Shi was still delusional that maybe it was this villain man who hid a part of the money to make bogus accusations against her. But looking at his expression that didn’t look fake, Zhao Shi’s heart tightened. She asked in a worried voice, “How is it, family head? Is our family truly run out of money?”

Lei Xiangren’s face was overcast as he said in a deep voice, “It’s all that’s left in the money box…”

Zhao Shi panicked, “You, you did not hide the money? So, what should we do in the future?” At the thought of the future where she had to be as frugal as she had been a long time ago that even those uncouth village women would look down at her, she felt pain like thorns growing all over her body.

Lei Xiangren had nothing to say in reply.

Zhao Shi said in weeps and sobs, “Why did I follow you, such a useless person? If only we had known it would be like this, we shouldn’t have sold the charcoal burning formula back then, or we would have sold it secretly ourselves…”

Lei Xiangren had a flash of inspiration in his mind and began to laugh, “Hahaha…”

Zhao Shi raised her orchid fingers to wipe her tears with a handkerchief and said with distaste, “You can still laugh?”

Lei Xiangren picked up the teapot on the side of the table and poured himself a cup of tea with leisure. His eyes twinkled with cunning dark light. “Back then, it’s our lost to sell that charcoal burning formula – what if we sell the formula further away again, won’t we make some money?”

At first, Zhao Shi rejoiced, but then looked worried, “Can it be done? I remember that Old Five asked you to press your thumbprint on the document that said it’s sold to one person only and mustn’t be sold again to other people.”

“If you’re as timid as a mouse, you won’t be able to do something big.” Lei Xiangren glanced at her and disapprovingly said, “We’ll sell it to a farther place. As long as you and I don’t tell anyone, who will know? What’s more, our Fifth Brother and youngest brother-in-law are government officials now. Even the County Magistrate came to congratulate them personally. If we are found out, we have them. What are we afraid of?”

Zhao Shi lost her mind at the thought of the money she was about to get. She repeatedly nodded, full of joy. “Right, right, my husband is very thoughtful!”

Don’t mind Lei Xiangren and Zhao Shi who took the road to ruin.

After Qin Mian finished the matter of the bakery, he began to prepare for the cooking competition.

Strictly speaking, Qin Mian couldn’t compare with other “professional” chefs in terms of the cooking skill itself. However, compared with other chefs, he had several obvious advantages: first, his dishes would be more novel than others; second, his seasoning was better than others; third, he had spiritual spring water; fourth, his ingredients were produced in the magical space; fifth, since he began to practice, his senses of smell and taste were more sensitive than before, so he would be more precise in the use of seasoning than others. With all of that, he was fully confident in this competition.

Still, what should be prepared still had to be prepared. He wanted to make all the contestants and judges marvel at his dishes.

He spent five days observing the four chefs in Double Xiang House to make sure that he left at least some impression of a “chef” on others.

Then, he spent a day setting down the menu for the competition and practicing over and over again to make sure that his cooking moves and steps were skilled and fluent…

Time went like lightning. In a twinkling of an eye, it was already the middle of the 6th lunar month.

There were more and more outsiders in Running Water Town. They all had heard that Double Xiang House was going to hold a countrywide cooking competition and wanted to see the show. The inns in Running Water Town were full, and even people’s homes were rented. The owners of all the shops in the town went practically crazy with happiness. Some small shops in the recession were already satisfied to be able to earn tens of Wen a day. But now, their daily net profit at least exceeded 200 Wen, which was more than five or six times their previous net profit.

Famous chefs from wine houses all over the country had arrived at Double Xiang House one after another.

Starting from the 17th day of the 6th month, Double Xiang House was no longer open to the public. It only received participants.

On the 19th day of the 6th month, the registration was closed.

Manager Sun looked at the registration list and clicked his tongue. There was a total of 79 wine houses participating in the competition, all came from the Western Mountains, Eastern Mountains, North Rivers, and South Lakes… and even from the Capital. One could imagine how sensational this cooking competition was.

Qin Mian was very clear that the main purpose for most wine houses to be willing to participate in the competition was still the seasoning recipe. Anyway, it didn’t matter why these people come to the competition. The important thing was that they came and spared no effort in the competition for the seasoning recipe – that was enough.

On the morning of the 20th day, the persons-in-charge of all [participating] wine houses sat together to discuss the rules of the competition.

Qin Mian directly asked Lei Tie to write a hundred copies of the competition rules in advance and asked him to send one to each persons-in-charge.

The persons-in-charge looked at the calm young man dressed in blue with some uneasiness in their hearts and accepted the copy of the competition rules to examine in detail.

One person read out loud, “All contestants must come up with enough [gaming] chips. If they can’t win the top five places, the chips belong to the top five wine houses. For example, the chips of Double Xiang House are the secret recipes of the thirteen spices and the eighteen delicacies. If Double Xiang House can’t win the top five, the top five wine houses can get the secret recipes of the thirteen spices and the eighteen delicacies. If gold and silver are used as chips, the chips are equally 600 taels for every participant… There are three items in the competition. First, distinguish the seasonings in a certain dish; second, make a vegetable dish; third, make a meat dish… In order to avoid people from sabotaging, the food materials and cooking utensils should be provided by oneself… The dishes are evaluated by anonymous selection for fairness and acknowledgment…”

After reading the two pages, everyone spontaneously wanted to wipe their sweat. Nicely detailed rules, almost no loopholes to drill in! Inexplicably, they all believed that these rules were made by Qin Mian, the Little Boss of Double Xiang House. Although the poker-faced man looked frightening, he didn’t seem to have such an intricate mind.

Qin Mian said with a faint smile, “If you have any requirements, you can add them. If you have any suggestions, you can also mention them.”

Zheng Xiangui said, “If gold and silver are used as chips, how can they be allocated to the top five? Split it equally?”

“Of course not.” Qin Mian said, “We’ll divide all the gold and silver into fifteen equal parts. The first place gets five parts, the second place gets four parts, the third-place gets three parts, the fourth-place gets two parts, and the fifth-place gets one part. And of course, if you think it’s unfair for all the top five to get the complete recipes of the thirteen spices and the eighteen delicacies if my Double Xiang House loses, I can modify the recipe. The first place gets the complete recipes, the second place can get a few less—”

Before he had finished, someone waved to stop him.

“No, no, just follow the original rules. If your wine house, unfortunately, falls outside the top five, the top five all get the complete secret recipes.”

The rest echoed in succession. They didn’t take the rising Double Xiang House seriously, but there was no lack of wine houses with a long-established reputation in the competition. No one dared to say that they must take the first place. It was better to share with all the top five.

Another person raised a suggestion: “Cooking skill is not limited only to the standard of making a dish, but also the requirements for knife work. Shouldn’t knife work be added to the contents of the competition?”

Many people echoed this statement.

Qin Mian shook his head. “No matter how good the dish is cut, it will still be unpalatable if it doesn’t taste good. So, I don’t think it’s necessary. If you insist on adding this item, my Double Xiang House can only stand down regretfully.”

The corner of everyone’s mouths twitched. Doesn’t this show clearly that it’s not allowed to add knife work?

Everyone had no choice but to compromise on this point.

Jin Chang’an, from the wine house in the Capital, stood up and said, “About the judges of the competition, Jin would like to introduce three people to everyone first.”

Everyone had long noticed the three old men sitting behind him.

Jin Chang’an cupped his hands in obeisance to one of the 50-year-old men, “This person has worked as the Imperial Chef for more than ten years; Old Liu with the name Yunwei. I think you’ve all heard of him.”

As soon as his voice fell, many looked surprised and happy. In the wine house business, few had never heard of Old Liu’s formal name. No one doubted that someone was pretending. After all, one had to be convincing when commenting, lest one made a fool of oneself.

Everyone stood up and bowed with hands folded in front to salute.

Old Liu laughed warmly and kindly and cupped his hands as he said “You don’t have to be polite. This old fellow, I, happened to be in the Capital when I heard the news, so I came to join in with Boss Jin. If everyone can trust this old fellow me, I’ll shamelessly be the judge.”

One by one, everyone said that they trusted him but simultaneously looked toward Qin Mian for fear that he would be “an annoying troublemaker” again.

Qin Mian cupped his hands in obeisance and said, “It’s our blessing to have Old Liu overseeing this competition. Hope Old Liu gives this junior a chance to entertain you.”

“You flatter me,” said Liu Yunwei with a smile.

Jin Chang’an also introduced two other elders: one was Old Gu and the other was Old Wen, both of whom were good friends of Old Liu. They were once a generation of famous chefs, and now they had retired.

After they discussed some details, the final rules were determined, copied, and pasted on the wall.

The afternoon of the 20th day and the 21st day were reserved for participants to familiarize themselves with the venue and order food ingredients.

By the way, I open the coffee shop. Feel free to stop by. 😛

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Footnotes