Chapter 304: Chapter 244: Shang Xinlei’s Food Time

Jingxin Town. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Initially, it was just the Shang Family’s camp surrounded by dense jungle. However, over generations through development, such as cutting down forests and filling in swamps, it has grown into a small town of nearly 200,000 people, housing merchants, barbers, theater troupes, chefs, craftsmen, and more. Initially, they served the camp, but gradually prospered, developing more industries reliant on the camp.

At this moment, five butchers were waiting in the camp’s kitchen, mostly dozing off in chairs, scattered here and there. Suddenly, a maid forcefully pushed open the door, "Stop sleeping, get to work, the Fourth Miss needs it now!"

The butchers immediately awoke quickly, tying up the sheep sleeping on the straw. A swift cut let blood flow until the sheep’s legs continued kicking frantically, showing how well it had been raised. They then inserted two thick long iron needle pipes into the sheep’s heels, using tools to continuously pump air inside. Soon, the entire sheep puffed up, and that’s when the butchers smoothly peeled off the sheep’s skin and started cutting meat.

The impatient maids beside them immediately carried platters of fresh lamb, jogging all the way to a courtyard in the camp. All the windows in the courtyard room were open, bright inside, with white mist steaming out and heat diffusing.

Upon pushing open the room door, they heard the bubbling sound of boiling water. In the room’s center stood a peculiar stove on a pear blossom wood round table. The stove was fueled by charcoal at its base, a sharp cone pierced through a half-filled pot of clear water, with steam spouting from the top.

At this moment, Shang Xinlei was placing scallions, ginger, and dried shrimps into the clear water. After putting down the freshly cut lamb, the maids asked, "Fourth Miss, do you need us to stay and serve?"

"No need, you can leave." Shang Xinlei then continued, "Instruct the kitchen to prepare sour plums; I’ll need them tomorrow."

After the maids left, Shang Xinlei first added lamb tail fat into the pot, said that this would season the pot—although she didn’t know what seasoning meant.

Then she began mixing the sauce, first pouring a bowl of sesame paste, adding a bit of peppercorn and bay leaf water, a spoon of garlic-flower crushed sauce, and a brick of fermented tofu.

"First combine them together here..." Shang Xinlei was remembering and operating as she spoke, "Then add a bit of soy sauce, a bit of sugar, a bit of vinegar, for the second mixing... and finally, a bit of shrimp marinade oil and coriander stems."

Shang Xinlei wiped the sweat off her forehead. Mixing sauce wasn’t tiring, just merely being heated by the stove. She picked up two slices of lamb, perfectly cut by the butchers—not too thin to break nor too thick to obscure the grain by candlelight. She swirled them in the water twice till they changed color, then placed them into a bowl full of sauce, popping it into her mouth.

"Hmm~~~~"

Shang Xinlei couldn’t help but stomp her foot, extending her tongue to lick off the sauce around her mouth. She quickly threw a whole plate of lamb into the water, picked them up once they changed color, and placed them into the sauce bowl. She devoured five plates of lamb in no time, it tasted so good she simply couldn’t stop. She didn’t quite like the lamb tail fat’s flavor, though its texture was pretty good.

Although messengers have great digestion, eating so much in a short period still creates a feeling of fullness. Shang Xinlei touched her belly, feeling it bulging, her face slightly blushing, thinking she shouldn’t eat so hastily in the future.

Born into the Liang Kingdom noble family, unlike other peers indulging in sensuous pleasures, Shang Xinlei had her own passion—for delightful food. One of the original reasons she became a messenger was that it magnifies appetite, allowing her to eat without worrying about her figure, tremendously appealing to young girls conscious of their appearance.

After eating a lot, interest in culinary arts naturally followed. Shang Xinlei had long wanted to cook herself but felt it boring to eat alone and feared embarrassment from bad cooking... Until she met Yan Qing.

It’s not that Yan Qing was particularly important, but he was the first friend of Shang Xinlei who she felt it wouldn’t matter if she fed him crap. To her surprise, Yan Qing was very picky about his food and knew many odd dishes, including this stove-cooked lamb, which he suggested.

When describing it, his vivid storytelling made Shang Xinlei swallow with anticipation, compelling her to spend days gathering ingredients. Lamb was easiest, as Jingxin Small Residence Secret Realm produced it, but she had to send people to specifically buy sesame paste, garlic-flower sauce, shrimp marinade oil, and coriander as they weren’t locally available, and the stove had to be custom-made.

With such effort, Shang Xinlei didn’t intend to feast alone, planning to surprise Yan Qing tonight. She even had butchers waiting in the kitchen before the task, as Yan Qing said fresh-cut lamb was the finest. She had it all prepared, just waiting for the task to end to celebrate with Yan Qing.

Now?

Ha, eat your pastries!

Since cutting lamb requires time, Shang Xinlei didn’t want him going hungry, so she prepared a box of pastries for him to fill up his stomach... now it’s his only midnight snack!

Shang Xinlei picked up an oily dough ball and placed it in the boiling water, imagining Yan Qing gloomily eating pastries. Late at night, he had nowhere to buy midnight snacks. Suddenly recalling something, she quickly picked up the oily dough ball. It had softened somewhat but was delicious wrapped in sauce, its texture very pleasing.

This time Shang Xinlei only soaked the dough ball briefly before picking it up. Once she bit into it, her eyes brightened.

This time the dough ball’s exterior was still crispy, but the inside was filled with coriander and sauce—biting down caused a burst of flavors, unlike when it’s softened!

Delicious!

Shang Xinlei automatically glanced to her left, only realizing the next second she wasn’t at the Thief’s House. She hummed, starting to revengefully dunk lamb, boiling the clear water to a cloudy broth filled with foam.

Delicious, love it, and more importantly, not everyone gets to eat it!

But it really is delicious...

Shang Xinlei thought about it over and over, looking conflicted. At this moment, a maid brought in lamb and asked, "Miss, the chefs said they’ve cut all the best parts of the meat, the rest will be less tasty. Should we slaughter another sheep?"

"...No, no need to cut any more, just give the remaining meat to the servants as a bonus meal."

So many things happened tonight, everyone’s tired and sleepy, he’s probably asleep now. It’s unnecessary to wake him up.

Shang Xinlei fiddled with the sauce in her bowl, halfway through eating it became a mess, even the chopsticks couldn’t hold the sauce. No wonder he said not to add too much Sichuan pepper and bay leaf water, turns out when you dip the meat later it becomes too thin.

It indeed tastes good, next time... when he stops annoying me, I’ll have a meal with him.

Actually, Shang Xinlei wasn’t very mad at Yan Qing, she understood this weird guy too well. He’d stay cooped up in his room all day, fiddling with who knows what, like a monster from a fairy tale—thriving in malice and darkness, yet suffering agony when facing sunlight and happiness. This mission was full of twists and turns, he couldn’t even take care of himself, how could he be thinking about anything else?

What truly upset her was Pharmacist’s Wish.

Looking back now, Pharmacist’s Wish had been setting the stage from the beginning. She started by apologizing, because she had previously called Shang Xinlei and Yan Qing "scoundrels," and the apology was to dismiss that notion!

Then she asked if Shang Xinlei and Yan Qing were a couple, and naturally everyone proceeded to laugh and chat about Yan Qing’s quirks.

So when Pharmacist’s Wish suddenly hugged Yan Qing and proposed that Yan Qing spend half an hour on special training, Shang Xinlei was dumbfounded, because she had just distanced herself from Yan Qing—in truth, they really were just meal buddies—so all she could do was watch, feeling she had no standing to interfere.

But by this point, Shang Xinlei didn’t really mind, after all, they’d been through such a turbulent task, a hug was reasonable! Pharmacist’s Wish offered guidance out of goodwill, even though Shang Xinlei hadn’t witnessed Pharmacist’s Wish’s combat, she knew from the words of White Fox and Yellow Dog that she was indeed the top fighter in the Thief’s House, training with her was beneficial. Yan Qing wanting Shang Xinlei to join in the training was merely a sign of strong desire to improve.

Yet before leaving, Pharmacist’s Wish spoke some cryptic words about organizations, leaders, secrets, that left Shang Xinlei completely confused, though the other two seemed to understand each other perfectly.

I got here first, how come I’m the outsider now?

What Shang Xinlei couldn’t stand was Pharmacist’s Wish’s goodnight greeting, because she clearly saw a flash of subtle smugness and assurance in Pharmacist’s Wish’s eyes as if they were competitors in a contest, where Pharmacist’s Wish felt she was ahead and had no fears about Shang Xinlei’s threat, hence the expression!

What’s going on, making it look like I’d steal your man! Who’d want that bandaged weirdo anyway! Zhou People’s taste is horrible!

Besides, that body is just too unfair!

Shang Xinlei fumed, feeling a bit hungry again, cooked a hunk of noodles, tossed them in the sauce bowl, and slurped them down heartily. She bit down on the chopsticks, watching the steam rise from the hotpot lid, her mind full of confusion.

No way, why would Black Wolf be interested in him? He’s done nothing bad, never says anything nice, a prickly hedgehog attacking everyone. Three days ago if I hadn’t explained for him, Black Wolf would have thought Yellow Dog was just stopping her... wait!?

Shang Xinlei froze.

Could the root cause be me?

No way, no way, it must be Black Wolf’s taste is off, nobles these days have weird tastes. Besides, at most I bear one percent of the responsibility, the real issue is Yellow Dog’s lack of awareness of the situation!

Isn’t Black Wolf just chest a bit bigger, hips a bit rounder, cultivation a bit higher, status a bit loftier, strength a bit greater, contributions a bit more? Was that all it took for you to cling to her, you lecher!

She just dared to take risks for Rabbit Heroine anyway... and during the Exotic Iron trap eruption was the first to kick you away... plus she shares unknown secrets with you...

Shang Xinlei felt a pang of bitterness inside, turning to gaze at the empty left side.

You had quite a nice hug, huh? Even had the nerve to compare my size to hers, damn lecher, next time I’ll strangle you with bandages.

But now, who are you thinking about?