Chapter 55: The Shocked Mermaid Cream Stew and Crispy Baguette

The royal capital of Calmet has recently entered its winter blues season. From certain places in the capital, such as the Fairy Bell Tower on 22nd Street, one can see the ridges of the Rainbow Mountain outside the city covered with a blanket of white snow.

From morning till night, countless small wooden houses in the royal capital emit a dim light outside, and every lit window is a warm world.

The burning fruit wood in the fireplace made a crackling sound, and the aroma of coffee and biscuits wafted in the air.

Compared to the long days in summer, dusk falls early in winter. Before six o'clock, Ye Wan can see the indigo skyline covering the distance through the window, bit by bit devouring the fragmented golden sunset.

Muffin sat in its little hanging basket, munching on its melon seeds. Lorelai sat by the fire, reading her music sheet. Youan stood on the other side of the window. He had been holed up in the attic, doing nothing, when Ye Wan pulled him over to admire the sunset.

"What on earth do you want me to see?" Youan was in the attic reading a supplementary code submitted by the House of Lords. For example, it proposed to impose trade taxes on other races. The stupid and ridiculous content made him furious.

"The sunset in the capital is so beautiful," Ye Wan said. "I see you've locked yourself up in the attic, and I don't know what you're doing. But it would be a shame to miss such a beautiful sunset."

You An didn't answer, but just looked up at the window. Ye Wan looked at him and smiled. Her face became more beautiful under the flickering sunset.

You An was inexplicably annoyed: "Yes, I have to admit it."

His smoky crystal eyes met her clear black eyes: "It is indeed beautiful."

Ye Wan felt that he seemed to be hinting at something, and just as he was about to ask, the door of the tavern was pushed open, and the brass wind chimes above rang.

The visitors were the captain of the guard, Lassen, and two guards, Justin and Orion. They were obviously also very cold, so they warmed themselves by the fire in the fireplace for a while. The ice chips left on their shoulders from the patrol melted quickly, leaving some water marks on the ground.

Ye Wan went to get a mop and wiped up the water marks: "What would you three like to eat? How about the cream stew set?"

"We need another glass of hot wine in this horrible weather."

On a cold night, a cream stew was simmering in a thick casserole on the stove in the tavern. The restaurant was enveloped in a warm and rich creamy aroma. The soup was thick with a lot of cream, and became mellow and silky as Ye Wan kept stirring it.

She went to the cupboard and took out a white porcelain soup plate. She poured the boiling hot soup into it. The carrots were cooked until they were slightly tender, appearing a bright orange-red in the thick white broth. The potatoes were soft and glutinous, and there were small pieces of pink bacon, chicken, and broccoli...

Ye Wan pulled out another baguette from the oven. The brown crust had cracks with a burnt aroma. She took out a bread knife and cut the baguette. With a "click", the cross section of the baguette showed neatly arranged honeycomb-like pores, which were a warm beige color. Ye Wan placed the baguette in a wicker basket and handed it to them together.

"Ah, I've been so busy lately." Lathan took the warm stew and sighed, "I don't even have time to date Bai Xue."

He tore open the crisp bread, dipped it in the stew liquid, and let the hot cream soak the bread.

The crispy bread crust becomes soft. When you take a bite, you can taste the wheat aroma of the bread. Then when you take a sip of the boiling hot soup, a warm current spreads from the tip of your tongue.

"Oh, this is delicious," said Lathan.

"Have you been so busy lately?" Ye Wan brought him more wine, plus a plate of fried bread sprinkled with sea salt as a side dish.

"The Winter Solstice Festival is approaching, and the capital is bustling with activity. Because of the tournament incident, strict orders have been issued from above. No more mistakes are allowed. Previously, an area could only be patrolled once every half a day, but now it's three times a day."

Lathan sighed.

Ye Wan wanted to ask something else when two sailors walked in.

There is indeed a sea next to the royal capital, on the other side of the city, very far away from Ye Wan. Basically, one has to take three subway trains and then two public carriages to get there. Sailors usually eat at the harbor and rarely come here.

The sailor said, "We heard that the waiter here is a mermaid?"

Ye Wan was a little wary, but unexpectedly, Lorelai came down from upstairs and approached enthusiastically: "It's you, are you back from the Southland?"

They sat down, ordered drinks, and chatted with Lorelai.

Unlike a hundred years ago when mermaids and humans hurt each other, today's sailors who want to take a shortcut through the foggy sea will bring one or two boxes of supplies on board and throw them into the sea. These include but are not limited to jewelry, food, clothing, and recreational novels... The mermaids will benefit from their kindness and help them appease the sea beasts and guide the ships forward in the fog.

It became a mutually beneficial transaction.

Seeing that they were chatting happily with Lorelai, Ye Wan felt relieved. For a moment, she thought the sailors were here to catch mermaids.

After a few more diners arrived, an unexpected guest walked in.

Ye Wan remembered the rusty red hair. He was the grumpy Red from the Night's Watch. Although Ye Wan was not very satisfied with him, as the saying goes:

"Everyone who comes is a guest, and we welcome them all with open doors."

He looked even more reluctant than Ye Wan. He just opened a piece of parchment and read stiffly, "Around 11 o'clock last night, someone riding a broom passed by the Old Oak Tavern and heard a shrill scream. Later, the Night's Watch reported it to the police. I heard that you hired a mermaid. According to Section 23 of the Protection of Magical Creatures Act..."

Before he finished speaking, Ye Wan said in disbelief: "You suspect I abused the mermaid? No, we were practicing singing at that time."

Lorelei was talking to the sailor when she heard this and rushed over: "What do you mean, you said my singing is a shrill scream?"

She was even more excited than Ye Wan, and felt that her fist was about to hit Red's face in the next second.

Red was startled. "Oh, I just received a report and came to check. Since there is no abuse of magical creatures..."

Before he could finish his words, he fled in panic.

Lorelai is devastated.

Ye Wan stammered and comforted him, "It's okay. There are still a few days until the Winter Solstice. We'll think of a solution."

To say that a mermaid's singing is a shrill scream is a very bad comment. After all, their voice is their proudest treasure. Lorelai seemed to be in despair.

So much so that when Ye Wan invited her to go to the market the next day, she curled up in the corner and didn't move.

"Oh, this is too bad. She lost her beautiful voice and her confidence." Ye Wan was wearing a fluffy cloak with two small snowballs tied into a bow at her neck. She looked very cute.

"There's a price to pay for the mermaid to come ashore," Youan said, crossing his arms.

"Oh come on, you cold man."

Pancakes lingered at the candy stall, refusing to leave. Candied tangerines, the traditional winter solstice dessert, were on the market. They were small snacks made by boiling tangerine and grapefruit peels in honey syrup until they were translucent.

Citrus fruits are only harvested at this time of year. Their bright colors and sweet and sour taste signify the arrival of bright spring days, making them a very nice festive embellishment.

Muffin loves this.

Ye Wan took out 20 copper coins and bought another big bag. The pancakes fell from her shoulders. Ye Wan raised the bag above her head and said, "This thing is too sweet. I can only eat two a day."

"Squeak?!" Pancake went from being incredulous to dejected. It shrank from Ye Wan's shoulder and shrank into the corner of the cart. No matter how Ye Wan called it, it was determined not to talk to her.

"I'll buy some sweets for Lorelai too, to see if that will make her feel better." Ye Wan said worriedly.

A winter solstice pole carved with the sun and snowflakes has been erected in Cinderella Square, and a bonfire stand has also been set up.

The stage for the singing competition in the middle is still under construction. It is an arched stage built with dark logs and paved with blue slate, which looks like ocean waves.

Ye Wan noticed that some workers were carrying giant shells.

“Those are amplifying shells that can amplify the vocals on stage many times over,” said Youan.

"I suggest that Lorelai stay out of the show until her voice is back," he said.

Ye Wan sighed.

She lowered her head and thought for a while: "If it really doesn't work out, letting her sing in the tavern would be considered a dream come true."

Youan: “?”

"I'm going to inform all my friends right now that there will be a merman singing in the tavern tonight. Let them applaud and give Lorelai some confidence."

"It's bad luck to be your friend," he said.

"Shut up."

Ye Wan picked up the muffin that was secretly eating the candied tangerine and said, "If she's in a good mood, her singing will immediately become better."

"That shouldn't be possible." Youan said.

But Ye Wan didn't listen. She quickly wrote some letters and sent them to her friends via signal birds. They immediately responded to the call and said they would definitely come tonight.

Ye Wan used a few wooden boxes to build a small stage in front of the fireplace and went to inform Lorelai.

The latter was very surprised: "Personal concert?"

"Yes, I can let you try it first so that you won't be nervous." Ye Wan said.

Lorelai was still a little timid.

"What if you succeed?" Ye Wan said.

Thinking that a lot of people would come to the tavern in the evening, Ye Wan worked much busier. Thinking that there would be sailors among the guests in the evening, Ye Wan prepared smoked cod pie.

Mix the smoked cod with butter, onions, potatoes, etc. to make a flavorful filling, then wrap it in puff pastry. Of course, don't forget to apply a layer of olive oil so that the skin can be crispy.

Ye Wan's hands were covered in oil, and he wanted to ask Songbing to help him bring the olive oil bottle over, but he didn't see it after calling for a long time.

"Muffins, muffins!" she shouted in the kitchen for a long time:

"Strange, where did the muffin go?"

You An replied coldly, "Maybe he's at the door, secretly distributing earplugs to your friends."

Ye Wan: “…”