Chapter 58: Winter in the capital of North Korea is not easy for an old man like Jingshou...

The winter in the capital city was truly a rare and enjoyable time for an Eight Banners descendant like Jingshou.

In the twelfth lunar month, the teachers of the main school asked for leave and returned to their hometowns to celebrate the New Year. All of them, the children of the Eight Banners, who were neither young nor old, were left to their own devices. Because they had not yet received a position or started a family, they had nothing to do and just wandered around outside all day. Also, because they were bannermen, they always had a salary and rice to receive, so they would not starve, so they lived a leisurely life.

When the weather was cold, Jingshou often went to a teahouse near Zhengyang Gate. There, there was a storyteller. With a cup of tea and a plate of melon seeds, he would sit on a cushioned chair, cross his legs, and listen to the storyteller tell all sorts of stories. The charcoal fire was warm and he wouldn't feel cold. Jingshou would often sit there for a whole day.

The play that the storyteller is telling today is about Su Wu herding sheep.

The storyteller in a long gown pressed the wake-up stick and spoke eloquently and vividly about how difficult Su Wu's life was.

"The snow and wind in the North Sea are much stronger than those in our capital. When the snow falls, everything is white and you can't see anything. Not to mention rice and wheat, even grass roots are hard to find. Su Wu was forced by villains to go out to herd sheep and find food for the sheep in such weather. How miserable it must be. He drove the sheep in the vast snow, and the more he walked, the hungrier he became. The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. He was angry in his heart. Why should I, a dignified envoy, watch the sheep for you, the old Chanyu? It's better to get a sheep to eat than to starve. Relying on the vast grassland and no one seeing it, he really slaughtered a lamb on the spot. By the way, he picked up the sheep dung and built a fire to boil the snow water to cook the lamb."

The audience burst into laughter when they heard the words "cooking sheep with sheep dung".

"——Don't laugh, this sheep dung doesn't smell good when burned."

The storyteller smiled and said, "When the mutton was cooked, he ate it with great enthusiasm. It tasted really good. As expected of the sheep raised on the North Sea, there was no smell of mutton at all. Eating the mutton warmed his body, and he had the strength to get through the long winter."

"Later, Su Wu returned to the court to meet the emperor," the storyteller slapped the wake-up stick on the corner of the desk and said, "Someone asked him what he had remembered from his 19 years in the Xiongnu. What do you think he answered?"

The whole room was silent, and a man shouted, "His Hun wife and children."

The storyteller shook his head. "The answer is --" He deliberately stretched out his voice to keep the question in suspense. "The sheep I herd by the lake are fatter than those here!"

There was laughter everywhere. Jingshou, who was eating melon seeds, almost choked on the shell. He coughed while drinking a few sips of tea.

The storyteller clasped his fists and said, "It's just a joke I made up to amuse you. Please forgive me. Let's get back to the story. Even in this icy and snowy place with no human habitation, Su Wu never forgot his loyalty. He held the flag day and night. Even if there was only an empty pole left, he would never let go..."

After listening to the story, Jingshou was not only moved by Su Wu, who was loyal but had to waste decades on the frontier, but he also felt like eating mutton.

Maybe, you can ask your follower to buy two kilograms of mutton to eat?

As he was thinking about it, he stepped out of the teahouse and saw some people gathered on the street ahead.

There's a lot of excitement to be seen, so of course I have to go over and take a look. Jingshou quickly called his followers to squeeze into the crowd. It turned out to be a newly opened restaurant. The shopkeeper was directing the waiters to set up a ladder and hang the sign up together. Oh, the words on this sign are really beautiful. I don't know whose calligraphy it is. It says "Bei Lai Xian Shabu-shabu Meat" in golden light.

Jing Shou asked curiously: "What does the name of your store mean?"

The shopkeeper was also a friendly person. He said in a very friendly manner: "Our shop specializes in mutton hot pot. The sheep we use are all from Mobei. In fact, they are of the same origin as the tribute sheep."

"Nonsense," a passerby said with disdain, "Sheep driven from Mobei, how far is Mobei from here? Don't you know it?"

"That's right, who knows, maybe they got the sheep from somewhere nearby, don't exaggerate."

The shopkeeper bowed and said, "This lamb can't be fake. You will know the truth after you try it when we open tomorrow. Because this is a trial run for a new store, we will give you a discount for the first three days. You only need to pay 90% of the price. I hope you will come and try it out to see if it's real."

"If it's fake," the shopkeeper puffed out his chest, "not only will we not charge you, we'll even give you money for a meal."

Jingshou became interested after hearing this: "This is serious."

"No lies."

Jing Shou smiled and said, "Okay, I'll try it tomorrow. Let me tell you first, someone in my family works in the court, and every winter solstice we receive a sheep from the emperor, which is a genuine tribute sheep. Unfortunately, I have a very good taste. I really can tell that the taste is not right. You can't get away if I ask you for money."

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "Welcome, my Lord."

At noon on the second day, Jingshou specially invited two or three good friends to come to the Beilai Fresh Hotpot Restaurant. After hearing what the shopkeeper said, all his friends were interested. If they could really eat and drink for free and get more money back, who wouldn't want to come?

A few people walked and joked as they went, and when they arrived at Beilaixian, they saw quite a few customers.

"I'm so sorry, should I ask you to wait?"

"equal sign?"

The waiter attentively handed Jingshou a wooden sign with a number on it, and another waiter lifted the thick door curtain and said, "Please wait inside. Your number will be called."

There seemed to be a specially set up waiting area, with many benches, a charcoal fire burning in the middle, a waiter pouring tea, and even melon seeds.

After waiting for a while, someone finally led them in and asked Jingshou to sit at a table in the outer room on the second floor.

Jingshou took off his ear warmer and saw a picture of the whole sheep hanging on the wall. From the neck to the tail of the sheep, it was clearly marked, such as lamb leg, lamb head, lamb tenderloin...

He was surprised and said, "Eating a lamb has so many names."

The waiter carried a copper kettle and poured tea, saying with a smile, "You are honored guests, so your family must have prepared exquisite dishes. The different parts of mutton taste different. I have distinguished them so as not to dishonor your status."

This sounded as refreshing as drinking hot tea on a cold day. Jingshou said, "Tell me what dishes you have."

The waiter quickly announced the dishes: "Okay, there are lamb legs, lamb tops, lamb belly, lamb ribs, lamb tail fat... If you don't know what to choose, why not order a full house of brocade and try all kinds of lamb parts. If you like which one, just ask me to add more."

"Okay, let's have a plate of full house."

The copper pot was put on first. The shiny new copper pot looked clean, which made the soup base even clearer - a few slices of old ginger, a pinch of spring onions, and two red dates. Dare to use such a clear soup, and you can eat the original flavor of the meat.

The waiter brought a large dish of mutton to the table. Different parts of the mutton were sliced ​​or cut into strips, arranged in a lotus shape on the dish. Jingshou picked up a slice of mutton. It was really thin. His knife skills were definitely better than those of his family's chef. Just by looking at the slices of meat, you can tell that this northern chef is very skilled.

The charcoal fire made the soup bubble up, and I picked up a piece of mutton and swung it into the boiling soup. I saw the red color fade to grayish white, and the edge of the meat curled slightly. I immediately picked it up, rolled it in the sesame sauce dish, and put it into my mouth.

The friend next to me asked enthusiastically: "How is this mutton? It's not tribute mutton, right?"

“It’s not a tribute sheep.”

The friend was overjoyed and cleared his throat to get into trouble, but he heard Jingshou excitedly say, "But? This is even better than what I have at home!"

"Jingshou, are you okay?"

"Really?" Jingshou said, "Can I get more money if I lie to you? Believe it or not."

He was too lazy to explain. He picked up the other lamb head with chopsticks, put the meat into the hot pot, and started eating.

My friends looked at each other suspiciously, but seeing this scene, they couldn't help but be curious and took a piece of mutton. They put the mutton into their mouths in the white steam.

Damn, it’s really fresh!

So they lowered their heads and ate voraciously, and even had a small argument over who should own the last piece of lamb tenderloin.

Jingshou was the first to start eating. He was already very satisfied. He patted his stomach and watched his friends quarreling for fun. Suddenly, he saw a man with extraordinary temperament coming up the stairs. The shopkeeper personally accompanied him and escorted him to the private room.

I seem to have seen this person before. Jingshou wondered, where?

Suddenly, he sat up straight, and seeing his fool friend was still making a scene, he simply grabbed the piece of meat and stuffed it into his mouth, and asked the waiter to pay the bill.

"Why are you in such a hurry to come out?" The friend complained as he shivered in the cold wind outside.

Jing Shou dragged the others for a long way before he said mysteriously, "This store is really quite famous. Guess who I just saw?"

"Who is it?"

Jingshou leaned over and whispered. His friend's eyes widened and he said in a clear voice, "Fuck you."

In the elegant room of Beilai Xian, the Fourth Prince frowned and asked, "Why did you kidnap the two little girls here as well?"

"Oh, that's not a nice thing to say. I came to pay my respects to mother, and they were just playing there. Since there is no school today, mother asked me to bring them out to play. They are also going to leave the palace and build their own house." The Fifth Prince explained.

The Eighth Prince had already stood up and greeted the Fourth Prince with a smile. The Ninth Prince just said hello and stood at the door of the private room, looking out curiously: "This store's business is really good. Let me calculate. If each table can earn one or two taels of silver, then..."

"Okay, Xiao Jiu, stop giving me a headache with all the calculations." The Fifth Prince called out, "Come over quickly, everyone is here, it's time to have some hot pot. I'm really hungry, I can eat a whole sheep."

The charcoal crackled and the mutton in the soup was fresh and sweet. Having eaten so many good things in the palace, I was not surprised at all and just thought the mutton was of good quality.

But the sesame paste in this shop is quite special. Dipping it in the sesame paste makes the mutton even sweeter.

After eating and drinking, the Ninth Prince asked curiously, "How did you transport the sheep here? How much did it cost?"

The Fifth Prince just threw a piece of mutton into his bowl and said, "Eat more meat."

Don't just sit there all day, pondering arithmetic, geometry, or something like that.

The fourth prince said, "I came here by taking the Jingyang Road."

"But, if a large number of sheep are driven here, won't the price go down?" The Ninth Prince was puzzled.

The fourth prince smiled and said, "But more people are eating mutton."

The Ninth Prince was still pondering when the Eighth Prince beside him whispered to him, "The hot pot restaurant we are eating at now is so popular. It won't be long before other hot pot restaurants open up, and more people will eat mutton."

"Yes, thank you, Eighth Brother. This piece of meat is for you." The Ninth Prince solved a question and happily started eating mutton while chatting with the Eighth Prince.

When the Fourth Prince caught a glimpse of the satin fox fur robe that the Fifth Prince was wearing, he knew that it was also a gift from the Fourth Princess, because he also had a similar robe in a different colour.

He raised his glass and said to the Fifth Prince, "Don't worry, she will be fine even if she is trapped in the ice and snow."

The Fifth Prince smiled and said, "Yes."

As he spoke, the two wine glasses clinked together, making a crisp sound.

After having enough food and drink, they went out with their followers. As soon as they came out of Beilaixian, they saw a snowflake falling quietly.

It snowed in the capital.