Chapter 39 Chapter 39 Have you eaten? (Two in one)...
Shunzi raised his head with rice in his mouth. The moment he saw who was coming, he almost spit out the food in his mouth: "Tao, Tao, Tao, Tao Dalang, Langjun!"
It was Tao Yingce who appeared behind Shunzi. He smiled and said to Chen Yan, who was following closely behind him, "Look! Who did I catch? Did Heng Ge'er ask you to come? You're so good! You've eaten before the rest of us."
Shunzi's heart was pounding with fear, and he instinctively wanted to stand up and explain. However, Tao Yingce's hand was on his shoulder, so Shunzi didn't dare to stand up. He could only explain in a low voice, "Yes, Henglang asked me to come. I was waiting, so I ordered some food first..."
Chen Yan looked at Shunzi's apprehensive expression and couldn't help laughing: "Why are you scaring him?"
"It's all Brother Heng's fault." Tao Yingce laughed and released his hand. "Shunzi, what did Brother Heng ask you to buy?"
"Heng Lang asked me to pack up all the dishes in the restaurant and take them back."
"Look at what this kid did." Tao Yingce raised his eyebrows upon hearing this. "How big of an appetite can he have? He wants to eat ten meals in one go? I see that we haven't taught him much this time. He's just wasted a lot of food."
"Reporting to Dalangjun, Henglang said he plans to invite students from the Imperial College to use it together."
Shunzi was embarrassed and hurried to explain to his master: "Besides, Henglang said that the owner of this shop is a friend. I think Henglang sent me here to attract more business for the shop."
"Classmate?" Chen Yan looked strange.
"Friend?" Tao Yingce paused as he was about to stop her. He and Shen Yan looked at each other and almost blurted out: What kind of friends can that kid have?
However, in front of the servants, the two of them still swallowed their words silently and gave Heng Ge'er some face.
Just then, Song Jiaoniang came over carrying two large food boxes: "Sir, what did you order...eh?"
She looked at Chen Yan and Tao Yingce in surprise, then at Shunzi: "Chen Lang, Tao Lang, and this young man, do you three know each other?"
"Madam Song, this is Shunzi, Heng'er's servant." Chen Yan continued with a smile, "When we first saw him, we thought Heng was skipping class. We never thought Heng heard that your shop was opening and asked him to come."
"So you're Heng'er's man? Why didn't you tell me earlier?" Song Jiaoniang's eyes lit up, and she quickly asked Shunzi to wait a moment, and she went back to the kitchen with the food box.
Not long after, Song Jiaoniang returned. She handed the food box to Shunzi and said with a smile, "I just went in and asked Sister Zhi to put out the freshly made meat rolls. It's a new dish we're trying out. Take it back and let Brother Heng have a taste too."
Shunzi quickly responded, took the food box and ran away.
"Didn't you say you wanted to stop Shunzi?" When Chen Yan saw Shunzi leave, he lifted the corner of his robe and sat down in the empty seat he had vacated.
"At least the reason this kid gave is quite convincing, so let's let him go." Tao Yingce looked around and dragged a vacant bench over. "You know, this kid has been in the Imperial College for a few years, and apart from those unreliable yamen, he hasn't really met many people."
No matter how true or false what Shunzi said was, Tao Yingce always had some expectations.
"It's not easy for you either." Chen Yan glanced at Tao Yingce and sighed. His uncle wasn't good at socializing in the officialdom, and his abilities were mediocre. He only got a fourth-rank official position thanks to his father's influence.
But without real power, only a title and salary is not a long-term solution. When Tao Yingce entered the officialdom, he chose to join the Dali Temple instead of serving as an official outside the capital, partly because all the family affairs weighed heavily on his shoulders.
"Once Heng-ge'er can hold his own, I'll be relieved." Tao Yingce rolled his shoulders, looking expectant. Then he looked at Chen Yan and said with a smile, "Why don't you look at yourself? When the Geng family's affairs are resolved, you'll have to resign and return home to take the imperial examinations again. You might even end up being a classmate of Heng-ge'er."
Chen Yan shook his head: "Forget it then."
Tao Yingce looked at him and said, "You're really not going? The Imperial College's chief academician hasn't been kind to Dad in a long time because of you running away to work as a clerk. Even now, he still blames me every time he sees you."
As they were talking, Song Jiaoniang brought the food: "Here, Chen Lang's scrambled egg chicken rice, Tao Lang's mutton stewed rice, and these are the side dishes and soup. You can have more after you finish."
"And this." Song Jiaoniang finally handed over a plate of fried food and said with a smile, "It's the same as Heng'er's portion, but it's specially given to you! Next to it is Zhijie'er's special sauce, and it tastes especially good with it!"
Tao Yingce and Shen Yan's eyes lit up, and they thanked him in unison. They didn't care about the topic they were just discussing, and quickly picked up their chopsticks and rushed towards the golden fried food on the plate.
The outer layer of this fried food is crispy and has an oily sheen. The firm filling can be seen at the cut. Just looking at it makes your mouth water.
After picking it up, the fragrance becomes stronger.
Fortunately, the whole shop was filled with the aroma of food, and the diners were immersed in the food in front of them. No one noticed that the two people had an extra food in their hands that the others did not have.
Chen Yan opened his mouth and took a bite.
With a crisp snap, the teeth landed on the puff pastry, and the puff pastry instantly broke into pieces, falling into crumbs.
First, the rich aroma of lard, then the chewy meat filling. Just a little pressure from your teeth and the gravy gushes out. This meat filling is clearly made of pork, but it doesn't taste fishy or greasy at all.
After chewing it carefully, Chen Yan showed surprise: "They actually added chestnuts in it?"
The so-called ground chestnut is the water chestnut, also known as water caltrop. Because its flesh is crisp, tender, sweet and juicy after peeling, people nowadays mainly eat it as a seasonal fruit, or pickle it with sugar and honey to make candied fruit for tea, or steam it or cook it as a warming food in autumn and winter. As for using it in meat to make a dish, this is the first time Chen Yan has seen it.
"Yes, it really is. There are carrots in it." Tao Yingce looked down and saw vaguely milky white or orange-yellow particles at the bitten hole.
The presence of water chestnuts and carrots added three more flavors and three more textures to the meat filling, which made the two of them eat one bite after another and couldn't stop at all.
But in the blink of an eye, the two of them had cleared out the entire plate. Even so, Chen Yan and Tao Yingce were still unsatisfied and wished they could order two more servings to savor the food.
But when they turned around, they remembered what Song Jiaoniang had just said. This was a new dish made by Zhi Jie'er, and the shop had not even started selling it yet. They were lucky to be able to get a taste of it.
"Forget it, let's eat first." Tao Yingce sighed, then turned his gaze to the mutton stewed rice in front of him. He picked up a chopstick and put it in his mouth, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Chen Yan followed closely behind, lowering his eyes to look at the food on his plate. He saw the chicken fried to golden brown on both sides, nestled in the egg liquid, and the bright green chopped green onions on top. The two complemented each other, making him instantly hungry.
Chen Yan picked up a piece of chicken and put it into his mouth along with the rice.
The boneless chicken thighs are tender and chewy, and the eggs have absorbed the sweetness of the sauce, giving them a mellow taste. When eaten with rice, the layers are rich and harmonious, and every bite seems to offer a completely different experience.
Chen Yan squinted his eyes and ate seriously.
While he was eating, he suddenly heard Tao Yingce sigh: "Sister Zhi'er's cooking skills are really good. I should have invited her when I returned to Bianjing!"
"It would have been useless if you had invited me back then." Chen Yan didn't even leave the remaining soup at the bottom of the plate, mopping it up with rice. After putting it all into his mouth, he slowly replied, "Sister Zhi and her family had just escaped from that devil's den. How could they be willing to work as a cook in the Tao family?"
"I'm not talking about going to my house." Tao Yingce shook his head and sneered, "I'm talking about my family's restaurant."
As a prominent family, the Tao family not only owns mansions and shops, but also has many secret restaurants and teahouses, which used to only serve their own family members, relatives and guests.
However, with the passing of the older generation, the Tao family's reputation was not as high as before. Those restaurants and teahouses could no longer make ends meet relying solely on their own patrons, so they had to lower their profile and start opening to the public.
The problem is that the people inside still haven't changed their minds. They act very arrogantly, but their skills are not up to par, and even the taste of the dishes is mediocre.
Instead of building a good reputation for its business, the company received a lot of criticism. Its business became worse and worse and became a mess.
"Didn't you say you wanted to rent it out last time?"
"My father first complained that the money offered was too low. Later, a merchant offered a high price, and he felt that renting it to an outside merchant would bring shame to the Tao family." When Tao Yingce talked about this, he could not hide his irritation on his face.
If younger generations speak loudly to their elders, they will be branded as unfilial if word gets out.
Even though Tao Yingce had entered the officialdom, his father still had the final say at home. Furthermore, his position in the officialdom wasn't high enough to overpower his own father; at best, he could offer some persuasion, but if that didn't work, he'd just swallow his frustration and think of another solution.
Chen Yan raised an eyebrow, a hint of sympathy flashing in his eyes. As a junior, he couldn't say much, so he just changed the subject and talked about Lin Zhi: "Sister Zhi looks like someone with big ideas. I'm afraid she doesn't want to go to the shop and be ordered around."
"I know that too. I didn't mention it then, so I just casually sighed about it now." Tao Yingce touched his nose and complained, "Those guys are so arrogant but incompetent..."
He glanced outside and saw that the line at the entrance of Linzhiji was growing instead of shrinking. "Let's go, look at how many people are waiting outside."
"Okay." Chen Yan stood up, said goodbye to Lin Sen, and left the shop. As he and Tao Yingce walked towards the Dali Temple, he smiled and said, "Now that I think about it, that order from Heng Ge'er must have attracted quite a few people to Zhi Jie'er."
In addition to students like Heng'er who were given favor by the emperor and those who were specially rewarded by the emperor, there were also students who passed the imperial examination but did not get an official position and continued to study in the Imperial College, as well as students recommended by local officials, scholars from all over the country who passed the examination, and students majoring in martial arts and law.
Aside from those born under the influence of imperial concubines and enfeoffed with special favors, the rest of the Imperial College students came from impoverished backgrounds but excelled academically. For example, Guangwenguan students were far less stellar than Taixue students, who could directly obtain official positions or even participate in the palace selection and provincial examinations. Many studied for years without achieving anything, and therefore rarely received investment. A few relied on their families or their wives' families for support, while many others worked as copywriters or manuscript editors to make ends meet.
The food in the Linzhi shop is not only delicious and cheap, but also comes with refills of soup and rice. It is a fatal temptation for those middle-aged men.
Tao Yingce thought about it and felt that everything made sense, except that there was a risk involved: "The question is, can Brother Heng really find so many... friends?"
Inside the Imperial College, Tao Yingheng was walking around with his hands behind his back. Every now and then, he'd walk to the door, lean out, and then turn around and curse Shunzi for taking so long to get his meal.
Tao Yingheng's face was so dark that it attracted the attention of passing students, and some even took a detour when they saw him.
"What's wrong with Mr. Tao again?"
"God knows."
"When he just came back from vacation, I thought he had changed, but he still had the same sour face as before."
Several passing students shook their heads and hurried away. However, a few students from the same yamen exchanged glances and approached with flirtatious expressions, "Hey, Heng brother, are you waiting for your little lover?"
"Go away and stop talking nonsense." Tao Yingheng glanced at a few people and was too lazy to pay attention to them.
"Brother Heng, you've become increasingly indifferent to us since you came back from outside," complained Gao Yanei, the leader. He was chubby and plump, dressed in a dazzling gold satin dress, looking like a walking gold ingot.
Most of the young masters in the Imperial College tended to hang out together. Although Tao Lang didn't hang out with them every day before, they would go out drinking together every now and then.
Who would have thought that he would become a different person after going out.
Suspicion flashed in Gao Yanei's eyes. Could it be that Tao Lang was planning to work hard to improve himself? That was impossible! If he did, wouldn't he be the one to get beaten?
The more Gao Ya thought about it, the more his heart skipped a beat. He warmly hooked his arm around Tao Lang's shoulder, determined to take him out for some fun. "Tao Lang, there's a cockfight happening by Jinming Pond today. I heard the Liao and Wang families will be there too! Do you want to go and see it together?"
The Liao and Wang families were renowned cockfighting families in Bianjing. Their fighting cocks were all of high-quality breeds, with each cock fetching over a hundred guan (approximately 100 strings of cash) and bets of a thousand guan (approximately 1,000 strings of cash) were common.
In the past, Tao Lang would always be there when the Liao and Wang families appeared.
Just as Gao Yan was thinking, he felt the muscles in his hands tighten. The corners of his mouth curled up, and he became more and more proud of his idea. He said that people are all addicted.
People like Tao Lang who have been holding it in for so long, will start thinking again after playing twice, and naturally they will no longer think about making progress.
As soon as he finished his thoughts, a force of gravity hit him, causing Gao Yanei's body to fall backwards, and his head hit the pillar heavily.
He cried out and held his head. Two followers hurried over, either offering a hand to help Gao Yanei up or anxiously saying, "Mr. Gao! Are you okay?"
Gao Yanei grimaced in pain, his face flushed with anger. He slapped his attendant's hand and shouted angrily, "Tao, do you have—"
Halfway through his words, Gao Yanei suddenly froze.
He stared ahead in amazement, looking a little silly, which made his followers look surprised. They subconsciously turned around and looked over, then they also opened their mouths in amazement at the smiling Tao Yingheng.
Tao Yingheng, who usually looked down on others and had a sour face, actually walked forward with a smile on his face, and his target was a donkey cart that had just stopped.
No, really, there's a problem, right?
The attendant stumbled and said, "Could it be that Tao Lang really has a lover?"
"Only your sweetheart rides in a donkey cart!" Gao Yanei retorted subconsciously. If another Yanei let his female relatives or concubines go out in a donkey cart, it would be really laughable and he would be called poor behind his back.
Even Gao Yanei wouldn't say that about Tao Yingheng. He leaned forward, watching Tao Yingheng's movements intently, wanting to see what tricks he was hiding. Then he saw a familiar servant get off the donkey cart...
"Mr. Gao, isn't that Shunzi?"
Gao Yanei certainly recognized him, but it was strange that he recognized him. His brows were tightly knitted together, and he glanced at Shunzi in doubt. Shunzi was carrying two large food boxes. He didn't know what he was talking about, but Tao Yingheng's smile became even brighter. No! It became even more stupid.
Gao Yanei's curiosity grew stronger and stronger, and he couldn't help but decide to step forward and find out what was going on.
Tao Yingheng bared his teeth, grinning from ear to ear with joy. He couldn't wait to take the food box into the house and taste the food that Sister Zhi had specially sent him.
"Oh, Master." Shunzi remembered his conversation with the two Masters and whispered, "Master Da and Master Shen heard that you were going to share food with your classmates. Maybe they'll ask you about it tonight."
Tao Yingheng: “…”
He retracted his bared teeth instantly, and his pupils trembled involuntarily.
Classmate, friend?
And they can sit together and eat together... Ugh! Where can he find it?
Not only did Tao Yingheng's smile freeze, but he also broke out in a cold sweat.
Gao Yanei walked forward and saw with his own eyes that Tao Yingheng's smile disappeared within three breaths, and his whole face turned blue, white, red, and purple. He immediately stopped moving and felt uneasy in his heart. Why did he feel that he seemed to have come at the wrong time?
Gao Yanei thought about it and prepared to retreat. But before he turned around and took two steps, an arm was placed on his shoulder: "Brother Gao~"
Gao Yanei: "..."
Gao Yanei: “…………”
Just hearing this voice gave him goosebumps, and the ominous premonition made his scalp tingle.
"Brother Gao~" Seeing Gao Yanei frozen in place, Tao Yingheng glanced at him guiltily: "Did I use too much force just now and hurt you?"
"It's all my fault, let me make it up to you!"
"...Ah?" Gao Yanei was completely stunned when he heard this. His face was frozen as he slowly turned around, looking at the person in front of him in surprise and suspicion. The smile on Tao Yingheng's face made him shudder and struggle to retreat.
"Since Brother Gao is silent, I'll take it as your agreement." Tao Yingheng pretended not to notice Gao Yanei's struggle. With a smile on his face, he not only pulled him but also called out to his two followers, "Oh, oh, and you too. Come here."
The two henchmen were stunned at the same time, and pointed at themselves in surprise: "Hey? Are you talking about us?"
"Of course, who else would I be looking for?" Tao Yingheng laughed and secretly gave himself a thumbs-up. Look! Now there are three people, right?
While he was inviting everyone to go in, he quietly asked Shunzi, "How many dishes are there? How many people are there?"
Shunzi quickly said, "That's ten servings in total!"
Tao Yingheng gasped. Ten servings? Including myself, and leaving one for Shunzi, that would make five people, five more to go...
Tao Yingheng looked around the room, seeing the unfamiliar classmates coming and going, and secretly despised himself for not liking to interact with classmates in the past.
Look at all these people, I can't even call out their names! Just when Tao Yingheng was scratching his head anxiously, he happened to see two familiar students. His eyes suddenly lit up, and he pulled Gao Yanei and asked, "Brother Gao, do you recognize those two? Last time I saw the three of you pulling them out together."
Gao Yanei glanced over there, his eyelids twitching. He kept a straight face, afraid that Tao Yingheng would see his guilty conscience. "I know him, what's the matter?"
"Oh! That's great!" Tao Yingheng secretly praised himself for his sharp eyes and recognized the right person. He happily pulled Gao Yanei forward and said, "Hey, hey, hey, you two, stop!"
For a moment, everyone on the road looked sideways.
Tao Yingheng quickened his pace, pulled Gao Yanei forward, and surrounded the two students.
The two students were stunned at first, but when they saw Gao Yanei and the other two followers, their expressions suddenly changed. They looked alert and their eyes were full of hostility when they looked at Tao Yingheng.
"really……"
"It's all the way..."
Tao Yingheng didn't hear the two people's voices clearly, and asked with a smile: "Hey, you two, uh, have you eaten?"
Gao Yanei: “……?”
Two followers: “……?”
Two unfamiliar students: "...Huh?"
Everyone looked confused.
The two unfamiliar students were confused and puzzled. They stared at Tao Yingheng for a while and answered hesitantly: "Not yet? We were just about to eat."
"That's good." Tao Yingheng's brows immediately lit up with joy. He pulled the two students and called Gao Yanei: "Come on, let's find a place where there's no one to talk!"
Five people: “????”
Gao Yanei raised his hands to plead his innocence, whispering, "I didn't do anything, and I didn't instigate it. It was him! It was Tao Lang who came to cause trouble for you two!"
The two students glanced at him with an indescribable look, said nothing, and just followed forward with pursed lips, wanting to see what Tao Yingce was going to do.
A master and a servant walked in front, followed by two poor tribute students in cloth clothes, and then three Yin students in gorgeous clothes.
In the eyes of many passing students, this scene looked like a bullying incident!
Several indignant students followed behind, vowing to catch them red-handed. Several other students hurried to the doctoral masters, hoping to ask them to come and deal with the matter.
However, Tao Yingheng was completely unaware of the commotion he had caused. After several twists and turns with a few others, he finally found a quiet place in the Imperial College with green shade above and a stone table below.
As Shunzi placed the food box on the table, Tao Yingheng called out to Gao Yanei and the others who were walking a little slower, "What are you doing so slowly? Come here quickly, or the food will get cold."
Gao Yanei:?
Two followers:? ?
Two unfamiliar students: ???
Gao Yanei finally noticed the food box on the stone table. Recalling Shunzi carrying two food boxes off the donkey cart just now, he finally couldn't hold it back.
He looked devastated and blurted out, "Wait, you asked us to come here so we can eat!?"
Tao Yingheng's face showed a bit of surprise when he heard this, but he did not stop his movements and opened the lid of the food box: "Yes, what else?"
That’s right, what else could it be!
Not only did Gao Yanei feel terrible, even the two unfamiliar students couldn't help but stare at Tao Yingheng with their eyes wide open in disbelief.
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