Chapter 27 Chapter 27 Chicken Cold Noodles.
The next morning, Chen Yan yawned and opened the carriage curtain. Just as he was about to stretch, the aroma of meat suddenly filled his nostrils. He woke instantly and followed the scent to see Lin Zhi busy at the stove.
Chen Yan subconsciously looked up at the sky and was surprised that she had already gotten up when it was just dawn.
Wait! Now is not the time to think about this.
Chen Yan quickly lowered his hand, and the curtain snapped back to its original position.
When Lin Zhi heard the noise and turned around, she only saw the swaying curtain and tilted her head in confusion.
A moment later, Chen Yan, neatly dressed, jumped from the carriage. He patted the hem of his robe and walked forward to ask, "Miss Lin, why are you up so early?"
"Make breakfast?" Lin Zhi nodded, motioning Chen Yan to look at the men on night watch. "In two cups of tea, it will be their shift change time. It's a good time for them to eat first, so that the men who are going to rest can also fill their stomachs first after their shift change."
Chen Yan was stunned for a moment: "Thank you for your help."
Lin Zhi waved her hand. "No problem. I'm employed by you, so I should consider and do these things. This is professional ethics!"
After saying that, she lifted the cloth, took out a dough that had been proofed from the bamboo basket, pressed it a few times with a rolling pin, and then slowly rolled it out.
"Professional ethics?" Chen Yan was stunned.
"Just like you, the officials of the Dali Temple, travel thousands of miles to solve cases, eliminate harm for the people, and redress injustice for the people...this is your professional ethics."
Lin Zhi spoke, her hands moving non-stop. As she delicately pressed the dough, it grew thinner and thicker at a visible speed, until it was only paper-thick.
Lin Zhi looked at the thin noodles with satisfaction, pursed her lips as she looked at Chen Yan and said with a smile: "Making food that satisfies diners is my professional ethics."
After he finished speaking, Linzhi continued to get busy.
Chen Yan looked at Lin Zhi's focused profile and fell silent for a moment. Ripples appeared in his heart and a bitter taste came out of his mouth.
He knew very well that he went to the Dali Temple as a clerk only to investigate an old case in his family and had never thought about serving the country or the people.
He never cared about other people's reactions. He handled cases seriously in order to win the praise of his superiors, so that he could get involved in more cases, unravel the mystery and find the hidden mastermind.
But at this moment, Chen Yan couldn't help but recall the cases he had handled in the past. He thought he had forgotten the tears of gratitude and the figures of the families who kowtowed after the cases were solved. Suddenly, they appeared before his eyes one by one.
Chen Yan suddenly realized that he didn't seem to be completely indifferent. He stood there in a daze for a while before realizing that his actions were inappropriate and quickly left the crowd.
Tao Yingce came over following the scent and happened to see Chen Yan's clumsy appearance. He immediately looked suspicious: "Brother Yan, what are you daydreaming about?"
"It's okay." Chen Yan just opened his mouth to deny it when he was interrupted by Tao Yingheng's laughter: "Brother Chen, what's wrong with you? Why are you walking with your hands and feet together?"
Chen Yan came back to his senses, his face turning even redder.
Tao Yingce gave his brother a rare look of appreciation and asked curiously, "What happened?"
Chen Yan cleared his throat and said, "I found that I am quite interested in solving cases."
Tao Yingce raised an eyebrow, not understanding why Chen Yan was so concerned about this: "Isn't that certain? If someone wasn't interested, they would probably be scared and run away when they saw the headless corpse on their first day on duty at the Dali Temple, right?"
"Ah... that headless corpse, right?" Upon hearing the voice, Chen Yan couldn't help but recall the first case in his life.
It was a headless female corpse that had been dumped in a cesspool. When it was fished out, the body had already been mostly rotten and the stench was overwhelming.
Not to mention a newcomer like Chen Yan, even the old people couldn't help but feel nauseous and vomited when they saw the corpse, let alone going to examine the female corpse and look for clues.
But Chen Yan endured it. Not only that, he searched for clues and finally found the mark of a clothing factory on the clothes. He then traced back to find out the identity of the female corpse, laying the foundation for finding the real murderer.
Chen Yan still remembered the case vividly, and couldn't help but sigh: "I was just pretending to be okay at the time. I vomited two or three times when I got home, and the next day I had to pretend nothing happened."
Tao Yingce laughed heartily. "Back then, you insisted that you had been sorting through the files all night. But I could tell at a glance that you were so frightened that you couldn't sleep."
Chen Yan recalled the past, and also thought of his naive self. However, when he thought of this, he always felt that something was wrong, and quickly realized: "Wait a minute, did you do it on purpose?"
"No, no." Tao Yingce's eyes drifted away.
"Then look at me as you speak." Chen Yan's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.
“…”
"You really did it on purpose!" Chen Yan was furious.
"Oh, who told you to give up the imperial examination and suddenly come to the Dali Temple to work as a clerk?" Tao Yingce touched his nose. "When you said that, my grandmother looked at me strangely. Even my father asked me if I had led you astray."
Tao Yingce felt wronged at the time, and even signed a military order, promising to scare Chen Yan away: "I just want to pick a serious case to scare you, so that you will retreat."
Seeing Chen Yan's eyebrows raised, Tao Yingce quickly added: "But later I saw that you adapted well. It doesn't seem like you came to do this because you were blinded by the case at home. I even spoke up for you!"
"Do you think Dad and Mom would let you go so easily?"
Chen Yan was stunned for a moment, his expression very strange. After a while, he finally spoke: "Why do you think I came to do this?"
"To study your family's case closely?"
"...That's it." Chen Yan breathed a sigh of relief, but inexplicably felt uncomfortable: "You made it sound like I really like this line of work."
Tao Yingce almost laughed out loud when he heard this. He patted Chen Yan's shoulder and said, "Isn't that right? If you didn't like this, why did you rush to arrest the suspect first last time?"
"That's the duty."
"Why do you have to follow me around, running around without stopping?"
"That was a mission assigned by the government."
"..." Tao Yingce hooked his arm around Chen Yan's shoulders and rubbed his head randomly. "It's not strange to like this line of work. Why are you saying one thing and thinking another? There are many people in the government office who don't like to meddle in other people's business. There are many people who are eager to close a case within three days. Do you think you are like that?"
"Besides, the fact that Madam Xie and Lu San can obey you proves that you are this person." Tao Yingce raised his thumb with a smile on his face.
Chen Yan held his breath, feeling as if his heart was being twisted. He turned to look at Lin Zhi, as if he was seeing her face clearly for the first time. "Maybe, that's right."
Before Lin Zhi realized what she had said, she had already let Chen Yan fall into deep thought. She finished processing one dough and then moved on to the next, and her side was already surrounded by people who had risen early.
If Madam Xie hadn't witnessed with her own eyes how the dough grew larger and thinner, she probably wouldn't have believed in the method of making flatbreads: "Snail flatbreads, actually this is how they're made."
"This is one way. There are other ways." Lin Zhi answered while sprinkling dry flour on the surface of the dough. Then he stacked the dough and cut long strips evenly with a knife. He lifted them all up, shook them, and piled them into a basket beside him.
There were already a lot of noodles piled up in the basket.
Linzhi's work was not over yet. She was still diligently kneading, rolling and cutting the dough until the noodles in the basket had peaked. Only then did she stop and start preparing the rest of the side dishes.
She lifted the cooked chicken from the pot, used both hands to forcefully separate the body, and expertly disassembled the chicken.
"Sister Zhi, Dad is here to help."
"Okay." Lin Zhi was indeed too busy to handle it all by herself, so she asked Lin Sen to disassemble the chicken. Fortunately, it was cooked chicken, so it was much easier to disassemble than raw chicken.
Lin Zhi took a quick look, confirmed Lin Sen was alright, and turned her attention to the rest of the preparations. She washed the carrots and cucumbers, chopped them finely, mashed the garlic in a stone mortar, and minced the ginger, squeezing out the juice. That was all she needed to prepare.
Oh, I forgot one thing.
Linzhi took out a can of sesame paste, added water and slowly diluted it until the sauce was finely blended.
Next, it’s time to cook the noodles.
The men who came to take over at this moment had already smelled the fragrance, and gathered around the stove in twos and threes, staring at the soup pot eagerly.
"You've arrived just in time. Want some breakfast?" Lin Zhi glanced at him and asked hurriedly, "Those of you who have washed up can line up. I've got everything ready."
Everyone's eyes lit up when Lin Zhi said this. Big Head Lu, relying on his size, squeezed in first. The others behind him cursed, but the man still on night duty complained, "You're still cursing! We've been sniffing the aroma for ages, and we haven't had any yet."
"That's right."
"If you keep arguing, why don't you come and hand over the shift first?"
Lu Datou and his companions pretended to be deaf and dumb, as if they didn't hear anything and had never spoken before.
While everyone was arguing, Linzhi had already put the noodles into the pot and blanched them. She picked up the noodles with a strainer, rinsed them with cold water, and then shook off the excess water before pouring them into an empty bowl.
Lin Sen then placed shredded chicken, carrots, and cucumber on the flatbread, scooped a spoonful of sesame paste on it, sprinkled a handful of chopped green onions, and pushed the bowl forward. "Come on, Brother Lu, your silver thread cold noodles are ready."
"Wow." Lu Datou took the bowl of noodles, and the coolness in his palms made his eyes light up. He held the bowl with both hands, hurried to the side, impatiently mixed the noodles, and picked up a chopstick to put it into his mouth.
In an instant, the richness of sesame paste, the freshness of shredded cucumber, the crispness of shredded carrot, the sweetness of shredded chicken and the wheat aroma of suobing bloom on the tip of your tongue at the same time.
Lu Datou didn't bother to say how it tasted, and slurped up the noodles. The man behind him did the same, holding his porcelain bowl and eating with relish, making the man at the back of the line look hungry and eager.
Chen Yan had gotten up early, so he should have been first in line. However, he had heard Lin Zhi's plan, which was to put the men taking over the shift in the front and the rest of the group behind. So, he had to wait for more than ten people before it was his turn.
Tao Yingce didn't know what was going on at first, but after he learned the reason from Chen Yan, he also fell to the end and took the bowl with a smile: "Thank you for your help."
Lin Zhi raised her eyebrows: "It should be."
In the next few days, Linzhi cooked in different ways. Today she had cold noodles with silver thread, tomorrow she had vegetable and meat tongs, and the day after that shepherd's purse wontons.
In addition to the sumptuous breakfast, the main course was also extremely tempting. From braised chicken racks to stir-fried eggplant, from minced meat and tofu to stewed chicken with mushrooms, it can be said that every dish was a good match for rice. The group did not eat a single dish repeatedly for several days and their faces were flushed with joy.
Even Tao Yingheng, who was always critical and was criticized by his brother as "a dog cannot spit out ivory", gradually changed his attitude.
Especially today, he even shamelessly stood in line first and waited in front of the stove early.
"Why is Heng so diligent today?" Big Head Lu, who was standing at the back of the line, was surprised. He leaned over to confirm before asking curiously, "The last few times we ate, he was always so slow, always waiting until the very last moment to get his food, and then looking so regretful after finishing it."
Over and over again.
Everyone in the team was used to seeing this, so Lu Datou felt a little uncomfortable seeing him being the first one in line today.
The man next to him laughed, then lowered his voice and said, "Brother Heng was hesitant before, wasn't it because Sister Zhi cooked pork?"
"Then what?"
"Look, Sister Zhi is cooking mutton today!"
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