Chen Xiaomi, along with Chen Xiaomai, Yuanbao, Prince Cheng, and two guards, went to the restaurant owned by Chen Xiaocai to try hot pot.
Prince Cheng's eyes lit up when he saw the hot pot restaurant. "This restaurant is nicely decorated!" Prince Cheng had traveled all the way from the capital, and the towns he passed through became poorer and more remote, with very rough food. So he didn't have high hopes for the local cuisine in Shaxian. However, he was pleasantly surprised when he entered the hot pot restaurant.
Chen Xiaomi smiled. The shop's decoration was based on Lu Lin's suggestions. Chen Xiaocai had been to Beijing, and the shop's decoration also had some of the style of grand restaurants in Beijing.
This hot pot restaurant is far superior to the large restaurants in the surrounding counties.
The shop's employees, unaware of Prince Cheng's identity, handed the menu to Chen Xiaomi, only to have it snatched away by Chen Xiaomai.
Yuanbao leaned closer and said, "Uncle, I want to eat meat, meat."
Chen Xiaomi couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Prince Cheng smiled and said, "Let them order. These two lads seem like experts."
Chen Xiaocai ordered a lot of meat, and Chen Xiaomi handed the menu to Prince Cheng. Prince Cheng ordered a few dishes, and Chen Xiaomi added a few vegetarian dishes at the end.
Soon, the well-trained staff lit the charcoal fire and brought the hot pot broth to the table.
When Prince Cheng saw the hot pot divided into two parts, he clapped his hands with his fan and said, "This pot looks pretty good."
Chen Xiaomi smiled and said, "This pot is a yin-yang pot, which can satisfy both people who like spicy food and those who don't." Chen Xiaomi thought to herself: When this pot first came out, it seemed to have caused quite a stir. For Lu Lin, many ordinary things are very novel to people like them.
A variety of dishes were served one after another.
Prince Cheng asked curiously, "How do you eat this?"
Chen Xiaomai gave Prince Cheng a look that said, "Old man, you have no taste." Chen Xiaomi, watching Chen Xiaomai's expression, felt a little uneasy.
"Hot pot is the easiest to eat. Just put the ingredients in, blanch them, and when they're cooked and floating, you can eat them," Chen Xiaomai said.
Prince Cheng said "Oh," somewhat excited.
Chen Xiaomi put the yam and potato slices into the pot.
The hot pot tasted better than he had imagined. At first, Prince Cheng was not impressed with the food, but as he ate, he wanted to eat more and more.
Prince Cheng picked up a slice of yam and asked with some surprise, "What is this?"
The yams that were served had already been peeled, and Prince Cheng had not yet seen them.
“This is a clay stick,” Chen Xiaomi explained.
There are many soil sticks on the mountains near Shaxian County. In the past, these things were often wasted. After Lu Lin came, he bought them up. The soil sticks on the mountains were almost completely dug up. However, now the villagers have started to plant them.
"Earthen sticks?" Prince Cheng shook his head, realizing he had never eaten them before.
The yam was cooked until very soft and tender, melting in your mouth, and tasted delicious.
Chen Xiaomi picked up a piece of stalk and couldn't help but reminisce about the old days when Lu Lin first came to his house and dug up stalks to eat. At the time, he was worried that eating them would cause trouble.
The twigs from the mountains of Shaxian seem to grow exceptionally well, and now they've even found their way into the homes of Shaxian residents.
Prince Cheng tried several other ingredients, each with a different flavor, and they were all very good.
"Brother Chen, that's not fair of you!"
Chen Xiaomi said helplessly, "This is just a hodgepodge. Your Highness is just trying something new. If we're really talking about it, the dishes made by chefs in the capital are naturally the best and most exquisite."
Prince Cheng smiled. He was already tired of the dishes prepared by the imperial chefs. After eating this hot pot, Prince Cheng suddenly felt that he had wasted the last few decades of his life.
However, Prince Cheng understood to some extent that he hadn't taken Shaxian's cuisine seriously before, which was why Chen Xiaomai hadn't mentioned it to him without his permission.
Chen Xiaomai tried her best to scoop up the last quail egg, but failed several times. She pouted and watched Prince Cheng take away the last quail egg.
Prince Cheng laughed heartily and ordered his servants to add more dishes.
Chen Xiaomi originally thought that Prince Cheng was a person who could sleep a lot, but she found that Prince Cheng could not only sleep a lot, but also eat a lot. Prince Cheng originally did not expect that he could eat delicacies that he could not even get in the capital in a small place like Shaxian.
Prince Cheng ate a hearty meal, his belly bulging, and returned to the county government office, completely satisfied.
Ever since he learned that Shaxian had this hot pot restaurant, Old Wangye has been going there twice a day for every meal.
If the hot pot restaurant weren't closed in the morning, the old prince would go there three times a day to report for duty.
Seeing this, Lu Lin tactfully told the old prince that while the hot pot was delicious, eating too much of it could cause internal heat. Lu Lin was too embarrassed to tell him that eating too much of it could also cause constipation.
The old prince, who was in high spirits, nodded to indicate that he understood, but he still went to the hot pot restaurant twice a day, becoming a hot pot fanatic.
One day, Lu Lin went to a hot pot restaurant and overheard two employees saying that a wealthy man had come to the restaurant. Every time he came to eat hot pot, he would order a lot and give very generous tips.
Seeing the old prince's obsession with hot pot, Lu Lin could only sigh at the immense charm of hot pot. Even a prince accustomed to delicacies couldn't resist its allure!
Seeing this, Lu Lin realized that persuasion was ineffective, so he had the cook who had brought the prince brew some tea to cool the old prince down. After a few days, the old prince, who was finally suffering from internal heat, finally lost interest in hot pot for the time being.
"What are you drinking?" The old prince walked into the room and saw Chen Xiaomai and Yuanbao drinking tea.
"Honey lemon tea, Brother Lin said, it's good for your skin," Chen Xiaomai said, cupping her face in her hands.
The old prince looked at Chen Xiaomai and thought to himself: I had forgotten that these two guys were actually Xiao Shuang'er, they just looked like two wild boys.
"How about I have some to drink?" Chen Xiaomai looked at the old prince and hesitated for a moment.
Prince Cheng took out a silver ingot and placed it in front of Chen Xiaomai, saying, "Give me a few sips, and this is for you."
Chen Xiaomai smiled broadly and pushed the teapot towards Prince Cheng, saying, "Here you go."
Prince Cheng usually drinks tea bestowed by the emperor, brewed tea, and has rarely drunk this kind of fruit tea. Since Chen Xiaomai and Yuanbao both like sweet things, the fruit tea has a lot of honey added, which just suits the old prince's taste.
Before he knew it, Prince Cheng had finished a whole pot of honey lemon water.
Chen Xiaomai accepted the prince's money and hid it away as her private savings without mentioning it to Lu Lin.
Yuanbao sat on a small stool, eating an egg pancake, while Chongchong sat to the side eating a steamed cake with brown sugar.
With red eyes, Chongchong struggled with the brown sugar steamed cake in the bowl, leaving the cake covered in saliva.
Two days ago, when the old prince went to the county government kitchen, he happened to see brown sugar steamed cakes. The cakes looked good, so he ate a few and found that they tasted quite good.
The Imperial Treasure Shop in Kyoto also has similar-tasting pastries, but those pastries cost 100 mon each. I heard from the kitchen staff that this brown sugar steamed cake is sometimes sold for only 3 mon each, which is much cheaper.
Brown sugar steamed cake held little appeal for Prince Cheng; the old prince's attention was drawn to the novel food in Yuanbao's hand.
"Yuanbao, what are you eating?"
"Egg rolls".
"Did you buy it from outside?"
Yuanbao shook his head and said, "No, Uncle can do it."
The old prince nodded and said, "I see!" He knew the three Chen brothers somewhat, knowing that the youngest was a bit slow-witted. "That silly boy!"
"Uncle isn't stupid. Uncle's cooking is delicious."
The old prince nodded and said, "Alright, if you say he's not stupid, then he's not stupid. Is your uncle still alive?"
"They should still be in the kitchen," Yuanbao said.
The old prince rolled his eyes upon hearing this, and soon he had a pancake in his hand. Chen Xiaocai added her own special sauce, eggs, meat, potato strips, and lettuce to the pancake, making it a variety of flavors. The old prince couldn't help but feel like he was eating hot pot for the first time.
When Chen Xiaomai returned to Chen Xiaocai's house, Chen Xiaocai noticed that Chen Xiaomai had a jade pendant around her neck. Chen Xiaolai had seen many good things and her ability to distinguish them had improved.
When Chen Xiaocai saw the jade pendant around Chen Xiaomai's neck, she was immediately startled.
"Xiaomai, where did you get this jade pendant?"
"The old man gave it to me," Chen Xiaomai said.
Chen Xiaocai was startled and asked, "Why would he give it to you?"
“He wanted an egg roll, so he traded this to me.”
Chen Xiaocai: "..."
Chen Xiaomai held up the jade pendant and waved it at Chen Xiaocai, asking, "Second Brother, is this jade pendant valuable? Could it be a fake?"
Chen Xiaocai said somewhat helplessly, "It's not fake, it's real?"
Chen Xiaomai thought to herself: This is something given by the Prince, how could it be a fake? Lu Lin knew that Chen Xiaomai had taken the Prince's jade pendant, and he went to apologize helplessly. The Prince was very generous and said that it was nothing, just a small trinket, and that it was fine to give it away.
The prince stayed at the county government office for more than ten days without mentioning leaving.
After hot pot, the prince became obsessed with barbecue, spending every night eating and drinking at barbecue stalls.
The prince was very interested in the barbecue grill. When Lu Lin found out, he had a blacksmith make an exact replica and gave it to the prince. Before that, Lu Lin had already given the prince a hot pot with two broths and a rocking horse.
The prince was very happy to receive the barbecue grill, but he still showed no intention of leaving.
Chen Xiaomi looked at Lu Lin and said, "The prince seems to be very interested in many things. But why do you think he wants the rocking horse?"
Lu Lin pondered that the prince might not want a small rocking horse, but a large one. He was just too embarrassed to accept a small one, so he could have a large one made in the capital. This prince seemed to have a strong penchant for playfulness. Since the prince didn't want to leave, Lu Lin naturally couldn't urge him. However, while Lu Lin could remain calm, Ji Chengkang was anything but.
Ji Chengkang took several letters and went to the county government office.
"Lord Lu, where is the Prince?"
Lu Lin blinked and said, "He went out to eat grilled fish."
After the hot pot, the prince seems to have become obsessed with the local sizzling grilled fish, having eaten it for two days in a row. Lu Lin is vaguely worried; with the prince eating like this, he might easily develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and high blood sugar!
Ji Chengkang said helplessly, "Your Highness seems to be quite used to life in Shaxian!" He had originally thought that the conditions in Shaxian were too poor and that His Highness would probably not be able to stay here for long. However, judging from the current situation, His Highness seems to be quite happy and reluctant to leave.
"The restaurants opened by Young Master Chen are very popular." Chen Xiaolai's hot pot restaurant, grilled fish restaurant, dry pot restaurant, etc., which he opened on a street in Shaxian County in recent years, have become the signature restaurants of Shaxian County. In recent years, many wealthy people from other towns have traveled for several days by horse-drawn carriage to taste the local specialties.
For this reason, the inn built by Chen Xiaocai is often fully booked.
Lu Lin smiled and said, "It's alright, it's alright. Has the higher-ups urged the Prince to return?"
Ji Chengkang nodded and said, "Yes!" Ji Chengkang was actually a little afraid of this prince. This prince did not come alone, but with his personal guards. In order to create the illusion that the prince was sharing weal and woe with the soldiers in the military camp, these personal guards stayed in the camp. So many people need to eat.
Those guys aren't very capable, but because they're the prince's personal guards, they act quite arrogantly, so they can't be neglected. Keeping so many people in the camp, just eating and not working, and not being able to offend them is also quite troublesome.
Lu Lin looked at the letter in Ji Chengkang's hand and said, "Is it a letter from the Princess?"
Ji Chengkang nodded and said, "Yes, I didn't see it, but it should be urging the prince to go back."
Lu Lin rolled his eyes, smiled, and said, "That's probably the case."
For wealthy women in this world, the most important thing is to have a son to protect them. The empress and the imperial concubine naturally hoped that their daughters would be married off to the prince so that they could have a son to inherit the prince's title.
Otherwise, what would a beautiful young woman like her gain by marrying an old man? However, since the prince has been hiding outside, the princess can't have a child on her own!
As Ji Chengkang and Lu Lin were talking, the prince walked in carrying several skewers.
Looking at Prince Cheng, Lu Lin thought to himself, "The prince's demeanor is truly unrestrained! Looking like this, who would think he's a prince!" Prince Cheng glanced at Ji Chengkang and said, "General Ji, what brings you here?" Seeing Prince Cheng's disdainful expression, Ji Chengkang felt a pang of bitterness. "My lord, a letter has arrived from the madam."
Prince Cheng said sullenly, "Give it to me."
Prince Cheng took the letter, but didn't even look at it before putting it away. He didn't seem very happy about it.
Looking at Prince Cheng's expression, Ji Chengkang suspected that the prince would burn the letter if he turned around.
"Come with me."
Ji Chengkang steeled himself and followed Prince Cheng to the guest room.
"Your Highness, it's not just the Lady who's worried about you; His Majesty is also urging you to return." Seeing that no one else was around, Ji Chengkang stopped addressing him as "Your Highness." Ji Chengkang sighed inwardly; this kind of persuasive work was definitely not his forte.
Prince Cheng said dismissively, "I'll have nothing to do if I go back, so why is he urging me to go back?" After thinking about it for a while, Prince Cheng felt that his nephew was probably being influenced by the Empress and the Consort's pillow talk. Thinking of this, Prince Cheng felt even more annoyed.
Prince Cheng waved his hand and changed the subject, saying, "You know, there's a commercial street in Sha County that was opened by the county magistrate's brother-in-law."
Ji Chengkang nodded and said, "Yes."
"Where did this guy find such a great chef?!" At first, Prince Cheng didn't take this small place seriously. But after hot pot opened up a new world for him, Prince Cheng tried other things, and they all tasted great. Prince Cheng suddenly felt that he had wasted the past few decades.
This street in Shaxian is the signature attraction of our Shaxian. Many wealthy people come from other places to try it out, and many locals help out in the shops, making some money in the process. "Ji Chengkang feels proud that Shaxian has such a bustling street."
Prince Cheng rolled his eyes and said, "I heard that this recipe was developed by Lu Lin."
Ji Chengkang nodded and said, "It seems so." Not only the recipes, but it seems that all kinds of grills and iron pots were designed by Lu Lin. Because of this, Liu Yun felt that Lu Lin was not doing his job properly. However, on the other hand, she admired Lu Lin's talent in food to the point of being in awe.
Since the establishment of Shaxian Street, the people of Shaxian seem to have become more diligent. Many people go to Shaxian Street to relax after earning money from their work.
For the villagers, having a meal on Shaxian Street is a rare treat.
Prince Cheng stroked his chin and said, "This Lord Lu, isn't he the one who invented the handcart? I think he's done a good job governing Sha County, so why hasn't he been promoted?"
Ji Chengkang smiled awkwardly and said, "Perhaps Lord Lu's ambitions lie elsewhere."
Prince Cheng stroked his chin, smiled, and said, "I see!"
Seeing Prince Cheng's expression, Ji Chengkang knew that the prince had been captivated by the food of Shaxian County. Ji Chengkang could only sigh at the great charm of Lu Lin's food.
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