34 Chapter 34
◎A gentleman stays away from the kitchen◎
When he saw the two of them walking side by side and the atmosphere returned to its usual sticky feeling, Su Yuheng knew that they had reconciled, so he waved and called Jiang Jingyun over: "The food is ready, how do you make the pot you mentioned?" Without waiting for Jiang Jingyun to answer, he complained to himself: "It won't be hot pot again, I go to your place to eat every day, I'm tired of it..."
Jiang Jingyun didn't try to be polite and directly responded: "You are the one who always complains about it, but you will also eat the most later. Besides, our soup base is carefully boiled and prepared, and you can't eat it now if you want to."
"Okay...I don't know what's good for me." Su Yuheng didn't care about his rudeness.
There are many young masters from aristocratic families who follow and flatter others, but Jiang Jingyun is the most special one. He obviously loves money very much. Every day he is either studying or thinking about ways to make money, but he never asks about other people's family background, nor does he flatter anyone for gaining anything. He always has the same attitude from beginning to end, and it is very comfortable to interact with him.
Su Yuheng looked at Jiang Jingyun who was carefully looking through the ingredients and continued to ask, "Chef Jiang, if it's not a hot pot, then what is this 'pot'?"
"The specialty of Yunnan is chicken soup as the base, with taro, Chinese yam, crispy pork, fresh bamboo shoots and more than a dozen other ingredients added in a certain order and stewed. It's a bit like hot pot, so it's also called 'earthen pot' in the local area [1]. However, this method focuses more on maintaining the original flavor and is more nutritious, which is more suitable for candidates like us who are taking exams."
"Oh...it sounds good." Just hearing it made him feel a little hungry, but Su Yuheng was a little curious, "Where did you get so many recipes?"
"I read it from some travel notes and improved it based on my own experience." Although he didn't learn it from books, it was actually found in the travel notes.
"There are other books about these things. Lend them to me next time."
"Okay." Jiang Jingyun agreed indifferently and kept putting ingredients into the pot. As the food was simmered over low heat, the original flavor of the ingredients slowly blended into the soup, while also absorbing the umami flavor of the soup. Various flavors blended and complemented each other, and soon the yard was filled with rich and sweet fragrance, which made people salivate.
He first prepared a pot and brought it to the table, then he quickly prepared a pot for Su Yuheng and several of his followers before sitting down at the table.
Su Yuheng couldn't wait any longer. As soon as Jiang Jingyun sat down, he couldn't wait to pick up the crispy meat he had been eyeing. The meat was tender and tasty, fat but not greasy. He also picked up a piece of fresh bamboo shoots soaked in soup, which made his mouth full of crispness and fragrance. He couldn't help but exclaimed, "Delicious!"
"Of course." Jiang Jingyun raised his eyebrows proudly at Su Yuheng, and did not forget to pick up some food for Xiao Muyan, "Brother Xiao, try it and see if it tastes good."
Xiao Muyan smiled and took the bowl, and also picked up a piece of food for him with his chopsticks, "You should eat more too."
"......" Looking at the two people in front of him who were interacting with each other as if no one was around, Su Yuheng suddenly felt a little unhappy. Why did he feel so powerless as if he was full after just two bites?
Forget it, out of sight, out of mind. Let’s just concentrate on enjoying the food.
After eating and drinking, they went back to their rooms. Jiang Jingyun lay in the bedding that had been specially changed for him and slept soundly until dawn.
The next morning, after a simple breakfast, the few of them set out in the cool morning weather, stopping and resting along the way, and finally arrived at the gate of the city on the afternoon of the third day.
With the help of Xiao Muyan, Jiang Jingyun got down from the carriage tremblingly.
Finally they arrived. The road conditions in ancient times were so bad that except for the time for meals and rest, he sat in the car all day long and was almost exhausted.
Should Jiang Jingyun be thankful that the provincial capital is not far away, only a three-day drive away? If it was a little further away, his brain would probably be shaken up by the time he got there, so why would he even take the imperial examination? He could just put the pig brain in a pot and eat it...
He glanced at Su Yuheng who was excited beside him, and then at Xiao Muyan who remained calm, and couldn't help but lament: The gap between people, the parameter settings are a little too big!
Enduring the nausea and vomiting in his stomach, Jiang Jingyun forced himself to quickly glance at the larger and more imposing city gates and streets, then went straight to his residence, where he lay for almost a whole day before he recovered.
That afternoon, he was studying hard in his room when Su Yuheng rushed in excitedly: "Jingyun, I heard that there is a book club being held at the East Market Teahouse. Shall we go and take a look?"
"No." Jiang Jingyun refused without even looking up. He was very self-aware. "With my level of poetry writing, I'm not afraid of being embarrassed. I'm just afraid of making others laugh and then they will sue me for maliciously hurting others before the exam."
"Puchi." Su Yuheng laughed in an unkind way. Even Mr. Sun, who had many students all over the world, was helpless when it came to Jiang Jingyun's poetry writing level. His policy essays were rigorous and profound, but when it came to writing poetry, he only had the rhythm and tone, and no inspiration at all.
Jiang Jingyun looked up at the person who was laughing at him, and said to himself, "What are you laughing at? If you had gone through eighteen years of exam-oriented education, you would be able to write straight and honestly."
"Well," Su Yuheng covered his lips and suppressed the smile on his face when facing the resentful look from his friend. "If we're not going to the book club, then let's go to the bookstore here. I heard that there are some new books, which may be useful for the exam."
"Hmm? Real test questions before the exam?" Jiang Jingyun seemed quite interested.
Seeing that he was somewhat interested, Su Yuheng took his hand and walked out: "Let's go, since you have memorized those books by heart, why not go out for a walk and see what other people are doing? As the saying goes, 'know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never fight again.'"
"Hey, don't push me," Jiang Jingyun pulled away the hand that was holding him, "I have to talk to Brother Xiao before I go."
"Hmph, you're so dithering. You're an adult and still need to report before you go out. Are you a child?" Su Yuheng crossed his arms and urged unhappily, "Go quickly. We'll leave right after we finish talking. If you're late, they'll sell out."
Jiang Jingyun ignored this low-level slander and said hello to Xiao Muyan before following him out.
As the rumors said, the bookstore was crowded with people, almost all of whom were candidates who came to take the college entrance examination.
As soon as Su Yuheng entered the store, he asked the waiter, "Do you still have the new collection of questions? Give me two."
"Oh, we're sorry, you came at an inopportune time. The last copy has already been sold." The waiter bowed and apologized.
"It's sold out so quickly, when will the stock be restocked?" Jiang Jingyun wondered, wondering if it was some kind of hunger marketing.
"This..." The waiter hesitated for a few seconds before answering with a smile, "I'm not sure either. How about you come back tomorrow to take a look?"
Jiang Jingyun frowned and was about to say something when he heard a burst of sneer coming from the side. Following the sound, I saw that it was the annoying guy I hadn't seen for a long time. Xie Weicai looked at the waiter with a sneer on his face: "He doesn't need these books. It would be more appropriate to get him two cookbooks."
"...What bad luck." The two thought at the same time.
Jiang Jingyun squinted at Su Yuheng and said, "Why didn't you check the almanac before you went out? What kind of thing did you encounter?"
Su Yuheng was speechless and rolled his eyes like Jiang Jingyun. "Who would go out to see that? How could I have known that I would be so unlucky to encounter such a disgusting thing?"
Jiang Jingyun was also unhappy: "Tsk, it's really not a good thing."
Seeing the two people in front of him treating him as air and constantly making indirect accusations, Xie Weicai looked at Su Yuheng with a sullen face and unwillingness, "Mr. Su, you should stay away from such people. 'A gentleman should stay away from the kitchen'. Those who stay in the kitchen every day are either servants or..."
Su Yuheng: "..., are you sick? What's wrong with the cook? Why don't you eat the food he cooks?"
"Mencius said: 'Doing no harm is the art of benevolence, just as one sees the cow but not the sheep. A gentleman, when seeing animals alive, cannot bear to see them die; when hearing their cries, cannot bear to eat their flesh. That is why a gentleman stays away from the kitchen.' [2]" Jiang Jingyun looked at the collection of questions in Xie Weicai's hand and said disdainfully, "You don't even understand this. You should read more books, but it's probably too late to cram at the last minute. Why don't you just go back and repeat your studies for two years?"
"You!" Xie Weicai wanted to attack as soon as they disagreed, but then he seemed to think of something and put it down. He just stared at Jiang Jingyun viciously, "You are a sharp-tongued dog, I don't know how long you can stop barking!"
Jiang Jingyun replied calmly: "Generally speaking, mad dogs that love to bite people randomly will not live long. I'm afraid you can't wait, so I'm telling you in advance that I'm in good health and I estimate that I can live another fifty or sixty years."
“…, puh, hahahahahaha…”. Su Yuheng couldn't help laughing out loud. As expected, when Jiang Jingyun's sharp tongue was not directed at him, it made people feel refreshed just by listening to it.
"you!"
"What do you mean by "you"! Have you read so many books but got nothing? You can't even speak fluently and you come out to embarrass yourself." Jiang Jingyun was really annoyed with this guy. If you didn't know him, you would think he had dug up the ancestral graves of the Xie family. He kept staring at him all day long. He had also tried to do business with Huangjiang Banquet Hall before, but fortunately Su Yuheng helped him to escape danger. Now he met him here and he came up to him because of the smell. He was really unlucky.
Xie Weicai was so furious that he had no power to fight back. In the end, he just left with some unoriginal harsh words and turned away.
I not only didn’t buy the book I wanted, but also had this experience, which ruined my good mood when I went out.
Su Yuheng picked a few books at random without much interest, and went to find Jiang Jingyun. He found him standing in front of an empty bookshelf, holding an old book and reading it with relish. He took a closer look and saw that it was a collection of document notices issued this year. He asked in confusion, "Why are you reading these? You won't be tested on them."
"How do you know there won't be any questions on the test? You're not the one who wrote the questions." Jiang Jingyun retorted subconsciously. Seeing Su Yuheng holding a few books in his hand, he said, "Now that you've chosen, what are you going to buy?"
"Yeah." Su Yuheng handed the book over and said indifferently, "Some literary poetry collections."
"Oh," Jiang Jingyun lost interest when he heard it was a collection of poems. He closed the book and said to Su Yuheng, "Let's go then."
Su Yuheng saw that he was still holding the collection and asked, "Do you want to buy it?"
"Well, it summarizes some policies issued by the court over the years. From here, we can get a glimpse of the thoughts of some superiors. Even if we can't get the trace of the questions, it's still good to understand the general direction." This is similar to the need to understand daily current affairs for modern civil servants. Jiang Jingyun did not hide anything and expressed his thoughts. "But we can't guess what the examiner thinks specifically, so let's just treat it as 'try your best'."
"I see. Then I'll buy one too." Su Yuheng thought what he said made sense, so he went back and picked up one as well.
The two of them went to the front to pay the bill and left in a hurry, so they didn't know that someone behind the bookshelf was listening to their entire conversation.
【Author’s words】
【1】Reference Baidu
[2] From Mencius, The Book of Mencius, Part I, King Hui of Liang
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