Chapter 191 Case File 3: The Mystery of Rose Villa Begins (7)
"The subtle fragrance of roses, the shadows of twin butterflies, lost bloodlines... these key words in the invitation all match up with this rumor." Vivian rested her chin on her left hand and held the invitation between her index and middle fingers in her right hand, waving it in front of everyone. "I think this must be the theme of this event."
Winston suddenly asked aloud, “Do all our invitations have the same wording?”
"Eh?" Vivian blinked and handed over her invitation. "I don't know. Why don't you compare them?"
Winston took the invitation, opened it and saw that there was indeed something different.
Dear Vivian, daughter of the Marquis of Leicester:
When the night wind carries the subtle fragrance of roses, twin butterfly shadows flit across the moonlit garden, and the stars rotate back to their positions, the lost bloodline will finally return, an ancient curse will finally be fulfilled, and a mystery that has been sealed for many years will be reopened...
With your title hanging in the balance, you're left feeling lost. As the old and new nobility transition, perhaps this unique game can be your stepping stone into social life. Perhaps the door to a future political career will slowly open here.
We sincerely invite you to visit [Rose Villa] and attend a special gathering.
Please arrive at the Queen's Hotel in Melori City at 8:00 AM on the 24th of Midsummer, 988 Tal. A driver will be waiting for you. You may bring one companion...
The rest of the content is consistent with Winston's.
"Although we don't have many samples, I suspect that Madame Butterfly wrote a different invitation for each person," Winston concluded. "The first paragraph outlines the event, while the second paragraph describes the invitee's most desired item. More precisely, it describes what Madame Butterfly thinks the invitee would most want."
In Winston's invitation letter, Madame Butterfly mentioned an old case and a blood mystery. Winston guessed that the former referred to the assassination of Count Saka, and the latter... Winston still hasn't figured it out.
As an orphan adopted by Count Saka, Winston has never had any doubts about his background and bloodline since he was a child - there are so many battlefield orphans who grew up with him, some of them can remember where they came from, while others, like him, choose to ignore their past and grow up like a blank sheet of paper as the adopted son of Count Saka.
——So many people died on the battlefield. What difference did it make or what did it matter whether his parents were knights in the army, nobles leading troops, or unfortunate peasants?
After being adopted by Earl Saka, these children became half-brothers and sisters, eating the same bread, drinking the same water, and growing up with the same education. Even though they were not related by blood, they were still family, friends, and had a life-long relationship.
...Who did Madame Butterfly think he was? Or perhaps, he was just chosen to play a role in the game?
Winston suppressed his doubts. There were too few clues at the moment, and he couldn't distinguish between the "plot" of the event and the reality of reality. Perhaps this was all intentional on Madame Butterfly's part. They were players in this game, but they were also actors on the stage, playing their respective roles and performing their own parts, both on and off the stage, in and out of the play.
He let out a long sigh and pushed the invitation back in front of Vivian: "Keep it. It might be useful later."
After a late-night snack, the group successfully exchanged their findings. Jiangyou took the opportunity to ask the guests what they would like to eat tomorrow. She knew so many dishes, and rather than creating them all by herself, she decided to ask them what they liked. Not all foreigners were quick to embrace the 5,000-year-old culinary culture of the ancient East. Honestly, even Jiangyou herself might not be able to accept certain dishes with distinct regional characteristics.
As she spoke with eloquence and gestured with gusto, several noble representatives shouldered the heavy responsibility of selecting tomorrow's light meals, desserts, and drinks. Takumi jotted down the names of the dishes, planning to go back to the pantry to check for any missing ingredients.
Not to mention that some dishes have to be pickled and fermented starting tonight so that they can be cooked in time tomorrow.
With the matter settled, Andre cleared the table, picked up his tray again, and left with Jiang You. Jiang You, holding his draft menu, happily went straight to the kitchen to prepare the dishes.
There will be a big banquet tomorrow night, and for breakfast and lunch, guests can order what they want. They can eat wherever they like and whatever they like. They can also skip it if they don’t want to. It’s very free.
While the guests had plenty of freedom, Jiangyou had to prepare for the thirteen guests. She planned to roast a few ducks, make some soy sauce chicken, and prepare some Cantonese-style snacks. She didn't need too many options, as they could be steamed as ordered.
Melori is a seaport city, and this villa is located in the mountains not far from Melori. The sea is just below the cliffs, making it easy to get shrimp and fish. This way, she can arrange siomai, shrimp dumplings, and shrimp rice rolls. If she can get oysters, she can also make some charcoal-grilled oysters with garlic sauce... If the nobles are not used to eating this, she can use the leftover oysters to make oyster sauce!
The buns had to be toasted, too, to prevent some stubborn diehards from insisting on the traditional Huntington fare—no matter how terrible it was, there were always some devout old fogies who would rather eat the same old, awful food than take a chance on something new. At the very least, there had to be some plain old beef burgers.
There is an oven in the corner of the kitchen, which is much larger than the one Andre built in the workshop. It can easily bake bread, pizza, roast duck, and ribs.
Whether making bread, noodles, or puff pastry, dough needs to be kneaded, rested, and fermented in advance. These doughs can be refrigerated in a constant temperature container, where they ferment slowly over a long period of time at a constant low temperature, cultivating more yeast flora. This not only saves time on the next day's preparation but also improves the taste of the finished product.
Duck and ribs also need to be marinated in advance before roasting to make them tasty.
Jiangyou thought that instead of rushing to use the Time Crucible tomorrow, it would be better to prepare the ingredients in advance tonight.
Of course, preparing food and creating menus is a science in itself. To satisfy the nobles, the dishes on the menu must be diverse and appear to be very sumptuous.
However, the ingredients actually used cannot be too scattered. For example, if the kitchen prepares shrimps, they can be used in dishes such as shrimp dumplings, shrimp rice rolls, shrimp dumplings, seafood porridge, seafood noodles, etc. In this way, no matter what the guests order, there will be several side dishes that can be reused, and it is not easy to happen that you have worked hard to prepare for half a day but no customers still order this dish.
Otherwise, there would be only one chef in the kitchen who actually cooks, and even if he was extremely busy, he might not be able to finish the meal.
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