Chapter 13: The Crime of Trial: Dragon Fruit Bread and Garlic Pork Tenderloin
Dorothy's face changed faster than the weather in early summer. During the day, she looked at Leo as if he were a walking horse-headed fish-tailed monster, but at night it changed into a look of shame and admiration.
Leonard's hands were covered with medicinal wine, but some blood was still oozing out. He didn't seem to care. He applied the medicine and walked away with his head down.
Ye Wan sat by the fireplace, warming herself by the fire as black tea simmered on the fire. She took out a bone china teacup with a lily of the valley painted on it and added two sugar cubes to the amber tea.
Dorothy put on a serious face again: "After tea, it's time to go back to bed, little girl."
Ye Wan made a face and quickly ran back home.
The next day, everyone in Honey Lane saw the fallen drainpipe, and people from the road repair department in the royal capital finally arrived and took the old drainpipe away.
The morning light shone on the brick walls of Honey Lane, and the delicate aroma of caramel wafted out of Leo's bakery again. Grandma Katya, leaning on a cane, brought in four children, each of whom was wearing gray linen clothes with various patches of varying sizes.
Ye Wan greeted her, and Grandma Katya smiled and said, "I picked up the children from the charity home today and made bread for them."
In the bakery, Leo had already cut two large buckets of dragon fruit. Seeing a group of people coming in, he silently gave up most of the kneading table. The children cheered and ran to the table, climbed onto small stools to help knead the dough.
Leo turned back to mix the syrup.
Ye Wan also likes to make desserts, so since it was still early, he came in to help.
The fermented dough quickly expanded, resembling pink clouds. Katya's old hands pressed against the child's small hands, shaping the dough into the shape of a pink dragon and pressing a fresh blueberry for the eyes.
Ye Wan also helped a little girl pinch the dragon's tail. Leo stood aside in silence for a moment, then walked over.
He held the baking tray with both hands, then squatted down slightly, allowing the children to excitedly put the dough into the baking tray.
The moment the first batch of bread was served, the rich wheat aroma filled the air like a rising tide. These dragon fruit breads looked very successful, with honey-colored burnt spots on the surface.
Ye Wan picked one up and broke it open to take a look. It was covered with neat and dense pores, and the aroma of dragon fruit and milk was gently intertwined.
The children were very happy and each took a piece of bread.
Leo finished brushing the second plate of pink dragons with egg liquid and was about to put the bread into the oven. The children grabbed the hem of his clothes and stuffed the baked bread into his hands.
"This is the dragon knight who protects the kingdom. He is as heroic as you." The children said seriously.
Leo's body stiffened for a moment, and then he held the four pink dragons in his palms. Ye Wan saw his Adam's apple roll.
It seemed as if he was trying hard to swallow down an unformed syllable.
After several large plates of bread were baked, Ye Wan saw that the sun was almost setting, so he returned to his own tavern to start preparing the meal. Dorothy came in on time.
"Would you like a seafood risotto, Dorothy?" Ye Wan asked.
"No thanks, I want to drink some wine today and have a plate of garlic pork tenderloin." Dorothy glanced at the menu and answered without thinking.
Ye Wan responded and went to the kitchen to prepare food.
The fresh pork tenderloin has had its fascia removed and has been soaked in a sauce made of soy sauce and oyster sauce for a whole morning. The fresh aroma of the sauce has permeated the meat.
Ye Wan fried the minced garlic until golden and crispy, then added the pork tenderloin and fried it. Soon the fat from the pork tenderloin began to ooze out, and a layer of attractive caramel color slowly formed on the surface of the pork tenderloin.
The tenderloin covered in crispy garlic was brought out, and Ye Wan went to the wall to get a wine vessel: "Do you want beer? We also have sake."
"Beer, please," said Dorothy.
The wind chime on the door rang and it was Grandma Katya who came in.
"So, Leo's bread teaching class is over?" Ye Wan poured the beer to Dorothy.
Grandma Katya sat down and also looked at the menu on the wall. "Yes, Leo volunteered to take over from me and send the children back to the charity home... Goddess of the Earth, those children were afraid of the scar between his eyebrows before, but today they are willing to cling to him and act like spoiled brats."
"That sounds great. Want some garlic tenderloin, mother-in-law?"
The tenderloin is fried until crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with rich gravy and a strong garlic flavor, making it a great pairing with beer.
Dorothy had a couple more drinks and couldn't help but reveal some of her true feelings: "Oh, I did misunderstand him before. Although he looks scary, he is a kind person. I think I should go and apologize."
Grandma Katya was also drunk and said, "Yes, he was a very good man. He should have had a very bright future, but I ruined it all."
Dorothy was already drowsy and didn't hear what she said clearly. Only Ye Wan heard the words "Because I'm all ruined."
I think there is some story behind it.
She was very curious, but everyone had their own story, so Ye Wan decided not to ask Grandma Katya a single word.
Finally, she kept the secret and sent Katya out. Katya said goodbye to her and gently rubbed Pancake's face with her index finger.
"Goodbye Ye Wan, goodbye pancake."
Katya walked home happily. In the early summer, pink and purple hydrangeas were blooming all over Honey Alley, blooming vigorously along the mottled brick walls. The warm breeze blew, and the heavy flower balls swayed gently.
"You are blooming very hard today." Grandma Katya said to the flowers with a smile.
Huaer nodded to her.
In any case, with the help of Grandma Katya, Leonard's reputation in Honey Lane gradually improved, and more and more people were willing to come to his bakery to buy bread.
It was one night that completely changed people's impression of him.
Conductor Jack drank a lot of wine in Ye Wan's pub and leaned against the brick wall of Honey Lane, smoking.
The strong smell of alcohol mixed with the smell of cheap tobacco, his eyes were red from drinking, and his wrinkled tie was pulled into his shirt.
The girls in the tavern are all good-looking. The young owner has round cheeks, beautiful big eyes, and a sweet smile on the corner of her lips, like a piece of honey; oh, by the way, the blonde beauty who accompanies her is also good-looking, with a plump figure, like a rose.
There were still a few guards sitting in the tavern, drinking, with weapons on their waists.
"What a pity." He curled his lips.
A flower girl came over from the other end of Honey Lane. She looked very beautiful in her white dress.
Jack stared at her with a grin on his face, but his handsome eyes were now dull, sticking to the flower girl like a rotten spider web.
"Are you still hanging out so late? Want to have a couple of drinks with your brother?" Jack reached out and grabbed the other's fair wrist.
The girl's trembling, sobbing cry for help rang out in the alley.
However, when Ye Wan noticed the commotion and came out with a few guards from the tavern, the girl had already hidden safely behind Leo. He held a rolling pin and said to Jack, who was trembling on the ground:
"Don't show up in this alley again." The scar on his face looked even more terrifying in the moonlight.
Two guards arrested Jack. Captain Lassen walked over to thank Leo. He looked a little excited: "The way you hold your sword looks exactly like a knight from the Paladin!"
Leo simply withdrew his hand and hid the rolling pin behind him: "I have never heard of the Holy Knights."
Jack was taken away and glared at Leo angrily before leaving.
Leo's reputation has improved.
The orphans of Notre Dame drew an oil painting with crayons and called it "Uncle Leo". The Leo in the painting had wheat-colored hair, two black circles, one large and one small, as eyes, and a smiling mouth painted bright red.
He is wearing a black apron and kneading a ball of crooked pink dough. Behind him is a stone kiln with several brown lines representing the fragrant bread being baked.
The background is painted with a blue sky and green grass, with an oval yellow sun in the sky.
The quality of those crayons was not very good, and the colors they painted were rough. The painting was a bit ugly, but you could tell that the children painted it very seriously. Leo quietly posted the painting on the wall behind the counter, in a conspicuous place that customers could see as soon as they came in.
Dorothy had switched to butter buns and Earl Grey tea every morning, but she still complained softly, "These buns aren't as good as Ryan's."
Leonard was also gradually changing. He began to talk to people, go to church with Grandma Katya, help the old man in the hardware store repair the broken roof, and find the key for the old lady in the flower shop.
He also nailed up Ye Wan's old attic window frame which was leaking drafts and rain.
Ye Wan thanked him cheerfully: "Thank you so much, Leo. It would be even better if you could call me guinea pig's name 'Muffin' instead of mouse."
Leo looked at Pancake stiffly.
Muffin stood on Ye Wan's shoulder, looking at him with bright eyes full of expectation.
"Goodbye." Leo said, turned around and left.
Muffin was very angry.
Ye Wan was also a little embarrassed: "Could it be that he is afraid of rodents? Maybe he was bitten by a rat when he was a child?"
"Squeak! Squeak!" Muffin looked even angrier.
Ye Wan quickly apologized to it: "I'm sorry, I said the wrong thing. You are the cutest guinea pig in the world!"
Pancake turned his back and refused to speak again no matter how Ye Wan coaxed him.
Today is Sunday, and Leo's bakery is closed. There is a piece of paper on the door: "I have something to do today."
Grandma Katya smiled and said, "The church needs to be renovated, and he went over to help."
Ye Wan was planning to buy some toast to make sandwiches, but when she saw that Leo's bakery was closed, she thought of buying some at the market. She invited Grandma Katya to go shopping with her.
The two of them walked around the market for a long time, bought a lot of things and were ready to take them home, but they found that there were several people gathered in front of Leo's house.
The leader was the arrogant Jack. He was not drunk today and was wearing a white suit. Because of his good looks, Ye Wan gave him the evaluation of "a piece of trash that looks like a dog".
Jack brought two accomplices with him and wanted to seek revenge on Leo, but found that Leo was not there, so he found some rotten eggs and threw them at the door of his shop.
Everyone in Honey Lane was very dissatisfied and gathered around to stop them.
Jack took an old newspaper and waved it proudly in his hand: "You idiots!"
He glanced around and threw the newspaper at everyone's feet: "Think of the criminals expelled from the Holy Knights as your benefactors. Read this carefully and wake up, or you'll be sold out without knowing it one day!"
Ye Wan went to pick up the newspaper. It was an old, yellowed newspaper. The date was more than ten years ago. She saw the headline at a glance:
Iron Curtain Daily front page headline
——【Silver Blade】Fallen: Paladin Leonard Alistair Leonidas was sentenced to five years in prison for spreading the plague
Ye Wan's hands trembled with fear.
"The crime of spreading plague..." she repeated silently.
"What are you doing?" Leonard came back with a faded repair box on his back. His eyes first cast on the newspaper in Ye Wan's hand, and then moved to the bakery wall stained with egg liquid.
He squatted down and picked up the stinking eggshells, the egg liquid slowly sliding down the wall of the bakery, like a scar of sin that would always follow him and could never be washed away.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
