Executioner (sp)
Thanks to that unexpected conversation with Zhu Mingyu, Yan Zhiwei lost her long-lost motivation to work. When supervising others, she was completely out of her mind, and unsurprisingly, she failed to meet the corresponding targets.
The biggest problem that arises from reduced efficiency is the criticism from those in charge.
"Young lady, I hired you because of your speed and experience. Look at you, giving instructions so absentmindedly. What are you doing? What kind of nonsense is this?"
The person in charge was an old woman, probably over forty years old. It was said that she was a skilled cook when she was young. She pinched the perfunctory dough that hadn't even been kneaded into buns, and sighed, rubbing her forehead.
After all, it was her own fault for slacking off. Yan Zhiwei clutched her right hand with her left, lowered her head, and silently accepted the criticism.
Yan Zhiwei glanced at the sticky dough and wanted to reach out to salvage it, but before she could even touch the soft white dough, the steward quickly stopped her.
"Hey, hey, then don't move the dough, just leave it like this." The steward stopped Yan Zhiwei's hand.
Yan Zhiwei pouted: "But this dough is completely unformed. Look, the air hasn't escaped, and the fermentation is poor..."
Yan Zhiwei broke open a piece of dough and showed it to the steward: "It will be full of air holes, and the finished product won't look good..."
"So what if it's full of air holes? It's still because you, the supervisor, made a mistake! You know that the image of these buns is the face of my mansion, so how dare you tarnish the reputation of the mansion here?!" Yan Zhiwei's failure to deliver on time and in the required quantity was already extremely annoying, and now she was dawdling around. Upon hearing this, the steward's face drooped to the ground.
She pushed Yan Zhiwei away and poked the dough: "You think time and materials aren't money, you idiot! Don't you have a brain?!"
The manager stuck dough to his fingers and poked fine powder onto Yan Zhiwei's face: "I really misjudged you."
Yan Zhiwei dared not speak. She could be arrogant in the past because she was in the right, but now she was the one who was wrong and had failed to meet her own standards for serving food.
Yan Zhiwei bit her lower lip with her upper teeth, mentally preparing herself to give up her day's wages.
Her face flushed, and she almost wrung out the handkerchief in her hands. She was conflicted, wondering whether it would be better to offer to waive her wages or to wait and see how things developed. After all, it wasn't easy for anyone to make a living, and what if the person in charge only planned to deduct half a day's wages?
Yan Zhiwei smiled apologetically as she thought.
The steward rolled her eyes a few more times and muttered a few words in a local dialect that Yan Zhiwei couldn't understand. After a while, she finally relented and said, "Fine, I won't punish you today."
Yan Zhiwei's eyes lit up.
"Don't think it's because I'm kind-hearted." The steward rubbed Yan Zhiwei's shoulder. "You're just lucky. Our master happened to be in a good mood and was planning to give an extra batch of buns to the stray dogs on the street."
"It's shameful for us to eat this stuff, but it's passable for dogs." The steward used Yan Zhiwei's clothes as a rag and rubbed the white mud a few times.
"You should kowtow to our master a few times," the steward sneered.
Yan Zhiwei: "..."
This family is truly a wealthy household; their charitable endeavors are incredibly extensive.
Not to mention crossing social classes, they've even taken on tasks that cross species boundaries.
"I've already knelt before the master in my heart. If you ask me, everyone in your household is a bodhisattva. You're kind, I'm kind, everyone treats each other well!" Yan Zhiwei flashed eight teeth and gave the steward a thumbs-up.
"Hmph." The steward responded politely.
This matter is finally over.
Yan Zhiwei wiped away a cold sweat from afar. The steward, however, couldn't bear to see Yan Zhiwei idle, so she beckoned for several servants to bring over several large bamboo baskets.
“This is…” Yan Zhiwei craned her neck toward the basket, which contained large chunks of fresh red meat. The meat was firm and had a bright cherry-colored sheen; from Yan Zhiwei’s perspective, the muscle fibers were even clearly visible.
Yan Zhiwei leaned closer to sniff, and there was a refreshing scent of grass and wood mixed with the sweet aroma of cream. It was indeed top-quality meat. Yan Zhiwei sighed inwardly, guessing that the feed these livestock had eaten in their lifetime must have been extraordinary.
"Use these as filling to stuff the buns." Perhaps having seen too much high-class meat, the steward's reaction was indifferent. After smelling the fishy smell, he half-closed his eyes and took out a handkerchief to cover his nose.
"Don't disappoint me again." The steward emphasized with a frown at the last moment.
Yan Zhiwei watched the steward leave, then eagerly took out the top-quality meat from the basket. With just a light touch, she felt its cool elasticity, and the abundant juice between the tissues clung to her fingertips.
Yan Zhiwei wasted no more time and picked out a few pieces of red meat, placing them on the cutting board to process them with a "clattering" sound.
Yan Zhiwei's knife was swift, and the minced meat was cut evenly. With a wave of her hand, she poured in several bottles of Shaoxing wine, added chopped scallions and ginger juice, and even used her unique secret technique—cane sugar—to give the meat a sweet and fragrant base color.
Yan Zhiwei kneaded the meat filling in the basin with alternating hands, and soon, the bright and plump filling was ready. She quickly wrapped several buns and put them in the steamer, and wisps of white steam rose from the stove.
Yan Zhiwei raised her waist, unaware that dusk had arrived.
As the sun was about to set, it cast a sugary hue on the bluestone slabs of the market.
The aroma wafting from the gaps in the steamer attracted stray dogs, and two passersby were also drawn in. They pointed at the steamer and joked that the buns smelled incredibly delicious and must be something extraordinary.
Yan Zhiwei smiled back at them, and soon lifted the lid of the steamer. The snow-white and fluffy buns were all plump, with thin skin and large fillings. If you looked closely, you could even see the minced meat wrapped in oil inside.
"Sister Zhiwei, it looks so tempting, can I have one?" Xiao Xu appeared out of nowhere, whispering earnestly behind her, which startled Yan Zhiwei.
Yan Zhiwei then remembered that she hadn't settled Xiao Xu's wages yet. Xiao Xu had an alcoholic father, and she wouldn't be able to explain it to him if she didn't bring some money back with her.
It's not easy for anyone.
"Eat up, eat up." Yan Zhiwei first cooled the steamer, then forked the biggest and most fragrant bun and handed it to Xiao Xu. "Eat slowly, don't burn yourself."
Yan Zhiwei gave the greedy cat a few instructions, then lowered her head and took out a string of copper coins from her pocket, counting the number in her mind.
Xiao Xu seemed to be too tired from work and didn't care about anything else. After receiving the steamed buns, he began to eat them heartily.
Peel back the white skin to reveal amber-colored flesh. Xiao Xu's Adam's apple bobbed as he eagerly took his first bite.
"Delicious, delicious! This is such a heavenly delicacy!" Xiao Xu was still chewing on the white skin, but he wasn't satisfied and stuffed a few more bites into his mouth.
The scalding hot filling burned her tongue, and Xiao Xu gasped as she sighed, "Especially this meat filling, I've never eaten such fine meat before..."
Upon hearing this, Yan Zhiwei paused in counting money, and glanced at Xiao Xu's full cheeks with a smile.
"Of course it should taste delicious. Just look who made it! Besides, the ingredients are top-notch. It's bound to be a delicacy no matter how it's made," Yan Zhiwei thought to herself, a smile playing on her lips.
Xiao Xu was still digesting the steamed buns, and mumbled, "By the way, Sister Zhiwei, have you heard about what happened with our boss? The one who's going to make steamed buns for dogs!"
"I've heard about it." Yan Zhiwei nodded, and was about to flatter her employer for his great kindness when Xiao Xu interrupted her.
"Do you know what they've been up to lately?" Xiao Xu suddenly asked, leaning closer to Yan Zhiwei in a low voice.
"The Wang family hired someone to kill someone. The night watchman saw it. I heard that the murder was committed by an old and famous family on East Street! Just now, the yamen broke down the gate of that mansion. Blood was splattered everywhere inside, and it was a horrific sight."
Yan Zhiwei was stunned for a moment, and the copper coins she had just counted slipped from her fingers.
"Which prestigious family are you referring to?"
"I think it's called... Yan Family?" Xiao Xu frowned and scratched his head. "I don't recognize the plaque on that mansion, but it's the only old and famous family on East Street. Their mansion was even built with a loan from a wealthy merchant!"
"It doesn't matter which family it is anymore. I heard that the old prestigious family broke off the engagement, offending the Prince's Mansion. The Prince's Mansion used this as an excuse to punish them, and then..."
"And then what?"
"Let's take advantage of the dark night and find some bandits to break into the mansion... and take everyone's heads..." Xiao Xu made a self-slitting gesture, and then said nothing more.
Yan Zhiwei felt a little dizzy. The orange-red sun had just set, and the night was not yet deep, but she felt strangely cold, as if someone had pierced the top of her head with an ice pick, leaving her feeling numb and tingling for a while.
"Why... did you cut off their heads?" Yan Zhiwei asked, forcing herself to speak.
"I heard it's so that they can't recognize the person, making it easier to dismember them."
Xiao Xu's voice was very soft, "The Wang family started as bandits. They had a habit of punishing all disloyal people with extreme cruelty, such as feeding their skulls to dogs, or..."
Xiao Xu's gaze gradually fell on the clean white buns in the steamer. She licked her lips, and the bits of meat, with their alternating layers of fat and lean meat, seemed to be alive, still dancing on her tongue.
"Ugh—" Her stomach clenched violently, and before Yan Zhiwei could even take out the handkerchief from her pocket, she covered her face and began to dry heave on the street.
She had been busy working all day and hadn't eaten much. Right now, all she could do was spit out the cucumber she had just swallowed, along with the sour liquid, and long strands of saliva.
"In broad daylight, under the clear sky... is the Wang family not afraid of punishment from the authorities?" Yan Zhiwei asked in a hoarse voice, her words filled with rage.
"The Wang family's arrogance is well-known in Shu County. As soon as they grew stronger, they forced the county magistrate to leave, and they have a good relationship with the prefect. Why would they care about these things?"
Xiao Xu sighed, his expression more calm than one of sympathy or resentment, as if he were describing something so ordinary as to be mundane.
“We’re used to it. The Wang family is still posting notices on the bulletin board in the west market. Sigh, I wonder what they say.” Xiao Xu rubbed the dust off her hands, then felt a craving. She smacked her lips, wanting to beg Yan Zhiwei to let her have another bun, but could only catch a glimpse of a fleeting shadow at the end of the street corner.
——
Yan Zhiwei staggered through the street, her target the notice board, but she held up both hands.
She wanted to find a water source.
Yan Zhiwei clearly saw a slight red tinge under her fingernails, not a natural red, but the color of pig's blood. No! It wasn't even the color of pig's blood, but something brighter and more striking... human blood?
The sensation of touching fresh meat was still there; it used to bring joy, but now Yan Zhiwei only felt nauseous.
The meat is disgusting, the people are disgusting, and the world is disgusting.
Yan Zhiwei, supporting her limp legs, limped to the front of the notice board. The glue on the top sheet of Xuan paper had long since dried, and the official seal was stamped on the bottom edge.
The message proclaimed the Prince's sympathy for the Yan family's plight, and stated that he would not stand idly by, but would uphold the dignity of a great family, safeguard the stability of the county, take in the Yan family's relatives and servants who were away, and do his utmost to apprehend the thieves.
Next to the Xuan paper were several portraits of people, with a reward written on them for finding the missing person.
White paper with red ink, dozens of lives, hanging in the bustling city.
For the passersby, this was nothing more than idle chatter over tea and after meals, but Yan Zhi was slightly taken aback, momentarily distracted by it.
A thick, sticky substance blocked her throat, and Yan Zhiwei's vision went black. In a daze, a black cat darted out from beside her.
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