Thinking about the previous peaceful and prosperous scenes, and looking at the current war and broken mountains and rivers, Lin Dan found that he could no longer stand by and watch. She dug out a wine jar buried in the cave, and went to the front line after many twists and turns, hoping to meet Weiyuan Hou.
"Who do you say wants to see me?" Marquis Weiyuan almost thought he had heard it wrong.
"My lord, Shopkeeper Lin Danlin wants to meet you. She has been waiting for you outside the military camp for more than twenty days. If I hadn't seen her when I left the camp today, I don't know how long she would have waited." The head of the guards of Marquis Weiyuan used to follow his master to the hometown restaurant for dinner every day, so how could he not know Shopkeeper Lin. I remember that when the Marquis's condition worsened and he became so thin that he was unrecognizable, it was thanks to Manager Lin's good cooking skills that he was able to regain his health.
"She is a single woman, why does she run to the border instead of staying at home!" Weiyuan Hou frowned, seeming displeased, but he still stood up in a hurry and went to the door to greet her in person.
"My Lord, I haven't seen you for many years. How are you?" Lin Dan bowed with a smile.
"Don't stand here, follow me to the tent." Weiyuan Hou kept muttering, "Why did you come here? Did you encounter any danger on the way? This is not a good place. Soon there may be rivers of blood and corpses everywhere. You'd better leave quickly. I will send someone to escort you."
"My Lord, I'm here to give you a gift." Lin Dan put the jar in his arms on the table.
"What kind of wine is this?" Weiyuan Hou finally smiled for the first time in recent days. Ever since he got used to eating at restaurants in his hometown, he rarely drank alcohol because the shopkeeper Lin did not allow him to do so. He didn't know why he was so obedient, but the fact proved that he had to listen to Manager Lin's words. His already seriously ill and increasingly weak body unexpectedly gradually recovered under the careful care of Shopkeeper Lin. Otherwise, there would have been no such person as Weiyuan Hou in this world.
"This is the Thousand Day Wine you've been dreaming of." Lin Dan poured the clear wine into the empty bowl.
"We have been separated for less than three years, right? You, Lin Dan, said that brewing Thousand Days Wine would take at least three years. Then where did this jar of wine come from? You are deliberately lying to me!" Weiyuan Hou glared at him unhappily.
"This is the wine I have stored somewhere else. It has been buried for five years." Lin Danqian smiled and said, "However, what I came to give you today is not this jar of wine, but the contents of the wine. My Lord, please take a look."
When Weiyuan Hou looked carefully, he saw a long, pink flesh worm flowing out of the clear wine. As soon as the bug appeared, the already mellow and fragrant wine began to emit an even more overbearing smell that could be smelled throughout the entire camp. Not to mention how greedy he was, even the soldiers standing outside the tent couldn't help but sniff and shake their heads as if they were drunk.
"Is this a wine bug?" Weiyuan Hou couldn't believe his eyes.
“That’s right. Only top-quality liquor can breed wine worms. Put it in clean water, and after a while, the clean water can also turn into a bowl of fine wine.” Lin Dan fished out the wine worms and put them into a bowl of water. After a while, a strong aroma of wine wafted out from the mouth of the bowl.
Weiyuan Hou took a deep breath and suddenly laughed out loud: "Lin Dan, I like your gift!"
Lin Dan frowned and said slowly: "But do you know, my lord? The wine worm can live in fine wine or in clear water. However, if it is put into turbid liquid, it will die immediately." As she spoke, she scooped the wine worm into the empty bowl and poured some brown tea. I saw the wine bug rolling violently, then it became stiff in an instant, and then slowly turned into a stream of blood.
Weiyuan Hou's ecstatic mood instantly fell to the bottom. He glared at Lin Dan with his eagle eyes, as if he was extremely angry, but he couldn't bear to blame her even a word. No matter how precious the wine bug is, it cannot compare to the weight this person holds in his heart.
Lin Dan looked back without any fear and continued, "My Lord, I can boast that my hands can turn decay into magic. No matter how strange the ingredients are, they can always become delicious in my hands. But there is one thing that no matter how hard I try, I can't make it into a dish. Do you know what it is?"
"What is it?" Weiyuan Hou asked patiently.
"It's Guanyin soil. As I traveled along, I saw the most blood flowing like a river, corpses of starving people everywhere, people displaced, living from day to day, starving and eating anything, grabbing handfuls of Guanyin soil and stuffing them into their mouths, then bursting their stomachs and dying. Have you ever tasted Guanyin soil? Do you know the feeling of being homeless and on the verge of death? The people of the Great Chu State are like this wineworm struggling in the turbid liquid, and sooner or later they will turn into blood. My Lord, what are you defending by coming to the border to fight?"
Weiyuan Hou was about to answer, but was interrupted by Lin Dan: "What you are defending is the imperial power, the emperor, and his absolute rule over the Great Chu State. You claim to be loyal, but other than that, you can't see the common people struggling under the imperial power. If you really attack the coalition forces of Prince Tang and the little prince from the rear, the Xiongnu cavalry will go straight into the Central Plains and crush the mountains and rivers. At that time, the emperor can save his throne by ceding a few cities, but who can see the people struggling to survive in these cities. You are not unaware of the bad nature of the Xiongnu people. They only know how to invade, not how to govern. They will wantonly reap the lives of the people in the city, kill everyone, burn all the houses, and even leave no chickens or dogs. By occupying these cities, they will become stronger and stronger, while the Great Chu State, which has lost the cities and is torn apart, will become weaker and weaker. Within five years, another war will break out between the two countries. This time, who can save the people, who can save the world, you?"
Lin Dan stared at Weiyuan Hou and pressed him, "Are you doing everything to protect the Great Chu and save the people, or are you helping the tyrant and putting the people in dire straits? This battle of yours may bring peace to the Great Chu for a few years, but what about after that?"
She poured out the turbid water in the bowl, and her voice became peaceful again: "In troubled times, people are like ants, and no one can escape the fate of being oppressed. In prosperous times, there will be fine wine and delicious food. If one wine bug dies, thousands of more can be raised. My Lord, you are of noble status. Even if the country is in decline and the people are living in poverty, you can still get grain to brew fine wine. But do you know that while you are enjoying fine wine and delicious food, the people are eating dirt and even cannibalism? My Lord, please withdraw your troops and bring peace to the world. Without this wine bug, I can raise more wine bugs for you in the future, don’t you think so?"
Weiyuan Hou's gloomy expression had been replaced by deep thought. After a long time, so long that Lin Dan almost gave up, he slowly turned the ring on his hand and said, "Lin Dan, we have an agreement. You can't go back on your word. From now on, no matter how much I want to drink, you can't stop me."
Lin Dan smiled and nodded, "It's a deal, no regrets."
…………
That night, Tang Jiu and the Prince of Dianqian, no, now he should be called the King of Dianqian, were sitting by the campfire drinking. The King of the Xiongnu will launch a general attack on them tomorrow, and Marquis Weiyuan will surely take advantage of the chaos to intervene. Being attacked from both sides, this war will most likely be lost. But they could not retreat. If they retreated a step, the Huns would advance further, and the people of the Great Chu State would suffer a devastating disaster.
"It would be great if we could persuade that old bastard Weiyuan Hou." The King of Dianqian spoke in a deep voice.
"I can't persuade him. He won't see anyone before the war." Tang Jiu shook his head.
The King of Dianqian sneered and gritted his teeth, saying, "Then let's fight to the death."
At this moment, Zhao Liu hurried over, handed over a letter, and said in a low voice: "General, this is sent by Weiyuan Hou. Please take a look."
Tang Jiu opened the envelope and read the whole thing at a glance. His face, which had been tense for many days, showed a hint of surprise. The King of Yunnan and Guizhou came over to take a look and was also very surprised. In the letter, Marquis Weiyuan not only agreed to withdraw his troops, but was also willing to cooperate with them in staging a show to lure the Xiongnu king into a trap and strangle him.
"Could this be a trick?" the King of Yunnan and Guizhou asked without thinking.
"Go check if Marquis Weiyuan has met anyone recently. His attitude has changed so drastically that it is impossible that there is no sign. Regardless of whether it is a trick or not, this is always a glimmer of hope." Tang Jiu analyzed calmly.
The scouts soon got the news that a graceful and beautiful woman went to see Marquis Weiyuan with a jar of wine. The wine was so magical that as soon as the jar was opened, the rich aroma of the wine permeated the entire camp. The two had a secret conversation in the tent for a while, and after the woman left, Marquis Weiyuan changed his mind.
"It's Shopkeeper Lin, right?" The King of Yunnan and Guizhou laughed softly, "Only Shopkeeper Lin can brew such fine wine. The old man listens to Shopkeeper Lin the most. Shopkeeper Lin told him not to drink, and he didn't even dare to touch the glass. Shopkeeper Lin told him to eat breakfast, and he would go to the hometown restaurant to wait before dawn. I didn't expect Shopkeeper Lin to be so righteous and run to the border alone in times of crisis to persuade the old man to withdraw his troops. We all owe her a life."
Tang Jiu's eyes flickered, seeming to be happy and sad. After a long while, he said in a hoarse voice: "Not only you and I, but everyone in the world owes her a thank you. In this case, I will go to meet Weiyuan Hou in person tonight. Zhao Liu, send someone to bring Lin Dan back. The border is too dangerous, I am worried."
However, after that night, Lin Dan disappeared. The war ended with the Huns' great defeat. The Huns' king had his right arm chopped off and barely escaped. From then on, he feared the people of the Central Plains like a tiger. The secret letter of the emperor colluding with the Huns to sell out the city was found by Tang Jiu, who used it to force him to abdicate. Tang Peng was the first general to attack the capital. He went all the way to the harem and strangled Yan Langqing, who had long fallen out of favor, to death. He then hung her body from the beams of the cold palace, and waited until it had rotted into bones before allowing the palace servants to let her down. That was also the place where Concubine Tang was hanged.
The once prosperous Yan's Restaurant had long since become a ruin. Lin Lao Er and Lin Lao San had nowhere to make a living and lived in extreme misery. One day, they passed by Sanchakou Hutong and saw that the Hometown Restaurant was still open and doing a booming business. Tang Jiu, who had already ascended the throne as emperor, was sitting in the restaurant in casual clothes, carefully flipping through a stack of books, his brows filled with a look of joy and longing.
That was a travelogue written by Lin Dan, which he asked someone to bring back to the capital and give to Chef Qiu as a teaching material. This hometown restaurant was opened by Chef Qiu. She recorded the fine wines and delicacies she encountered in the form of storytelling, and her choice of words and sentences was very vivid and descriptive. Looking at these words, Tang Jiu could imagine how unrestrained and free she was. She would send a jar of fine wine to Marquis Weiyuan every once in a while, but unfortunately it would always be intercepted by Tang Jiu. He had tried to find her, but he was always one step behind. She was like a gust of wind, which slipped away through his fingers just when he thought he could catch her.
Someone once asked Tang Jiu what was the most delicious meal he had ever eaten. Tang Jiu closed his eyes and thought for a while, then smiled and said, "You may not believe it, but the most delicious meal I have ever eaten was the meal before execution..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
