Liang Xinrong sent people to kidnap Yang Cui, originally to vent her anger, since Yang Cui had "framed" Lin Shikang and made her lose face.
However, to her surprise, her first love, Lin Shikang, used this incident to gain a reputation for kindness and clear his name.
As expected of the man I like, he's amazing!
Liang Xinrong was in a very good mood.
"Mom, there's a cooking competition at the Star Gazing Tower today, and some new dishes are being launched. Let's go check it out together," said Liang Xinrong's daughter, Wan Simin.
...
At the beginning of the Si hour (9-11 AM), the Guanxing Tower was filled with the sounds of gongs and drums, and firecrackers crackled, officially kicking off the culinary competition.
Manager Yu stood on the high platform in the center and said to everyone: "Thank you for coming, both new and old customers. Today, our shop is holding a cooking competition. The contestants are Guo Sheng, the chef from the Star Gazing Pavilion in Gaoxin County, and Fang Dayong, the chef from the Star Gazing Pavilion in Wan'an County. The winner will receive a monthly wage increase of five qian of silver!"
Today's entries are our upcoming new dishes from Guanxinglou: Spicy Hot Pot Chicken and Rice Noodles! Both dishes were created by Ms. Yang Cui. Both chefs have received guidance from Ms. Yang over the past seven days, but who will come out on top? Let's wait and see!
Manager Yu's words revealed that Yang Cui had been teaching cooking for the past seven days. At this time, the people that Yang Cui had arranged for Village Chief Zhou to mingle in the crowd and loudly discuss the matter, saying that Yang Cui had not been kidnapped, but that she had been harmed by someone. As for who harmed her, they did not name names, leaving everyone to speculate.
The more this happened, the more people suspected Lin Shih-kang.
Waiting is always tough, so to keep everyone entertained, the Star Gazing Tower invited a lion dance troupe and a variety show to perform, and they also generously gave away some melon seeds to the onlookers.
What does a cooking competition have to do with ordinary people? They can't afford the food at the Star Gazing Tower anyway. They're just here for the fun. Now that there's gossip to talk about and excitement to watch, they're definitely not leaving!
When Liang Xinrong and her daughter arrived, the Star Gazing Tower was already packed with people. They considered themselves upper class and disdained to squeeze in with ordinary people, so they found a window seat in the teahouse across the street, where they could have a direct view of the entire competition.
It was only then that Liang Xinrong realized that Yang Cui was actually sitting on the judges' panel!
Wasn't she sold to some remote mountain village? Why is she here? And she seems to be in good spirits; there's no sign of her suffering at all.
What exactly happened?
Liang Xinrong sensed something was wrong and immediately whispered a few words to the maid beside her, after which the maid left immediately.
Yang Cui is one of the judges for today's cooking competition, and also the only female judge.
The other judges were Su Murong, County Magistrate Yin Zhihua, and Wang Huanlin, the patriarch of the Wang Family Cloth Shop, and Mo Linfeng, the patriarch of Baofu Silver Shop, who were the two most famous gourmands in the county.
Yang Cui is the youngest, comes from the worst background, and is a woman, yet she is on par with some of the most powerful people in Wan'an County, which is quite eye-catching.
"There's a woman on the judging panel!"
"Isn't that Lin Tanhua's ex-wife, Madam Yang? Why is she sitting on the judges' panel?"
"I heard she was kidnapped and hasn't been home for many days. She's probably been... you know... done to her. How can she still be in the mood to be a judge here?"
“He wasn’t kidnapped. Didn’t you hear the shopkeeper say that Yang went to teach someone how to cook? I think someone is maliciously slandering Yang.”
"I also heard that a certain scholar and his confidante surnamed Liang framed Ms. Yang!"
"A scholar?"
"Yes, it's a certain scholar, you know!"
...
The onlookers were buzzing with discussion.
Zhong Ming happened to be in the crowd and heard someone say that. He stepped forward angrily to argue: "What nonsense are you spouting? You dare to slander the top scholar of the imperial examination without any evidence!"
"You're acting really strange. Did I specifically name Lin Tanhua as the culprit? Why are you so agitated and anxious? What does this have to do with you!"
You... but your meaning is clear..."
"What do you mean 'clearly'? You're the one who's taking it personally! You're the one talking about Lin Tanhua, I didn't say anything! Besides, who in the whole city doesn't know about the feud between Lin Tanhua and the Yang family!"
Zhong Ming was not good with words, so he could only turn away and leave. Zhong Ming knew where Lin Shikang was, so he immediately went to find him. He felt that this matter was of great importance and had to be resolved as soon as possible!
Meanwhile, Mo Linfeng was very dissatisfied that Su Murong had invited Yang Cui to be a judge and sit with them. In his opinion, Yang Cui did have some skills, but she was not qualified to sit with them.
Yang Cui could tell that this old man Mo didn't like her very much, but she didn't care. She wasn't RMB, so how could she expect everyone to like her?
Grandpa Wang, on the other hand, seemed to have a good impression of Yang Cui. He even told her that the herbal jelly and roast duck were delicious, and asked which of the two dishes was better compared to today's new dish.
"Mr. Wang, this is a difficult question to answer. Everyone has different tastes and different levels of liking for food. For example, some people like to eat fish, but others don't eat any at all. If you want to know which one tastes better, please wait a moment," Yang Cui explained with a smile.
About half an hour later, the lion dance and acrobatic performances ended.
The staff at the Star Gazing Tower filed out carrying rice noodles, offering each judge two small bowls to try.
As soon as the rice noodles were served, their aroma filled the air, and Yang Cui could even hear many people swallowing their saliva.
"This thing looks like noodles."
"Mmm, it tastes better than noodles."
...
There is no doubt that rice noodles have received unanimous recognition.
Since they made a lot of rice noodles today, and also wanted to promote the business, Manager Yu had the leftovers served to everyone, giving each person a small bowl for free to other colleagues or VIPs present. After tasting them, these people were immediately amazed!
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
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