When Lan Zechen heard her agree, he wanted to call the driver to move the small chair from the carriage over. After all, there were ten people, so there were ten small stools. If he shamelessly came over and took one, one of them would have to stand and eat, which wouldn't be right.
Before he could even speak, the children had already brought over three more small chairs and moved the original chairs around.
They listened to his conversation with the young woman, and when she responded, before she could even speak, she so quickly brought chairs for the three of them as well.
No, no, that's not the point. It's one thing for them to bring tables and chairs when they travel, but they actually brought extras? They really don't seem to mind the hassle!
Seeing that three more sets of bowls and chopsticks had been added to the table, Lan Zechen only ate the food that was about to be eaten, and quickly swallowed the rest of the food that was not needed.
He told his men to bring over the food they had brought, without specifying what to bring. The coachman, Jingui, and the guard, Liu Zhaoqiang, thought that their master was not a stingy person. Besides, the lady had prepared several dishes for them and told them to eat them as soon as possible, otherwise they would spoil, so they brought them over.
Lan Zechen was about to ask them to put the food on the long table, but when he saw the dishes that the children brought out, even the cold dishes, they were all served on fine blue and white porcelain plates.
"Leave it to them," Lan Zechen said.
Upon hearing this, the coachman and the guard handed the things they were carrying to Tianquan and the others. They watched as the others took them, unpacked them, cut and plated what needed to be cut, and placed what needed to be heated on the makeshift kitchen table.
"Please take your seats, all three of you." After Hong Xiaoduo gave a brief introduction, Quan Jinghuai greeted them.
"Thank you, we'll eat the same thing next to each other," guard Liu Zhaoqiang quickly replied.
After hearing this, Quan Jinghuai was wondering how he should respond when Lan Zechen spoke up: "The master invited you all to sit down. What's with all the nonsense?"
"Yes." The two quickly stepped forward to sit down, but seeing that a group of children were still busy, they felt that it was not appropriate to just sit and wait to eat. They quickly went over to help, but the other party had enough people, and the two of them had no chance to do anything.
"We're all traveling, so please make yourselves at home." Hong Xiaoduo looked at the two people her master had disliked for being useless and invited them to sit down again.
Lan Zechen was not a harsh person to his subordinates, so he naturally wouldn't get really angry and scold them.
Looking at the finely polished wooden chopsticks in his hand, Lan Zechen recognized them as being made of chicken wing wood!
Ordinary people used bamboo or ordinary wood, while wealthy families, royalty, and officials used gold, silver, or ivory from foreign lands. For example, he used silver.
Chicken wing wood is a mid-range type of rosewood. Its unique texture and longitudinal section can form landscape and figure patterns, giving it a rich cultural flavor and making it popular among literati and scholars.
Furniture and tea sets made of chicken wing wood, and fan handles and ribs used by literati.
This was the first time Lan Zechen had ever seen chopsticks made of chicken wing wood.
Oh, there are several dishes on the table in front of him that he seems to be seeing for the first time.
Presumably to make it easier to pick up the food, each dish was served on two plates, placed on either side.
One of the ingredients in the dish looks familiar, kind of like chicken feet? But why does the skin on the outside of these feet look so soft?
But who would use chicken feet specifically for cooking?
Lan Zechen shifted his gaze to the other dishes, and after some observation, he found several other parts of the chicken: the braised chicken legs and the middle part of the chicken wings were fried, while the wing tips were braised.
My goodness, there's even a whole plate of chicken heads? It looks like it's braised, but there's chili pepper and some other seasoning!
Lan Zechen couldn't help but look at Tianxuan. He had cooked all the dishes, so if it weren't for the braised beef tendon, braised beef, and braised meat that he had brought himself, this meal could be considered a whole chicken feast!
Do they particularly enjoy eating chicken? Or is there some special custom in their hometown on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, where they eat chicken? And a lot of chicken?
Similarly, the coachman Jin Gui and the guard Liu Zhaoqiang were just as surprised as their master. They held their chopsticks and looked at the dishes in front of them. They had seen and eaten them before when they were cooked together, but when they were cooked separately, they didn't recognize them.
Seeing the three of them like this, Hong Xiaoduo suppressed a smile and said, "Tianxuan, you cooked all the dishes, so please introduce the names of the dishes to the three guests."
Tianxuan quickly stood up and introduced each dish in turn: "Tiger skin chicken feet, garlic chicken wings, braised chicken legs, braised chicken wing tips, spicy chicken head, stir-fried chicken gizzards and hearts, stir-fried chicken intestines, Kung Pao chicken, spicy chicken blood and liver, and chicken bones stewed with mushrooms."
After the introduction, Tianxuan pursed her lips and sat down.
Apart from Ah Ping, who was distracted and completely oblivious to the three guests' reactions, everyone else noticed their surprised reactions.
They were all watching while suppressing their laughter.
"Is this Kung Pao Chicken made with chicken breast?" Lan Zechen asked Tianxuan, pointing to the dish. He could match up all the other parts of the chicken except for the chicken breast.
Tianxuan smiled and nodded, "Yes."
"My God, all that's left are chicken feathers and chicken butts... Ouch, why did you kick me?" Before the coachman, Jingui, could finish his surprised words, he asked the guard sitting beside him in confusion.
As soon as the words left his mouth, he immediately realized that it was indeed inappropriate to mention chicken buttocks at the dinner table, especially at someone else's dinner table.
"Is there any particular reason or custom behind eating these today?" Lan Zechen glared at Jin Gui, then looked at Hong Xiaoduo with great curiosity and asked.
Hong Xiaoduo smiled and glanced at Tianxuan, saying, "Sect Master, don't overthink it. There are no special customs or explanations. The only reason is that my child is kind-hearted. During the New Year, he became familiar with the vegetable and meat vendors in the market. There was an old man whose son came to take him to live with him in his old age, but he hadn't sold the chickens he raised yet, and it was too far to carry them."
Someone asked him to come find my child, and I softened and bought more than ten chickens.
It wouldn't be convenient to carry it around alive if we didn't eat it this way. So, we just burned it.
So that's how it is! Lan Zechen and his two servants suddenly understood and looked at Tianxuan with approval.
"This is amazing! So many dishes in less than half an hour!" the guard exclaimed.
Although I haven't tasted it yet, it's clear that this isn't a dish made haphazardly. To be honest, it looked a little strange at first, but after hearing the name of the dish and its origin, I immediately felt that it must be delicious.
"The chickens were slaughtered this morning before we set off, and some were marinated in advance," Tianxuan told him somewhat shyly, after being praised by outsiders.
"Please don't be offended, Pavilion Master, try it quickly," Hong Xiaoduo said with a smile.
Lan Zechen nodded in response, admitting that he had been bothering him. These were all dishes he had never tried before, so he had no reason to complain. It was the first time he had ever felt like a country bumpkin who had never seen the world...
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