Chapter 187: To Be Hated
Translated by Gumihou
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As for snacks, things like Fresh Flower Pastries, Dried Persimmons and Cream whatever were all An Le Restaurant secret recipes. However, while no other restaurants at the Capital had managed to successfully reproduce any of its recipes, some of them got lucky and managed to make something unique and delicious. The condensed milk was one such lucky accidents. Its popularity has reached even Jiang Nan, appearing as fillings in snacks like little mantous. Established snacks like Snow Soft Bean Paste Snacks had been around long enough for her to safely make them.
Things like Dried Sweet Potatoes were common enough for her to make without drawing undue attention. Just for kicks, she made Dried Dates Stuffed with Walnuts, something that was not at all labour intensive yet delicious. She also made Sugared Fruits of all kinds, since they are similar to the existing sugar covered Tanghulu[1]. Though simple, the various twists and innovations were enough to make these little snacks appeared fresh and interesting without being too ground breaking.
Surely she had taken enough precaution not to blow her cover?
Su Dong Lou had intended to go over to Lu Feng Yu’s estate to loot his house, but since Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuan Nuan were at his estate, he felt that he needed to keep an eye on them and ignored that villain for the moment. Who would have thought that on the second day, he heard his servants announced the arrival of the very same Lu Feng Yu. This pissed off Su Dong Lou so much that he stomped his foot and snapped, “Not even three days have passed and he’s here again? That person really takes a mile when given an inch. Think I’m so easily bullied? Tell him to scram.”
Su Nuan Nuan just happened to be at the receiving room, and saw the whole scene with her own eyes.
At first, she still thought that Su Dong Lou and Lu Feng Yu must be harbouring some secret feelings for each other and were merely delighted in quarrelling like some strange courtship, but… now that she had the opportunity to witness the hatred and resentment in Su Dong Lou’s eyes firsthand… well, she must have been wrong after all. That was true hatred, not the pig-tail pulling kind of bullying one engaged for a secret love. She must have misinterpreted the smiles she had seen earlier, instead of smiles of delight, those must have been bright smiles meant to hide daggers, ready to attack the unwary.
In fact, Lu Feng Yu’s repeated visits must have a hidden intention as well. The unexpected visits was probably calculated to drive Su Dong Lou’s blood pressure up and probably send him into an apoplexy. How devious, ah. He must have studied Zhuge Liang’s [2] methods. According to a legend, Zhou Yu [3] was eventually pissed off by a certain Mister Kong Ming (Zhuge Liang’s courtesy name) and actually died? Lu Feng Yu was probably hoping to repeat the success of his predecessor, but… it did not seemed like it was going to be too successful. For one thing, although this Su Dong Lou looked like the free and leisurely type, he was also as shrewd and black bellied as Duan Tingxuan. There was no way he was going to just die from being pissed off, right?
Surely Mister Lu can’t expect to win using these minor tactics?
The female servant who made the announcement was so horrified by her master’s obvious anger that she fell silent out of fear. Finally, she tentatively said, “Mister Lu… that is, Mister Lu also said that he had brought dog meat over. Said that… that master mentioned that he liked them a lot.”
“Pu!” tea exploded from Su Dong Lou’s lips. He was thunder struck. “Dog meat? Did you actually see it? Did he really brought dog meat over?”
The female servant pulled a face, “It’s all been neatly butchered up, how would this old one know whether it’s really dog meat? Well, the shape of it was rather long, so it’s definitely not at pig.”
“What is that wretch thinking of?” Su Dong Lou stroked his chin. After some thought, he said, “Whatever, just let him in.” then, he said to Su Nuan Nuan, “Ms. Wang, go to the kitchen now and hide all the good snacks.”
Su Nuan Nuan, who was already on her way out, stood stock still. With only one foot over the threshold, she said doubtfully, “Master, you wish me to… hide the snacks?” she especially emphasised this last three words.
“If we don’t hide them, am I supposed to let him eat them? Do you want me to look like a cheapskate?” Su Dong Lou went on the offensive instead of answering the question. On normal days, he did not bother to put up airs in front of the servants. Now that he had been conquered by this cook’s culinary skill, and revealed his inner foodie, he became even more casual.
Su Nuan Nuan shrugged and muttered, “Master, you should not forget, ah. Even if you don’t bring out the snacks, it doesn’t mean that Mister Lu can’t eat them. I never invited him to eat the Puffer Fish Noodles last time either.”
That’s right, ah. How could he have forgotten this? For the sake of good food, that freak of nature could pull all sorts of unexpected moves. Before this ultimate foodie, Su Nuan Nuan and Duan Tingxuan might as well be mere rank and file foodie who could only look on in awe. This really proved the old saying of: ‘There is no mightiest, only mightier’. Looks like this was true even among foodies.
“Fine, just bring out two types.” Su Dong Lou snapped, to which Su Nuan Nuan smiled brightly, “Master is wise. Better to sacrifice two good snacks rather than have them attack our nest.” Ignoring Su Dong Lou’s miserable state, she happily skipped off.
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Not long after that, Lu Feng Yu burst into the kitchen with his usual aplomb. He was clearly very excited, but his every movement was still full of elegance and grace.
Behind him were two boy servants, bearing several wooden frames. Though the other cooks did not recognise what was on those frames, Su Nuan Nuan immediately knew what they had brought. On those frames were skinned dogs. The dogs had been split down right in the middle from forehead to tail before cut up into pieces.
Su Dong Lou was at the kitchen entrance and Lu Feng Yu cupped his hands in greeting, “Brother Su, why haven’t you visited like you said you would, ah? This elder one had the estate cleaned and had been expecting you to appear. Have you really been frightened away by those fierce wolfhounds? Never fear, I’ve already had them all butchered. Henceforth, worthy little brother may visit my estate at ease.”
A shiver ran down Su Nuan Nuan’s back. Her heart, which had struggled to hate Lu Feng Yu suddenly felt like ice. She turned woodenly to look at the man who had just casually greeted Su Dong Lou, and thought: Just how heartless and deceitful is this basket of snakes and scorpions, ah? Just a couple of days ago you said that you’d set your wolfhounds on Su Dong Lou. But today? Today you’ve casually had your dogs butchered in order to make nice with the enemy. This person was clearly pure evil, she had never heard anything like this in her life.
To be honest, Su Nuan Nuan’s bias came from the fact that she loves pets. Though she love eating good food, she never touch the flesh of dogs, cats or even pigeons. There was no deep philosophical thought behind it, she merely felt that since dogs, cats and pigeons are pets, they are much closer to humans. Therefore, she could not bear to eat them. While she had no intention of raising up a flag of protest against dog eaters, but if a pet owner themselves had their dogs killed just for the sake of making nice with their enemy… well, Su Nuan Nuan had nothing but disdain and hate for this kind of scum.
Su Dong Lou had no particular love for pets like Su Nuan Nuan. At Lu Feng Yu’s little announcement, he merely eyed the dog meat for a moment before bidding the servants to bring the dogs into the kitchen. Before long, they were all kicked out with a roar, Ms. Wang’s voice hollered from the kitchen, “Scram! All of you get out of my sight and bury these poor dogs. Remember this, as long as I am in charge of the kitchen, no dogs or cats or any beast of this kind are allowed.”
“Whatever for?” Lu Feng Yu asked, his phoenix eyes, embellished with a little red makeup at the edges, were round with surprise. He was really shocked, “Why can’t we have cat or dog meat? Isn’t this the Su Family’s estate?”
Su Dong Lou was also surprised. As the servants all rushed over, he gave Lu Feng Yu a glance, but it did not looked like the villain would do the decent thing and leave. Sighing, he resigned himself to having this unusual family embarrassment aired before his foe. The servants reported helplessly, “Master, the moment Ms. Wang saw the dogs she lost her tempter. Said something about dogs being man’s best friend and should be treated as a proper friend of the family and not cattle, and should not be cooked. She made us all take the dogs out to be buried. Since she’s in a temper, this one dared not quarrel with her and seek master’s counsel instead.”
“What nonsense is this?” Su Dong Lou muttered. Lu Feng Yu chimed in loudly, “Though dogs are loyal to man, they are still not the most devoted, what are they before horses, cows and other beast of burden?”
He had just finished speaking when a voice rang out from the kitchen, “That’s right, oxen are diligent hard workers, and war horses a devoted contributors of battles. Therefore officials should honour them, and not have them killed for food. Within a battle field, soldiers depended on their horses and therefore we should not hurt these animals unless absolutely necessary. Though we might curse people for having the ‘Heart of a wolf and lungs of a dog’. These dogs have faithfully watched over his house for him without judgement. If there is any afterlife for dogs, they must have sighed over how blind they are to give their loyalty to such a vicious man.”
[Gumihou: Wow, Nuan Nuan. Way to curse people. Though I probably won’t eat dog out of ick factor, I’d eaten pigeons before…]
[1] Tanghulu – Sugar Coated Hawthorn on a stick. You can make it with strawberries and apples. Any bite sized fleshy, sour fruits is ideal
http://www.thehongkongcookery.com/2017/02/bing-tanghulu-candied-hawthorn-stick.html
[2] Zhuge Liang – Military leader and prime minister of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.
[3] Zhou Yu – Famous general of the Southern Wu kingdom and victor of the battle of Redcliff. No match for Zhuge Liang
^_^
Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
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