Chapter 209: Gourmet Food is the Greatest
Translated by Gumihou
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com
Su Nuan Nuan smiled, “Master’s timing is excellent. Today we managed to get our hands on a string of Fire Peppers. It’s a spice obtained from the Western Countries, I heard the people in the West also called them Chilli Peppers. I like this second name better, and have spent the whole afternoon making all kinds of sauces and dippings with it. Please have a look at this Hot & Spicy Beef Sauce, mix a bit of this sauce with the Hotpot Dipping and I guarantee that you’ll never have a better hotpot experience.”
Su Dong Lou looked puzzled, “Fire Peppers? Chilli Peppers? I take it that these are spicy ingredients? How are they compared to mustard?”
Su Nuan Nuan said, “It depends on how you eat it. If you eat it with fish slices or other similar things, a little mustard is quite appropriate. However, when it comes to hotpot it’s better to have something that’s spicy but doesn’t choke up the nose. The spiciness stays on your tongue and there’s a certain fragrant after taste that has to be tasted to understand. This lowly one used to travel around with her father in her childhood and had the opportunity to try things from the Western Countries.
At that time, this one was too young to appreciate it properly, but thinking back, there was certainly a unique after taste that this one could never forget. It was just too bad that these spices are very rare, and never got to try it again. However, this one had never forgotten its flavour. Because of this, this one often thought about recipes that one could make with this West Country spice. By a series of lucky coincidence, I managed to encounter these spices again, and immediately made this Beef Sauce and Hotpot Dipping Sauce. This afternoon, husband also tasted it and said it was good. If master is not afraid, perhaps you’d like to taste some?”
“Taste some? Of course I’ll taste some.” Su Dong Lou knew Su Nuan Nuan’s true ability. To hear her promote this thing so strongly, how could he not try it? Eyes practically sparkling, he did as Su Nuan Nuan instructed and tore off a piece of Mantou and pinched a little bit of the Beef Sauce with the steamed bread. He carefully placed the bread into his mouth and chewed over it thoughtfully. Suddenly, his chewing picked up pace and he quickly swallowed the mouthful and sighed. He laughed heartily, saying, “As expected of rare spice, its spicy flavour is certainly strong. However, there is also a very clean and unique after taste. Good, very good, give me another Mantou. I’ll be having this hotpot as well, so bring in the meats.”
Lu Feng Yu, who had been waiting to see Su Dong Lou make a fool of himself, saw the man eating more and more heartily. In a flash, the Beef Sauce in the little saucer was reduced by half. The ultimate foodie swallowed quietly: Could it really be that delicious? My spirit nearly left my body this afternoon from its horrid taste. Could this bastard be faking it just to trick me into embarrassing myself?
However, if Lu Feng Yu could actually resist, he would not have been this novel’s Ultimate Super Foodie. In the end, he could not help himself. As though mesmerized, he reached for the little saucer of the Hotpot Dipping, and pulled it towards himself. He carefully dipped the corner of a piece of meat into the sauce and brought it to his mouth. Sure enough, the spiciness of the sauce was nothing like the horrible chilli calamity of this afternoon. Without having to concentrate, he could feel already the strong spicy flavours starting to permeate in his mouth.
Lu Feng Yu’s eyes began to brighten, he reached forward to snatch the diminishing little saucer of Beef Sauce, wiped the rest up with a piece of Mantou and stuffed the whole lot into his mouth. Closing his eyes in ecstasy, he leaned back to enjoy the sensation in his mouth. When he finally swallowed, he opened his eyes, only to see Su Dong Lou staring straight at him. Disgruntled, he said, “What? Are you dissatisfied? These are all especially prepared for me and you’ve already eaten more than half of the sauce. After taking advantage of my hospitality, you still have the cheek to look at me like this?”
“It’s not that. I just want to remind you of something. I’ve touched that Beef Sauce with my chopsticks a number of times, so, it’s probably full of my saliva. Does Teacher Lu enjoy my saliva that much? Why didn’t you say so? I can make time in the future and let you feast till you’re satisfied.”
[Pa!] A pair of chopsticks flew at Su Dong Lou, but the martial artist dodged the missiles easily and laughed at the lame attack. Lu Feng Yu was so angry that he ran to his own room to retch. After a couple of fruitless heaves, he muttered indistinctively to himself. However, the delicious savouriness of the hotpot and unique spicy dipping sauce remained clear in his mind.It was all too delicious, ah. He didn’t want to go back to the room with the brute. But, that’s where all the delicious food was, and they’re being eaten by the brute!
Finally, he marched back to the dining room.
In a flash, the dining table became a battlefield. On one side was the Master of Mingyu House, on the opposing side was the Prince’s Historian. For the sake of a few pieces of meat, a bit of mushroom and some prawn balls, their chopsticks flashed and the battle was relentless. They nearly came into blows over the food.
The meal lasted particularly long, halfway through Duan Tingxuan came in and Su Dong Lou caught him by the sleeve and said lazily, “You two come back with me, your cousin really misses you a lot.”
This pissed off Lu Feng Yu so much that he kicked at Su Don Lou under the table a few times, and Duan Tingxuan quickly took the opportunity to make himself scarce.
Back in the kitchen, the couple was not at all bothered by their masters taking their time dawdling over the hotpot. They had their own little hotpot party and ate and chatted quite happily before going back to their room
The moment they entered their room, Duan Tingxuan took out a little crumpled paper ball from his sleeves. Su Nuan Nuan was at first astonished, before realizing the reason why Su Dong Lou had caught Duan Tingxuan by the sleeves and said that nonsense about their cousin missing them. So, it was to transfer this piece of paper? It must contain something very important for him to take this risk.
Duan Tingxuan sat on the bed to prevent anyone from seeing what he was doing from his silhouette. He quickly read the content before crumpling the paper back up and swallowing it. A careful listen told him that the two maids looking after them had gone off to rest. So, he blew out the candlelight and tucked Su Nuan Nuan close to him in bed. He whispered into her ear, “Su Dong Lou said that Lu Feng Yu suddenly opened his heart to him earlier and said that he wanted to trust him, he even wanted Su Dong Lou to investigate our background.”
“What?”
Su Nuan Nuan was shocked. She quickly whispered, “Could Lu Feng Yu had found out something? But why would he want Su Dong Lou of all people to investigate us? When we were at Mingyu Estate, he’s already suspicious of us, shouldn’t he be suspicious of Su Dong Lou for harbouring us?”
Duan Tingxuan replied gravely, “I believe that it’s possible that guy is trying to test both Su Dong Lou’s loyalty and check out our background at the same time. It possible that he lacked tangible evidence, but was just acting on gut feeling. I really can’t think why.”
“Wait, wait…” Su Nuan Nuan felt that things were not adding up properly. “If he’s really suspicious of us, shouldn’t he report us to King Xiangyang and have him send people to get rid of us? Surely having us killed is better than letting us hang around like this? After all, our status now is only a cook and an odd-job worker, even if we’re killed there should not be any major backlash. If he could get the An Ping heir killed without any repercussion, it would be a major service to his master. That Lu Feng Yu is a cunning one, surely he understood this?”
Duan Tingxuan said, “I’ve been thinking about this too. But, Nuan Nuan, don’t you remember? You said that we could use this opportunity to use gourmet food to tempt Ultimate Foodie Lu and get him to switch his loyalties. At that time, I thought that it was mostly nonsense, but now that I think about it more, I do believe that this might actually be possible.
Aside from getting us to make more gourmet food for him, I can’t think why Lu Feng Yu would bide his time like this. Unless it’s to test Su Dong Lou, but the cost of us realizing his tricks and running off is too high. That guy is cunning, mistrustful and would normally never allow himself to be in danger like this,”
“You don’t say, that’s really possible, ah. He’d probably done all the calculations and decided that he could afford to bide his time and enjoy our food. Once he’s satisfied, then he’ll then make his report to King Xiangyang. This way, he could enjoy gourmet food as long as possible, gain merit through our capture and investigate Su Dong Lou’s loyalty at the same time. Tsk, tsk, he’s really trying to get all three birds with one stone, isn’t he?”
[Gumihou: Oh my gosh, Lu Feng Yu is scarily brilliant, but there’s this one big flaw in his plan!]
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Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
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