Records of the Cattle and Horses of Chang'an

The next day, Jiang Shangxian, who was so sleepy that he could hardly open his eyes, went out to work on time.

As soon as her left foot stepped out of the gate, her ears were interrupted by the noisy, undisguised gossip:

"Have you heard? A lot of young ladies died last night!"

"Is this true?! How did he die?"

"I heard that they were all raped!"

"Which one? Please explain it clearly!"

"Oh, that's it. Aren't you ashamed? There are so many people on the street. What are you going to do with your wife when you get home?"

"Ah?! How could such a thing happen in Chang'an City? What are the people from the Ministry of Justice and the Dali Temple doing?"

"Oh, this is something no one outside knows about. I heard that last night, the Dali Temple had a hard time carrying the body. If it weren't for a friend who happened to work there, no one would have known about it! You better keep your mouths shut!"

Jiang Shangxian was speechless. He glanced at everyone around him. They all pricked up their ears with an expression that said, "I heard it."

What is the significance of this last exhortation?

Even her pace couldn't help but slow down several seconds, just to listen to this person continue to gossip.

Unfortunately, this person didn't know much. He only knew that people had died, but he didn't know which girls had died. In the end, he only talked about a few sentences, and there was no more information to hear. Jiang Shangxian then quickened his pace and rushed to Lexian Tower.

On the way, she saw many people whispering to each other, and after listening for a while, she found that they were all talking about this matter.

When they arrived at Lexianlou, the guys in front were talking about this while working. Jiang Shangxian was really confused: Could it be that the Dali Temple has become a sieve with leaks?

She felt that something was wrong, as if someone had deliberately spread the news.

In the small kitchen, the three disciples gathered around her, their faces filled with concern. Zhou Ying even nagged, "Master, why don't we three brothers take turns to take you home every afternoon?"

Wang Wan also said: "Yes, Master, Chang'an has been in turmoil recently. I'm afraid it's not safe for a young woman like you."

Although Li Meng didn't say anything, he nodded seriously.

In fact, according to his idea, he would be the only one to escort the master. His two senior brothers, one fat and the other thin, were not as strong as himself. What use would they be if something really happened?

Jiang Shangxian's heart moved. After what happened yesterday, she was a little scared. However, the round trip time from Lexianlou to Yong'anfang was really too long, and it happened to conflict with the business hours of the building.

With that in mind, she politely declined. "Nothing's wrong. I'll just take this boning knife and walk along the main road. I don't think anything will happen."

What happened yesterday was an accident... or was it man-made?

She also had some ideas in her mind.

At the beginning, I was too panicked and didn't have time to think carefully.

But when I got home, had my fill and lay down on the bed, I tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep.

Sometimes I thought of those young ladies, and sometimes I thought of Wu Sanniang, especially the latter.

She wasn't sure whether this matter had anything to do with Wu Sanniang. If she said it had nothing to do with her, it would be too much of a coincidence.

It was as if he was deliberately luring himself over there.

But she doesn't know how to do it now, and she can't take the initiative to find Wu Sanniang to find out the truth. If it is not her business, she will have to cede land and pay compensation.

If it really has anything to do with her, then he's walking into a trap.

Jiang Shangxian quickly put aside the things he couldn't figure out and got busy with his work.

Among today’s ingredients, there are several baskets of hairy crabs, which are called crabs at that time. Some people also call them man-crushing bugs, which is very vivid.

This thing is usually steamed and eaten. Distinguished guests are afraid that it will taste unrefined, so maids usually use crab scoops to carefully pick out the meat and roe and serve it. Of course, some people just like to eat crabs with their own tools, and think it is an extremely elegant thing to do.

(my country has a 2,700-8,000-year history of eating crabs, dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. Ming Dynasty craftsmen created a set of sophisticated crab-eating tools, including a hammer, punch, pliers, shovel, spoon, fork, scraper, and needle, hence the name "Eight Crab Tools." I need this here, so I've included it. Those planning to travel back to the pre-Ming Dynasty might consider doing this to earn some money.)

Jiang Shangxian himself actually likes to eat steamed crabs, dipping them in soy sauce, vinegar, chopped ginger and garlic. The way he eats crabs is to enjoy their freshness.

But she had been here for quite some time, and she had come to understand that the rich people in the Tang Dynasty were just bored and liked complicated things so that they could stand out from the crowd.

Therefore, she planned to use the crab to make two dishes today, one crab meat wonton and one crab roe noodles.

She's been eating steamed buns for over half a year and is tired of it. Even today, she's going to roll out her own noodles!

She directly took a basket and asked her apprentice to steam it, and then she started to knead the dough: "Look at it, what I am going to make now is called hand-rolled noodles. Learn from me, are you listening?"

Upon seeing this, Wang Wan and the other two looked at each other and stood obediently by the side to study. They felt that their brain capacity could not keep up, the ocean of knowledge was too vast, and the master's love was too heavy.

When the shopkeeper Wang was inspecting in front, he saw the four masters and apprentices peeling crabs with great concentration, and he knew that there would be new dishes today. His face immediately lit up with joy, and he didn't even bother to knock on the kitchen door. He immediately turned around and hurried to the front.

He had to quickly tell the waiters that Chef Jiang was serving new dishes today, and that they should all try them when customers came in.

As for whether the guests would order, he wasn't worried. Chef Jiang had only been here a few days, but he had already conquered the guests with his excellent cooking skills. Now, as long as the guests heard that Chef Jiang had come up with a new dish, they would order it without hesitation!

After all, if you hesitate for one more second, you might not be able to click it!

Dali Temple

The air pressure was very low, and the source of the low pressure, Cui Bianxu, was sleeping soundly in his office with the door closed.

When Wang Mingqian came back from Shanghaofang last night and told him about the fire in Feng Shiliang's house and the mess, he thought he would get angry again, but unexpectedly, he was calm as if he had heard: It's not raining today.

He just said softly, "Oh," and that was it.

If it were someone else, the General of the Central Guards came to inform him of this matter, and he would have at least said thank you, but this guy just said "Oh", which seemed a bit too much.

But it was different when it came to Cui Bianxu. Wang Mingqian actually had the illusion that this guy was in a really good mood today.

He felt a little uncomfortable and stared at Cui Bianxu inquiringly.

Strange, really strange.

"What are you looking at? If you have nothing to do, just go away. Stop being an eyesore here. I have something else to do!" Cui Bianxu didn't like being stared at, especially by men. He didn't have any sexual habits.

Okay, things are back to normal now.

Wang Mingqian felt relieved after being scolded. He walked a few steps outside, then turned around and said, "I smell oil. Someone must have set the fire on purpose."