Super System in the Early Tang Dynasty

"Wait, wait!" The monk said as Li Xingzhi turned to prepare the ingredients. "When I drank the soup just now, there wasn't a drop of oil in it, nor was it salty. The taste was definitely lacking!"

As he spoke, he opened the large magnolia-colored cloth bag on his back and took out a cloth bundle from it.

The monk opened the doors layer by layer and laid out the contents, which truly surprised Li Xingzhi and confirmed his belief that the monk was a big glutton.

Aside from a small jar of oil, soy sauce, and a small gourd of vinegar, everything else was wrapped in a small cloth bag. Common items included Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, garlic, evodia, cinnamon, star anise, salt, sugar, and a large bag of flour, while less common items included pepper, fennel seeds, and benzoin. Li Xingzhi was dazzled by the variety.

"Good! What a fine monk! I'll be your friend, haha—" Heaven has been kind to Li Xingzhi. Knowing that Li Xingzhi was good at nothing but eating, Heaven still sent him good things even though he lived in this deserted, dilapidated temple.

“What a ‘friend’! If you can arrange this meal properly, I, the great monk, will acknowledge you as a friend despite our age difference.”

"We're a bit short on firewood, but if you can go to the back and get three sections of bamboo, we can add another wild dish."

"You've got a knack for ordering people around."

Li Xingzhi ignored him, holding the little dog Egg with one hand and carrying the large pottery jar with the other, and walked towards the lake.

Walking to a large puddle by the lake, I saw four fish about half a foot long in the puddle.

Li Xingzhi washed the fish and put it in a pottery jar. He and Gou Dan also prepared some bamboo shoots and a large turtle, and then prepared to return.

"Ouch—" Li Xingzhi felt a sharp pain in his foot. Lifting his right foot, he saw a crab with large claws and a hard, hairy leg. Luckily, the crab wasn't too big, or it would have hurt. It was a truly unexpected surprise; he hadn't expected to find a crab here.

"When the autumn wind blows, the crabs get restless; when the chrysanthemums bloom, the crabs arrive." Now, with the clear skies and crisp air, it's the perfect time to enjoy crabs.

Thinking of the delicious food, Li Xingzhi disregarded everything else and began searching. Although he had caught crabs before, they were always from streams and gullies; he had never caught crabs from a lake before, so his search was quite difficult. Fortunately, there were plenty of crabs in this area. After some time, he managed to catch several large crabs.

Li Xingzhi carried a large earthenware jar in one hand and a stack of crabs tied with strong grass in the other, humming a strange tune as he walked back, feeling quite pleased with himself; Little Dog Egg also followed behind, grinning and touching several crabs, humming a strange tune as he went.

As the sun sets, it creates a beautiful scene.

When they returned to the small, dilapidated temple, the head monk had been waiting for them for quite some time. Several sections of bamboo, several years old, had already been split open and the nodes removed, and were placed beside them.

"When the west wind blows, the crabs are plump! How could I forget such a delicacy?" The monk had been waiting in the temple. Seeing that Li Xingzhi and his brother had only just returned, he was about to complain when he saw the string of large crabs in Li Xingzhi's hand. Though he was saying this, he had already come forward to greet them, picking up the string of crabs and making "tsk tsk" sounds all the while.

Ignoring the monk, they simply placed the crabs in clean water to keep them alive.

Li Xingzhi cleaned the gastrodia elata that the monk had somehow obtained and cut it into small pieces. Then he scalded the turtle with boiling water, scraped off the mud membrane and yellow fat, rubbed the turtle gall bladder all over its back, placed it belly-up in a small earthenware pot, covered it with the gastrodia elata pieces, ginger, garlic, etc., added salt and a small amount of oil, sprinkled some wine, covered it with a stone to seal the pot, and steamed it for nearly an hour.

If you make this stewed turtle with gastrodia elata, the turtle's fishy smell will miraculously blend with the spiciness of the gastrodia elata. Finally, add the sauce made by Li Xingzhi with minced garlic and gastrodia elata, and it will be an absolute delicacy and a great tonic.

The little dog Egg squatted nearby, watching with great interest, eager to try. The big monk was also quite interested, as if he wouldn't be satisfied until he learned a few moves.

After the turtle stew was started, Li Xingzhi cleaned the fish thoroughly. He made diagonal cuts on the fish, occasionally rubbing them with a strange technique of applying aged vinegar, and finally dabbed them with seasonings. He then rubbed oil, salt, and other seasonings inside the three fish's bellies, added various mountain delicacies and wild vegetables, and finally sprinkled some fine wine, which he had obtained from the head monk, into the mixture before setting it aside. He cleaned the bamboo tubes and greased the inside. He placed the three fish into the bamboo tubes, then added some vinegar to the fish, along with a few cloves of garlic and slices of ginger. He closed the bamboo tubes and tied them tightly with twisted, damp straw rope. Finally, he wrapped them with a layer of leaves before carefully moving aside the fire and placing the bamboo tubes inside.

This time, Little Dog Egg's eyes lit up. He looked like he couldn't wait for the fish to cook perfectly so he could scoop it out and see what it tasted like. After all, due to limited ingredients and his body not yet fully recovered, he hadn't had time for so many novel cooking methods in the past few days. The Great Monk's temples bulged, his eyes gleaming, as if he wanted to see every single detail.

Finally, a few large crabs were needed. Since there were practically no tools, the simplest method had to be used. Li Xingzhi arranged perilla leaves on the sides of several earthenware pots. Perilla is warming, while crabs are cooling, making the combination ideal. Then, he directly scooped out the crabs, washed them, and placed them in the pots, adding a small amount of wine just enough to submerge their bellies. He added a little salt, a dash of sesame oil, scallions, ginger, and garlic, and finally sealed the pots with stones to prevent the aroma of the wine from escaping, ensuring it permeated the crabs completely. He started by simmering them over a low flame, like boiling a frog in warm water. Once the crabs had little strength left to struggle, he increased the heat and cooked them for about ten minutes. Controlling the heat during this process was crucial; one wrong move and they would burn. This was something Li Xingzhi had researched for a long time in his previous life. Actually, it's best to cook crabs in a vintage Shaoxing wine jar; the kind of wine made by diluting alcohol in later generations simply doesn't produce the desired flavor. Fortunately, the monk's wine was quite good. Seeing the monk's pained expression as he poured the wine, as if he wanted to tear him apart, I found it rather amusing.

After finishing all that, seeing that there were still some wild vegetables, mushrooms, and a live fish, I decided not to waste them and prepared to make another boiled live fish.

Since I don't have a knife on hand, I can't guarantee whether I can do it well.

Making this boiled live fish isn't difficult as long as you have good eyesight, quick hands, and a good knife. At the very least, you need to make sure the fish is still alive after it's been cleaned. Only then will the fish be truly fresh. In particular, you can see the fish swimming lightly and gracefully in the water when it's cooked, which is really nice.

Before processing the fish, Li Xingzhi specially ground a piece of pottery shard.

He first examined the fish's body, then quickly grabbed it, keeping it still, and then, near the tail, made a cut less than two inches long and quickly removed the fish's internal organs.

At this stage, it's not just about technical skill; it also requires intuition and comprehension. Otherwise, it would be impossible to remove the fish's internal organs through a narrow opening in such a short time.

At this moment, a pair of bright little eyes and a pair of big eyes stared wide-eyed at Li Xingzhi's hands. Afterwards, Li Xingzhi carefully cleaned the fish gills without damaging them.

This fish wasn't large, with few and small scales, which made things much easier. The cleaned fish was immediately thrown into the nearly boiling salt water. Its tail thrashed about in the water, swimming around the sides of the large earthenware pot. It died shortly afterward, its swimming posture still quite tempting. Wild vegetables, mushrooms, and a small clump of oil had been added to the pot, making the fish appear to be swimming among the water plants—quite lively and endearing.

Upon seeing this, the two pairs of eyes, one large and one small, were wide with astonishment.

By this time, the entire small temple was filled with a fragrant aroma. "Gulp—" The two of them, one big and one small, swallowed hard at the same time, and then their stomachs growled loudly as if they had all agreed beforehand.

Li Xingzhi twitched his nose and took down the three earthenware jars containing the crabs, two small and one large. After waiting a moment, he removed the stones from the jars, then poured a sauce of gastrodia elata and garlic paste onto three large leaves that resembled lotus leaves. He then took out the crabs and placed them on the leaves, which the three of them then shared.

The aroma of crab mingled with the fragrance of wine, along with the bright red crab shell, was simply irresistible.

The senior monk, however, grabbed the largest portion without hesitation; his stomach was already pounding like a drum. Little Dog Egg stood by without moving, but his constantly swallowing saliva and fixed, unwavering eyes betrayed him.

The three shared the crab, their eyes occasionally glancing at the fire, leaving only the crackling sound of food in the small temple.

Before they had finished eating the crab, Li Xingzhi gently stirred the fire again, carefully took out a few wrapped bamboo tubes, and placed them aside to cool slowly.

Not long after, Little Dog Egg had finished one crab and was about to grab another when I stopped him. Although the crab tasted good, it was considered "cold" in traditional Chinese medicine, and even with the neutralizing effect of the purple gromwell root, it was best to eat it sparingly. Seeing Little Dog Egg's pitiful expression, I had to steel myself. I simply untied the bamboo tube and removed the top half. Instantly, a fragrant aroma of fish mixed with the fresh scent of bamboo filled the small temple, and Little Dog Egg's little face was filled with longing. Meanwhile, the senior monk next to him was chewing on a large crab with gusto, his eyes fixed intently on the bamboo tube in my hand. I ignored him and handed the bamboo tube to Little Dog Egg.

After finishing the crab, the monk ignored the others, snatched a bamboo tube, and gently opened it as if holding a precious treasure. A delicate fragrance wafted out; taking a deep breath, he felt as if he were floating on air, much like someone in later generations inhaling certain substances. Once the aroma had fully dissipated, the monk, too lazy to even use the prepared chopsticks, grabbed a piece of fish with his hands and shoved it into his mouth. The more he ate, the brighter his eyes became; one might have thought he was eating some kind of celestial herb. Indeed, the fish had few bones and small skeletons. Li Xingzhi, using his unique method, infused it with aged vinegar and then simmered it in the bamboo tube, causing the bones to dissolve completely into the meat. Normally, the monk ate fish with great care, never with such enjoyment. This was precisely why the monk's eyes gleamed, and the delicacies inside the fish's belly elevated the dish to a whole new level.

The fish was finished, and the bamboo tube was just the right size to hold the soup. Nothing in the world is fresher than fish, and this dish of boiled live fish perfectly brings out its freshness. A sip of the soup, mixed with the lingering bamboo fragrance from the tube, was refreshing and soothing, invigorating the spirit and stimulating the taste buds. The final dish, stewed turtle with gastrodia elata, pushed this delicious experience to its ultimate level, and even the monk had to contribute the remaining half-pot of fine wine.

This night was destined to be sleepless, especially for the head monk who ate and drank the most, making a racket outside the small temple.