After the steward ushered Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge into the banquet hall of the royal residence, he quietly retreated to find King Chu, who had not yet presented himself.
"Your Highness, Chu Changge has secretly brought some people with him. Do you think we should strengthen our guard to avoid......"
"No need." King Chu said, "I invited them for dinner, not for a fight. What's more, it's not yet my turn to deal with them."
The steward was puzzled. "Could it be that you have another high-handed approach, Your Highness......"
"You don't need to bother about this matter." King Chu interrupted the steward and then changed his tone as he asked, "Where's Ziqing?"
The steward reported back, "The Fourth Master is already in the front hall, but it is the Third Master, who has not been seen all day long. I don't know where he has gone to......"
At these words, the corners of King Chu's mouth slightly curved up as he said in an unfathomable manner, "He has his own place to go."
*
Murong Yunshu was busy exchanging pleasantries with the various wealthy merchants and magnates present. Chu Changge, on the other hand, was sitting at the table silently swirling the wine cup in his hand, seemingly in deep thought, but the corner of his eyes never left Murong Yunshu's body.
After about half a stick of incense, the room suddenly fell silent.
King Chu finally arrived.
Chu Changge only paused his hand to raise his eyes slightly to glance at King Chu before withdrawing his gaze and continued to swirl his wine glass.
All pleasantries in the room ceased, and Murong Yunshu returned to her seat. She picked up her cup of tea to sip down a few sips to quench her thirst. "Will the wine taste better after a few swirls?" She asked Chu Changge with a smile.
Chu Changge said, "I'm afraid this wine won't change its taste after a few hundred swirls."
At that moment, King Chu happened to pass by them. When he heard these words, his brow could not help but frown. He glanced at Chu Changge, then without saying a word, he walked to the main seat and picked up a cup of wine. He tilted his head and drank it down, then spit a mouthful of water to the side and sternly scolded, "How can you serve guests with such poor wine? Someone, pour it all out and replace it with ten-year-old wine."
"Yes, yes." The steward immediately ordered the servants to change all the wine.
Murong Yunshu smiled shallowly. With stars coldly twinkling in her eyes, she looked at her reflection inside the cup. She murmured, "Behind the vermilion gates, meat and wine go to waste while out on the road lie the bones of the frozen."
Chu Changge's eyebrows twitched slightly at her words, and then he laughed, "If this wine was given to passers-by, I'm afraid it wouldn't be as simple as freezing to death."
Murong Yunshu heard Chu Changge's off-screen voice and immediately understood something wrong with the wine. So she raised her eyes and looked leisurely at King Chu, only to see that he was smiling, not the slightest bit guilty of being a thief. She could not help but sigh, "This King Chu is quite a character. He knew that you had found something wrong with the wine, yet he did not make a sound and destroyed the evidence on the pretext that the wine did not taste good. Sure enough, he knows to keep himself calm in the face of an unwanted event."
Chu Changge said, "In fact, he can feel free to feast on the guests. This wine can't poison me since it's only like water to me. As for the others, it's best if they die, so I don't have to do it myself."
"Aren't you most concerned with reasons for killing other people? What have they done to offend you?" Murong Yunshu raised an eyebrow.
Chu Changge did not answer immediately but slowly took a sip of the 'poisonous wine' before he coolly dropped these words, "They're unpleasant to look at."
"......how many people in the Daye Dynasty are pleasant for you to look at?" Murong Yunshu teased him with a smile.
Chu Changge thought for a moment, then answered with a straight face, "Probably just two or three people."
Two or three......how would the Mojiao Sect people endure this kind of words from him? Not to mention others, the nine people who were standing guard outside the royal residence at this moment alone would be fighting over these precious two or three places with their head broken and blood flowing, right? "Tell the truth, have you tasted it?" Murong Yunshu asked with a smirk and a smug look. [T/N]
Chu Changge was greatly embarrassed by these words that he moved his stiff neck and asked back, "Tasted what?"
Murong Yunshu said, "The sour taste." He didn't think she wouldn't know that he was staring at her like a stalker when she was exchanging pleasantries with those wealthy merchants.
"No." Chu Changge refused to acknowledge.
"Really?"
"Really."
"If you admit it, I'll let you sleep on the bed tonight."
"If you won't let me, then I'll also......" His voice stopped abruptly. Chu Changge suddenly realized that her words meant 'if you don't admit it, you won't be allowed to sleep on the bed tonight'. "Madam, you can't keep threatening me with this." Chu Changge was powerless.
Murong Yunshu said, "Then tell me one other thing that I can use to threaten you."
"......" The focus was on the words 'threat', not what thing to threaten him with! However, Chu Changge didn't plan to play word games with Murong Yunshu. She was a merchant who was very good at lip service, which made him feel ashamed of being inferior. Of course, if it meant another kind of mouth work, that would be a different story.
At this time, the servants of the royal residence had replaced each dining table with new wine. King Chu stood up with his glass of wine and said with a smile, "Thank you all for being able to give some faces to this Wang and for honouring today's banquet with your presence, especially Miss Murong. This Wang will do the honour first." After saying this, he drank the wine in one go.
"Your Highness is too serious."Murong Yunshu substituted tea for wine.
"Haha, Miss Murong is surprisingly straightforward." When King Chu put down his glass, the dishes on the table were already served. "Everyone, enjoy your meal."
None of them moved their chopsticks, and a silence fell over the tables. Suddenly, one of the wealthy merchants asked, "For what reason did Your Highness call all of us today?"
King Chu replied, "Nothing much. Just an invitation to join this Wang for a meal."
What obvious nonsense. All present were veterans who had been in the business for decades. They understood that the unaccountably solicitous one――always hid evil intentions. So, none of them moved their chopsticks. No one had an appetite until the matter was made clear. Of course, there were exceptions to everything. Murong Yunshu and Chu Changge were among the exceptions.
Eight Treasure Spicy Pork
Eight Treasure means using eight main ingredients in one dish, and the number 8 symbolises wealth to the Chinese people.
Image Credit | Lee Kum Kee
Eight Treasure means using eight main ingredients in one dish, and the number 8 symbolises wealth to the Chinese people.
Image Credit | Lee Kum Kee
Murong Yunshu smiled faintly. While ignoring the astonished looks of the wealthy merchants and King Chu, she put the piece of eight-piece meat into his mouth.
"How does it taste?" Chu Changge asked with a 'look of anticipation'.
Murong Yunshu chewed carefully, slowly swallowed the meat, and took another sip of tea before asking slowly, "What kind of pig is this?"
As soon as she made this statement, all the people there, except for Chu Changge, were stunned. They didn't understand what she meant. [+]
Although Murong Yunshu had a calm look on her face, Chu Changge still noticed that her face twitched a few times vaguely as she swallowed the meat, and an expression worse than death flickered under her eyes. It wasn't that hard to eat, was it? A feeling of guilt rose in Chu Changge's heart, but this little bit of guilt was quickly swallowed up by the sense of taking joy in calamity and delight in disaster. Every word she said had connotations!
Sure enough. When the maid immediately trembled and replied that the kitchen purchased the meat, Murong Yunshu raised an eyebrow and spoke an unfinished sentence, "What an unjust way for it to die."
What kind of pig is this? What an unjust way for it to die.
There was a big question mark on everyone's face as they didn't understand what she was saying.
Only Chu Changge, with his mouth quivering a little, then said bitterly, "Since this meat is so unpalatable that you have to cry foul for the pig, why do you still swallow it? Don't be ashamed to spit it out just because I gave it to you."
It dawned on everyone that she was saying that the pork was hard to eat. And King Chu's face, which had just begun to clear up, suddenly turned cloudy.
"You're overthinking it." Murong Yunshu lifted another cup of tea and placed it on her lips to take light sips, trying to wash down the taste in her mouth, before continuing, "I was only afraid of scraping off His Highness's face, so I didn't spit it out."
"......even though you didn't spit it out, the words you said were even more vicious, which already disgraced His Highness." Chu Changge pointed out.
The corner of Murong Yunshu's forehead jumped a few times. She then sullenly said with no expression on her face, "If you hadn't talked so much, how would he have understood my words?"
"Uh......" That's true. Her words were not for the average person to understand. With King Chu's normal intelligence, it would be hard for him to tell.
At that time, King Chu's face, which just changed from sunny to cloudy, turned overcast. As he watched the two of them, it turned from overcast to drizzly.
Chu Changge's dark eyes slightly narrowed as he decided to pour the oil into the fire. "You can pretend that the pork tasted good, and His Highness will be happy to receive your praise."
Murong Yunshu said, "I don't speak of words that are against my conscience. Moreover, that would be too difficult for me."
When she said it would be difficult for her, she just straight scraped off King Chu's face with this one sentence! Chu Changge pursed his lips tightly to smothered a laugh. He lifted his wine glass as if he was drinking to hide the growing curve of his mouth. [+]
King Chu's face turned extremely ugly, as his heart said, "What a fox sings with the owl, just like the wolf and the bei! These two people are simply singing a duet just to crash this event! Impudence, truly impudence! How dare they disregard this Wang!
King Chu forced down his anger and ordered in a stern voice, "Someone, call the cook who is in charge tonight!"
"Yes."
Shortly afterwards, some guards took the cook to the banquet hall.
"This humble servant has met His Highness."
When she heard the cook's voice, Murong Yunshu's expression shook as she commented to herself, this voice is so familiar, I think I have heard it somewhere before. When she looked sideways, she almost laughed. The person stood in front of her; who else could it be, if not Chef Guo, Guo Quede, whom she once met in the capital?!
Chinese Kitchen God named Zhao Jun
Image Credit | Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner (1864–1954), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Image Credit | Edward Theodore Chalmers Werner (1864–1954), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Murong Yunshu took another sip of tea, gave Chu Changge a sideways glance and commented, "You do not look surprised at all."
"Well, I'm the one who sent him here." Chu Changge said in a voice that only two of them could hear.
"You knew how 'outstanding' his cooking was, didn't you?"
"Yes." Chu Changge confessed. After he did the evil deed, there was no need to hide it.
He only saw Murong Yunshu's clear cheeks twitch a few times as she continued to drink her tea sulkily. Although she gracefully drank the tea, showing the dignity of a well-bred lady from how she raised her hands and moved her feet, Chu Changge knew that she was drinking in a hurry. As if she wanted to pour the whole cup of tea down her throat in one gulp.
How could one not drink like that after having a bowl of meat poured with a bowl of salt?
Chu Changge bit his lips to stifle a few laughs in his chest, then said, "Think of it as sharing my troubles." For so many years, the Mojiao Sect had only had such a wicked cook. While others grew up on milk, he grew up on salt. Fortunately, he did not grow into an abnormal person. Otherwise, he would have destroyed this guy who had been poisoning him for more than ten years. God knows, before he left Black Wind Mountain for the first time at the age of 13 and ate outside food, he thought everything in this world was so salty, deadly salty.
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Black Belly Wife