"Sizzle."
Once again, the marinated kidney slices were submerged into the hot oil. Yang Ge lifted the iron wok in a frenzy, causing a tower of flames to shoot up once more, his ladle-moving hand becoming a blur.
Before long, a dish heavily coated in spicy and savory sauce, bursting with color, fragrance, and taste, the stir-fried kidney slices was ready again. The unique aroma forced Zhang Erniu, who had just finished a whole plate of the same dish, to swallow a mouthful of saliva forcefully.
Yang Ge pushed the plate of stir-fried kidney slices onto the cutting board and took out a pair of chopsticks to hand over to Liu the shopkeeper with both hands, "Shopkeeper Liu, please have a taste."
Shopkeeper Liu stepped forward, took the chopsticks, picked up a piece of kidney slice, and slowly chewed it for a moment before sighing, "The flavor is still not right!"
Yang Ge looked at the old man quizzically, unbelieving, and took another pair of chopsticks to pick up a piece of kidney slice and tasted it...
The taste wasn’t off.
At least he couldn’t taste anything unusual. Even if there were flaws, they were due to the limitations of the ingredients. After all, the soul of this dish lay in pickled peppers. There was a difference between taro starch and sweet potato starch, and it was also lacking the flavor-enhancing MSG and the taste-matching sugar...
To have achieved this much, he felt it was already quite rare.
But why did the old shopkeeper think the taste was off?
The old shopkeeper set down his chopsticks and said at a leisurely pace, "Try making it again."
Yang Ge studied the old man’s expression.
The old man pat his shoulder gently, chuckling, "Think hard about how you originally made this dish."
Originally?
Yang Ge thought back to the New Year’s Eve two years ago when the inn had closed early. Master Lu and Wang Dali had both gone home for the new year, leaving just the two of them to watch over the vast, empty inn.
Back then, he had sat bored at the front hall entrance, staring vacantly at the snowflakes outside. Later, unable to stand the emptiness, he ventured into the kitchen and fished out a leftover pig kidney.
That was the end of the year, with the inn about to close, and there weren’t many ingredients left in the kitchen. He had to wrack his brains to pick out a few odd ingredients to make that one dish.
Without taro starch, he substituted it with egg whites.
Without winter bamboo shoots and black fungus, he used a half-rotten white radish and some yellowing garlic sprouts as side ingredients.
Without Sichuan pepper, he scraped the bottom of the jar to gather a tiny bit of five-spice powder...
With such a scattered collection of ingredients and seasonings, he would’ve probably lost the motivation to even start the fire today.
But he vaguely remembered that the dish of stir-fried kidney slices had indeed tasted delicious. He had scooped up quite a large bowl of cold rice with the bottom of the dish.
Yang Ge seemed to have realized something and silently took out the last pair of pig kidneys to repeat the process he had done twice before.
Compared to the earlier two sessions which exhibited impressive knife skills and control of heat, his knife work and heat control this time seemed rather uninspiring.
The knife work wasn’t fast, just normal cutting.
The way he shook the wok wasn’t fierce, and the flames flickered above the wok a few times and then disappeared.
The plain appearance even made Zhang Erniu feel like he could do it himself.
Even the final presentation of the stir-fried kidney slices didn’t look as rich and appetizing as the previous one, with the kidney slices even retaining a slight hint of what seemed like raw blood...
However, when Shopkeeper Liu picked up the chopsticks and took a bite, he smiled joyfully and nodded, "This is the right flavor!"
Yang Ge also smiled, "You went to great lengths to so subtly guide me."
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Shopkeeper Liu waved his hand smilingly, "You don’t find me, an old man, bothersome or a nag, which is good."
Yang Ge sighed, shaking his head slowly, "How could I? Having an elder in the house is like having a treasure!"
Shopkeeper Liu said, "But it can only help if you listen. Look at your brother Fuyu. There’s a saying, a loud drum doesn’t need heavy beating, but even after pounding his drum to pieces, you can’t hear a sound."
Yang Ge said, "Look at what you’re saying. Fuyu has become much more settled compared to before."
Zhang Erniu, watching the cheerful duo, listened for a long while without understanding the riddles they were discussing.
"Alright then."
Shopkeeper Liu consumed the stir-fried kidney slices at a steady pace, and without turning his head, waved his hand, "Go on with your own stuff."
Yang Ge paused for a moment and smiled, "It seems there isn’t much to rush around for. No matter how anxious I get here, it won’t wake up someone who’s feigning sleep."
Shopkeeper Liu waved his hand, "Don’t just stand here then, go out and take a walk..."
Yang Ge turned and walked towards the front hall, "There’s nothing much to walk around for. I’ll go clean up the front hall again."
Zhang Erniu watched Yang Ge leave and timidly raised a hand, "Shopkeeper, I want to go out for a walk."
Shopkeeper Liu backhandedly slapped his head askew, "When little brother hasn’t gone out, where are you going?"
Zhang Erniu covered his head, feeling wronged, ’Shopkeeper, you’re biased!’
...
"Lord Fang, congratulations!"
A man dressed in a prison bull embroidered uniform approached Fang Ke with a beaming smile and bowed.
Fang Ke, holding the commission that this Thousand households officer had just handed him, was dazed as if in a dream, "Gu, I bear no remarkable merits, how dare I assume the position of Deputy Thousand Households Officer... "
Hearing this, the officer from the Northern Town Prefectural Commissioner turned to look at the group of Hundred Households officers and the General flag officers below, pondered for a few moments, and then spoke, "We are all brothers here, I won’t mince my words. Lord Fang, you have this position of Deputy Thousand Households all thanks to Lord Yang’s favor!"
"What?"
Fang Ke was startled for a moment, then quickly realized that the "Lord Yang" Gu was referring to was his own leader.
Gu with his hands behind his back, surveyed the ring of attentive Hundred Households officers below and said gravely, "The Commander’s intent is, whether Lord Yang returns to his official post or not, all matters of the upper right banner are still presided over by Lord Yang. I hope everyone keeps their position clear, neither causing trouble for Lord Yang nor for Shen."