Dali Temple Small Dining Room

  Chapter 3 A bowl of noodles

  The long line fell silent unknowingly, from the time the group entered the Tongming Gate to the moment they entered the Yeting Court. In just a moment, there was no sound in the entire Tongming door, and it seemed that a needle could be heard falling on the ground.

  After waiting for the people to leave, Wen Mingtang picked up the rice ball he had prepared last night and took a bite. I don't know if it was because of the cold, but he always felt a little hard to swallow.

  Different from the cold rice balls, the team became bustling again, and the murmurs of discussion at the front came to his ears, allowing Wen Mingtang to piece together the identity of the official in scarlet robes.

  Lin Fei, Tanhua Lang in the 19th year of Pingguan. Zhong Tanhua was only sixteen years old when she was young, and this year she just passed the age of the weak crown, and now she is an official of the fourth rank, the Shaoqing of Dali Temple. It is not too much to say that she is young and promising. But aside from this identity, he has another identity, the second grandson of Duke Jing, his father Jing Yunhou, and his mother is the daughter of the Zheng family in Xingyang.

  The former has outstanding ability, while the latter has noble background.

  There is no shortage of ability and background, such a son of gold and jade, naturally has nothing to do with them, the maids and palace servants who are waiting in line to leave the palace.

   The chattering voices dissipated quickly, the beauties just took a look at it, the more important thing was to wait in line to leave the palace.

  Zhao Sishan expected well, when it was Wen Mingtang's turn, it was past noon. Handed over the document approved by Ye Ting and the identity badge in the palace to the examiner, and after checking that it was correct, the palace man pushed the document in front of her, pointed to the lower right corner of the document, and said, "Sign your name. , and you can leave.”

  Wen Mingtang picked up a pen and wrote his name in the lower right corner, then turned and walked out of Tongming Gate.

What she didn't know was that when one of the examiners saw the name she wrote with a pen, he didn't put it aside as before, but couldn't help picking it up, looked at it carefully, and sighed: "This word is written It's really good!"

  The document is here, and Wen Mingtang's past can be seen at a glance. Although she is also a descendant of the family who was convicted, she was only eight years old when she entered Yeting. An eight-year-old girl who works all day long still has time to practice calligraphy?

   "Her surname is Wen." Although the examiner at the side was surprised for a moment, he soon returned to normal, "Think about the official surnamed Wen who was convicted that year."

  After being reminded, the person from the Yanxing Palace immediately understood, and couldn't help feeling: "So that's the case! It's not surprising that you said that!"

   This insignificant episode was quickly forgotten by the two palace servants.

  Wen Mingtang also walked out from Tongming Gate all the way, and set foot on Chang'an Avenue outside Tongming Gate.

  Standing on the blue bricks and stone tiles of Chang'an Avenue, Wen Mingtang looked back at the Tongming Gate he had just walked out of, and couldn't help stretching out his hands to compare.

  Looking at the tall palace walls, they are actually not that thick, but how many people are trapped inside.

   Shaking his head and smiling, Wen Mingtang walked forward.

  Chang’an Avenue is as prosperous as the original owner’s childhood memories, with shops, restaurants, and taverns lined up, the cries of hawkers and the chatter and laughter of passers-by bring the memories of years.

  Wen Mingtang was in a daze for a moment, reached out and patted his chest subconsciously, as if to comfort himself, and to comfort the body itself.

   After she calmed down a little, she lifted her foot and walked forward.

   Now that she has come out, she will have a lot of time to visit Chang'an Avenue in the future, so there is no need to rush this moment.

   But I didn't eat for lunch, I only had time to eat a cold rice ball. Right now, I am really hungry.

   It's just because it's past the meal time, many restaurants stopped firing. Wen Mingtang had to ask one by one, and finally found a wonton stall that was not selling. She bought a bowl of wontons in clear soup for ten renminbi, and then... after taking the first bite, she frowned.

  The soup is really clear, poured directly with white water. The vendors who make wontons are not unaware of this. The plain water is tasteless, and there is no salt, so they simply sprinkle all the salt into the wontons. Salty and bitter wild mustard greens and a little bit of minced meat together make up this bowl of wontons in clear soup, which is more than half left after the meal is sold out.

   Sure enough...the restaurants next to it were sold out for lunch, but there was a reason why it couldn't be sold.

  After eating two wild mustard wontons that were bitterly salty, Wen Mingtang took a deep breath when he ate the third mustard wonton with a hair in it, finally put down his chopsticks, got up and left.

  Eat this wonton again, the poor cold rice ball in my stomach will be spit out.

   Right now, I can't get my stomach ready in advance, so I can only go to brother Zhao Sishan's house to get some food.

   However, thinking of the brother and sister-in-law that Zhao Sishan was talking about, Wen Mingtang felt that it would be better to be prepared, so he went to the market before going to Zhao Ji Restaurant.

   When I came out of the market and walked to the door of Zhaoji restaurant, it was not time to eat on time at dusk.

  Wen Mingtang walked into Zhaoji restaurant, there was no one in the hall, only Zhao Sishan's elder brother Zhao Dalang was cleaning the table.

  Because I met Zhao Sishan in the past when I went to beg for money, so I don’t need to introduce myself.

  Wen Mingtang greeted Zhao Dalang, and said with a smile: "Uncle Zhao, I came out of the palace today."

  Zhao Dalang gave her a dry laugh, glanced at the direction of the curtain behind him from the corner of his eye, and upon hearing the movement, Mrs. Liu opened the curtain and came out from behind.

  Wen Mingtang looked at Zhao Sishan with a bitter melon face, bulbous nose, and mung bean eyes with a smile, and called: "Auntie."

In the past, Mrs. Liu, who came to the palace to look for Zhao Sishan and who was always polite to Wen Mingtang next to Zhao Sishan, seemed to be a different person at this time. Hearing this, he immediately sneered and said, "Don't call me anything!" Auntie, my brother doesn't have any niece named Wen. Come in!"

   She and Zhao Sishan fell in love with such a face-changing like flipping a book, so Wen Mingtang didn't think it was strange, just smiled, and followed Liu in.

   Her indifferent behavior was naturally an eyesore in Liu's eyes. When entering the backyard, the black dog raised in the backyard saw its owner, and immediately jumped up enthusiastically.

   Mrs. Liu raised her foot and kicked the black dog, cursing: "You shameless thing, what kind of autumn wind is coming to the door! Why don't you leave?"

  The black dog who was kicked for no reason yelped twice in pain, causing Zhao Dalang and Liu's daughter Zhao Lian to feel distressed: "Mother, what are you doing? Where did Amao provoke you?"

  Wen Mingtang's expression didn't change when he heard Liu's accusations and scolding, but Zhao Lian who ran out of the house saw her and happily called her "Sister Wen" and said, "You're here..."

  Before she finished saying hello, Mrs. Liu interrupted her: "What are you doing in a daze? Why don't you set up a table for dinner?"

   Zhao Lian was obviously a little apprehensive about Liu's mother, so she smiled at Wen Mingtang and went to the front.

   After sending Zhao Lian away, Liu Shi said to Wen Mingtang coldly, "Come on!"

  The front of this Zhaoji restaurant is the facade, and behind it is the place where Zhao Dalang's family lives. There are three rooms in the yard at the back, one for sundries, one for Zhao Dalang and his wife Liu, and one for Zhao Lian.

  Wen Mingtang naturally lived in the same room as Zhao Lian.

  Although Zhao Lian's bed is not big, it is not a problem to sleep two girls, Wen Mingtang and Zhao Lian.

Wen Mingtang put down the burden, and was about to follow Mrs. Liu to eat, but Mrs. Liu said, "Miss Wen walked all the way from Tongming Gate to this place, I'm afraid she's already sweating all over, let's wash up first before eating." !"

  Although it was not yet summer, Wen Mingtang was indeed sweating after walking for most of the day, so it was just right to wash up.

   But, is Mrs. Liu so kind?

  Wen Mingtang smiled, looked at Liu Shi whose eyes were rolling wildly in front of him, but obediently agreed.

Sure enough, when Wen Mingtang washed up before going to eat, the plate of wild mustard greens and braised crucian carp on the dining table were all empty. Mrs. Liu looked at her with a half-smile and said, "Miss Wen has been washing for too long. Alright, the food is all gone!"

Zhao Dalang on the side seemed to be deaf, without raising his head, he just picked up the mountain of wild mustard greens and braised crucian carp in the noodle bowl without saying a word, Zhao Lian's face turned red, and he couldn't help saying: "mother…"

  Today, the staple food of Zhao’s evening meal is noodles, served with a plate of vegetable wild shepherd’s purse, and a plate of meat dish braised crucian carp.

  She had just served the dinner table, and before she had time to serve the rice bowl, Mrs. Liu divided the wild mustard greens and braised crucian carp into three portions, and poured them into the bowls of the three of them without any explanation.

  She just wanted to say that Wen Mingtang hadn't eaten yet, but Mrs. Liu gave her a hard look and told her to shut up and just eat.

  But... how can I eat this? Under Liu's gaze, she barely took a few bites, and saw Wen Mingtang came out after washing, Zhao Lian's face turned even redder, and she couldn't help but said, "Sister Wen, the one in my bowl hasn't moved yet..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a "snap", and the chopsticks in Mrs. Liu's hand slapped the table, and said with a sneer, "What did you say, Alian? Your elder sister Wen was an official from her ancestors, and she is well-educated and reasonable. How could she go?" Grab food from other people's bowls?"

  Compared to the accusations and cursing at the black dog Amao just now, this sentence now has more meaning.

  It means that she and Zhao Sishan want to rob her shop? But from the beginning to the end, the shop could not be said to belong to the Liu family, not even Zhao Dalang's. Zhao Sishan's name was written in the contract of the shop.

  Wen Mingtang smiled, as if he didn't understand Liu's insinuation about the identity of the offended officials, he just smiled and asked Liu: "Auntie, what else do you have to eat?"

  The shop is Zhao Sishan's name after all, even if Liu Shi doesn't like her, he can't leave her with nothing, and he still has to work hard. So hearing this, Mrs. Liu said with a smile: "There is still a handful of noodles, some ashes from the pot are on them, Miss Wen doesn't mind, it's fine to wash and cook again."

   Liu's behavior made Zhao Lian's face almost drop in embarrassment.

  Seeing that Wen Mingtang responded with a smile and entered the kitchen, he finally couldn't help it, and said to Mrs. Liu: "Mother, you are too much. Auntie and Sister Wen..."

   "Talk out!" Mrs. Liu glanced at Zhao Lian's noodle bowl, which had not moved a few chopsticks, and said, "Hurry up and eat the meal, and help clean the table later!"

Afraid of Liu's prestige, and seeing that her father Zhao Dalang was silent, Zhao Lian didn't dare to say any more, but just looked at the mountain of wild mustard greens and braised crucian carp in the bowl, and pulled it twice, not wanting to stuff it into her mouth at all. : "The mustard greens are astringent and salty, and the crucian carp is very fishy. I really can't eat it."

   Now it's time for dinner, but there is no reason why there is not even a single customer in Zhao Ji's restaurant. Even though there are a few dishes taught by Zhao Sishan, Mrs. Liu and Zhao Dalang are really not this kind of material, and the customers who come to the restaurant usually come once and then stop.

  Although the location of this street is a bit biased, the restaurants on the side of the street are all doing well when it’s time for meals. Only Zhaoji’s restaurant is getting worse as it opens. Unpalatable cooking has become Liu's heart disease. Right now, hearing Zhao Lian dislike the unpalatable food, I think of her speaking for Wen Mingtang again and again today.

The anger in Liu's heart came up all at once, and he slapped the chopsticks on the table, cursing: "If you can't eat it, don't eat it! Go away and eat clean noodles with your good sister Wen! "

  You can’t starve to death without eating a meal! Mrs. Liu intends to teach Zhao Lian a lesson: so that she can understand what is her own and what is an outsider!

  (end of this chapter)