Chapter 51

Xiaolongbao (小笼包)

After wiping the tea off, Tang Yingying looked at me with a surprised expression.

‘Tang Yingying can actually be helpful at times!’

I thought, ‘Life has its moments.’

It was surprising that this annoying little thing could be helpful in such a way, even though the help was a bit dirty and not entirely intended. But help is help.

Perhaps this kind of help matched her family's style, which doesn't give praise easily.

Amid various thoughts, as I looked at Tang Yingying, she seemed to think I was angry and apologized again.

"Sorry, sorry. Uncle."

But I had already gotten a hint for the cooking and, with the powerful sedative Zhuge Qing by my side, I felt incredibly generous.

"It's fine. It helped me think about the cooking. Don't worry about it."

"Huh? Help? How did that help?"

Tang Yingying, who had sprayed tea on my face, was momentarily puzzled about how that could be helpful, but when she realized her mistake was covered, she quickly responded.

"But, but I'm glad it helped."

As Tang Yingying calmed down and the tea on my face dried, I followed Zhuge Qing's lead and took Tang Yingying to the kitchen where the banquet was being prepared.

As we walked between the halls, Zhuge Qing, who was guiding me, couldn't contain her curiosity and asked.

"Lord, have you thought of what you're going to cook?"

"Yes, I have."

My confident answer made Zhuge Qing, my wife, look surprised.

Tang Yingying, who was standing next to me, also looked surprised.

"Is there a dish that fits the requirement of eating dumplings and soup together, but not boiling the soup or not using dumplings?"

"I'm curious too, Uncle."

However, I didn't satisfy their curiosity and just smiled. Then, as Tang Yingying followed us, she suddenly stopped and exclaimed with a look of realization.

"Could it be? It's fun!?"

Tang Yingying seemed to have caught on after I had given her a few hints.

I smiled again, confirming that she was right, and Tang Yingying's face lit up with anticipation. Zhuge Qing, who didn't understand what was going on, looked back and forth between us and asked.

"You two?"

Tang Yingying, caught off guard by Zhuge Qing's gaze and question, started to stammer.

"Uh? That, that is..."

But seeing Tang Yingying's flustered face, Zhuge Qing exclaimed with a very pleased look and a voice full of joy.

"Seeing you two, I realize you've become incredibly close during your stay at the Tang family!"

Then, holding my hand with one hand and Tang Yingying's with the other, she continued with a moved expression.

"Lord and Yingying, who is like a close sister, becoming so close, it feels like we're all one big family! I'm so happy!"

From what I heard from Zhuge Qing before Tang Yingying interrupted our intimate date, it seemed that Tang Yingying was her only close friend of the same age due to her appearance. It seemed that to Zhuge Qing, Tang Yingying was more than just a close friend, and seeing her close to me made her very happy.

The relationship between Tang Yingying and me was actually a bit complicated, with a mix of good and bad feelings. The good feelings were about as much as the moss on a stone, but not much more.

But now that we were sworn siblings, and since Tang Yingying was the only one who could perform the ceremony under the peach tree, which was my dream, it didn't seem bad to be seen as close by my wife.

Not just like a family, but actually a family.

"Yes! We're all one big family now, hahaha."

I laughed heartily, and Zhuge Qing was very pleased, while Tang Yingying also looked happy, albeit a bit awkwardly.

After a moment of pleasant conversation, my novice wife, realizing she had taken my hand first, blushed and ran towards the kitchen.

"What did I do..."

"Mrs.! Let's go together!"

"Qing! Qing!"

Chasing after Zhuge Qing, who had turned bright red, we entered the kitchen where the chefs were busy preparing the food for the wedding banquet. Zhuge Qing found someone and brought them to me with a seemingly innocent expression.

"Introduce yourself. This is my lord."

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I am Xu Chi. I am the Right Inner Chief of the Zhuge family. I'm glad to meet you, Lord."

The greeting started with a strangely irritating title.

I had expected a butler in a large family, and this man seemed to be in such a position.

He looked to be in his late 30s, with a very meticulous appearance.

As the Right Inner Chief, he seemed to manage the family's assets, and he looked very fitting for his role.

"Nice to meet you. I am Liu Qingyun."

"Please speak more casually. The direct descendants of the Zhuge family have the highest status in the family."

He smiled and answered my greeting, and I smiled back and greeted him again.

"Understood, I look forward to working with you, Right Inner Chief."

"Of course, I've heard that you have exceptional cooking skills, so I expect you'll need me often. If you need anything, just let me know."

After exchanging greetings, he smiled and asked.

"By the way, I thought it was time for you to come looking for me. Have you decided what you'll cook tomorrow morning?"

He seemed to be pretending to know about the food, probably because the master had given him a heads-up.

"Of course, I'll start now."

I nodded, and the chief asked politely.

"Then, what ingredients do you need?"

"First, I need ox tendon. Do you have any?"

The ox tendon was the key ingredient for my dish today.

It was the most important, so I needed to secure it first.

"We have ox tendon from a cow that was just slaughtered. It hasn't been used yet. Is that enough? Or should we slaughter another cow?"

'What nerve!'

The Zhuge family's marriage wasn't bad.

Saying they would slaughter another cow if the ox tendon was insufficient showed a lot of confidence.

It was a decision that even a well-off family wouldn't make easily, and it gave me a glimpse of the Zhuge family's confidence.

In this era, cows were animals that contributed to agricultural productivity and were often banned from slaughter by national law.

Because of this, even though they were delicious, they were not easily eaten. Saying they would slaughter a cow just for tendons was like dismantling a tractor for parts.

I was also curious whether it was a period when cows were banned from slaughter, but thinking about it, it was like how gangsters wouldn't stop drinking during Prohibition.

If it was a period when cows were banned from slaughter, bringing a cow to the table might be a way to show gangster confidence.

The law was a bit loose for martial artists.

Even if they killed each other, it would be roughly overlooked.

While imagining the Zhuge family and gangsters, I waited a bit, and soon people brought very high-quality ox tendons that had been soaked in cold water to remove the blood.

"Is this amount enough?"

The amount from one cow was considerable, and it seemed like this would be enough.

"It's enough."

I nodded, and the chief answered that he understood and then asked what other ingredients I needed.

"Then, what else do you need? You'll obviously need flour."

First, I needed two types of meat for the dumplings I was going to make.

One of them needed to be simmered for a long time to make the broth, so the sooner it was prepared, the better.

"First, prepare beef with a good mix of fat and meat, and also three or four chickens."

"We'll slaughter the chickens immediately and choose the appropriate cuts of beef from the pre-prepared ones."

Three chickens were brought from somewhere and slaughtered in front of me. After removing the skin and fat, the meat was stripped off, and only the bones were left, wrapped in cheesecloth and put into the pot.

I then asked for the next preparations.

"Prepare fennel, star anise, ginger, garlic, scallions, and flowers. Oh, do you have pepper?"

The chief smiled and answered.

"Of course."

'Pepper is here!'

An ingredient that was too expensive to buy was a common ingredient in the Zhuge family.

The ingredients were prepared as soon as I asked.

The chief's instructions brought the ingredients one by one.

Fennel, star anise, ginger, garlic, scallions, flowers, and pepper—all the highest quality ingredients I had never seen before—shone with a luster.

'Is this a chef's paradise?'

I was worried about being a slave to the Zhuge family, but it seemed that even slaves had their levels.

After all, a slave in a humble family and a slave in a prime minister's family were different.

Nodding at the good working environment, I started cooking in earnest.

With all the ingredients ready, the first thing to do was to cut the ox tendon to a suitable size and blanch it.

The ox tendon has a strong beefy smell and a lot of fat, so it needed to be blanched in boiling water to remove the smell and fat.

Then, it would be simmered with the chicken bones to make the broth.

After cutting the ox tendon to a suitable size and blanching it in water, I added fennel, pepper, star anise, a little ginger, and the white part of the scallions.

Finally, I put the chicken bones wrapped in the cheesecloth prepared earlier into the pot.

In my previous life, I would have used chicken stock instead of chicken bones and gelatin instead of ox tendon, but here, everything had to be made from scratch, so I prepared it in the most orthodox way.

After handing the pot over to the chief, I asked.

"Simmer it for about four hours until most of the tendons have dissolved. Make sure the water doesn't boil away, and if it's low, add more to keep it at about half full. Also, skim off the oil that rises to the top."

"Understood. Follow the instructions and do as the Lord said!"

The chief gave the order, and the servants immediately came and took the pot to start simmering the ingredients over the fire.

With all the preparations done, I had a bit of free time.

When the ingredients on the fire started to simmer, the broth from the chicken bones and the collagen from the ox tendon would break down and turn into a liquid, which was what I needed.

This broth was the key ingredient for my dish, so I had about four hours of free time.

I put down the ladle, wiped my forehead, and took a deep breath, feeling someone's gaze.

Turning my head in the direction of the gaze, I saw Tang Yingying and Zhuge Qing with their hands clasped, looking at me intently.

I smiled at their gaze, and both Zhuge Qing and Tang Yingying blushed.

'No, Yingying, it's not what you think.'

I mentally scolded the misunderstanding Yingying and approached them. Zhuge Qing, unable to contain her curiosity, asked me.

"Lord, can you at least tell us the name of the dish? I'm so curious."

Her eyes sparkled like a lake, and in the face of her demand for the truth, I had no choice but to confess.

'How can I resist this?'

"It's called Xiaolongbao. My dear, the shameless Sima Si, who spoke out of turn, will have to give up a part of his body and leave..."

At the mention of giving up a part of his body, my wife and Tang Yingying's faces turned pale.

'Wasn't it Sima Jue?'

The price for speaking out of turn would definitely be his palate left behind in the Zhuge family.