Chapter 1529
The Final Battle, An Unusual Reunion Dinner [3]
Chapter 1529 The Final Battle, A Different Kind of Reunion Dinner [3]
“A bowl of hot water is warm enough to make you feel better in the dead of winter, but are you sure this red, green, purple, black and white stuff you’ve cooked is edible?” Si Feng felt a bit nauseous and called to the Si family martial arts instructor, “Quickly go and call the doctor to test this hodgepodge for toxins. Don’t let our wedding banquet turn into some kind of… feast!”
No joke, Si Feng already suspected that the people of Wei wanted to die easily, so he cooked a poisoned wedding feast, and after everyone finished eating, they all went down together.
The more Si Feng thought about it, the more likely it seemed. Terrified, he urged the martial artists to fetch a doctor and ordered the remaining martial artists to draw their swords: "Surround this open kitchen. No one is allowed to leave until the doctor comes and prepares the food with a poisoned counteracting agent!"
This?
An elderly martial arts master stepped forward and bowed to the people preparing the wedding feast: "I'm sorry, everyone. Our young master suffered from food poisoning before, and these are special times. Please don't blame him, folks. He's still young."
Si Feng is younger than Si Pei, still a boy with a childish face... but he is more cunning than his age suggests.
Si Feng was unconvinced, feeling that the martial arts master's words were an insult to him. He stubbornly stood up and got into a fighting stance, ready to teach these "troublemakers" a lesson, but was held down by the martial arts masters.
Two martial arts masters whispered in his ears, "Young Master Feng, be smart. There are so many of them, they could crush us with a single kick each."
Are you out of your mind?
Don't you care about your posthumous reputation?
Does it sound good to be trampled to death by the Wei people?
Si Feng, always clever, calmed down upon hearing this and began to feign anger: "Uncles and elder brothers, please calm down. I have never seen such a dish as a mixed stew before, and its complex colors are unsettling. For the safety of all the villagers, I wanted to ask Doctor Si to prepare the food with some kind of poison. Please forgive me... This is my apology and a token of my appreciation to the host."
He took out two red envelopes and handed them to the martial arts instructor.
"Tsk, Young Master Feng is indeed cut out to be an official," the Si family martial arts instructor thought to himself, before taking the red envelope and presenting it to the groom's second uncle, who was in charge of the wedding banquet kitchen.
Uncle Song accepted only a red envelope and said with a smile, "Giving money to add to the festive atmosphere is enough. There's no need for an apology. The young master and his students are just worried about our safety."
Everyone is good at interpersonal relationships, and the dispute is resolved quickly.
"Brother Feng, what's going on? How come the wedding banquet is poisoned?!" Si Pei, the Si family's assassins, the host family, and relatives rushed over in a large group.
Si Feng hurriedly offered an explanation.
Si Pei and the Song family glanced at the pots of garishly colored mixed stew. Well, they all agreed, "Let's have a doctor check for any toxins. That way, we can feel more at ease eating it."
"Doctor Si, please proceed!"
"Yes." Doctor Si, carrying his medicine chest, led his apprentice to test the toxicity of each pot of mixed stew. After a quarter of an hour, he reported, "Congratulations, host, the banquet is free of poison. However, I have a booklet here about food incompatibilities. You may take it and use it. Just don't throw incompatible foods into the same pot and cook them together."
It's not poisonous, but you might experience problems if you eat it due to food incompatibility.
"This kind of booklet is a family secret, how can we outsiders accept it?" Uncle Song was very excited, but he wanted it.
After all, in an era when recipes were controlled by powerful families and officials, this book of food incompatibilities was truly a treasure kept secret.
The Si family doctor has also matured, saying, "My young master often hears the old physician Xun say that such a prescription for saving the world and the people should be made public, and it is selfish and evil to keep it to oneself."
"Tsk, Dr. Si, you're even better at pretending than I am..." Si Feng thought to himself.
Upon hearing this, Uncle Song could no longer be selfish and immediately promised, "Please rest assured, Young Master Si and Doctor Si, my family will not keep this book of food incompatibilities to ourselves. We will have literate relatives and friends copy it and keep it. If we survive this battle, we will copy it extensively and distribute it to people in the city; people from other places can also come and ask for it. My Song family will never keep anything to ourselves."
"Alright, let's give them a high five!" Si Pei led the way, and the room immediately erupted in high fives and cheers.
The doctor from the Si family then led the Song family through the ingredients used today, and finally nodded in confirmation: "They are all foods that do not clash when eaten together, so there will be no problem. You can eat and drink with peace of mind."
"Okay, okay, we're relieved!"
"Song Da, is it time to prepare the main course? There are too many people. Why don't we prepare the main course now and let a group of guests eat first, so we don't have to wait for the welcoming party to return?" The old woman in charge of preparing the main course asked. Uncle Song said, "Brother, there are too many people. Let's have the wedding banquet in batches, otherwise the kitchen stoves won't be able to keep up."
Uncle Song nodded: "Okay, let's serve the main course first, so that the guests who are rushing to the market can eat first."
Hey, that's right. There are many families rushing to get married, and many guests go from one restaurant to another after finishing their meal at this one.
Some guests wanted to finish their meal early so they could go home and spend time with their families, or visit relatives, to have a final get-together with them before they died and say goodbye.
"Okay, I'll have the wives bring over the prepared staple food right away." The old woman hurried away.
A short while later...
"Make way, make way, the main course is here!" A group of women walked over carrying a large basin on their shoulders.
Once at the stove, the basin was tilted, and with a gurgling sound, small rice balls and dough balls, rolled into the big pot, jumped in.
Si Pei looked on in surprise: "What are these dough balls made of? Why are they all different colors?"
The old woman in charge of the staple food got excited and asked Si Pei, "My name is Tian Baya, and I'm Song's cousin. If I answer you, will you record it in that wartime book so it can be passed down to future generations? If you do, I'll answer you; otherwise, I won't waste my breath!"
shrew!
Si Feng cursed.
Si Pei assured him, "Of course I'll write it down. Tian Baya, right? I've written it down for you. Look, isn't that what you call 'Tian Baya'?"
Si Feng was going crazy: Si Pei, your accent has lost all its elegance, it's all just the rustic accent of a country bumpkin!
“I can’t read, Song Da, could you help my aunt take a look?”
The groom's father, Song Da, looked at it and nodded in confirmation: "Don't worry, Auntie, it is indeed your name."
"Hahaha, I, Tian Baya, have made my mark on history! Come, young man, let me tell you the story." Tian Baya said, "Because everyone received a variety of supplies, it was difficult to make a unified staple food. There wasn't time to prepare food properly either, so we simply ground everything into powder, rolled it into balls, like dough dumplings, and threw them into the mixed stew—all in one pot! These yellow dumplings are made from millet..."
Haha, Sister Qin has been turned into a staple food.
After all the fuss, Si Pei and his group enjoyed their first special celebratory feast.
"Mmm, it's delicious! It doesn't taste like any other kind of weird flavor, but rather salty and savory!" Si Pei exclaimed in delight.
Si Feng said, "The sorghum dumplings are too hard and gritty... There are even glutinous rice dumplings, which are all soft and mushy. And there's meat in this mixed stew, is it salted meat dumplings?"
Si Pei said, "The winter solstice is coming soon. It's the season when people in the south eat salted meat dumplings. We're getting to eat them a little early, which is great."
In the southern part of the Great Wei, there is a special food called meat glutinous rice balls, which are glutinous rice balls cooked with various meats and vegetables in one pot. It is especially delicious.
Especially on the second day, the glutinous rice balls were softer and more flavorful than on the first day.
Ke Sifeng has never liked meat dumplings since he was a child, and he eats them rather slowly.
"Eat quickly, after you finish eating we still have to do the wedding banquet record, rush to the workshop to check on the progress of the firing record, prepare a table of offerings to worship ourselves; we also have to worship our ancestor, and have a reunion dinner with Master Qiong and our classmates... There are so many things to do!" Si Pei added, "Eat up, it's shameful to waste food in this situation!"
Si Feng felt utterly disillusioned: How could you, a once extravagant and unrestrained nobleman, have become such a wretched person? Could it be that something went wrong with the Si family's ancestral graves? If he survives this battle, he must tell the clan that 'we need to go and check on the ancestral graves.'