The Heavenly Wandering Sword

Chapter 57

Mei Min looked at the other two and frowned slightly. Were mortals just idiotic? She began to try each dish as well. By the end of it, she had tears dripping down her cheeks. Did she turn idiotic or were the powers of Li Jian much greater than she had anticipated?

“Great master, what about these dishes provoked such a reaction from all of us?” Wang Lusong asked, aware that the dishes themselves were not just simply delicious. A dish tasting delicious did not just bring tears to the diner.

Li Jian however sat back and simply smiled. “Tell me Chef, what was the theme to your dishes earlier? Why were they presented in that fashion and why did you choose those dishes?”

Wang Lusong thought about it carefully. He had chosen those dishes because they were specialty dishes of the region, and ones that the family head had carefully selected as the presentation of the Forever Eatery. He explained the reason behind it, using the well-known pairing of savoury and tartness as well as the levels of flavor in each dish.

Li Jian nodded and smiled at him. “Chef, the reason that your presentation was only delicious, was because there was no theme. You were not cooking your own menu, and your dishes were chosen on the basis that they are the highlights of the region. My dishes were not chosen based on regional highlights or not. They were chosen to represent a mortal’s life.”

He stood up and walked over to a window and thought about his past life as a mortal. “The tofu is when you are just born. There are possibilities of so many. Sweet, savoury, and spice. The texture was mild because nothing is set in stone yet. The reason I chose sesame oil to brown the bottom of them is because underneath each life born is a host of possibilities and stories. The soup is childhood, where a child will experience sourness but yet also sweetness. The pork belly is the richness of young adulthood where the path to life has just been opened. Up until then, the textures or the taste of life has been simply, perhaps quaint but now with so many possibilities, the young will reach for the fruit most tempting. That is why pork belly was chosen, as the best representation of perhaps too much but not yet.”

Wang Lusong felt like a schoolboy listening to his teacher lecture to him while Jin Nansu stared at him as if he was a god.

“The noodles and the duck are the rich fulfilment of adulthood and the most mature years of your life. If we think of food as life, and indeed it is, then a richer meat than chicken is duck. The thick chewiness of the noodles represent the rewards of hard work in one’s life. This is what everyone works towards, a nice fulfilling middle age. Finally, is old age and death. To have lived a life fulfilling is sweet, but in our older years what we can handle is lessened. That is why fish was chosen. It is a light dish yet satisfying. The rice wine is a mature wine, a memory of the sweetness of youth now tempered by time and experience itself. The bitter melon is the closing of life. It is unavoidable, yet to have lived a long fulfilling life there is a sweetness to it, to see what you have accomplished in your life. Even for your loved ones, there is a bitter sweetness to death. Your hard work has paved their path to their own lives but now it is finally good bye.”

At hearing these words, Wang Lusong felt like an amateur cook. Mei Min was stunned. Was Li Jian really the heavenly deity of cuisine? Li Jian turned and smiled at the three of them. “Food is life in its essence. Without food, there is no life. Yet with life there is always a circle, a beginning and finality.” Jin Nansu looked over at Wang Lusong and nodded brightly. “Brother Wang, I apologize for before. I finally understand. It is not your cooking but it is simply that none of us can compare to the level of understanding that Great Master Li has attained.” The two of them hugged like brothers, both with tears in their eyes from experiencing what they felt was the true essence of cooking.

Mei Min looked at Li Jian with a look of admiration on her face. All her life, all that she had known was power and war. Even when she had attained the godhood of the underworld, her life had still been one of representing the undead and the power behind it. Yet the way that the heavenly deity had not only skills in martial art but also seemingly with part of his life devoted not simply to destruction and power made her heart beat perhaps just a bit whenever she looked at him. He turned to look over at her questioningly but she simply glared at him, trying to hide the slight blush that came to her cheeks.

“Great Master, please accept my humble request. The Jin family is part of the Chef Association. Next week there will be a grand cooking competition. Please, participate on our behalf. Our family will pay whatever price is needed.” Jin Nansu got on all fours and bowed down at Li Jian who simply looked at him awkwardly. “Young master, if I was to win the cooking competition for you, then what right would you have to keep it?” At these words, Wang Lusong bowed down towards him.

“Great Master Chef, if you win this competition for our family, I will endeavour to learn all I can in the process. Of course, it would also mean the family would never ask you for payment if you were to eat at any of our restaurants. The Forever Eatery is here in our ancestral village but in Murk itself the Jin family runs the Golden Palace, a high tier restaurant that is acknowledged as perhaps the best in the city.” At the offer of free food, Li Jian suddenly understood what it meant to be a teacher and that he must impart his knowledge upon those he found worthy.

“Very well. From this point on, you will learn from me directly. I will teach you to cook in a manner that you will not have learned before. Young master, I will hold you to your word. Let us go meet your family then and settle this in permanence.”

A carriage was called for and took them to the northern part of the village where a large manor sat. The manor was large in size but not decorated in an overly rich way which Li Jian found pleasing. They were ushered in without delay; after all the young family Lord was there with the group. They went to the main hall where the family head had been waiting for them. A messenger had been sent ahead with the message that the young master was coming home with the solution to their problem.

Jin Lui had been the family head for over 30 years. He had long embarked on the path of cultivation before picking up the chef’s knife for the past 30 years. He had seen and tasted dishes from all over the world and even from the other continents. He did not think that even with his skill, he would be able to defeat the Hun family at the cooking competition. The Hun family was from the city of Murk itself, a culinary powerhouse. Their family members trained in cultivation not only for martial art but also for cooking itself.

“Father, please let me present the Great Master Li. We were fortunate enough to have his guidance today, and he has agreed to help us.” His son bowed deeply towards him while Li Jian bowed politely. Li Jian saw the experience lining the man’s face and smiled inwardly. This was a man who had lived a long life with many experiences and in many ways, a life that he envied.

“Great Master Li. It is an honour for the Jin family to greet you today. Please, if you do not mind I wish to see a demonstration of your great prowess. I hope this old man will not come across as rude.” Jin Lui bowed towards him politely, standing up from his seat to do so. Li Jian just smiled and nodded. “Senior, please sit. This junior is unworthy of such respect from you. If you show me to the kitchen, I will prepare a single dish for you.”

In the very well stocked kitchen, Li Jian looked around carefully. There were ingredients that were not available commonly but the cook must never rely on ingredients alone. Seeing the time of day it was, just after lunch, he decided that a sweet dish would be the best one. Taking lard and flour, he began to knead the two together into a fine light pastry that he would fold multiple times together. Then taking some lemons, he would zest them and quickly caramelize them over a fire before mixing them into the pastry batter. Separating them into a dozen round balls, he would flatten them before making a quick filling with sour plum with no sugar in them. He took the sour plums and quickly layered a thin layer of sourness in before leaving them open in a tart like fashion. He then quickly layered in almond jelly but left a hole in the middle and pushed them into the oven.

With half a dozen eggs, he separated the yolk from the whites and mixed the yolks together with honey to create a soft mixture. In a few moments, the pastry cooked quickly and was done. He laid them out to cool but quickly surrounded them in a layer of hot spiritual essence to prevent them from cooling too last and quickly filled in the previously left hole with the egg and honey mixture. The mixture cooked very slowly and just barely, leaving the egg sauce to be sweet but kept its flavour intact. To decorate them on top, he set in a single piece of candied chestnut before letting it cool. After an hour, the pastries had been finished and were presented to the family head.

Jin Lui looked at them curiously. He had expected a large presentation of perhaps a whole roasted pig or perhaps something more eye catching than the tarts. He would pick up one of the pastries and examined it carefully, seeing that the pastry itself was perfectly cooked and crispy. The center seemed to be filled with a dark filling but a small gap in the center had been filled with what looked like a yellow custard and a single chestnut piece. He took a bite out of it and chewed it.

There was richness in the pastry that also had hints of bitterness in it which sent the wave of sourness from the plum jam to wash over his tongue. The still liquid egg and honey mixture sent a wave of lingering sweetness with an odd savouriness that flooded his tongue to calm over the sour and bitterness. He quickly took another bite to experience the sweet softness of the chestnut. His hand shook slightly as he wiped away the tears at his eyes. He thought about his life when he had hung up his sword only to pick up the kitchen knife, as a way to honour his family and ancestors as well as to provide a way for his family to grow up without the threat of violence and death that was so prevalent in the martial world.

He looked at Li Jian and bowed to him. “Great Master Li, you are truly peerless. Please, let this old chef offer you his respects, and please explain this pastry to me. This old chef apologizes for being unenlightened.”

Li Jian just smiled at him and handed one pastry to each of the others that were with him. Mei Min in particular ate the whole thing with gusto, savouring it. She loved desserts but a concept like that did not exist in the underworld. In the underworld, the only thing that mattered was power.

“Senior, this is a dish I put together especially for you and your family. The pastry is multi-layered with lemon peels in them. Just as you yourself are not a simple chef, the scars on your hands tell a story that had a different beginning than the kitchen. The sour plum filling is because your life has not been easy. What causes a man to give up his sword for the kitchen? It could only be family obligation and having been soured by the way of the martial world. The strong rules the weak but there is a cruelty in that fact. The custard filling is the sweetness of hope. Hope that your children should not have to experience the same difficulties you have. The chestnut… the chestnut represents the latent talent that is obvious in you in both cooking and martial art but the chestnut has been candied, covered away with the sweeter life that you now enjoy but at the core of your life will always be martial art. That is why your family entered the competition.”

Jin Lui found himself unable to speak. In a single tart, the great senior master had summed up his existence. He found himself understanding the dish and cooking itself in a way that he had not before. He had always thought that the key to food was their deliciousness and taste but to think that the man standing in front of him had produced a dish that went with not only taste but also to represent his life.