Chapter 136: Gourmet Food of Sha County

Chen Xiao Mi took Chen Xiao Mai, Yuan Bao, Highness Cheng and his two guards to the restaurant Chen Xiao Cai newly opened to try hotpot.

Highness Cheng's eyes sparkled as he saw the gate of restaurant, "Such nice decoration!"

Highness Cheng who had travelled all the way from the capital city to Sha County had seen poverty unfolding along the way, he didn't have much expectations about Chen Xiao Cai's restaurant in the beginning but the decoration had made him interested.

Chen Xiao Mi smiled. The decoration of the restaurant was mainly based on Lu Lin's opinion. Chen Xiao Cai had added a touch of the fancy restaurants in the capital city to the final decoration as well.

Compared to the big restaurants in the neighboring counties, this hotpot restaurant stood out the most.

The employees in the restaurant had no idea who this chubby middle-aged man was, so they only handed menus to Chen Xiao Mi, and of course the menu was snatched by Chen Xiao Mai.

Yuan Bao leaned in and said, "Little Uncle, I want to eat meat and meat."

Chen Xiao Mi reached out his hand to grab the menu for Highness Cheng, but Highness Cheng smiled and said, "It's all right. Let the kids order. They look like experts in this field."

Chen Xiao Mai ordered a lot of meat, and Chen Xiao Mi handed the menu to Highness Cheng, who ordered a few vegetable dishes.

Soon, the trained waiters lit up the fire and put the double-flavor pot on the fire.

Highness Cheng clapped his hands on seeing the special pot, "Oh wow, this is the first time I've seen a pot with a curved wall in the middle, how interesting!"

Chen Xiao Mi smiled and said, "Yes, master, we can have spicy soup base on one side and non-spicy soup base on the other side. This is my husband's idea, because the kids in the family can't handle spicy food yet."

Soon all kinds of dishes were served one after another.

Highness Cheng asked with great interest, "How do you eat this?"

Chen Xiao Mai cast a sidelong glance at Highness Cheng, which made Chen Xiao Mi shudder with fear.

"Hotpot is so easy to eat. You just pour whatever you want to eat in the soup and you wait patiently until they float, then you dip them in the sesame sauce in front of you, then you go onomnommom," Chen Xiao Mai said.

Highness Cheng nodded his head with excitement.

Chen Xiao Mi put sliced Chinese Yam and potatoes into the soup.

The taste of the hot pot was beyond imagination. Highness Cheng fell in love with the taste immediately.

He pointed at the sliced Chinese Yam and asked, "What is this?"

"This is muddy stick," Chen Xiao Mai explained.

There were a lot of Chinese Yam grown on the mountains in Sha County, most of them would go wasted before Lu Lin came. And now the villagers started to harvest them and sell them to make money since Lu Lin educated them about how to eat Chinese Yam.

"Muddy stick?" Highness Cheng looked rather shocked.

"Don't listen to him, master, this is Chinese Yam," chimed in Chen Xiao Mi.

The cooked yam was very soft and tender, and it would just melt in your mouth.

Chen Xiao Mi smiled on seeing the Chinese Yam, he recalled the first time Lu Lin served him and his brothers this 'muddy stick', they were all very skeptical and they had fallen in love with the taste.

Highness Chen tried some other fresh vegetables and meats, he enjoyed this thing called hot pot very much.

"Master Chen, I need to thank your little brother for introducing such a wonderful thing to me! And why didn't you recommend such a delicious thing to me earlier?!"

Chen Xiao Mi said helplessly, "Master, this is just a specialty in our local county, how could this be compared to all the exquisite dishes in the capital city!"

Highness Cheng smiled, "Relax, I was just joking with you."

Chen Xiao Mai didn't hear a word what his brother and Highness Cheng just said, he was concentrating on getting quail egg from the pot. He wasn't great with his chopstick skills, but he just kept on trying. Then Highness Cheng showed off his great chopsticks skills and 'stole' the quail egg from Mai.

Mai pouted. Highness Cheng was amused by Mai, and he ordered another serve of quail eggs and promised Mai that he wouldn't steal anymore.

Chen Xiao Mi was so amazed by Highness Cheng's appetite, his eyes kept travelling back and forth from Mai to Highness Cheng. It was kind of endearing how the two of them gorging themselves.

Highness Cheng went back to the county yamen perfectly content. He would frequent this hotpot restaurant every other day since this meal. Sometimes he would just come to the restaurant first thing after he woke up.

......

Lu Lin tactfully reminded the old man that this hotpot was delicious, but it might cause constipation.

Highness Cheng nodded and thanked Lu Lin for the reminder, but he still went his own way.

One day, when Lu Lin went to the hotpot restaurant, he heard two employees saying that there was a rich master who had been coming to the restaurant and leaving a big tip every day.

Lu Lin couldn't help but shake his head, 'What have I done! The way Highness Cheng eats hot pot, he will suffer indigestion and constipation in no time!'

Seeing the situation, Lu Lin understood that any form of persuasion would be invalid. So he talked to Highness Cheng's head cook and told him to cook some herbal tea for Highness Cheng.

A few days later, Highness Cheng who was suffering swelling and aching gum pain finally decided to take a break from hotpot.

......

"What are you boys drinking?" Highness Cheng smacked his lips when he saw Chen Xiao Mai and Yuan Bao drinking something from an exquisite tea set.

"Honey lemon tea, Lin Ge said that it could help us to maintain beauty," Chen Xiao Mai said with a proud tone.

Highness Cheng now suddenly realized the two boys in front of him were actually two Bio boys.

"Good boy, let me have some, yeah?" Chen Xiao Mai looked at Highness Cheng and hesitated for a moment.

Highness Cheng took out an ingot of silver and put it in front of Chen Xiao Mai. "Give me a few sips, and this is for you."

Chen Xiao Mai beam with smiles, he pushed the teapot to Highness Cheng, "Here, have as much as you want."

Highness Cheng had never drunk sweet fruit tea before, he had no idea that tea could be sweet, it was perfect for someone who had a sweet tooth like him. Soon he had finished the whole teapot, and he told Mai that he would like to buy more from him next time he had this fruit tea.

Chen Xiao Mai nodded, he took the silver and hid it as his private money. He did not mention a word to Lu Lin.

......

Yuan Bao sat on the small stool, eating an egg pancake while Dash was nibbling on a piece of brown sugar steamed cake.

The steamed cake was too chunky for little Dash, he was struggling to finish it.

Two days ago, Highness Cheng went to the County Yamen kitchen to check on his lunch, he happened to see the brown sugar steamed cakes and he took the liberty to try one or two pieces, well, three. He loved that taste.

The famous pastry shop Paddy-Sweet Cottage in the capital city had similar steamed cakes, but Highness Cheng found those cloy easily, the ones in that small kitchen just had the right amount of sweetness.

Highness Cheng then saw the egg pancake in Yuan Bao's hands.

"Yuan Bao, what are you eating?!"

"Egg pancake."

"Did you buy it outside?"

Yuan Bao shook his head and said, "No, Little Uncle made it for me."

Highness Cheng nodded and said, "Ah~ that silly boy is a great cook, isn't he?"

"Little Uncle is not a silly boy! And yes, he is a great cook, the steamed cake Dash is eating is also cooked by Little Uncle."

Highness Cheng elder nodded and said, "I'm sorry, I apologize. Where's your Little Uncle now?"

"He should still be in the kitchen," Yuan Bao said.

Highness Cheng narrowed his eyes when he heard this then he disappeared from the yard. Not long after, he showed up again with an egg pancake in hand. Chen Xiao Cai added his exclusive sauce, eggs, meat, potatoes, and lettuce in the pancake. Highness Cheng savored every bite.

When Chen Xiao Mai returned to Chen Xiao Cai's home, Chen Xiao Cai saw that Chen Xiao Mai had a jade pendant on his neck. Chen Xiao Cai had seen many good things at this point, and he was startled when he saw that pendant.

"Mai, where did your jade pendant come from?"

"Uncle Chubby gave it to me," Chen Xiao Mai said.

Chen Xiao Cai was shocked and asked, "Why did he give this to you?"

"He wants to eat an egg pancake."

Chen Xiao Cai was rendered speechless.

Chen Xiao Mai pointed at the pendant and asked, "Second Brother, is this jade worth a lot of money? Could it be fake?"

Chen Xiao Cai said, "It's not fake."

......

Lu Lin later found out this, he tried to return the pendant to Highness Cheng, but Highness Cheng said it was a gift to Mai and he told Lu Lin to take it easy.

Highness Cheng had stayed in the county yamen for more than ten days now, and he showed no sign of leaving.

And he had fallen in love with barbecue now, he had been staying up late and talking to the other customers in the restaurant.

Highness Cheng was enchanted by the barbecue grill. Lu Lin soon made a set and gave it to the prince as a gift.

Highness Cheng appreciated this gift so much, but he didn't get the undertone of receiving a gift, he still showed no sign of leaving.

Chen Xiao Mi looked at Lu Lin and said, "The prince seems to be interested in many things! But why would he want Dash's rocking horse?"

"I don't think he actually wants to have Dash's rocking horse, he just took that one and he would ask the craftsman to build a bigger one for him when he arrives in the capital city."

......

Highness Cheng did not want to leave, so Lu Lin naturally did not rush him. However, Ji Cheng Kang could not be calm anymore.

Ji Cheng Kang came to the County Yamen with a few letters.

"Magistrate Lu, where's Highness Cheng?"

Lu Lin blinked and said, "He went out for grilled fish, don't get me started, firstly he fell in love with hotpot, then barbecue, and now grilled fish I'm worried about his stomach!"

Ji Cheng Kang pressed his forehead, "I didn't see this coming, I thought Highness Cheng would leave Sha County in a few days, but now it looks like he is having such a good time!"

"Young Master Chen's restaurants are very popular! I heard there are even people from the neighboring towns come to our county to try all the delicious food."

For that reason, Chen Xiao Cai had built an inn.

Lu Lin smiled and said, "Cai is going great. I see all those letters in your hand, let me guess, they are all for Highness Cheng, aren't they?"

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "Yeah! I hope these letters are all rushing Highness Cheng to go back. Magistrate Lu, I'm so happy about this, Highness Cheng's guards are staying in the camp, I really don't have money to feed the extra mouths, and I feel so uncomfortable to order them around!"

Lu Lin looked at the letters in Ji Cheng Kang's hand and asked, "Are they from the Imperial Consort and the Empress?"

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "Yeah! Hopefully Highness Cheng will leave Sha County soon."

Lu Lin smiled, "Highness Cheng is great, but I agree, he belongs in the capital city."

To the rich women in this time and space, the most important thing was to have a son. The Empress and the Imperial Consort married their cousins to Highness Cheng, of course they wanted their cousins to have sons and inherit the title one day.

As Ji Cheng Kang and Lu Lin spoke, Highness Cheng walked in with a few satay skewers.

Lu Lin exclaimed in his heart, 'Oh, Your Highness, you really don't care how people see you, do you?'

Highness Cheng glanced at Ji Cheng Kang and pouted, "General Ji, what are you doing here?"

Ji Cheng Kang looked at Highness Cheng's disdainful expression and felt a little bitter in his heart. "Your Highness, I'm here to deliver these letters."

Highness Cheng took the letters sullenly.

Ji Cheng Kang saw how sullen Highness Cheng was, he doubted these letters would be burned without being read.

"Come with me."

Ji Cheng Kang braced himself and followed the prince to the guest room.

"Your Highness, not only the ladies are worried about you, but the Emperor also wants you to go back." Ji Cheng Kang sighed in his heart, how he wished Highness Cheng would leave soon.

Highness Cheng sighed, "I have nothing to do in the capital city, I'm in no rush to go back! It's the Empress who asked the Emperor to urge me to go back, I knew it!"

Highness Cheng waved his hand with frustration and changed the topic. "Do you know that there is a commercial street in Sha County? it's established by Magistrate Lu's brother-in-law, Chen Xiao Cai, right?"

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "Yes."

"Have you tried the restaurants? All the food is amazing, I want to meet his chefs even. I have been to the barbecue restaurants and talking to other customers in the past few days, there are even people from other counties who come to try the food! That's impressive!" Highness Cheng talked eloquently.

Ji Cheng Kang felt honored that Highness Cheng was praising Sha County.

The prince rolled his eyes and said, "I heard that all the recipes were actually created by Lu Lin."

Ji Cheng Kang nodded and said, "It seems like this is the case. Not only the recipes are created by him, but all kinds of barbecue grills and pots are also designed by him."

Ever since they had a commercial street in Sha County, the people in Sha County felt happier, they could find jobs easier, and they had more entertainment.

Highness Cheng stroked his chin and said, "Magistrate Lu is an interesting character, he is the one who has invented that farm tool called trolley, right? How come he still hasn't got a promotion?"

Ji Cheng Kang smiled awkwardly and said, "Maybe Magistrate Lu doesn't aspire to get a promotion."

Highness Cheng rubbed his chin and was buried in thought.

Ji Cheng Kang had no idea what this prince was thinking, he just wished Highness Cheng would pack up and leave soon.