Kaifeng Bistro

Bursts of long evening drums sounded, echoing in the dim night sky of Kaifeng City.The end of the year is approaching, so the main stores in Kaifeng City are much cleaner, but Tan Zhifeng's tavern is still very lively.Most of the people in Wheat Straw Lane are from far away hometowns and cannot go back to celebrate the New Year. The more this time comes, the more they like to gather somewhere to be lively.

What's more, as soon as the curtain fell, the cold and darkness were strictly blocked out, and the guests gathered around the table, chatting in twos and threes—although half a month had passed since the winter solstice, what happened that day still It is the topic that people are most interested in—nearly a thousand people in Kaifeng witnessed that "Shang Yushan" and "Royal Cat" teamed up to defeat the conspiracy of the Xixia people, especially "Chang Yushan", who cut off the terrible yellow snake The snake head, and even the mysterious and majestic white elephant surrendered at his feet.

Others said that even the officials praised "Chang Yushan" for his bravery to those around him, and wanted to reward him with some money and silk, and even imagined rewarding him with an official position like rewarding Zhan Zhao, but it's a pity, "Chang Yushan" "It seems that he is not interested in this at all. He has been covered with a mask and is very mysterious. No one knows his origin.

After leading the head elephant out of Suzaku Gate, he jumped off the elephant's back together with the young man beside him and disappeared among the crowd.

In Kaifeng Mansion, the case of Zhang Shanchu's drowning finally came to a conclusion.Although Li Weiming was bewitched and instigated by the Xixia spy Ye Li Changrong, which caused his classmate Zhang Shanchu to fall into the water and died, but fortunately he was able to return from his lost way and cooperated with Zhan Zhao to investigate the case. After taking the pills with snake venom, and passing the news of the winter solstice attack by Yeli Changrong and others to Xu Gan and Tan Zhifeng in time, this gave everyone in Kaifeng Mansion and the Imperial Army enough time to plan and arrange, and finally the number of Xixia All the spies were wiped out.

In addition, Zhao Chao and others under Zhan Zhao also found hundreds of "demon books" in the bookstore that had already been printed and had not yet been distributed in the future. He admitted the fact that he had colluded with the Xixia people.

Two days ago, the owner of the bookstore and more than a dozen Xixia spies were beheaded in front of the eyes of the people in Kaifeng.As for Li Weiming, even though his merits and demerits are equalized, he will not die, but according to the law, he will inevitably be exiled to a desolate place.

Tan Zhifeng listened to Wang Chao Mahan, and finally Zhan Zhao went out to Mr. Bao to plead for Li Weiming, saying that Li Weiming is a student of Taixue, and now the imperial court is in the midst of employing people. Instead of assigning him, it is better to recommend him to Shaanxi Economic Strategy to appease the deputy envoy. , Master Fan who was stationed in Yanzhou worked under his command.

He also said that the border environment in Yanzhou is difficult, and scholars are often reluctant to go there. If Li Weiming can go there to be a small official who handles documents, it will be regarded as atonement.

……

Li Weiming is sitting in the tavern right now, when he saw Tan Zhifeng coming out from the back kitchen, he stopped Tan Zhifeng with some embarrassment, and said: "Tan shopkeeper, Mr. Zhan saved my life, and found such a job for me, I think ...I would like to invite him to thank him, but I think he is a man...he should not accept any thank you gifts...so..."

"Oh, it's better than this," Zhou Yanjing interrupted him: "Tomorrow, I will invite everyone from Kaifeng Mansion to come here for the excuse of seeing off Ming Jing, so that the Zhan guards will not refuse it! "

"It's just that I have to trouble shopkeeper Tan to prepare the meals again, but I can bring a bottle of good wine... Zijin, what do you think?" Zhou Yanjing turned around and asked Chen Qing who was sitting beside him, but Chen Qing just looked in a daze He raised his head and muttered, "Oh, okay."

"Of course." Tan Zhifeng agreed. "Whatever you want to eat, just say it."

"Hmm..." The four people at the table were chattering, and finally Lu Yang said: "Hey, after much deliberation, I always remember the 'Puxia offering' you ate here the first time I came back to shopkeeper Tan What! It's just rabbit meat... one can't peel off a few taels of meat, won't it be too troublesome if there are too many people?"

"Want to eat shabu-shabu?" Tan Zhifeng asked after thinking for a while.

"Yes!" Everyone answered in unison, and even Chen Qing, who always seemed listless these days, had bright eyes.

"Okay!" Tan Zhifeng suddenly had an idea, he smiled and said: "Then I will definitely prepare well and try to satisfy everyone when the time comes."

"Shopkeeper Tan!" Someone shouted across the counter, Tan Zhifeng hurriedly said "Excuse me", and went to entertain the guests.

Passing through the narrow passage between the two rows of tables and chairs, Tan Zhifeng heard someone mention the name "Shang Yushan" from time to time. Yi Yi, who was sitting behind the counter, raised his head, with a mocking expression on his face, and raised the corners of his lips He pointed at Tan Zhifeng and pointed at the book he was holding in his hand——the most recent Xinhua book is either "Shang Yushan Fights the Snake Demon" or "The Royal Cat Captures the Xixia Evil Thieves". According to Yi Yi, there are new stories almost every day. The story of the novel came out, and the storytellers in each tile became more and more mysterious.

"It is estimated that in two days, Chang Yushan will become the reincarnation of the Tathagata Buddha." When returning from shopping today, Yi Yi glanced at Xu Yan and muttered to Tan Zhifeng.

Tan Zhifeng didn't like the excessive publicity of these unscrupulous booksellers on that matter at all.He was afraid that these made-up stories would evoke Xu Gan's memory and cause him to be suspicious.

However, Tan Zhifeng still found that although Xu Yan did not show any interest in those scripts and the rumors that he wanted to ask on the street, when Tan Zhifeng asked him sideways, he just said: "... there were some things at that time, I can't remember clearly ...", However, he often showed a confused and vigilant expression because he occasionally thought of something and couldn't figure it out clearly.

He would squint his eyes, look into the distance, and stay there alone in silence. Tan Zhifeng always felt that his appearance was a bit unpredictable, and the sense of familiarity and intimacy that he had finally established between himself and him At this moment, he seemed particularly vulnerable, and it was often at this time that he realized that, in fact, he didn't know Xu Gan that well.

……

Back in the back kitchen, Xu Gan was there.He has really become Tan Zhifeng's assistant cook, and he stays here most of the time every day, helping Tan Zhifeng with various things.

In order not to think wildly, Tan Zhifeng hurriedly started to work, but Xu Gan was by his side. The people's discussion just now could not help but brought back to his mind the shocking scene in front of him when he and Xu Gan were sitting on the back of a white elephant. For a moment, he felt that they would really just walk into the golden stratus, and never have to come back to face Bo and everything in the past...

"What are you thinking?" Xu Gan patted the flour on his hands, and raised his hand to touch Tan Zhifeng's eyebrows: "Don't frown, just go and rest when you're tired. I'll do it."

"Oh..." Tan Zhifeng responded, and at the same time condemned himself again for putting emotions on his face.In contrast, Xu Yan is much more natural, with a calm face and a slight smile, compared with Tan Zhifeng's stern appearance when he first met him, it seems that there have been many changes, and it soon made Tan Zhifeng uneasy The mood calms down.

In the big pot next to it, there is a thick and sweet Laba porridge. Each of the guests has a bowl in front of them. The table is also full of various snacks, such as fried chestnuts bursting with sugar, and crispy Xijing bamboo shoots. The brightly colored spicy dishes in the small white magnetic tank, the refreshing pear strips, and the fragrant honey food that Tan Zhifeng just made on a whim...

However, steamed buns are what customers like to order most recently. Since the officials visited Taixue and praised Taixue’s steamed buns, steamed buns have become the “Most Popular Snack of the Year” in Kaifeng for a while.

In the spirit of improving his professional level, Tan Zhifeng asked Yi Yi to buy a lot of "steamed buns" and come back to study. Yi Yi bought him a lot of four-color steamed buns, raw stuffed steamed buns, variegated fried flower steamed buns, and sugar-meat steamed buns , mutton steamed buns, bamboo shoot meat steamed buns, fish meat steamed buns, crab roe steamed buns...Zhou Yanjing also brought several famous Taixue steamed buns to the store, and everyone gathered in a circle to look at them for a long time—Zhao Zhuo then exclaimed in surprise: "What?! These are not steamed buns, but stuffed buns!"

Yiyi once again scoffed at the scorching "ignorance": "This 'steamed bun' is not that 'steamed bun', you have never seen Kaifeng buns..."

"Oh? 'Mr. Know everything', you have seen it, tell me what is the difference?!" Zhuo Zhuo retorted unceremoniously: "I don't think you know it either!"

"Hmm..." Tan Zhifeng quickly interrupted them: "Actually, this one is indeed different from... the one in my hometown, but I think that most of the steamed buns are made of cold water noodles and mainly filled with plain stuffing; So popular, because the skin is leavened, so it is white and soft, and the stuffing of the bread inside is mostly meat, like this Taixue steamed bun—" He broke one and smelled it: "It is made with pepper water Soaked shredded pork is used as filling, of course it is tender and delicious.”

Changshang couldn't help but took a bite, and said repeatedly: "Yeah, it's delicious!" Then, he carefully separated the remaining half and fed it to Ling'er.Who knew that Ling'er would cough after eating a little, and said, "It's a bit choking, and it's dry."

Tan Zhifeng pondered for a while, then raised his head to look at them, and said, "Then how about we make an improved version of Taixue Mantou?!"

……

Right now, Xu Yan is imitating Tan Zhifeng's appearance just now, and making face to face earnestly. Tan Zhifeng was tired of standing and watching, so he simply moved a wooden stake from the outside, and sat on the side to continue watching.

Suddenly, Xu Gan asked Tan Zhifeng, "When did you learn these skills?"

Tan Zhifeng was caught off guard by the question, and he stammered for a long time before answering: "I can't remember clearly, when I was a child, right? I watched my parents do it, and later... it didn't take long for me to really learn it, about four or five years?"

"How old were you at that time, in your early ten years old?" Xu Gan seemed to have figured out a way. He patted the bumpy, not-smooth-looking surface on the cutting board, and then continued to knead it vigorously.