At noon, there weren"t really a lot of customers in restaurants. Only one-third of the seats were occupied and there were many empty tables. Yan Liqiang scanned the restaurant"s environment the moment he went in and picked a seat closest to the window on the first floor.
"What would you like to order, Sir?" The waiter"s att.i.tude was rather pleasant, but his eyes couldn"t help but wander a few times to the old clothes that Yan Liqiang was wearing.
How could Yan Liqiang be clueless about what the waiter was thinking?
"No need for trouble. Just bring me the Eight Treasures Feast and some stir-fried vegetables on the side…" Yan Liqiang said this causally on purpose, activating his innate, pretentious talent to the max.
"What is the Eight Treasures Feast..?" The waiter looked at Yan Liqiang in bewilderment.
"Huh, don"t you serve that here?" Yan Liqiang frowned.
The waiter put up a smile. "Well, why don"t you enlighten me about that so that I can tell our chef in the kitchen? Perhaps he might be able to make that for you!"
"It"s very simple. The Eight Treasures Feast includes Chunao, Chunmu, Baotun, Daozhen, Zi"ao, Sangan, Gaobao and Panggai [1] which are served in a set by using ingredients from oxen, goat, elk, deer, river deer, pigs, and dogs..."
The waiter"s face went stiff. "Oh, I"m afraid our humble shop might not be able to prepare all these ingredients on such a short notice. Would you like to order something else, Sir?"
"Alright, I will change my order to a new one!" Yan Liqiang pickily scanned around the shop before he spoke as though he lacked better options. "I guess the Matsutake Fish Maw Soup, Double Flavored Prawn b.a.l.l.s, Snow Flake Fish Ca.s.serole, Bird"s Nest Autumn Pear Soup, a.s.sorted Goose Web Duck Tongue Dish and the Dragon Snake Hundred Sparrow Soup will do then."
The waiter stared at him blankly. He had practically never heard of these dishes before. Even if he could guess the ingredients of a few of the dishes Yan Liqiang mentioned, he didn"t know how to cook them. The waiter"s stature instantly shrunk three inches as the smile on his face intensified. "Sir, our humble shop does indeed have goose webs and duck tongues. Can you enlighten me on how to make this a.s.sorted Goose Web Duck Tongue Dish that you speak of?"
"It"s very simple. Just boil the goose webs and duck tongues thoroughly, debone them, then cook it again with chicken soup that has salt and hundred-year-old wild ginseng in it. Scoop it out and then serve it with wine sauce or fermented rice oil. It"s simple to prepare yet it"s so delicious…" Yan Liqiang had never eaten this dish, but he had read it before. It was one of the dishes from Jia Manor in the novel, "A Dream of Red Mansions".
"T-This… I"m afraid our humble shop can"t deliver this dis.h.!.+" The waiter wiped the cold sweat on his forehead, not daring to further inquire about the other dishes.
"Forget about it then. Just bring me the signature dishes of this shop. I"ll see what suits my taste…" Yan Liqiang said without a choice.
The waiter then went off with his shoulders hanging while secretly muttering to himself about young lords from those wealthy clans dressing up in old clothes to deliberately look poor — it seemed to be the latest trend over these few years and those lords thought it was funny to prank people like that...
The waiter went to the back and explained the situation to the shop owner. The shop owner didn"t dare to take this incident lightly and he hurriedly ordered the kitchen to whip up their best dishes. They served Yan Liqiang attentively and brought a table full of food.
Yan Liqiang ate slowly while he silently watched the situation outside on the street through the window and eavesdropped in on the conversations of other patrons in the small restaurant.
A father and son sat at the table not too far from him. Both of them were chatting while eating. From the content of their conversation, Yan Liqiang discovered that the father was sending his son to Hu Provincial City to partic.i.p.ate in the recruitment of disciples in Soul Mountain Sect"s Hu Provincial Branch, which was one of the major sects.
As one of the major sects in the world, the main branch of the Soul Mountain Sect wasn"t located in Hu Province, but Ling Province [2] of the Great Han Empire. World-renowned major sects like these had branches or inst.i.tutions in many provinces of the Great Han Empire. In Hu Province, the Soul Mountain Sect had a branch here which specifically recruited local disciples that had potential in Hu Province. The outstanding individuals among their disciples would then be given an opportunity to cultivate at the main branch of the Soul Mountain Sect in the future.
Yan Liqiang was tempted upon hearing this piece of information. He recalled the instant effect of the pill that the Soul Mountain Sect had given to Old Master Lu. Compared to the official martial arts academy of the Great Han Empire which could only nurture one to meet Martial Warrior standards, the standards of inst.i.tutions of these major sects were higher and they were much more influential. As a disciple of these major sects, becoming a Martial Warrior might merely be only the beginning...
If he wished to get revenge, he"d need to learn some skills. If he wished to learn some skills, he"d need to find a reliable support…!
Maybe he could give it a try there!
Yan Liqiang was instantly fired up.
There was a very busy main street just outside the Cloud Crane Restaurant. In the middle of the street was a bridle path where people would occasionally gallop through on their rhinodrake steeds or other mounts.
When Yan Liqiang unhurriedly ate the meal until he was about 70% done, he suddenly dropped his chopsticks and stood up at the sight of someone das.h.i.+ng through on his rhinodrake steed outside. He stared at the rhinodrake steed that sped off and his eyes widened into saucers. "STOP RIGHT THERE, XU SAN, DON"T YOU DARE RUN…!" He shouted loudly.
As soon as Yan Liqiang finished yelling, he directly jumped out of the restaurant from the window that was the street. He then broke into a sprint and chased that rhinodrake steed at lightning speed...
The person on the rhinodrake steed didn"t hear Yan Liqiang"s shout and didn"t even know who Xu San was. He just continued galloping away on his steed and didn"t realize that Yan Liqiang was running behind him. However, even if he did, he probably wouldn"t care either. There were so many people walking along the street that no one would care about who was running.
The moment Yan Liqiang jumped from the window, the waiter of the restaurant couldn"t react for the longest time. By the time he did and chased him out of the shop, Yan Liqiang was already a few hundred meters away. The waiter shouted while he chased him. "SIR, SIR, YOU HAVEN"T PAID YET…!" Yan Liqiang pretended he didn"t hear that and ran even faster.
After chasing him for a while, the waiter realized that the gap between him and Yan Liqiang was growing farther and farther apart. Yan Liqiang"s speed left him so far behind that all he could see was dust. In the end, the waiter could do nothing but helplessly watch Yan Liqiang chasing "Xu San" who was riding on his rhinodrake steed as he vanished from his line of sight...
By the time he returned to the shop and explained to the owner about how Yan Liqiang had outrun him, the owner wasn"t sure if Yan Liqiang was someone who dined and dashed or if he had really gone off to chase someone. In the end, he could only take it as his rotten luck and ordered the waiter to clean up the remaining dishes from Yan Liqiang"s table.
"Owner, I will pay for the young man who left earlier. Keep the change…"
Just when the shop owner was sighing and calculating his loss, one of the customers came before him, took out a jiao of silver, and lightly placed it on the counter.
The shop owner was extremely happy and he lifted his head only to find out that it was an elderly man dressed in blue who was standing in front of the counter. This old man was also one of the customers in the shop who sat in one of the corners on the first floor of the shop. He had ordered a pot of wine, a plate of deep-fried peanuts along with two side dishes, and he had enjoyed the wine all by himself.
...
After the elderly man made the payment, he left the restaurant. He looked towards the direction where Yan Liqiang had disappeared off to with a strange smile on his face.
...
Yan Liqiang ran about five or six kilometers out of this town in one breath. When he saw a bamboo forest by the road, he turned into it and took half hour break there. He came out from the bamboo forest again only after making sure that no one had chased him all the way here. Then he made his way towards Hu Provincial City.
Since he had to dine and dash today, he"d naturally pick the best place to do it. Only then he would have enough strength to continue on with his journey. If he had s.n.a.t.c.hed two steamed buns by the roadside, it wouldn"t be called a "dine and dash". It would be called "a disgrace" instead.
At dusk, the majestic Hu Provincial City finally appeared before Yan Liqiang...