Chapter 1216: with translation of chapter title

In the hutong, a waft of meat aroma could be smelled drifting out.

Xie Yiren swallowed almost imperceptibly, looking a bit hungry. Zheng Ren smiled, took her hand, and lightly rubbed his finger on Xiao Yi Ren's hand back, signaling her not to rush.

"This shop has been around for a while, right?" Su Yun observed carefully, then turned and asked.

"This young man's eyes are really bright, he's been around for over a hundred years." The middle-aged man let the few people in, introducing: "My surname is Zhang, Bow-long Zhang, Zhang Weiyu."

"Hello, Mr. Zhang." Zheng Ren nodded and said.

"Please come in, please come in." Zhang Weiyu greeted without humility or arrogance, leading Zheng Ren and his party of six into the inner room.

Xie Yiren walked in happily; the mutton aroma inside was richer, yet no big pot or other ingredients were visible—just an empty room with a table and a circle of chairs.

"Please wait a moment, I'll check the fire, afraid the helper might mess up." After greeting, Zhang Weiyu chuckled and retreated.

"So fragrant!" Xie Yiren didn't hide her joy; after completing a huge Shou Bing, being able to eat a specially fragrant meal, life really had nothing else to pursue.

Liu Xiao Jie watched Zheng Lao Ban holding Xie Yiren's hand, Xiao Yi Ren with a pure longing for meat, feeling the world was really too strange.

It's just meat—is it really like that?

"Mutton from watery lands isn't as good as from dry lands, plains mutton not as good as mountainous, low-altitude mutton not as good as high-altitude, warm-region mutton not as good as cold-region mutton." Su Yun smiled: "Yi Ren, guess where this mutton is from?"

Saying that, everyone sat down first. Their legs were numb from standing, they were all their own people, so there was no need to be polite.

"Let me smell." Xie Yiren closed her eyes, her little nose twitching, seriously sniffing the mutton aroma.

Being able to smell mutton is already good; needing to know which mutton it is? Anyway, Zheng Ren definitely couldn't tell.

Feng Xu Hui didn't quite understand, asking: "Yun Ge'er, mutton is supposedly the best from the Western Banner, right?"

"The Western Banner you mentioned is a general term, referring to Xin Barag Right Banner of Hulunbuir City. The mutton is indeed good, but still not enough." Su Yun also started sniffing; Zheng Ren thought his manner of smelling things resembled Second Black.

"Is there a difference?" Feng Xu Hui asked.

"What a pity." Su Yun sighed: "Such good mutton, yet it coincides with today's weather."

"Uh…" This time Feng Xu Hui really didn't understand.

"The colder the weather, the better the mutton tastes! Best is in the twelfth lunar month, when outside it's below minus twenty degrees with goose-feather heavy snow; stewing a pot of mutton gives that flavor and feeling, which is right." Su Yun felt regretful: "Eating now, the outside environment is wrong, so the taste will always be somewhat off."

"……" Liu Xiao Jie felt these people were really too pretentious, eating meat yet acting like it's New Year, wanting to eat in the snow in deep winter?

But even if she had thoughts and opinions, she couldn't bring herself to say them to Su Yun.

"Yun Ge'er, you want to eat mutton, right?" Feng Xu Hui laughed: "I'll ask the boss where this meat is bought, and find time for us to go to my place to eat."

Su Yun smiled, extended his right index finger, gestured three times, and laughed: "Good mutton isn't bought; it's prepared."

"Prepare?"

Generally, those who are particular about food will buy rear-mountain goats, i. e., goats from the Yin Mountains; even more particular ones will buy Ximeng mutton, i. e., from the Xilin Gol League of Inner Mongolia.

Even more particular ones will eat native-breed mutton, i. e., unimproved sheep; I once ate Ximeng lamb, which is lamb before and after weaning, melts in the mouth, flavor fresh." Su Yun's eyes half-closed, black hair fluttering on his forehead, as if also recalling that meat aroma.

Feng Xu Hui hadn't expected so many opinions, and was stunned. If following Su Yun's logic, he'd be the most unparticular person.

Chang Yue looked around; she wasn't interested in what to eat, but thought that if there were good meat, alcohol wouldn't be bad either.

"It's said that a qualified herdsman's wife needs less than fifteen minutes to slaughter and clean a sheep." Su Yun continued: "That time I saw a herdsman's wife personally slaughter a sheep—one cut to bleed, she tore the artery with her hand, blood used to fill the sausage; the knife she used was no worse than the Boss's, a few strokes and the sheep was dismembered. A pot of clear water, a handful of salt, with grass scraps floating in the water, and sometimes even sheep dung eggs."

"Don't talk about that, it's too gross." Zheng Ren frowned.

"Is that really how it's done? Don't you find it down-to-earth?" Su Yun didn't think so.

Zheng Ren worried Xiao Yi Ren would feel nauseous hearing that, but turning his head, he saw Xiao Yi Ren's nostrils slightly flaring, still sniffing the mutton aroma.

"A pot of clear water, several sections of scallion, a few dried chilies, a handful of Sichuan pepper, a handful of salt, a few slices of ginger. Cooking mutton in Inner Mongolia is like the Dong Bei iron-pot stew—both are rough, with simple ingredients." Zheng Ren hurriedly changed the subject.

"People who usually only eat instant noodles have no right to speak here." Su Yun said coldly.

"Who said that? I guess today's meat is Ujimqin mutton." Zheng Ren laughed.

Su Yun froze a moment; his own guess was also Ujimqin mutton, not expecting Xiao Yi Ren to stay silent while Zheng Ren voiced it.

"What is Ujimqin mutton?" Feng Xu Hui's face showed utter bewilderment.

"A specialty of the Ujimqin Grassland in Inner Mongolia's Xilin Gol League." Su Yun smiled: "This sheep differs from others—black head, white body, especially easy to tell apart."

"Is it just the color difference? What's strange about it?" Liu Xiao Jie, truly tired of Su Yun's suspenseful way of speaking, retorted coldly.

Feng Xu Hui couldn't even manage to stop her.

"You just don't get it." Su Yun also didn't mind, sitting at the table, tapping his fingers lightly, "If you opened a shop and passed off ordinary mutton as Ujimqin mutton for a whole roasted lamb, I could smash your store—believe it or not."

"Don't believe it." Liu Xiaojie thought, after the lamb is roasted, you can still tell it's black-headed and white-bodied? That's nonsense.

"Don't listen to him, he's deceiving you." Zheng Ren said: "Black head and white body are just superficial traits; the most important characteristic of the Ujumqin sheep is that its bone structure differs from other sheep."

"Exactly." Su Yun clasped her hands and laughed: "A few years ago, wasn't there a joke about going to a restaurant to eat roasted whole lamb, and the doctor forcibly pieced it together missing two legs? Since then, I've been thinking that if I get the chance, I definitely want to try it."

"What's fun about that." Zheng Ren said: "Are you tired? After doing surgery all night, you still want to play with LEGO? Too childish."

"Chief Zheng, what's the difference with Ujimqin mutton?" Feng Xu Hui didn't catch it; seeing Liu Xiao Jie about to retort, knowing this girl was unwilling to concede and would eventually suffer, he hurriedly shifted the topic to ask.