Chapter 48: One Problem After Another

The wedding procession of Ten Li Red Dowry did not fully disappear until half an hour later, and only then did Wu Chengyu and the others enter the city to find an inn to settle down.

After a full half day's journey, everyone was exhausted from travel, and unfortunately Yu Xiaowu's wish to enjoy a good meal was completely dashed.

No sooner had they settled in than Yu Xiaowu dragged everyone straight to the restaurant next door, and then came a bolt from the blue.

"What did you say? Such a large restaurant has no one cooking, only the two of you apprentices?"

"Sir, you don't know, today Master Wang and Master Liu's two families are joining in marriage and holding a grand banquet, this is a rare grand event in our Qingyuan Prefecture."

All the cooks in Qingyuan Prefecture with any reputation have been hired by the Wang Family, even the waiters have been called away to help.

If we two hadn't just become apprentices, we wouldn't even get a turn chopping vegetables, we'd want to go too, I heard that anyone who helps today can not only eat a good meal, but everyone gets reward money, unfortunately our shopkeeper thinks we're clumsy and won't let us go."

The apprentice spoke listlessly, clearly dejected for not going to the wedding banquet to get reward money, but they still knew how to greet customers.

"If the gentlemen don't mind, let us two cook a dish for you, although we haven't mastered it, we've at least watched our master do it."

Yu Xiaowu was speechless, you can't even chop vegetables, and still expect you to cook?

"Forget it, take me to the kitchen, I'll cook this meal, rest assured, the meal money will not be missing a single bit."

We are really unlucky, traveling far and wide, starving, and after finally arriving we still have to cook ourselves."

When they reached the kitchen, Yu Xiaowu almost went crazy: "Qingyuan Prefecture has so many fresh seafood, why is there nothing at all in your kitchen?"

The apprentice replied with an innocent face: "Today is the Wang Family wedding, all the prominent gentlemen of Qingyuan Prefecture have gone, just the wedding banquet has prepared over a hundred tables, it's said that outside the gate on the main street they've even set up continuous banquet tables, all the slightly better ingredients in Qingyuan Prefecture have been bought out by the Wang Family."

Yu Xiaowu was truly defeated now, he couldn't see a single thing he wanted to eat, poor him, all along the way he only chattered about the local delicacies, his saliva was wasted.

Wu Chengyu was also helpless at this time, he originally wanted to show off his skills, who knew that not to mention the seafood Yu Xiaowu spoke of, even the pots in this kitchen had been moved away.

Yu Xiaowu asked helplessly: "Then what is there to eat?"

"There's only a basket of steamed cakes left."

The two fellows who considered themselves master chefs, helplessly one went out to buy meat, and one built a fire in the courtyard outside the restaurant kitchen, fortunately they finally bought some meat, so Yu Xiaowu skewered and grilled meat again, and Wu Chengyu contributed his thirteen-spice blend once more.

Fortunately Wu Chengyu's thirteen-spice blend was indeed overpowering, the big guys ate the grilled meat with steamed cakes, and soon ate it clean.

With the grilled meat, Niu Dajie drank at least one catty more wine, then generously patted Wu Chengyu's shoulder and said: "Your cooking skills are indeed excellent, it's just that you're too young, otherwise for your skills I'd even want to marry you, such overbearing dishes paired with strong wine is what us heroes should have."

Wu Chengyu's left side went numb, and his heart went numb too, you call yourself a hero and still want to marry me, although you're far more than just interested in A, but I really can't afford you, Niu Wanrou, indeed gentle and restrained.

Beside them Yu Xiaowu was fidgeting, hesitating to speak, crucially his face was flushed, his breathing rapid, his eyes staring fixedly at Wu Chengyu.

Wu Chengyu instantly became alert, shrank his body, trying to slowly move away from Yu Xiaowu, this guy wouldn't also want to marry me, by the way, the seasoning I just put didn't contain Ai Yi Tiao Chai.

Yu Xiaowu endured for a long time, finally spoke: "Brother Chengyu, can you teach me the recipe for thirteen-spice? I'm willing to take you as my master, as long as you nod, I'll immediately kowtow three times and bow nine times, one day as a teacher, a lifetime as a father, I can support you in your old age."

Wu Chengyu breathed a sigh of relief, so that's what you were aiming for, why didn't you say so earlier, I was just thinking whether to strike first and actively marry Niu Wanrou.

"Brother Xiao Wu, what joke is this, we brothers address each other as brothers, have shared life and death together, what is a mere grilled meat recipe, I'll write it for you later, the matter of taking you as a master is just a joke, never mention it again."

Wu Chengyu really didn't care about this, in his previous life he watched videos, various recipes were freely available, he didn't think it was precious, besides he never thought of becoming a chef, if it were the recipe for Black Jade Bone-Healing Ointment, Wu Chengyu would absolutely not leak it.

However in this era, recipes like thirteen-spice are true skills, able to support a family and make a living, this is putting money into your pocket, it definitely counts as a kindness.

Yu Xiaowu was moved to tears, almost knelt down to kowtow again, no amount of coaxing worked, finally Niu Dajie slapped him on the head, and only then did he quiet down.

After the meal, everyone present felt increasingly tired, except Wu Chengyu, A Ku, and He Zhiyu, the other ten people were all injured, and under Lu Dage's arrangement everyone returned to the inn early to rest.

Who would have thought that in the middle of the night, people from the government office knocked open the inn's gate, some yamen runners searched room by room.

The shopkeeper repeatedly persuaded, and only after actively stuffing silver did the other's expression look a bit better, ultimately why they were searching the inn was not mentioned a word, only requesting to check the women in the inn.

The shopkeeper had no choice but to knock on doors room by room, calling out people like Wu Chengyu.

The head yamen runner looked at Lu Zhiyi and the others and interrogated: "Where are you from and where are you going, how many women are there in total?"

Lu Dage bowed with hands clasped and replied: "Replying to the official, we came from Gushan to Hangzhou Prefecture to visit relatives, there are three women in total, all here."

The yamen runner looked left and right, pointing at A Ku and He Zhiyu, and pressed: "There are only two here, where is the other one?"

Niu Dajie beside them rolled her eyes and cursed: "Are you blind, I'm not a woman of the household."

The yamen runner then saw Niu Wanrou, a sturdy man strong enough to lift a tripod, upon closer look she was actually a woman.

He was scared by Niu Dajie and retreated two steps, feeling somewhat ashamed and angry, just about to show off his might, but seeing the several men around all had unfriendly expressions, each strong and powerful, clearly people of the martial world, even several were carrying weapons when going out.

The yamen runner dared not speak awkwardly, the shopkeeper hurriedly smoothed things over, Niu Dajie then relented, the yamen runner then fled, Wu Chengyu beside them almost shouted: Mighty.

These yamen runners were mostly idlers, not even constables, how dare they provoke martial arts masters.

The next morning, Wu Chengyu and the others had just reached the inn's main hall when they immediately learned what had happened last night, the gossip among the people in the inn was flying everywhere.

"Heard about it? After yesterday's wedding banquet, before the bride and groom entered the bridal chamber, that Wang Family young master coughed blood and died before even lifting the bride's veil."

"I heard that too, that veil was supposedly lifted by Master Wang himself."

"Hiss, Master Wang's son is dead, and he still bothered to lift the veil? He wouldn't be thinking of entering the bridal chamber in place of his son, would he."

"He's dreaming, after the veil was lifted, the bride suddenly struck out, who would have thought the Liu Family's daughter was skilled in martial arts, she not only injured Master Wang, but also took a lot of gold, silver, and treasures before leaving proudly."

"Master Wang reported to the government office late at night, now the head constables and yamen runners of the prefecture office are searching the whole city for the bride, the city gates still haven't opened, it's said the person who reports gets a reward of one hundred taels of silver, and catching the bride directly gets a reward of one thousand taels of silver."

"Now the Wang Family has really lost face, the Liu Family isn't doing well either, the Wang Family is sending people to question Master Liu, even directly writing a divorce letter."

Wu Chengyu bit hard into a steamed cake, it really smelled good.

I am modifying the protagonist's name bit by bit from back to front, but the number of times is limited, I can't change too much each day, the earlier ones will be changed tomorrow.

These days communicating with readers, everyone pointed out some sore points, some can't be changed, some are my stubbornness, but some I humbly accept and will gradually modify.

Currently the biggest problem is the protagonist's name issue, I also admit I indeed didn't put enough effort into it, it should have been changed earlier, or simply called Wu Chengyu from the beginning, there shouldn't have been Fang Xiu at all, but this is a big project.

My current plan is to wait until Fang Xiu reaches Wu Family Slope and enters the second volume, directly starting with Wu Chengyu, after all by the second volume it would be somewhat more natural.

As for the earlier parts, I will change them bit by bit from back to front, the biggest problem is that the backend has restrictions on modifying already published chapters, if there are too many changes within a day there will be a warning, so I estimate it will take two or three days to finish all changes, this might give friends who just started reading my book a poor reading experience, but it's better to endure short pain than long pain, when the second volume starts, I will immediately make the changes.

Still, thank you all for your support and understanding.

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(Chapter End)