Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 9 Chapter 5 part2

Ycb, nice idea, but both the era and the geographical location did not match. Bocah, why don't you take your leave as well? I think most workplaces are closed that week, right? Jaya, Ysabel, HPC, Abhay, Lao Qianbei, Sky, Anh, you are welcome. Melfer, since you don't like it, probably you won't read this, but I remember a saying, ‘someone's trash is someone else's treasure'. What you consider trash, others might like it. There's also another saying, ‘if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all' Therefore, I am asking you to have a bit of respect to the rest of us who translates and follow this story. If you want to discuss your opinion, I suggest you post it under ‘wuxia fiction' forum. Akolaw, I was surprised to see the number of posts since the last update, turns out it was you. But thanks for the additional info, some of those I did not know at all. Those who only read the unabridged will miss all these info. Xu Xiong, honestly, no. Huang Yi likes to use flowery and superfluous words to describe about almost everything. Take his description of women, for example. Why would women's body always tender [jiao]? And their laughter, their voice, their cry, are all ‘tender' [the same ‘jiao']? I have difficulty trying to find a good English term for that.

The woman shouted again in her tender voice, "If you don't get out, I'll come in and you'll be sorry!”

"We're coming! We're coming!” Kou Zhong replied, "Miss, please calm down, we are just goofing around here!”

The woman said in heavy voice, "The two of you are newcomers from the outside, you think our Ranch is the place to goof around? More bullsh1t and you will be rewarded with ten sticks each according to our rules.”

Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other in dismay before rushing to the door and out to the corridor.

Standing under the sunshine was a tall and thin, with slender waist like a willow tree, middle-aged woman. Although her overall appearance could be considered all right, her hollow cheeks were dry and heavy, as if she could fly into a rage at any time. With frosty countenance she stared at them.

Her clothes were of gorgeous silk, but it did nothing to help her lack of luster, just like it was hung on the bamboo pole to dry under the sun.

Standing behind her was a little maid that looked pretty and pleasant; she was secretly sizing up the two boys in curiosity, her eyes showed sympathy.

Kou Zhong cupped his fist to salute and said, "This is …”

Without any trace of politeness the tall and thin woman cut him off, "You must be Fu Jing and Fu Ning. Looking at your smell-of-mother's-milk-not-yet-dried appearance, how much experience can you possibly have? Er Zhishi is an astute man, but sometimes he is muddleheaded, unexpectedly he got you, these two useless people to waste my precious time.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were broadminded people, they could not possibly lower themselves to her level; thereupon they kept silent and ignored her insults.

The more the woman cursed, the more her anger rose; she grumbled, "Just yesterday I sent people to Yiling to send gifts and invite the most famous Pastry Chef in the area to come and serve Changzhu, but now you, two kids who don't know the immensity of heaven and earth, came to mess things up. This is really irritating!”

The two boys suddenly understood, the reason this woman was so unfriendly was because of rivalry. She wanted to be in charge of hiring and firing kitchen workers, but the people she hired failed to satisfy the Ranch Master's taste, hence she lost face big time.

This time, supposing the Second Manager Liu Zongdao succeeded in recommending these two boys, wouldn't she lost even more face? In view of this, Liu Zongdao was not as simple as he looked to be.

Three or four young male servants congregated at the corridor on the other side of the courtyard, busily gesticulating at the two boys, in a taking-joy-in-calamity-and-delight-in-disaster manner.

However, even under this vicious woman's lashing out without leaving them any room to maneuver, the two boys remained calm and composed, like even if they were being scolded for three days and three nights, they would not be impatient.

More and more people heard the commotion and came to watch, filling the corridors around the courtyard. A large group of children, who were playing in the vicinity, also rushed in, creating a very lively scene.

Xu Ziling noticed that one of the children, a little girl was staring at him curiously, seemingly unable to take her pair of big eyes off of him; he could not help smiling at her.

The woman angrily scolded him, "Are you listening to me?”

Bashfully the little girl hid behind her friend. Xu Ziling's tiger-eyes flashed with cold rays; he looked straight into the woman's eyes and unfazed, he said, "We are hired to make cakes and pastries, not to receive your insults. Besides, why speak so much nonsense? Won't testing our skill be enough? What's more, we don't even know who you are. If you think we are unsuitable, why not confront Liu Er Zhishi directly?”

With Xu Ziling's piercing gaze on her, the woman immediately felt as if she was burning in a scorching flame; her arrogance was gone instantly. Furthermore, considering the opposite party's response was reasonable, neither haughty nor humble, momentarily she was stumped.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, "We still don't know how to address Auntie.”

The vicious woman finally regained her composure. Letting out a cold snort, she said, "I am in charge of the general affairs of the kitchen; everybody calls me Lan Gu [(paternal) auntie Orchid]. Hey! Come with me! I want to see what amazing skill you have.” Finished speaking she stormed away.

Kou Zhong put on an act by bowing respectfully with clasped hands in four directions, just like a performer expressing his gratitude to the audience, which immediately prompted a roar of laughter.

Lan Gu did not look back, but her originally-lacking-color face became even more pale from anger.

The two-storied building they called kitchen was actually made up of twelve kitchen units. Working in this place were the chefs and their subordinates, amounting to more than sixty people: chefs, assistants, apprentices, and kitchen helpers; each position was clearly identified, and everything was under Lan Gu's supervision.

One unit, called the Upper Kitchen, specialized in supplying meals for the Ranch Master, Housekeeper, and other important personnel of the Ranch, and was further divided into four stations: east, south, west and north. The south station was Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's pastry section.

Still fuming, Lan Gu took the two boys to this place, and then with a wooden face said, "Before the day you are officially hired, you must not roam around anywhere. Otherwise, if you offend the Ranch's rules, even Er Zhishi won't be able to protect you.”

Noticing that in their station, other than the steamer basket to make pastries, knives and cutting board, stove and other kitchen tools, the table was as empty as anything, Kou Zhong asked, "Where can we get the ingredients?”

Struggling hard to keep her temper under control, Lan Gu ordered the pretty maid standing to her left, "Xiao Juan! See if they need anything, and then let Uncle Gu know. Understand?”

With her head hung low, Xiao Juan acknowledged the order, but she could not help stealing a glance toward the two boys, while a delighted expression appeared on the corners of her mouth.

"I want to see what kind of trick you are going to play,” Lan Gu muttered to herself. Finished speaking, she left without looking back.

The three people looked at each other. "Pfft!” Xiao Juan suddenly burst into tender laughter and said, "I am waiting for two Big Masters' instruction!”

Kou Zhong sat on the edge of the stove. After scrutinizing Xiao Juan for quite a while, he smiled and said, "Xiao Juan Jie [elder sister] is really pretty.”

Xiao Juan's jade cheeks immediately turned as red as sunset clouds; half delighted half angered, she cast him a hateful look and said, "If only I had known earlier that this person can't be serious.”

Folding his arms in front of his chest, Xu Ziling went to the door, looked out all around, and said with a wry smile, "We'd better get out of here as soon as possible! How could Lan Gu be willing to give us highest quality ingredients? This is called ‘even the cleverest housewife cannot cook without rice'.”

With a serious expression Xiao Juan said, "Two Xiao Shifu need not be worry! You have the support of Er Zhishi behind your back, no matter what Lan Gu won't dare to play tricks in this regard, not to mention she basically does not believe that you can make any cake that will satisfy Changzhu's taste.”

"Does Xiao Juan Jie believe?” Kou Zhong asked slyly.

Hanging her head down, Xiao Juan chuckled lightly, and then shook her head slightly. But then she looked up with a puzzled expression on her face, "You don't seem to be nervous at all,” she commented, "Could it be that you really have full confidence?”

Kou Zhong breathed out a sigh and said, "Speaking about taste, everybody is different. Even if you get the Chief of Imperial Kitchen who previously served that muddleheaded ruler to come over here, your honorable Changzhu might still be dissatisfied.”

Xiao Juan turned her gaze toward Xu Ziling, who was still leaning against the door, looking out. "Xiao Shifu, what are you looking at?” she wondered.

Xu Ziling was focusing his power onto his ears, trying to eavesdrop the conversation in the other stations. Hearing the question, he replied indifferently, "Nothing. I am just looking around. As long as you are willing to look attentively, you'll be able to see a lot of things.”

Xiao Juan seemed to understand, but she did not really understand. Nodding her head, she sat down on a chair at the side. Knitting her jet-black eyebrows, she said, "I am still waiting for two Xiao Shifu's instruction. Hmm! But you really don't look like Pastry Chefs; you look more like chivalrous heroes and warriors.”

Turning toward Kou Zhong, she said, "The saber behind your back is not just for decoration, is it? Why not get good knives that are more decent?”

Kou Zhong changed the subject, "Isn't Xiao Juan Jie Lan Gu's trusted aide? Why do you seem to be very willing to help us out?”

Pouting her pretty mouth, Xiao Juan replied with a little disdain in her voice, "Who's her trusted aide? I am Fu Dajie's [big sister] subordinate. Were it not for Fu Dajie sending me to tell Lan Gu to have you make pastries, she could have been leaving you forgotten, or perhaps even forcing you to leave.”

"Who's Fu Dajie?” Kou Zhong wondered.

Xiao Juan proudly said, "She is Miss' must trusted person, the head of the maids of our Changzhu's mansion.”

And then, lowering her voice, she added, "And she is in good terms with your good friend, that Luo Fang bro. I don't need to tell you why she is willing to keep an eye on you, do I?”

Kou Zhong suddenly understood what was going on.

Xu Ziling cheerfully said, "We need three catties of dragon eye flour, a bottle of cow's curdled milk broth, ten strips of white lotus roots, eight taels of fresh lotus seeds …” He listed a string of ingredients in one breath.

Xiao Juan took note of everything, cast a sweet smile toward the two boys, and happily left.

Stupefied, Kou Zhong asked, "Aren't those the ingredients for cool-breeze rice, dumpling oil rice, and jade-well rice?”

Xu Ziling calmly sat down and said, "Exhaustion drives changes, changes drives breakthrough. Just now I overheard that not only Shang Xiu Xun is a glutton, she also loves to try novel things. So we'll make cakes that even we have not tasted yet. After she has tasted it, she'll definitely have a second thought. Zhong Shifu, do you understand?

Chapter end