Wulang still didn't understand that the pleasure quarters were just a place for fleeting encounters, so he looked down on the woman's sudden change in attitude and continued to sulk, not allowing her to get close.

  Chen Ke couldn't help but smile wryly, patiently explaining to Wu Lang that these girls weren't even prostitutes, just little sisters who accompanied him for drinks. Their job was simply to serve him comfortably and make him happy while eating this meal, so he shouldn't have high expectations.

  Wulang said in a low voice: "We brothers are comfortable on our own, what's the point of having these women around?"

  "Hey......" Chen Ke cried and laughed as he said: "You're twenty now, little brother."

  "What's wrong with that?" Wu Lang widened his eyes and said: "I just don't want to be near her."

  "Never mind, never mind." Chen Ke waved his hand, signaling the woman to retreat. Although she was reluctant, Wu Lang glared at her with his cow-like eyes, scaring her pale and sending her fleeing like a rabbit.

  At this time, the door curtain was lifted, and several waiters with square scarves on their heads, wearing purple shirts, and clean socks and silk shoes on their feet, came in carrying trays. As soon as they entered, they said in a loud voice: "Fresh seasonal fruits and fragrant medicines eight dishes, gooseberry, tangerine, pomegranate, sheep peach, yellow apricot..." "Dried fruit ten dishes, longan, hazelnut, pine nut, almond, walnut..." "Fragrant medicine eight bowls, licorice flower, cinnabar pill, white peony ginseng, olive flower..." "Carved honey cakes eight plates, carved bamboo shoots, honey winter melon fish, large pieces of wax gourd, carved golden tangerine..." "Cured meat ten dishes, meat strips, shrimp cured meat, wine vinegar meat..."

  A wide and long dining table, in the blink of an eye, was filled to the brim. What's hard for later generations to imagine is that these are all called "display dishes", which are mainly not used for eating, but for display purposes. Of course, if you want to eat, no one will stop you, but after the main dish arrives, don't regret it if your stomach can't fit anything else.

  What is even more unimaginable to later generations is that all the bowls, plates and utensils, including the wine cups, wine pots, soup bowls and shallow dishes in front of each person, were made of exquisite pure silver. This table for over a dozen people eating and drinking, with all the tableware adding up to probably several hundred taels of silver, was generously provided by the restaurant for customers to use.

  It's not just about eating in the store, big wine houses see small hotels come to fight two or three times, and they dare to lend them silver wine vessels worth 300-500 taels. Even poor citizens, brothels come to the store to call for wine, the wine house also uses silverware to deliver. Some even drink at night and go back the next day, without seeing any loss.

  Sometimes when silverware was lost in a tavern, literati would treat it as a fresh topic and record it.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Then, according to each guest's preference, the hotel served over a dozen bottles of wine, including Yu Ye Lou's special brew, Jade Dew, as well as famous national wines like Xi Feng and Jian Nan Chun, unfortunately, there was no Huang Jiao.

  "Ah, young fellow." Song Duanping asked: "Why doesn't your hotel have our hometown's famous wine Huang Jiao?"

  "Sorry, sir." The shopkeeper said with a smile: "There are thousands of famous wines in the country, but our store's ability is limited, so we can only take one out of a hundred." This made everyone laugh.

  "This shows that our Huang Jiao can only be called the king in Shu, but outsiders don't recognize it." Su Shi smiled and said: "Third brother, why not open a wine shop in Bianjing too? Then we'll have Huang Jiao to drink again."

  "This big market in the capital, we must have a share of it." Chen Ke smiled and said: "After I've investigated, I'll write a letter to Mr. Li."

  The crowd spoke with such a relaxed demeanor, while the female attendants poured wine, peeled fruit, and handed out snacks, smiling and flirting with these young men. Before long, they had charmed these inexperienced youngsters to the point where their bones were all soft.

  Before long, the waiter came in again and asked with a smile: "Sir, can we serve the dishes now?"

  After Chen Ke nodded, the idle men and women in the house immediately took action, moving the dishes on the table to a small machine on the side, re-heating the wine as well. The waiters then brought in high-held silver plates.

  "Just listen to the fellow singing: 'The first cup, crab roe and orange, sheep's tongue rising'..."

  In the high-end restaurant, it's a separate meal system, with each person getting a bowl. Because there are too many dishes, in order to save space, each bowl has two independent plates that can hold two dishes at the same time.

  Chen Ke and others, who grew up eating stir-fries, thought they were at the forefront of the times in terms of food, but when they saw the delicious dishes cooked by the famous chef of Yu Xian Lou, they were all stunned.

  Look at these dishes, you'll know what it means by "the more delicate the food, the better" and "the more intricate the cooking, the finer"!

  For example, "Crab Roe Tangerine" is a dish made by cutting off the top of a large tangerine that has turned yellow and removing the pulp, leaving only a small amount of juice. Crab roe, crab oil, and crab meat are then placed inside the tangerine, which is covered with the cut-off top and steamed in a small steamer with wine, vinegar, and water until cooked. Vinegar and salt are added before serving.

  The "Crab Roe Tangerine" presented is a whole large tangerine, surrounded by chrysanthemum petals, rose flowers and orchid leaves, so beautifully arranged that it's stunning, and you can't bear to destroy it, nor do you know where to start.

  That's what the hostesses do, skillfully picking up the orange peel with ivory chopsticks, a unique refreshing aroma of crab, wine and chrysanthemum rushes to the nose. After the heat dissipates, looking at the inside of the orange again, the crab meat is lovely and granular, the soup is crystal clear and transparent.

  The girls then use small spoons to scoop up a spoonful of crab meat, blow on it lightly, and carefully feed it to the officials' mouths.

  The scholars savored the crab meat in their mouths, not only fragrant but also fresh... What intoxicated them even more was that this new wine, chrysanthemum, orange, and crab blended together to create an artistic atmosphere that only a few dishes could produce.

  "I want to compose a poem!" Su Shi said with a smile: "But I have to wait until I've eaten my fill."

  "You just ate outside, didn't you?"

  "Seeing such a beautiful thing, I'm about to become a hungry ghost!"

  "I think you were born with a hungry ghost's soul, hahaha"

  After eating this refreshing and elegant crab roe dish, the ladies will bring out the "sheep's tongue" pastry and offer it to everyone. This dish, when served on a plate, resembles a blooming yellow lotus flower placed on fresh lotus leaves, although simple and unassuming, it won't lose its color in front of the previous dishes.

  One bite, the outer layer is a golden-brown meat floss roll wrapped in a thin dough wrapper. But upon closer chewing, it's different from ordinary mutton. The texture is fine and tender, with a crispy mouthfeel and chewiness. It must be lamb tongue! Another bite, surprisingly, there's still a filling of minced meat inside. Lightly chewed, it's smooth and refreshing, most precious of all, the flavor is extremely fresh, amazingly, it's actually fish paste!

  Chen Ke was thoroughly convinced, and with a bitter smile in his heart, he said: "Let's just stay in Chengdu, it's better not to go to Bianjing City, I'm afraid we won't be able to make a name for ourselves..."

  The second dish is wine-braised pork belly with three fresh shoots stir-fried with quail.

  ，

  The third dish is roasted pigeon and steamed fish head.

  "The fourth dish, crispy fried fish with honey and winter melon."

  "The Fifth Bowl..."

  "The Sixth Bowl..."

  One dish after another, so exquisite that it brings tears to the eyes, these country bumpkins from all over the world, eating with tears streaming down their faces, it's really too delicious, what was I eating before, pig food?

  Even Chen Ke couldn't help but admit defeat, as the most skilled Huaiyang cuisine in Chuanfu was no match for these perfect Bianliang dishes that excelled in color, fragrance, taste, shape and name.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A group of people were having a great time, drinking and chatting, when they suddenly heard a loud noise coming from the wine house.

  Chen Ke, having had a grudge, was extremely vigilant and immediately turned his head to look around. Zhang Wu, who had been idle, had already seen that Chen Ke was the host of the banquet and naturally focused all his attention on him. He quickly went down to check and soon ran back, with a smile on his face, saying: "Sir, you are so lucky, Du Dajia has come to sing for you at short notice..."

  Because Chen Ke was an outsider, he explained: "Du Dajia is one of the top ten opera troupes in Bianjing City, and her singing skills are among the best. Many officials and nobles have been waiting for her to perform... Fortunately, the owner of Yuexian Building had supported her back then, and Du Dajia was grateful, so she comes here to sing once a month."

  "Why is it called temporary then?"

  "It's because the end of the month is her concert day, and today Du Dajia was originally going to Runan Wang's residence, but unexpectedly Old Master Wang suddenly fell ill, so they came to our house instead." Zhang Wu said with a smile: "The master hasn't seen it, people are rushing in like a flood? If we had known earlier that Du Dajia was coming, I guarantee that there wouldn't be any seats available ten days in advance."

  "What a wonderful atmosphere!" Chen Ke smiled and said. Hearing him say this, the female prostitute next to him not only didn't feel jealous, but instead had a infatuated expression and said: "That's natural, it's said that two years ago, before Liu Qi passed away, he even wrote lyrics for Du Dajia."

  "Alas...". Mentioning Liu Yong, Chen Ke couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. It's easy to come to the Song Dynasty, but not being able to see the idolized side of men and women is truly regrettable. And also Yan Shu, who passed away last year... Not getting an autograph is really a shame.

  But it is said that Liu Yong was also a descendant of the Liu family from He Dong

  He put aside his random thoughts, turned around and leaned against the railing, only to find that the location was not bad, facing the stage in the sky well. At this time, Du Dajia had not yet appeared on stage, but the audience below was already crowded with people waiting with bated breath; looking up at the various floors of the building, the wine guests also opened their bead curtains and looked down, the atmosphere of waiting for the crowd was just like Chen Ke's previous life, in a certain large shopping mall, on a certain day, met a certain emperor-level superstar.

  Su Shi was so infatuated that he didn't even have time to eat, and leaned against the railing to gaze down. Wu Lang and Zeng Bu were not interested in the superstar at all, and buried their heads in thought there.

  At this time, the fellow brought in a candelabra and placed it on the dinner table, explaining to Chen Ke and others in a playful tone that the brilliant lights in the wine house would be temporarily extinguished later due to performance needs.

  As the candelabra was lit, hundreds of lanterns in the wine tower went out, leaving only the eighteen lotus-shaped lamps on the stage still shining brightly. The darkness calmed the wine tower and focused everyone's attention on the bright stage.

  As the sound of the guqin rose, it was followed by the bamboo flute, accompanied by the gentle silk and bamboo music. Eight palace maidens with slender figures, sparkling eyes, waist sashes, and fans inserted into their backs, elegantly ascended onto the stage.

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