In the following days, Chen Xu focused on his studies in the separate courtyard.
Not only did he study literature and essays, but he also learned the thods of using Literary Qi.
Of course, Sun the cook in the separate courtyard had unique culinary skills, and Chen Xu often went to the kitchen to learn cooking from her.
So much so that within a few days, all the servants in the Feng Mansion’s separate courtyard knew that Mr. Chen, the esteed guest of their Patriarch, was surprisingly fond of culinary arts.
It’s often said that a gentleman stays away from the kitchen, yet there are scholars who enjoy cooking.
If his studies were average, it wouldn’t matter much, but surely he would have been mocked for being uneducated and abandoning his goals due to amusents.
However, Chen Xu was recognized throughout Yunjiang Prefecture as a great talent, with his reputation and the top ranking in the academy’s examinations backing him up, so who could mock him?
Nevertheless, behaving so unusually, he was inevitably gossiped about.
For example, the household to the east of the Feng Family’s separate courtyard—
Because it was conveniently close to the Prefecture Academy, most of the nearby neighbors were scholars.
Only separated by a courtyard wall, the scholar next door often slled the aroma of food wafting from the eastern kitchen of the separate courtyard and took the opportunity to overhear the daily exclamations of the servants:
"Mr. Chen has only been learning cooking from Steward Sun for a few days, yet the things he made sll this good?"
"What did he make today? Wow, it’s straw hat cake, so flaky! Listen to the sound when you take a bite, it practically crumbles to bits, and it’s so delicious, so fragrant!"
"Mr. Chen is really kind; he’s a great talent, and sotis he even lets us servants taste his cooking and asks us about the heat level.
Well, what do we know about heat levels? We just know it’s delicious.
Just one taste, and I feel I haven’t lived in vain..."
"Indeed, indeed. If Mr. Chen becos a Scholar in the future, we can go back and boast that in this lifeti, we’ve tasted dishes made by a Scholar himself, and that experience can be passed down for three generations..."
"Shh, are you itching for trouble? Watch your mouth, you pesky brat, or you’ll lose your head!"
The scholar next door, Lv Ji, was also a Scholar. Although he hadn’t opened up the Sea of Literature like Chen Xu, he was cultivating Qi and had sharper hearing than most people.
The servants in the separate courtyard often talked by the eastern kitchen, and Lv Ji often overheard so snippets, initially dismissing them in his heart:
"What a great talent! If he’s more attentive to cooking than to studying and ends up failing the Scholar examination, that would be truly shaful."
Later, Lv Ji found himself secretly delighted: "Hmm, that’s not right. I’m also attending the provincial exam this ti, so isn’t he my competitor? If he doesn’t pass, I should be happy!"
As ti went on, Lv Ji beca anxious and couldn’t help but wonder: "Ah, how good can that flaky pastry be? Could I possibly get a taste of it too?
This is truly driving crazy!"
He regretted not having any connection with Chen Xu and felt it was inappropriate to boldly ask for a taste.
Even if he mustered the courage to visit, so words would be difficult to say.
How should he phrase it?
Say that he frequently eavesdropped by the wall, listening in on their conversations from the corner? How shaless would that be?
But in all fairness, Lv Ji had only heard so gossip from the servants by the eastern wall; he couldn’t hear anything about the affairs inside the courtyard.
Lv Ji felt he wasn’t a glutton, yet for so reason, these days, he found himself unusually craving food.
Next door, there wasn’t only flaky pastry—there were all kinds of aromas, fried, grilled, roasted... each kind of food aroma took turns enticing him.
Sotis it was overwhelmingly rich, sotis delicately fragrant, and sotis just a gust of wind was enough to make one’s mouth water.
Lv Ji was constantly lured by these aromas to the side of the kitchen wall, which is how he overheard various conversations.
After several anxious days, as Lv Ji was almost on the verge of finding an excuse to knock on the neighbor’s courtyard gate, he suddenly heard that two restaurants in the city had made a remarkable ergence, recently launching several signature dishes.
As for the deliciousness of the signature dishes, there was no need to elaborate; the two restaurants were also competing in a playful manner.
Today one offered gifts, tomorrow the other hosted a riddle ga, and the next day another had target shooting for ordering...
Over a few days, both picked up the idea of a lucky draw box, causing a lively buzz throughout the city.
Lv Ji went twice at the invitation of friends. His target shooting skills were quite good, and thanks to that, he got to taste a few of the signature dishes.
Once tasted, they were truly as good as their reputation suggested.
Their deliciousness was such that one felt as if they were about to swallow their own tongue.
Because of this, Lv Ji managed to regain so sense and refrained from actually going to ask the neighbors for food.
But he wouldn’t tell anyone that he was still thinking about a taste from next door... ahem.
Until one day, Lv Ji read a newly printed volu of "Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious" from Langyu Bookstore.
When he first read "Palace Poems," he sighed as he held the book: "Such beautiful poetry, such a line, ’Youth not yet old, favor already lost!’ The sorrow in this world, nothing exceeds this.
Such deep longing, finally revealed through poetry."
Later, when he read "Flowers Are Not Flowers," Lv Ji felt as if he were placed in a dream, even struck with a sense of awe.
"Flowers are not flowers, mist not mist... how long does it co like a spring dream, how irretrievable like the morning cloud."
How could anyone use language to such a superficially simple but infinitely profound extent? Reading this poem, I am confused and bewildered, unsure of what day it is today.
In this year’s provincial exam, am I really to consider this person as a competitor?"
In his confusion, Lv Ji felt a pang of fear.
Finally, when he read "Pity the Farr," Lv Ji suddenly felt as if he had been punched hard in the nose.
"No idle fields across the lands, and yet farrs starve to death!"
After reading the poem, a surge of passion rose from his spine, rushing straight to his forehead.
How could such verses exist in the world? Directly striking the heart, so penetrating that it sent shivers, almost wishing his very soul could soar away.
Lv Ji could no longer restrain himself and hurriedly rushed out of his house with the newly acquired "Chronicles of the Strange and Mysterious" in hand.
Servants greeted him on the way, but he ignored them.
Family mbers called out to him, but he waved them off, only ntioning he had so affairs to attend to.
Upon reaching the neighboring courtyard gate, he knocked, and the doorman said, "Please wait a mont, young master. I’ll announce your arrival."
Lv Ji’s mind finally cald sowhat.
It was as if the burning iron in his chest was finally cooled in water.
Even so, Lv Ji still felt as if mist was swirling within his chest.
Even knowing that his sudden visit was quite rude, he couldn’t help it. Who could resist?
Oh dear!
When the doorman went inside to announce his arrival, Lv Ji felt as if each day was a year.
In a short ti, he paced back and forth in the small hall, nearly wearing out the pattern on the blue bricks beneath his feet.
Is Chen Xu available now? Would he think my sudden visit presumptuous? Would he agree to see ?
If he refuses, I... Ha, I still have a treasure to bring to him for us to admire together!
As Lv Ji was fidgeting anxiously, Chen Xu, at that mont, was in his room, feeling the growth of the vigorous Literary Qi, truly delighted in his heart.
After several days of imrsion, the earlier arrangents finally began to bear fruit.
Moreover, it wasn’t just about Literary Qi; the feedback from the Food Cauldron Celestial Book was equally gratifying.
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