The Female Supporting Role Shows Out

Chapter 24: Lady Chef (23)

The Marquis of Weiyuan was nearly forty years old, but due to the exceptional martial arts skill and good maintenance of his body, he had looked only in his early thirties. He was thin and charismatic and had the charm of a literati instead of the crudeness of a warrior.

However, when he raised his eyebrows and gazed with a pair of cold eyes, he let out a powerful aura that gave people goosebumps and nobody dared to defy him. Qin Erniang was shaking in horror. She hurriedly pulled Lin Dan's sleeves and whispered, "Lady boss, you better not go against him! He is the Marquis of Weiyuan, he kills people without batting an eye!"

Lin Dan knew who he was, but she raised her chin slightly to look at him while keeping the faint smile on her face.

Tang Jiu stepped forward and stood in between the two of them. He cupped his hands and said to the Marquis of Weiyuan, "Sir, its true that there is no Thousand-Days Wine here."

"Young Marquis Tang, did you just come back from the north?" Marquis Wei glanced at him casually with a hint of firmness hidden in his gentle voice. "Hu Feng told me that shes the one who made the wine. I can wait if the wine is unavailable for now, but she said she would not sell it to me even if she has it. Whats this supposed to mean?"

"Young Marquis Tang?" Lin Dan ignored Marquis Weiyuans question and stepped forward to examine Tang Jius face carefully. As realization dawned, she said, "Are you the Young Marquis?" His surname was Tang and he named himself Jiu which meant he was the ninth child. She should have realized that he was Tang Cheng, the youngest son of Marquis Yongding. She wondered what he had gone through over the years to transform from a pretty and youthful teen to a burly and muscular man. Although he still had the handsome features, he was full of masculinity. The scar on his brow had made him seem brutish and the tight-fitting clothes were unable to cover his strong muscles at all. He was entirely different from the pretty and carefree boy she knew back then.

Even if the owner of this body who was deeply in love with him would not recognize him, not to mention Lin Dan who was usually unemotional.

Tang Jiu stiffened and quickly explained, "Listen, I had planned to tell you"

Before he could finish his words, Lin Dan chuckled. She did not laugh because she was trying to put on a front or mock herself from being deceived. It was genuine laughter produced from the happiness of meeting an old friend. She said, "Its been a long time, young marquis. I hope youve been doing well. How is the old marquis doing? Has he been in good health?"

Tang Jiu was dumbfounded for a moment before making his reply, "We are both well and fine." He should have heaved a sigh of relief since Lin Dan did not seem angry at all, but why was he filled with disappointment?

"Im not here to listen to both of you reminiscing about the past. Manager Lin, are you going to sell me the Thousand-Days Wine or not?" Marquis Weiyuan sounded cold and no longer gentle. Several of his guards pressed their hands on the sword handle as if a fight would break out in the next instant.

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The group of people blocked the entranceway and the diners in the shop were so afraid that they were unsure if they should leave or stay.

Lin Dan remained calm and composed. She said, "Please do not get upset, Marquis. Have you ever heard of Peng Ya?"

In Master Shi, it was said that the Chixian Prefecture is the ruins of Kunlun, where Peng Ya was grown. If someone consumes the red plants that are grown on Peng Ya, they could get drunk for three years. The marquis had a look of surprise and thought this was merely a legend.

"As I heard that those who drank the Thousand-Days Wine got drunk for three years, I wondered what was the ingredient that produced such a strong wine? I followed the clue and recovered the recipe for making this wine after finding Peng Ya. But Sir, do you know that Peng Ya is only produced once a year? It bears a hundred fruits each time they are produced, and a thousand fruits are needed to brew one jar of wine. It took me three years to produce one jar of wine, but it has been taken away by the bandits and it would be impossible for me to produce one now. That was one of the reasons why I cant sell the wine to you. Secondly, I know that you have returned to the capital this time to treat your illness, but do you know what disease you are suffering from? Your lips are pale, your eyes are bloodshot, and you are easily irritable. These are signs of liver damage and wine is like poison for our internal organs. It is extremely heavy and can cause serious damage to the liver. If I were to sell you a jar of strong liquor, may I know who will be responsible if your condition worsens?"[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ ]

Lin Dan said slowly, "For the sake of your health, Im not selling this wine to you. I hope you understand, Sir."

She made it sound like its my fault! The marquis thought to himself. He touched his ring on the finger and his cold expression had slowly softened. The head guard came forward hurriedly and whispered, "Marquis, the imperial physician insists that you should stop drinking so much. Shall we listen to his advice and not buy this thousand-day wine? It is too damaging for your health."

The hostile guards who acted as if they were ready to smash the shop if they did not come to an agreement had all calmed down. They felt it was right not to sell the wine, as they were hoping that the marquis could recover soon and return to the Southeast region as soon as possible.

"Fine." The Marquis of Weiyuan knew that his subordinates were doing it for his own good but was still unhappy to return empty-handed. He sneered, "But I want to have a meal here. Your waiter said that you can cook any dishes and satisfy your customers? If so, I will order several dishes made with wine. Can you do it? If you cant satisfy me, Ill destroy this shop."

As he spoke, the suave Marquis of Weiyuan finally let out an air of dominance and aggressiveness of a warrior.

Whether he is satisfied or not is totally subjective! Tang Jiu thought. He frowned and wanted to argue with him. Everyone else was fearful of the marquis but not him.

Lin Dan pulled him back and nodded, "Sure, I can make it."

"Young lady, you dont have much experience yet youre confident enough to agree even before listening to what Im going to order?" The marquis continued, "You better not think that just pouring some cooking wine into the dish counts as dishes made with wine! What I meant by making dishes only using wine was filling my mouth with liquor without damaging my liver. Are you able to do that?"

As soon as he made his request known, the diners were all causing an uproar. Wine had always been used as a type of seasoning in cooking and nobody had heard of using wine as a food ingredient. Wine is almost equivalent to water, which was at most warmed in a pot before keeping in a jar. None of them had ever heard of any chef who could create a dish using wine as the ingredient. They could imagine the biggest challenge to be adding the various flavors into the wine and make it satisfying at the same time.

It was obvious that the marquis intended to destroy the shop! The diners thought.

Tang Jiu glared at him and said, "Marquis, youre making things difficult for her. Why dont you go home, take some medicine, and nurse your health if you have nothing better to do?"

"Little rascal, you better not poke your nose into my business." Marquis Weiyuan sneered again.

Lin Dan tied her headscarf calmly and said, "Use wine to create dishes? Sure, please give me a moment, Sir." Then, she instructed the nervous and fidgety Xiao-zhu to take out a well-kept jar.

Upon seeing the well-sealed jar, the marquis smiled triumphantly, "You said there is no wine, but didnt you just take one out? Let me tell you this, if this jar of wine is not as good as the Thousand-Days Wine, I am still going to destroy your shop. It will be useless to beg for mercy." He thought Lin Dan was conceding defeat by bringing out a jar of wine as she was unable to fulfill his request.

However, Lin Dan smiled while scooping something out carefully from the newly opened jar with a colander. Everyone looked intently and had a look of surprise. They saw something that was half an arm long, it was in long strips and had a crystal-like appearance. It was in emerald green, similar to jade, but was soft and tender when placed on the cutting board. It looked like a kind of food with its great appearance and strong aroma. As soon as it was taken out, the smell was so overwhelming that it had already masked the smell of the braised meat.

Even for Marquis Weiyuan, who had drunk countless wines, he was unable to tell the origin of the ingredient Lin Dan had taken out. He could not help but ask, "What is that?" He swallowed his saliva without others noticing and took another whiff. Darn it, this smells great and comparable to the Thousand-Day Wine! He thought.

"I learned the brewing method of this wine in Yanglin County. It is fermented with dozens of medicinal ingredients including codonopsis, jujube, tangerine peel, and cloves. This wine is rich and mellow and is nourishing for the body. One would not get drunk even from drinking hundreds of jars of this wine undiluted. It has the opposite effect from the Thousand-Days Wine. This wine is called the Fatty Yanglin Wine. Why fat? Because the wine also contains an ingredient the fatty meat."

Everyone who was present could not help but be making a lot of commotion, because nobody had heard of brewing wine using fatty meat. However, they had come to believe it when they saw the emerald object placed on the cutting board.

Marquis Weiyuan's eyes widened. His unhappiness was now replaced with curiosity. As he was a wine lover, he enjoyed listening to wine-making stories. Lin Dans knowledge of making all sorts of strange wines had made him even more interested in the topic. He suddenly realized that he had misunderstood this young lady. She was confident not because she was inexperienced but because she had seen a lot and knew how to handle the situation.

Lin Dan cut the crystal clear and green meat into thin slices and said, "This jar of wine has only been sealed for three months and is not fully ready yet, but the meat has already turned crystal clear like an ice jade after absorbing the wine. This is nothing fancy. In fact, there also has a similar wine-making method in the Baiyue region called Ice Jade Brew, which was where it got its name.

She put the cut meat into a bowl and poured two spoons of marinade before tossing it slightly using her hands. Next, she took out the glutinous rice that had not been fermented but had been soaked for a day and crushed it before mixing it with soy sauce, pepper, five-spice powder, and other seasonings.

When everything was ready, she poured the marinated Ice Jade slices into the glutinous rice and stirred evenly before steaming it for forty-five minutes. When it was done, she calmly sprinkled some ginger and chopped green onion and a dish was ready. Then, she instructed Xiao-zhu to take out her jar of pickled vegetables and took out some bean sprouts. She scattered each bean sprout on a small dish and added a drop of sesame oil for decoration.

"I hope you enjoy it, sir." Lin Dan gently put the food on the table. There were two thuds as she placed the plate on the table and the marquis finally snapped out of his thoughts. He stared at Lin Dan intently with a look of surprise on his face.

Lin Dan said politely, "The name of this dish is Wine Steamed Pork. Although it is made with wine, it does not cause damage to the liver. On the contrary, it can nourish your spleen, lungs, and heart, and is very healthy food. This is Rice Wine Bean Sprouts. It can also nourish your liver and spleen, improve your sleep, and eliminate alcohol from your system. Please give it a try, if it does not satisfy you, you may destroy this shop for all you want. Theres nothing else I will say to stop you."

Marquis Weiyuan, who had no appetite for a long time because of his liver damage, had picked up the chopsticks unconsciously.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the "Novel Multiverse dot com" website @ ]