Chapter Seventy-Five: Huang Da Delivers a Head at Midnight

  On the first day, the team's progress was relatively fast. Since there were no pedestrians, they either rode horse-drawn carriages or horses, and they covered over 200 miles in one day, arriving at Tongxing County (now Pucheng). They planned to rest for a day before crossing the Qixia Ridge. Tongxing County was much smaller than Jian'an's jurisdiction, covering only about half of its area (from Qixia Ridge in the north to Zhangyuan Mountain in the south). The dialect spoken within its jurisdiction belonged to a branch of Minbei dialect, specifically Minbei with Wu tone (something interesting happened in 1992 when Grey Sparrow went to Northeast China for school. When he and several fellow villagers were transferring in Shanghai, they had a few hours to spare, so they stored their luggage and went sightseeing empty-handed. As a result, passersby kept asking them for directions because the "we" in Pucheng dialect was pronounced as "A-lai", which is very close to the "A-la" in Shanghainese, leading people to mistakenly think they were from Shanghai. In mainstream Minbei dialect, however, "we" is pronounced as "A-ni" or "A-yeu-ni"). Although Tongxing was small, it had many famous scenic spots, including Mengpen Mountain where Jiang Zong wrote his last poem, Yuewang Mountain (now Xianlou Mountain in the county seat) where the king of Minyue built a temporary palace, and Fogai Mountain and Small Wudang which Xu Xiake visited twice. There were also Kuanshan mentioned in Liu Ji's "Ku Zhai Ji" and Yuliangshan, one of the top ten most famous mountains in China.

  Tang Xing County Magistrate Qin Yu's son had received the news early and arranged for Wang Kuang and his party to have food and lodging. Of course, with his identity, he didn't need to personally go out of the city gate to welcome them. Xu Guoxu was just a small yellow door, and Li Yexu was only an eighth-grade captain. But he also knew something about Wang Kuang, especially since his relatives, the Shen family (no disrespect is meant towards Mr. Zhen De Xiu and his descendants here, as I couldn't find any information on their family tree, so I had to make one up), had sent him over a dozen jars of chili sauce after receiving some, which was much more useful than sending other things in previous years. Additionally, some time ago, the messenger had brought official documents explaining the reasons for letting people open small food shops outside the city, and he still felt a bit grateful to Wang Kuang in his heart. Now that he saw Wang Erlang had caused a stir in the capital, although it was said that the emperor would forget about him after summoning him to Chang'an, at least for now, this Wang Erlang seemed to have some ability, so it was better to get close to him. Therefore, when receiving Wang Kuang, he sent someone to notify the Shen family. He keenly sensed from the large amount of chili sauce that Wang Kuang had given to the Shen family that this Wang Erlang had a good impression of the Shen family, and decided that it would be better for the Shen family to meet them instead. On the one hand, he wouldn't lose face, and on the other hand, it was acceptable in official circles - after all, as the county magistrate, he didn't have the power to let others not receive guests, right?

  That night, the host and guest were naturally delighted, because Wang Kuang's cooking had already established a leading position in Jian'an. The chef brought by the Shen family did not dare to be careless and made every effort to make their dishes enter the eyes of this Jian'an food leader, pointing out one or two things, which would be extremely enjoyable. Wang Kuang also pointed out a few sentences because he was originally from Tangxing and had moved the origin of tofu balls and kumquats to Jian'an, with a bit of compensatory meaning in his heart. He even taught them how to make steamed buns (a popular snack in Pucheng in later generations, which is similar to pan-fried buns, but requires steaming one side first, then adding water and a small amount of wine to cook until dry before pan-frying the other side). As a result, the Shen family did not keep the technique of steamed buns secret, but instead widely taught it. The Qiuyu child also imitated the method of the prefectural government office, allowing people who learned how to make steamed buns to open their own shops outside, thus creating a spectacle that spread throughout the Tang Dynasty in just a few years - this is a story for later.

  Xu Guoxu saw the influence of Wang Kuang, which had already expanded from Jian'an to Tangxing. Thinking about what he heard on the way, Fuli Inn became the number one inn in Jiangnan in just two or three years, and he looked at Wang Kuang with even more respect. Li Yexu originally thought that the rumors about Wang Kuang he heard in Chang'an were exaggerated, but now seeing even the chef of a local wealthy family being extremely respectful to Wang Kuang, he also began to not dare underestimate Wang Kuang.

  Xu Guoxu was also a man of some learning, and he knew quite a bit about the legends of Yuewang Mountain and Mengbi Mountain. On his way to Jian'an, he had been in a hurry, but now that he was on his way back, he didn't have to rush. Since he had come all this way, he wanted to pay his respects at these two places, so as not to disappoint himself as a man of letters and a traveler. As it happened, both places were located in the suburbs of Tangxing City, and one day was enough for him to visit them. So on the second day, he set off with great enthusiasm, bringing several members of the Feathered Forest Army and Lin Xuanmiao, carrying food boxes, to Mengbi Mountain for a leisurely outing.

  Li Yexu was uninterested in these hobbies, but upon hearing that iron ore had been discovered south of Tangxing, he personally led a team to investigate, as a military man, he preferred having more iron.

  Mengbi Mountain and Yuewang Mountain, Wang Kuang had been to both in his later years. Especially Yuewang Mountain, when Wang Kuang was in middle school, he would run up the mountain every morning to read books before coming down for breakfast and going to school. As for Mengbi Mountain, Wang Kuang wasn't very interested, nor were there any ancient relics. On the other hand, he really wanted to see Yuewang Platform, whether after thousands of years it was still just a pile of earth and a few broken stone tablets. So he took Wang Xiao and Sun Jiaying to Yuewang Platform by themselves.

  What surprised Wang Kuang was that at this time, there were quite a few people on Mount Yuewang, and on Mount Yuewang, there was also a small temple, which was still well preserved. Those who looked at the people on Mount Yuewang should be mostly students from the county school. Some sat in a corner with books shaking their heads and reciting, some looked up at the sky with a thoughtful expression, and some were three or two sitting together drinking wine and making couplets. These people also only took a few more glances at Wang Kuang's arrival, and then they all went back to their own business.

  They stood by a few stone tablets on the side of the Yuewang Xinggong for a while, and then Wang Kuang took them back. Coming here was just a memorial, there was no substantial significance.

  On the way back to the city, he ran into a few young students who were arguing incessantly. Wang Kuang happened to pass by and hear that the reason was that these students had agreed to come to Mount Yuewang, each bringing some food, but one student, perhaps in a hurry, brought raw eggs instead of boiled eggs, causing everyone's complaints, and they were discussing how to cook the eggs.

  They saw them arguing non-stop, one said to fry and eat, immediately being refuted by someone saying there's no pot to fry with. Another wanted to say to boil and eat, but halfway through the sentence, seeing the proposal to fry was refuted, thinking boiling also needs a pot, so swallowed back the second half of the sentence. There was also one who said to roast and eat, resulting in a burst of laughter, saying he didn't know the difference between grains, eggs can't be roasted, or they'll explode.

  "Who says eggs can't be roasted?" Wang Kuang stepped forward as he saw them arguing heatedly.

  "Oh? Eggs can be roasted? How to roast? Brother, you'd better show us how to roast them."

  When Wang saw that they had already started a fire, he asked them to contribute the grass paper they were carrying with them. He wrapped the eggs in three layers of grass paper inside and out, then soaked them in water and threw them into the fire. He also asked them to tend to the fire and not let it go out. After about an hour, the smell of burnt eggshells came from the fire. At this time, when they opened up the fire, the grass paper wrapped around the eggs had been burned away, and the eggshells were also yellowish-brown and cracked open in one or two large gaps, but did not explode. After cooling for a while, they peeled off the eggs, and the eggs mixed with the smell of burnt eggshells made the students' mouths water, and they didn't care about Wang's presence, busy eating them up. Wang also didn't stand on ceremony with them, took three eggs, one for each of the three people, and ate while walking away. Originally, these eggs could be roasted by applying mud to them, but the roasted eggs would inevitably crack open without exception. If you use mud to apply it, first, the smell of mud will enter the egg, which is not good to eat; second, the mud cannot make the eggshell crispy in a short time, and the key to eating roasted eggs is to make the eggshell slightly crispy, so that the aroma can penetrate into the egg. Using wet grass paper is just right, as it has a large water absorption capacity, and when the paper is layer by layer baked dry and burned, the eggs are also cooked just right.

  "Who is this? He can actually roast eggs." A student with an egg in his mouth, exhaling hot air while speaking unclearly.

  "Needless to say, these roasted eggs are indeed much more delicious than boiled ones. From now on, let's just roast them when we bring eggs."

  "Hey, I just heard that the young master of the Shen family said that yesterday a group of people came to Jian'an and were heading to Chang'an. Among them was an honored guest of the Shen family, who supposedly didn't eat anything. Do you think it might be him?"

  "It's possible, I've heard my cousin Jian An mention it a few times before. He said that there was a young master from a wealthy family in their area who was exceptionally skilled at cooking and had been summoned by the Emperor to Chang'an this time. Look how unfamiliar he looks, most of us know each other since we often come to Wangshan in Tangxing City, maybe it's him, who knows."

  It was from then on that the news spread like wildfire, and all the students who left Tongxing gradually learned to roast eggs. Some even brought a few raw eggs with them when they went out to study. Although raw eggs are easy to break, they have a longer shelf life. In winter, they can be stored for ten days or half a month without any problems. Even in summer, they won't spoil easily after being stored for ten days, unlike boiled eggs which would go bad in three to five days.

  That night, Wang Kuang did a few push-ups and then did some single-leg squats. After washing up, he was just about to go to sleep when he heard several knocks on the window. Wang Kuang was startled. It was late at night and very quiet, and they were inside the county government office, with the Imperial Guard outside. The security was quite strict, so how could someone be knocking on the window in the middle of the night?

  After some thought, the person who came should not have had bad intentions, otherwise they would not have knocked on the window to remind him. However, for caution's sake, he still hid his body behind a pillar by the window and asked, "Who?"

  "The benefactor is Huang Da." The newcomer lowered his voice, but Wang Kuang still made out the sound of Huang Da.

  Wang Kuang opened the window, and Huang Da jumped in with a package in his hand, accompanied by a strong smell of blood. Wang Kuang lit the lamp to take a closer look at Huang Da, only to see that he was covered in bloodstains, especially the large patch on his chest, which was frightening and had already dried and stuck to his clothes.

  "What's going on here?" Wang Kuang exclaimed in great surprise.

  "Don't worry, benefactor, I'm not hurt. The blood on my body is his." Huang Da put the package in his hand on the table and opened it, revealing a gruesome human head with eyes wide open, seemingly unwilling to accept its fate.