Chapter 1808: Chapter 1835: Pork Intestines
Early the next morning.
Li Xiaobai was woken up by the sound of gongs and drums.
The festival had begun, and every household carried large and small pots, forming a long line heading toward the temple.
Li Xiaobai pushed open the door and followed the crowd from the back.
"Master Xiaobai is here too, why aren’t the other two masters here?"
Fang Hua came over, carrying an absurdly large pot on her back, almost covering her entire body.
"They stayed in bed, Master Changsheng asked me to participate in today’s sacrificial feast yesterday."
Li Xiaobai said with a smile.
"Even a master has to cook, where’s your pot?"
Fang Hua curiously sized up Li Xiaobai, thinking he didn’t look like someone who came to cook.
"I’m going to take first place this year, so I won’t lend you my pot."
"I have one."
Li Xiaobai flipped his wrist and took out a pot-shaped Magic Treasure, already forgotten from which genius he had snatched it, but it was flat, had a handle, and could barely be used.
"This pot, doesn’t seem like the master usually cooks, right?"
Fang Hua teased, it looked like he was here to experience life.
"It’s okay, I heard this meal is for the divine?"
Li Xiaobai shifted the topic to the Law of Order.
"Yes, the most delicious dishes of the year are offered to the divine."
"Those who win divine favor will be blessed."
Fang Hua was full of longing.
"Have you ever seen the divine? How does the divine eat?"
Li Xiaobai continued to ask.
"The divine will eat the dishes a little at a time, though unseen, the dishes indeed disappear out of thin air."
"The entire village knows it; Master Xiaobai will see it today too."
Fang Hua said.
Li Xiaobai curiously asked: "What are the criteria for deliciousness? Are there any rules during the cooking process?"
Fang Hua thought for a moment and said: "As long as the village chief and the masters find it delicious, there are no rules for cooking, just follow the process. Master, don’t worry, as long as you cook earnestly, you’ll get divine recognition."
"I see."
Li Xiaobai pondered in his heart, there must be some mystery in this cooking, making a mistake would cause him to be taken away by the Law of Order.
As he was thinking, the procession arrived at the entrance of the temple.
Everyone uniformly stepped over the threshold with their left foot; from this alone, he could tell that Fang Hua wasn’t oblivious to the rules, but simply accustomed to them, thus neglecting to tell him.
The courtyard inside the temple was vast, with large stones dividing it into two areas, and the procession naturally split into two teams, each setting up stoves at their chosen spots.
Li Xiaobai chose the farthest position on the right, the closest to the door, so he could escape immediately if anything went wrong.
"Master, I know you don’t have a stove, use mine."
The village chief, Shangguan Dong, pushed a small cart with all kinds of bowls and utensils upon it.
"The time is two hours, exceeding this limit is a failure."
Shangguan Dong said sinisterly.
Li Xiaobai squinted his eyes and asked: "Are there any rules for the dish?"
"The way to cook pork intestines is to rub them with rice vinegar and flour, clean them, and then clear out the inner waste, simmer them for half an hour on a low flame."
"The order cannot be wrong."
Shangguan Dong said without rhyme or reason.
Li Xiaobai pursued further: "Anything else?"
"To judge the quality of a dish, one must eat it to critique it, that’s the rule."
Shangguan Dong tossed down the pots and bowls and pushed the cart away.
Li Xiaobai knew the last two sentences were information left to him by the old village chief, it seemed the seed he had planted had worked.
"Amitabha, fellow villagers, gathered together, my heart is most excited at this monthly occasion, offering to the divine, praying for the people’s blessings, is quite blissful."
"Today’s sacrificial meal is like before, everyone will display their Divine Skills, choosing the best dish as an offering to the divine."
"However, today is slightly different from the past; recently, Master Li Xiaobai, who visited the village, also wanted to join in this rare festival. But Master Li Xiaobai is new, surely he hasn’t prepared ingredients yet."
"The village chief just prepared tools for you, and I have prepared ingredients for you as well. This is the essence part within a beast or bird, cooked properly, the taste is excellent, and I wish the master great success."
Monk Changsheng took out a long, limp, white thing.
He approached Li Xiaobai and placed it into the pot amid envious glances from the crowd.
"Master, I look forward to your performance."
Monk Changsheng smiled, his eyes filled with mockery.
Since he wanted Li Xiaobai to fail, of course, he chose the most difficult ingredient to cook. These pork intestines are extremely difficult to prepare, even the best chefs could slip up and fail in eliminating its gaminess.
As long as this fellow made any mistakes during the cooking process, the Power of Laws would annihilate him.
Even if these pork intestines were miraculously cooked successfully, they surely wouldn’t taste good, no matter the result, he wouldn’t lose out.
"Amitabha, thank you master, for your trouble."
Li Xiaobai looked at the long thing in the pot before him, his mouth twitching, no wonder the village chief had just recited the steps for making pork intestines; this Monk Changsheng was indeed sinister.
He not only gave him such a difficult ingredient to cook, but he also didn’t tell him what it was.
"Good luck, I believe in you."
Monk Changsheng turned away smiling, raised a small hammer, and struck a drum and gong.
At that moment, everyone focused entirely on the preparation of gourmet dishes, not just to create ingredients favored by the divine but, more importantly, to ensure no mistake was made during cooking.
The consequences of a mistake could be very dire.
"Let me organize my thoughts, Order is a balance, maintaing almost blood-soaked fairness. If these instruments were tampered with, then Monk Changsheng broke the rules. And since the village chief didn’t mention the instruments earlier, it means these pots and bowls are fine."
"Like that banquet, Monk Changsheng can indefinitely increase the difficulty for me to make a mistake, but won’t take action to force me into error, otherwise the Law of Order would also determine he broke the rules."
"For this reason, he selected the hardest pork intestines for me under normal circumstances."
Li Xiaobai quickly sorted out his thoughts, neither the ingredients nor the equipment had any issues.
It’s like a montage technique, all information provided is true, but if he followed them all, he would undoubtedly fail.
The reason is simple, he simply didn’t know how to cook, much less how to make food!
From the village chief’s words, it’s not hard to see that the hardest part was cleaning the pork intestines to eliminate its stench.
Monk Changsheng assumed he would make a mistake in the cleaning process, failing to clear all the excrement and urine inside the intestines.
But he deliberately intended to go against it.
The cooking process strictly followed the village chief’s instructions, as for the final flavor, it was not something he needed to worry about.
As long as he didn’t err in the process and didn’t become careless leading to a deviation in the final taste, it wasn’t considered wrong.
"What a pity, you just chose pork intestines for me."
"This will become your grave, I may not know the rules of cooking, but I’m very familiar with the rules of judgment!"