My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 9 Meeting is Destiny

The sun was very strong, and Zhu Zhanhe squatted in the shade of a tree, watching the ants under the tree all marching together to surround a big caterpillar.

Although the caterpillar has an absolute advantage in size, it finally dies with hatred in the face of the fearless ant colony, and is carried back into the cave by the ants.

Seeing the caterpillars disappear little by little into the ant hole, Zhu Zhanhe raised his head and exhaled, "Life is so boring!"

In the past few days, Zhu Zhanhe's life is very regular. In the morning, he goes to the Buddhist hall to listen to Yao Guangxiao's chanting, and in the afternoon, he is free and active. As long as he does not leave the temple, he can go anywhere.

At first Zhu Zhanhe wandered around, but soon lost the novelty, and today he was even bored to watch the ants fight.

"The prince has eaten!"

At this moment, Hui Hai, who was in charge of taking care of Zhu Zhanhe's diet and daily life, came in with a food box in his hand.

"What is there to eat? It's nothing more than green vegetables and tofu. It's really unappetizing!"

Zhu Zhanhe rolled his eyes at the other party, Yao Guangxiao obeyed the commandment, and he was also unlucky, every day except vegetables was tofu.

"Young master said that the five colors make people blind, and the five flavors make people feel refreshed. Although green vegetables and tofu are plain, they can calm people's hearts. Only in this way can one concentrate on practicing Buddhism."

Hui Hai and Zhu Zhanhe got to know each other well, and knew that although this prince was notorious, he was actually easy-going, so he talked more.

"I'm not a monk, what kind of Buddha do I cultivate?"

Zhu Zhanhe grumbled, but still sat down at the stone table under the tree.

Hui Hai took out his lunch, and it really was green vegetables, tofu and rice.

Seeing the clear soup with little water, Zhu Zhanhe had no appetite, picked up the chopsticks to pick and choose among the green vegetables and tofu, and didn't eat a few mouthfuls in the end.

It’s not that Zhu Zhanhe is squeamish, in fact, he was born as a poor child in his previous life. Not to mention meat, even eggs can only be eaten on his birthday. Every year during the Chinese New Year, what he looks forward to most is to eat dumplings filled with cabbage and pork.

It is precisely because he was short of meat when he was a child, so after Zhu Zhanhe worked, he never treated himself badly when it came to eating. Every meal must have meat, and the heavier the oil, the better.

Of course, this also caused his weight to soar for a while, the weight value was almost equal to the height value, and it took a lot of effort to lose it.

As the saying goes, it is easy to go from frugal to extravagant, but difficult to go from extravagant to frugal. For Zhu Zhanhe, who is used to eating meat, making him a vegetarian every day is even more uncomfortable than killing him.

"I'm full, I'll go outside for a walk!"

In the end, Zhu Zhanhe picked up a few mouthfuls of rice randomly, put down the bowl and chopsticks, stood up and left, since he has no appetite, don't force yourself.

Autumn is coming soon, but the sun is still very poisonous. Fortunately, the vegetation in Tianjie Temple is lush, Zhu Zhanhe only walks in the shade of trees, and the mountain wind blows, but it is very cool.

Tianjie Temple occupies a vast area, with several main halls in the front and some monks' houses in the back. Some pilgrims pay homage to the Buddha and sometimes stay in the temple for ten and a half months.

Zhu Zhanhe walked through a bamboo forest, and suddenly heard the sound of a stream coming from ahead.

He was about to go to the stream to wash his face, but suddenly stopped, raised his head and twitched his nose a few times: "It smells so good! This smell..."

Zhu Zhanhe's eyes lit up when he said this, he actually smelled the familiar smell of meat, all of his gluttons were attracted to him at once.

So he walked forward quickly looking for the taste, turned around a clump of bamboo, and a small stream suddenly appeared in front of him. In the gazebo by the stream, a big white fat man was sitting in front of a stone table full of vegetables.

Fatty Bai had just picked up the chopsticks and was about to eat, but someone suddenly barged in, which made him stunned for a moment. The two looked at each other, speechless for a while.

"This uncle, Buddhism is quiet, but you eat alone here, isn't it very good?"

Zhu Zhanhe stepped into the gazebo, and questioned with righteous words on his face.

Facing Zhu Zhanhe's questioning, Fatty Bai was obviously stunned for a moment, and the way he looked at him became a little strange.

But Fatty Bai quickly laughed and said: "What the little brother said is that meeting is fate, why don't you sit down and have a drink with me?"

"What's so funny about that?"

Zhu Zhanhe spoke politely, but his buttocks had already sat on the stone bench.

"I don't know what to call uncle?"

Zhu Zhanhe was also looking at each other when he was talking, and saw that the fat uncle looked about 40 to [-] years old, about the same age as his father Zhu Gaoxu, with too much flesh on his face, his facial features were squeezed together, and his eyes disappeared when he smiled. Looks amiable.

"My surname is Huang Mingtai, I don't know how to call my little brother?"

The fat uncle asked with a smile.

"Kid Wang Shi, since uncle's surname is Huang, I'll call you Uncle Huang!"

Zhu Zhanhe replied casually, he is the prince's son, so he took the first two characters and made a fake name.

"It turned out to be little brother Wang. The temple is poor, and I think the little brother has suffered a lot. Come, come, don't be polite!"

Huang Tai smiled and handed Zhu Zhanhe a pair of chopsticks, and greeted him.

Zhu Zhanhe was also very greedy, he pretended to be polite, and immediately picked up the chopsticks and stuffed a few pieces of mutton, biting down with a mouthful of meat, he almost flew up.

"Delicious, this lamb should be Saibei lamb!"

Zhu Zhanhe praised while eating.

"Eh? My little brother has also done some research on eating and eating, so he tasted it all at once and found out that it is a sheep from Saibei?"

Huang Tai looked at Zhu Zhanhe in surprise and asked.

"In fact, it's easy to distinguish. The mutton in the south has too much smell, and it's thinner and less fat. It's not as tender and juicy as the mutton in the north."

Zhu Zhanhe smiled again and said, anyway, he was also a foodie in his previous life, and with the advanced logistics in his later life, he has tasted almost all the delicacies from all over the world.

"That's true. The water and soil are different in different places, so the products are naturally different. For example, the sheep in the north are delicious, but the ducks in Jinling are unique. Try it, little brother!"

Huang Tai also became interested, and finally pointed to the roast duck on the table.

Zhu Zhanhe had been staring at the roast duck on the table for a long time. After all, this is Jinling's signature dish, and he hadn't had time to taste it since he traveled too shortly.

So Zhu Zhanhe picked up a piece of duck meat and put it in his mouth, after chewing it a few times, he nodded slightly and said, "The taste is not bad."

"It's okay? This is a duck roasted by the master chef in the tenth floor of the capital. Emperor Taizu was full of praise after tasting it, and often sent people to the tenth floor to buy it."

Huang Tai was a little dissatisfied with Zhu Zhanhe's evaluation, because this roast duck dish was also his favorite, and it was his daily must-eat dish.

"Uncle Huang, don't be angry, this roast duck tastes really good, the skin is crispy, fat but not greasy, but it has a shortcoming."

Zhu Zhanhe said calmly.

"What's the downside?"

Huang Tai was taken aback. He has eaten it for so many years, but he has never felt that there are any shortcomings in this dish?
"Don't you think the meat of this roast duck is too old? The highest state of roast duck is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, but the meat inside this roast duck is too dry and hard, thus losing its texture."

Zhu Zhanhe said very critically.

"The roast duck is roasted in the stove, it will inevitably make the duck dry, little brother, you are simply picking bones in the egg!"

Huang Tai shook his head, not agreeing with Zhu Zhanhe's opinion.

"That's not necessarily the case. There are ever-changing cooking methods. There is nothing impossible to do. I have a way to make this roast duck crispy on the outside and tender on the inside."

When two strangers eat for the first time, they must not eat dry food, and talking about food can obviously shorten the distance between the two of them the fastest.

"any solution?"

Huang Tai asked immediately, and one could guess from his body shape that the most difficult thing in his life to give up was appetite.

"It's very simple. When roasting the duck, fill the duck's stomach with water, sew it tightly and put it in the stove. It will be roasted on the outside and boiled on the inside. Naturally, it will be crispy on the outside and tender on the inside!"

Zhu Zhanhe laughed.

This is the practice of later generations of Peking duck, and Beijing roast duck is actually evolved from Jinling roast duck.

"Wonderful!"

Huang Tai slapped the table excitedly, he never thought of such a simple method.

Seeing that the other party likes to hear anecdotes about gourmet food so much, Zhu Zhanhe simply said more.

What Huang Tai listened to was his eyes shining, and finally seeing Zhu Zhanhe, he felt a little confidant. Food is his true love, but no one has ever been able to chat with him so speculatively like Zhu Zhanhe.

After a meal, the host and guest had a good time, and finally Zhu Zhanhe got up to say goodbye.

But at this time Huang Tai stopped Zhu Zhanhe and said: "Brother Wang, it's rare that we chatted so speculatively, why don't I hold a banquet here tomorrow, how about we continue to have a good time?"

"Okay, see you tomorrow then!"

Zhu Zhanhe agreed without hesitation, hummed a little song and left.

(End of this chapter)