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墨書 Inktalez
Finally, Xin Yi was allowed to go home only after finishing dinner at Shen Shanshan's house. Shen Dahai had already arranged a visit with Xin Shengtian for the next day over the phone. Poor Shen Liwei, however, had not woken up by dinner time and would probably never dare to drink with Xin Yi again when they met next.
Xin Yi drove towards the Farm and thought about buying some cooked food for Big Bull on the way back. He couldn't forget his brother while enjoying good food outside, so he took a turn and headed to a night market in Longchuan.
The night market in Longchuan wasn't particularly bustling, but it was still a city-level market. Although the Longchuan City government had designated a street for night markets as part of their facade project and regulatory measures, many vendors relied on the night market for their livelihood. The rent for stalls on that designated street was exorbitantly high, making it unfeasible for small vendors who barely made a living from the night market to spend money on such a location. As a result, most small vendors still set up stalls in high-traffic areas despite the risk of being caught by the aggressive city management. Xin Yi knew of a place where the night market snacks were authentic; if he was going to eat night market food, it had to be genuine. Otherwise, he might as well dine at a hotel serving bland, generic dishes. Thus, he headed towards that location.
Since this place's night market snacks were already famous, it attracted a large crowd. Xin Yi realized that it would be nearly impossible to drive into the area, so he parked his car by the roadside and walked towards the night market. The night market was truly a paradise for food lovers, with various snacks from all over the country gathered in one place. It would be foolish to seek out renowned chefs in five-star hotels; true culinary talents often thrived in such grassroots settings. While they might not cook as many different dishes as hotel chefs, their signature snacks were unique and could not be replicated by any hotel chef. Many of these recipes were honed through research or passed down through generations. Therefore, if one did not explore the night market when visiting a place, they could never truly experience local delicacies.
The entire street was filled with various enticing aromas. Although Xin Yi had eaten well at Shen Shanshan's house earlier, he couldn't help but feel hungry again. The crowd consisted mostly of young men and women; there were few solitary figures like Xin Yi wandering through the night market. As he walked and looked around, he thought about what Big Bull would want to eat—primarily something substantial, with taste being secondary. If he bought some grilled squid or lamb skewers to take home, it probably wouldn't even be enough to satisfy Big Bull.
As Xin Yi strolled along, a peculiar aroma suddenly caught his attention. It seemed to be the smell of braised beef, but this scent was different from other braised beef aromas; it not only carried the unique meat fragrance but also blended with several unknown scents. Xin Yi wasn't an expert in food, so he couldn't identify what those scents were, but just from the aroma alone, it was enough to whet his appetite. Following the scent, he looked up and saw a small stall with only two small tables in front of it—strangely enough, there were no customers at either table.
A small glass cabinet sat atop a tricycle, behind which sat a young man dressed in a neat sports shirt. Although it wasn't branded clothing, it looked clean and fresh, contrasting sharply with the greasy and noisy atmosphere of the night market. This piqued Xin Yi's curiosity about the young man. At that moment, the young man was sitting upright on his stool, engrossed in reading a book. Xin Yi walked straight over to him; perhaps because he was so focused on his reading, the young man didn't notice Xin Yi approaching. Under the light, Xin Yi saw that the young man was actually reading "The Art of War"! It was quite unusual for someone running a stall at a night market not to consult a recipe but instead study "The Art of War." Was this young man really planning to promote Confucius's theory of "governing a great nation is like cooking small fish"?
Inside the glass cabinet was only one item: braised beef. However, this braised beef looked different from others—each piece was neatly cut and displayed an appealing pink color with clear marbling; it appeared neither greasy nor heavy but rather fresh and clean. Just by looking at it, one could tell this was top-quality braised beef. Good food is all about three elements: color, aroma, and taste. The aroma had already drawn him in; now seeing its color was also pleasing to the eye. The only thing left was to taste it since he hadn't yet done so. Therefore, Xin Yi cleared his throat and asked, "Ahem, little brother, how much is your braised beef?"
"This is Lantern Beef—eighty per pound," replied the young man without looking up.
"This Lantern Beef is quite expensive," said Xin Yi.
"Because it's delicious," replied the young man flatly without raising his head as if he had no interest in making sales or showing enthusiasm like typical vendors.
"Since it's delicious, why don't you have any customers? Look at how busy other stalls are."
"They don't understand." The young man seemed to enjoy speaking in just two words each time, breaking a complete sentence into fragments. Did he think he was Ximen Chui Xue or something? Trying to act cool? Perhaps this was the main reason he had no business, Xin Yi thought.
"Then if they don't understand, whose business are you doing?" Xin Yi felt he was already cool enough, but unexpectedly encountered someone even cooler than himself—a true master.
"Let it be," the young man replied again, this time even more exaggeratedly, using an enigmatic Buddhist saying.
Uh... Xin Yi was left speechless. As the saying goes, there are always people beyond people and heavens beyond heavens; this guy probably belonged to the same category as Zhuge Wulong. He must have come to this night market to live in seclusion. Isn't it said that Little Hidden hides in the wild while great masters hide in the city? This must be a great master, but he didn't look like one. The young man was only around twenty-one or twenty-two years old. Could he be more impressive than Zhuge Kongming? Zhuge Kongming was twenty-seven when he pretended to hide for a bit, and that was still Little Hidden. This young man was already acting like a great master at such a young age—unbelievable! Talent emerges from generation to generation; the waves of the Yangtze River push the waves ahead!
"Then give me five pounds of your Lantern Beef," Xin Yi said. Five pounds should be enough for Big Bull.
Only then did the young man put down his copy of The Art of War, stand up, and Xin Yi realized that this young man was quite handsome as well. He had a tall figure similar to Xin Yi, with sharp eyebrows and bright eyes that revealed an unmistakable coldness. His gaze sparkled with confidence and determination—an expression that shouldn't belong to a small vendor at a night market. At that moment, Xin Yi began to doubt the young man's identity.
The young man weighed the beef and pulled out a knife from beneath the counter. Upon seeing the knife, Xin Yi became even more convinced of his suspicions. This was no ordinary kitchen knife; it was not only longer than a typical knife but also heavy in build. Yet its blade was incredibly sharp, glinting with a cold light. With Xin Yi's knowledge, he recognized that this knife was forged from rare black iron, which was said to easily cut through steel plates of equal thickness. Such weapons were often hard to come by; who would have thought this young man used it to cut beef? He wondered how those obsessed with cold weapons would react if they knew about this.
The young man's Swordsmanship was astonishingly quick. The knife danced in his hand as slices of beef appeared uniformly beneath it. Strangely, those thin slices did not stick to his blade at all; they seemed to magically stack neatly together. If one didn't look closely, they might not realize that these pieces of beef had been sliced at all—they would think it was still one whole piece.
Xin Yi picked up a slice of beef and held it up; through the thin pink meat, he could see the light on the other side. Wow! This was simply shocking! This must be the origin of the name Lantern Beef. Xin Yi believed he could never achieve such Swordsmanship. Although he could cut any part of a target in a short amount of time, he could never slice such uniformly thin pieces of beef at such speed like this young man.
After putting the slice of beef into his mouth, Xin Yi found it tasted exceptional. The moment it entered his mouth, it filled him with lingering fragrance; the thin slice stimulated every taste bud, causing them to bloom like flower buds nourished by rain and dew, greedily savoring this wonderful sensation until the slice slid down his throat, leaving his taste buds still longing for more...
With a gulp, Xin Yi swallowed and reached out for another slice on the cutting board when suddenly a rough voice shouted, "The city management is coming! Run!"
At that shout, the bustling night market instantly turned chaotic as if invaders had entered Xiao Li village. Vendors swiftly packed up their belongings with lightning speed—tables, chairs, pots, bowls, napkins, disposable chopsticks, food containers, vegetables, beer... Everything flew onto their respective vehicles like meteors streaking across the night sky. The young man who had been slicing beef also stopped his flying knife and hurriedly said, "Next time, come again!" After saying that, he quickly began packing up his things as well.
Three Minutes, the entire process will not exceed Three Minutes. All the street vendors have vanished without a trace. If it weren't for the mess on the ground as evidence, no one would believe that just Three Minutes ago, this place was a bustling night market filled with voices. Only those still holding delicious snacks on the street remain in a daze, thinking, "Oh my! Did Mars collide with Earth?!"
At this moment, a group of fierce-looking city management officers in Uniform rushed over. After confirming that all the street vendors had fled, a few of them spat angrily on the ground and cursed, "You ran away fast!"
At this time, everyone on the street shared one wish; they were silently shouting in their hearts: "City management! Damn you!"
Xin Yi was still gazing in the direction where the young man had disappeared. As the young man pedaled his tricycle away, he heard him say, "My name is Summer Wind. Next time, please!"
PS: The character Summer Wind is specially tailored for reader Cricket, whose real profession is a chef. The desired character traits are: handsome, cool, able to accompany Pig's Feet *** Jiang Shan, and also have a pure beauty by his side. I hope Cricket will like this character of Summer Wind.
Additionally: Readers can also join the Azure Blue reader group; the group number is mentioned in the comments. You can customize character roles for yourself or your ideal image. Azure will do its best to meet everyone's requests.
Sorry, I can only update once today as I have to do some accompanying work this afternoon.
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