Chapter 1

Kaifeng City, Dayouwei Restaurant of the Song Dynasty.

"Hey there, are you two looking for a meal? Then hurry into our 'Dayouwei Restaurant'! We have authentic Song Dynasty recipes here." Without further ado, two student-like tourists were ushered into the restaurant by the greeter. As soon as they entered, another waiter greeted them enthusiastically, "This way, please!"

They were seated, and tea was served, giving the restaurant a very good impression. So the two tourists picked up the menus and began to browse. After a while, indecision struck, and one of the tourists said to the waiter, "How about you recommend a couple of your signature dishes?"

"Alright. Can you two handle spicy food? Yes? That's great. The first famous dish of the Song Dynasty has to be 'Bo Xia Gong'. This was once imperial cuisine of the Song Dynasty..."

"I know that," one of the tourists interjected. "Bo Xia Gong is rabbit hotpot. It's said that during the Song-Jin wars, Kaifeng was short on supplies, so Emperor Zhao Gou of the Song Dynasty often went out himself to shoot rabbits for extra meals, and he invented all sorts of ways to eat rabbit meat. Braised, steamed, whatever. Bo Xia Gong is made by slicing the rabbit meat extremely thin and then blanching it in the broth, said to be 'bright and tender, like the glow of dawn'..."

"Correct. It's precisely because it resembles the dawn light when blanched that it's called Bo Xia Gong. Would you two like to try it? Our garlic dipping sauce is absolutely unique."

"Okay, we'll have a rabbit hotpot."

"Alright," the waiter tapped a few times on the tablet in his hand. "For the next dish, I recommend 'Yan Huan Chao' (Swallows Returning to the Nest). It's said that this dish was also invented by Emperor Zhao Gou of the Song Dynasty. The Song-Jin War was truly a tragedy. People were displaced, villages were desolate, and only crows flew about. So this emperor, he led the imperial guards to shoot crows everywhere.

First, to supplement the army's meat supply, and second, to eliminate pests."

"Eliminate pests?"

"Yes. Crows are also a scourge; they specialize in eating carrion and spreading disease everywhere. So shooting and eating crows was protecting the environment and improving sanitation standards."

"Is that even possible?" The two tourists exchanged a look.

"Possible? Of course, it is! That Emperor Zhao Gou even made 'Crow Zhajiang Noodles' specifically to entertain foreign envoys. But now, we've also improved the recipe a bit, replacing the crow with chicken, they're both birds, after all. You see, the chicken on top of the noodles, doesn't it look like birds nesting? So this dish is called Yan Huan Chao. Noodles with hotpot, the taste is amazing. How about I add these noodles to your hotpot?"

"Um, okay."

"Another famous dish to pair with the hotpot at our restaurant is called 'Yang Mei Tu Qi' (Raising Eyebrows and Exhaling)."

"Speaking of which, this dish is also related to a famous figure from the Song-Jin War. The prime minister at the time, Zhao Ding..."

"Prime minister? Aren't they called chief ministers?"

"Oh, it's almost the same, just the highest official below the emperor. Before he became successful, he often went to a small stall by the Bian River to eat goat head bones. Why? Because he was poor. Goat head bones and skin were the cheapest things. Later, when he became a high official, he still went to the stall by the Bian River to eat goat meat, but he no longer ate those scraps; instead, he ate proper goat ribs. So, later on, the goat meat stall stewed goat ribs and goat head skin together and called it 'Yang Mei Tu Qi', meaning to get promoted and make a fortune. I think you two have extraordinary bearing, why not try a Yang Mei Tu Qi and get a good omen? If you don't want stewed goat meat, I can get you some sliced goat meat to eat with the hotpot. That's it then." As the waiter spoke, he tapped and swiped on the tablet.

"Um?" One of the tourists seemed to want to say something, but the other pulled him and whispered, "Forget it, let's just try it."

"Oh, right," the waiter remembered something. "Our restaurant also has a classic dish called 'Jin Wu Dao Shao'."

"What?" The two somewhat cultured tourists were simultaneously shocked.

"It's the large flag used when the emperor travels. This dish is our restaurant's signature dish; the chef stacks layers of extremely thin egg pancakes on top of each other. Between each layer, he adds sesame oil, green onions, and high-quality yak beef. This is real shredded yak beef, all-natural, free-range cattle from the highlands, high nutrition and high quality..."

Listening to the waiter's introduction, the two tourists were dumbfounded. "Isn't that just a combination of egg pancake and layered pancake? And it's called Jin Wu Dao Shao?"

"You can call it a layered egg pancake if you want, but the ingredients we use are so high-end, high-end ingredients deserve a high-end name. We use real yak beef in our pancake! You have to know that Jin Wu Dao Shao, as our restaurant's signature dish, usually costs 999 per plate, but today our restaurant is having a promotion, the four famous dishes, Bo Xia Gong, Yan Gui Chao, Yang Mei Tu Qi, Jin Wu Dao Shao, a table of it is only 888,

You can't go wrong, you won't lose out!"

Startled by the waiter's suddenly raised tone, the two tourists said awkwardly, "Let us discuss it..."

"What's there to discuss? How about this, if you order this table of four famous dishes today, I'll take charge and give you our restaurant's most popular dessert, 'Xue Hua Yin' (Snowflake Silver). Do you know Snowflake Silver? That's from my ancestors, oh, I forgot to say, my dad opened this restaurant. My family name is Qu..."

"Could it be Qu Duan, the one who was both civil and martial, and considered his peers as dirt?" One of the tourists interrupted the waiter.

"Exactly. See, the calligraphy and paintings hanging in the restaurant were all personally written by my ancestor. How about that? Shocking, right?" The waiter said smugly. "This Snowflake Silver comes from Emperor Zhao Gou of the Song Dynasty being dedicated to his duty, and many ministers repeatedly advised him to spend more money on himself. Zhao Gou asked in return, 'What is the benefit of silver? Can it be eaten?' Hearing this, my ancestor, Commissioner Qu, remembered reading in a book that eating silver could get rid of worms, so he mentioned it to Physician Pan one time. Physician Pan was a highly skilled talent, and he went back and searched medical books, confirming that a small amount of silver could be eaten, and with the ice cream that Consort Pan had made, he sprinkled a very small amount of silver flakes on the white ice cream surface, which occasionally reflected light, it was truly glittering silver.

Later, after Zhao Gou tasted it, he directly named it 'Snowflake Silver' and it has been passed down to this day..."

"What's so great about mentioning this kind of flattery? To be honest, my ancestors weren't bad either..." one of the tourists muttered.

"Huh? Who are your ancestors?" This waiter had good hearing.

"My ancestor was Prime Minister Zhang..."

"Zhang Jun?" The quick-tongued waiter interjected.

"No, Zhang Bangchang..." The tourist surnamed Zhang said a little embarrassedly.

"Oh, him. And you? What's your honorable surname?" The waiter asked the other tourist.

"My ancestor was Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations) Lin Qi."

"Oh, a descendant of Lin Jingmo."

"No, another Lin Qi." The voice of the tourist surnamed Lin also became smaller.

"Alright, no matter what, you two are both from famous families. Since everyone has a family tradition, then I recommend you order a bottle of Lan Qiao Feng Yue (Blue Bridge Wind and Moon), that's more befitting of your status."

"No, no," the two tourists, Zhang and Lin, were shocked when they heard this, and repeatedly said no, "We can't handle alcohol, don't waste it."

"Ah? No?" The waiter immediately lowered his head and tapped a few times on the tablet. "Then no Lan Qiao Feng Yue, just the four-dish set meal plus dessert, I'll submit it for you now." Ignoring what the two wanted to say, he directly placed the order.

An hour later, Zhang and Lin came out of the restaurant, looked at each other, and sighed again, "Forget it, shall we go to a Song Sao Fish Broth chain restaurant and order some boiled fish?"