Chapter 1091: Long-lost Marry Yang and Ma Xiaofei

Dense bubbles bubbled up from the bottom of the pot, the chili in the red soup became more and more spicy, and the aroma mixed with white mist floated up.

Lin Lang smiled and handed the colander to Helan Minyue: "Then I'll trouble you, my beloved concubine, to blanch some duck intestines for me. Remember to boil them well, don't overcook them."

Helan Minyue pinched the handle of the colander with her slender fingers, dipped the duck intestines into the red soup and shook it gently.

In the hot mist, the loose hair on her temples was wet with moisture, and shone softly in the light, making her so beautiful and charming.

"Your Majesty, it's cooked!"

Lin Lang picked up the duck intestines that Helan Minyue had blanched. The crispy and tender texture mixed with the spicy taste exploded on his tongue, and he couldn't help but nod in admiration.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Lang put a lot of ingredients into the simmered hot pot.

Helan Minyue pointed at the fresh duck blood and asked, "Your Majesty, is this deer blood congealed soup?"

"This is fresh duck blood. In our Shanghai, national deer are protected animals." Lin Lang smiled and used a colander to scoop a piece of cooked duck blood for Helan Minyue and put it into her dipping bowl.

After tasting it, Helan Minyue exclaimed, "It's delicious. The taste of this fresh duck blood is even richer than that of the deer blood soup."

"If you like it, eat more. My dear, how about trying some beef tripe?"

Helan Minyue's eyes widened after hearing this, and she said in astonishment, "Your Majesty, are taverns in Shanghai allowed to openly sell tripe?"

Lin Feihuai explained: "Sure, what's the matter?"

Helan Minyue actually replied: "According to the Tang Law Commentary, 'Anyone who intentionally kills an official or private cattle shall be sentenced to one and a half years in prison', and 'Anyone who kills a horse or cattle on his own shall be sentenced to one year in prison'."

Lin Lang smiled and said, "Cows were an important labor force in the Tang Dynasty, so intentionally killing official or private oxen was punishable. However, in Shanghai, farmland labor is mechanized, and cows are no longer used for farming.

Helan Minyue chuckled and said, "So that's how it is. In the Tang Dynasty, if a cow died of illness or an accident, it could be slaughtered and eaten after reporting to the government and obtaining approval."

"However, after the death of a working ox, its hide and tendons must be handed over to the government. If they are hidden and discovered, the lighter punishment will be caning, and the more serious will be imprisonment and hard labor!" Helan Minyue seemed to be in awe of the laws of the Tang Dynasty.

Lin Lang smiled and said, "Don't worry, my dear, you can eat as much beef tripe as you want in Shanghai. Come and try it and see how it tastes.

Helan Minyue picked up the trembling tripe with chopsticks, rolled it in the dipping sauce bowl, and the moment she took a sip, her eyes widened. "This is such a fresh, fragrant and crispy hot pot tripe! It's even better than the mutton tripe soup in Chang'an City."

"My dear, if you dip the tripe in the spicy hot pot, it will taste even better."

Helan Minyue picked up two slices of beef tripe from the spicy hot pot and tasted it curiously. The spicy taste mixed with the numbness exploded on the tip of her tongue, making her gasp in surprise.

Seeing this, Lin Lang smiled and said, "My dear, if it's spicy, drink some beverage to relieve the spiciness."

Helan Minyue took a sip of the almond juice, and her eyes suddenly lit up. "Your Majesty, I have drunk this kind of drink in the Tang Palace. It is made by grinding almonds into a pulp and adding honey, right?"

"My beloved concubine is right. This is almond milk from Shanghai. I know that the people of your Tang Dynasty also like to eat almond porridge."

Helan Minyue smiled sweetly and said, "In the Tang Dynasty, almonds are not only edible, but also beautify and nourish the skin."

"My mother said that if you grind talc and almonds into a fine powder and steam them, then add a little borneol and musk, mix them with egg white, and apply a thin layer of the paste on your face, you can whiten your skin."

After hearing this, Lin Lang smiled and said, "My beloved concubine knows quite a lot."

Helan Minyue laughed and said, "My aunt likes to use this recipe for whitening and skin care, and she also gave some to my mother."

While Lin Lang was picking up some food for Helan Minyue, he said gently, "My dear, try this tribute vegetable. It's so crunchy when you chew it, it's like biting into tender spring bamboo shoots."

Helan Minyue tried the hot pot tribute vegetables. When she bit into it, there was a slight "squeaking" sound, and the spicy and fresh flavor of the red oil soup base.

"Your Majesty, this tribute vegetable is crispy, fresh and fragrant, and it doesn't absorb too much spiciness. It's crunchy and quite fun to eat!"

Lin Lang picked up another abalone and put it into Helan Minyue's dipping sauce bowl, saying lovingly: "Seeing my beloved concubine eating so deliciously, my appetite has also been aroused."

Helan Minyue bit into the soft and chewy abalone meat, and the delicious soup spread out instantly. She hurriedly drank a sip of Sprite to relieve the spiciness. The cool bubbles rushed up her nose, making her laugh out loud.

"This Sprite is as fun as Coke, it feels like little bugs are dancing in my throat!" Helan Minyue raised her glass and said, "Your Majesty, I offer my respects to you. Thank you for taking me to taste all these new and delicious delicacies."

The crisp sound of clinking glasses intertwined with the sound of boiling hot pot. They looked at each other affectionately and took a sip of their drinks.

Lin Lang looked at the corners of Helan Minyue's lips stained with red oil, and suddenly reached out to wipe it for her with a tissue: "Little greedy cat, be careful not to get it on your clothes."

Before he finished speaking, Helan Minyue had already picked up the wide noodles covered with sesame paste and fed them to Lin Lang's mouth, smiling slyly, "Your Majesty, try this too. It's smooth and chewy, so delicious!"

Lin Lang accepted Helan Minyue's feeding, chewing the wide noodles in his mouth while smiling and saying: "Generally, this kind of wide noodles are made with potato flour or sweet potato flour. You don't have sweet potatoes and potatoes in your Tang Dynasty, so my beloved concubine has never eaten wide noodles."

Helan Minyue smiled sweetly and said, "Your Majesty, you have already donated potato and sweet potato seeds to the Tang Dynasty. I believe that it won't be long before the people of the Tang Dynasty will be able to grow and eat sweet potatoes and potatoes."

"My dear, the sweet potato slices in the mushroom soup pot are just cooked. Come, how about trying some of them?"

Helan Minyue picked up a piece of sweet potato chip with chopsticks and dipped it in the dipping sauce in the bowl.

Taking a light bite, the dense potato flesh was wrapped in the freshness of the mushroom soup, and the sweetness instantly spread to the tip of her tongue. Her eyes suddenly lit up: "Hmm, this sweet potato tastes sweet, three times softer and more glutinous than the steamed taro in Chang'an!"

Lin Lang picked up another beef ball from the mushroom soup pot and put it into Helan Minyue's bowl. He raised his eyebrows and said, "My beloved, how about trying the beef ball?"

After hearing this, Helan Minyue looked at the pissed beef balls in the dipping sauce bowl in disbelief, and said weakly with a look of disgust: "Your Majesty, how can you eat pissed beef balls? How disgusting!"

Lin Lang smiled and replied, "It may sound a bit vulgar, but it tastes delicious."

"The Peeing Beef Balls are made by mixing beef paste and shrimp together, then boiling the shrimp juice into jelly, wrapping it in the beef and cooking it. The shrimp are called Peeing Shrimp in Shanghai and Hong Kong, hence the name."

After hearing this, Helan Minyue stuck out her tongue and laughed playfully: "I see, I thought the peeing beef balls were really made of cow urine!"

Lin Lang gently reminded: "My dear, when you eat the beef balls, be careful not to burn your mouth with the splattering soup."

Helan Minyue smiled and nodded, picked up the beef ball with chopsticks, blew on it first, and then tentatively bit into the beef ball. The moment the hot juice burst in her mouth, she almost fainted from the fragrance.

"Wow! I didn't expect the beef balls to be so delicious!" Helan Minyue felt it was so delicious that she couldn't stop eating it.

The more Lin Lang looked at Helan Minyue's innocent look, the more he liked her. Just like coaxing a child, he picked up another piece of enoki mushrooms for her with chopsticks and put it into her dipping sauce bowl.

Helan Minyue exclaimed, "Your Majesty, can ordinary people in Shanghai eat wild delicacies like mushrooms?"

"My dear, the fungus we have here in Shanghai, the state-run Tang Dynasty, is called Flammulina velutipes. It's been widely cultivated throughout the country. People all over the country can eat it whenever they want, and the price is not expensive."

While eating enoki mushrooms, Helan Minyue said enviously, "The people of Shanghai are so lucky. They have such good food and drink."

Lin Lang shrugged and said, "This person is just born in a blessed environment but doesn't know how to appreciate it. Shanghai Country has no wars or famines, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and the society is stable and harmonious, but there are still many people who are not satisfied and even worship foreign things."

Helan Minyue said with a smile: "If the people of the Tang Dynasty could live as prosperous a life as the people of Shanghai, they would wake up laughing in their dreams."

Lin Lang smiled after hearing this, and picked up a piece of luncheon meat from the mushroom soup pot for Helan Minyue and put it into the dipping sauce bowl, "My beloved, try this. You must have never eaten it before."

Helan Minyue curiously tasted the hot pot luncheon meat. The aroma of the meat mixed with the freshness of the mushroom soup instantly exploded on her tongue. Her eyes lit up: "Hmm...? It's fresh and salty, with a rich meaty aroma. It's even fresher than the roasted meat in the palace!"

"If you like it, eat more."

"Your Majesty, what does this look like?" Helan Minyue picked up a piece of frozen tofu soaked in soup and asked curiously.

While eating shabu-shabu mutton, Lin Lang patiently replied, "This is called frozen tofu. It's the Fuli of the Tang Dynasty that forms a honeycomb structure after being frozen. It has a unique taste after being thawed. It's a soy product commonly used in hot pot or cooking in Shanghai."

After hearing this, Helan Minyue smiled sweetly and said, "So our Tang Dynasty's Fuli is called tofu in Shanghai. Interesting!"

Lin Lang gently reminded her, "My dear, when you eat frozen tofu, be careful not to burn your mouth with the juice!"

Helan Minyue picked up the frozen tofu from the bowl, blew on it carefully, took a bite of it, and the delicious soup overflowed instantly. She squinted her eyes and smiled, like a little squirrel that had stolen honey.

"It's delicious. The taste of this frozen Fuli is so unique!" Helan Minyue ate it happily like a little greedy cat.

The rain was still drizzling outside the window, and the soup in the pot was still bubbling. The two of them ate and talked, and the warmth spread from their stomachs to their hearts.

At this time, Marry Yang, a mixed-race beauty director who often comes to Sichuan and Chongqing hotpot restaurants to eat spicy hotpot, just finished eating hotpot in the private room on the second floor with her best friend Ma Xiaofei and walked downstairs.

When the two best friends were paying the bill, the sharp-eyed Ma Xiaofei saw Lin Lang eating hot pot with Helan Minyue.

Ma Xiaofei tugged at the corner of Marry Yang's clothes and whispered, "Marry, look, is Lin Lang picking up girls again?"

Marry Yang followed Ma Xiaofei's perspective and looked at a table by the window in the hall. Lin Lang, wearing sunglasses, was eating hot pot with Helan Minyue while chatting and laughing.

Marry Yang's nose felt sore, and she immediately felt jealous, but in order to protect Lin Lang's face, she paid the bill while saying weakly: "Xiao Fei, you must have seen it wrong, they just look alike."

"Bullshit, there's no way I'm seeing things, and there's no way you can't recognize your boyfriend. Let's go over and say hello." Ma Xiaofei pulled her best friend Marry Yang's arm and walked over.

Marry Yang said with some embarrassment: "No, if we rashly go over and say hello like this, it will embarrass Lin Lang."

"I think you love Lin Lang too much. You have no bottom line at all. You think about him in everything. What are you afraid of? Let's go!" Ma Xiaofei said without hesitation and pulled Marry Yang to Lin Lang's dining table.

Marry Yang suppressed her jealousy and said with a smile, "Hubby, are you coming to eat hot pot too?"

Lin Lang glanced sideways upon hearing the voice, and after seeing Ma Xiaofei and Marry Yang, he coughed twice, tactically took a sip of his drink, and then said with an awkward smile, "Wife, are you and Sister Xiaofei coming to eat hot pot too?"

"Don't call me Sister Xiaofei, I'm also one of your wives." Ma Xiaofei looked at Helan Minyue with some hostility.

Helan Minyue quickly put down her chopsticks, looked at Lin Lang in disbelief, and whispered in amazement, "Your Majesty, how come you have an exotic, blue-eyed imperial concubine in Shanghai?"