Chapter 35: Little Beggar, Pretty Huang Rong (Middle)

  Huang Rong stepped into the store, looked around, and then turned to ask Ling Muyun who followed her in: "Hey, which table are you sitting at?" She used "hey" because she didn't know Ling Muyun's name.

  Ling Mu Yun smiled and pointed to the table where Guo Jing was eating, saying: "Have you seen that person wearing a sable coat like me? That's my companion. His table is over there. By the way, I'm not 'Feed', my surname is Ling and my name is Mu Yun. If you don't mind, you can call me Big Brother Ling. Of course, if it doesn't sound right, you can just call me by my name."

  "You didn't tell me your name earlier, how was I supposed to know? I can only call you 'hey' then." Huang Rong pouted and walked towards the table that Linghu Chong had pointed out to her, then pulled a chair over to sit down beside Guo Jing.

  Guo Jing was savoring his food when he suddenly saw a shabbily dressed and thin young man sit down beside him, which made him somewhat curious. He raised his head to glance at Huang Rong, then cast his puzzled gaze towards Ling Zhiyun who had just walked over.

  Ling Muyun smiled and explained: "Brother Guo, this is a little brother I just met, please come over and have dinner with us."

  "Ah, welcome, welcome."

  Ling Muyun walked to the table and sat down, instructing the shop assistant to bring another set of bowls, chopsticks, and utensils. The shop assistant saw the young man's dirty and poor appearance, and was not pleased, hesitating without taking action. Ling Muyun glared at him, slapped the table, and coldly said: "I told you to bring bowls and chopsticks, didn't you hear me? Or is this how your wine shop treats customers?"

  The shop assistant saw Ling Mu Yun get angry and reluctantly brought over a bowl and plate.

  "You think I'm poor and not worthy of eating at your restaurant? I doubt even the finest wine and dishes would suit my taste."

  The shop assistant said with a sarcastic tone: "Really? As long as you can order it, we can make it. The only worry is that after eating, no one will pay the bill."

  Huang Rong turned and asked Ling Yun: "Ling big brother, no matter how much I eat, you'll pay for it?"

  Ling Muyun burst out laughing and said, "Of course, since I've invited my little brother to dinner, I naturally want him to eat well. Whatever you want to eat, just order it, I may not be very rich, but I can still afford a meal."

  Huang Rong heard this and a warm color flashed in her eyes, then she said to the shopkeeper: "First bring some fruit to start with, hmm, just bring four dried fruits, four fresh fruits, two salty and sour ones, and four honeyed ones."

  The shop assistant was taken aback, not expecting her to speak so boldly and put on the airs of a rich young master. He coldly smiled and said, "What kind of fruit preserves do you want, sir?"

  "Huang Rong said with a tone of disdain: 'A poor place like this small hotel, I suppose you can't get anything good. Just do it like this, the four dried fruits are lychee, longan, steamed dates, and silver ginkgo. For fresh fruit, pick some new ones, for salty and sour, we need fragrant cherry and ginger plum, I don't know if they're available here? As for candied fruits, we want rose gold tangerine, fragrant medicine grape, sugar frost peach strips, and pear meat good langjun.'"

  The shop assistant listened to her and found that she was quite familiar with it, obviously not talking nonsense, must have eaten it before, and couldn't help but put away his disdainful heart, seriously recording it.

  "Just listen to Huang Rong saying: "For the wine dishes, there's nothing fresh here either. Let's just have eight ordinary dishes, Flower Steamed Quail Eggs, Stir-Fried Duck Palms, Chicken Tongue Soup, Deer Belly Stew with Jiangyao, Mandarin Duck Fried Beef Tendons, Chrysanthemum Rabbit Threads, Explosive Wild Boar Legs, Ginger Vinegar Golden Silver Hooves... I chose simpler ones that you can make here. As for the more luxurious dishes, let's just forget it."

  The shopkeeper's eyes widened as he listened, and when Huang Rong finished speaking, he couldn't help but say: "These eight dishes are not cheap, just the duck web and chicken tongue stew alone would require dozens of chickens and ducks..." Although he didn't finish his sentence, the implication was that he was worried about being unable to pay the bill.

  Huang Rong pointed at Ling Yun and said: "This gentleman is treating us, what else can you be worried about?"

  The shop assistant saw that Ling Yun and Guo Jing were wearing high-quality sable coats, which were not cheap. He thought they must be from a good family and wouldn't be short of money to the point where they couldn't even afford this meal. Even if they really couldn't pay the bill, taking off one of their sable coats would be more than enough to cover the debt. So he didn't ask any further questions and nodded in agreement. He then turned to Huang Rong and asked: "Is that all you need, sir? Do you want anything else?"

  "Add twelve dishes for lunch and eight desserts, that's about it."

  The shopkeeper didn't dare ask the name of the dish this time, fearing that Huang Rong would point out something too expensive for them to afford. He thought to himself that he would instruct the kitchen to pick the best dishes later. Then he turned to Huang Rong and said: "Sir, what wine do you want? Our small shop has ten-year-old Chenyuan's Sanbai wine, how about we start with two jugs?"

  "Alright, it'll have to do!" Huang Rong said with a nod.

  The shop assistant heard her boastful words and couldn't help but secretly stick out his tongue, but with the previous conversation, he already knew that Huang Rong was absolutely a master in eating, and didn't dare to have any slight disdain, hurriedly went down to prepare.

  After the shop assistant left, Huang Rong smiled apologetically at Ling Muyun: "Brother Ling, I think that shop assistant is a greedy person, so I couldn't help but order a few more dishes and wine to show him. It's just that it cost you some extra money."

  "It's nothing but ordering a few dishes, what's the big deal? One look at you and I can tell you're a connoisseur when it comes to food and drink. We brothers are just lucky to be following your lead. Otherwise, even if we wanted to spend money, we wouldn't have been able to order such exquisite dishes. This is a great opportunity for us to indulge in some good food."

  Huang Rong's nose twitched slightly as she said with a hint of displeasure, "Ling big brother, we're just brothers, why must you add a title to your name? Are you much older than me?"

  Ling Muyun was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing and said: "Alright, I was wrong. Forgive me, brother."

  Huang Rong smiled and nodded slightly.

  Time was not long, the shopkeeper brought up the fruit honey and dishes that Huang Rong had ordered one by one. Because there were too many things, one table could not hold them all, and two tables had to be put together to barely make room. Ling Muyun tasted each dish in turn, and found that they were indeed delicious. Although he came from a wealthy family and had been to many restaurants, more than half of these dishes he had never tasted before. His appetite was greatly opened up, and he ate with abandon.

  Guo Jing watched as Linghu Chong savored his food, feeling envious in his heart. Since he was young, he had grown up on the vast desert grasslands, where had he ever eaten such exquisite and delicate dishes? He felt that each one was a flavor he had never tasted before. Unfortunately, when he had eaten the beef pancake earlier, he had wolfed it down too quickly and was already half full, so now with delicious food in front of him, he couldn't eat much, and couldn't help but feel secretly regretful.

  At the same time, a strange idea rose in Guo Jing's mind. Ling Yun previously didn't eat or drink much, saying he would wait for a big meal later. Could it be that he knew something was going to happen? However, he immediately threw this strange thought out of his mind, as it was too far-fetched. If so, wouldn't Ling Yun have been able to predict the future? Little did he know, this seemingly absurd idea had actually guessed the truth.

  The dinner table has always been a place where relationships are quickly deepened, not only in modern times, but also in ancient times. Ling Yun, Guo Jing and Huang Rong gathered together to eat and drink, and inevitably chatted idly in between. As they talked, the depth and breadth of each person's knowledge and experience became apparent. Huang Rong was the daughter of Huang Yaoshi, who knew everything from astronomy to geography, and was well-versed in both civil and military affairs, music, chess, literature and painting. As his daughter, Huang Rong had a rich family background and naturally had impressive knowledge, with elegant speech and profound insight, leaving people in awe.

  Although Ling Yun's academic knowledge was not as good as Huang Rong, the daughter of the Eastern Heretic with a rich family background, as a person who had crossed over from two worlds and had been influenced by the information explosion era of the later generation, he naturally had many insights that transcended the boundaries of time and many new perspectives. Even Huang Rong couldn't help but be amazed when she heard them, secretly admiring him.

  In comparison, Guo Jing seems unremarkable. Having grown up in the vast desert grasslands since childhood, he is clearly no match for Linghu Chong and Huang Rong in terms of knowledge acquisition. Apart from talking about some unique aspects of the desert grasslands and his experiences living there, there's not much else to say about him.

  Fortunately, Guo Jing was a good listener despite being tongue-tied and inarticulate. He listened with great interest to Ling Zhiyun and Huang Rong's conversation, feeling that his horizons had been greatly broadened. At the same time, he secretly sighed that people from the Central Plains were indeed very different from those outside the Pass. Ling Zhiyun's extensive knowledge was already well-known to him, but this awkward young man who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere also possessed such profound learning, which left Guo Jing in amazement.

  Three people ate and drank, chatting happily. To be precise, Ling Yun and Huang Rong chatted enthusiastically, while Guo Jing listened intently on the side. After a long time, the table of wine and dishes was left with only leftovers, and the three of them were full. Ling Yun hurriedly paid the bill. This meal cost dozens of taels of silver, enough for an ordinary family's annual expenses, but it was nothing to Ling Yun, who came from a wealthy family. Not to mention that Huang Rong had ordered most of the dishes, which ended up in his stomach, just being able to chat and drink with the clever and beautiful Huang Rong made the money well worth spending.

  After settling the bill, the three of them left the wine house together. A gust of cold wind hit them in the face, and Huang Rong seemed to feel a bit chilly, involuntarily shrinking her head. Ling Mochou saw that Huang Rong's clothes were thin, and a wave of sympathy surged up in his heart. He immediately took off his sable cloak and draped it over her shoulders, saying: "Brother, we're old friends, if you don't mind, wear this to keep warm."

  Then he took out several gold bars from his bosom and handed them to Huang Rong: "Brother, it's not easy to be away from home, take this money to spend, don't be too hard on yourself."