Chapter 204 Bean Paste Dumplings (4)

When Lin Fei came back to the public kitchen, Wen Mingtang and others were sitting at the food table eating bean paste dumplings. The bean paste dumplings were much bigger than what everyone else was eating, and they even had peeled chestnuts thrown into them. , made a small dumpling with chestnut bean paste.

The glutinous and sweet chestnut blends into the sweet bean paste, not only is it not obtrusive, but it blends in a way that complements each other.

Scooping the small dumplings with chestnut bean paste in the bowl, the glutinous rice balls bit open the chestnut meat, and said with a click of his lips: "You can also put some other glutinous things in it."

Wen Mingtang took a spoonful and put it into his mouth, nodding: "Powdered and glutinous taro is also acceptable."

As soon as these words came out, the glutinous rice dumplings and fellow students A Bing and Ji Caimai on the side immediately nodded in agreement.

"As soon as Master Wen said it, he could already imagine the smell!"

These people are really getting better and better at eating!

As Lin Fei stepped into the public kitchen, everyone who was chatting and laughing heard the voice and looked towards him. They were a little surprised to see Lin Shaoqing leaving and returning.

Before several people could speak, Lin Fei spoke up: "Do you still remember what the mask sellers and your vendors at the lantern festival looked like?"

As soon as these words came out, Wen Mingtang and others who were scooping out bean paste dumplings stopped what they were doing. After the three of them looked at each other, Tangyuan said helplessly: "There are three stall owners, but they all have cats on their faces. , where are the rabbit and fox masks!”

What kind of appearance can you see in the masked vendors? Lin Fei frowned.

Looking at Lin Fei's expression, the three of them vaguely guessed something: After all, Zhao You made two trips to take away all the masks. Could it be that there was something wrong with the mask vendor?

But at that time, the lantern festival was lively, and the mask sellers wore masks on their faces to shout for their stalls. This behavior was not eye-catching, and they did not pay too much attention to it.

But although I can't talk about the appearance, I can recall the rest.

"All three of them have black hair, and one of them has very curly hair. You can still see the curly hair even after applying oil!" Tangyuan thought for a while and said.

Wen Mingtang added: "There is also a man with a lot of white hair in his hair, and a lot of wrinkles on the hand that handed him the mask. He must be quite old."

"These three people are not short in stature. They are half a head shorter than the tallest servant Zhao in Dali Temple." A Bing said again.

Sons of his age are most concerned about how tall they will grow when they grow up, so they are very concerned about this.

To be fair, for an ordinary person to be able to pay attention to these three masked vendors is already doing very well.

But there are a lot of people who meet these characteristics in Chang'an City. Isn't it possible to find them one by one? This is obviously not feasible.

Need to come up with something special.

Wen Mingtang rubbed his nose, closed his eyes and recalled for a long time, and then said: "There were people around at the lantern festival at that time, so I can't be too sure! But when I took over the mask, I seemed to have half-white hair and age. There is a vague and non-existent fragrance on the person who is not a small person."

Lin Fei, who was frowning, immediately looked towards Wen Mingtang when he heard this.

Meeting Lin Fei's gaze, Wen Mingtang hurriedly waved his hands and said, "It's not the floral scent on the mask!"

Most cooks have a good nose, and Wen Mingtang is like this, so he can smell the smell on the mask.

"The smell is not the fragrance of flowers, but..." Wen Mingtang rubbed his nose and said, "It seems to be the smell of incense ash. The moment the wind blew over, I seemed to smell the smell of incense ash, but only for a moment. , I’m not sure if it’s right!”

Incense ash? Lin Fei was thoughtful when he heard the words. After a moment, he glanced at Wen Mingtang, nodded and said, "Thank you!"

Compared with the previous descriptions, "incense ash" can be said to be much more specific. In addition to incense ash, there is another more specific thing, which is the floral fragrance in the mask.

Even Lin Fei and Wen Mingtang, two people with good noses, couldn't tell what kind of flower it was. It must not be the most commonly seen flower.

In this way, if you want to find this so-called flower fragrance, you have to walk somewhere.

Early the next morning, after eating the food from the public kitchen, Liu Yuan and Bai Zhu left Dali Temple and walked eastward for half an hour before finally finding the place.

Before he went in, Liu Yuan, who was standing outside, sneezed and couldn't help but sigh: "It smells so good!"

It is truly the most fragrant place besides the public kitchen! The difference is that the fragrance in the public kitchen is the fragrance of human fireworks; here it is the elegant fragrance of spring and white snow.

After sighing with emotion, the two of them entered the door without talking nonsense. They showed their waist badges and stated their purpose: "I would like to ask the master of Guizhai to identify the fragrance on this mask for us!"

When the shopkeeper saw the waist card, he naturally did not dare to slack off and hurriedly called out the old master of Xiangzhai. After hearing the purpose of the two people's visit, Master Xiangzhai took the mask from the two people suspiciously, put it to his nose and smelled it, and his expression changed.

This change of expression fell into the eyes of Liu Yuantong and Bai Zhu, and he felt happy. Just when he was about to ask questions, the old master spoke.

"Where did you get this mask?"

After hearing the two people say that this was the mask lost by the lost lady, the master Xiangzhai nodded and said with emotion: "No wonder!"

…

Half an hour later, the two left Xiangzhai and hurried back to Dali Temple.

"Lin Shaoqing, this flower was not originally the flower of my Da Rong. It was introduced to Da Rong along with the missionary monks from the Western Regions. It was used by their Western Region sects in ceremonies." When Liu Yuan said this, he paused and his expression changed. Slight change, "This flower is called Datura, and it has a hallucinogenic effect."

The young ladies were taken away for no reason, and those in Jingzhao Mansion were definitely unwilling to do so. In this way, if the other party wants to take the person away, they will either knock the person out or pull him with the little ladies.

Therefore, when the officers were looking for suspicious people in the crowd that day, they were looking for young ladies who had "fainted" or people who were having trouble with the young ladies.

After such a search, naturally nothing was found except for a few young ladies who were quarreling with their families.

Now, the appearance of Mandala has explained how they took people away back then. The young ladies who wore the masks for a long time had hallucinations and could not distinguish between fiction and reality, and gradually became separated from their families. The gangsters who had been eyeing them in the crowd waited for an opportunity and took them away.

Since the young ladies did not struggle, the guards could not see anything unusual. Unexpectedly, many people passed by the guards when they were taking people away!

So... thinking of Wen Mingtang, A Bing and Tangyuan who bought the masks, Liu Yuan couldn't help but gasped: "Master Wen and the others really escaped by luck!"

After lamenting the luck of Wen Mingtang and others, it was time to return to the "mandala".

"Such poisonous flowers were banned a few dynasties after they were discovered, and those that were discovered and planted among the people were burned and cleared away to avoid future troubles." Bai Zhu said, "Ting Xiangzhai's master said, because of the Datura flowers have miraculous effects on treating sores and convulsions in children. Therefore, the few Datura flowers grown by the imperial court today can only be bought in drug stores, and the destination must be written on each copy. !”