Chapter 112 Chapter 117

  Fat good taste loudly shouted, and soon there was a shopkeeper from the back hall running over, smiling at Huo Xiao Xie and the other two: "Hey! You're late, you're late! Sorry about that. Today's been pretty busy, heh. Three of you who passed the test, what do you want to eat?"

  "Crunchy double-flower shrimp, hidden dragon egg, river-crossing perch, steamed three treasures with cloud bean, and sweet almond soup. Do you have these here?"

  The shopkeeper was taken aback and said: "Sir, the dishes you ordered have some unusual names. I need to ask the kitchen."

  "Then go ask that fat cook quickly, and tell him for me: if he can't do it, don't blame me for looking down on him!"

  "The shopkeeper had no choice but to say: 'Alright, I'll go ask, you three wait for a moment.'"

  The shopkeeper was about to leave when Zheng Zedao said, "Shopkeeper, please stay."

  The shopkeeper said: "Does this guest have any other orders?"

  Zheng Zedao smiled slightly and turned to look at Panghai, saying: "Brother Panghai, I think we can just have some of Qingyun Inn's signature dishes, no need to make it so complicated."

  "Alright, alright, I'll listen to Brother Zheng. Hehe, as soon as I think of that fat chef, I get annoyed, so I'm intentionally being difficult with him. Since Brother Zheng has spoken, let's just forget it, hehehe."

  Zheng Zedao nodded and said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper brother, please bring up a few of Qingyun Inn's signature dishes. Forget about those dishes from earlier."

  The shopkeeper nodded repeatedly and thanked him before retreating.

  Zheng Zedao said to Pang Haowei, "Brother Pang, your level of ordering dishes is really extremely high. I've only heard of the dish 'Hidden Dragon Swallows Egg', which was a private dish of General Lu Rongting's mansion in the Guangxi warlord system. Only about 100 people in the world can eat it."

  "Ah, cough, my ancestors have been the royal chefs since the time of Emperor Kangxi, but then my dad made a mistake and offended Empress Dowager Cixi, and was kicked out of the palace. Not only that, he was also forbidden from cooking for the rest of his life. My dad is an old stubborn man, he felt guilty towards our ancestors and really stopped cooking from then on. But I've always had a good appetite since I was young, I would sneak into my dad's kitchen and try out his recipes, and slowly but surely, I developed a discerning palate. I feel like I haven't tried all the dishes in the world yet, and it's a shame to die without trying them all. So I've been searching everywhere for recipes, stealing them from others, just so I can try more delicious food. There are still many dish names that I know of but haven't had a chance to try yet, it's really embarrassing. Brothers Zheng and Huo, please don't laugh at me."

  "Wow, that's quite a legendary story!" Fire Little Evil said after hearing it, "No wonder you wanted to steal the recipe from Fat Chef."

  "Ah, the dishes that this Qingyun Inn can make are all top-notch from various places, and even I've only heard of them but never tasted them. Just thinking about the menu in the hands of that fat chef in the back kitchen makes me drool to the point where my legs can't move, and not stealing it would be a shame to my eight generations of ancestors, haha."

  The three of them chatted for a while, and the shopkeeper had already brought out some appetizers. As they ate and talked, they were actually quite happy.

  At this time, in the Wang family's large courtyard, Zhang Siye and others had just finished their lunch and returned to their residence one after another.

  Zhang Siye and Mr. Zhou walked into the inner room, Mr. Zhou carefully closed the door, and they sat down.

  Zhang Siye approached Mr. Zhou and said in a low voice: "Are you sure the entrance to Qingyun Inn is at the west gate of Wang's mansion?"

  Mr. Zhou nodded and said, "It should be near the west gate. This Wang family's large courtyard is facing east, with a 'qing' character on top, which means that there must be a problem in the west. Under the 'qing' character, there is a narrow door with two horizontal bars on it. This morning, I sent some of our best soldiers to the west gate under the pretext of buying goods, and they indeed found such a door in the west. The steps below the door were carved with the word 'floating cloud', and next to it was a water basin filled with clear water, which should be the meaning of the 'yun' character in 'qing yun'. It seems that this 'yun' character is the key to opening the door."

  Zhang Siye said: "We have been thinking for so many days and couldn't figure it out. It turns out that the Qingyun Inn is a maze made up of words in the shape of objects."

  Mr. Zhou said, "Indeed, simplicity is the ultimate form of complexity. What you see is what you get. We've been thinking too much and not being simple and direct enough. Don't underestimate the puzzle of Qingyun Inn, it's cleverly simple!"

  "According to you, what is Qingyun Inn going to do? Waiting for whom?"

  Mr. Zhou said: "Choosing a thief!"

  "Choosing a thief?"

  "Not bad, it's just picking thieves. We caught the big thief Huimaozi from Shandong at Wangjiapu, and this Qingyun Inn is so strange and peculiar, it must be picking thieves! Thieves without skills can't find Qingyun Inn! But after finding Qingyun Inn, what to do next is really hard to guess."

  "Haha, this Wang family compound is indeed not simple! Should we make an excuse to leave and raid the Qingyun Inn, capture them personally and seize their loot? We've been here for nearly ten days and only got this lead, if we don't take action now, it'll be too late!"

  "I had the same intention, but just now when I mentioned it to you...I feel that it's still not the right time to turn against the Wang family."

  "It's not possible to wait forever."

  "We don't have to wait! If there are thieves in the Qingyun Inn, they must be hiding either underground or in the Wang family's mansion. Since they can get in, they will definitely come out, and we'll go visit Wang Xing this afternoon, saying that we're about to leave soon, and as a token of gratitude for their hospitality, we'd like to help them inspect the anti-theft weaknesses in the Wang family's mansion, and have them take us on a tour around the mansion. Using the excuse of the thieves and monks sneaking into the Wang family's mansion a few days ago!"

  Zhang Siye thought for a moment and smiled lightly: "This method is very good! I'd like to see how Wang Xing Lao Ye refuses us!"

  Zhang Siye and Mr. Zhou looked at each other and smiled.

  Mr. Zhou stopped laughing and said, "Old Zhang, there's one more thing!"

  "Please go on!" said Zhang Siye.

  Mr. Zhou said: "Do you remember that in Nanjing City there was a man named Zhang Jian, nicknamed 'Yaozi Gou'?"

  Zhang Siye said, "I remember! A few years ago, I came to Fengtian once and sent a few top-notch geishas to Manjiangchun. The boss of Manjiangchun invited me to watch their debut performance, and the brothel owner was sitting in the front row, even taking a photo with us!"

  Mr. Zhou said, "If I'm not mistaken, he should be living in the only kiln in Wangjiabao area, Huichunyuan. Yesterday after watching the play, I passed by the side door of Huichunyuan and saw him at a window on the second floor!"

  "What? Is he also a thief who came to Wangjiabao to find the Qingyun Inn? No one has ever said that he is a thief!"