The Female Supporting Role Shows Out - Chapter 34

Translator: NovelMultiverse | Editor: NovelMultiverse

As soon as Lin Dan finished speaking, everyone present was dumbfounded, and even the Emperor who was confident that Lin Dan would lose had shown a surprised expression.

According to Lin Dan, the people would definitely choose the dumpling that suited their taste buds if they were to be the judge. They wouldn’t know who made the two barrels of dumplings, let alone knowing that it would decide the outcome of a competition. Conducting the competition in this manner would indeed result in the fairest outcome.

No one could refute what Lin Dan said, not even the Emperor because he had promised Lin Dan that this would be a fair competition and that she could decide the rules. The Emperor’s words were considered to be of weighty significance that no one could deny it. 

The Emperor soon realized Lin Dan’s true intention. The decision of this competition was no longer in the hands of the Emperor or the judges anymore, but in the hands of the people. In order to prevent him from interfering with his ruling power, she even stated that only those who entered the city would be given the dumplings and not those who are leaving the city. The Emperor could arrange for people to leave the city and pick up the dumplings, but he could not control those who were entering the city. Only God knows who would be entering the capital and when.

Since the order of the two buckets of dumplings had been disrupted, even if the Emperor was resourceful enough to get people disguised as ordinary people and enter the city, they wouldn’t be able to tell which bucket of dumplings was made by Yan Langqing. In the end, it still depended on their preference. Besides, the Emperor would not stoop so low to find out who was the one that made the bucket of rice dumpling respectively.

“Is this fair?” The Emperor shook his head and laughed loudly, “It’s fair, perfectly fair! Guards, move these two buckets of rice dumplings to the west city gate, and the guards will distribute them to those who enter the city. Everyone who enters the city is allowed to pick the one they prefer after tasting and should never take more than one.” In that way, they would only take the one they liked the most.

The Emperor had originally intended to support Yan Langqing. After all, this was the woman he was fond of, who had just been wronged, and he thought it would not hurt to show some favoritism. But now, he thought Lin Dan was an interesting woman, and she had also made this competition interesting. This was why he did not mind making the competition a fair one to spice things up even more. He would do nothing next, nor allow others to break the rules, and left the outcome of the competition to the people.

Seeing the Emperor’s cheerful expression, Tang Jiu finally breathed a sigh of relief. He then looked at Lin Dan, who seemed relaxed, with a pair of passionate eyes before breaking into a smile. He knew that he got all worried again for nothing, since Lin Dan could always face any difficulty calmly, and relied on her persistence and cleverness to figure a way out.

Marquis Weiyuan’s lazy and casual expression finally faded and he stared directly at Lin Dan. Prince Cheng and Prince Gong were whispering and giggling together, looking to be in good spirits. The son of Lord Dianqian only rubbed the teacup in his hand, occasionally raised his eyes to look at Lin Dan with a pair of deep eyes.

The only one who was carrying a solemn expression was Yan Langqing. She never thought that Lin Dan would propose to judge the competition in this manner, but after analyzing carefully, she had to admit that Lin Dan’s intelligence was admirable. The Emperor especially liked women with quick thinking and even more so for things that were interesting. He probably admired Lin Dan very much now and would not take sides anymore.

Yan Langqing felt a little uneasy but not flustered because she believed in her own skills.

The group came to the west gate and picked a high platform on the gates to watch how things unfold. Two buckets of dumplings were placed side by side by the guards, and one of them was peeled and broken for those who entered the city to have a taste. As the Dragon Boat Festival was approaching, many rich people would typically give out dumplings to the poor as a way to earn good karma. Therefore, the passers-by were not at all surprised to have a dumpling. Since the guards were also around, they did not dare to snatch the dumplings. The people followed the instructions given by the guards and only had those who entered the city take one dumpling and nothing more.

The people had a taste of the samples on both sides, and those who were entering the city soon took their preferred rice dumplings and left. The Emperor stood on the platform and looked down. His boredom had long been replaced by excitement and anticipation. He enjoyed conducting the competition in such a manner and believed that it was more fun when things were unpredictable.

Since it took time to process glutinous rice and pork belly, it was already afternoon when the dumplings were ready. It was only an hour before the gate was closed, excluding the delay that was caused on the way, which was why there were still dumplings left in the two buckets. But this would not affect the outcome – whoever had fewer rice dumplings left will win. There was no doubt about this.

Everyone moved to a nearby restaurant and booked the most luxurious room. As soon as the Emperor entered the door, he hurriedly shouted: “Guards, count the number of dumplings left in the bucket.”

Immediately two guards stepped forward and counted the rice dumplings in the two buckets. After the results were out, they wrote them on the paper and asked two other guards to count them again. They repeated this three times and stopped when they obtained the same number. One of the guards stepped forward and said, “Your Majesty, there are 288 rice dumplings remaining in the bucket on the left, and 63 rice dumplings in the bucket on the right. The right side wins.”[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]

“The gap between the two is really big!” The Emperor thought. He looked at Lin Dan, raised his eyebrows, and said, “Can you recognize which bucket is yours?”

Lin Dan walked to the right and said confidently: “I can recognize it, of course.”

Yan Langqing stared at the two buckets and her face turned pale.

“How do you know this bucket belongs to you?” The Emperor looked at Lin Dan with a smile.

“I tied a knot at the end of each rope when wrapping rice dumplings. You may check it if you don’t believe me.” Lin Dan took out a dumpling and showed the rope to everyone. There was indeed a small knot at the end, and it was unnoticeable without having someone holding it in their hand.

In order to ensure fairness, several guards immediately took out all the rice dumplings and checked them one by one. They nodded and said, “Your Majesty, all the rice dumplings on the right are knotted, but none are knotted on the left.”

Lin Dan said, “Besides the knots, you can also open up the dumplings. I’m sure Imperial Chef Yan would be able to recognize her own work, right?” She picked up two dumplings and unhurriedly removed the leaves and opened them up.

Without opening the dumplings, the two dumplings may look exactly the same in terms of size and shape, as if they were made by the same person. But when the dumpling was completely disassembled, the difference within was night and day. As everyone was standing on a high platform overlooking the city gate, it was natural that they were unable to see what happened exactly, but now that the two rice dumplings were lying on a jade white plate, everything seemed apparent.

The dumpling on the right was golden in color, with a clear surface, and looked very delicate and small. On the other hand, the two ends of the dumpling on the left were slightly yellowish, and the middle section was sauce-colored as if it had been dipped in a large dyeing vat and looked very messy. One could judge whether the food was good from three aspects – color, aroma, and taste. When the difference between the two dumplings became noticeable, everyone has to admit that Lin Dan has already emerged top based on the food appearance.

All the meat dumplings that Yan Langqing wrapped appeared to have a mixture of colors. As the glutinous rice was white and the marinated pork belly was braised, when the two ingredients were steamed together, the colors would naturally stain and become unsightly. She had never expected that the glutinous rice that was soaked in the muddy water by Lin Dan would turn out into a brilliant golden color, looking very tender and lovely. She wondered what the reason was.

She was shocked and complained, “Something is wrong! Lin Dan’s glutinous rice has been soaked in the muddy water and it should have been dirty. How can it look better than mine?”

Before everyone showed their surprised expressions, Lin Dan slowly explained, “You judged based on what you saw, but you do not know what the reason behind that was. Do you not know that the ashes formed by burning wood are cleaner than spring water? Due to the burning flame, the dirt has all been incinerated. The ash water also contains a magical medium, which can be used to clean your hands and can also be used to make dry goods. If you soak the hard and dry goods in the ash water, it can soften the ingredients several times faster than the clear water. My dumplings were soaked in this ash water and is called the ash water dumpling, which is a specialty of Baiyue region. After being soaked in the ash water, the glutinous rice was not only clean but also stained with a golden yellow color. It is unique, soft, and smooth, more delicious than ordinary white rice dumplings.”

She stretched out her hand and gestured, “Now that we have finished judging the appearance, it’s time for everyone to judge the aroma and taste of the two dumplings.”

The Emperor picked up the plate and sniffed the two rice dumplings carefully. He raised his eyebrows, before handing the plate to the old imperial chef standing beside him. The old imperial chef’s eyes lit up after smelling it before handing it to the next judge. Everyone took turns to smell it and finally handed it to Yan Langqing.

Yan Langqing was unconvinced at first, but she fell into despair after smelling it. This ash water dumpling was indeed like what Lin Dan said, it had a faint fragrance of plants and trees, a fresh astringency smell and aroma of the braised sauce. She thought Lin Dan’s dumpling smelled unique, while her white dumplings only had the aroma of rice and meat. Her dumplings smelled good but were not rich in layers. Compared with Lin Dan’s rice dumplings, her dumplings seemed ordinary.

“Everyone, please have a taste.” Lin Dan took up her chopsticks calmly and broke the two dumplings apart.

Everyone tasted the two kinds of rice dumplings, and the amazement on their faces became even more apparent. There was no doubt that this ash water dumpling did not only have a bright color and unique scent but also very soft and tender in terms of its taste. Although it was no longer warm, the taste was still there, and it was slightly chewy on the first bite. It was first the slight sweetness of the glutinous rice and there was some astringency before tasting the thick and meaty flavor in the end. The rich and aromatic meat juice filled the mouth and brought about an endless aftertaste.

After tasting Lin Dan’s dumpling, Yan Langqing’s dumpling seemed to be obviously inferior in texture and taste by several levels. The white glutinous rice dumplings were put in the cold and were not as soft as they were just taken out of the pot. They were slightly sticky at the first bite and were not easy to chew and swallow.  The meat filling was even lumpy and looking very dry.

Seeing everyone’s frowning brows, Lin Dan slowly said, “Greywater rice dumplings taste better after being eaten cold. The soft glutinous rice dumpling has a little elasticity and is very easy to swallow. Not to mention the meat filling, it is also very delicious even if it is only eaten with sugar only. Meanwhile, the ordinary white glutinous rice dumplings will turn dry and hard after losing its warmth, it has to be heated up again so that it can be swallowed easily. This is the difference between the two. In case you think this is unfair, feel free to reheat the two dumplings and have a taste test again.”

Yan Langqing’s hand that was holding the chopsticks trembled slightly. She said nothing but looked at the Emperor hopefully.

The Emperor smiled and waved his hand, “Servants, heat up the rice dumplings!”

Two palace servants took the rice dumplings to the kitchen immediately, and after a short while, they returned with a food box. True enough, the heated white rice dumpling was soft and tender, and the taste was much better than before. But Lin Dan’s ash water rice dumpling was still golden, with delicate and rich oil flowing out of the gaps in the glutinous rice, giving it a luster and shiny appearance. It looked many times better than Yan Langqing’s white rice dumplings.

The Emperor immediately saw the ash water dumplings. He picked it up with his chopsticks and took a bite, before sighing with satisfaction. The glutinous rice soaked in ash water was sweeter, softer, and smoother. It was completely saturated with the juice secreted by the meat. Every bite was rich and delicious, making people want to smack their lips. After tasting the ash water dumplings made by Lin Dan’s secret technique, one word two words came to the Emperor’s mind after tasting Yan Langqing’s white rice dumplings – ordinary and plain.

After the two kinds of rice dumplings were disassembled, it was apparent that the ash water rice dumplings were beautiful and delicious, but the white rice dumplings were stiff and hard to swallow. It was no wonder that Lin Dan’s bucket was almost empty, while Yan Langqing’s bucket was half full. This time around, her defeat was fair and square.[Read this novel and other amazing translated novels from the original source at the “Novel Multiverse dot com” website @ novelmultiverse.com]