Feng Wu waved her hands. “It’s mostly sour and sweet, so please don’t worry. Plus, I’ve chopped up all the ingredients already and I don’t want to waste them. Otherwise, I can cook something else.”
“There’s one more thing…” Feng smiled bitterly.
Feng Wu paused. “What is it?”
Feng said, “His Royal Highness doesn’t eat fish. To be more precise, he hates fish.”
Feng Wu was dumbfounded.
Feng smiled wryly. “Therefore, Miss Wu, please cook something else, because this dish really is going to offend His Royal Highness.”
Feng Wu chuckled when she heard that. “You’re mistaken. There’s no fish in this fish-flavored sliced pork.”
Feng was dumbfounded.
Feng Wu said, “There’s a story behind it — quite a long one, actually, but since we don’t have anything better to do at the moment, I’ll tell you about it.”
Hence, Feng Wu told him how fish-flavored sliced pork was created.
Once upon a time, there was a family who loved eating fish, and they were quite particular about the flavors in their fish dishes as well. Hence, they created a special recipe for fish.
One day, the wife chopped too many ingredients. She didn’t want to waste them, so she used them in another stir-fry, but wasn’t sure if it would taste good. She was still worrying about it, when her husband came back.
The husband was amazed by how delicious the dish was, and the recipe became known as “fish-flavored stir-fry.”
“Therefore, there’s no fish in fish-flavored sliced pork.” Feng Wu grinned at Feng.
The main ingredient in fish-flavored sliced pork was lean pork, which was cooked with wood ear and dried slices of tender bamboo shoots, and used condiments like oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and cooking wine, as well as chopped scallion and garlic.
When all was said and done, Feng Wu was a cultivator, and she was great with her knife.
Each piece of pork was chopped into 6cm-long slices of the same thickness. She then seasoned the pork with salt and cooking wine before coating the shreds evenly in starch.
Leaving the pork to sit for a while, Feng Wu shredded the wood ear and bamboo shoots and quick-boiled them in the pot.
Meanwhile, she fetched a big pot and made some fish-flavored sauce with soy sauce, sugar, and other condiments.
When Feng Wu looked up again, she realized that Feng had left.
He needed to report to the crown prince.
He knew his young master too well. Right now, the crown prince had to be waiting anxiously for him to go back, but he wouldn’t let it show. Indeed, Feng walked into the study to find it filled with a cold, murderous energy.
“I thought you would never come back!” The crown prince’s face was livid.
Feng was baffled, because he had only been gone for a little while.
“Speak!” Jun Linyuan wanted to kick Feng.
“Ahem —” Feng coughed into his hand. “Your Royal Highness, what would you like to know?”
Of course Jun Linyuan wanted to know what was going on with Feng Wu, but he was too proud to say so. Instead, he only stared at Feng.
“Ahem —”
The look in Jun Linyuan’s eyes was so fierce that Feng didn’t dare tease him, so he slowly said, “Miss Wu seems to have run into some difficulty.”
“What difficulty?!” Jun Linyuan immediately asked.
Feng looked at Jun Linyuan and said grumpily, “There’s simply too much work. It’s impossible for her to finish. I think Miss Wu is going to faint from exhaustion.”
Jun Linyuan puffed out his cheeks.
After stealing a glance at the crown prince, Feng mumbled, “Well, I think she should be considered to have succeeded as long as everyone is fed tonight.”
