Jianghu Qimen Lu

Chapter 84 The Real or Fake Murderer

While Bai Shandian stood there dumbfounded, lost in thought, Choujiao leaned forward, reached into his robes, and pulled out the "Complete Guide to the Martial World," saying bitterly, "This originally belonged to our Xiang family, and should be returned to its rightful owner! What are you, an outsider, doing with it!" Seeing Bai Shandian acting like a fool, letting her take it without complaint, she felt embarrassed and went over to Xiangquan, whispering, "Sister, brother-in-law is quite pitiful. Do you and he...?" Xiangquan sighed and said softly, "I know he has his own difficulties. I can forgive him for everything, except for his betrayal of me! That's a fatal wound! Sigh, it's good to let him calm down and think things through. Let's go." With that, she led the way, and Choujiao quickly followed, helping her sister away. Thousand-Hand Guanyin gave a whistle, summoning all members of the Moqing Society to quickly withdraw from Yue Wang Temple. Like a whirlwind, they arrived silently and then swept away.

"Your Majesty and the others are still trapped! I must go and save them!" Bai Shandian suddenly awoke with a start, hurriedly sprinting down the steps to the trap. He threw down the long rope from the edge of the hole and used telepathy to call out to those below, "Your Majesty, tie the rope around your waist first, and I'll pull you up!" From inside came Qianlong's voice, a mixture of surprise and delight: "Good, good! It's still Shandian who's coming to save me! Truly, time reveals true character, and adversity reveals true feelings! Shandian is so good to me! After we escape this time, I will reward you handsomely when we return to the capital!" He immediately tied the rope around his waist, and Bai Shandian secretly channeled his inner strength, pulling the emperor up little by little! By the time he had pulled the emperor's tall body up the hole, even with Bai Shandian's powerful inner strength, he was covered in sweat. He didn't bother pulling the four warriors up, but carried the emperor up to the top and shouted to Zhang Kuang outside the door, "Quickly prepare a fine carriage to take the emperor back to the Lonely Mountain Palace to rest!" At Zhang Kuang's command, two Green Standard Army soldiers rode off to prepare. Zhang Kuang led the men to kneel and receive the emperor, and Qianlong temporarily sat down in the main hall to rest. After a while, Abbot Kongming also led all the monks of the temple to pay their respects to the emperor.

Emperor Qianlong was both hungry and thirsty, and didn't want to say a word; his face was ashen. Bai Shandian ordered several Green Standard Army soldiers to pull the four warriors from the trap one by one. When the four warriors stood behind Qianlong, they had lost all their previous arrogance and were all dejected, like defeated roosters.

"Master, do you have any food or drink here?" Emperor Qianlong asked abruptly, his eyes fixed on Master Kongming.

"Yes! Yes! What would Your Majesty like to eat?" Master Kongming hurriedly nodded and bowed in reply.

"Anything is fine! It would be best to serve your signature southern dishes and some local delicacies." Emperor Qianlong immediately perked up, his eyes shining brightly. Upon hearing that there was food, the four warriors also perked up, their faces beaming with joy.

"This old monk and the monks below have always been vegetarians, so we don't really care about different cuisines. However, we do have a local specialty we love, Pian'erchuan, which has both vegetables and noodles. Your Majesty, I'm sure you'll rave about it." Master Kongming racked his brains before recalling this most luxurious culinary delight in the temple. The small temple itself was very poor, and with years of drought, they often went hungry, subsisting on coarse grains and wild vegetables. Just surviving was a blessing; they'd never seen any famous dishes or regional cuisines before.

"Since you have such good food, why don't you quickly have the chefs prepare it?" Qianlong said with a smile. Kongming hurriedly sent the guest monk to instruct the kitchen to make it. Bai Shandian frowned secretly, thinking, "This is a liaison station of the Red Flower Society. Is what they make edible? Aren't you afraid they'll poison you, Your Majesty!" He then smiled and said, "Your Majesty, I have already instructed the imperial chefs at the palace to prepare. We will be returning to the palace soon, and the imperial chefs have prepared a banquet for us! What kind of food can we possibly get in this small mountain temple? Besides, it's not hygienic!" Qianlong said nothing more. He just swallowed hard, his stomach rumbling. He was starving and would eat anything! He cursed Bai Shandian for talking without thinking. If he had been starving for two days and one night, he wouldn't have said that. He would only have wanted to eat the quickest and most convenient food!

Before long, two monks brought up a food box. Upon opening it, they found eight bowls of Pian'erchuan, a common street food in Hangzhou. To put it simply, it's eight bowls of noodles topped with pickled mustard greens, bamboo shoots, and lean pork. The tender bamboo shoots, the fresh aroma of the wild vegetables, and the fragrance of the lean pork make it incredibly delicious and appetizing.

As soon as the young monk placed the bowls on the octagonal table, Qianlong picked up a spoonful of noodles and began to devour them. Bai Shandian rushed forward, urging the Emperor to slow down! He pulled a silver needle from his waist, inserted it into the noodle bowl to test for poison, and seeing nothing amiss, breathed a sigh of relief. He then tested the other seven bowls, confirming the needle hadn't turned black, thus confirming it was non-poisonous. Without a word, Qianlong wolfed down his noodles. The four warriors behind him, already starving, watched with burning eyes and dry saliva as the Emperor ate five large bowls in one go, finally satisfied. With his hand on his bulging belly, he waved his hand contentedly and said, "You four can share the remaining three large bowls!" The four warriors responded with a resounding "Yes, sir!" They quickly used one of the bowls Qianlong had used to divide the three bowls of noodles into four portions, and each picked up a bowl and began to wolf down their food. Master Kongming and the other monks were puzzled, thinking to themselves, "Is the food in our temple really that delicious? Or is this emperor so poor in Beijing? How come he and his bodyguards are eating like they're starving ghosts, with such poor table manners!"

"Haha, so delicious! This is the most satisfying and delicious meal I've ever had in my life!" Emperor Qianlong exclaimed, then suddenly turned to Master Kongming and asked, "What did you say this famous dish was called, Master?" Kongming smiled and replied, "Amitabha! Your Majesty, it's called Pian'erchuan. It's a very common local delicacy enjoyed by ordinary people on the streets of Hangzhou. It's said to have originated in the Southern Song Dynasty. Since the Southern Song Dynasty, the Hangzhou dialect has often used the 'er' sound, such as pronouncing 'chopsticks' as 'kuai'er,' and the 'er' sound is more pronounced than in northern dialects." Because "氽" (tuān) and "川" (chuān) are homophones, and the ingredients are all sliced, "片儿氽" (piàn ér tuān) became "片儿川" (piàn ér chuān). Furthermore, legend has it that when Su Dongpo was an official in Hangzhou, he said, "Without bamboo, one becomes vulgar; without meat, one becomes thin." Sliced ​​mustard greens (or snow cabbage), winter bamboo shoots, and lean pork are all sliced, blanched in boiling water, and then poured over noodles as a topping. This is said to be the origin of the name "片儿川". Pian'erchuan noodles are a famous dish at the Kuiyuan Restaurant in Hangzhou, said to have a history of over a hundred years. Due to its moderate price, it is a traditional Hangzhou delicacy.

Just as Master Kongming was eloquently displaying his knowledge, Emperor Qianlong suddenly clutched his stomach and squatted down, his face contorted in pain. He even foamed at the mouth, trembling as he cried out, "It hurts so much! My stomach hurts so much! There's...poison in this noodle!" Bai Shandian and Zhang Kuang were shocked. Bai Shandian leaped to Master Kongming's side, grabbed his shoulder blade, and unleashed his inner force. Master Kongming instantly felt as if all his bones were shattering, as if his entire body was about to break apart. Waves of excruciating pain washed over him, and he couldn't help but... His face changed drastically as he said, "Lord Bai, actually I've been here the whole time without moving. How could you suspect me?" Seeing that he showed no resistance whatsoever, Bai Shandian knew he didn't know any martial arts and coldly said, "Now that things have come to this, let alone you being the head of a temple, anyone present would be suspected of a crime! Quickly send someone to call the cook over; I have questions for him!" Master Kongming trembled like a leaf and hurriedly ordered a guest monk to go to the inner hall to summon someone.

At this moment, Qianlong had already fainted from the pain. The four warriors also suffered attacks one after another, screaming like pigs being slaughtered. One of them, named Zhuque, was the most arrogant and unruly of the four, relying on his fierce fighting skills, and therefore had snatched the most food. He was now rolling on the ground in pain! Soon, the cook was summoned. Seeing the situation, he was also completely bewildered, his face full of unspeakable injustice. Bai Shandian glanced at him and immediately determined that he was not the real culprit who poisoned him. He said, "Go back! Someone else poisoned him!" The cook was overjoyed, his face showing a look of delight. He thanked Bai Shandian repeatedly and was about to leave when Bai Shandian quietly slid up to him and suddenly struck him hard from behind!