A SEVERAL DAYS LATER
XAVIVER
Moving a giant clay oven turned out to be much harder than designing one.
"Left! No, your other left!" Hin gasped.
"I’m trying!"Ana added.
"Stop trying and actually lift it!"I groaned.
Four hired workers, two farmers, one extremely confused blacksmith, and I were all trying to load the enormous barrel oven onto a reinforced wagon.
"I have run this inn for twenty years."Ana stood nearby with her arms crossed as she sighed dramatically. "I never imagined I had spend my morning watching a giant oven being wrestled onto a cart."
"It is surprisingly entertaining."Hin nodded thoughtfully.
"I can still hear you two."I groaned.
"Good." Ana smiled.
Finally... THUD. The oven settled onto the wagon as everyone took a step back. The wagon creaked loudly. Creeeaaak. I stared at it.
"The wagon isn’t supposed to sound like that." The driver looked at the wheels. "I do not think it was designed to carry an entire building."
"It is not a building." I looked at my oven proudly. "It is a culinary masterpiece."
"It is still very heavy."The driver blinked.
Fair point. The journey to the capital took two days. Every village we passed reacted the same way. People stopped, pointed, and whispered.
"What is that?"One asked.
"A giant barrel?"Another one asked.
"No. I think it’s a water tank."Second one added.
"It is a giant soup pot!"A little boy shouted.
"No!"I nearly laughed. "It is an oven!"
Everyone became quiet.
"An oven?" One old man scratched his head. "Why is your oven traveling?"
"Because it has business in the capital."I explained.
"Understandable."The old man nodded seriously.
"Did he actually understand?"I looked at Ana.
"I do not think he wanted to ask another question."I sighed.
Later that afternoon we stopped beside a small stream. Several travelers approached the wagon. One of them pointed at the oven.
"Is someone living inside?"He asked.
"Only bread."Hin answered before I could.
The travelers became even more confused. By the time we finally reached the capital, even the guards at the gate stared.
"Halt!" One guard pointed at the wagon. "What exactly are you transporting?"
"An oven."I smiled.
"..." The guard looked at the oven, then at me and then back at the oven. "Why?"
"To make buns."I said.
"..."The second guard whispered. "I don’t get paid enough for this."
"Go ahead."The first guard sighed.
The festival grounds buzzed with excitement. Every stall competed for attention, bright banners, fancy signs, expensive decorations. Then there was us. One simple wooden stall and one enormous clay oven. The nearby chefs stopped what they were doing.
"What is that?"One of them pointed.
"It looks like someone rolled a house into the festival."Another laughed.
"Chef."A pastry chef circled the oven. He looked at me. "Did your bakery collapse?"
The other chefs burst into laughter.
"No."I grinned. "I brought the bakery with me."
Even Ana laughed. As I carefully prepared the fire more people gathered. Not because of the buns, because they wanted to see the strange oven.
"It is huge!"Children pointed excitedly.
"Dad."A little girl tugged on her father’s sleeve. "Can we climb it?"
"No."He said.
"Why not?"The girl asked again.
"Because the chef will probably throw us out." A man said.
"I wouldn’t." I smiled. "But it is very hot."
"Oh." She nodded seriously. "That is a good reason."
Nearby, the roast duck chef folded his arms.
"So." He looked at my setup. "All of this." He gestured dramatically toward the giant oven. "Just to bake bread?"
"Pretty much."I nodded.
"You built an entire monument..."The noodle master laughed so hard he nearly dropped his ladle. "For bread!"
"I have seen smaller houses!"Another chef added.
"They here making fun of us."Ana leaned toward me.
"I know."I said.
"Doesn’t it bother you?"She asked.
"Not really."I smiled.
"Why?"She asked.
"Because in about ten minutes." I looked at the oven. "They will stop laughing."
The fire burned steadily. The thick clay walls absorbed the heat, I checked the temperature with my hand. Perfect. I carefully placed dozens of meat buns inside. The heavy lid closed and now we waited.
"This is the exciting part?"One chef yawned.
"I expected fireworks."Another shrugged.
"You will get steam instead." I replied.
Five minutes passed, nothing. Seven minutes, it was still nothing.
"Maybe it doesn’t work."One nearby merchant whispered.
"It certainly looks impressive."Another nodded. "But..."
Then a tiny stream of steam escaped through the vent.
"There it is."I smiled.
The first aroma drifted into the air. Freshly baked bread, rich pork, sweet onions, garlic, ginger, sesame oil. The scent spread slowly at first, then the warm breeze carried it across the street.
"What is that smell?"A passing woman stopped walking.
"It smells amazing!"A child sniffed the air dramatically.
"Who’s cooking?"Another merchant looked around in confusion.
"That is not my food."Even the roast duck chef frowned.
The aroma became stronger, warm, savory and comforting. People started following the smell without even realizing it. One, five, twenty, fifty. Within minutes, a crowd surrounded our stall. The chefs who had been laughing looked at each other.
"I think."The noodle master quietly muttered. "We may have underestimated the bread."
"No."I couldn’t help smiling. I said as I slowly reached for the oven lid. "You underestimated the chef."
Ana snorted so hard she nearly dropped the basket of buns. Hin quietly covered her mouth, trying and failing The chefs all stared at me.
"Did he really wait until now to say that?"One of them asked.
"Yes."I nodded.
"He had been saving that line the whole morning."Ana nodded proudly.
The crowd kept growing. People weren’t even looking at the colorful banners anymore, they were looking at my oven, or more specifically waiting for whatever was inside it. I picked up the thick wooden handle. The nearby chefs watched with folded arms.
"Let’s finally see this legendary bread."One of them yawned.
"I hope the giant oven was not all for show."Another smirked.
"They are still making fun of us."Ana leaned toward me.
"They are about to become customers."I grinned.
She snorted as I lifted the heavy lid. Whoosh. A cloud of fragrant steam erupted into the air. The crowd instinctively leaned forward and inside rows upon rows of perfectly baked meat buns rested against the curved walls of the oven. Each one was plump, golden, glossy. The tops had turned a beautiful light brown while the bottoms were perfectly crisp. Tiny drops of meat juices bubbled from the folds.
"They are beautiful."A little boy finally pointed.
"Fresh meat buns!"I couldn’t help smiling.
The spell broke instantly.
"I will take one!"One asked.
"Me first!"Another one joined.
"I want three!"A girl behind me asked. "No, give me six!"
"My wife loves bread!"An elder man asked.
"My husband eats everything!"An older lady added.
"I have been standing here because everyone else was standing here!"A merchant smirked as the entire street burst into laughter.
"One line!"Ana immediately went into battle. "One line! Coins ready, please!"
"Next."Hin was somehow even scarier. "Five buns. Thank you. Next."
She moved with the terrifying efficiency of someone trained in a royal palace.
"She scares me."One noble blinked.
"I will pay quickly."Another noble nodded.
I picked up the first bun with wooden tongs. A young woman accepted it eagerly, she carefully blew on it. Then took a bite, crunch as the soft bread gave way. The juicy pork filling burst with rich flavor.
"Oh."Her eyes widened. She immediately took another bite. Without realizing it she had already finished the whole thing. "Another."
"You ate that surprisingly fast."I laughed.
"I don’t remember eating it."She said.
The crowd laughed again. That was all the proof everyone needed, as the line exploded. People rushed toward the stall.
"Ten!"
"I’ll take ten!"
"I need twelve!"
"My children will fight if I don’t bring enough home!"
"I’ll pay first!"
Coins clinked nonstop onto the counter. Ana didn’t even have time to count them individually anymore. Hin simply stacked them neatly while keeping the line moving. I never stopped baking, one batch came out and another went in again, again. The oven worked perfectly. An hour later the line had stretched so far that I couldn’t even see the end anymore.
"Where does it end?"I stood on my toes.
"I don’t know."Ana looked.
"It turns left after the fountain."Hin calmly answered.
"The fountain is two streets away."I gasped.
"Yes."She nodded.
"They have waiting that long?"I slowly looked back at the crowd.
"I have been in line for forty minutes." A merchant nodded.
"You could have left."I said.
"And lose my place?"He looked horrified.
"Fair enough."I nodded understandingly.
Across the street, the chefs who had laughed earlier now had almost empty stalls. The roast duck chef scratched his head.
"My customers disappeared."He added.
"They’re all over there."The noodle master sighed.
"Should we..."A pastry chef looked at the endless queue. He looked embarrassed. "Try one?"
"We should."The oldest chef nodded.
The group approached my stall. The customers immediately made room.
"Those are the chefs who laughed."One little boy whispered loudly.
"I know." His friend nodded seriously. "They are probably hungry now."
I nearly laughed.
The roast duck chef rubbed the back of his neck.
"Chef Wei."He asked.
"Yes?"I asked.
"We would like... four buns."He asked.
"Of course."I smiled.
I handed them over. The four chefs each took one. They examined the dough, the folds, the aroma. Then they bit into them. One chef’s eyebrows shot upward. Another immediately looked inside the bun, the third slowly closed his eyes while chewing, the oldest chef finished half of his bun before speaking.
"I owe you an apology."He began.
"For what?"I blinked.
"I called it ’just bread.’"He laughed. He lifted the bun. "This isn’t just bread. The dough is unbelievably soft, the filling is perfectly balanced, and somehow." He looked at the bun in amazement. "The juices stayed inside."
"I have worked with dough for thirty years."The pastry chef nodded enthusiastically. He looked genuinely impressed. "I still don’t know how you achieved this texture."
"We laughed at your oven."The noodle master sighed. He looked around at the enormous line. "It appears the oven was laughing at us."
Even I couldn’t stop laughing at that one. Huan had been watching everything from a nearby tea stall. He slowly folded his fan. Then looked at the line stretching through nearly half the festival. His merchan instincts screamed opportunity.
"I knew it."He smiled. "No." He corrected himself. "I underestimated him too." He looked toward my little stall.
"Chef Wei you have just become the busiest chef in the entire Capital festival."
The only problem? I still had another three hundred buns to bake before sunset.