Organizing this banquet turned out to be a truly difficult task. Every day after closing her stall, Lu Yan would meet with Lu Sheng and Song Bowen at the teahouse. They discussed and debated for three or four days. With only ten days left before the banquet, the three of them finally settled on a theme.
They decided to call it the “Lingering Fragrance Banquet.”
Wasn’t the chrysanthemum praised with the saying, “When this flower has bloomed its last, no other flowers remain”? Well, after admiring the chrysanthemums, they would keep all the other flowers alive.
Before transmigrating into this book, Lu Yan had been a complete homebody. She had never attended any grand banquets. Based on her limited understanding, two things were essential to a successful banquet: the setting and the quality of the dishes.
After several days of discussion, they tentatively settled on the theme of the Twelve Flowers. Lu Sheng would be responsible for the decorations, while Lu Yan would handle the food.
Naturally, Lu Yan couldn’t cook the entire banquet herself. The Song family already employed their own chefs. She only needed to provide a few innovative dishes to elevate the banquet’s overall quality.
And she knew exactly how these lofty scholars thought.
Delicious food alone wasn’t enough. The dishes had to be beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated.
As for flowers, Lu Yan actually had quite a few ideas.
Back in modern times, she’d made many flower-themed foods for her videos, such as peony-shaped buns and peach blossom dumplings. They were easy to make and looked stunning.
She could simply give them refined names:
The moment the names changed, the dishes instantly sounded much more cultured.
With inspiration striking, Lu Yan quickly wrote out a plan, listing six or seven dishes. Her part of the work was basically finished.
Then she moved over to Lu Sheng.
“Any progress on your side?” she asked.
“I have some ideas,” Lu Sheng said, “but I’m not entirely sure how to execute them. Since it’s a banquet of a hundred flowers, the best approach would be to make all the flowers appear and turn the place into a fairyland. Flowers blooming everywhere in the middle of winter—that would definitely be something new.”
“But there aren’t that many flowers blooming right now,” Song Bowen said with a headache. “My family does have a greenhouse, but even if we moved every flower out, it still wouldn’t be enough.”
“That’s where you’re stuck?” Lu Yan said in surprise. “Why not just use fake flowers?”
Song Bowen and Lu Sheng both froze.
“Fake flowers?”
In modern times, large-scale decorations were mostly made with artificial flowers because real flowers were too expensive. So fake flowers was the most natural solution to Lu Yan.
Ancient times weren’t without artificial flower craftsmanship either. The art of making velvet flowers had been popular since the Tang Dynasty. Jewelry shops often made floral ornaments, and young women wore all sorts of flower-shaped hairpins.
The only difference was that no one had ever thought of using fake flowers on such a large scale for decorations.
The moment Lu Yan suggested it, both men suddenly understood.
“I’ll go to the jewelry shops tomorrow and hire several skilled women who can make floral ornaments,” Song Bowen said, slapping his thigh.
If only there were dry ice, Lu Yan thought. Then she could create a genuine fairyland effect.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t any, and she couldn’t make it herself. She knew of other methods for producing smoke—for example, smoke cakes made from sulfur and wood shavings—but they smelled terrible and could easily ruin everything.
Better not.
“Besides the decorations, we also need to highlight your family’s paper, brushes, ink, and inkstones,” Lu Yan said. “Can your family make thick, sturdy paper that can stand upright on its own?”
She meant cardstock.
Song Bowen was startled.
“We can probably try. It shouldn’t be difficult.”
“Make a lot of it,” Lu Yan suggested. “We’ll paint realistic portraits of the Twelve Flower Goddesses on the cards, cut them out, and place them behind the fake flowers.”
What she actually wanted was life-sized cardboard standees.
“Realistic?” Song Bowen repeated. “Would that even look good?”
It wasn’t strange for him to question it. Ancient painting favored capturing spirit over form; resemblance in essence was considered more important than physical accuracy.
But what Lu Yan wanted was realism.
After all, realistic painting styles had existed in ancient times as well. For example, Huang Quan’s “Sketches of Rare Birds” from the Five Dynasties was incredibly lifelike.
“I’m sure you’ll find someone who can do it,” Lu Yan said confidently.
Song Bowen trusted her completely.
“Alright. I’ll look for one.”
Satisfied, Lu Yan handed him her menu.
“These are the dishes I plan to add. Take it home and let your parents have a look. If necessary, I’ll come over tomorrow and make them for a tasting. And here’s a list of the ingredients I need—prepare plenty of them.”
After saying goodbye, Song Bowen immediately took the menu home to his father.
Master Song looked at the sheet filled with poetic names and became completely bewildered.
“What are all these dishes? Peerless National Beauty? Lotus Emerging from the Water? Rising Higher Step by Step?”
Song Bowen lowered his eyes.
“To put it simply… they’re chrysanthemum fish, lotus pastries, peony buns, peach blossom dumplings, boiled cabbage, and cucumber cups.”
Master Song: “…”
After a long silence, he finally said,
“They certainly sound elegant. Have her come tomorrow for a tasting.”
Meanwhile, Lu Yan and Lu Sheng were on their way home.
“I saw a dish called Lotus Emerging from the Water on your menu,” Lu Sheng said. “Can boiled cabbage really taste good?”
That question…
It was practically a state banquet dish in modern times!
“This isn’t ordinary boiled water,” Lu Yan declared firmly. “I guarantee you’ve never eaten cabbage this delicious.”
Lu Sheng’s curiosity was instantly piqued.
“Why don’t we have it tonight?”
“We can’t. It requires too many ingredients. The broth needs pork knuckles, duck, and an old hen. We don’t have that much food at home.”
She smiled.
“You’ll get to eat it tomorrow during the tasting at the Song residence.”
Good heavens.
One cabbage dish required so many ingredients?
Lu Sheng was convinced.
“I already believe it’ll be delicious.”
Suddenly, Lu Yan became excited.
“I’m going to catch two fish later. Let’s have pickled fish stew tonight!”
The pickled vegetables had been ready for a long time, but they’d been too busy these past few days to eat them.
The moment she got home, Lu Yan grabbed her fish spear and hurried out.
Lu Sheng followed behind her.
This was the first time he had ever watched Lu Yan catch fish.
She rolled up her pant legs and stepped into the water. Then she took out a piece of steamed bun she’d tucked into her clothes, crumbled it, and scattered it into the stream.
As expected, several fish swam over to eat.
Without making a sound, Lu Yan raised her fish spear high above her head.
Then—
“Ha!”
With a sudden shout, she thrust downward.
The spear pierced a large black fish perfectly.
Lu Sheng: “…”
Lu Yan returned triumphantly with her basket.
As soon as she got home, she cleaned the fish.
She chopped off the head and bones, removed every single fish bone, sliced the meat into thin pieces, and marinated it with salt, yellow wine, and starch.
Then she opened the jar of pickled vegetables.
A sharp, sour aroma hit her face.
Quickly, she took out two heads of pickled greens.
She chopped the vegetables, minced garlic and chilies into two separate portions, and prepared the sauce.
Once the wok was hot, she poured in the pickled vegetables along with one portion of garlic and chilies.
The sour and spicy aroma immediately rose into the air, making everyone’s mouths water.
The fish head and bones went into the wok next, followed by the sauce and water.
After the flavors had fully cooked out, she removed the pickled vegetables into a basin, then slid in the fish slices.
The fish cooked completely in just a dozen seconds.
She poured everything—fish and soup alike—into the basin.
Then she heated another ladle of oil.
She poured it over the second batch of garlic and chilies.
With a loud sizzle, the fragrant oil mixed with the sour and spicy aroma and filled the entire room.
Before anyone even tasted it, their mouths were already watering.
The fish slices were completely boneless. Their snowy white flesh was incredibly tender and fell apart with the slightest bite.
Lu Yan had been craving this dish for ages, and now she could finally eat it.
The pickled vegetables were sour, spicy, and crisp.
The fish was fresh, fragrant, and silky tender.
Layer upon layer of sour, spicy, and numbing flavors exploded in her mouth.
She couldn’t help letting out a satisfied sigh.
Both Lu Sheng and Old Master Lu also gave the dish extremely high praise.
Pickled Fish with Mustard Greens.
“It would be their loss not to serve this at the banquet,” Lu Sheng declared.
“I’m worried they won’t think it’s refined enough,” Lu Yan said. “What scholar eats food out of a basin?”
“Then don’t serve it in a basin,” Lu Sheng replied. “Give each person a small white porcelain bowl with a few pieces of pickled vegetables and one slice of fish.”
He thought for a moment and then said,
“I’ve even thought of the name.”
“It’ll be called—A Lone Boat Amid Ten Thousand Miles of Green Mountains.”
Lu Yan: “…”
Scholars really were incredible!