Chapter 361 - True Disciple (1/2)
The ceramic pot of Buddha jumps over the wall not only conquered Princess Consort Jing’s stomach but also conquered over the two head chef’s hearts. Out of the two head chefs at Prince Jing’s estate, one of them was born in the famous Jiang Family. They were from Jiangnan and, in history, had produced eight extremely famous chefs. Their family’s recipes and techniques were only passed to their descendants, and only to those born of the legitimate wife.
During the chaos of war, Prince Jing once saved the patriarch of the Jiang Family. In order to heal his wife’s body, Prince Jing personally went to the Jiang Family to ask them for a chef. At that time, the Jiang Family sent over the chef that was second only to the patriarch to Prince Jing’s estate in order to repay their debt.
The other chef was the chef who was the best at cooking medicinal cuisine in the palace, Imperial Chef Huang. He had previously cooked food for the emperor emeritus. Before the emperor emeritus retired, he had heard that Princess Consort Jing had a weak constitution and required a lot of nursing back to health. Thus, he sent Imperial Chef Huang to Prince Jing’s estate to have him especially prepare medicinal cuisines for her. It could be said that without Imperial Chef Huang there, Princess Consort Jing’s battered body might not have lasted and she wouldn’t have been able to meet Yu Xiaocao. Her soul might have left this earth long ago!
These two illustrious chefs, one world-renowned, and the other an imperial chef, had unexpectedly been conquered by the cooking of a ten to eleven year old little girl. If this came out, no one would believe it.
At this moment, Yu Xiaocao was not aware of any of this. She was currently in the middle of writing and editing the recipe for Buddha jumps over the wall in preparation to sell it at a very high price to Third Young Master Zhou! The popularity of Zhenxiu Restaurant’s fruit-scented roasted duck had gradually declined, so it was time to push out a whole new dish! ‘Buddha jumps over the wall’ was the perfect dish to send out next.
Why was she going to sell it at a high price to Zhenxiu Restaurant? All of the ingredients used in the dish were top-notch delicacies and were quite expensive. Thus, this dish had to be marketed to customers that had deep pockets and a willingness to spend money. Not only could Zhenxiu Restaurant make a pretty penny of this, but they could also boost their own reputation and make connections with wealthy and powerful people. It was a win-win from every side. No matter how high the price, it would be worth it!
The second day after Buddha jumps over the wall came out, Royal Prince Yang had reserved a private room at Zhenxiu Restaurant to celebrate Little Shitou passing the county-level imperial exams. They not only invited Rongxuan Academy’s Headmaster Yuan but they also sent out invitations to all of the teachers in Little Shitou’s grade. County Magistrate Zhao had also somehow found out that this was going on and shamelessly invited himself in and brought along a very generous gift. Other than the star of the day, Little Shitou, the Yu Family also had Yu Hai and Yu Xiaocao there.
At first, it was with great difficulty that they finally convinced Old Yu to come, but when he got to Zhenxiu Restaurant and found out the headmaster and county magistrate were there, he became frightened and refused to go. He had never interacted before with prestigious personages in his whole life, so he hid in the residence the Yu Family had in town and could not be convinced by anyone to do otherwise. This little episode was only known by the Yu Family and no one else.
Little Shitou had felt a bit embarrassed by all of this. Originally, this was supposed to be a celebration for the whole family, so how did it become filled with a bunch of unrelated people? He acted like a tiny adult and politely said, “I only passed the county-level imperial exams and didn’t even get first place. There’s nothing worth celebrating!”
County Magistrate Zhao flatteringly said, “You’re being too modest. In all of Tanggu Town, there are only two who have passed the exam and get government grain, and you are one of them. That being said, in this batch of examinees who passed, you are the youngest. It’s also said that you caught the eye of the Superintendent of the Zhili Province and he personally read through your exam papers!”
Headmaster Yuan was very satisfied with Little Shitou’s performance and actions. All in all, the little fellow had only been studying for less than three years. If he didn’t have an almost photographic memory to the point where he couldn’t forget things and also a mind that grasped concepts easily, it would have been considered fine for a child his age to be able to recognize all of the words he was reading on the exam. Unexpectedly, the little fellow wanted to try for the county-level examinations!
Originally, with Little Shitou’s teachers' estimations, it would have been fine for him to just barely pass the first set of examinations. Who would have thought that his path went smoothly and he passed all three sets of the entry-level examinations and received the honor of becoming a scholar who passed the county-level imperial examinations. Furthermore, he managed to do very well and became one of the few scholars who would be granted the privilege of receiving grain from the government. Naturally, other than Little Shitou’s incredible innate talent, his success was very much linked with Headmaster Yuan’s careful tutoring and training.
None of them knew that Little Shitou’s original IQ was only just a little bit better than his Younger Uncle’s, Yu Bo. In other words, if he studied hard for his whole life, he would probably only be able to pass the county-level imperial examinations.
However, with Yu Xiaocao transmigrating over and changing the Yu Family’s trajectory, everything else changed too. Since the age of five, Little Shitou had been eating food and drinking beverages that all contained mystic-stone water. For a fully grown adult, mystic-stone water could only bring the person to the peak of health and heal any old illnesses or injuries. However, for children, the changes it could manifest was much greater. It had the ability to make the brain undergo a second development and change a person’s intelligence.
An ordinary person usually only used three to five percent of their brain power. Even Einstein, the well-known genius, only used up to ten percent of his brain power. Unconsciously, Little Shitou had surpassed this future scientific genius. Not only was his ability to memorize very good but his ability to understand concepts had also increased significantly. Furthermore, he was very hardworking as he wished to also do his part for the family like his second sister, so it would be more surprising if his grades were bad!
Headmaster Yuan, who had already regarded Little Shitou as his last disciple, didn’t compliment the boy like other people were. Instead, he stated reasonably, “Yu Fan is right. He only passed the county-level examinations and it’s only the first step in a very long journey. He needs to make sure to not get arrogant and stay humble to avoid having the same ending as the main character from ‘The Lament of Zhongyong’ [1]. Yu Fan, you need to make sure you face forward always and study hard. Furthermore, you can’t only rely on books to learn as you have to open yourself to get a better understanding of the world. Next year, I will be going to Jiangnan to lecture and you should come with me!”
When Little Shitou heard this, he became very excited. Many educated scholars longed to travel to Jiangnan. Historically, many scholarly lines of thoughts had originated there and the studious atmosphere there was quite thick. It was said that even the farmers in the fields could also recite a few lines of poetry.
Every year, Headmaster Yuan would get invitations from a few notable schools down in Jiangnan to have him lecture. Being able to go with him and listen to all of these lectures was only an honor reserved for his true disciples.
Although Headmaster Yuan had taken care of Little Shitou and given him preferential treatment these past two years, Little Shitou never expected that he could become a true disciple of the headmaster. All of the headmaster’s true disciples had either become notable scholars of merit or respected officials at court helping to govern the country. Regardless, their futures were limitless.
Yu Xiaocao had just come in with a ceramic pot of Buddha jumps over the wall that gave off its signature tantalizing fragrance. When she saw her younger brother foolishly staring, she hurriedly put the pot down and gently slapped him on the back of his head, “What are you doing just standing there, stupidly happy? Quickly kowtow to your master!”