Chapter 147: Roast Whole Lamb

Ma Hu and his guards walked into the hot pot restaurant. The hot pot restaurant was full of guests and the private rooms upstairs were all occupied as well.

There were no empty seats, so Ma Hu registered his name on the book and the busboy handed him a number.

"Boss Ma, it's so lively here!" One of the guards sighed with emotion.

Ma Hu nodded and said, "Yeah!"

The number on Ma Hu's number plate said 318, that meant there were 317 people before them. Ma Hu shook his head, he knew no way they could have hotpot today, but he was still excited to watch the auction.

Some customers here were for the half-price hotpot, and some of them were here for the auction and others were here to watch the fun.

Ma Hu heard a few people talking, apparently the private rooms upstairs were all booked by the rich young masters from the capital city.

"Yun An, have you ever tried Roast Whole Lamb?" Wei Qiyu asked curiously.

Ji Yun An shook his head and said, "No."

Wei Qiyu was a little surprised. "Wow, even you haven't had some begore? No wonder they hold an auction for this!"

Ji Yun An smiled. Lu Lin made the roast whole lamb on a whim recently, and he had been keeping it a secret. He had not eaten it before, but Mai had tried some while he helped out, and Mai was full of praise.

Wei Qiyu had a tremendous air of expectancy, "What does it taste like, or what does it look like, this is so exciting!"

"You'll find out what it looks like soon."

"Here it comes, here it comes!"

Several busboys carried out the lamb on a huge plate and put it on the round table in the middle of the hall, the aroma of the lamb was wafting across the whole restaurant.

There were some vegetables sitting by the lamb as garnish, the golden color of the lamb and the green color of the vegetables complemented each other.

No one in the restaurant had seen a whole roast lamb, quite a few of them were stricken dumb with amazement.

"Yun An, just look at that, what a delightful golden color!" Wei Qiyu hit his palm with his fan in excitement.

It was said that there was only going to be Roast Whole Lamb up for auction today, and the next auction was in next month.

Wei Qiyu didn't want to miss out, so he was determined to get it. He looked around and he saw a few people rubbing their fists and wiping their palms, eager to bid.

Wei Qiyu licked his lips, hoping he could outbid them all.

"Quiet, everyone, Roast Whole Lamb is the latest item created by our manager and Magistrate Lu. Great breed of lamb and the seasoning spices are both scarce resources, even though we know a lot of guests are here for the lamb, but I'm so sorry, this lamb belongs to the highest bidder. Come on now, let's get it started, the starting bid is one tale of silver." The shopkeeper whooped.

"Two taels of silver," someone yelled as soon as the shopkeeper finished his sentence.

"Two taels of silver, hehe, you go back home! I say, five taels!"

"Eight taels."

"Twenty."

"Fifty taels."

Hearing someone said fifty taels, a burst of exclamations erupted in the hall.

At the beginning of the bidding, there were still some rich people from Sha County participating. But soon it was only the young masters from the capital city bidding against each other.

It was a huge leap from twenty taels to fifty tales, so people were stunned.

"80 Taels!" a young master raised his hand.

People in the hall gasped.

......

Ma Hu took a glance at the young master who was leaning on the handrail on the second floor and he exclaimed in his heart, 'Wow, such impressive appearance!'

The color and the aroma of Roast Whole Lamb were indeed extremely tempting. Ma Hu even thought about joining the bidding and treating his guards in the beginning, but soon he gave up on the idea.

In the end, the young master called Gao Jun got the lamb with an offer of 80 taels of silver. Other young masters soon surrounded Gao Jun and congratulated him, Gao Jun gave them a nodding with a triumphant smile.

Wei Qiyu was the one who offered 50 taels, but he stopped his bidding right after he saw it was Gao Jun who bid against him. He had no intention to offend Gao Jun from the Prime Minister Gao's family in the slightest way.

......

Many customers in the store were still stunned by the offer, it took them a while to applaud for Gao Jun.

Chen Xiao Cai breathed a sigh of relief.

Chen Xiao Cai was so glad that the auction went so smoothly, he was even more glad that Roast Whole Lamb became famous together with this auction.

Originally, in order to create some hype for the auction, Chen Xiao Cai invited a few friends to act like they were here for the auction, he had even asked them to bid. However, the young masters from the capital city had overwhelmed him, none of his friends had actually made a bid.

Ma Hu and his guards left the restaurant after they watched the auction. He was still in a daze when he walked out from the restaurant gate.

"Boss Ma, isn't that crazy? Roast Whole Lamb, some dish, is sold for 80 tales of silver, you can buy a ferghana horse with that amount of money."

All sorts of feelings welled up in Ma Hu's mind. He used to take pride in his profession, he and his guards travelled all the way from hometown to Sha County for trade, they could make several taels of silver from one trip, but they had risked their lives for this! Chen Xiao Cai, however, had just made eighty taels of silver from an auction.

Ma Hu suddenly felt so defeated and disheartened.

"I thought Sha County was poor, but I'm so wrong!"

"The local people in Sha County are indeed not rich. The people who were bidding were all young masters from the capital city!"

Ma Hu turned around and glanced at the signboard of the hot pot restaurant, his mind in a whirl. People in Forest Town all said that Chen Xiao Cai was a business genius, and he had always been dubious about that. However, after a trip to the hot pot restaurant, he suddenly felt so dwarfed.

......

After Gao Jun got the Roast Whole Lamb, he invited a few friends to try it together.

Wei Qiyu and Ji Yun An were both on good terms with Gao Jun, so they were invited as well.

The Roast Whole Lamb was perfect combination of color, aroma and taste.

The young masters all praised themselves as gourmets, but they all found it mind-blowing how delicious this lamb was.

"I didn't expect we could have such great food in Sha County."

"80 taels of silver is a bit expensive, but this lamb alone has made the trip well worthwhile," Gao Jun said proudly.

"It's all thanks to you, Young Master Gao that we can enjoy such delicious food!"

"Yeah! This seasoning must be their secret recipe, it's nothing like the lamb dishes I have had before."

"Exactly! I usually have stewed lamb in the capital city, I didn't expect roasted lamb could be this good."

......

The crowd surrounded Gao Jun and praised him, making him very proud.

Gao Jun had invited too many people, and the lamb turned out be to not enough to feed that many people.

Everyone was still feeling a little unsatisfied. Gao Jun then treated them to some hotpot.

Wei Qiyu walked out from the restaurant with excitement, "That lamb tasted so tender and so crispy at the same time, it's a shame that Gao Jun has invited too many people, I wish I could have some more."

Ji Yun An glanced at Wei Qiyu and said, "You weren't being shy at all, I've noticed several guests glaring at you because you couldn't stop eating."

Wei Qiyu smiled and said with some disdain, "Great food deserves to be appreciated, I don't want to pay attention to those hypocrites, they want to have manners and they also want to eat, no way!"

Ji Yun An smiled and said, "Some of them are Prime Minister Gao's disciples, of course they pay attention to their table manners. You should also pay attention to it."

Wei Qiyu glanced at Ji Yun An and said, "It's fine, that doesn't bother me. But you didn't eat much, ah, you can ask your brother-in-law to cook some for you, right? I think that shopkeeper was just lying, I know it talks time and effort to roast the whole lamb, but no way they can only roast one in a month! You guys must have it at home all the time!"

Ji Yun An glanced at Wei Qiyu and said, "You are overthinking. It is too extravagant, I won't ask Magistrate Lu to do it for me."

Wei Qiyu pouted and said, "Too extravagant? A lamb is worth one or two taels of silver. They just held an auction to attract more customers and find a better price! No wonder everyone keeps saying Boss Chen is a business genius, he is full of ideas to promote his business."

Ji Yun An smiled and said, "Mai's second brother is indeed very capable!"

Wei Qiyu looked at Ji Yun An and said with a worried face, "I heard your fiancée's big brother is a shrew, apparently he has once hunted a tiger, and Magistrate Lu is super hen-pecked and he listens to everything his wife says. Yun An, take care, all right?"

Ji Yun An helplessly said, "No, they are all lovely people! Mai's big brother is very nice and approachable, he once was a hunter because he needed to provide for the family."

......

The news that Chen Xiao Cai sold a Roast Whole Lamb for eighty taels of silver spread to the military camp.

Ji Yun An and Chen Xiao Mai were now engaged, which boost the relationship between the patrol camp and the county yamen. Chen Xiao Cai's business was flourishing, and the people patrolling the camp felt proud.

"Mr. Liu, Boss Chen is a business genius."

"To be honest, I think the fundamental reason is people from the capital city are too rich."

"Mr. Liu, I heard that Roast Whole Lamb is a rare delicacy in the human world."

"Mr. Liu, I heard the Roast Whole Lamb is even tastier than Imperial Cuisine."

Liu Yun looked at the soldier and said, "The way you said it made me feel like you have eaten imperial cuisine before."

The soldier smiled embarrassedly. He had never had the Imperial Cuisine before, he learned that saying from a young master on the street.

"Mr. Liu, when can we cook a Roast Whole Lamb?"

Liu Yun glanced at the soldier and said, "Do I look like I have eighty taels of silver? There isn't 80 taels of silver in our entire camp."

The soldier made a face and smiled embarrassedly, "I'm just joking with you."

Liu Yun frowned and thought to himself, 'More and more young masters are coming to Sha County recently, they say they are here for the peace negotiations. However, it looks like they have been indulging themselves in creature comforts.'.

"Mr. Liu, to be honest, 80 taels is just too much. Boss Chen is such a genius though!"

Liu Yun thought to himself, I don't think the genius here is Boss Chen, I think this is all Magistrate Lu's idea, Magistrate Lu is low-key so he gives all the credit to Boss Chen."

"The hot springs resort is so luxurious," a soldier chimed in.

The soldiers nodded in agreement. They felt that although Chen Xiao Cai made a lot of money, the hot springs resort was not the best investment.