Tsui Renxian accepted Bunraku's suggestion last year, and after returning to the Education Bureau, he actively submitted a proposal to the bureau to set up an admissions office, based on what he had discussed with Bunraku. It happened that the college entrance examination in seven or eight years was changed to spring enrollment, and the superiors also had this requirement, and the leaders of the county education bureau received Xu Renxian's suggestion, which can be said to be just the right time. Seeing this well-considered proposal, as soon as the members of the bureau committee discussed it, they approved Xu Renxian's appointment and became the temporary head of the county admissions office.

And the location of this admissions office is two empty houses that have been temporarily borrowed from the county party committee's guest house. Xu Renxian has been working here for nearly a year, and he has long been familiar with the people up and down in the guest house. Today, my son was going to entertain distinguished guests from Hong Kong, so he naturally found the chef here and asked him to help cook a large table of dishes. This large table has a total of eight cold cuts, eight stir-fried, four soups, and two whole stews. It seems that there are a lot of dishes, but it only costs 150 yuan. From Bunraku's point of view, if this is not more than 800 yuan after 2000, it will not be able to take this table of dishes at all.

After eight cold dishes were served, Xu Renxian opened a bottle of Moutai and poured a small glass for Hua Shanwei and Lin Zhilan. Wen Xiaomei saw that Xu Renxian really poured wine for her son, so she smiled and said reproachfully: "Renxian, how old is Lele, if he wants to drink, you can pour it for him." ”

Wenle hurriedly took a sip of wine and said, "Mom, this is the national liquor Moutai, Moutai national liquor, I haven't drunk it for many years, and you still don't let me drink it, it's too picky." So saying, he drank the small glass of wine.

After Wenle drank a glass of wine, he smacked his lips and said: "The national liquor Moutai, as expected, it is worthy of its reputation, come, Dad, what is it like to see what my mother is doing when you pour wine, just give me the wine bottle, and you can open another bottle." Really, it's a pity not to drink such a good wine. After speaking, he took the wine bottle from Xu Renxian's hand and poured another glass himself.

Wen Xiaomei saw it and blamed: "Xu Renxian, you really let your son drink, I don't remember how he stole his grandfather's wine and got drunk a few years ago, and you still handed him the wine bottle, do you want him to get drunk again." ”

As soon as Wen Xiaomei's words fell, she heard a voice say, "Xiaomei, who don't you want Renxian to drink?" ”

Everyone followed the sound and saw the director of the Education Bureau, Hong Zili, walking over with a smile. Xu Renxian hurriedly stood up and said, "Director Hong, you can also sit down and have two drinks together." ”

Hong Zili smiled and said, "No, Secretary Wang and County Magistrate Ye are still sitting there waiting." ”

Wenle hurriedly said: "Director Hong, there are only three of you, why don't you come to our table and drink together, and the more people drink, it will be more lively." ”

Xu Renxian saw that Hong Zili didn't know Wenle, so he introduced: "Director Hong, this is my son Wenle, I just let him drink, and I was told by Xiaomei." ”

Hong Zili smiled "haha" and said: "This is your precious son who doesn't want to live in the county, yo ho, and still holding a wine bottle, it's really like that." ”

Wenle touched his head embarrassedly and said, "Director Hong, you go and invite the secretary and the county magistrate over, I still have guests from Hong Kong, how nice it would be for everyone to have a drink together." ”

Hong Zili said: "Are your two bottles of wine enough?" Don't let the secretary and the county magistrate be unhappy. ”

Wenle said: "I asked my father to take a case of wine, do you say it is enough to drink?" He gestured to the crate of wine.

After Hong Zili looked at the wine, he smiled and said that he was going to ask the secretary and the county magistrate, and Xu Renxian hurriedly followed. After a while, the four of them walked over, and Wenle introduced him very kindly: "Secretary Wang, County Magistrate Ye, this is Mr. Hua Shanwei, the head of the Hong Kong Hua Consortium, this is his wife, Ms. Lin Zhilan, and this is their daughter Miss Hua Ziyu." Then, the county leaders were introduced to Hua Shanwei and others.

Wenle waited for them to shake hands, and after greetings, he diligently helped them put on the tableware, and after inviting them to sit down, he hurriedly poured them wine, and said: "Come, Hua Bo, Aunt Lan, Sister Ziyu, welcome to Qichang County as guests, Secretary Wang, County Magistrate Ye, Director Hong, let's have a drink together, Dad, Mom, you can come together." ”

Everyone raised their glasses and drank them all. Wenle and Xu Renxian hurriedly poured wine for everyone, just at this time the first hot dish was delivered, Wenle used a large soup spoon to Hua Shanwei, Lin Zhilan and Hua Ziyu, respectively, filled half a bowl, and said: "This dish is a special dish of Qi Chang, called Zhonghe Soup, don't look at the lack of heat coming out, if you don't pay attention, it will be easy to burn your mouth, you must be slow when eating." ”

Secretary Wang, County Magistrate Ye and Director Hong were probably interesting to watch Wenle, so Secretary Wang followed Wenle's words and said: "Lele, you know that this dish is called Zhonghe Soup, do you know its origin?" Tell us about it, too. ”

Wenle smiled and said, "Okay, I'll introduce them to Huabo." This Zhonghe soup is said to be in the Southern Song Dynasty, there was a person named Fang Yue in Qichang, who was an official in Boyang, Hongdu Province. There are three rivers in the territory of Boyang, which are divided into the East River, the Middle River, and the West River. At that time, his yamen was in Zhonghe, and this Zhonghe was Qichang County, and in the lower reaches of this Changjiang River, some people from his hometown often went to him for dinner. But because he was an honest official, he was shy in his wraps, so he went to the river to catch some small shrimp, bought a few pieces of tofu, cut a little diced bacon, and put them in one piece to cook into soup. Unexpectedly, the taste was particularly delicious, and over time, the recipe of this dish was brought back to Qichang, and it was called 'neutralizing soup'. The river, which used to be a river, has also been changed to the word "peace", which means harmony. Later, after continuous improvement, the method of this dish became more and more exquisite. Now in Qichang County, whether it is a big banquet or a small banquet, the first dish after the cold dishes must be neutralizing soup, which has also become a famous dish of Hui cuisine. ”

After listening to Bunraku's introduction to the origin of the soup, everyone couldn't help but applaud as a sign of encouragement. After Hua Shanwei, Lin Zhilan, and Hua Ziyu ate half a bowl, they also felt that it was very delicious, so they filled half a bowl by themselves and tasted it carefully. Wenle picked up his wine glass and said, "Secretary Wang, you and County Magistrate Ye are also distinguished guests, as the saying goes, it is better to meet by chance than to invite each other." I'll give you a drink, and I'm done. ”

Bunraku toasted with a drink, but his face did not change color and his heart did not beat. However, Wen Xiaomei held down Wenle's wine bottle and didn't let Wenle drink anymore. At this time, Hua Ziyu suddenly said, "Lele, this soup is too delicious." However, my Chinese is not very good, you just introduced the origin of this dish in Chinese, can you say it again in English? ”

Bunraku smiled and said, "No problem, you listen well." As he spoke, he explained the origin of "neutralizing soup" again in English.