As soon as the steamer lid was lifted, a cloud of white steam surged out along with waves of heat. When the steam cleared a little, the plump, soft, snow-white steamed buns came into view.
“Thank you for your hard work, masters. Please have a taste and see how they turn out.” Lin Wu used a pair of long chopsticks to give each person a steamed bun.
The buns were still hot to the touch, and the men blew on them before taking bites.
“These vegetarian buns are perfectly flavored!” one of the assistant cooks couldn’t help but praise. He had made vegetarian buns plenty of times himself, but had always felt the taste was rather ordinary—nothing like today’s, which were far more delicious. He had initially grumbled privately that such a simple filling wouldn’t amount to much, but now he was completely won over.
“What smells so good? What’s this?” Xiao Zhao, with his keen nose, caught the aroma and came bustling over, his eyes locked on the steamer with a gleam. “Oh my, ladies, breakfast is already ready? That was quick!”
“Brother Zhao, you’ve come just in time. The buns just came out of the steamer—try them while they’re hot.” Lin Wu handed him one as well, wrapping it in a broad leaf before passing it over.
Xiao Zhao took it and, unable to wait even despite the heat, blew on it twice and bit down hard on it, letting out little hisses as he chewed while mumbling praise: “Mm! Delicious! Sister Lin, your cooking is simply amazing!”
He wolfed down the bun in a few quick bites and reached out again, still wanting more: “Two more, please!”
“Sorry, Brother Zhao, that won’t do,” Lin Wu said with a smile and a shake of her head. “Each person gets either four buns, or two buns with a bowl of wontons. With so many of us, we have to ration the food and vegetables carefully.” This fixed allocation was the rule of the caravan, to make sure supplies lasted for the rest of the journey.
Xiao Zhao knew that well enough. He hesitated only a moment before saying, “Fine then! Give me four buns. These buns are hearty and filling. I can have wontons any other time.”
“What’s so great about vegetarian buns, anyway?” A guard who had just finished his shift came over, rubbing his shoulder, and scoffed at the remark. He turned to Lin Wu and said, “Sister-in-law, give me a bowl of hot wontons!”
“Coming right up, sir, just a moment please.” Lin Wu replied briskly, counting out a sufficient number of wontons and dropping them into the boiling pot. At the same time, she deftly took a large earthenware bowl, adding dried seaweed, dried shrimp, and a dab of sauce. When the wontons had bobbed up, fully cooked, she scooped them out with a strainer, dumped them into the bowl, sprinkled a pinch of chopped scallions on top, and ladled a generous scoop of piping-hot bone broth over them. The steam and fragrance spread through the air instantly.
“Here are your wontons. Mind the heat.”
The guard took the bowl and first took a careful sip of the broth. The warm, savory liquid went down smoothly, and he felt the morning chill melt away. He let out a satisfied sigh. “This broth is wonderfully fresh!”
Next, he bit into a wonton and praised again, “The filling is well seasoned too, and has a nice, chewy texture!”
“Since you say vegetarian buns aren’t all that interesting,” Xiao Zhao said, chewing on his own bun and eyeing the two buns sitting beside the guard, a grin spreading across his face, “Those two are mine, then, right? No sense wasting good food!”
“You little rascal, trying to skim off my share, are you?” the guard laughed, shaking his head in mock annoyance, but seeing Xiao Zhao’s cheeky expression, he got into the spirit of it. Without even finishing his wontons, he grabbed a bun and took a big bite.
As the bun touched his mouth, the skin was soft and slightly sweet, and the vegetarian filling inside turned out to be anything but bland. The vegetables were finely chopped, juicy, soaked in a mild aroma of oil—refreshing yet full of flavor. He chewed a few times, and before he knew it, his pace quickened.
Seeing his reaction, Xiao Zhao proudly waved his own bun in the air. “Pretty good, huh?”
After a few more bites to finish the bun, the guard finally had a free mouth to reply: “Not bad at all. You sure know what to pick.”
He smacked his lips and glanced at his bowl of wontons, then deliberately teased him, “What a shame. Such fresh wontons, but today you’ll just have to go without, Xiao Zhao!”
At that, Xiao Zhao’s eyes widened. “Slurpy stuff is only good for tasting—it doesn’t fill you up. You’d better watch out; halfway through the morning ride, all that broth will be sloshing in your belly, and you’ll be too hungry to keep going. My buns are the ones that truly hold you over.”
The two went back and forth, neither willing to concede, while both keeping their mouths busy—Xiao Zhao chomping down on his buns and the guard slurping up his wontons, eating with relish.
As more guards and workers woke up one after another, drawn by the aroma and the sounds of the playful banter, they gathered around.
The cooking area quickly grew lively, filled with the clamor of people picking up their food and digging in.
While busy cooking the wontons, Lin Wu took the opportunity to ask Xiao Zhao, who had just finished his buns and was about to head off to work: “Brother Zhao, should I prepare a separate portion for the master and the managers and have it delivered to them in advance?”
“Yes, yes! That’s a thoughtful idea, Sister Lin! Let me go check whether the master and the managers are up yet. You get everything ready in the meantime.” And with that, he dashed off.
When Xiao Zhao returned, Manager Zhang was trailing behind him, carrying an elegant multi-tiered food container.
Manager Zhang’s gaze swept across the orderly cook station and the workers eating with heads down, and his expression softened as he asked gently, “Can you handle the workload right now?”
“Absolutely!” the assistant cook called out. “The two female cooks you brought in have real skill. Everything’s running smoothly!”
Li Sanniang chimed in with a smile as well, “With everyone pitching in, it’s gone even more smoothly than we expected.”
Manager Zhang nodded upon hearing that. “Glad it’s all going smoothly.”
“What would you like to eat, Manager? We can have it ready right away,” Lin Wu asked in turn.
“Let’s take care of the master first,” Manager Zhang said, handing over the food container. “Prepare a bit of both vegetarian buns and wontons. The master doesn’t eat much, but we have a guest traveling with him this trip, so make enough for three.”
“Right away. The master’s portion was already set aside separately and has been staying warm on the stove.” Lin Wu took the food container.
She carefully picked out the best-looking buns, filled the cooked wontons neatly into the bowls, and packed everything to the brim.
After securing the food container, Manager Zhang quickly took his leave from the bustling cooking area.
Inside the carriage, Fang Qian was looking out through the window at the camp coming to life and smiled as he saw Manager Zhang enter. “It sounds quite lively out there.”
“Yes. This morning, Cook Lin oversaw breakfast and made vegetarian buns and wontons. The workers were eating happily.” As Manager Zhang replied, he took out the bowls and dishes from the food container and arranged them neatly on the small table inside the carriage.
He had just finished setting things up when the carriage curtain was pulled aside.
“Seems I’ve arrived just in time.” The newcomer appeared to be around fifty years old, wearing a worn, dark-blue robe of thick fabric with no ornamentation. His hair was neatly tucked beneath a cloth cap, and his face was gaunt with slightly prominent cheekbones.
“Uncle Qin,” Fang Qian said, cupping his hands in a respectful greeting, “did you rest well last night? Breakfast just arrived. Traveling on the road, it’s only simple fare. Please forgive us for the poor hospitality, and don’t mind it.”
“It’s only a journey of seven or eight days, and you even brought along a personal cook. Only the Fang family would be this particular,” Qin Xiaoshan said with a chuckle as he climbed into the carriage. “This trip, this old man is just tagging along thanks to your kindness. I’m the one adding trouble to your load.”
Fang Qian shifted aside to make room. “You jest, Uncle. The goods are secondary on this journey. Seeing you safely to Lingzhou is my most important errand. If the hospitality along the way is lacking in even the slightest way, I fear Uncle Shen would shut the door in my face.”
This trip to Lingzhou was, in fact, a special visit to pay his respects to his uncle by marriage, Shen Zhongming. The Fang and Shen families were bound not only by marriage but also by a business partnership that depended on each other like lips and teeth—their connection was anything but ordinary.
Qin Xiaoshan was an old acquaintance of Shen Zhongming. The caravan had deliberately lingered an extra few days in Wucang County just to pick him up and bring him along. He ran a sizable warehouse on the west side of Wucang County, and upon hearing that his former superior from over a decade ago had arrived in Lingzhou, he'd felt the urge to pay a visit. It so happened that his route aligned with the Fang family's caravan.
Qin Xiaoshan glanced at the food laid out on the low table—substantial steamed buns, steaming wonton soup that looked hearty enough to whet any appetite. "Bread and soup both—thoughtful, truly thoughtful," he remarked.
The moment he spoke, an old servant following him quickly opened a food box and brought out a clay pot, setting it on the table before gently lifting the lid. Inside was a porridge stewed until it had nearly turned into a paste, with the faint aroma of medicinal herbs wafting up. This porridge had been simmering over a gentle water bath since before they set out yesterday, kept warm through the night.
"My master has a weak spleen and stomach; he can't handle the coarseness of ordinary fare," the old servant explained quietly, placing the bowl in front of Qin Xiaoshan. "He can only take things soft and mushy like this."
In his early years, Qin Xiaoshan had marched through campaigns, eating irregularly—sometimes starving, sometimes gorging—and later in life, he'd worn himself out at his desk. His spleen and stomach had never recovered.
"That was an oversight on my part," Fang Qian said, his tone apologetic. "I should have told the cook in advance to prepare some lighter, easier-to-digest dishes for you, Uncle."
But Qin Xiaoshan waved a hand dismissively. "No need for fuss. I'm not so delicate. At home I'm coddled enough—can't I loosen up a bit once I'm on the road?"
With that, he ignored the porridge entirely and reached directly for a steamed bun. Its unexpectedly soft texture caught him by surprise. "This bun is remarkably soft."
He took a bite. "Not bad, not bad! Vegetarian filling too—just what I like."
He usually steered clear of greasy foods, and even the common vegetarian fillings often contained dried fruits and nuts like persimmons, walnuts, or lily bulbs, which were hard on his digestion. But this filling was made only of finely chopped cabbage, wood ear mushrooms, turnips, and egg, all minced to a delicate consistency, steamed until tender, with a light seasoning that was none the less perfectly balanced. It had an almost rustic simplicity, and it went down without any strain.
"As long as it suits your appetite, Uncle," Fang Qian said, picking up a bun himself.
Qin Xiaoshan polished off two buns in a row before slowing down and chuckling. "You'll have to excuse me, nephew. I must look like some clueless old glutton. But the Fang family truly has deep pockets—even the food on the road is this refined. The flavor is genuinely excellent."
He looked thoroughly satisfied, ease and contentment showing in his expression.
"Uncle, you flatter me," Fang Qian replied. "The cook is just someone we hired temporarily in Wucang County—we got lucky to find someone with such skillful hands."
At that, Qin Xiaoshan's voice lifted half a notch with interest. "Oh? A temporary cook from Wucang County? If the timing works out and she'd be agreeable, it'd be something of a windfall to bring her into our warehouse's kitchen."
As he spoke, he scooped up a spoonful of wonton broth. The soup was clear, yet the taste was fresh and mellow, warm and soothing on the stomach first thing in the morning. The thought of recruiting her took root even more firmly in his mind.
"It's only the first day, Uncle, and you're already eyeing my cook?" Fang Qian shook his head with a smile, though there was no ill will in his tone. "That said, I hear her background is a bit fraught. If she could land some support from the Qin family warehouse down the road, that might turn out to be a stroke of fortune for her."
"Seems like this trip of mine has truly been worth it—getting to eat my fill and take something home besides." Qin Xiaoshan laughed.
