Chapter 347: The real dragon in the water is not as good as the fish, and the phoenix in the sky is also jealous of the sparrow
The night is quiet and the cooking fire is lit.
Li Daoxuan rolled up his sleeves, lit a bonfire, and started cooking.
He picked out a pheasant from the Sanjie Gourd , then skillfully plucked the feathers, bled it, removed the internal organs, sprinkled it with salt and seasonings, then wrapped it in lotus leaves, evenly spread mud on the outside, and baked it on the charcoal.
In addition, he also roasted some lamb and pork.
As for the soup, it was water shield soup.
Water shield is a wild vegetable that the Tang people loved very much. Water shield soup is fragrant and refreshing, with a slightly sweet aftertaste, and is a home-cooked dish.
An hour later.
The fragrance had filled the entire courtyard, even the rich floral scent was covered by the aroma of meat.
Cha Cha's mouth was drooling as she stared at the barbecue in Li Daoxuan's hand, completely forgetting that she was a vegetarian green tea spirit.
Taizhen looked at Li Daoxuan's serious expression under the flickering firelight and smiled slightly. She felt that this junior brother was becoming more and more interesting.
She originally thought that her junior brother would at most take out some ready-made food from the storage device, but she never imagined that her junior brother could actually cook and seemed to have good cooking skills.
At this moment, Li Daoxuan lacked some of the otherworldly air of a Taoist monk, and instead had more of the worldly air that she appreciated more.
"To be honest, Miss Zhuge, I actually love delicious food. Unfortunately, after entering the state of fasting, I can only eat wind and drink dew, take medicine and practice Qi. It has been a long time since I have cooked delicious food with my own hands."
After a pause, Li Daoxuan looked at Taizhen who was reading a book and said, "Miss Zhuge, you are also in the Bigu realm now. Don't you know the dangers?"
Taizhen put down the book, looked carefree, and said with a smile: "My ambition is not to cultivate the Tao, but to live a carefree and happy life, and to indulge in the world."
After a pause, she looked up at the moon in the sky and sighed, "Even if you cultivate to the point where you shine as brightly as the sun and the moon, what's the point if you can't be happy?"
"A real dragon in the water is not necessarily happier than a swimming fish, and a phoenix in the sky may not be as carefree as a sparrow. In the three thousand worlds and the vast universe, I only seek the happiness of the present moment."
When saying these words, Li Daoxuan discovered that there was a hint of inexplicable emotion in the other person's eyes. The emotions were very complicated, as if he was indifferent, yet also as if he was disappointed, which made him unable to see clearly for a moment.
“The joy of the present moment?”
Li Daoxuan frowned slightly. Compared with longevity, is the joy of the moment so important?
Taizhen smiled and said, "The joy of the moment is to taste your cooking skills, Master Li!"
Li Daoxuan was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "Just right, it's already cooked."
The three of them ate barbecue first. Because it was seasoned with many spices, the taste was naturally delicious, and Cha Cha's mouth was full of oil after eating.
Taizhen accepted everything and ate a lot. Her movements were not elegant, but not as rude as Chacha's. Instead, she was free and easy, neither restrained nor rough, making people feel more approachable.
After eating the barbecue, Li Daoxuan took out the beggar's chicken from the charcoal fire, broke the yellow mud on the outside, opened the lotus leaf, revealing the golden and juicy chicken inside, and the rich aroma immediately spread out.
This approach made Taizhen very interested.
The recipe of beggar's chicken did not exist in the Tang Dynasty, so the well-read Taizhen had never heard of it.
When she tasted a piece of chicken, her eyes lit up slightly and she exclaimed: "The meat is delicious, and there is a hint of the fragrance of lotus leaves and soil, not bad!"
She was so excited that she even asked Cha Cha to take out a pen and paper to write down the recipe of Beggar's Chicken.
Li Daoxuan asked in surprise: "Miss Zhuge, are you making a recipe?"
There are many recipes for dishes recorded on it.
Taizhen smiled and said, "I'm not afraid of being laughed at by the real person. Apart from not liking cultivation, I like poetry, wine, flowers, tea, chess, calligraphy and painting. What I like most is writing. In addition to this recipe, I also like to write some vernacular novels to entertain myself."
After a pause, she said, "Even if I die one day, after reincarnation, I can still taste the food on the recipe and see the writings of the past. Isn't that a wonderful thing in life?"
Li Daoxuan couldn't help but feel a little admiration when he saw her chatting and laughing without caring about life and death, and being so carefree and unrestrained.
Although this woman had average talent and plain looks, she had extraordinary conversation and an elegant temperament, like a hermit in the bamboo forest of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, who was unrestrained and uninhibited, not bound by worldly etiquette, and lived in seclusion in the Nanshan Mountains, happy and self-sufficient. She could be called a remarkable person.
After eating, Taizhen washed her hands with clean water. Her slender, snow-white, jade-like fingers were soaked in the morning dew from the flowers and soon became clean and spotless.
She touched Cha Cha's head, wiped her hands, and said with a smile: "There is no wine today. Master Li, come again next time. The Hundred Flowers Drunk in my cellar should be ready for drinking. I will treat you to a drink then."
"No need to call each other real people anymore, we can just call each other friends."
Although this woman named Zhuge Qing was not very skilled in Taoism, her charm impressed Li Daoxuan and he was willing to make friends with her.
"In that case, I won't be polite, Brother Li."
Taizhen bowed gracefully and said with a smile, "Brother Li is indeed very patient. He has not asked me for any clues about the missing eye case until now."
Li Daoxuan returned the greeting and said, "I believe Miss Zhuge is not someone who breaks her promise."
Taizhen smiled and said, "Brother Li, there is no need to provoke me. I will tell you."
After a pause, she said, "Actually, I don't know the specific clues. Everything is just my speculation. Brother Li, please listen to it. I am also just giving my opinion."
"I would like to hear the details."
Taizhen suddenly asked, "Brother Li, what do you think is the most crucial information in the missing eye case?"
Li Daoxuan thought for a moment and said, "What was the murderer's intention?"
Why did the murderer insist on digging out people's eyes? Was he practicing some evil magic, or was he hiding some other secret?
Taizhen shook her head and said, "Otherwise, I thought it was those eyes."
"Eye?"
Li Daoxuan was stunned, and then a glimmer of inspiration seemed to emerge in his mind, but he could not grasp it.
"Brother Li is actually very smart, but you have become accustomed to relying on strength to act with your profound Taoism. In fact, sometimes, you don't need to master Taoism to unravel the mystery and find the key."
Taizhen said meaningfully: "Those eyes are not ordinary eyes."
Li Daoxuan suddenly had an idea and he realized that he had overlooked a very important clue!
Wang Bo once told him that those who had their eyes gouged out were all born with Yin-Yang eyes. His first reaction at the time was to guess the murderer's intention and wonder why the other party gouged out his Yin-Yang eyes, but he forgot one thing.
That is the huge city of Chang'an, with a population of hundreds of thousands. How could the murderer accurately find those people who were born with clairvoyant eyes?
"Brother Li, it seems you finally figured it out."
Tai Zhen smiled and said, " Chang'an is different from other places. It is the imperial capital and is protected by dragon energy. So it is unlikely that the other party used magical powers to find those people. It is very likely that they used secular means."
Li Daoxuan's mind suddenly opened up and his thoughts flowed like a spring.
"I understand, but Chang'an City is so big, and the people are so numerous, that ordinary intelligence organizations would never be able to do this."
"If you want to accurately find the target among hundreds of thousands of people, you need precise birth dates. And throughout the entire Chang'an City, there is only one place that has this ability!"
Two words flashed through Li Daoxuan's mind.
Ministry of Revenue!
Every person in Chang'an city must be naturalized after birth, and their date of birth and place of origin are kept in the Ministry of Households. Through these, it is possible to infer who is born with the ability to see Yin and Yang.
Therefore, the murderer in the missing case must have an inseparable connection with the Ministry of Revenue!
