Du Chenfei had been a bladesman his entire life. Only, in the first half of his life, he wielded a blade to ki…
Du Chenfei had been a bladesman his entire life. Only, in the first half of his life, he wielded a blade to kill; in the latter half, he lifted a cleaver to cut meat.
In his early years, when he wielded a steel broadsword, his only passion, aside from roaming the jianghu and robbing the rich to aid the poor, was eating meat by the mouthful. Having never suffered a loss in close combat, he was ultimately felled by a cold arrow from Khitan cavalry.
After sleeping in a groggy daze for who knows how long, he suddenly caught a mouthwatering aroma of meat. Opening his eyes, he saw an old man walking by, carrying strips of meat. Seeing him awake, the old man handed him two slices of dried meat and explained everything.
It turned out this place was called Toilgrain Barn, the main provision camp in the Hutuo region. The old man, surnamed Zhang, had run a meat stall here for over twenty years, and everyone called him Old Man Zhang. With the Khitan invading southward recently, the camp had heightened its vigilance. While patrolling outside with the camp brethren, Old Man Zhang had stumbled upon the unconscious wanderer and hurriedly dragged him back.
As Du Chenfei listened, he stuffed the dried meat into his mouth. He had never tasted anything prepared this way before, finding its unique texture greatly revitalizing to his spirits. He leaped out of bed with a kip-up, declaring that he still had silver in his bundle robbed from corrupt officials, and begged Old Man Zhang to teach him the recipe.
The old man waved his hand at him, saying that if he truly wanted to learn, he wouldn't charge a single coin.
However, this Five Flavor Jerky was an exclusive secret recipe. To learn it, he must inherit the old man's meat stall right here.
Du Chenfei touched the blade at his waist, thinking of how he had just been ambushed by the Khitan invaders; this was a score that had to be settled. The old man seemed to see through his hesitation and thus made a pact with him.
"Young lad, if you use this blade to kill another hundred foreign invaders, would you be willing to come back and inherit my stall?"
The savory aroma in the air grew even richer, and Du Chenfei nodded his head again and again.
"Deal."