Sizzle...
Royal jelly mixed with all manner of seasonings dripped from more than a dozen skewers of deer tongue, while clouds of warm, sweetly gamey vapor rose from the fruitwood charcoal below.
Ban He, a servant from YiHong Courtyard, covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief as he carefully turned the grill. Seeing that the deer tongues had crisped all over, he hurriedly picked up a dagger carved from a cow leg bone—because two servants, Mingyan and Qiu Wen, had successively committed the crime of murdering their masters in the residence, sharp-edged implements were now strictly controlled. Unless necessary, wooden, bamboo, or bone tools were generally used in front of the masters instead.
No matter how finely carved, bone was not as sharp as metal. After much effort, Ban He finally cut a slit in the deer tongues. Seeing that their color, aroma, and flavor were all just right, he turned and shouted, "Sao Hong, are the things ready? Even the turtles in our pond are quicker than you!"
"Coming, coming!"
Carrying half a bucket of steaming hot tea, Sao Hong ran out of the Small Kitchen at YiHong Courtyard in response. He rushed over in a few strides, grumbling nonstop, "I'm tending the fire at the stove. What the hell good does it do to keep rushing me?"
As he spoke, he set the bucket down before the grill and picked up a strange-looking object from beside it, plunging it into the half-bucket of tea.
It was a long handle topped with a round wooden board, exactly the same diameter as the inside of the bucket. Countless holes had been poked through the board. Once it was pressed down, the piled-up tea leaves were immediately crushed to the bottom.
The tea in the bucket had already been extremely