Chapter 00242: Red Oil
# Red Oil**
Chapter 242
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
**Chapter 242: Red Oil**
Li Shuang stood atop the watchtower, watching their retreating figures with a heavy heart.
Stay or leave? For anyone, this was a life-or-death gamble.
But he had already decided to stay.
What surprised him was that Li Zhi had also chosen to remain rather than take advantage of the chaos to flee Dunyu.
Elder Li was currently out on bail awaiting trial.
If he left Dunyu, the 150,000-tael bail would be forfeited—not a single coin would return to the Li family.
But the Li family didn’t care about this sum, and Li Shuang was certain Li Zhi didn’t either.
Li Shuang had always considered his uncle mediocre and impulsive, yet this time, his composure was unexpectedly steady.
It annoyed him.
If Li Zhi had fled, the Li family would have been left leaderless again, making it easy for him to take over.
Now, he would have to wait another month or so.
The situation in Dunyu changed by the hour, and he was growing impatient.
…
Night fell, and Ding Zuodong arrived at Hesu Tower.
Shan Youjun accompanied him.
Today, Dunyu was in chaos, and Ding Zuodong carried valuable contracts on him—he was afraid of being robbed.
Very few restaurants in the city were open for business today, but Hesu Tower was an exception.
From the cooks to the waiters, Ding Zuodong had promised them hefty bonuses.
Of course, the most important factor was that this restaurant now belonged to Young Master He.
Since the owner himself remained so calm, the servants had no choice but to settle down.
However, this time-honored establishment only had two tables of customers tonight—regulars and drunkards who would come as long as the sky hadn’t fallen.
As soon as Ding Zuodong entered, his nose twitched.
The air was filled with an indescribable, intoxicating aroma.
As a devoted lover of fried peanuts, he could detect the rich fragrance of oil, but what else was mixed in? The scent was so overpowering it seemed to claw its way into his lungs.
He beckoned a waiter over.
"Where’s the boss? And what’s cooking in the kitchen? It smells incredible!"
The waiter answered both questions in one sentence:
"The boss has been in the kitchen for two hours. He said he won’t see anyone except you."
Ding Zuodong and Shan Youjun exchanged surprised glances.
At such a critical moment, the boss had spent the entire afternoon in the kitchen?
His heart was truly big—outside, the world was practically turning upside down!
The two hurried to the kitchen but were stopped at the door by Mao Tao.
Ding Zuodong recognized him as He Lingchuan’s underling but hadn’t expected to find him sitting guard outside with a chair.
Luckily, Mao Tao also recognized Ding Zuodong and shouted inside, "Boss, Manager Ding is here!"
He Lingchuan’s voice came from the kitchen.
"Manager Ding, come in."
Only then did Mao Tao step aside.
Their curiosity now at its peak, the two entered and found the kitchen empty except for He Lingchuan.
"Boss, what are you…?"
The table was covered with bowls—at least twenty or thirty of them.
Fortunately, this was a large restaurant, so there was no shortage of dishes.
The bowls were filled with a deep, crimson liquid…
Ding Zuodong pointed.
"Wait, is this oil?"
He was certain the strange, alluring aroma was coming from these bowls.
But the liquid inside was a fiery red tinged with gold, giving off an almost aggressive aura.
He Lingchuan walked over.
"Yeah. How did things go today?"
He could smell the oil on himself, especially in his hair, which felt sticky.
At the mention of their success, Ding Zuodong’s wrinkles smoothed out in delight.
"We got it! Boss, we successfully acquired ‘Oil Tiger’!" He pulled out a stack of contracts from his sleeve and handed them over.
"I also managed to snag two shops and thirty acres of irrigated land—they were too cheap to pass up."
Shan Youjun peeked over.
"The famous ‘Oil Tiger’ brand?"
"Is there another one? Unless it’s a fake!" Ding Zuodong was unusually animated.
"Originally, ‘Oil Tiger’ was about to be sold to the Shu family, but I swooped in with an offer just ten taels higher! No matter what, I made sure to stay ten taels ahead. You should’ve seen that Shu bastard—his face turned purple with rage."
Years ago, the Shu family had framed him and kicked him out.
He had been stewing in resentment ever since, and today, he finally vented a little of it.
"He tried to outbid you?" He Lingchuan used a large ladle to scoop something from a boiling pot.
"Only once. I taunted him, and he stormed off in a huff."
The last time the Shu family steward had seen Ding Zuodong, he had looked down his nose at him and tossed him a string of coins to shoo him away.
Today, the same steward had been so furious he didn’t dare retort and could only leave in frustration.
The feeling of bullying the bully wasn’t just refreshing—it was downright exhilarating.
Once again, Ding Zuodong felt he had made the right choice in latching onto this powerful figure.
"Congratulations, Boss! The entire ‘Oil Tiger’ enterprise—over a dozen acres of land, five oil presses, and seven retail stores—now belongs to you!"
One of Dunyu’s major products was oil.
Peanut oil, rapeseed oil, and sesame oil were all exported far beyond the region, even sent as tribute to the capital.
"Oil Tiger" was a thirty-year-old local brand with its own farmland, ensuring quality control and earning widespread popularity.
It had always been one of Ding Zuodong’s top recommendations for acquisition, but until today, the owners had been hesitant, and even the Shu family couldn’t secure it.
"If not for today’s unique circumstances, I might not have succeeded."
"You’ve worked hard."
He Lingchuan poured the contents of the pot into a bowl, then ladled the fiery red oil over it.
"Here, try it."
The two stared blankly at the chopsticks He Lingchuan handed them, hesitating.
"Uh…?"
Young Master He didn’t strike them as the type who knew how to cook.
Was this a hidden talent?
Shan Youjun was bolder.
He picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, then some bean sprouts.
He stuffed them into his mouth, chewed, and then his jaw slowly stopped moving as his eyes widened in shock.
He Lingchuan couldn’t decipher his expression.
"Well?"
Before Shan Youjun could reply, he sneezed twice.
Thankfully, he remembered to turn his head first.
"Spicy! Cough, cough…" His face turned red as he struggled to speak.
He Lingchuan was prepared.
He handed him a cup of water with two ice shavings scraped from a branch outside.
"Drink this. It’ll help."
Shan Youjun gulped it down in one go and let out a long, relieved sigh.
Ah, salvation.
His reaction was so exaggerated that He Lingchuan grabbed another pair of chopsticks to taste it himself.
Hmm.
Not the best he’d ever had, but passable.
After all, he was just a foodie, not a chef.
"Old Ding, you try."
Wary after Shan Youjun’s reaction, Ding Zuodong reluctantly picked up his chopsticks at his boss’s insistence.
He wasn’t sure what he was eating, but the flavors exploded in his mouth.
Numbing, spicy, fragrant—each sensation took its turn before culminating in a burst of umami.
Huh?
Eh?
He Lingchuan grinned.
"Well?"
"I—I can’t describe it," Ding Zuodong stammered, uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
"What did I just eat?"
"Pork blood."
"Let me try again."
Ding Zuodong picked up another piece of meat.
Shan Youjun watched in disbelief.
"You don’t find it spicy?"
"The spicier, the better."
Red oil dripped from the corner of Ding Zuodong’s mouth, but he didn’t even notice.
"You’re not from around here—you wouldn’t understand!"
He Lingchuan already knew that people in southern Xiazhou loved spicy food.
The region even produced small chili peppers.
Seeing Ding Zuodong enjoy it so much, Shan Youjun couldn’t resist trying another bite.
Even though it burned his mouth and made him gasp, the flavor was strangely addictive—the spicier it was, the more he wanted.
The two of them kept eating, chopsticks flying, until the bowl was empty, leaving only the crimson oil behind.
When even the last bean sprout was gone, Ding Zuodong still fished around a few more times, reluctant to stop.
Shan Youjun, his throat on fire, ran outside to eat snow.
He Lingchuan tossed them two pieces of paper.
"Wipe your mouths."
"Disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful!" Ding Zuodong wiped his lips, leaving red stains on the paper.
"Sorry for the spectacle, Boss, but this stuff is delicious."
He scooped a ladle of water from the vat to drink, then grabbed another piece of paper.
The spiciness had cleared his sinuses.
He Lingchuan pointed at the red oil.
"Do you think people in Dunyu would like this?"
"Yes!" Ding Zuodong gave a thumbs-up.
"Absolutely, without a doubt."
Dunyu locals loved spicy food, but they had never experienced the combination of oil, spice, salt, and numbing heat.
Ding Zuodong was certain this flavor would make their souls tremble.
"Then I’ll leave this to you. Have Hesu Tower’s chefs develop dishes based on it. I’ll write down the recipe for you."
Ever since Ding Zuodong acquired this time-honored restaurant, He Lingchuan had been thinking about the *Compendium of a Hundred Fragrances* he obtained in the Panlong Dream.
Among its spice blends was a dedicated "numbing-spicy" recipe.
Besides, in his past life, he had eaten so much mala tang, maocai, skewers, and hot pot that the taste was seared into his memory.
The moment he recalled it, he couldn’t resist craving it.
So that afternoon, he had gathered spices from an herbal shop and started experimenting.
The result was… passable.
As the boss, his job was done here.
He couldn’t devote more time to this.
The rest was up to Ding Zuodong and Hesu Tower.
Ding Zuodong was thrilled.
"We have an herbal business, and now we have oil presses. Making this won’t be a problem. We’ll assign the recipe to a dedicated team to keep it secret—this’ll be Hesu Tower’s new signature dish!"
He Lingchuan chuckled.
"No matter how secret you keep it, it’ll leak eventually. Even if others don’t know the exact recipe, they’ll try to replicate it."
Red oil wasn’t that complicated.
Its mere existence would show others the way.
Ding Zuodong understood.
"We’ll keep it under wraps as long as we can."
As He Lingchuan washed his hands, Ding Zuodong added, "The Zhan family left. I heard they sold their remaining grain and land to the provincial government, including the farmland they had seized."
"Before we came to Dunyu, the Zhan family had already started selling assets, and half their people had moved away. Now they have even less reason to stay."
He Lingchuan wasn’t surprised.
"Plenty of others followed them, right?"
When a major family relocated, smaller nobles and commoners who wanted to leave would follow—partly out of herd mentality, partly for safety.
**(End of Chapter)**