Chapter 430 Letter

There are five dishes, and although there is no limit to the ingredients, there are not many restrictions on the cooking methods except that you have to make four dishes and one soup.

However, just satisfying the five virtues of faith, diligence, frugality, wisdom and righteousness is enough to cause people distress.

To use dishes to show fictional things, and human character, is a great test of the chef's skills.

It's not just the chef's culinary skills that count, but also his knowledge level and a deep understanding of these five virtues. After all, if one doesn't even understand these five virtues, how can one possibly cook dishes that reflect them?

Moreover, the order in which the dishes are served should be based on the order of these five virtues. The first dish should demonstrate "faith" and the last dish should demonstrate "righteousness."

Xu Qing walked slowly in the food warehouse, looking at the dazzling array of ingredients while thinking deeply.

What does "faith" mean?
In the literal sense, "faith" means to speak truthfully, without falsehood or concealment. This is one of the most important qualities of a human being.

For an emperor, "trustworthiness" does not only refer to personal honesty. In other words, a person who is too honest and naive cannot be a good emperor.

Therefore, the faith here should refer to consistency between words and actions.

The emperor is the supreme ruler and his words carry great weight. He must take responsibility for what he says. Only in this way can he establish his own authority and make his subjects trust him and be willing to follow him.

How can a person who is not even responsible for what he says be able to take on more important responsibilities? Not to mention the emperor who has placed the entire world on his shoulders.

Therefore, "faith" is a virtue for ordinary people. If you have it, you should encourage yourself; if you don't have it, you should improve yourself.

But for the emperor, "trust" is an important cornerstone for establishing the legitimacy of his rule.

An emperor without faith is looked down upon by ordinary people, let alone entrusted with their own affairs. Such an emperor is just a statue with an empty title, without any actual significance.

Therefore, "faith" is of great importance.

For example, the "setting up a tree to gain trust" of Shang Yang's reform in ancient times.

Shang Yang wanted to implement a new law, but he was afraid that people would not trust him, so he placed a piece of wood at the south gate of the city and said that he would reward ten gold coins to anyone who could move the wood to the north gate. But no one believed him. It was not until the reward was raised to fifty gold coins that someone came forward and moved the wood to the north gate. Shang Yang fulfilled his promise and gave him fifty gold coins. People began to trust Shang Yang.

The word "faith" itself has value.

The trust people give is sometimes emotion, sometimes money, and sometimes life.

Being willing to entrust your life and property to someone is a rare trust in the world.

And if you want all the people in the world to trust one person and entrust their lives and property to him, such trust is probably heavier than the heaven and the earth.

The "trust" that the emperor carries is something of such weight.

So, what kind of dishes and what ingredients should be chosen to express the important word "faith"?

Quantity, or you can say value, can be represented by choosing something valuable, such as extremely precious ingredients, which are so expensive that even dignitaries can only afford to eat them a few times. If you want to represent quantity, it is the most appropriate thing.

But no.

Since you are going to make four dishes and one soup, you cannot use ingredients that are too rare and expensive.

Among the common ingredients, which one has such a high weight? Which one represents the trust of the people of the world? Xu Qing walked back and forth, turning back and forth between the various ingredients for several times. His eyes turned from meat to vegetables, from mountain delicacies to seafood, and he looked through all the ingredients from heaven and earth.

Not only was he seeing with his eyes, but countless recipes from ancient times to the present flashed through his mind. Many classic dishes that had been praised by people and passed down for thousands of years appeared and disappeared before his eyes one by one.

However, he was still not satisfied with these.

I always feel like it's lacking some substance.

Something that can carry the trust of people all over the world should not be so light and fluffy. It should be more substantial, more important, more deeply rooted in people's hearts, and have unique representativeness.

The more he thought about it, the more distressed and annoyed he became. The options in his mind gradually dwindled, and he eliminated countless ingredients one by one.

Gradually, he couldn't help but doubt his own thoughts. Is there really such an ingredient in the world?

Perhaps it's not just the food storage here. Even if he searches the whole world, he won't be able to find food that satisfies him.

Maybe there is no such thing in the world.

Should he change his thinking and find a dish that is easier to prepare?

Do not……

Even if such a dish was cooked, it would never satisfy him, and it would not be the delicacy he desired most in his heart.

How can a dish that fails to satisfy himself satisfy the diners?

Xu Qing sighed softly, still unwilling to settle for second best, and continued to shuttle back and forth in the food warehouse, thinking as he walked.

Suddenly, a ray of bright light shone into his field of vision.

Xu Qing turned his head in surprise and saw a small hole in the wall. A ray of sunlight shone through the wall into the hole and happened to shine on the basket, making the rice grains sparkle and glow.

Xu Qing picked up the rice, feeling the rice grains slipping through his hands. Looking at the plump rice grains, he also thought of the drops of sweat of the hard-working people. Suddenly, his heart moved.

Yes, grains!
If there are really important ingredients in this world, which one can be more important than grains? And the ones that can represent the trust of all people are none other than grains.

After all, even if you don't eat vegetables or meat, you can survive as long as you have grains.

These are ingredients that carry the weight of people's lives. What other ingredients in the world are heavier than them?
The five grains usually refer to rice, millet, sorghum, wheat, and beans. In a broad sense, they can be said to be a general term for Chinese agricultural crops.

Rice is rice. Millet is commonly known as yellow rice. Millet is millet. Wheat refers to wheat. Beans are the general name of beans.

These are the five kinds of staple foods that people try. With the changes of the times, glutinous rice and millet have gradually withdrawn from the ranks of staple foods. Therefore, the staple foods that people generally refer to are mainly rice and wheat.

Food is the basis of human survival and the foundation of a country, so there is a saying of Jiangshan Sheji. The two words She refers to the god of earth and Ji refers to the god of grain. The two gods She and Ji carry all things and nurture the people. They are the foundation of a country and the basis of its politics. Therefore, She and Ji were later used to refer to the country.

The only food ingredients that can carry the weight of a country, that can represent the trust of the people, and whose weight can match the word "faith" are the five grains.

(End of this chapter)