Chapter 54: The Iron Wok

Chapter 54: Iron Pots

Early in the morning, Li Qi exchanged a few words with Wu Furong and stepped out alone. As for where he was going, he kept it entirely to himself, though Wu Furong was long accustomed to this.

Li Qi wandered around the city for a while, making sure no one was following him, before heading straight for the Wangchun Gate.

After passing through the Wangchun Gate and arriving at the eastern suburbs outside the city, he walked a few more li until he reached a blacksmith's shop. It was a wooden house of about forty square meters, with a crude shed erected in front. Under the shed stood a large forge next to a massive anvil.

At that moment, three men stood before the forge hammering away. One was a middle-aged man in his forties or fifties, and the other two were robust young men in their early twenties.

The three shared a strong resemblance, clearly a father and his two sons.

"Master Liu! Big Brother! Second Brother!" Li Qi stepped forward and greeted them.

"Master Li!"

Seeing Li Qi arrive, the three of them hurriedly dropped their work and came forward to welcome him.

Blacksmith Liu wiped his hands on the rag tied around his waist, bowed deeply to Li Qi, and asked, "Master Li, what brings you here today?"

"I happened to have some free time today, so I thought I'd drop by for a look," Li Qi said with a hearty laugh.

Blacksmith Liu gestured with an outstretched hand and said, "Master Li, please come inside."

Li Qi cupped his fists, smiled, and nodded. "Sorry to trouble you."

"You two keep watch here; I'm going inside to discuss something with Master Li," Blacksmith Liu instructed his two sons before inviting Li Qi into the house.

Upon entering, one could see various ironware and blacksmithing tools scattered everywhere. Iron shavings covered the floor, making the place look quite messy and cluttered. In the middle of the room sat a small wooden table and three wooden stools, apparently used for their daily meals, and a closed wooden door stood on the left.

After inviting Li Qi to sit down, Blacksmith Liu fetched a bowl, poured a cup of tea, and handed it over, saying, "Please have some tea, Master Li."

Looking at Blacksmith Liu's blackened, soot-stained hands, Li Qi felt a momentary wave of nausea. However, seeing the man's immense enthusiasm, he could not bear to rebuff the gesture. He accepted the tea, took only the smallest sip, and then asked, "Master Liu, how many have you finished making?"

Blacksmith Liu replied eagerly, "Thirty-two. Sixty-eight more to go."

To think that pure hand-crafting could achieve such a speed.

Li Qi nodded in satisfaction and asked, "How many more days will it take?"

Blacksmith Liu calculated mentally for a moment before answering, "Probably about twenty more days."

"Twenty more days?"

Li Qi frowned and pondered for a moment, then said, "Very well! By the way, where are the ones you've already completed? I'd like to take a look at them first, if that's convenient."

"Convenient, perfectly convenient. Please follow me, Master Li."

Blacksmith Liu stood up, led Li Qi to the closed wooden door, and pulled it open to reveal a large white cloth.

With a flick of his hand, Blacksmith Liu pulled back the white cloth, beneath which were stacked dozens of identical iron pots.

The pots were round, about a foot in diameter. In the very center of each pot stood a conical iron tube about ten centimeters high. The base of the pot was also made of iron—ten centimeters high, fifteen centimeters in diameter, similarly conical with a narrow top and wide bottom. The interior was hollow, featuring a round hole just large enough for a clenched fist to pass through.

Li Qi picked one up casually, examined it closely, and tapped it lightly with his hand. A crisp, clear metallic ringing filled the air.

After studying it for a while, Li Qi suddenly set the iron pot down, sighed, and shook his head.

"Master Li, did we do something wrong?" Blacksmith Liu asked, his face a mask of worry.

Li Qi was slightly startled, then smiled at the blacksmith and said, "No, it's very good. I am quite satisfied."

Though he said this, Li Qi was actually dissatisfied with many aspects of the pots. For instance, their weight far exceeded his expectations. However, given the technological limitations of the era, turning out work like this was already quite impressive. He had originally hoped to use copper as the material, but the imperial court had long since issued a ban on copper, and he dared not defy the government, leaving him no choice but to substitute iron.

Hearing this, Blacksmith Liu's worry vanished instantly, replaced by a broad smile.

Li Qi pulled several silver ingots from his tunic and handed them to the blacksmith. "Here are ten liang of silver; take this for now. Once everything is completed, I'll give you another twenty liang."

Blacksmith Liu hurriedly accepted the silver, his mouth splitting into a wide grin. This was already the second payment Li Qi had given him; starting with an initial ten liang, the total would come to forty liang. To Blacksmith Liu, this was an enormous fortune. How could he not cherish it? He nodded repeatedly and promised, "Rest assured, Master Li. My boys and I will finish forging these one hundred iron pots for you as quickly as possible."

Li Qi shook his head and said, "I'm not in a terribly rush right now. Quality is the most important thing—oh, I mean, take your time and craft them carefully."

"Ah, yes, yes, I understand," Blacksmith Liu nodded.

Li Qi nodded in return and cautioned, "Aside from you three, I don't want anyone else to know about this. And these iron pots... I don't want other people laying eyes on them either."

Li Qi had already made this clear on his very first visit, which was why Blacksmith Liu had covered the pots with a white cloth. The blacksmith nodded immediately. "Don't worry, Master Li. I know what to do."

"Very well! Carry on with your work, then. I'll be heading back."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Stepping out of the blacksmith's shop, Li Qi let out a long breath toward the sky.

Clearly, those iron pots were old-fashioned charcoal hot pots.

Hot pot!

This dish, brimming with distinctive Chinese characteristics, would become the crucial factor in determining whether the Drunken Immortal House could make a resounding opening splash, and it was a vital card in Li Qi's hand.

Although taverns in Bianjing during the Northern Song Dynasty already served hot pot during the winter months, it had not yet become widespread. The hot pot culture was still in its infancy, with monotonous flavors that completely missed the true essence of the dish.

Yet Li Qi, a master chef hailing from nine hundred years in the future, was intimately familiar with hot pot.

Chongqing spicy hot pot, Beijing mutton hot pot, Cantonese seafood hot pot—he knew how to make over a dozen nationally renowned hot pot styles, and his recipes were remarkably authentic. Beyond that, he was well-versed in famous foreign hot pot variants as well. He had originally wanted to emulate the Japanese paper hot pot, but unfortunately, he had no idea what materials were used to manufacture that specialized paper, so he had to abandon the idea.

The mere two words 'hot pot' encompassed hundreds of culinary variations, and its flexible nature could satisfy guests with a wide divergence of tastes simultaneously.

Yet this was not the primary reason Li Qi chose hot pot.

At present, Li Qi was the only one at the Drunken Immortal House who could be considered a qualified chef. The current skill levels of Wu Xiaoliu and the Zhu brothers amounted to little more than kitchen hands. In the past, Li Qi would never have allowed such low-skilled personnel into his domain, but he had to accept reality.

It wasn't that Li Qi hadn't considered recruiting outside chefs, but masters with exquisite culinary skills had long since been poached by other restaurants or wealthy gentry. Furthermore, he couldn't trust strangers—who knew if they might be spies sent by rival establishments?

If the culinary standards within a restaurant's kitchen team varied too wildly, failure was guaranteed.

That was why Li Qi chose hot pot.

Because preparing the hot pot base required very few people, he could handle it entirely by himself. This way, he could maintain effortless control over the entire kitchen.