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Shhh! There are civilians at the next table over!

Don't worry about them. I heard that lady speaking Victorian. I think they're foreigners. They don't understand what we're saying anyway.

(In perfect Yanese) <i>Laoban, diancan!</i>

'Red Silk Special,' 'Mala Tofu,' 'Soft Yellow Shells,' 'Autumn Casserole,' and 'Jade Surprise'...

...and that's all she ordered.

Is she trying to challenge us?

She seems very polite. She just looked at the menu and picked out these dishes. Didn't look like she was asking for trouble.

You think she might be that food critic, the one who wrote 'Baizao Cuisine & Food Culture'?

What kind of food critic comes in and orders nothing but tofu?!

Relax, chef, relax.

You know how things are going here, business-wise. The future of our restaurant hinges upon this very moment!

You have to do your best. The dishes must be flawless!

The Victorian woman pulls up a chair and two jugs of wine and sits at the table with the two mandarins of the Judicial Review Office.

She casually pours each a glass of wine; its rich, sweet aroma soon fills the table.

Please, drink and enjoy! This wine was meant for sharing!

Aiai, so what happened next? What became of the weirdo who threw the empty rice bowls?

Good lady, what you just heard was nothing more than idle diner's chatter.

Whatever you do, please do not share it with anyone else.

Huh? But you haven't finished the story yet. Where's the cliffhanger? Where's the 'stay tuned for the next episode'?

I am a mandarin of the Judicial Review Office, madam. I'm not a storyteller in the teahouse.

What a coincidence! I have a good friend who works there too.

And here I was, thinking everybody at the Judicial Review Office was stuffy, pretentious, and tight-lipped.

*cough* *cough* *ahem*...

Dear madam, have you come to Yan all by yourself? Are you here on vacation?

Let's not be so formal. My Yanese name is Huang, or <i>Blaze</i> in Victorian.

And yes... I guess you could say I'm here on vacation.

I haven't met many Victorians who speak Yanese as well as you do. Have you lived in Yan previously?

Haha. Actually, no. But I'm not a hundred percent Victorian. My father is Yanes—

Three rules, you say?

Yes, if you can't follow these rules, I won't be able to take you back to Baizao.

Okay, okay. Lay 'em on me.

First, be wary of strangers. Do not, of your own volition, take actions that are unnecessary.

What do you take me for? A three-year-old? I know that. What else?

Second, do not tell anyone that you are an Infected.

Do I really need you to tell me that?

Third...

Do not, under any circumstances, tell anyone about your father.

...Okay.

Blaze, you are an important witness in all of these major cases… as well as an important piece of evidence.

I need your cooperation, and in return, I will guarantee your safety.

What's that about your dad?

Errr... I'm here to visit some family... and I'm on vacation. Haha.

Well, madam, you came at the perfect time. The Feast of a Hundred Delicacies is about to begin! All Baizao's restaurants compete to serve the best dishes. This is the time of year when you can try the tastiest food!

Really? Do you have any Baizao delicacies you can recommend, or maybe a restaurant or two?

Baizao doesn't have any signature dishes, or 'Baizao delicacies', as you put it. Instead, you'll find that every single dish you eat in Baizao makes a delicacy.

Ah, that makes sense! I didn't make the connection until now that Baizao means <i>hundred stoves</i> in Victorian!

You know what they say, 'To the people, food is heaven.' Yes, the name 'Baizao', bestowed ages ago by the reigning True Lung, means to tend all cooking stoves under heaven.

Later, someone says 'Exquisite food demands meticulous preparation.' See, fine food doesn't just fill your stomach, it soothes your soul.

There are different dishes for every season and every region. The best chefs? They have a wealth of knowledge, and the power of the gods, at their fingertips.

Please. Let's eat. Enough fooling around with foreign tourists.

Order up!

Do you have some special fondness for tofu, or...?

Hmm? These are all tofu dishes? They have different names, so I had no idea.

Who would have thought that Yan had so many different kinds of tofu?

Whatever. There's more than enough tofu for everyone. We'll enjoy it all together. Isn't that the custom here in Yan, after all?

Alright, let's dig in!

What's this? I don't remember ordering a dessert...

Hmm?

Did you send out the food? Does she like it?

Actually, she didn't really eat much. She gave most of it away to the other customers.

Ugh...

Settle down. She might be feeling out the ambiance, you know.

Just calm down. Let's see what happens.

So what is this 'Feast of a Hundred Delicacies' you keep talking about?

You may speak fluent Yanese, madam, but there are clearly gaps in your knowledge of our culture.

The Feast of a Hundred Delicacies happens every year in Mid-Autumn, when the True Lung convenes meetings with mandarins at all levels to discuss state affairs.

If it's just a bunch of government meetings. Why is it called the Feast of a Hundred Delicacies?

Now, that has a beautiful origin story.

Many years ago, the True Lung at the time held a birthday banquet, and all the mandarins presented him with gifts, including all manner of rare treasures from all across Yan.

But there was one mandarin, a young Assistant Minister from the Ministry of Revenue, who gave the True Lung a bowl of 'Pearl Jade Soup'.

The True Lung lifted the lid off the bowl, only to find a clump of rotten cabbage leaves and a scant few grains of brown rice floating in some water.

The True Lung was enraged, demanding, 'What is the meaning of this?!' The Assistant Minister replied, 'There was a flood in Jiangqi this year, so we had a terrible harvest. What you see in the bowl here is what the peasants have been eating every day.'

Speaking up for what's right—that's what any good mandarin should do.

Still, doing it to the True Lung's face, on his birthday like that, takes some serious guts.

Yes. The surprising thing is, the True Lung did not punish the young mandarin—he praised him and ordered that all other mandarins follow his example in advocating for the people.

The True Lung ordered cuts to the court budget and used those funds for disaster relief. He built embankments to guard against future floods, and Jiangqi was saved.

Yes, and the following year, the mandarins presented the True Lung with a bowl of sumptuous 'Fortune Soup' to show him that the finneries were thriving.

*ahem*...

In summation, the annual banquet became a tradition, called the Feast of a Hundred Delicacies, held every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival.

And all restaurants in the city serve dishes from the traditional Hundred Delicacies menu, welcoming all the people to join in the celebration.

Oh. The Yanese really know food, don't they?

This little shop here is a great example. It may look ordinary, but it serves top notch eats! Just look how many different types of tofu they can make! Amazing!

Then again, these cakes here... they taste different to the ones I've had before, and not in a good way. I think something's not quite right with them.

Huh? Why's everyone gone silent?

Was it you?!

You're the one criticizing my food?!