CHAPTER 444: CHAPTER 249: SCAMMER (PART 7)

A big pot of Four Happiness Glutinous Rice, set the tone for the birthday feast.

Plenty to fill you up!

Although Master Jing said to let Gong Liang and the others have some dumplings to pad their stomachs first, as a top salesperson of the Silk Factory, Gong Liang naturally wouldn’t have the insensitivity to actually sit down and just eat on his own.

Gong Liang craned his neck to glance at the dumplings and asked strangely, "Aren’t the Four Happiness Glutinous Rice supposed to be of four different shapes? Why are all the ones in this pot round?"

Gong Liang said that even though he hadn’t eaten much Four Happiness Glutinous Rice, he’d seen pigs run if not pork, so he had a clear idea of what they generally looked like.

"Master didn’t have time to make them into four shapes, there’s a whole table of dishes to prepare," said Zheng Da, "Don’t worry, each one is delicious, especially the mixed fruit filling ones."

"You didn’t see it last night after you left, a whole 9 jin 4 liang of winter melon candy, all used to make the mixed fruit filling, it’s definitely tasty!" Zheng Da eagerly promoted the mixed fruit filling.

While Zheng Da and Gong Liang were discussing the dumplings, Qin Huai sneaked into the kitchen to watch Master Jing cook.

In the kitchen, there were only Jinglixiang and Huang Shengli left, with three pots simultaneously on the stove, one cooking fish soup, one simmering red-braised pork, and one steaming basket, which probably was steaming the Qianhua Gongdeng Buns.

The color of the fish soup was faintly white, not to the exaggerated extent of milk-white, but it was clear that it had been stewing for some time.

The red-braised pork was the purest form of red-braised pork, with seven parts lean and three parts fat pork belly cut into large pieces, where you could clearly see the layers of fat and lean meat. Jinglixiang turned the spatula, ensuring each piece of meat was evenly coated in sauce, making it look extremely enticing and attractive.

As the spatula turned, the pork belly pieces bumped against each other, bouncing slightly. Qin Huai watched from the side, his eyes fixed on the pork belly in the pot, practically salivating more with each look. Every time the pork collides, Qin Huai’s mind automatically adds a "Duang Duang" sound effect.

Duang～

It’s the collision of fat and fat!

It’s the blending of sauces and sauces!

It’s a symphony of flavors, a triumph for meat lovers!

Qin Huai knew of Jinglixiang’s high skills, whether from the admiration of Zheng Siyuan, or from the nostalgic words of old customers like Uncle Wang who missed the Crab Shell Cake, or from the endless praises by the direct disciples Zheng Da and Huang Shengli for their master.

Not to mention that Qin Huai had also touched Jinglixiang’s recipe, and really seen Jinglixiang’s pastry-making skills.

It’s utterly perfect, a master among masters, whether kneading dough or preparing filling, it’s flawless. Just the operation of cooking the filling in the Three Meat Buns video tutorial could take Qin Huai years to learn.

Possibly because Qin Huai had only seen Master Jing make pastries, even though he knew Huang Shengli was also a direct disciple of Master Jing, Qin Huai subconsciously still thought of Master Jing as a pastry chef, rather than a super hexagonal warrior skilled in both savory and sweet dishes.

Without seeing firsthand how amazing someone is, merely listening to others’ words is not enough to imagine just how impressive they are.

No matter how eloquent, how poetically exaggerated, how rich the adjectives, how fancy the words, none are as convincing as the pot of red-braised pork in front of him.

Too enticing.

This plate of red-braised pork is as perfect as the food that appears in TV commercials, as if it was born only with added lighting, filters, props, and painted colors, such an emblem, such standard, it’s textbook-worthy red-braised pork.

Want to eat.

But can’t eat.

Qin Huai just had to think about how he couldn’t eat it, but Gong Liang had really eaten it decades ago, and he felt even more envious.

The protagonist of a feel-good novel, sure, but eating that well too.

The red-braised pork was ready to be served.

"Master, should I bring the red-braised pork out now?" Huang Shengli asked, while handing over the freshly chopped vegetables and meat.

Qin Huai glanced at what Huang Shengli handed over, very familiar, cabbage and shredded meat.

Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat, which Qin Huai practically stir-fried a small half-bucket of every day as the best dish for practicing Fire Control.

Speaking of Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat, Qin Huai thought this dish was really magical.

Simply stir-fried cabbage, Qin Huai could do a decent job now. Simply stir-fried meat, Qin Huai wasn’t bad at it either.

But when combined, Qin Huai just couldn’t get it right.

Qin Huai couldn’t control the degree well, high heat made the cabbage tough, low heat made the meat uneven. Using a lot of oil made it greasy and unappetizing, being frugal and using a bit less made it too dry and not juicy enough.

Yet, Huang Shengli’s Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat was exceptionally delicious.

Every time Huang Shengli demonstrated it first, Qin Huai followed, making a theoretically edible Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat that would be turned into slop by comparison.

Even Dong Shi, who ate Qin Huai’s Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat every day, felt like he was going to vomit.

As for the plate that Huang Shengli demonstrated...

Qin Huai loved it, each time after Huang Shengli cooked, he would let Qin Huai taste the flavor for a feel, and Qin Huai would end up eating half a plate trying to find that feel. The remaining half a plate would be consumed in the continuous failures to find that feel, and then eliminated completely.

The more times he practiced Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat, Huang Shengli noticed Qin Huai loved eating it, and often added this dish to Qin Huai’s special employee meal stove, so Qin Huai could have Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat a few days, achieving freedom of Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat.

Now Qin Huai could confidently say, he might not be familiar with other dishes, but Stir-fried Cabbage and Meat, he’s too familiar.

Master Jing took the plate of vegetables, and said, "Wait a bit, the fish stew will be ready soon, let’s take them out together to save an extra trip."