Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Among the customers present, the best at the Chinese language was Ling Hong. And thus, he was the first to react.
He had been visiting this restaurant regularly for almost a year now. Ling Hong had long been used to the type of ingredients Yuan Zhou would use. Therefore, the jujube scented water, the Bobai longan, and so on were all ingredients that did not give him as much a shock. But the final ingredient was still too excessive for him.
“Boss Yuan, is your Hui Spring’s water the same Hui Spring’s water that I know of?” Ling Hong reconfirmed.
“Is there more than one Hui Spring’s water in our country?” Yuan Zhou countered with a question.
Ling Hong immediately replied, “Cough, cough, but isn’t the Hui Spring’s water for tea?”
It was inevitable that Ling Hong knew about this. After all, when a wealthy person grew old, he would fall in love with either teas or antiques. Coincidentally, his grandfather was a tea lover. He did not even mention to his grandfather that Yuan Zhou cooked his Herbal Tea Eggs with Keemun Black Tea. Otherwise, his grandfather would probably tear this restaurant down.
After all, his grandfather was still quite strong physically. Just last year, his grandfather tore a Nokia mobile phone apart in a rage after losing a mobile snake game.
And when one talked about tea, one could not avoid talking about the water used. The water his grandfather used to make tea was specifically imported from the Hui Spring. Now, Yuan Zhou was using the water from Hui Spring to soak the longans? Ling Hong could imagine how furious his grandfather would be if he knew.
“Um, the water quality of Hui Spring is good. It is indeed suited to make tea,” Yuan Zhou agreed with a nod. “But it is even more suited to soak longans.”
He sounded like he was speaking perfect sense. Ling Hong was smiling, but inwardly, he wasn’t smiling. Lu Yu, the Saint of Teas had classified 20 sources of spring water as the best in the country, with Lushan’s Gulian Spring as the number one source, while the Hui Spring was the number two source.
In terms of making tea, the Hui Spring’s water was indeed somewhat lacking compared to Gulian Spring’s water. But what kind of joke was it saying it was more suitable to soak longans in? If Yuan Zhou’s words were heard by others, he would be beaten to death.
“Boss Yuan is indeed an eccentric,” Ling Hong stood up and solemnly declared.
If it wasn’t for the fact that Ling Hong was looking at Yuan Zhou with such an odd gaze, this declaration would seem even more sincere. In truth, Ling Hong was comparing Yuan Zhou and his grandfather inwardly.
“Of course,” Yuan Zhou accepted the remark as praise and resumed cooking, leaving behind a group of astonished customers.
Yuan Zhou saw himself as leaving immediately after “acting cool”, so he was feeling very satisfied.
As for Ling Hong, it was unknown what he was thinking now, but he was no longer saying anything.
“Well, now I know why the Longan and Red Jujube Tea is so expensive,” remarked the customer who asked the question blankly.
“I don’t know about Hui Spring, but I do know about Cangzhou’s golden-threaded jujubes,” said the customer.
“Cangzhou is located within Hebei, and the jujubes there are very popular. It was said that when one tears the skin apart, one will be able to see the fruit within surrounded by golden threads. A thread can be pulled to a length of about one or two inches before it breaks. Check and see if that’s the case for your jujubes,” said the customer to Yin Ya. This person was a visitor that had arrived from Cangzhou after hearing Yuan Zhou’s reputation, a perfect example of a leisurely rich person.
Clink! Yin Ya scooped up a jujube with her spoon and started studying it. She even took a bite at it.
“That’s really the case,” before Yin Ya could say anything, Tang Xi nodded and said.
“Even if a lot of people are trying to plant these jujubes with golden threads, those truly with golden threads are very rare. At the very least, I have never seen one,” sighed the customer.
The customer sighed, and his tone sounded somewhat downcast.
The jujubes became famous due to their golden threads, yet it was also because there were too many fake golden-threaded jujubes, its reputation suffered. It was no wonder that this customer who was a local to Cangzhou would feel downcast.
“Don’t worry. Boss Yuan has always used authentic ingredients,” Tang Xi comforted.
“Yeah, Boss Yuan’s place is the few places you can actually eat authentic foods,” said the customer with a nod. It was quite interesting that as a local of Cangzhou, he still needed to visit Chengdu to eat some authentic golden-threaded jujubes.
It was the same concept as the “Buying Maotai Liquor at France instead of Guizhou” saying on the Internet.
Now that they were talking about the ingredients used in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant, the customers started chatting without a stop.
When talking about ingredients, one would not be able to avoid talking about the ingredients picture album compiled by Yuan Zhou. And thus, in the restaurant, the customers started seriously talking about ingredients while Yuan Zhou was seriously cooking.
After all, there were still 10 minutes left for lunchtime.
Right at this moment, the system that Yuan Zhou had provoked last night suddenly spoke.
The system displayed, “A main mission has been activated. Do you accept it?”
“Um?” Yuan Zhou was curious but his expression did not change. Calmly, he sprinkled the condiments he was holding and only after he was done with the dish, he asked.
“Main mission?” Yuan Zhou’s voice was filled with doubt. After all, after the previous main mission, he had been issued many side missions and hidden missions. It had been quite a while since he had seen a main mission.
The system displayed, “Yes. Do you accept the mission?”
“It is so rare to see you so polite. I can’t get used to this at all,” Yuan Zhou took the opportunity and teased while Zhou Jia was away picking up orders.
The system displayed, “Little comrade, your current line of thought is very dangerous.”
“Cough, cough.” The sudden shift of the system’s tone caused Yuan Zhou to nearly choke on himself. Fortunately, he was able to stop himself from coughing, at the cost of nearly injuring his waist.
Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou’s face was still flushed red right now. The tiny part of his face that was not covered by the mask was also red. He immediately turned around and faced the customers with his back.
“System, have you been short-circuited? What do you mean by little comrade?” Yuan Zhou was so shocked he started speaking with Yang Shuxin’s northeast accent.
The system displayed, “I’m calling you this based on your requirement to call you something that sounds younger, host.”
The system displayed, “Little comrade, please take the party entrance examination and accept the mission.”
“Please don’t talk like that. I will accept the mission. If this continues, I will be forced to memorize the 24 tenets of socialism,” Yuan Zhou said as he palmed his head.
The system displayed, “The mission has been released and is now available to be checked.”
And then, the system went radio silence again. Of course, due to the new way the system was calling Yuan Zhou now, this radio silence caused Yuan Zhou to heave a sigh of relief.
“I feel like the system only comes out to create trouble,” Yuan Zhou sighed and continued cooking.
After lunchtime was over and the customers and Zhou Jia left, Yuan Zhou leisurely opened the new mission.
[Main mission] Become the next Sichuan Cuisine Exemplary Restaurant, becoming the new Sichuan Cuisine headquarters
(Mission tips: The yearly Sichuan Cuisine Exemplary Restaurant appraisal is starting soon. As the future master chef, little comrade, you have to seize onto this glory. As the great successor of the party, the glory belongs to you.)
[Mission reward] Sichuan Cuisine of the eight famous regional cuisines
(Reward tips: Based on this system’s assessment, a mid-tier chef must not lack a complete set of cuisine. Therefore, complete the mission, little comrade. After completion, you shall become the master of Sichuan Cuisine.)
