Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
On the other side, Zhou Shijie and the other judges had started to discuss the evaluations of the restaurant, Chengdu Cuisine, just now. Yuan Zhou was quite confident in himself, but he wasn’t conceited at all, so he still paid close attention to his competitors. Therefore, he immediately took up his phone and entered the official website to check the updated information after lunchtime ended.
“The main courses are Yuxiang Shredded Pork and Kung Pao Chicken. They all enjoy great popularity.” There was still a word that Yuan Zhou didn’t say out. They were indeed not spicy and tasted moderate.
“This head chef is quite awesome.” Yuan Zhou commented.
For the head chefs of Chengdu Cuisine, the Crisp Fried Peanut could best reflect their culinary skills. First, pour a small amount of cooking oil and stir-fry the peanuts until the intrinsic grease came out of the peanuts. When the peanuts were 1/3 well cooked, use another frying pan and stir-fry the chicken breast and the remaining side dishes. When everything was ready, wave the two pans at the same time to blend the two types of side dishes in the air and then let them fall into one pan.
At that moment, the peanuts were the most fragrant and crispest while the chicken meat was also soft and tender with a golden-brown color. After they blended together, each absorbed the fragrance of the other and the mixed taste was then perfectly wrapped in the sauce, which would form the perfect Kung Pao Chicken.
As a matter of fact, the peanuts were only a side dish in the Kung Pao Chicken. But if Yuan Zhou cooked it personally, he would also pay close attention to the peanuts.
The general practice was to use crisp peanuts deep-fried in oil directly and then pour them into the chicken to stir-fry. But actually, there was a drawback.
If the stir-frying was too short, the fragrance of the peanuts couldn’t penetrate the meat. But if too long, the peanuts would be overcooked and become dry losing the crisp feeling. So it worked perfectly to replace the deep-frying with stir-frying.
While watching the video, Yuan Zhou gesticulated with his hands and feet and thought about how to cook it in his mind. When the head chef’s Kung Pao Chicken was served, his was also served in his imagination.
He picked up a peanut into his mouth with the chopsticks and then ate a mouthful of chicken breast. There was the tenderness of the chicken meat as well as the crispness of the peanuts in his mouth. Having been stimulated by the dish cooked in his imagination, Yuan Zhou straightforwardly drooled.
“Little Boss Yuan.”
A sound awakened Yuan Zhou who was drooling. Yuan Zhou wiped clean his saliva outside his mouth with lightning speed and raised his head with a solemn expression. He looked carefully and found it was the old granny, who sold Mantou and soybean milk at the door, that hadn’t appeared in a long time.
“What’s the matter, granny?” Yuan Zhou asked.
“What kind of delicious food did you think of, Little Boss Yuan? Look at you. You are even drooling,” the granny asked smilingly.
“Um? What did you say, granny? What did you see just now?” One corner of Yuan Zhou’s mouth twitched.
“Here’s what happened. When Little Jiang went to the hospital to visit me, I heard from him that you are endeavoring to be the No. 1 restaurant in Sichuan Province. So I went to the Shangqing Taoist Temple on Mount Qingcheng to pray for your success in this appraisal.”
“Shangqing Taoist Temple?” Yuan Zhou suddenly became nervous and blurted out, “Granny, it will be quite tiring to go that far?”
“Never mind. I walk very slowly. It’s okay.” The granny took out a Success Fu1 from her pocket smilingly. It read, “Win success immediately upon arrival.”
Yuan Zhou took it in his hand and felt it was very heavy. Though there were cable cars on Mount Qingcheng, she still needed to walk for a long distance to get to Shangqing Taoist Temple. Yuan Zhou had once been there by cable car, but even so, he was still breathless due to the fatigue.
The granny was so old. And besides, the cable car charged 40RMB for going up and 30RMB for coming down. Yuan Zhou really didn’t think the granny would spend the money, so…
“Hoo…” Yuan Zhou exhaled a heavy breath while he was holding the Success Fu and looking at the granny. As a matter of fact, the granny didn’t know what Yuan Zhou was striving for. Precisely speaking, she failed to understand what kind of activity it was. What she understood was that this activity was very important to Yuan Zhou, so she just wanted to help Yuan Zhou in her own way.
“I heard that the Success Fu’s in Shangqing Taoist Temple on Mount Qingcheng are very effective,” said Yuan Zhou, “With this Success Fu that reads ‘Win success immediately upon arrival.’, I can definitely get No. 1.”
“It’s absolutely very effective, absolutely. I heard from others that it is quite effective.” On hearing Yuan Zhou’s answer, the old granny smiled happily.
Yuan Zhou made up his mind inwardly, but on the surface, he still appeared composed and indifferent.
“Thank you,” Yuan Zhou said gratefully and earnestly.
“You are welcome. I’m leaving first. It’s time for you to practice sculpting.” The granny turned around and then left after she said that, even before Yuan Zhou had time to answer her.
Yuan Zhou stayed put and watched the old granny walk far. Only then did he put away the Success Fu in his innermost pocket and sit down.
Yu Chu’s driving skill was very good and he knew the route, so he took only half an hour before they arrived at the parking lot at the street corner of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
They parked the car and began to run to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Neither of them said anything on the way there. Wu Hai was trying to get another two bottles of mulberry jam with the work he had done while Yu Chu was thinking what to say later, bluntly or by dropping hints. So he didn’t say anything, either.
“Ta Ta Ta”. The two of them walked rapidly all the way and then, they caught sight of Yuan Zhou who was seated at the door, preparing to sculpt
That’s right. Yuan Zhou always sculpted in the afternoon if there weren’t any emergencies.
“Hi, Boss Yuan. We are back,” Wu Hai shouted loudly.
“Um.” Yuan Zhou raised his head and answered calmly, though he didn’t really know where they had gone and what they had done. He was a little puzzled.
“We’ve been snooping around. Should I get a few more bottles of the jam as a reward?” Wu Hai touched his small mustache and said earnestly.
“Everyone has a fixed quantity. None of you can ask more than that,” Yuan Zhou said solemnly.
“What about mine?” Yu Chu suddenly asked.
“It’s here, prepared,” Yuan Zhou nodded his head and said.
“Great.” Yu Chu nodded his head, indicating that he was satisfied now.
“Is there really nothing left?” Wu Hai asked, unwilling to give up.
Self-respect mattered less than the jam. What if Yuan Zhou thought he was handsome and thus gave him more bottles of jam? So it wasn’t a bad idea to ask a few more times.
“Then what information did you get?” Yuan Zhou asked back.
“Nothing.” Wu Hai shook his head honestly.
“So you heard nothing valuable?” Yuan Zhou asked.
“No. When we arrived, the judges were all gone. Then we came back.” Wu Hai shrugged.
When Wu Hai said that, Yu Chu looked at him strangely at the side, but didn’t say anything.
“Alright. Did anyone tell you when you are going to work as the evaluators?” Yuan Zhou changed a subject.
“No.” The two people shook their heads at the same time.
“When it’s your turn, I will have to trouble you to do what you should,” said Yuan Zhou.
“No trouble, but it will be much better if there’s some more jam,” Wu Hai asked again.
“I’m going to practice my knife skills. See you.” This was Yuan Zhou’s answer.
“Okay.” Seeing Yuan Zhou directly sit down and really prepare to sculpt, Wu Hai didn’t say anything else. He turned around and prepared to go back.
When he climbed the stairs halfway, however, Wu Hai found Yu Chu was still following him. He felt puzzled and thus asked, “Yu Chu, what are you following me?”
“Why didn’t you tell Boss Yuan about what happened in the kitchen of that Chengdu Cuisine?” Yu Chu asked straightforwardly.
“Why should we tell him? Do you feel that Boss Yuan will lose?” Wu Hai asked back.
“No.” Yu Chu was quite positive.
“So, we don’t need to tell Boss Yuan about that matter. Anyway, we are always the winner,” Wu Hai stroked his own mustache and said naturally.
“Yeah, you are right.” Yu Chu nodded his head and then, he turned around, went downstairs and left.
“Is it really necessary to climb the stairs and ask about such a trifle?” Wu Hai felt quite speechless and then continued to go up.
That’s right. In Wu Hai’s eyes, Yuan Zhou would absolutely win in the end. Then what was the point to tell him about that? It was best to let those people get dumbfounded while Yuan Zhou had no idea of the situation.
