Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Hong Dali actually had recipes to share? That was peculiar. God only knew where he had gotten the recipes from. Everyone was surprised. Tang Muxin softly asked, “Dali, you collect recipes?”
“It was a good recipe that allowed me to squander.” Hong Dali replied calmly. “How could I miss such a chance?”
“O… okay…” Tang Muxin said helplessly.
At this moment, Chef Wei Bao pondered for a moment and said, “There should be no problem. Young Master would have to be more detailed, though, so the dish won’t be too far off from its original taste.”
“Yup, that’s necessary.” Hong Dali sniffed. “The first dish is to roast goat rump, piglet ears, calf kidney, deer shank meat, and rabbit meat on a stick together. There will be five different types of meat on a stick. The texture of the different meats should each have their own unique taste. However, the taste develops as you chew the pork and mutton together, and the deer and the rabbit together. It gives a total of 25 different variations of taste. Hence, the dish is named ‘who listens as the plum flowers fall to the jade flute’s tune.’” [1.In The Legend of the Condor Heroes, this is a dish that Huang Rong prepared for Qi Gong]
Plum flowers fall to the jade flute’s song! Just look at this, our young master is indeed unique. A recipe from nowhere, yet he gave it such an awesome name! Forget about the rest, just the ingredients are worthy of a prodigal’s recipe!
At this moment, Hong Dali turned to Tang Muxin and asked, “Xinxin, would you like to guess why this dish is named as such?”
“Um, let me think…” Tang Muxin rubbed her chin with her delicate hand. Her eyes moved back and forth as she thought. After a short while, she replied, smiling, “Because there are 25 different variations in taste, hence the name. It corresponds to five times five petals of the plum flower, which is the falling plum flower. The stick of meat resembles a flute, which is the jade flute. This dish is able to combine with itself, creating multiple variations. The ‘who’ means that there is a placement sort to the test. Am I right?”
Ai ya ya, she is indeed very smart! Hong Dali loudly praised. “Good job, haha. You’re so smart, Xinxin!”
“That goes without saying!” Tang Muxin raised her head proudly. “I’m good at this. This dish is too extravagant. It would require a few hundred ingredients at the very minimum.”
After explaining the dish, Hong Dali looked at Chef Wei Bao with a smile. “Chef Wei Bao, are you confident in making this dish?”
Wei Bao had begun sweating upon hearing the recipe, and now he hesitantly said, “It is the first time I’ve heard of a dish like this. I can only try making it. The key thing is that the method of making this dish is not detailed enough. It would be easy to misrepresent it…”
Hong Dali laughed. “That’s a small matter. There are sufficient ingredients for sure. You may use them to test the recipe.” Hong Dali continued talking about the second dish. The second dish was called “lotus leaves bamboo shoots cherry soup.” This dish was easy. The chef just had to find the biggest cherries he could, remove the seeds, embed turtledove meat into the cherries, and sprinkle some rose petals around together with tips of bamboo shoots.
That sounded like a much simpler dish. The most difficult part was stuffing the turtledove meat into the cherries. Chef Wei Bao was much more confident this time. He was good at delicately preparing ingredients. He immediately agreed. “This dish is simple, I’ll just need to try making it twice and should be able to present it to you.” In any case, this prodigal young master would provide him with all the ingredients he needed. There was nothing else for him to do anyway. He could use some time to test the recipes and make the dish work.
Hong Dali nodded his head. “Um, that’s good.” He instructed the floor manager. “Prepare all the ingredients that Wei Bao requires. Give him as much as he needs. Do you understand?”
The floor manager responded loud and clear. “Yes!”
Tang Muxin, who was standing beside Hong Dali, asked curiously, “Dali, this soup, lotus leaves bamboo shoots cherry soup? It’s too different from ‘who listens as the plum flowers fall to the jade flute’s tune.’”
Hong Dali grinned. “It is not as simple as it sounds. Let me test you. What should be the real name of this dish?”
“Testing me again?” Tang Muxin placed her finger on her lips, pondering. “There are cherries in the soup, referring to a woman who is beautiful like a flower and has cherry-red lips. That makes a beauty, right? The bamboo shoots and lotus leaves imply a gentleman. This dish is called ‘gentleman and beauty’s soup’!”
“Heh, Xinxin, you’re really smart. But you missed something.” Hong Dali smiled as he shook his head. “What about the turtledoves?”
“Turtledoves… Turtledoves…” Tang Muxin took more time than before to ponder, mumbling to herself. “Turtledoves, beauty, gentleman…” Her eyes suddenly sparkled. “Ah, I know! The first poem in the Classic of Poetry is ‘Guan guan, cries the ospreys on the islet in the river. The virtuous young lady, a fine match for the gentleman.’ From the beauty and the mystery, this soup is called ‘fine match soup’!”
Hong Dali laughed and said, “Not bad, not bad, the virtuous young lady, a fine match for the gentleman. This soup is indeed called ‘fine match soup’!”
Tang Muxin blushed upon hearing Hong Dali speak, and her heart fluttered. She thought, This Hong Dali, is he trying to confess to me by talking about this ‘fine match soup’? To think he would have such an idea. Did he really come up with this recipe, or did he receive it from somewhere? I think it’s more likely that it’s the latter…
The conversation between Hong Dali and Tang Muxin made the surrounding people stare with astonishment! To talk about allusions of dishes, where did Dali Master get his recipes from? It was so miraculously earth shattering!
How could they miss such a good chance? In an instant, the nine lackeys, excluding Ling Xiaoyi, started to clamor one after another.
“Young Master indeed excels in brains and brawn. Long live Young Master. As long as Young Master is around, he is bound to make it work!”
“Yes, yes, who on Earth would not admire Young Master?”
“Young Master knows everything from the heavens to the ground. No one can be compared to him within a range of 5000 years!”
Hong Dali roared with laughter. “Tip them 5000 yuan each.”
This prodigal… At present, Tang Muxin felt a little hungry, so she ignored him and picked up her chopsticks. She tried a few different dishes, nodding her head in agreement as she went along. Hong Dali didn’t care that there were over 160 dishes. He simply ate his fill of what suited his taste and stopped after three dishes. He didn’t touch the other dishes at all.
When he was satisfied, Hong Dali patted his tummy. “Ah, today’s meal was not bad. Oh yes, the few of you,”—Hong Dali pointed at the floor manager and the nine lackeys—”you didn’t have lunch, right? Help yourselves to the food. I’ll take a break while my food is digested. Get everyone here to eat together. Once you’re done, send me back to school.”
Hong Dali truly had high morals. It had only been one day since he had taken over the place, but he was already treating everyone to such a good meal. Needless to say, everyone was instantly grateful to him.
