Chapter 156: Braised Pork with Soy Sauce
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
The next day, Yuan Zhou thought of another new idea. After the opening hours in the morning ended, Yuan Zhou took a seat by the door and started to play with his phone rather than sculpt the radish flowers. This was a fairly rare occurrence.
"Boss Yuan, you are not sculpting the flowers today?" A curious customer went up and asked.
"Humm," Yuan Zhou nodded, his fingers sliding up and down on the screen of the phone, staying constantly on the cuisine websites of take-out services.
"Well, fine. Take your time, Boss Yuan." Seeing Yuan Zhou playing so attentively, the customer then left.
Only when Yuan Zhou raised his head and took a glance did he find that the customer had already turned around and left.
"How could a person without a sense of curiosity become successful?" Yuan Zhou complained quietly and continued playing his phone.
Except during the opening hours, Yuan Zhou just sat there and played with his phone all day long. Some curious people went up to ask while some others just watched silently. But none of them asked what Yuan Zhou had expected them to ask.
As a result, when Yuan Zhou took out his tablet and sat at the door again the next day, he still looked through the take-out webpages just like yesterday but still didn’t buy any.
Not knowing if it was because of the larger tablet, the effect was a little better this time. For the entire day, there were a total of five people who asked Yuan Zhou what he did that for.
Yuan Zhou’s answer was quite uniform, "I’m just looking through it for fun. It’s quite interesting."
After another day, Yuan Zhou took out the new laptop that he had bought previously. There was a function on the laptop that Yuan Zhou had intended to test in the room. However, now, he was prepared to use that outside.
This time, Yuan Zhou tapped open the take-out website and used the projection function. With the huge projection, he could directly look through and check the webpage on the wall.
The effect was surprising.
"Boss Yuan, are you ok?" Wearing slippers, Wu Hai walked to him in large strides, emitting the sound of "Da Da Da".
"I’m good. Just looking through casually," Yuan Zhou said with an indifferent tone and continued checking another page. The projection on the wall also turned the page accordingly.
"Do you call this as looking through casually? Then why did you move a projector here?" Pointing to the enlarged pictures of the cuisines on the wall, Wu Hai was rather helpless.
"I can see more clearly that way," Yuan Zhou nodded affirmatively.
"Can’t you see them more clearly on your computer directly? Why are you using the projector?" Wu Hai covered his forehead with one hand and then said while looking at Yuan Zhou.
"This is the computer," Yuan Zhou turned his head and answered primly.
"It’s not the time to be thinking about that. What are you trying to do?" Wu Hai decided to ask about that first.
"Looking at cuisines." Yuan Zhou looked at Wu Hai, giving the impression of "What an idiot".
"Alright." Wu Hai then admitted defeat. He straightforwardly turned around and left. Meanwhile, he took a photo of the weird scene with his phone and shared it on the Wechat group.
It was the one that he had created previously with the aim of making Yuan Zhou stay. Currently, the group members were extraordinarily active.
[What’s wrong with Boss Yuan? He used the phone the day before yesterday, tablet yesterday and even a projector today.] from Man Man.
[Yeah, exactly. He seems to be looking at information about take-out all along.] from Wu Zhou.
[Is it because Boss Yuan wants to do take-out business?] from Five Lakes and Four Oceans.
[It’s likely to be true. I know a take-out website called Chengdu Online, which specialized in cooperating with upscale restaurants. What about introducing this website to him?] Wu Hai held the phone in his hand silently as if thinking about something.
[Good idea. Ordinary websites don’t deserve Boss Yuan’s superb culinary skills.] from Man Man.
After the discussion of the idea, they started to chat again. Basically, it was all about eating or how Yuan Zhou’s delicious dishes would instantly outcla.s.s those of outside.
Yuan Zhou didn’t really know that some of his customers had started to take action. He continued to check the take-out websites with the projector, expressing his profound love for take-out dishes.
In the evening, Jiang Changxi entered the restaurant again, with a mysterious smile on her face this time. The bright red dress gave off a contrast against her skin which was as white as snow, making her face fairly attractive.
"Boss Yuan, long time no see. Have you missed me?" She greeted Yuan Zhou in the same way as usual.
"No," Yuan Zhou said quite straightforwardly.
"Sigh. How could you treat me like that, Boss Yuan?"Jiang Changxi sat down and stroked her hair.
"Why do you always greet him with the same words? Do you really have a fancy for Boss Yuan?" Wu Hai couldn’t help uttering that at the side.
"It’s you, small mustache. Your hands seem to have become more flexible. You aren’t exercising your five fingers any less recently, huh?" With a glance, Jiang Changxi happened to see Wu Hai wiping the chopsticks and hence mocked him.
"Er…." Wu Hai had to admit defeat again.
After finis.h.i.+ng off the small mustache Wu Hai, Jiang Changxi looked towards Yuan Zhou, saying, "I have a dish for the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine that you, Boss Yuan, will definitely be unable to cook."
She appeared to be quite firm, yet still had a cunning expression.
"Please order your dishes," Yuan Zhou neither believed in her nor felt curious about her words. After all, she had spoken the same words for at least several times.
"Braised Pork with Soy Sauce," Jiang Changxi brought out the name of the dish smilingly.
"I’m sorry, this restaurant hasn’t served this dish yet temporarily," Yuan Zhou was first stupefied and then subconsciously said that.
"It’s not like what you imagined, Boss Yuan. It’s the Braised Pork with Soy Sauce made from rice," having directly brought out the ingredient, Jiang Changxi looked at Yuan Zhou confidently.
Hearing that, Yuan Zhou was truly lost in a daze this time. He knew with tofu, one can cook various vegetarian dishes that appeared to be genuine meat dishes. As for the rice, however, Yuan Zhou could only indicate that he didn’t know and nor had he heard of that.
"Boss Yuan, you can’t cook it this time, right?" Jiang Changxi’s voice revealed indescribable exultation and gloat.
Since she had eaten the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine for the first time, Jiang Changxi had basically come once per day at least. Every time she came, she would order a different rice cuisine. She just wanted to see if Yuan Zhou had really mastered 100 ways of cooking rice.
It had lasted for half a month and this was yet the very first time that Yuan Zhou hesitated. It was all thanks to one of her friends.
"This dish is made from rice. It was a masterpiece from a great chef during Qing Dynasty, who was said to develop this dish when competing with others for the sake of his restaurant’s reputation. Due to its softness, fragrance, and sweetness, it tasted the same as the meat. Therefore, it won the compet.i.tion." On the face of Jiang Changxi, a complacent sort of expression could be seen.
"Is there such a dish? I have only heard of the meat-like tofu. Is it true?" Wu Hai asked her a question which Yuan Zhou was also curious about.
After all, no matter based on the texture or the material itself, tofu was more easily prepared than rice and resembled meat more in the taste. The name of ‘meat from the farmland’ didn’t just come out from nowhere.
"If Boss Yuan doesn’t believe it, I can take my friend here to certify that for me. That friend of mine is a descendant of the great chef, as is clearly written in the family tree," Jiang Changxi spoke unhurriedly with an affirmative expression.
"What a knowledgeable family," Wu Hai heaved a sigh with emotion.
Just when Yuan Zhou prepared to say that he didn’t know how to cook, the system suddenly came out.
The system displayed, "Yes, I can. Host, you are the would-be Master Chef. Please say yes."
Yuan Zhou became truly hesitant now. He really didn’t know how to cook it. Besides, the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine provided by the system didn’t cover this dish, either.
The system displayed, "Yes."
The system displayed, "Host, please say yes."
The system displayed, "Host, please say yes quickly!"
During the short period when Yuan Zhou was hesitating, the system displayed three consecutive messages and even used an exclamation mark at the end. The excitement of the system was clearly seen out of that.
Therefore, Yuan Zhou could only answer, "Yes, I can."
"Boss Yuan, do you really know how to make it?" Jiang Changxi didn’t really trust Yuan Zhou’s answer, as even that descendants of the great chef didn’t know how to cook this dish himself. The most important thing was how to guarantee that the tofu made from rice would be perfectly tender and soft and yet wouldn’t be dissolved into pieces when cooked. This was extremely vital.
"Yes, but I have to make some preparations. Please come to eat it on the same time tomorrow." Yuan Zhou remained serious and didn’t reveal any other emotions.
"Ok. I will come for sure tomorrow. Remember, one serving," Jiang Changxi decided to come with the friend of hers tomorrow for a taste.
"Take care," Yuan Zhou then turned around and went back to the kitchen. There was a worried expression on his solemn face. Just from the name, Yuan Zhou judged that the dish was not so easy to make. Moreover, it was not included in the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine provided by the system, hence showing how great the dish was.
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