Chapter 175: Silk Twined Rabbit
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
Wu Hai wasn’t too curious about things unrelated to him, he just asked a bit. Seeing Li Yi come at intervals, he nevertheless understood his intention.
"Dong Dong Dong," a series sound of hasty footsteps could be heard.
Chen Wei walked into the restaurant in quick steps along with Dong Zi and Bamboo.
"There is just 10 minutes left." Having raised his wrist and checked the time, Chen Wei revealed a smile.
"Do you think we can make it?" Dong Zi was still worried if Chen Wei’s idea worked..
"According to Boss Yuan’s rules, there shouldn’t be any problem," Bamboo was more confident about that.
"Let’s do it first to see," Chen Wei finally made the decision.
"Boss Yuan, one serving of the beef, please," Bamboo first ordered a serving of the beef.
Only after that did he turn the head and look at Dong Zi, saying, "We’ll know after we try."
Following him, each of the several people ordered a plate of beef and then stared at the beef in front of them miserably, without moving their chopsticks any bit.
"There are only 5 minutes left until the opening hours end. Chen Wei, here’s the Silk Twined Rabbit," Yuan Zhou glanced at the three people seated at the table with a speechless look on his face.
"Thank you, Boss Yuan." Chen Wei’s attention to the beef in the plate was distracted and he then raised his head and said to Yuan Zhou while looking at him.
"You are welcome," Yuan Zhou nodded.
After Chen Wei received the dish, the three of them started to look at each other while facing the beef and Silk Twined Rabbit.
"Business time is up. Please come early tomorrow," after Yuan Zhou finished the routine closing words, Chen Wei became relieved.
"Bro, let me taste one piece of the rabbit. I haven’t savored the taste yet," Bamboo was the first who couldn’t endure the temptation.
"No way. We have come to an agreement," Chen Wei’s tone was no longer that solemn when he spoke
With the slober filling his mouth, he definitely couldn’t speak so swiftly.
"The fragrance is truly tempting. I think eating one piece out of so many wouldn’t affect drinking the liquor much," Bamboo said with decent reasons.
"I think so, too. Let’s each taste one piece. They won’t taste good if they are cold." Dong Zi was also supportive of him.
They have all tasted the beef, it was very appetizing. But 12 pieces were really too little for them to taste. On the contrary, the dish of the rabbit filled up the bowl.
It was a jade green big bowl with a small opening. There on the surface was an exquisite painting of a farmyard with the cooking smoke curling upward. With the genuine heat of the dish, the cooking smoke curling up appeared to be real.
Therefore, the fragrance spread out and floated around the noses of the three people.
"No way. We have agreed on eating it with liquor, then we must do as planned," while taking a look at the beef and the rabbit, Chen Wei still said persistently.
"You fellow! Are you possessed by Boss Yuan to be so principled?" Bamboo said speechlessly.
"Almost there," Chen Wei looked at the time and comforted them.
When the other two found Chen Wei didn’t agree at all no matter how hard they had tried, the three of them had only to quietly stare at the dishes in front of them again.
Fortunately, Yuan Zhou finally declared, "The pub is open now. Whoever has drawn the liquor can come in now," after 10 minutes.
"Boss Yuan, can I eat the unfinished dishes while drinking the liquor? I don’t want to waste the food," Chen Wei stood up, pointed to the rule of "Wasting Not Allowed" on the wall and then asked happily.
"Yes, sure." Looking at the untouched dishes, Yuan Zhou agreed with a nod.
"See? I have already said Boss Yuan would agree. Although he sticks to punctuality, he has never expelled any customer before they finish their meal," Chen Wei said as if he had known it very well.
"It’s great that we can eat it soon." For Dong Zi, he only cared about eating in a while.
Judging from his appearance, he almost couldn’t wait to give the alluring rabbit meat an immediate bite.
A writer drew the liquor today for the second time. He had never eaten anything in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant. Every time, he would just come for the lottery drawing during the daytime. If he can draw the liquor, he would come to drink; if not, he wouldn’t come for a meal. Besides, he had never brought any dishes with liquor.
His comment was like this, "Good liquor is to be savored rather than drunk."
"Boss Yuan, this sergestes wall landscape is indeed a wonderful workmans.h.i.+p that excels the nature. Moreover, the pink color of the shrimps is also graceful." The writer watched carefully when he pa.s.sed through the arched door of the wall.
"That’s true. It looks more beautiful during the daytime. We could watch the scenery of the courtyard from inside the restaurant. It’s really two different sceneries on both sides of the wall." Another man who drew the liquor was Wu Anlu.
He also loved drinking liquor. In order to save money to buy the liquor, he no longer came to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant for meals frequently. As long as he had enough money, he came to draw the lottery and then drink a cup of liquor.
"While a winding path leads to a secluded retreat, the bamboo forest is deep in the courtyard," the writer chanted a totally irrelevant poem, but it was fit for Yuan Zhou’s pub more.
Having pa.s.sed through the courtyard, the several people followed Yuan Zhou up to the second floor. With the bamboos standing upright in great numbers, a bright moon and a lamplight as bright as day overhead made an exquisite scenery.
"Just put it here, put it here" Dong Zi paid no attention to anything else right now. While carrying two plates of the beef, he repeatedly asked Chen Wei to put down the rabbit meat in his hands.
Originally, Dong Zi had intended to carry the rabbit meat. For the sake of security, however, Chen Wei carried the dish by himself and let Dong Zi carry two plates of beef.
"We are gonna eat it right now. Take it easy, man," Chen Wei steadily put down the rabbit meat and then grumbled.
"Yeah, I am taking it easy now. Anyway, I will take the first bite" At a lighting speed, Dong Zi quickly picked up a piece of reddish brown rabbit meat and threw it into his mouth.
The rabbit meat was fresh, tender and delicious. Besides, the bones are thin and small. After Yuan Zhou’s special treatment, the bones are awfully soft and crisp, which, for Dong Zi, simply equaled to nothing. He swallowed it up with several bites.
"Great," Dong Zi said loudly.
Bamboo was, nevertheless, more cultured. At least he meticulously savored the meat for a while. The rabbit meat slowly melted in his mouth along with miraculous scent.
The major difference of the Silk Twined Rabbit cooked by Yuan Zhou from others was that he used lemongra.s.s to twine the rabbit.
He peeled off the exterior leaves from the perennial lemongra.s.s and only kept rhizomes. After the rhizome was boiled and heated until it got soft in the clear water, he carefully cut it into three pieces and then heated it in the water again.
At that time, the lemongra.s.s had been quite soft. He then knitted the three pieces into a rope.
After the rope was well knitted and cooled, it was then used to twine the rabbit firmly. The lemongra.s.s inherently carried refres.h.i.+ng lemon fragrance. The cutting and knitting just enabled the fragrance to grow. During the process of pickling, the lemon fragrance slowly infiltrated the rabbit meat.
That way, the rabbit meat would carry very mild lemon fragrance when people ate it again. This sort of lemon fragrance had, nevertheless, merged into the overall flavor.
"Why is the rabbit meat totally different from those sold outside?" Dong Zi said admiringly while eating.
"Rabbit meat was formerly known as Hundred Taste Meat. I finally understand it now," Bamboo picked up a piece of rabbit meat first and then said.
"What do you mean?" Dong Zi asked curiously.
"You’ll understand as long as you don’t eat like a pig, only swallowing without chewing," Bamboo said angrily.
While this fellow was desperately stuffing the rabbit meat into his mouth, he was also talking. From the way he ate, no one knew if he really savored any taste before swallowing up.
The rabbit meat was fine and tender, and was quite easily digested and absorbed. Therefore, it was unnecessary to worry if he would overeat or choke.
Luckily, the Silk Twined Rabbit weighed a lot and was supposed to have half a rabbit’s quant.i.ty. Every piece was basically the same in size and was placed neatly. There was no minced meat in the bowl as the meat was all cut completely.
They stopped talking and earnestly enjoyed the steaming hot delicious rabbit meat.
What a wonderful taste!