Chapter 10: Unaware of the Flavor in the Food

  Beautiful girl? Delivered to the door? Come to our home?

  To the left, Minister Xu and the driver looked at Zuo Xiying with curiosity. However, Zuo Xiying was clueless, not recognizing the thin young man rubbing his feet by the pot. Looking again at the one sitting on the ground shouting, with several black streaks on his face, staring foolishly at Zuo Xiying, wiping his nose and drooling, he made Zuo Xiying burst out laughing.

  "Hey kid, do you know us?" Zuo Nanxia asked the person by the pot, but it wasn't Si Mu Xian who was speaking. Si Mu Xian smiled and shook his head. Zuo Nanxia found this strange and pointed at Lei Da Peng: "Then what about him..."

  "Oh, look at that, the village fool, don't mind him, right, don't even mention he's foolish, just mentioning him will get you scolded." Si Mu Xian said, lowering his voice for the second half of the sentence, but unexpectedly the first half was heard by Lei Da Peng, who rolled his eyes and cursed: "Damn it, you're the village fool!"

  It's proven so quickly that it made everyone burst out laughing again. With Lei Dapeng being like this, it's hard not to take him as the village's second fool.

  Out came a middle-aged woman from the kitchen, neat and tidy, with a perm hairdo, looking very approachable. Her voice was sharp and clear as she greeted everyone in a sing-song tone: "Please, please, first-timers, come on in! Old Master Shan's place is worth visiting, guaranteed to make you regulars... this way, please."

  It was Shan Yong's mother, Lei Dapeng's godmother, Teng Hongyu. She used to sing Bangzi opera back in the day, so it was natural for her to loudly invite customers. The group mechanically followed Teng Hongyu into the house, hearing Godmother call out to Godfather to brew tea. At this moment, Lei Dapeng reacted and quickly got up, rushing towards the kitchen. He stopped at the door and Shan Yong stretched his neck to look at the guests. Lei Dapeng pulled him over and said sternly, "I told you about her on the way here, isn't she beautiful? You still don't believe me?"

  "No way, how did she end up at our place?" Shanyong muttered to himself, feeling a bit uneasy. Leidaipeng shouted the first time he heard it and poked his head out for a glance before quickly withdrawing it. Normally, Shanyong's face was quite thick-skinned, but this time even he couldn't explain why it had thinned out. Maybe it was because of that girl. On the way, several people discussed it, and Shanyong knew it was the one they had seen before, but he didn't say a word, just smiled and let it go. Usually, he wouldn't mind making jokes about some chick that all three of them knew, but this time Shanyong surprisingly didn't have any gossip in his heart. The glance from the girl by the reservoir was fleeting, but the anger and mockery in her eyes seemed to touch a part of his heart, leaving him feeling a bit embarrassed.

  Shan Yong was stunned, and Lei Da Peng thought he had won, pointing and saying: "Look, look at the fool now, I told you it's so beautiful that it's infuriating, but you didn't believe me."

  "Lei Ge, isn't this 'fa zhi' word used incorrectly?" Si Mu Xian smiled and leaned in.

  "Oh, can't make a move, ***, ***it's okay anyway. Younger brother has already taken a liking to her, saying she's like that person from the Luoshen poem, being messed around by several men, Teacher Ren mentioned it before." Lei Dapeng scratched his head, unable to recall, and Simu Xian scolded: "Go away, don't ruin someone's reputation."

  "Hey, you're using the wrong word, I'm so angry. Hehe...” Lei Dapeng lowered his voice and sneered, not hiding his admiration at all. But unexpectedly, he was slapped on the back of his head, and when he turned around, he met his cold-eyed mother-in-law, Tong Hongyu. Lei Dapeng immediately became affectionate and asked, "Hey, mom, why did you hit me?"

  "You little stinker, all guests are welcome, don't talk nonsense, hurry up and light the fire, aren't you going to eat roasted fish?" Teng Hongyu urged. Lei Dapeng responded with a sound, saying that eating was more important than other things, he busied himself with adding firewood, while Si Mu Xian shrugged his shoulders and gave Shan Yong a noncommittal smile, also squatting down by the pot in the courtyard to take a look. Shan Yong was about to say something else when he unexpectedly received a glare from his mother, so he smiled innocently and explained: "What's wrong, mom? I didn't say anything."

  "What's wrong with you? Looking at that girl like that is so despicable and shameless. If you have the guts, go bring her back to mom."

  Hongyu rebuked, reading from the list and ordering dishes: cold mixed horse teeth vegetables, bitter vegetable egg cake, mushroom stewed with chicken, plus a portion of sauce donkey meat. The staple food was millet rice. Dad agreed, Mom squatted down to pick up the vegetables. Shanyong was a bit curious, and leaned in front of Hongyu to ask: "Mom, who are these people?"

  "You don't even know what to eat? You're tired of mountain delicacies and seafood, come try some wild vegetables." The old mother said nonchalantly, picking wild vegetables while tidying up her hair. There were many guests like this who came to taste the freshness, eating cheaply to change their flavor. She was already used to it, turned around and glanced at her son, seeing him looking thoughtful, Teng Hongyu smiled and said: "Not bad, that girl who came with you is pretty, she has a good figure and a good height, and her looks are not bad either, similar to when I was young."

  Dan Yong blinked his eyes, looking at his mother's rolled-up sleeves and vegetable-picking hands, plus the few strands of white hair floating in front of her temples. No matter how beautiful she was, she was already an old auntie. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to hold back a smile. In his own opinion, his mother and his adopted son Lei Dapeng were evenly matched. However, he didn't expect this action to be seen by his mother, who glared at him and said: "What's wrong? What kind of eye expression is that? Am I not right? Do you know what it means to be the main actress in a theater troupe? That's like being the female lead in a TV series now. With my voice, one shout can be heard clearly by tens of thousands of people in Tiananmen Square... Come here, Dapeng."

  Here is the translation:

  Here we go again, every time this happens, Shanyong and his dad exchange a smile, silently countering his mom's self-satisfaction. Just then, Lei Dapeng walked in, his son not appreciating it. Teng Hongyu asked her adopted son several questions in a row: Is that girl pretty? Have you seen pictures of your adoptive mother when she was young? Who is prettier?

  Lei Dapeng said, "You're not stupid if you say so," nodded twice, and immediately put on a stern expression: "Auntie, do we need to compare? Of course, you're more beautiful. No need to compare with the past, now you're even more beautiful than her. Every time you come back, I find that you look younger and younger. If this continues, I'll have to call you 'Sister' instead of 'Auntie'."

  Old Zhang was so excited that he almost cut his hand, Zhang Yong was holding back a smile, but Lei Dapeng said it with a straight face as if he wasn't joking. Teng Hongyu was shocked by the second half of Lei's sentence and scolded: "You little brat, your words are getting more and more outrageous... you're about to graduate from college and I haven't seen any improvement in you."

  This feisty old mom had taught several of her roommates a lesson, and now, as she spoke, the work in her hands didn't slow down at all. While washing vegetables, she scolded Old Man Dan Changqing for being too slow, then turned around to hurry up her son, telling him not to get in the way in the kitchen. Lei Dapeng and Dan Yong exchanged a mischievous glance, with Dan Yong holding a brush and a bowl of roasted fish seasoning, while Lei Dapeng was carrying four or five skewers of fish on his shoulder. The two of them tumbled out of the kitchen together.

  ………………

  ………………

  This farmhouse in the remote suburbs is not only Single Yong's home, but also a place where he and his brothers would often gather during their university days. Every time they caught fish from the river, rabbits from the mountains, badgers from the valley, or bird eggs from the trees, they were considered delicious food by the brothers. The courtyard, which faced south and was about two mu in size, had a cauldron for stewing Wang Ba at the eastern gate, while the western side had a stone fire pit that was one meter wide and two to three meters long. A fish was placed on the grill, sizzling and crackling as it cooked. Single Yong wiped the sweat from his forehead and turned around to ask Simu Xian about the heat of the Wang Ba stew.

  Simu Xian lifted the large wooden lid, weighing over twenty kilograms, and a burst of steam mixed with fragrance shot up, forcing him to take a step back. He took another look at the pot, sniffed the aroma again, then turned around and said: "It's almost done, it can be served now... Ah, how did you get here? Go away, stand further back, don't drip your saliva into the pot."

  While speaking, he kicked Lei Dapeng, who was staring blankly at the pot with a hungry look in his eyes. He was scolded by Simu Xian and hummed discontentedly, biting his lower lip. For many years, among the brothers, he had always been responsible for chopping firewood and burning fires, but had never upgraded to the level of holding the cooking spoon, which was Lei Dapeng's greatest regret. However, it was also good that way, waiting to eat what was already cooked.

  Si Mu Xian was quite focused, putting down the lid of the pot and holding a bowl of well-made corn flour patties. He pinched them in his hand, kneaded them gently, and carefully stuck them to the edge of the pot. Before long, the edges of the pot were golden yellow, emitting a fragrant aroma that combined with the scent of heated corn. Lei Da Peng seemed to have imagined some delicious flavor, smacking his lips, occasionally wiping his chin, looking like a cat scratching an itch, impatiently waiting. It seems Si Mu Xian had foresight, as this guy kept licking the slobber flowing from his mouth.

  A voice came from behind: "Young man, what are you doing?"

  "Golden jade fills the hall." Lei Dapeng said with a smile, but when he turned his head back, it was an old man with a full head of silver hair smiling at Simu Xian who was pasting stickers on a pot. Upon closer inspection, Lei Dapeng was startled by this old man with not a single gray hair out of place, who chuckled and corrected him: "It's actually turtle stew."

  As they spoke, the chubby Minister Xu also came out. He had been sitting idly and suddenly the large wooden lid opened together, filling the entire courtyard with a fragrant aroma. Several people looked out of the window at the two places where food was being stewed and roasted, using cooking utensils that were unheard of before. They were curious and couldn't help but get up and come out. Zuo Xiying, however, was watching this rural courtyard with great interest. Lei Dapeng glanced over at the beauty and somewhat corrected himself: "This is called 'gold and jade filling the hall', not 'king eight stewing soup'."

  "Is that so? Adding a pot sticker is called golden jade full hall?" Minister Xu chuckled and leaned in, vaguely seeing the face of the large turtle in the pot, which was not often seen. He estimated that it looked like Leida Peng's appearance was very funny, but unexpectedly, Leida Peng's thoughts were even more serious, and he said with pride: "This pot of golden jade full hall is not just a simple stewed turtle, you have to explain the door clearly, today's meal doesn't need money, we'll even pay for it."

  "Isn't it just a turtle stew? Pretending to be all high-class, and even learned our hotel's slogan?" The driver came over, with a local accent, trying to one-up Dapeng, but unexpectedly Dapeng was confident and flipped his thumb, asking loudly: "Want to bet? Just this pot of soup, it's called 'Ten Complete and Beautiful', there are ten fun things about it, you have to count them out, except for not paying for the meal, see that car outside? I'll give it to you as compensation."

  The direction of the fingers, the driver took a glance, but it was that tattered car with the word "Urban Management" on it. Who dares to want this car? The driver burst out laughing and said: "You think I don't dare to take your car? Fool me? I've seen all sorts of dishes at the Hilton, does the Hilton know? Five-star hotel, 180,000 yuan per table, none of them are as mysterious as what you're saying."

  "You've seen the world, you don't dare to bet? You put up your car as collateral, I dare to take it." Lei Dapeng turned the sentence around, and with this turn, he stunned the driver. The company's car, he dared to want, but we wouldn't dare to pawn it, let alone pawn it to this fool. Just as they were at an impasse, Zuo Nanxia, who had been watching for a long time, spoke up, pointing at Si Muxian: "This soup is well made, with the three flavors of food. However, young man, your 'ten perfect' is a bit too boastful, isn't it?"

  Simu Xian smiled mysteriously, his eyes gleaming with amusement. As he raised his head, he found himself face to face with the Left family father and daughter duo. He took a closer look and was even more certain that this was indeed the young woman he had seen from afar at the reservoir. Her eyebrows were delicately shaped, her skin unadorned by powder or rouge, yet radiant with a natural beauty that seemed almost otherworldly. A single glance left him feeling as though he dared not gaze upon her again. His hand trembled slightly as he carefully applied the final corn pancake sticker, avoiding the young woman's eyes as he spoke to Left South in a slow and deliberate tone: "That old man, how many perfect and beautiful ones do you think there are?"

  "Ah, wormwood, red dates, ginger slices, mushrooms, chicken nuggets, turtle, and pot stickers. That's seven. And there's also ham slices, eight in total." Zuo Nan said the eight ingredients in one breath, which already surprised everyone. A simple soup with such high-quality ingredients was comparable to a five-star hotel. Upon hearing the expert's words, everyone stared at the steaming pot with wide eyes, then turned back to look at Lei Dapeng with disbelief.

  Take a step forward, take a deep sniff, and point to the road: "These eight materials have three colors of red, yellow, and white. The key is that the soup color is light yellow after simmering, and it will become a golden yellow soup color after simmering for a while. Add this golden corn cake, and this is the origin of your 'golden jade full hall'?"

  Wow, a group of people suddenly realized, and couldn't help but glance at these few mischievous-looking kids with surprise. Lei Dapeng was delighted, and smiled complacently with his teeth clenched. Not far away, Shan Yong, who was roasting fish, was slightly startled, thinking to himself that this old man was a seasoned foodie, and had even mentioned the ingredients that several brothers had prepared, which ordinary people couldn't have said so accurately. At least Lei Dapeng's father had stolen that Cordyceps sinensis, and not many people knew about it.

  Si Mu Xian smiled and seemed to have acknowledged it, but softly added: "Old man, you have a good eye for things, but the best one, you seem to have missed."

  The old man on the left seemed to be in high spirits, enthusiastically pointing at the pot and saying: "The best should be on the pot, this is a stone pot carved out of Wujin stone, such cookware is rare nowadays."

  The stone, this time Li Xingying's interest came up, and he went to the pot, stretched out his fingers carefully and touched the black hair shiny pot edge. He was surprised and turned around, saying: "Yes, Dad, it's made of stone. The earliest recorded cooking method is to use stone as a container. The existing earliest food vessel in Luoyang, Qin Ao, is also made of stone."

  "Yeah, that's right. This way of heating is even and slow to dissipate heat. The fire goes out for two or three hours, but the pot is still hot. And it uses ordinary hay for heating, which maximally preserves the original flavor. It's quite interesting. Except for those who are extremely good at eating, no one would bother with this." Zuo Nanxia commented, not knowing whether to praise or criticize. Several people looked at Lei Dapeng, chuckling. Zuo Xiying's interest was also piqued, and she took out her digital camera, clicking away as she asked Si Mu Xian by the pot: "Boss, is what my dad said right?"

  "Awesome, it seems like Master is an expert." Si Mu Xian sincerely praised.

  Everyone burst out laughing, and Minister Xu naturally flattered excessively, saying that Old Zuo's elegant and refined demeanor was not shallow. He had written several articles about food culture in a certain newspaper and magazine, which were very influential. This was the result of his efforts to accompany him on his previous trip. His flattery was quite good, and Zuo Nanxia smiled humbly and said a few words. Several people surrounded Simu Xian by the pot and asked him questions. Suddenly, Simu Xian showed his face, and Lei Dapeng was left out in the cold. This guy snorted heavily and said disdainfully: "What kind of broken professor, what kind of foodie? Far inferior! Not even as good as our Egg Brother! You've only talked about eight dishes, what are the remaining two? Even if you smash your brains, you can't guess!"

  "Hmph, Si Mu Xian was so angry that he wanted to cook Lei Da Peng in a pot. This guy's mouth was like a faucet, spouting nonsense everywhere. Originally, when guests came to the door, they would follow the guest's personality and pretend to be happy, but who knew this sentence would capsize the whole ship? Director Xu was left standing awkwardly on the spot, his eyebrows raised in embarrassment, his face elongated. Xi Hui Ying's eyes were asking Si Mu Xian for help, her big eyes seeming to speak volumes. Si Mu Xian instantly understood the girl's meaning and wanted to find a way out. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Lei Da Peng appeared out of nowhere, grinning from ear to ear, and said to Xi Hui Ying, 'Beautiful sister, do you want to know? I'll tell you.'"

  Zuo Xiying looked at Lei Dapeng, who had a dirty face and mouth, his cheeks were uneven, and his eyes were different sizes. Suddenly, she was shocked by his appearance, covered her mouth and laughed, nodding her head. Lei Dapeng snatched the long spoon from Simu Xian's hand, dipped it into the pot, and stirred the soup and abalone. This revealed what was underneath - a nest of round, white eggs, larger than pigeon eggs but smaller than chicken eggs. At a glance, everyone knew. Lei Dapeng withdrew the spoon, looking pleased with himself, covered the pot, and turned to face the guests:

  "Keep guessing, whoever guesses it right, I'll treat him to a meal today. If you don't eat well, you can consider me a cooked turtle."

  The four of them stared at each other in surprise and then burst out laughing. It seemed that there was a deeper meaning to the riddle, or else these foolish guys wouldn't be so confident. With the previous hint still fresh in their minds, everyone was hesitant to speak up first. They didn't guess, but Lei Dapeng couldn't hold back, scolding them with a "hate iron for not becoming steel" tone: "Oh yeah! Earlier you were all experts and foodies, but this 'turtle on top, egg below' combined together isn't just 'turtle egg', right? How could it be so easy yet none of you can guess?"

  With a plop, Simu Xian's mouth leaked air and he bit his tongue, turning his face away, not daring to laugh anymore. Those few people were so stifled that their faces turned bright red, being lectured by this silly guy, even feeling that the answer had a mocking tone. Just as Simu Xian managed to hold back his laughter, he suddenly felt the air become heavy, and realized with a start that this had broken the biggest taboo of running a restaurant, fearing that Le Ge's sentence would offend all these important customers...