"Hmm..."
Outside, shadows flickered. Inside the kitchen, Xia Yu was cooking.
Another sleepless night of research; in two to three hours, it will be noon, marking a whole day. However, Xia Yu showed no signs of fatigue; rather, he was glowing, his eyes brimming with excitent.
"That’s right!"
"Two crucial ’loops’ are still missing, which are the ingredients that pair with fernted soybeans. Currently, there are seven ’loops’, including fernted soybeans with garlic, fernted soybeans with green onions, fernted soybeans with perilla, fernted soybeans with gardenia, fernted soybeans with mint, fernted soybeans with burdock, fernted soybeans with almonds..."
The self-talk echoed in the empty kitchen, where he was alone.
"I ntioned the structure was chaotic; although ’fernted soybeans’ are clearly the core, the surrounding structure is conflicting and incompatible, such as fernted soybeans with green onions, fernted soybeans with almonds, fernted soybeans with gardenia. Fernted soybeans and green onions are a trigger for many traditional Chinese dicine cold formulas. Fernted soybeans and almonds, on the other hand, promote air circulation and blood flow. Fernted soybeans and gardenia help release heat and ease restlessness..."
Each pairing of fernted soybeans with the remaining seven ingredients has profound significance.
However, overall, from the perspective of the unity of dicine and food, the entire formula appears too "vast". Hence, Xia Yu initially considered the formula as flawed, too ambitious and broad, resulting in a scattered structure, breaking any spice formula into pieces.
No doubt, seeing Xia Yu this excited now, his view on the formula paradigm changed completely after so contemplation.
It was as if he was looking at so world-class treasure!
"Only the Chinese Realm could discover such treasures everywhere, absolutely ancient formulas, much older than Liu Maoxing’s era!"
Xia Yu affird.
A spice master with perfect [Spice Inequality] culinary skills found it challenging, spending days of exhausting research only to glimpse part of its essence. It’s definitely more than just a ’unicorn’ level.
Dragon!
The word popped into his head, his breath turning hot.
"With my mastery of spices, cracking it is only a matter of ti. Barrier? Not existent, haha!" Xia Yu clenched his fist slightly, lowering his head to inspect the stove in front of him.
Three pots, all boiling.
On the counter, three recipes laid out on underlays, ready.
Clearly, aside from the original eight ingredients in each recipe, Xia Yu added one ingredient that could pair with fernted soybeans to create a ’loop’. These ingredients were Maidong, Xiebai, and bitter bellflower.
Maidong is a tuberous plant of the lily family, listed as a high-grade item in "Shennong’s Materia dica". It’s sweet and cool, moist in nature, has a feminine quality, suitable for clearing heat, nourishing lungs and stomach, alleviating dryness and fire without harming human vitality; truly rare.
Xiebai is a type of small root garlic, known as mountain garlic, bitter garlic, and wild garlic.
According to the old man’s herbal recipe notes: "Eaten raw, it’s spicy; cooked, it’s sweet and tasty. Can be dried for storage, stir-fried, pickled, or sugared; a good product for both dicine and food!"
As for why these three ingredients were specifically chosen for practice, there’s a reason. They fit with the other seven ’loops’, promoting the completion of the spice formula...
In simple terms, Xia Yu was doing a fill-in-the-blank exercise, and while the blanks might be one or two, more exploration was needed.
...
Not long after.
The kitchen door finally opened with a "click".
Tang Yuqiong, who was chatting with her fans using a phone stand at the stone table, spun around at lightning speed upon hearing the sound, her face lighting up with joy when she saw the young man coming out with a tray.
"Out!" She was the first to jump up and greet, even faster than Zhu Qing at guarding the door.
Whoa!
Xia Yu ca out, finding quite a crowd in the yard.
Besides Qi Qingyan, who greeted him for an interview, and the casually wandering Tang Yuqiong, there were a few more wooden chairs in the yard. Zhao Tong, the hostess of Zhao’s Vineyard, was conversing with two other won, and upon hearing the commotion, they all stood up.
A pair of eyes—one older, one younger—oh, wait, it should be one mature woman and one young girl, gazed at him in unison.
Well, Xia Yu recognized the mature woman; it was Yuan Lanzi, who was recently on the judges’ panel. As for the rumors about her and his old man’s youthful escapades, Xia Yu heard Zhu Qing talk about them during boring nights.
As for the young girl...
???
Seeing Xia Yu almost pop a series of question marks in his head, Yuan Yun hastily greeted him shyly, "Chef Xia, h-hello, I’m Yuan Yun from the Jinling Yuan Family, also a contestant in this year’s competition, and I’ve made it into the top 30..."
Xia Yu’s eyes seed a bit peculiar, vaguely shining?
Oh—
Gazing around at the won in the yard, from Yuan Yun to Tang Yuqiong, to Qi Qingyan, then Zhu Qing, and up to Yuan Lanzi, well, the age range suddenly expanded, Xia Yu chuckled inwardly, "Isn’t this a perfect culinary tasting session?"
"Co over, sit!"
Yuan Yun was startled by Xia Yu’s friendly smile and words. The tales and nickna of the "Young Devil" spread wider and wider, becoming increasingly exaggerated among gossipers, as if he were the horned demon king ruling over the Chinese Cuisine World.
Feeling hands gently pushing her shoulders with delicate force, Yuan Yun was dazed until she sat at the stone table, the cool sensation from the stone bench bringing her clarity.
"Ah, I had intimate contact with Chef Xia—he, he touched . Chef Xia is really gentle!" Yuan Yun couldn’t help but think, her charming face blushing deeply.
This was typical fan behavior.
Seeing this, Tang Yuqiong teased the livestream viewers, "Look, wherever Chef Xia goes, he has young female fans, and a simple gesture srizes them!"
Contrary to her expectations of lots of sarcastic banter, the chat was filled with a chorus of "ahhhh" and excited screams, leaving Tang Yuqiong dumbfounded, "Oh my god, what’s the female viewer ratio in our livestream?"
Soon, Tang Yuqiong was also persuaded by Xia Yu to join the stone table, without further minding the chat.
Even Zhu Qing sat down, making a total of five won at a large stone table. Qi Qingyan’s assistant, along with her cara crew, could only cast envious glances from outside.
"Guests must be neatly seated!"
Xia Yu let out a laughter different from usual, not wasting ti, and snapped!
The three clay pots on the tray had their lids opened simultaneously.
Instantly, the dicinal flavor mixed with an exotic umami poured into the whole yard.
Despite the slight difference in one ingredient in the three clay pots, the ladies noticed that the aroma inhaled triggered vastly different feelings and reactions.
Getting close to the right-side clay pot, Yuan Yun had the first reaction, covering her mouth, "Just inhaling its aroma makes my mouth feel like it’s holding a plum... Saliva everywhere!"
Judging by Yuan Yun’s garbled speech, you could tell if there was abnormal saliva secretion.
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