Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Jin’ling Cuisine

Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: Desmond

“Ling Ling Ling”

The alarm rang on time . Yuan Zhou got up immediately and finished washing up with his eyes

closed before returning to his bedroom and changing his clothes .

“Dong Dong Dong”, Yuan Zhou walked downstairs and raised his head, looking towards the

green plants unconsciously, which remained green and fresh, without the slightest change .

Speaking of which, Yuan Zhou hadn’t looked at them carefully . Therefore, as he thought that,

he walked over there and pressed on a white inconspicuous button at the left side .

The board that had appeared the night earlier turned up instantly again . Yuan Zhou stepped

onto it and opened the glass enclosure . Then a blast of delicate fragrance instantly came out,

along with the dark green color, which made Yuan Zhou feel relaxed .

Under the water channel was the incomparably clear water . It seemed to be still circulating

rather than stagnant water . Upon closer inspection, he saw, on the other side of the water

channel, a white water pipe . It was much thinner than an ordinary one and quite inconspicuous

if one did not observe carefully .

The greens were lined up in perfect rows, their height and thickness being basically similar to

each other and each of them standing upright in the water . There were three rows in all,

separated exactly by the same distance . The white roots of the green plants in the water grew

separately, without getting entangled with one another .

After watching their growth, Yuan Zhou closed the glass enclosure and got off from the board

which automatically folded back to its original place .

He looked at the clock in the main hall . It was 7:15 a . m . thus he decided to cook the Soup

Dumplings . This way he would get breakfast and it would also be more convenient .

He then took out the flour and started to knead the dough . The proverb “Practice makes perfect”

applied to Yuan Zhou quite well . From what he could recall, his skill of kneading dough had

always been rapidly improving . The three necessities of the kneading skill (in which the hands,

dough, and basin were all clean) were merely the primary stage . Currently, the dough that

kneaded by Yuan Zhou had a better plumpness now, looking shinier and more elastic .

While waiting for the dough to be fermented, Yuan Zhou chopped up the meat stuffing and

diced the frozen pigskin kept in the refrigerator .

With a few minutes left, Yuan Zhou pulled off his mask and went to open the door, finding, as

expected, Mu Xiaoyun already waiting while standing outside .

“Finished your breakfast?” Yuan Zhou was rarely in a good mood; thus he asked with an

unsmiling face .

“Yes, I did . ” Mu Xiaoyun nodded joyfully .

“Good . I will eat my breakfast shortly,” Yuan Zhou nodded and said .

“Eh…” Mu Xiaoyun first spluttered at Yuan Zhou’s reply before asking curiously .

“Boss, do you always speak that way?”

“What’s the problem?” Yuan Zhou had a doubt in his voice .

Mu Xiaoyun looked carefully at Yuan Zhou’s face and realized he still maintained his solemn

and reserved expression as if he hadn’t understood the problem .

“Boss, the way you talk always makes people speechless . ” After thinking for a while, she

mustered her courage and spoke out her thoughts .

“Oh . I’m going to eat breakfast now . ” Yuan Zhou did not give an answer that matched the

question .

“Ok . Then I won’t disturb Boss . ” Mu Xiaoyun obediently took up a dust cloth, which was merely

for decoration purposes, and began to wipe the tables and chairs . This was the work the little

loli had actually demanded on her own initiative .

Of course, Mu Xiaoyun did this after her brother instructed her . There wasn’t any waiters or

waitresses who didn’t clean up restaurants; therefore the little loli specially applied for a dust

cloth to clean the tables and chairs the next day .

This cloth was a white towel that Yuan Zhou specifically went to buy from a grocery store . It

was of medium quality, worth 10 RMB per piece . The quality was of average level but sufficient

to be used for wiping the tables . Once it was gotten into her hands, Mu Xiaoyun immediately set

out to work .

However, when Mu Xiaoyun wet the towel in a small basin and began to clean, she found that

the restaurant was unbelievably clean .

Even the bottom of the table was spotless . Even after Mu Xiaoyun had wiped everything she

could reach throughout the restaurant, the white towel was still white, without any change in

the color at all . However, there were still some changes to it .

The average-quality towel was not like before anymore . After being washed again, though the

white color still remained unchanged, the towel, nevertheless, had begun to shed wool . This

was the defect of cotton blended with fibers .

Mu Xiaoyun merely wiped the restaurant randomly during the cleaning as she didn’t want to

drool in face of the Soup Dumplings cooked by Yuan Zhou .

Even so, when Yuan Zhou poked a hole on the Soup Dumpling to pour the vinegar, the scent was

fully inhaled by Mu Xiaoyun’s nose .

“Gu Gu,” though Mu Xiaoyun already had her breakfast, her stomach couldn’t help making such

sounds .

She looked around in shame and found that there was nobody around . After that, she stayed

away and pretended to be busy working, with her hands on her stomach . Not until Yuan Zhou

finished two Soup Dumplings did she come over and stand upright at her usual position .

Yuan Zhou had never given any special notice whenever he developed new dishes; therefore

even Mu Xiaoyun barely noticed the newly-developed dishes on the menu just now . However,

the prices refreshed her “three outlooks” (outlooks on the world, on life and on values), again .

Then following the good habit of “ask when you don’t know”, she opened her mouth . “Boss, I

can understand the other two dishes . But for the dish of Jin’ling Grass, is it really the grass?”

“Yes, it is indeed grass . ” Yuan Zhou nodded, admitting that .

“Boss, you are so humorous . It should be wild vegetables, right?” Mu Xiaoyun indicated that she

knew something about the wild vegetables .

“Good that you know that . ” Yuan Zhou nodded .

“Boss, did you cook the Soup Dumplings today?” suddenly, a customer came into the restaurant

and asked, indicating that the breakfast hour had formally commenced .

During the entire hour, no customers noticed the new dishes . Regular customers basically

didn’t look at the menu on the wall . Besides, Yuan Zhou didn’t have the habit of propagating his

new dishes .

The slightly longer lunch time was the main point .

“Little Master Yuan, are there any new dishes today?” The grandpa arrived first with a leisure

pace . After being absent for a whole week, he came up and asked directly once he arrived .

“Yes, they are on the wall . ” Yuan Zhou nodded while pointing at the new dishes added in the

menu .

“Ok . Judged from the name, they are all dishes from the southern part of China . ” The grandpa

took a seat and turned his head to look carefully at the menu .

There were indeed three more dishes added to the menu, and what’s more, the Herbal Tea Eggs

that he had eaten once had risen back to its original price .

“Little Master Yuan, it turns out that the Herbal Tea Eggs were truly a special offer,” the

grandpa became speechless when he saw the Herbal Tea Eggs with the unit price of 1888 RMB

written aside before asking .

“Yes, you’ve already tried it . This is just its original price,” Yuan Zhou answered humbly .

The reason why he was so humble was naturally because of the temporary mission that he had

received out of a sudden .

“An old man like me still prefers bland dishes . So offer me a serving of Jin’ling Grass and a bowl

of plain rice . ” The grandpa probably knew that Yuan Zhou would definitely charge for the rice,

thus he ordered it consciously .

“I’m sorry, I am unable to provide the plain rice now,” Yuan Zhou said with a prim manner .

“Little Master Yuan, how can I have lunch with only dishes but no rice?” the grandpa looked at

Yuan Zhou and asked incredulously .

“Eat like this,” Yuan Zhou answered calmly .

“Little Master Yuan, this old man finds that you know nothing about how to do business . ” the

grandpa’s tone carried some helplessness . This young man had such a superb culinary skills

but as for his character, it was too cold .

Yuan Zhou responded with an “Oh”, without giving an affirmative or negative answer at all . He

merely waited for the grandpa to change his order .

“Jin’ling Grass, and the Clear Broth Noodle Soup . ” The grandpa immediately changed the dishes

to wheat-based food .

“The so-called Jin’ling Grass is a vegetable dish, right?” the grandpa made a detailed inquiry

again . He was not fully convinced .

“It’s indeed a vegetable dish . ” Yuan Zhou nodded affirmatively .

“If anyone comes to order dishes in a while, just remember them first . ” Yuan Zhou instructed

Mu Xiaoyun who was standing at the side .

It was actually still early . The grandpa had arrived ahead of others since he didn’t want to

squeeze with those people who were rushing to work .