Chapter 86

Chapter 86: A Length of Green Jade

Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: Desmond

“If anyone places an order later, just remember them first,” Yuan Zhou instructed Mu Xiaoyun

who was standing at the side .

“Don’t worry, boss . I have a good memory . ” Mu Xiaoyun knew Yuan Zhou was about to cook

busily, hence answered immediately .

Watching Mu Xiaoyun stare at the entrance seriously, Yuan Zhou began to prepare the

ingredients for the Jin’ling Grass dish . First it was the main ingredient, the dark green plants

growing in water .

Yuan Zhou pushed the button and stepped onto the board, heading up to pick the fresh and

tender rhizomes .

A serving of Jin’ling Grass basically weighed 125 grams; therefore, Yuan Zhou directly pulled

out an entire row of plants, holding them loosely in his hands .

“Little Boss Yuan, is this plant the artemisia selengensis?” with his sharp eyes, the grandpa

identified the plant and asked directly .

“Humm . ” Yuan Zhou nodded without saying anything .

“This plant is said to be edible as a whole but only a small length of it is tasty . ” the grandpa also

knew of that and even ate it before . Now that he saw this was what Yuan Zhou meant by Jin’ling

Grass, he was rest assured .

Meanwhile, Yuan Zhou was attentively picking the vegetables . If it was a local from Jin’ling City

who wanted to eat the artemisia selengensis, he would pinch off 400 grams of rhizome, leaving

only a small length of clean, green, and crisp stem on top of the artemisia selengensis .

However, Yuan Zhou pulled out more than that . The original 1 . 25 kilograms of plants in his

hands were now left with only 125 grams .

Only one tenth of the plant could be used as an ingredient . Simply put, 50 grams out of 500

grams .

Since the plant was easy to be damaged and to lose moisture, the system provided raw

ingredients that were still nurtured and kept in water, not yet harvested .

Yuan Zhou brought up a piece of artemisia selengensis that looked fresh and cute due to its

vivid green color and directly broke off a small length of the stem on the top . Afterward, he

removed the leaves rapidly and placed it in a perforated pottery pot at the side .

Gradually, stems of the exact same length piled up the white pottery pot . After the last piece

was pulled off, Yuan Zhou took up the pottery pot and went to the water tank .

The stem tops of the artemisia selengensis that had just been pinched off were so fresh and

tender that the moisture inside seemed to almost drip out . Yuan Zhou, first, filled a slightly

larger, empty pottery pot with water and then placed the pot in his hands into the larger one .

Next he took out a ceramic rod with the width of a finger and gently stirred the stems in the pot,

cleaning them slowly .

That way, the damage could be minimized .

The grandpa stood at the side and watched how carefully Yuan Zhou treated the pot of

artemisia selengensis . He felt both surprised and also as if it was obvious . If not processed this

way, how could the dishes cooked by Yuan Zhou be so delicious?

From the way he processed his ingredients, one could judge the quality of his dishes .

A minute later, Yuan Zhou took up the smaller pottery pot and put it into a plate before

beginning to filter out the extra water .

Only after preparing everything did Yuan Zhou turn on the stove and changed to another wok

before starting to cook .

One of the benefits of the system was that no matter what kind of wok it provided, they

wouldn’t have any taste of iron; furthermore, the materials used were rare as well . Despite this

being a new one, it was, nevertheless, a wok ready to be used at any time .

The wok was then heated up with a big flame until it started smoking . With a sound of “Zi”,

Yuan Zhou poured some oil specially used for the Jin’ling Grass dish into the wok and

immediately adjusted it to a medium flame . That way, the oil temperature would instantly rise

but wouldn't burn the vegetables once they were poured into the wok .

“Zi la, Zi la,” Yuan Zhou then poured the artemisia selengensis inside and began to stir-fry the

dish .

The artemisia selengensis itself was a perennial herbaceous plant, which had a fragrant flavor .

The taller it grew, the stronger the flavor became . However, the flavor of the artemisia

selengensis for consumption was best not to be too intense; otherwise, it might affect the fresh

taste contained .

The system used the seeds of the artemisia selengensis on its third year and planted them in

the water through the aquatic cultivation techniques, enabling them to grow naturally .

The water was taken from the moisture contained in the clouds and was then turned into water

through a scientific process . During the process, no man-made pollution affected it .

Artemisia selengensis growing under such circumstances had no smell of earth, dust, or

artificial breeding taste .

From pouring the ingredients into the wok to scooping them out into the plate, it only took two

minutes to finish cooking the dish . Next, Yuan Zhou began preparing the noodles . With superb

skills and a smooth speed, Yuan Zhou finished cooking the noodles in three minutes . He was so

fast that the artemisia selengensis on the tray still maintained its appearance just like it was

scooped out of the wok .

Of course, this was mainly due to the tray provided by the system .

Having taken off the mask, Yuan Zhou set the tray down in front of the grandpa and then said,

“Here is your dish . ”

“Little Boss Yuan cooked really fast . ” The grandpa first gave him high praise before looking at

the Jin’ling Grass dish that was just ordered by him .

The round porcelain dish had a white base where a small fish was drawn; its mouth was opened

vividly as if it were eating the bright green stem tops of the artemisia selengensis .

“The plate is quite interesting and the picture looks so vivid,” the grandpa couldn’t help

exclaiming .

What came next into his sight directly shocked the grandpa .

“Is the dish fake?” the grandpa said in surprise while pointing at pieces of the bright green

artemisia selengensis in the plate .

“I also think it seems to be fake,” standing at the side, Mu Xiaoyun couldn’t help chiming in .

Indeed, the things on the plate now seemed to have no difference from a fake one . It looked

more like fake green jades stacked on top of one another . Even some water drops that look like

beads were hanging on the surface of the artemisia selengensis .

The shiny oil over the surface looked like the brilliance from green jades . It did not seem like a

dish .

“Little Boss Yuan sure likes to startle his customer even with a dish of stir-fried vegetables . ”

The grandpa shook his head and sighed with emotion .

“Just taste it . ” Yuan Zhou did not say much and just gestured at the grandpa to taste the dish .

“It looks like to be made of jadeite . Anyway, I have eaten jadeite before,” the grandpa picked up

two pieces with his chopsticks and placed it into his mouth to chew up while speaking of that .

The artemisia selengensis looked green and fresh, just like the jadeite . It had no flavoring at all

on it . When eaten, it first gave off faint fragrance and then the crisp and fresh taste .

With a simple chew, the rhizome was bitten off into the mouth of the grandpa . Then the fresh

and tender liquid wrapped inside flowed out, causing the fragrance of the artemisia selengensis

to become stronger .

The grandpa was not a professional gourmet . After several chews, he directly swallowed them .

And then from inside his throat rose the faint fragrance of the plant .

“It’s really very fresh and tender,” while saying that, the grandpa picked up the artemisia

selengensis with his chopsticks again, placing it into his mouth . His lunch commenced .

“Gu Dong” watching the grandpa enjoying the meal joyfully, Mu Xiaoyun couldn’t help

swallowing her drool quietly .

Speaking of the part-time job here, the working hours and the salary were both satisfactory .

The only problem was that she could only see but couldn’t eat in the face of delicious dishes .

That was really a torture for the girl, Mu Xiaoyun, who had a normal appetite .

There was no other customers in the quiet restaurant; only the sound of the grandpa

continuously picking up and eating the dish echoed throughout the main hall .

There wasn’t much of the 125 grams of raw ingredients after stir-frying them well . Just in a

little while, the grandpa ate it all up . The Clear Broth Noodle Soup, nevertheless, sat beside him,

untouched .

“Little Master Yuan, the quantity of each dish here is way too little . Is there any possibility to

increase the quantity?” looking at the empty plate, the grandpa asked tentatively

“Nope . ” Yuan Zhou refused without hesitating .

“Ai, the plate yet looks so beautiful . ” The grandpa shook his head in disappointment, and then

lowered his head checking the plate that did not have any juice left .

“Eh? Master Yuan, why is there not even the slightest juice of the vegetables on the plate?” the

grandpa found something weird and asked .

“The juice contained in the artemisia selengensis itself has all been contained inside,” Yuan

Zhou’s explanation could only be well understood by the grandpa, who had finished eating the

dish .

Generally speaking, vegetables would inevitably lose the moisture during the cooking process .

This included the nutrition it contained as well . No matter how fresh and crisp the dish was

cooked, it was the same . However, Yuan Zhou managed to master the skill of containing the

moisture in the artemisia selengensis .

How miraculous . . .