Chapter 172: Chapter 171: A Nearly Perfect Eight Treasure
Porridge
Translator: 549690339
[A Nearly Perfect Eight-Treasure Porridge]
Looking at the pot of porridge in front of him, Jiang Feng could hardly believe his own eyes.
Nearly perfect!
This was the highest praise Jiang Feng had ever received from the game appraisals.
He scooped up a spoonful of the piping hot eight-treasure porridge, blew on it —after all, Jiang Feng wasn’t particularly bothered by the heat— and took a bite.
The aroma of sweet osmanthus sugar was quite singular, but surprisingly matched the ingredients in the pot of porridge very well. It was sweet and fragrant without being cloying. To someone who enjoyed that flavor, one spoonful could be savored slowly for a long time.
That afternoon, while boiling the porridge, Jiang Feng remembered that Zhang Xi’s eight-treasure porridge was made with honey, so he wanted to try the difference between honey and white sugar in porridge. While searching for honey, he unexpectedly found the sweet osmanthus sugar which Jiang Jiankang had bought from somewhere. Its taste was a bit special, different from the common sweet osmanthus sugar found on the market, with both aroma and sweetness being superior, so he also tried a bit of that.
One pot with honey, one pot with sweet osmanthus sugar, and the result was this pot of eight-treasure porridge rated as nearly perfect.
“Mom, Ji Yue, come taste this porridge,” Jiang Feng called out.
Wang Xiulian and Ji Yue, being women, were naturally avid lovers of sweets. If it weren’t for the fact that the eight-treasure porridge was sweet, Mrs. Wang Xiulian wouldn’t have deigned to drink a small bowl of it yesterday; she usually disliked drinking porridge.
Ji Yue was the first to come in, asking, “What’s up? Did you make a particularly good batch this time?”
“It’s absolutely the best porridge you have ever tasted in your life,” Jiang Feng boasted proudly.
“Keep tooting your own horn,” Ji Yue said skeptically, reaching for a bowl and chopsticks.
She was afraid of scalding her tongue, so she stirred the small bowl of porridge for a while, blowing on it repeatedly, letting the porridge slide off the edges of the spoon in large clumps as she stirred. This went on until Wang Xiulian leisurely walked in. Only then did Ji Yue scoop up half a spoonful, blew on it a few times, and put it in her mouth.
“Holy shit,” Ji Yue exclaimed unculturedly.
She was someone who loved drinking porridge. During her toughest times, she could even tolerate the cafeteria’s cheapest porridge at three mao a bowl, which tasted slightly burnt and came without any side dishes. Although largely because she was poor, this did not affect her fundamental judgment of good food.
Ji Yue felt that Jiang Feng was right. This was indeed the tastiest porridge she had ever had.
Sweet, fragrant, glutinous, smooth, and many other sensations she simply couldn’t describe with her high school Chinese exam score of 79. In short, it was two words.
Delicious!
Incredibly, exceedingly, and quite delicious!
Ji Yue slurped down the porridge in her bowl in a few gulps, filled another full bowl, and exclaimed, “You really hit the jackpot, this porridge is too delicious!” “Is it that good?” Mrs. Wang Xiulian was somewhat doubtful, very graciously filling a small half bowl, blew on it, and, like Jiang Feng, unafraid of the heat, took a mouthful.
She swallowed.
Mrs. Wang Xiulian picked up the bowl again, put it down, and it was empty.
Without many words, she went to get herself a large serving bowl.
After gulping down another big bowl, Mrs. Wang Xiulian belched contentedly and praised, “Feng, this porridge of yours, it’s getting better and better.”
Jiang Feng said he could accept any and all compliments that were acceptable.
Feel free to praise, he could take praise in any form.
When Jiang Jiankang came back from the next room after settling the bill and entered the kitchen, seeing Wang Xiulian and Ji Yue each holding a bowl suitable for their size and drinking Eight Treasures Porridge, he almost thought he was hallucinating.
“Dad, come and try this pot of Eight Treasures Porridge I’ve made, it’s cooked with osmanthus sugar,” Jiang Feng said.
Jiang Jiankang took a spoonful and his eyes lit up.
“Not bad, son, the flavor of the osmanthus sugar goes well with the ingredients in the porridge,” Jiang Jiankang praised.
“Dad, what brand of osmanthus sugar did you buy?” Jiang Feng asked. The osmanthus sugar had been transferred into a jar by Jiang Jiankang, and there was no brand on it.
“What brand?” Jiang Jiankang frowned, “It’s brandless, just bought from a roadside stall. Remember when I went shopping with your mom at the beginning of your semester? It was on the pedestrian street east of the Finance and Economics University gate. An elderly man was selling it at his stall. It seemed to be homemade, so I bought two jars because it looked good.”
Jiang Feng:…
He didn’t know if the organizers would allow contestants to bring their own ingredients.
Well, sneaking ingredients in feels good for the moment, but it could spell disaster before the competition. Jiang Feng remembered that someone had asked a similar question the day before yesterday, but he had slipped away without hearing the answer.
He went outside to call the organizers’ staff member and got straight to the point: “Hello, this is contestant Jiang Feng. I’d like to know if it’s possible to bring our own ingredients for the top 8 competition?”
“Ah, contestant Jiang Feng, I’m sorry, but for the fairness of the competition, theoretically, contestants are not allowed to bring their own ingredients. If you have any special needs, please let us know and our staff will do their best to accommodate you,” replied the staff member.
There was a moment of silence from Jiang Feng, who then said, “I would need to add osmanthus sugar to the ingredients list—not the kind produced on the assembly line, but the osmanthus sugar sold on February 27th at the pedestrian street next to the east gate of Finance and Economics University by an elderly man. It’s likely homemade and different from the osmanthus sugar commercially available. Judging from the quality of the sugar, it must have been made around last October and sealed until now. I’m not sure if there’s any left…”
The staff sister: “…Okay, I’ve taken note of your request, and we will do our best to find it. I wish you a pleasant life.”
Jiang Feng felt that her last sentence seemed a bit through gritted teeth.
When Jiang Feng returned to the kitchen, half of the pot of Eight Treasures Porridge had already been consumed by Wang Xiulian and Jiang Jiankang. Ji Yue, lacking the stamina, was still not using a sea bowl, just a regular Southern rice bowl, and had gotten full after three bowls.
“Mrs. Wang, are we selling this pot of porridge?” Ji Yue asked.
Wang Xiulian swallowed the porridge she had in her mouth and said in between breaths, “No, we’re not selling it; we’ll keep it for ourselves to drink tonight. Jiankang, just stir-fry a few ordinary meat dishes tonight, and we’ll have porridge. Our sister-in-law has just said on her circle of friends that drinking porridge detoxifies and is good for the complexion and the intestines and the body.”
Jiang Jiankang nodded repeatedly: “How about calling over our oldest brother, fourth brother, and fifth brother’s families, too? Let Feng cook a few more pots. Dad and third uncle went to the park, and we haven’t had a gathering to drink porridge together yet!”
“Okay, Feng, cook a few more pots later, just this kind,” Wang Xiulian agreed and then remembered something, holding her bowl as she asked, “Is second brother’s demolition compensation settled? The drugstore next door has long been renovated.”
“It’s settled, it’s settled,” said Jiang Jiankang. “Second brother was saying just the other day that it would be soon, probably by the end of May at the latest.”
Ji Yue rubbed her stomach with a resigned and defeated expression, putting down her bowl: “No more, no more, I really can’t drink another drop. I’m going to take a walk outside to digest. I’m so full I could burst.”
Jiang Feng, who was worried the organizers wouldn’t find the osmanthus sugar Jiang Jiankang had bought, asked when he saw Ji Yue leaving, “Do you know if there’s a supermarket nearby that sells osmanthus sugar?”
“Osmanthus sugar? What kind of sugar is that?” Ji Yue looked puzzled. “Isn’t there a new China Resources Vanguard store at the end of the street? You can try looking for it there, they should have sugar, I guess.”
“I’ll go have a look.” Jiang Feng pocketed his phone and headed for the supermarket.