Chapter 298: Chapter 297 Mission Accomplished (Requesting Monthly Pass!)
Before I knew it, the midday business on August 18th had ended.
On such a festive day, Jiang Feng still hadn’t sold any of his special dishes, aside from the Sweet and Sour Yam.
Jiang Feng even began to miss Xue Shaoheng. Jiang Feng had been frequenting the Benevolent Doctor in recent days, leading many regulars at the Taifeng Building to think he was taking time off, and it had been several days since Xue Shaoheng and Xue Hua had come in for a meal.
Jiang Feng vaguely recalled how, until the previous few days, Xue Shaoheng would visit the restaurant daily and order a serving of meat-only dumplings. Although Jiang Feng couldn’t fathom why Xue Shaoheng still had a soft spot for the meat dumplings despite being able to see the buffs on the special dishes, this didn’t stop him from considering Xue Shaoheng a good comrade.
Unfortunately, the good comrade hadn’t shown up at the restaurant for three days.
Zhang Zhiyuan’s family had finished their trip to Beiping and were taking the afternoon flight back home.
Through Zhang Zhiyuan’s social media updates, Jiang Feng could see that Zhang Chu had bought quite a few gifts to take back and show off to old friends.
Reflecting now, life had become more colorful ever since Zhang Zhiyuan’s family visited Beiping. If it was a novel, it would have been enough material for thirty-nine chapters. That said, this wasn’t much; Jiang Feng had recently read a medical-themed book where a mere three days of events were stretched into over a hundred chapters, and only after catching up did he realize that the author was also just a pigeon spirit.
Wait, why had he used the word “also”?
Jiang Feng shook his head, casting these messy thoughts out of his mind as he continued practicing the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.
Since he didn’t know when the lucky buff from the beef stewed with carrots would manifest in his life, Jiang Feng grasped at the tail end of that luck, practicing the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon in hopes of a stroke of fortune to create a near-perfect dish.
The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeons Jiang Feng had made recently were all of high quality, yet none were near perfect. The issues, identified by evaluation, always lay in the technicalities like fire control, timing, and temperature—issues he knew he couldn’t rectify in a short period.
Jiang Feng was mixing the sauce.
Wu Minqi was on the phone outside with Mrs. Wu; Wu Minqi’s cousin was getting engaged next month, and she was discussing with her mother whether to bring Jiang Feng along to the event.
Sun Jikai was still pondering the sugar sedimentation in the oil, having grasped a few tricks of the trade within a few days.
Objectively speaking, Sun Jikai’s talent in cooking was indeed not bad. If Jiang Feng hadn’t been cheating, he certainly wouldn’t have been a match for him. It was just a pity…
Sun Jikai had successively run into the game-cheating Jiang Feng, Wu Minqi with her romance-novel-boss story arc, the life-achiever Zhang Guanghang, and the ignorant Taifeng Building crowd who had not heard of Wharton.
Thinking about it, his plight was quite sad.
“Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon?” A husky, unfamiliar yet somewhat familiar voice came from behind Jiang Feng.
“Hmm.” Jiang Feng turned his head and froze.
Standing behind him was Sun Guanyun.
Sun Jikai was stunned, forgetting about the oil in the pan that was close to boiling over.
The roar of the extractor fan continued, and the high-powered electric fan whirred ceaselessly, unable to reduce the temperature in the kitchen.
Sun Jikai and Sun Guanyun looked at each other. Jiang Feng looked at both of them, feeling as if time stood still, like a slow motion scene from a movie.
“Grandfather.” Sun Jikai spoke up.
“How’s your learning coming along?” Sun Guanyun asked.
“It’s going okay,” Sun Jikai replied.
“What did you learn?”
“The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.”
The oil in the pot began to boil, and smoke rose from it—yet before the smoke could drift too far, it was sucked away by the vent hood.
“Do you want to learn cooking?”
“Yes.”
” Do you want to go back? ”
“Yes.”
“Do you want the Jubao Building?”
Sun Jikai was taken aback.
“Do you want it?”
“Yes!”
“Good,” Sun Guanyun smiled. “That’s my grandson.”
Jiang Feng could no longer follow the conversation between the grandfather and grandson.
Perhaps this was just the way of the wealthy—with inscrutable conversations.
Sun Guanyun said nothing more; Sun Jikai silently turned off the stove’s flame, went to the cage holding the pigeons, and selected one that had the right proportion of fat to lean meat.
Before the small pigeon could let out a “coo,” Sun Jikai had swiftly ended its life with one clean cut, the bird falling victim to his blade.
Jiang Feng: ???
Had he missed a part of the plot? The two of them had only locked eyes, and suddenly, Sun Jikai inexplicably started preparing the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.
Jiang Feng had long forgotten about the sauce in the pot.
He watched as Sun Jikai carefully, though without Jiang Feng’s knifework proficiency, deboned the pigeon, meticulously prepared the stuffing, and deftly water-blanched the bird.
When Jiang Feng came back to his senses, the pigeon broth he was preparing for the thickening sauce had already boiled dry.
However, it was no big deal. He had made three, so if one batch of pigeon broth was ruined, he still had two more.
Suddenly, Jiang Feng realized something.
His side task…
Seemed to have come to him on its own.
Sun Guanyun was fully absorbed in watching Sun Jikai, without any spare attention or energy to give to Jiang Feng.
Jiang Feng swallowed hard, realizing that this was an opportunity.
If the lucky buff from the beef stew with carrots really worked, he could complete the side task “Sun Guanyun’s Approval” today.
The Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon that Sun Guanyun was making had already gone into the steamer, so Jiang Feng began re-making the thickening sauce.
Fully focused, he couldn’t afford to make a mistake.
Simmer the pigeon broth.
Add the starch to thicken.
Add chicken fat.
Turn the high heat to low.
Turn off the heat.
Take it out of the pan.
Jiang Feng looked at the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon on the table, scooped up a spoonful of thickening sauce, without technique, without fancy movements, all based on feeling, the experience and intuition he had accumulated from countless times making the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.
It was time!
Drizzle the thickening sauce.
The sauce cascaded down like water, yet it was still not perfect.
The sauce spread out on the surface of the squab, thinly coating it, yet it was still not perfect.
Take it out of the pan.
“A batch of superbly flavored Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon”
Better than high-quality ones, but not the result Jiang Feng wanted.
Jiang Feng sighed.
Even at such a critical moment, the lucky buff couldn’t help him make an almost perfect Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.
Some things can be gained through luck, like a lottery or a set of “271 Speed Fortune Attraction” suit, but some things can only be achieved through strength, like the superbly flavored Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon in front of him.
No amount of luck could make it an almost perfect Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon.
Jiang Feng’s sigh caught Sun Guanyun’s attention. Sun Guanyun saw the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon Jiang Feng had finished and then glanced over at Sun Jikai’s progress.
“Where’s the knife?” Sun Guanyun asked.
“I’ll get it for you,” said Jiang Feng, offering to fetch the knife for Sun Guanyun and help him slice open the pigeon’s belly, but Sun Guanyun stopped him.
“Let me do it,” Sun Guanyun took the knife from Jiang Feng’s hand.
With a very precise cut, he sliced steadily into the rotund belly of the pigeon, making an incision.
The vegetarian stuffing tried to spill out eagerly.
Like beads falling onto a jade plate.
Sun Guanyun picked up a small spoon, scooped up some of the stuffing, and dipped it into a little bit of the thickening sauce.
He tasted it.
Jiang Feng couldn’t help but sigh again.
“Ding! Side task completed ‘Sun Guanyun’s Approval’. You have obtained a reward: A piece of Sun Guanyun’s memory.”
Alas, he knew that such a version of the Eight Treasures Chestnut Fragrant Pigeon couldn’t possibly…
Wait, what? The task was completed?!
Jiang Feng looked up incredulously.
Sun Guanyun nodded with satisfaction, “Not bad.”
Jiang Feng could hardly believe his eyes and ears.
Was this the same Sun Guanyun who was more hot-tempered than Sir, whose standards were even more stringent than Sir’s?
His luck…
Had it arrived?