Chapter 64: Jadeite stir-fried with White Jade

Old Master Song ate without his expression changing and said, “I remember now. The person I met that night wasn’t tall. It should be you, right?”

Xu Le had already guessed it. He nodded.

“Yes, I made braised pork trotters and rice. It was very sloppy that night. I wonder if the taste is to your liking.”

“Haha, I almost ate the bowl. What do you think?”

Old Master Song teased him. Xu Le immediately felt relieved and nodded.

After all, he was a senior. No matter what, he was a bit nervous.

Song Deyue casually chatted with him about his parents and younger sister. As he spoke, his eyes couldn’t help turning red. “Thank you.”

“Yeah?”

“Back then, I didn’t get to see my wife for the last time. All these years, my heart has been tormented and in pain.”

As an outsider, Xu Le naturally did not know that that day’s casual act of smoking a duck was like crossing time and space, healing the regret that Old Master Song could not overcome many years ago.

“Grandpa Song, you haven’t married anyone else for so many years. You must really care about her.”

“Sigh.” Old Master Song laughed and said with ease, “As chefs, it’s inevitable for us to kill when cooking. Therefore, we’re all materialists who don’t believe in gods and ghosts… Do you understand what I mean?”

“I do.”

Xu Le nodded. He was a university graduate, so he could understand the explanations regarding these terms.

“Yes, but I’m already at this age. The thought of meeting her again soon makes me even happier.”

Old Master Song patted him on the shoulder and said, “You’re still young. You might not understand these feelings, but you have family by your side. You must cherish them.”

Xu Le nodded solemnly.

“By the way,” Grandpa Song suddenly said, “Do you know what my wife’s dish [Jadeite stir-fried with White Jade] is?”

Xu Le widened his eyes and shook his head.

“It’s just stir-fried watermelon skin.”

“Huh?”

Xu Le immediately understood. Eating the layer of green skin on the outside of the watermelon with the stir-fried white skin inside… He subconsciously thought: How am I supposed to eat that kind of food?

“Hahaha, it’s really not delicious!”

Song Deyue casually dissed, “Perhaps it’s because we’re a couple that complements each other. I’m good at cooking, and it’s like she’s poisoning me when she cooks. Only that dish of Jadeite stir-fried with White Jade doesn’t taste so bad, so I always flatter that dish of hers, fearing that she’ll harm me with other dishes.”

Xu Le couldn’t help but laugh.

When Old Master Song first came to look for him, he originally thought that he would take in a disciple. However, after chatting for a while, he realized that Xu Le was more mature than his peers, and his thinking was more meticulous and steady. The two of them were more than ten years apart, but the atmosphere was like that of friends. They might as well exchange contact information and become old friends.

“Good luck in the competition tomorrow. I remember that you opened a restaurant, right? If you want to try out new dishes or do publicity in future, you can look for me.”

“Okay, thank you, Grandpa Song.”

“However, you have to do what you have to do for tomorrow’s competition. You have to treat it seriously. I won’t go easy on you.”

“I know!”

After returning to the hotel, Xu Le wanted to take a shower. He was about to take off his clothes when a video call came in.

“Hey! Brother!”

Xu Tian shouted at the top of her voice, “You’re so awesome today! Brother is so awesome—”

Her words warmed Xu Le’s heart. A child’s praise was different from an adult’s.

Adults always had a glib tongue or some other motive, but children would say whatever they wanted, and they were more sincere and naive.

“Oh, thank you. I’ll cook something nice for you when I come back, okay?”

Xu Le turned on the camera and was greeting Xu Tian when he suddenly realised and asked, “Whose phone are you holding?”

“Lu Yuxi.”

A gentle female voice was heard. Soon, the person who spoke entered the camera view.

“Xu Le, you performed very well.”

It was the school belle who had come to his restaurant for a meal the other day. It turned out that she was Ms. Li’s younger sister and knew Xu Tian. No wonder… fate was indeed like a circle.

“Okay.” Xu Le continued to chat with Xu Tian and asked her about her studies.

“Everything is good, but Teacher Li’s cooking is not that good.”

Xu Tian lowered her voice in the second half of her sentence. Her sneaky look made Lu Yuxi laugh.

Unexpectedly, the school belle also nodded her head in agreement. She said, “After eating your brother’s food, it would be weird if you could eat other people’s food.”

Her words made Xu Le’s ears heat up and he smiled shyly. “Haha, you flatter me.”

Xu Tian whined and wanted him to bring her to the amusement park. Xu Le naturally agreed.

Now that the restaurant had a stable earning, he believed that before long, he would be able to repay the mortgage. By then, he could open a branch and start his own brand. He would be able to earn more money to give his sister a better life…

Of course, this fighting spirit ended when he saw the shad fish on the finals of the competition.

“This is the main ingredient for today’s competition: shad fish.”

Shad fish was once classified as a national endangered species. After artificial breeding, they returned to being served on the dining table. The fish mostly fed on swimming animals, so the meat was fresh and tender, fat and fragrant. It was also very popular with customers because of its high protein content.

The host introduced, “There are no restrictions on the cooking method, nor are there any restrictions on the condiments. As long as the cooking of this fish can reach the peak of perfection, the person with the highest score will win.” This made many people feel troubled, including Xu Le who simply wanted to make this fish delicious.

However, when many people were using the same ingredient, even without mentioning the high possibility of using the same cooking method, the most worrying thing was that it was difficult to stand out from the crowd. The people at the side had already started being busy. Xu Le had been choosing in the system for a long time. Whether it was steamed, braised, fermented with wine or with sugar and vinegar, they were all common dishes.

There was nothing new about it, let alone being able to catch people’s attention.

The one on the left was discussing about braising the fish in sauce, while the one on the right had already begun to open the huadiao wine, intending to steam it. If everyone used the same cooking method, it would be difficult to judge the subtle differences in taste. A 90-minute countdown lit up on the big screen. As the minutes ticked by, a sentence suddenly popped up in Xu Le’s mind. “There are three greatest regrets in life: Chinese flowering crabapple with no fragrance, shad fish with too many bones and that the Dream of the Red Chamber is incomplete.”

This was a famous quote from Zhang Ailing. When he was still in school, his teacher even gave an example, saying that the shad fish meat was fresh and tender, sweet and delicious. However, there were too many bones and it was too easy to choke on it, so many people did not dare to eat it.

With a flash of inspiration, Xu Le took out a knife and removed the fish scales, cut open the belly, and chopped off the fish head.

Then, he flipped it around and tried to debone the fish. The fish bones were so thin that he had to be extremely careful. However, he was still pricked by the fish accidentally and immediately had to wash his blood off under the tap.

The production team sent a staff member forward to ask, “Is it serious? Do you need…”

“It’s not serious. Give me a Band-Aid.”

Xu Le replied calmly..