Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle
Chapter 90 - 72 Since You’re Here (Please Subscribe~)

Chapter 90: Chapter 72 Since You’re Here (Please Subscribe~)

"Um, may I ask a question?" Qin Huai tentatively raised his hand. "Grandpa Luo... Mr. Luo... Bi Xian..."

"Just call me Luo Jun," Luo Jun said.

"Luo Jun... sir." Qin Huai thought it was a bit odd to address a 92-year-old spirit from the Classic of Mountains and Seas by his first name, so he settled for a middle ground. "So did you know Sister Hong was Bai Gao from a long time ago?"

Chen Huihong also cast a curious look at Luo Jun.

"You can’t tell just by looking," Luo Jun replied. "There are so many types of spirits, and apart from a very few exceptionally unique ones, most can’t be recognized by appearance."

"Especially plant spirits, they’re everywhere. Who pays attention to what exactly they are."

"But the first time their community committee came to my door, I could see she was a muddlehead in her last life. The first and last reincarnations are the easiest to recognize; you might not notice the middle ones, but those two are recognizable at a glance."

"So you could also tell that Sister Hong had awakened?" Qin Huai pursued.

"Of course, the dining hall was too crowded, so I didn’t say it outright." Luo Jun was extremely pleased with himself, a slight smile curling at his lips.

"Did Sister Hong tell you about my system?"

"She did." When it came to this, Luo Jun couldn’t help but eye Qin Huai oddly again. "I’ve lived for so many years and never heard of this system thing before. Truly, the world is vast and full of wonders."

Qin Huai internally retorted that these spirits from the Classic of Mountains and Seas dare to call us normal system story protagonists strange.

Who’s the strange one here?

In this room, there’s a Bai Gao, a Bi Fang, and a system story protagonist. None of us have the right to call the others weird, okay!

"In that case, let me be completely open," Qin Huai sat up straight, his eyes firm, his tone becoming serious. "I have a side task related to you. I’d appreciate it if you could help me complete it soon."

Luo Jun: ...?

After speaking, Qin Huai opened the game system, navigated to the side task, and read it out loud.

This sense of openness felt really great!

Upon hearing the task details, Luo Jun almost slammed the table in anger.

"What kind of lousy task is this!" Luo Jun fumed. "Brewing cold tea is just brewing cold tea, why all the fuss!"

"So you’re really that unhappy about the 4 RMB packing fee that you felt the need to criticize it in the task details?" Reporter Qin Huai began an on-site interview.

"What else could I do? Why in the world does his measly cup of cold tea need a 4 RMB packing fee?! It’s scanty and tastes terrible, even less authentic than your cold tea. How dare they sell such cold tea? I gave him a bad review and got blocked. If I could still breathe fire, I’d be tempted to burn him with it!" Luo Jun strongly condemned the cold tea shop owner.

"So, what exactly does the Dried Tangerine Peel Tea you truly wish to drink taste like?" Qin Huai asked. "I’ve already brewed the Dried Tangerine Peel Tea according to your recipe, but today’s side task remains incomplete."

Luo Jun fell silent.

Qin Huai watched Luo Jun expectantly.

Luo Jun silently glanced down at his phone, finding it quite appealing.

Qin Huai continued to watch Luo Jun expectantly, his eyes clearly expressing, "Surely, you, the formidable Bi Fang, wouldn’t deliberately make things difficult for me over a minor side task, right?"

Luo Jun realized his phone indeed looked splendid, a testament to his excellent taste.

Chen Huihong couldn’t stand it anymore and spoke up, "Mr. Luo, everyone’s being open and honest; don’t intentionally make things difficult for Xiao Qin over such a minor issue. Completing side tasks isn’t easy for him. My Huihui’s locust flower buns are something she didn’t even know she loved. Since you have a preferred taste for Dried Tangerine Peel Tea, just share the recipe with Xiao Qin. Don’t you trust his skills?"

Luo Jun hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly said, "This is a secret recipe."

"I’ll tell you, given your ability to awaken Chen Huihong."

"Dried Tangerine Peel Tea with brown sugar and salt is just the basic version."

"For it to taste good, you also need to add red dates, goji berries, silver ear fungus, and lotus seeds."

Qin Huai: ...

Couldn’t stand it, simply couldn’t stand it.

Even if Luo Jun is a Bi Fang, he couldn’t stand it.

Qin Huai admitted, Luo Jun indeed had considerable knowledge about culinary delights. After all, Bi Fang had lived in the human world for ninety-two years, so experiencing fine dining and sumptuous living wasn’t surprising.

The Qin family was, admittedly, lacking in the craft of brewing cold tea; the ancestral teachings weren’t too reliable.

But Dried Tangerine Peel Tea with red dates, goji berries, silver ear fungus, and lotus seeds? What on earth is this???

Aren’t these ingredients usually used for making Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup?

Even if the Heavenly Emperor himself appeared, this would still be Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup with added dried tangerine peel, not Dried Tangerine Peel Tea!

Now it was Qin Huai’s turn to take a deep breath.

Qin Huai tried hard to control his expression, squeezing out a smile and in as calm a voice as possible asked, "Did you usually drink... this kind of Dried Tangerine Peel Tea?"

Luo Jun nostalgically said, "It’s been many years since I’ve had it."

It was correct that he hadn’t; who would serve you a bowl of Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup with dried tangerine peel and call it Dried Tangerine Peel Tea?

"Are you sure this is the Dried Tangerine Peel Tea you want to drink?" Qin Huai asked once more.

"Believe it or not," Luo Jun had no patience to answer the same question multiple times.

Alright!

Qin Huai nodded, stood up, and said, "I’ll go brew it for you now."

"The kitchen has the ingredients; Xiao Zhang has been stewing Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup every day these past few days," Luo Jun said nonchalantly. "The rest you can find yourself. Xiao Zhang never hides things; they’re either in the cupboard or in the fridge."

Since Luo Jun said so, Qin Huai saved himself an extra trip and went straight to the kitchen to find the ingredients.

The ingredients were easy to find, and Qin Huai quickly gathered them all.

There was already a bowl of pre-soaked silver ear fungus on the cooking table, saving a lot of time.

Dried tangerine peel soup in midsummer, and silver ear lotus seed soup during the end of summer. Since it was already mid-August, having lotus seed soup ahead of time, Zhang Shumei indeed deserved her reputation as the dream nanny of the Yunzhong District residents. She was very considerate.

With all the ingredients ready, Qin Huai removed the yellow stems from the silver ear fungus, tore it into small pieces, placed it into a stew pot with all the other ingredients, adjusted the time, and slow-cooked it with water.

Then, the cooking process ended.

Yes, making Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup was just that easy.

Following the principle of "since I’m here," Qin Huai decided to explore the other ingredients available in the kitchen.

Compared to a few days ago, when Chen Huihong conducted a surprise inspection of the fridge, not much had changed. There were still no vegetables, but plenty of meats.

Qin Huai also found some all-purpose flour, baking powder, and freshly bought ingredients perfect for making baked buns—fresh pork and sesame that looked obviously bought that morning.

Guess what, the ingredients for the Dream Come True Sesame Bun were all there.

Since he had some free time, and since the Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup was still slow-cooking in the pot, Qin Huai thought that with such perfect timing, environment, and personnel, he might as well attempt to unravel the mythical Golden Smiling.

Attempting to unravel the Golden Smiling in Bi Fang’s kitchen—it was quite motivating.

Qin Huai emerged halfway from the kitchen and asked, "Mr. Luo Jun, the Dried Tangerine Peel Tea needs quite a bit of time before it’s done. I see that your kitchen is well stocked, how about I make some buns while I’m at it?"

"Whatever, and next time, just call me Luo Jun! Calling me Mr. Luo Jun sounds weird," he replied.

Qin Huai retreated back into the kitchen to start kneading dough.

According to online recipes, the Dream Come True Sesame Bun involves fresh, hot, hollow sesame buns straight from the oven, split open and filled with oil-free stir-fried minced meat.

Under normal circumstances, the highlight of the Dream Come True Sesame Bun should be the meat filling.

The ratio of three parts fat to seven parts lean in the meat filling, fried until crisp in the pan, with only soy sauce, sugar, salt, and ginger added as basic seasonings—all to create the most exquisite flavor with the simplest ingredients.

Qin Huai’s Dream Come True Sesame Bun couldn’t be made under normal circumstances.

He had a very clear understanding of his cooking skills.

Stir-frying the meat filling was a bit too high-level for him.

He usually boiled dumpling fillings, which was much simpler than stir-frying—easier to control the fire, and less prone to accidents.

So, for Qin Huai’s Dream Come True Sesame Bun, the highlight had to be the bun itself.

The meat filling could be ordinary, but the bun had to shine.

To make a special effort on the bun, it needed to be unique, so Qin Huai chose to scald the dough with hot water first.

Using hot water to scald the dough would make it more tender and elastic, making the hollow bun achieve a crispy exterior and soft interior, complementing the minced meat when consumed together.

The minced meat might be lacking, but the bun would make up for it.

Qin Huai began kneading the dough.

Say what you will, a big house is indeed beneficial, especially with a large kitchen, making it enjoyable to make snacks.

While waiting for the dough to ferment, Qin Huai decided to stir-fry a bit of the meat filling to test the flavor.

As he expected, it was quite ordinary.

To prevent the meat filling from becoming too average, Qin Huai made a decision against traditional norms and added some pepper to it.

Qin Huai thought that it was time to practice controlling the fire when making chicken soup noodles in addition to practicing for Luoluo’s high school grades over the three years.

The Basic Fire Control was indeed a bit lacking.

Not only was the filling improperly fried, but the broth was also less than stellar.

Years ago, when making buns daily, he didn’t find making snacks required much fire control.

Once the dough rose, Qin Huai divided it into small pieces, kneading them into attractive little round buns, brushing them with sugar water, sprinkling sesame seeds, and baking them in the oven.

By this time, the stew pot was also nearly ready. Qin Huai took a look at the status of the silver ear lotus seed... Dried Tangerine Peel Tea, added brown sugar, then covered it to stew for another 15 minutes.

Under normal circumstances, white sugar is added when making Silver Ear Lotus Seed Soup.

But this is abnormal Dried Tangerine Peel Tea, with brown sugar added, no mistake.

Both the stew pot and the oven were working, and Qin Huai didn’t let the pan sit idle, proceeding to formally stir-fry the meat filling.

The kitchen activities attracted Chen Huihong and Luo Jun from outside.

Luo Jun didn’t even bother with the soft sofa; he dragged a stool, plopped down at the kitchen entrance, and watched Qin Huai cook.

Qin Huai, feeling the attentive gaze like a bristle on his back: ...

He genuinely believed Zhang Shumei must be a top-notch nanny.

After 15 minutes, the Dream Come True Sesame Bun and Dried Tangerine Peel Tea were ready simultaneously.

Qin Huai placed the food on the dining table.

Two bowls of Dried Tangerine Peel Tea, a bowl of meat filling, and a plate of buns.

Luo Jun had already taken a seat.

Without hesitation, he picked up a bun, not even bothering to stuff it with meat filling, and took a bite to taste it first.

Qin Huai: ...

Mr. Luo, what about your love for Dried Tangerine Peel Tea?

Even though the Dried Tangerine Peel Tea in front of you didn’t even show any signs of dried tangerine peel at first glance.