From-DIDIDA Novels
Translator: Xiong_Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
"We rarely see you buy vegetables from outside." Wu Hai said while walking forward.
"Not too often." Yuan Zhou nodded.
"Speaking of which, you definitely haven't eaten this cake before, Boss Yuan." Wu Hai set the plate down and said proudly.
"Never." Yuan Zhou thought for a while and confirmed that he truly hadn't eaten it before. Nor had he heard of that, either.
"I have eaten it before. When I held an art exhibition in He'nan Province, I learned to make the cake after I ate it only once." Wu Hai said with a quite complacent tone.
"Only once?" Yuan Zhou started to feel uneasy again.
"Don't worry. Though I am not good at cooking dishes, I'm qualified to prepare the wheaten food." Wu Hai struck his chest as a gesture of guarantee.
"Can you open it and let me have a look?" Yuan Zhou pretended to be calm with a straight face.
He made up his mind not to eat it if the food looked weird later.
"No problem, but please give me a knife first." Wu Hai nodded and then said.
"Okay. One moment, please." Yuan Zhou went back into the kitchen, took out the most ordinary knife he had and then handed it to Wu Hai.
Of course, the point of the knife was in the direction of Yuan Zhou himself when he handed it to Wu Hai, who seized the knife handle and then removed the lid from the plate, afterwards.
"Now it's time for the mandarin duck cake now. Don't you think it looks nice?" Wu Hai said proudly once he removed the lid.
In the white round plate without any patterns lay a rectangular cake with both sides rounded. The cake was about one-finger-width thick and there was a layer of white sesame seed over the surface of the cake.
On the whole, the cake appeared to be light yellow and had probably been panfried. No matter how Yuan Zhou observed, it was totally unrelated to the mandarin duck.
"What does it have anything to do with the mandarin duck? Yuan Zhou asked with puzzlement.
"It will have something to do with it soon." Wu Hai smiled mysteriously and then started to cut with the kitchen knife.
Yuan Zhou had thought Wu Hai could cut some sort of mechanism out.
As he could see, Wu Hai straightforwardly cut the cake about 20cm long into two parts from the side.
Then, Wu Hai raised his head and asked excitedly, "How do you like it? Aren't they like the wings of the mandarin duck?"
"Pardon?" Yuan Zhou was confused.
How did it become like the wings of the mandarin duck after it was cut sideways into two pieces.
"Which part is like the wings?" Yuan Zhou asked sincerely.
"Look at it from this direction. Aren't they like wings now?" Wu Hai moved the two pieces of the cake a little bit and then showed them to Yuan Zhou, saying that.
"Let's savor the taste, shall we?" Yuan Zhou stared at the plate for quite a while and then said.
"This one is for you. I eat this one." Wu Hai specially gave Yuan Zhou a bigger piece of the cake.
"Not necessary. I deserve a smaller one as I will only be eating the cake while you made it." Yuan Zhou took the chopsticks and picked up the smaller one without saying much.
"Okay. Just try the taste of the Mandarin Duck Cake I made." Wu Hai was fairly confident of the cake.
"Um." Yuan Zhou nodded earnestly.
Before eating, Yuan Zhou took his own cup and drank some water to rinse out the mouth while Wu Hai naturally drank the water that he had brought with himself. After all, Yuan Zhou didn't provide anything outside business hours.
Only after Yuan Zhou drank up the water and ensured there weren't any other tastes in his mouth did he start to eat Wu Hai's Mandarin Duck Cake.
"Ka Ca". Yuan Zhou took a bite.
There was slightly scorched crispness on the surface outside while the inside surface was the soft and fluffy flour layer, mixing with the middle part which was filled with green onions.
"How do you like it? Is it delicious?" Wu Hai hadn't started to eat the half piece of the cake as he was still waiting for Yuan Zhou's comments.
"Is this a cake?" Yuan Zhou asked with puzzlement.
"Of course. The local snack of He'nan Province, Mandarin Duck Cake." Wu Hai said proudly.
"Are you sure that you didn't elongate a steamed bun and panfry it?" Though it was an interrogative sentence, Yuan Zhou said that with an affirmative tone.
"Elongated a steamed bun?" Wu Hai indicated that he didn't quite understand Yuan Zhou.
"Where's the fold of this steamed bun?" Yuan Zhou looked at the cake in his hand for quite a while and then asked with puzzlement.
"I have told you it's a Mandarin Duck Cake, not a steamed bun." Wu Hai was made a little speechless.
"From the taste to the appearance, it's exactly like a steamed bun." Yuan Zhou said earnestly.
"You must have forgotten a procedure when you make the steamed buns." Yuan Zhou thought for a little while and added.
"It's a cake. It's the Mandarin Duck Cake." Wu Hai got so angry that his small mustaches almost turned up.
"You taste it yourself and you tell me if it tastes like a steamed bun." Yuan Zhou reached out his hand and made a gesture.
"Humph." Wu Hai took up the cake and gave it a bite.
Then, he became stupefied. The taste was really like that of the steamed buns, especially after Yuan Zhou stressed on that.
It was unknown if that could be attributed to the psychological effects.
The soft and slightly thick inner layer and the fresh and salty stuffing made no difference from the characteristics of the steamed buns.
"Well, this steamed bun really tastes good." Yuan Zhou took a bite again and said affirmatively.
"Yeah, this steamed bun is wonderful." Wu Hai picked up the plate and left Yuan Zhou's restaurant with quick steps while he was chewing the Mandarin Duck Cake.
After that, Yuan Zhou ate up the elongated panfried steamed bun silently.
And Yuan Zhou had much admiration for Wu Hai. After all, it wasn't easy to make the taste of a cake into that of a steamed bun. Therefore, he ate up the entire cake without any hesitation.
Yuan Zhou indeed didn't use the ingredients of the system for his own dinner at night. Instead, he prepared a pot of veggie soup made of cabbage and vegetables bought from the old granny. The vegetables were pest free and had no pesticides as well. Furthermore, they tasted scrumptious.
Yuan Zhou was quite satisfied with the dinner.
It was early in the morning on the following day. As it had rained last night, the street was still a little damp.
After the breakfast time ended in the morning, Yuan Zhou sat at the door and started to sculpt.
Of course, Wu Hai was extraordinarily silent during the breakfast time this morning.
"He might be upset because he didn't know how to fold the steamed buns." Yuan Zhou refrained from bursting into laughter and thought that way.
Time was quite limited yesterday and he didn't manage to sculpt all the radishes. Naturally, such quality radishes all had to be sculpted when they were still fresh. Otherwise, they would be wasted.
Yuan Zhou opened the door at 8:00 a.m. for breakfast and finished it at 9:00 a.m. It was slightly after 9:20 a.m. when Yuan Zhou sat on the chair. At that time, the old granny that came to peddle vegetables yesterday walked towards him again.
However, she didn't peddle the vegetables along the street again today, but headed for Yuan Zhou that sat at the door straightforwardly.
"Boss, I saw that you bought so many vegetables yesterday and reckoned you might need them today. The vegetables yesterday weren't so fresh. These are the newly picked early this morning. You select some for your own use first and then I will go peddle the remaining ones." The old granny looked at Yuan Zhou smilingly and said that.
"Thank you." Yuan Zhou was stupefied for a moment before he answered her with gratitude.
"You are welcome. I should thank you for buying all the remaining vegetables yesterday. Please have a look at which ones you need. The vegetables picked in the morning are fresher." The old granny waved her hand with a smile first and then said that while pointing at the fresh vegetables with raindrops in the big bamboo baskets.
"Then, I'd like some vegetables that I bought yesterday." Yuan Zhou revealed a smile and said naturally.
"Do you want to select them by yourself or should I select some for you? They are all very fresh." The old granny was extraordinarily proud when she spoke of the freshness of her vegetables.
"Please select some for me. All of them are quite good." Yuan Zhou nodded his head smilingly.
"Okay. Let me do it for you." The old granny said happily.
"I'm going to get a basket." After saying that, Yuan Zhou went to fetch the basket and conveniently put the green bamboo shoots obtained yesterday aside.
"I will select some for you and put them at the side." The old granny answered with a delighted manner.
Both Yuan Zhou and the old granny moved dexterously. In just a few minutes, they finished the weighing and paying. Afterwards, the old granny carried the baskets with her carrying pole and headed for the marketplace with quick steps.
"It seems that my lunch will be still the veggie soup. Not bad." Yuan Zhou took the basket and revealed happiness in his word.