Free Web NovelChapter 508: Chapter 508: Each Layer Surpasses the Last
Li Xu looked closely and couldn’t help but smile. "Elder Li, your knife skills are truly incredible. To think you could extract the fish brain so perfectly intact."
Elder Li was very pleased to hear this.
A chef’s greatest pleasure is meeting a connoisseur who truly understands their craft.
"Alright."
Li Xu carefully picked up a "grain of rice" with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth.
He didn’t chew. Instead, he gently pressed it with the tip of his tongue, and the fish brain instantly melted, a rich, savory aroma rushing straight to his head.
"Superb."
Li Xu put down his chopsticks, looked at Elder Li, and sighed with heartfelt admiration. "You truly are a master. This pufferfish banquet seems simple on the surface, but it’s full of hidden intricacies."
"Intricacies?" Song Sisi, who was happily eating, didn’t quite understand. She asked curiously, "What do you mean by that?"
Seeing Elder Li smile without a word, Li Xu explained, "The order. Haven’t you noticed? The sequence in which each dish was served was meticulously designed by Elder Li."
"From the appetizing fish-skin jelly, to the light and fresh sashimi, then the rich milt-infused sake, followed by the savory hot pot, the stimulating fish liver, and finally, this supremely savory fish brain."
"Depending on the different parts of the pufferfish, the flavors progress from light to deep, from mild to rich, building layer upon layer. It’s like climbing a mountain—a new view with every step, until you finally reach the summit. Only after eating this fish brain can you truly appreciate the essence of the entire pufferfish."
After speaking, he closed his eyes and murmured to himself, "It’s as if a whole pufferfish has been reborn in my mouth, full of life, swimming freely. This is the true essence of gourmet food."
"Bravo!"
"Bravo!"
"Bravo!"
Elder Li clapped three times and said with deep emotion, "The one who understands me is Doctor Li! This meal was worth making."
He stood up, picked up a bowl of pre-cooked white rice, and poured it into the still-boiling hot pot broth.
After letting it simmer for a moment, he ladled out a small bowl and presented it to Li Xu.
"Doctor Li, this is the final, show-stopping dish—pufferfish congee."
Li Xu took the small bowl.
The congee was a creamy white, the rice grains plump.
He scooped up a spoonful and had just put it in his mouth.
A wave of savory sweetness instantly flooded his entire mouth.
The scalding broth ignited all his taste buds. Each grain of rice seemed to transform into a lively pufferfish, swimming wildly in his mouth as he chewed.
This seemingly ordinary white rice had completely absorbed the full essence of the pufferfish hot pot—the savoriness of the fish, the fresh fragrance of the cabbage, the crispness of the crown daisy, and the subtle sweetness of the tofu, all locked within each tiny grain.
The moment he gently bit down, all the flavors exploded.
They detonated like delicious little bombs, streams of savory broth converging into a torrential flood that completely engulfed Li Xu’s sense of taste in an instant.
"Absolutely magnificent."
Li Xu closed his eyes, a look of utter satisfaction on his face.
He savored the aftertaste for a long time before slowly opening his eyes and saying softly, "This pufferfish banquet is like the ’Three Variations of Yang Pass,’ each layer rising higher than the last, continuous and unending. It is truly a delicacy of the mortal world. This trip was well worth it."
...
After the meal, Elder Li had the housekeeper serve tea.
Once the aroma of the tea had faded, Li Xu’s party of three bid farewell to Elder Li.
When they returned to the clinic, the afternoon sun was just right.
Li Xu was about to organize the medical cases from the past few days when Song Sisi’s phone rang.
It was Lin Xiaoyu.
"Sisi, are you free tonight? Yang Qing and I want to take you out for dinner and shopping. It’s been too long since we all got together."
Song Sisi readily agreed, "Sure! I was just thinking I needed to relax. See you tonight then."
After hanging up, Song Sisi said to Li Xu while tidying up her white coat, "Xiao Yu and Yang Qing invited me out tonight, so I won’t be able to have dinner with you."
Li Xu teased, "Well, look at you, you’re even busier than I am now. You used to revolve around me, but now I have to get in line just to ask you to dinner."
Song Sisi shot him a playful glare. "Stop being a smart-aleck. Do you want to come along? I’m sure they’d be happy to have you."
Li Xu waved his hand. "No, thanks. It’s a girls’ gathering. You’ll be talking about gossip and skincare and whatnot. What’s a guy like me going to do there? You all go have fun, don’t worry about me."
...
In the afternoon, Li Xu organized his medical cases for a while.
A call came from Dean Song; it was time for Professor Yamada’s farewell.
The international exchange delegation led by Yamada had completed its itinerary and was holding a brief farewell gathering.
Although everyone exchanged pleasantries beautifully, saying things like "long live our friendship" and "mutual learning," Yamada’s heart was filled with a mix of complicated feelings—or to be more precise, immense bitterness.
He had come to China this time with the intention of both "guiding" them and "sounding out their depth."
And the result?
He had sounded them out, but the bottom was a bottomless abyss that had swallowed him whole.
The overall strength of the City Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine was decent, but it lagged behind Japan in terms of standardization and scientific research, which was within his expectations.
But that Li Xu... he was an anomaly, a bug in the system.
In terms of medical skill, Li Xu’s masterful pulse diagnosis and acupuncture had completely crushed his own proud Kampo experience.
In terms of medicine, the things Li Xu casually revealed—whether it was the An Gong Bezoar Pill or the Ten Thousand Year Agarwood that haunted his dreams—were divine objects the likes of which he had never even heard of in his entire life.
’Sigh...’
Yamada sighed deeply in his heart.
’Sometimes, ignorance is a form of bliss.’
’If I hadn’t made this trip, if I had never seen the Ten Thousand Year Agarwood, I could have continued being a professor in Tokyo in peace, content to play with the few pieces of so-called "top-grade" Agarwood I own.’
But now, even after returning to Japan, he was doomed to suffer sleepless nights.
The agony of knowing a treasure that could bring the dead back to life existed in this world, yet being unable to obtain it, was almost worse than death itself.
Unwilling to give up, Yamada sidled up to Li Xu again and asked in a low voice, "Dr. Li, that Agarwood... can you really not spare me a little? Even a tiny bit of powder? Name your price!"
Li Xu maintained a polite smile, but his tone was as hard as iron. "Professor Yamada, we have an old saying in China: ’A gentleman does not take what another holds dear.’ Besides, this item is used to save lives, and I truly don’t have any to spare. You should stop thinking about it."
Seeing Li Xu’s imperviousness, Yamada could only give up resentfully. With a heart full of regret and unwillingness, he boarded the bus to the airport.
...
In the evening, an All Nippon Airways flight landed at Tokyo’s Narita Airport.
Fujiwara Takayuki and Ishii were already waiting at the VIP exit.
To prevent eavesdropping, they hadn’t dared to ask for details over the phone, only knowing vaguely that Yamada had suffered some kind of blow.
"Mr. Yamada, thank you for your hard work."
After picking up Yamada, the three of them got into a Toyota Alphard minivan.
As soon as the car door closed, Fujiwara asked impatiently, "So? What’s the situation with Ding’s Pharmaceutical Factory and Li Xu? Are they as formidable as we imagined?"
Yamada wearily rubbed his temples and let out a long sigh. "Mr. Fujiwara, Mr. Ishijima, take my advice... Don’t even try to defeat them in this field."
