Free Web NovelAlthough Lu Yibei always felt that the kitchen helpers were a group of large rats, which was a bit strange, she had to admit that Liao Zhai Tavern's rats were really efficient at handling tasks.
After she told that rat what ingredients and tools she needed for cooking, in just three minutes, it used that small bamboo basket to carry everything over, neatly placing them on the stove, then politely cupped its paws and retreated to the side.
After the rat retreated, Lu Yibei took a deep breath, walked forward, picked up the cleaver with one hand, and grabbed the still lively crucian carp, cleanly peeled and washed it, then wiped it dry with a towel, placed it on the cutting board, and began slicing the fish.
Filleting fish with many bones requires extremely high knife skills to make this stir-fried galangal fish well.
Insufficient force will result in small bones remaining, while using too much force will make the fish meat too mushy, affecting the texture.
However, this was not a difficult task for Lu Yibei.
Removing the small bones of the crucian carp while maximizing the integrity of the fish was much less difficult than when Qingji taught her the "Taihe Gentleman Sword Illustration," when he stacked three pieces of glass and had her strike with a sword, only shattering the middle one while leaving the top and bottom ones intact.
Lifting the deboned crucian carp, which had been scored with flower cuts, from the cutting board, she placed it into a small basin prepared earlier, sprinkled it with ginger and garlic mince, poured in cooking wine and a little salt, and set it aside to marinate.
While it was marinating, Lu Yibei took out various seasonings and skillfully processed them.
Seeing her fully immersed in cooking, Boss Hu no longer disturbed her, quietly watched for a moment, and simply stood up from his chair and, swinging the teapot in his hand, leisurely walked towards Black in the distance.
Passing through the rows of shelves, he went forward, came to a low metal spiral staircase, ascended the steps, and soon arrived beside Black.
This area was near the center of the entire kitchen and was the highest point, from which he could see almost every corner of the kitchen.
"Is that fellow your new apprentice?"
Black's pot of oil-smelling dish was not yet ready.
His spiritual sense detected Boss Hu approaching, but he didn't turn around, merely saying lightly.
"Her basic skills are decent, but when slicing the fish, you can still sense traces of sword techniques.
The contained killing intent will affect the taste."
Boss Hu took a sip of tea, looked up at the busy Lu Yibei, withdrew his gaze after a long while, and said slowly, "She wasn't recruited by me; she came looking for me herself."
"Oh?"
A hint of surprise flashed in Black's eyes, and he asked, "Came to seek skills?
What does she want to learn?
Eight Delicacies?"
Boss Hu shook his head, "A bit higher than the standard of Eight Delicacies."
Black was silent for a moment, plating the finished dish while pressing on, "Higher than the standard of Eight Delicacies?
Could it be Five Flavors?"
"That would be great.
If she can really learn it, you must keep her.
She could help me out a bit."
After speaking, he turned around and looked at Boss Hu.
Boss Hu's face showed a meaningful smile.
He raised one hand above his head and gestured, "Even higher than the standard of Five Flavors, this high?!"
"Old fellow, don't be so conservative.
Consider her identity and make a bolder guess!"
Black stared blankly at Boss Hu, then looked at Lu Yibei, who was blanching the crucian carp not far away.
He was silent for a long time before tentatively asking, "Could it be that what she wants to learn is Human Hell?"
Although Black was seeing Lu Yibei for the first time, he had long heard of the name Disaster.
A ruthless Demoness Seed urban legend wanting to learn the kind of dish that makes people feel as if their souls are being extinguished after eating it seems quite reasonable.
He heard that in England, there was a faction called Hell's Kitchen, where many Demoness Seed urban legend gathered, and the dishes they cooked were quite distinctive, known throughout the entire Spiritual Energy circle as poison.
"Wrong!"
Boss Hu shook his head and announced the correct answer to Black, "What she wants to learn is Human Fireworks!
Isn't that ambitious?"
"Throughout the history of Liao Zhai Tavern, there have been thirty thousand apprentices who wanted to learn Human Fireworks.
Among them, twenty-eight thousand couldn't even get started.
Of the remaining two thousand who reached the Five Flavors standard, less than a hundred remained, and only two and a half successfully learned it."
"You should understand what this means, right?"
"I understand."
Black, with a huge square face, said expressionlessly, "This means she can't possibly learn it."
"Don't be so absolute!"
Boss Hu waved his hand, "I think she's quite talented."
"Look, doesn't the dish she's making now have quite a flavor?"
As he spoke, Boss Hu stretched his neck and sniffed towards Lu Yibei's direction, twitching his nose.
"Hmm, there's a taste of longing, a bit of the care of elders for juniors, a bit of life's suffering, and a bit of the taste of being in love but unable to be together."
Black pondered for a long time and said seriously, "Do you really think she can learn it?
But I think she doesn't look like someone willing to stay here as the boss."
Yes, Lu Yibei didn't know, and Boss Hu hadn't told her, that learning the cooking method of Human Fireworks meant being qualified to take over as the boss of Liao Zhai Tavern.
In fact, Boss Hu was not the original founder of Liao Zhai Tavern either, but the third boss here.
"Heaven knows what she intends to do learning Human Fireworks?
Maybe, like that guy named Pu, she'll run off after learning it," Black said.
"Isn't that also pretty good?"
Boss Hu said, "That book by the guy named Pu allowed everyone in the world to taste a hint of Human Fireworks.
What's bad about that?"
Hearing this, Black's expression changed.
He suddenly slapped the stove and said angrily, "Good my ass!
You think it's good because he didn't write you into the book with all sorts of arrangements.
Go ask the staff in the shop, who thinks it's good?"
"Tch!"
Boss Hu scoffed, waving his hand, "You guys are so petty!
If he hadn't written you into the book, would so many people know you exist?"
"If not so many people knew you exist, where would you get such abundant Spiritual Energy?"
Black glanced sideways at Boss Hu and said gloomily, "So, that's why you're not paying us wages now?"
Hearing this, Boss Hu's face twitched, his expression turned awkward, and he changed the subject, saying, "Uh, about that, I see that fellow Disaster is almost done.
Shall we go over and have a taste together?"
Black glanced at Lu Yibei from a distance, seemingly sensing something.
His brows instantly furrowed, and his head shook like a square rattle drum.
"If you want to go, go yourself.
Look at what she's made!
You dare to eat it, I don't!"
"Hmm?"
Boss Hu looked puzzled.
When he was talking to Black just now, he had carefully observed Lu Yibei while she was cooking.
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From various details, the dish Lu Yibei made, while far from reaching the standard of Human Fireworks, could be considered delicious by ordinary standards.
Why would Black have such a strong reaction?
Boss Hu wondered.
Immediately after, upon seeing the stir-fried galangal fish Lu Yibei was plating, he suddenly understood.
That dish was "poisonous"!
Severely "poisonous"!
It even faintly emitted an aura of destruction.
How on earth did she do it?
The style changed too quickly, as if a beautiful Miss turned into a bloody, grotesque, and indescribable urban legend brute in the blink of an eye.
What kind of mental journey did she go through when making this dish?
Boss Hu wondered.
He had thought Lu Yibei was very talented at learning "Human Fireworks," but now it seemed her talent for learning "Human Hell" was even stronger.
The marinated crucian carp was blanched.
While the meat was nearly cooked but not fully, she quickly scooped it out, then heated oil over high heat, first throwing in a small handful of Sichuan peppercorns, minced garlic, bean paste, pickled ginger, etc., to bring out the fragrance, then poured in the fish.
Once the surface of the meat turned golden-red, she added water and brought it to a boil. freewebnovel.cσ๓
After the water boiled, she added chopped fresh galangal leaves, turned to low heat to cook out the fragrance, and then it was ready to be served.
Just as Lu Yibei finished plating the stir-fried galangal fish and drizzling the sauce, Boss Hu appeared out of nowhere, like an LSP group member hearing about lewd pictures.
"Done?
Can I have a taste then?"
"Mm, please do!"
Lu Yibei replied, handing the chopsticks to Boss Hu.
Boss Hu took the chopsticks, picked the fattest and most tender part of the entire fish, picked up a small piece, and put it into his mouth.
The moment the fish entered his mouth, the tender and smooth texture filled his mouth, followed by a rich aroma that surged forth, along with a perfectly balanced fragrant taste of galangal leaves.
Immediately after, while the tempting rich aroma in his mouth had not yet dissipated, the demon hidden beneath the deliciousness revealed its claws.
Terrifying spiciness, faint bitterness, and tooth-softening sourness erupted from every corner of his mouth; like a missile strike, it impacted every nerve cell in his mouth.
Immediately after, terrifying spiciness, bitterness, and an indescribable foul odor erupted like bombs from every corner of his mouth. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
Of course, these terrifying tastes were not actual flavors, but purely a terrifying impact on his spiritual sense.
There is a saying that dishes made with care have souls.
In a sense, what Boss Hu tasted was the soul of the dish.
Clearly, Lu Yibei's stir-fried galangal fish had a hideous and terrifying soul capable of causing mental contamination.
If an ordinary person without spiritual sense were to taste it, they would only taste the deliciousness of the fish upon first entering their mouth and wouldn't experience its terrifying aspects.
It was as if ordinary people couldn't glimpse hell.
However, Boss Hu was no ordinary person.
He was not only a urban legend but also a urban legend with exceptionally keen spiritual sense.
Simply put, it was a super boost!
As the fish entered his mouth, he instantly seemed to turn to stone, his movements halting.
Although his face didn't show any unhappiness, he silently spat out the fish in his mouth.
Black thought that only Boss Hu in the entire Liao Zhai Tavern could eat this thing, but now Boss Hu wanted to clarify that he couldn't eat it either.
That thing was simply a small-scale Human Hell!
Perhaps some urban legend might like it, but most urban legend and Psychic couldn't handle it.
Seeing Boss Hu only take a small bite and then spit out the dish she made, Lu Yibei was greatly discouraged and asked somewhat unconvincedly, "Although I know my skills are far inferior to everyone at Liao Zhai Tavern, is it really that unpalatable?"
Even if it was terrible, couldn't he at least save face and swallow it?
Lu Yibei added in her heart.
Boss Hu straightened up, looked at Lu Yibei, and shook his head, "No, your skills are excellent.
In terms of taste alone, you've surpassed most human chefs."
"But don't you want to learn the cooking method of Human Fireworks?"
"That's right!"
Lu Yibei nodded seriously.
"If that's the case, your dish hasn't even reached the introductory level; in fact, it's completely counterproductive," Boss Hu said.
"Simply put, food, due to its special significance, is often imbued with many beautiful expectations, but I not only didn't taste beauty in your dish but tasted intense malice instead."
"Can you tell me what you were thinking about when you made this dish?"
Thinking about what?
Could what was on her mind while cooking be the key to cooking Human Fireworks?
Lu Yibei thought, and frankly replied, saying, "I thought about a lot."
"I thought about the times my Old Dad used to make this dish for me."
This must be the source of that scent of longing, right?
Boss Hu nodded.
"Unfortunately, he has passed away now, completely gone.
When I think of him, I can't help but wonder how much he must have been suffering before he died."
Boss Hu, "..."
"I also thought about Grandpa Zhang, who used to eat at our small restaurant often.
He especially liked children and always seriously but awkwardly urged the kids who came to eat to study hard."
This is the source of that scent of care?
Boss Hu nodded again.
"Unfortunately, he also died.
I heard from the neighbors he had liver cancer and passed away last year."
Boss Hu, "..."
"I also thought about the young couple who often ate at our small restaurant.
They were truly in love.
I envied them when I was little and felt that might be what true love looked like."
"They died too?"
Boss # Nоvеlight # Hu couldn't help but interrupt.
"Not that."
Lu Yibei shook her head and said expressionlessly, "They broke up."
"When I was cooking just now, I couldn't help but think, for a couple as loving as them, to eventually have to separate...
Although they are alive, love is actually dead, right?"
"It's like someone who keeps sitting in their seat after the movie has ended.
No matter how long they wait, at most they can only wait for the end credits scene."
Boss Hu rubbed his forehead and said in a deep voice, "I think I know what your problem is."
Why on earth are you always thinking about death and dying when you're cooking?
You're full of gloom and despair; it would be a ghost's chance if you could make Human Fireworks!
