Free Web NovelChapter 524: Chapter 384: Can Azaleas Be Cooked?
Chen Ze stroked his chin; Hastur had already gone back, and Chen Ze didn’t really want to continue entertaining guests, so he closed the door, locked it, planned to have dinner, then let Betty go home. Afterward, he could enjoy some alone time with Lafra.
"Manager," Betty interrupted Chen Ze’s thoughts.
"What’s up?" Chen Ze looked up and asked, dinner had been quite sumptuous, and it included the braised pork Chen Ze himself was very fond of.
It must be said, although there are many types of braised pork, Chen Ze thought the best tasting was braised pork with oily tofu—the tofu brimming with the braised pork’s gravy was an utter delight, a bite of it was pure enjoyment, really fabulous.
"That TV show I watched before, it said you can cook with holly flowers, and claimed it’s delicious. Have you ever tried it, Manager?" Betty, holding her bowl, shoveled rice into her mouth eagerly.
"Cough, cough, cough..." Chen Ze almost choked to death, hastily patting his chest to ease himself.
"Manager?" Betty was somewhat confused; it was just a question—why did the manager look as if he had just won a lottery?
"It’s nothing, you...cough, cough...better drop that idea," Chen Ze quickly connected to the Magic Circle, which helped him recover quite a bit.
"Eh? Why, haven’t you ever made holly flower cuisine?" Betty grew even more curious. Based on her understanding of Chen Ze, if it was some nasty Dark Cuisine, Chen Ze would’ve gleefully recommended the dish to her.
So, could it be that dishes made with holly flowers were actually tasty?
"You better forget that thought, cooking with holly flowers... Holly flowers have a very unique flavor, I hope you can retreat knowing it’s difficult," Chen Ze rolled his eyes. Despite having never cooked with holly flowers, he had smelled them before—they were utterly demonic and incredibly suffocating.
"Aow, but I still want to try it," Betty became more convinced Chen Ze was surely setting her up this time, because he had never before tried dissuading her from trying a dish like this. freewēbnoveℓ.com
"..." Chen Ze was lost for words, but after a moment, he felt it wasn’t entirely bad. After all, he wasn’t the one eating; it was Betty, although he had to give her a harsh lesson so she would learn to cherish life.
"Alright then, if you really want to try it, I can make you a dish with holly flowers sometime, but once it’s made, you must finish it all," Chen Ze added a condition.
However, the condition made Betty hesitant; being forced to finish it all, could it really taste that bad?
But Betty quickly thought of Chen Ze’s earlier ’obstruction’ and then affirmed her choice—it must be that the manager didn’t want her to experience such a delicious dish!
"Deal! I hold you to it!" Betty slapped her thigh and made up her mind; she didn’t believe that a dish said to be tasty on TV could actually be that bad.
"Hehe... Okay, brave one," Chen Ze had a look that said "go ahead, be my guest," still holding his phone. He had recorded Betty’s valiant declaration a moment ago, planning to show it to her after her first bite.
That would teach Betty a lesson; not to make such self-damning promises lightly.
After waving off a determined Betty, Chen Ze smiled and locked the door. The daphne, although having a truly unique scent, did possess certain medicinal properties. Plus, with Duonan Flower, the largest flower market in Sun Moon City, Chen Ze believed he could easily make the purchase.
"Let me see..." Chen Ze naturally loathed the idea of going out to Duonan to buy flowers in the pouring rain; that would be an utterly miserable experience. So, he decided to shell out a bit more money and have a delivery guy do it for him.
"Wow, that’s pricey... Ah well, it’s not like I’m short on cash right now." Chen Ze shook his head, chose to pay, and then it was just a matter of waiting for the delivery guy to bring him his daphne.
Chen Ze tiptoed up the stairs and gently pushed the door open to peek inside. Sure enough, Lafra was still asleep, and deeply so, hugging a pillow and hanging on to it like a koala clings to a tree.
"Pfft..." Chen Ze snickered, then closed the door and went to wash up. However, he couldn’t go to sleep just yet; Chen Ze needed to wait for the delivery guy to bring his daphne and store it quickly in the warehouse to avoid the suffocating scent.
The wait was somewhat long, so Chen Ze played Monster Hunter for a while. After an hour and a half, he finally got his hands on what he needed.
Facing the delivery guy’s odd look, Chen Ze felt awkward; after all, buying a bunch of daphne was quite unbearable, especially having to carry it on a bus. Hence, Chen Ze gave him an extra tip for his troubles.
"Phew, now it’s just about waiting for tomorrow to cook for Betty. Let me see, what can I cook using daphne to create something truly breath-taking." Chen Ze smirked proudly, searched online, and indeed found someone who had tried cooking with daphne.
"Daphne mung bean soup... doesn’t seem right, you can still eat that... Seems like daphne scrambled eggs fit Betty’s request better, fishy and strong, the Demon King of Dark Cuisine, if you will." Chen Ze nodded, satisfied with his choice.
"Hehehehehe... Oh, you young Succubus..." Chen Ze, pleased with himself, then went upstairs to bed.
That night, Chen Ze dreamt he was on a boat passing through deep waters when the ship sank, and he was entangled to death by a giant octopus.
When he opened his eyes in the morning, he indeed found ’tentacles’ all over him—Chen Ze couldn’t help but laugh and cry as he untangled Lafra’s limbs from his body, climbed out of bed to freshen up, and then went downstairs to open the door.
"You’re up early again, buddy." As soon as Chen Ze opened the door, Joichiro Yukihira walked in. He was all smiles, and it was clear that getting up early was no trouble for him.
"I have a question..." Seeing Joichiro Yukihira, Chen Ze brightened up. The guy was a top chef; maybe he actually knew some dishes made with daphne that might taste good.
"Ah? Daphne? That’s not really suitable for cooking, it’s too overpowering. But..." Joichiro Yukihira looked at Chen Ze with an odd expression, as if surprised to find out this young man dabbled in dark culinary arts. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"However, I can experiment a bit~ Haha, I’ve been at Tōtsuki lately and ran into an old junior from primary school. I can get her to taste-test the dish; she seems quite fond of it." Joichiro Yukihira was all smiles, while Chen Ze twitched the corner of his mouth.
Control yourself! If that guy who has a crush on his teacher catches a whiff of this, it could lead to all sorts of misunderstandings, especially if it’s coming from your mouth...
That would be a disaster.
