Free Web NovelChapter 84: Chapter Eighty-Four: Zizania and Home Cooking
"Manager~" Betty pushed the door open and came in, then saw Chen Ze fiddling with the barbecue grill, along with a whole bucket full of skewers.
"What’s this?" Betty blinked, feeling her saliva was about to drool out. She was always happiest when Chen Ze made new dishes.
Chen Ze looked at the restaurant door, puzzled. He remembered he had just locked the restaurant, so how could Betty still get in?
"Betty, we’re not open today, I have to go out to buy some things," Chen Ze explained, although in reality he was planning to go out and earn money by setting up a stall. He had no choice, as the customers from another world couldn’t provide RMB, and to make a living, Chen Ze could only choose to earn money outside.
"Huh? Then, can I play games in your room?" As if realizing that Chen Ze had seen through her little move, Betty became even more direct.
The corners of Chen Ze’s mouth twitched, "You can understand it?"
Betty shook her head; she definitely couldn’t understand.
"If you can’t understand, then what are you playing at?" Chen Ze rolled his eyes, wondering how one could play without understanding the language.
"But it’s really interesting," Betty said excitedly, rubbing her hands together, her tail swaying behind her.
Chen Ze let out a helpless sigh. What was going on, he wondered. A perfectly good succubus was almost being turned into a homebody by him, making Chen Ze feel like a major sinner.
"Fine, you wanna play, go play, but you have to clean up and help me wash some clothes." Chen Ze went to the front door of the restaurant to check, indeed, it wasn’t locked.
This was a big mistake. If the door was unlocked, customers coming in later might enter, and Chen Ze didn’t think Betty was capable of serving these customers, so he immediately put up a lock.
"You’re the best, manager~" Betty pounced toward Chen Ze, but with a quick sidestep, he dodged; he didn’t want to be hit in the face with a slab of steel.
"Since you’re here, just eat something casually," Chen Ze scratched his head and checked his phone; it was 6:30 pm, still early, and he hadn’t had dinner yet.
"Manager, what are we eating today?" Betty curiously followed behind Chen Ze. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"Today we’ll have zizania rice and arrowhead stir-fried with pork as well as scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and... let’s have a seaweed egg drop soup too." Chen Ze thought about the ingredients in the kitchen and quickly decided on today’s menu.
"Okay, manager, then I’ll go clean up first." Betty rolled up her sleeves, full of energy and started cleaning.
Chen Ze looked at the soaked zizania rice. It was much better than when he got it in the morning. He scooped out the rice, drained it simply, and then went to cook it.
"I’ve really never eaten this kind of rice before." Chen Ze scratched his head. This grain, which had once circulated in Huaxia for so long, had disappeared during the Southern Song Dynasty, but now it had returned to people’s dining tables.
"Arrowhead pork strips are easy to make, so let’s start with the seaweed egg drop soup," Chen Ze placed a small pot on the gas stove.
Although it was seaweed egg drop soup, the version made by Chen Ze wasn’t one of those where you see a pot full of egg flowers but hardly taste any in the actual soup.
Despite that, during Chen Ze’s college days, he would end up drinking this kind of egg drop soup several times each week.
After simply heating the pan, Chen Ze poured the well-stirred eggs into it, stir-fried them briefly, waited for the eggs to set, then sprinkled some salt and scooped them out into a small bowl.
Meanwhile, the soup had started to boil, so Chen Ze added a sheet of seaweed and poured the eggs from the small bowl into the pot. This way, the eggs wouldn’t disperse but instead float in small clumps amidst the seaweed soup.
"Let’s start making the zizania latifolia pork strips and tomato eggs," Chen Ze said as he looked at the prompts from the System, feeling quite indifferent. Now his culinary skills made it quite easy for him to prepare these simple home-cooked dishes.
Before long, Chen Ze had finished preparing all of today’s dishes and placed them on the table. Then he glanced at the rice cooker, which hadn’t switched to ’Keep Warm’ mode yet, guessing that it would be a while longer. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
"What does zizania rice taste like..?" Chen Ze wondered curiously, licking his lips. He’d heard that zizania rice was more nutritious than regular white rice, but Chen Ze wasn’t interested in its nutritional value being several times richer; he just wanted to taste it.
When the rice cooker finally beeped, Chen Ze checked the time; it was seven o’clock already.
"Betty, dinner’s ready," Chen Ze said, taking out two bowls and serving rice while calling out.
"Manager, why is this rice this color?" asked Betty curiously as she looked at the bowl in front of her. She’d been working in Chen Ze’s restaurant for a while but had never seen rice like this before.
The rice Betty had seen and eaten before was white, looking very appealing and tasting quite good, even better than the white bread she ate at home.
"This is zizania rice... it’s essentially rice," Chen Ze said, giving up on the idea of explaining Huaxia history to Betty, as he needed to leave soon to set up his stall.
In almost no time at all, Chen Ze quickly finished his meal, then said goodbye to Betty and pushed his barbecue cart out.
"The taste isn’t bad," Chen Ze thought to himself; indeed, the zizania rice had a different taste from ordinary white rice, but it was still delicious. Chen Ze decided to buy an additional ten kilograms later to keep on hand.
Stepping through the door and looking at the bustling night scene outside, Chen Ze smiled and tied his headscarf, thinking of the pedestrians as walking banknotes.
Meanwhile, Betty sat quietly eating at the dining table, seemingly a different person without Chen Ze around. She took small bites of the zizania rice and scooped up another spoonful of the tomato and egg dish, which she really liked for its red and yellow hues.
"Ah, this thing is really hard to use," Betty complained, furrowing her brows as she looked at the two sticks in her hand. She couldn’t understand why Chen Ze only used these when eating; they were incredibly difficult for her to handle and not nearly as convenient as a knife and fork.
If Chen Ze had been there, he would have realized that Betty was struggling with his chopsticks, but since he wasn’t, this was a mystery to nobody else.
When Chen Ze returned to the restaurant after selling all the skewers, exhausted, he found a dish he’d never seen before and a glass of lemon water on the table, as Betty had already left unbeknownst to him after locking up on her own.
Curious, Chen Ze sat down and looked at the dish in front of him. It contained a type of meat, but he was certain it wasn’t from Earth because the meat was golden.
"A dish made by Betty?" Chen Ze chuckled and picked up the chopsticks to take a bite.
Immediately, Chen Ze regretted it. He felt Betty’s cooking skills might be comparable to his own during high school, able to transform ordinary ingredients into a perilous dish.
Chen Ze quickly spat out the meat and took a gulp of the lemon water.
"Pfft! Did she mistake salt for sugar?"
