Chapter 684: Shaanxi Scorched Rice

The four young and lively girls were indeed here for the first time. They were best friends that had known each other since they started studying at university. After graduation, they all joined different companies for their internships but they were still staying nearby. Therefore, they still frequently kept in touch. How close they were was evident from the fact that they were coming out to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant for a meal on the first night of Chinese New Year.

“Hey, mustache, stop eating. Check out the beauties.” Chen Wei was still eating as well but Wu Hai was eating like a pig. For some reason, the sight of Wu Hai eating made Chen Wei feel like punching someone. Therefore, he stopped Wu Hai with an elbow.

Beauty was something loved by everyone. The moment Wu Hai heard that there were beauties, he would probably raise his head by reflex. This was what Chen Wei had been waiting for. He was planning to snatch Wu Hai’s food from him with lightning speed and unstoppable momentum. This would be his revenge for the torture subjected to him by Wu Hai’s food pictures from earlier. He had a similar mindset of a school kid snatching a classmate’s eraser as revenge.

Although Jiang Changxi hadn’t been paying much attention, nothing could escape her sharp eyes. When she saw them, she was rendered speechless. Those two were truly quite childish.

This plan of Chen Wei was supposed to be a cinch. But for some reason, it was as if Wu Hai was deaf. Let alone raising his head, there wasn’t even a slight pause to his eating. His chopsticks were still stuffing food into his mouth without a stop.

“Hey, Wu Hai, do you hear me?” Chen Wei cried out. Wu Hai was still behaving as if he was deaf.

This caused Chen Wei’s perfect plan to fail.

While Chen Wei was trying to mess with Wu Hai, the four girls sat down at the corner of the restaurant. Psychologically, the seat one picked when arriving at an unfamiliar location would reflect one’s character to a certain extent. From Jiang Changxi’s habit of always sitting in the middle, it was clear that the this “three-lost woman” had quite an unyielding character.

“I want an Egg Fried Rice Set.”

“I’m here for the Bamboo Tube Rice. Boss Yuan, give me a bowl of Bamboo Tube Rice cooked with white rice, and a serving of beef mince.”

“A Clear Broth Noodle Soup Set please.”

Perhaps it was because it was Chinese New Year, or perhaps because Yuan Zhou was quite popular, the girls were all being quite polite. Yuan Zhou voiced his acknowledgment before looking at the one girl that hadn’t ordered anything.

“I have been saving up for a while and haven’t been buying a lot of cosmetic items for the past month. Give me a serving of Swedish Meatball. And… and…” Zheng Xixi hesitated.

The other three girls all looked at Zheng Xixi in doubt.

Zheng Xixi was aware that her next request would be rather unreasonable to the chef. Therefore, she paused in hesitation and was about to forget about her request.

“Get me a set of scorched rice cooked with white rice… that’s all.” What Zheng Xixi did not mention was she wanted was Shaanxi Scorched Rice.

Scorched rice originated from Sichuan and Hubei. It wasn’t a dish that was hard to cook. One only needed to fill an iron pot with cooked rice and slowly bake the rice until it became scorched rice. When the dish was done, there would be a golden yellow layer of crispy and fragrant scorched rice at the bottom of the pot. This was also the origin of its name.

Zheng Xixi was the eldest of the four girls. Comparatively, she was also a more mature person. Her elder brother was staying at Shaanxi. Therefore, she had once stayed there for a few months. After having scorched rice several times at a restaurant there, she couldn’t forget the taste. After returning to Chengdu, Zheng Xixi found several restaurants with scorched rice, yet the taste was too different from what she had once tried.

In fact, all types of scorched rice were cooked in a similar fashion. The only difference would be the additional ingredients added. For example, at Sichuan, there would be fermented black soybeans, pickled vegetables, cowpeas, and some preserved vegetables. After the meal, an Egg Seaweed Soup would be served as well. In fact, it was quite similar to how people would cook it at Shaanxi.

“What’s going on, Xixi?” This was Meng Yi, the Meng Meng who was speaking in a loud voice earlier.

“Nothing. I just recalled something earlier.” Zheng Xixi shook her head and added, “A set of Sweedish Meatball and scorched rice please, Boss Yuan.”

Yuan Zhou nodded and did not say much. He started preparing to cook.

“Dog, stop touching everything. You will have to pay if you break something.” Ge Bailing pulled at the short-haired girl beside her.

One might have an unsuitable name, but one would rarely have an unsuitable nickname. The short-haired girl was nicknamed Dog because she was very active and would touch everything she found interesting, just like a dog.

“I won’t break anything. I’m only looking around. This is our first time here after all.” The short-haired girl stopped touching everything, yet her eyes were still busy looking everywhere.

“If you have the time to do that, you might as well post about being here on your social media. At least that would make you look cool.” Ge Bailing pointed at Meng Yi who was busy taking pictures.

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“Right. That’s a good idea!” The short-haired girl immediately took out her phone and started taking pictures.

There were very little customers on the night of the first day of Chinese New Year and the dishes ordered by the girls were quite simple. Therefore, Yuan Zhou only took a short time to finish cooking everything.

A thump sounded as a bowl was placed on the table. The first to arrive was the Egg Fried Rice.

“Wow, it really does look like gold. It looks even tastier when looking at it at this close distance. Wow, it smells so good.” Meng Yi lifted her bowl and couldn’t help but to start praising it. While doing that, she took a selfie with the bowl of rice. Naturally, this was the picture she was going to post on her social media.

“Wow, this rice does not need any editing to look good in the picture!” As usual, Meng Yi prepared her editing application to edit the picture but then she found that the fried rice already looked very good in the picture.

“I feel like my Clear Broth Noodle Soup is still the best. I heard even the garlic added in it tastes very good,” said the short-haired girl as she lifted her bowl of noodle with an intoxicated look on her face.

“Why are you not saying that leaving the garlic behind is the proof of your identity as a tycoon?” Ge Bailing patted her head.

“I’m not leaving any food behind. It’s too expensive.” The short-haired girl stuck her tongue out and started peeling off the garlic. She was going to start eating.

“Xixi, your scorched rice looks very normal?” Meng Yi was the first to notice Zheng Xixi’s scorched rice.

“It is indeed very normal, yet at the same time, it is also very unique.” Zheng Xixi was staring at her scorched rice in disbelief.

“What are you trying to say, Xixi? Isn’t it just normal scorched rice with some plain white rice added?” The short-haired girl was confused.

Ge Bailing was also looking at Zheng Xixi in doubt.

However, Zheng Xixi did not give them any explanation. Rather, she looked at Yuan Zhou in astonishment.

“How did you know that this is the type of scorched rice I wanted to eat, Boss Yuan?” Zheng Xixi asked.

Zheng Xixi had asked this question abruptly. Naturally, her friends did not understand what she was asking. However, this was not the case for Jiang Changxi, Wu Hai and Chen Wei.

As far as they were concerned, nothing Yuan Zhou do could surprise them.

“What else can a Sichuan girl with Shaanxi accent eat apart from Shaanxi Scorched Rice?” Yuan Zhou was wearing a surgical mask, yet his voice could still be heard clearly.

Zheng Xixi was first astonished. Then, she laughed and solemnly thanked, “I see. Boss Yuan, you’re too awesome. Thank you.”

Yuan Zhou merely nodded and said nothing.

The friends of Zheng Xixi got even more curious. The short-haired girl asked, “Xixi, what does that mean? A Sichuan girl with Shaanxi accent?”

Ge Bailing and Meng Yi had the same question as well. Therefore, all three of them stared at Zheng Xixi.

“I obtained some Shaanxi accent when I went visiting my brother. I had been wanting to eat Shaanxi Scorched Rice for a while. And without saying that, Boss Yuan still cooked a Shaanxi Scorched Rice for me,” Zheng Xixi said with both joy and smugness on her face.

“That sounds like an exaggeration?”

“Boss Yuan is great.”

Zheng Xixi only gave a short explanation. However, it was sufficient for everyone to understand what happened. When they looked at Yuan Zhou once more, they looked at him with a worshiping gaze.

Capable of cooking delicacies that looked great while satisfying the unknown wish of his customer at the same time, Yuan Zhou was no longer a chef. Rather he was a Master Chef.

At the very least, he was a Master Chef in the four girls’ hearts.