The oil heated up in the blink of an eye. Su Qingluan tossed in a scrap of dough to test the temperature. Seeing the dough bubbling and rising, she placed the dough, which had been cut four times into a "rice" shape, in front of Li Shang and gently lowered it into the wok.

After a while, the high-temperature soybean oil formed a layer of fine and dense bubbles on the dough, and the already crispy dough spread out layer by layer like a flower bud slowly opening.

The green dough on the outside wraps around the light red dough in the middle, as if a lotus leaf is supporting a lotus flower that is slowly blooming.

After frying, the dough dyed with spinach juice takes on a bright, slightly pale green color, while the red dough dyed with beet juice takes on a light aqua red.

With the light yellow flower center made of salted egg yolk instead of coconut flakes in the middle, it looks like a lotus blooming in the water!

Su Qingluan breathed a sigh of relief: "Great! Whether it's the dyeing or the styling, the results are better than she had expected." Although there were some minor setbacks along the way, she was generally satisfied with the results.

In order to bring out the color of the lotus cakes, Su Qingluan specially selected a dark-colored flat plate and placed five lotus cakes on the plate - there was no other way, the size of her tableware was limited, and the lotus cakes could not be placed too densely, otherwise if they were bumped, they would easily lose some edges or corners.

There were still six or seven lotus cakes left, so Su Qingluan first picked up the "petal" of one of them and pressed it hard. With a soft "crackling" sound, the water-red petals were twisted into pieces.

Su Qingluan threw the fragment into her mouth and chewed it: Well, it has a light taste of pepper and salt, very refreshing and unique, and has a different level and style of saltiness from the salted egg yolk in the middle, but the taste formed after the fusion of each other is richer, which is a completely different flavor from the sweet lotus crisps, but it is also very delicious.

The taste and crispness were both satisfactory, so Su Qingluan could finally serve this plate of lotus crisps with confidence - in fact, if it were to be a "commodity", this plate of lotus crisps would need some embellishments.

But firstly, there was not enough time, and secondly, although they were in a "cooperative relationship", Su Qingluan still regarded Mu Xingzhi as a friend, not a mere partner. Therefore, in this "private occasion", she subconsciously wanted to be more casual.

"Lotus cakes are here~" Deliberately imitating the waiter's tone, Su Qingluan trotted over and brought the lotus cakes to the table in front of Mu Xingzhi with one hand: "Please have some!"

"This girl is so unruly!" Yang scolded, but perhaps because Mu Xingzhi was present, she did not slap Su Qingluan on the back as usual.

Su Guangfu next to him also quickly apologized to Mu Xingzhi.

Seeing Su Qingluan bringing out the snacks, Su Guangfu and Yang didn't think much about it at first - after all, at home, whenever Su Qingluan had free time, she would always prepare some new food, and the whole family was used to it.

Then Yang stood up and said, "The two little ones are playing in the backyard. I'll call them over."

"No, no," Su Qingluan quickly pulled Yang back, "They don't like salty snacks."

"Salty?" Yang was very surprised.

In the Su family, even Su Guangfu, who dislikes sweets the most, has his own preferences for dim sum. In his opinion, dim sum can only be "authentic" if it is sweet. It is one thing if he doesn't like it, but if it is made salty, he will find it very strange.

This is probably similar to the debate over whether zongzi should be sweet or salty. Some people may not particularly enjoy eating zongzi, but in their minds, they believe it should be sweet or salty, and if it's changed, they'll feel uncomfortable.

So in the Su family, unless Su Qingluan wanted to change her taste and occasionally make herself a salty snack, most of the time, the snacks were sweet.

That's why Yang was so surprised when Su Qingluan made salty snacks this time.

Su Qingluan nodded. "I'm making this as a gift this time," she said, and brought the lotus cake to Mu Xingzhi. "How's it going? Is this 'thank you gift' decent enough?"

When they found their eldest daughter bringing the lotus cake to Mu Xingzhi, the expressions of Yang and Su Guangfu changed. Su Guangfu wanted to go forward and say something, but Yang quickly stopped him.

The two of them were originally standing side by side, and Yang moved quickly, so Su Qingluan didn't notice.

Mu Xingzhi glanced at Su Guangfu and his wife inconspicuously, and raised the corners of his lips slightly.

Su Qingluan was confused: "Why are you laughing all of a sudden?"