Chapter 88. Jade Pillow Cabbage, Loofah, and Three Delicacies Soup. ...

The Jade Pillow Cabbage truly lives up to its name. Looking into the packaging box, you can clearly see little jade-green pillows with emerald green edges and large white patches in the middle. There is also an even more emerald green ribbon wrapped around the little jade pillow and tied into a pretty butterfly knot.

Because of the clear, thick sauce, each little jade pillow looked even more tempting, glistening with oil.

Yang Shuyi used her chopsticks to pick up a small jade pillow and put it in the bowl. To put it simply, it was a cabbage wrapped with some kind of filling and rolled into this rectangular pillow shape. She was quite curious about what was inside.

She picked up a piece of Chinese cabbage, opened her mouth wide, and took a bite. The sauce brought a slightly slippery feeling, followed by the crisp and juicy texture of the cabbage. Then she bit into the meat filling, which had the aroma of pork and seemed to have the sweetness of shrimp. There was also the aroma of some seasonings. The crispness was probably due to the celery pieces.

With each bite, you can taste the crisp sweetness of the cabbage, the savory aroma of the pork, the fresh sweetness of the shrimp, and the fragrance of the celery. The meat filling wrapped around the cabbage is quite savory and delicious.

After swallowing the bite, Yang Shuyi felt refreshed.

She looked at the exposed cross-section of the Jade Pillow Cabbage she was holding with her chopsticks, and this time she could see clearly what was inside.

The minced pork and shrimp paste were mixed together seamlessly, and the bright green celery granules were very eye-catching. I had just tasted some pepper, so it seems that the meat filling was seasoned with pepper.

She leaned closer and took another bite, chewing and savoring the delicious taste while thinking that this Jade Pillow Cabbage was a good dish for weight loss, with its rich meat filling and dietary fiber from the greens.

You can make this kind of low-fat meal yourself in the future. If you're worried that the minced pork is too high in calories, then you can be ruthless and remove the minced pork and just eat it with seasoned shrimp paste.

A small jade pillow only takes three or four bites to eat. After finishing it, your mouth is filled with the sweetness of cabbage, and the aroma of minced meat and shrimp paste intertwine on your tongue, leaving you with a lingering aftertaste.

Yang Shuyi belatedly realized that the shrimp paste wrapped in the Jade Pillow Cabbage was most likely made by the restaurant from fresh shrimp they bought and chopped themselves; the ready-made frozen shrimp paste sold in the market didn't smell as good.

Xiaoyun is also eating Jade Pillow Cabbage.

She never expected that such a small piece of cabbage would contain such a rich filling, with both meat and shrimp. The celery bits mixed in added a textured feel, and the aroma mixed with the meat flavor made it quite delicious.

Combined with the crisp and sweet cabbage itself, the thick and clear sauce poured on the outermost layer, with its rich salty and savory flavor, elevates the deliciousness of the entire Little Jade Pillow to a new level.

Savoring the meat, shrimp, and cabbage bite by bite, Xiaoyun finished the whole Jade Pillow Cabbage and exclaimed, "A vegetarian dish can be made so fancy and delicious. No wonder this restaurant is so popular. Even if they don't offer online delivery, people who really want to eat here will naturally be willing to place an order and have a delivery person buy it for them."

"This cabbage is definitely grown naturally without pesticides. The minced meat has a strong meaty flavor, the shrimp paste is chopped sweet and has a nice texture, and the celery mixed in adds a lot of aroma. This is much more delicious than dumplings!"

Yang Shuyi nodded repeatedly in agreement. Dumplings are considered refined carbohydrates, and eating this "Jade Pillow Cabbage" will only make you thinner. Who wouldn't love it?

"So this restaurant has only been open for a little over two months, and look how many followers it has on its official Xiaohongshu account, and quite a few on Weibo too. If you search for 'Gu's Private Kitchen,' all the results are notes shared by netizens themselves, without a single exaggeration!" She couldn't help but chuckle after she finished speaking, boasting, "As expected of me! I did my research before coming to Jiang City, knowing which restaurants were the best, and it certainly didn't disappoint me!"

Xiaoyun gave her a thumbs up in a very cooperative manner: "As expected of my sister, you're still the best when it comes to food!"

“What’s the use of being good at it? It’s just a way to satisfy your cravings occasionally. When it comes to the amount of food you can eat, you’re the happiest,” Yang Shuyi couldn’t help but say.

She had just noticed what Xiaoyun was eating. She had definitely eaten more than three pieces of the braised pork ribs with lychee and the crispy duck with taro paste. She had also eaten three pieces of deep-fried sole in one go. She couldn't imagine how happy she would be if she could eat like that!

Xiaoyun chuckled: "Thank you for the happiness you've given me, sister. I've gained happiness and you've gained beauty, it's all good!"

After saying that, she quickly picked up another piece of Jade Pillow Cabbage with her chopsticks and ate it. Even though she had eaten a lot of meat before, she was still craving this.

Yang Shuyi was amused, shook her head with a laugh, and then quickly picked up a piece of Jade Pillow Cabbage with her chopsticks and ate it. Anyway, Jade Pillow Cabbage is relatively low in calories, so she could eat a little more without worry.

She ate three pieces of Jade Pillow Cabbage before finally stopping, and at the same time, she felt full.

Nerve transmission takes time, so feeling a little full usually means you're much fuller than you thought. Yang Shuyi usually eats until she's about 70% full, but she feels like she's at least 90% or even 100% full this time.

But this loofah and three-delicacy soup looks so delicious and fragrant, how can I resist drinking it? Anyway, soup is just water, and I can drink it after resting for a while, and it will be gone quickly.

She looked at the loofah and three-delicacy soup. The large, transparent soup bowl was about eight-tenths full. The soup spoon was orange-yellow with a hint of green and very clear, with a touch of milky white.

The soup ingredients are even more abundant, including diced poached eggs, tender slices of meat, sizable shrimp, small mushrooms, and bright green loofah chunks, with a few chopped green onions garnishing the surface.

The restaurant even provided a thick, long soup ladle for customers to easily serve their soup. It's rare to see disposable soup ladles like this when ordering takeout; Yang Shuyi guessed it was probably custom-made by Gu's Private Kitchen.

She used the spoon to scoop the soup, and surprisingly, it was very steady. She scooped the soup and ingredients into the bowl together, and because of the scooping, many of the ingredients in the bowl floated and swirled, making it look like there was quite a lot of soup.

With Yang Shuyi deliberately stirring the soup, the bowl in front of her was about eight-tenths full. There were slices of meat, fresh shrimp, poached egg pieces, and mushrooms, but not much of each. Just enough to taste it was better than eating until you were completely full and feeling uncomfortable and gaining too much weight the next day.

Because she had opened the takeout container before eating, the soup wasn't even warm, just lukewarm, so she simply picked up the disposable bowl and drank the soup directly.

The soup was surprisingly sweet, unlike the sweetness of regular sugar water or corn and carrot soup. It was a unique sweetness of loofah, refreshing and not cloying, with a strong loofah flavor, mixed with the fresh aroma of meat slices, shrimp, mushrooms, and poached eggs.

After tasting and swallowing a mouthful of soup, the rich, sweet aroma still lingered in her mouth. Yang Shuyi took a few more sips before she finally felt a little better and let out a satisfied sigh.

"I never expected that this loofah and three-delicacy soup, which looks ordinary and doesn't have any particularly famous ingredients, would taste so sweet and delicious! It's absolutely amazing!"

After she finished speaking, she closed her mouth and gently swept her tongue around in her mouth, trying to savor every last bit of the soup's flavor, not wanting to miss a single drop.

Xiaoyun had just finished another Jade Pillow Cabbage drink when she heard this and said, "It tastes so good, I'll try some too."

The rice in the bowl was long gone, and all the meat and vegetables had been eaten. Now the disposable bowl was empty and clean, just right for making soup.

She picked up the disposable soup spoon that Sister Xiaoyi had left on the takeout container after she finished using it, and scooped the soup and ingredients into the bowl until it was about eight-tenths full.

Looking at the variety of ingredients in the soup, Xiaoyun felt that even if it were just melon soup, it would taste good and be very nutritious.

She also picked up the bowl and took a big gulp of soup, tasting the rich, unique sweetness of the loofah, mixed with the aroma of the meat slices, the sweetness of the shrimp, the mushroom aroma, and the egg aroma of the poached egg. All the aromas intertwined to make the soup particularly mellow, yet refreshing.

She still had room in her stomach, and when she tasted the sweet and fresh flavor of the soup, she couldn't bear to let it go. She simply gulped down the whole bowl of soup in one go, letting out the same sigh as Sister Xiaoyi had earlier.

"This loofah and three-ingredient soup is amazing! The fresh aroma of all the ingredients blends perfectly with the sweetness of the loofah. This is the kind of soup we should drink in summer. After drinking it, I feel like nothing is so hot anymore."

Yang Shuyi nodded in agreement: "That's right. This soup is sweet and delicious, which is very refreshing. When you don't have much of an appetite in the summer, drinking a bowl of this soup will definitely whet your appetite."

After saying that, she thought to herself that this was also a low-fat soup. If you cook a bowl of this soup and eat it along with the broth, you will get all the nutrition you need for a meal. It is also low in fat and calories.

Xiaoyun said, "Actually, we should have drunk this soup first to whet our appetites." After saying that, she smiled and added, "But when eating meat dishes at Gu's Private Kitchen, you don't need to drink soup first to whet your appetite. Every dish looks so appetizing that you can't stop eating once you take a bite."

“Indeed, we didn’t even notice the soup; we were too busy looking at the incredibly tempting meat dishes that looked and smelled delicious,” Yang Shuyi said.

She picked up her chopsticks and ate a slightly curled shrimp, wondering if it was from the same batch of shrimp—half for melon soup and the other half chopped into shrimp paste for the Jade Pillow Cabbage dish. The shrimp tasted even sweeter than she had imagined, with firm, tender, and slightly bouncy flesh; she could finish one in a single bite.

Then eat the lean meat slices. Each slice is neither too thick nor too thin, and has a beautiful color. They are tender and delicious in the mouth and don't get stuck in your teeth at all.

It must have been marinated beforehand; when you bite into it, in addition to its own freshness and the sweetness of the broth, there is also a faint salty flavor.

The mushrooms had a rich, mushroomy flavor, and while they were chewy and slightly firm, they also had a very smooth and tender texture. Yang Shuyi hadn't eaten many mushrooms, but she knew a little about them and guessed that these were seafood mushrooms.

After she had almost finished eating the sliced ​​meat, shrimp, and seafood mushrooms in the bowl, she picked up a piece of fried egg and ate it.

Even after being cooked in soup, the edges of the poached egg still retain a slightly charred and firm texture, while the crispness from freshly frying has long since disappeared into the soup.

The egg white was undoubtedly delicious, and I was lucky enough to also get a piece of poached egg yolk. Because it had been soaking in the soup for a long time, it wasn't dry at all; it was moist and had a sweet taste from the soup, which was just right.

After finishing the last bit of soup in the bowl, Yang Shuyi breathed a sigh of relief and then let out a burp. She was truly full this time.

She stood up to ease her mind and aid digestion, her eyes still glancing at the meat and vegetables on the table, wondering why her appetite was so small and why she couldn't eat more than that.

On second thought, I realized I had eaten quite a lot at lunch. I usually eat until I'm about 70% full, but at lunch I practically doubled that to 120% full.

Seeing Xiaoyun's bulging cheeks and the satisfied, happy smile in her round almond-shaped eyes, Yang Shuyi couldn't help but smile. This girl's appetite had really exploded today. It was fine; she could let Xiaoyun enjoy the happiness she couldn't finish herself.

In that brief moment of generosity, Yang Shuyi had already begun planning how to deal with the leftovers: "This loofah and three-delicacy soup is nutritious, low in fat and calories, so let's just heat it up and have another bowl tonight. As for meat, I'll have a pan-fried sole, how about that? I'll go to the gym to work out half an hour after I finish eating."

Xiaoyun finished another bowl of soup, even the broth was gone. Putting down her chopsticks, she felt so happy and content she could practically become a Buddha. Her stomach was bulging, completely full, and she was determined to stop eating here for lunch; she absolutely couldn't eat anymore.

Then she heard Sister Xiaoyi arranging what to eat for dinner. Xiaoyun thought about it and it seemed okay, so she nodded: "Sure, I'll keep these and heat them up in the hotel microwave later."

She smiled and said, "There should be enough soup for you, Sister Xiaoyi. There's also a sole fish left, so it's all yours. I'll just eat the leftover meat and vegetables. We might not even finish it all tonight."

Yang Shuyi nodded: "Okay, it's settled then. Tonight, we each have our own happiness."

“That’s right! I’m already very happy!” Xiaoyun said.

She put the lids back on the takeout containers one by one. Luckily, the bones she had just eaten were in the lid of the rice container, so it didn't affect the fact that there were leftovers.

Since the hotel room had the air conditioning on all the time, there was no need to put the leftovers in the hotel refrigerator. Putting them there might not be very safe, since they were food that was ingested.

Yang Shuyi simply found a wall and stood against it, playing on her phone.

She opened Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) and, since she followed many bloggers on her secondary account, she clearly targeted Gu's Private Kitchen by clicking into the search bar. She switched to the user section, clicked on the first account, opened the first post after it was pinned, which was the post about today's menu, and scrolled to the comments section to join in the fun.

[When can classes be suspended: Gu's Private Kitchen didn't disappoint today either. The whole table of meat dishes was so delicious that I was almost dizzy and disoriented. I wish I could stay and work at Gu's Private Kitchen (just kidding)]

The braised pork ribs with lychee and citrus flavor truly amazed me. It's a rare find where fruit and meat are stir-fried together and taste so good. The pork ribs were sweet and sour with a savory flavor, tender and juicy, falling off the bone with every bite. You could even taste the sweet aroma of lychee in the meat. The lychee-flavored pork was coated in a sweet and sour sauce, and each bite offered a refreshing lychee aroma. Enjoying such a wonderfully flavorful dish in July, when lychees are almost out of season, was incredibly delightful! Hehe, I also bought two pounds of lychee on my way home, planning to put it in the fridge and enjoy it slowly.

I'd call this Taro Paste Crispy Duck a meat dish with a dessert flavor—it's novel and delicious. Gu's Private Kitchen hasn't strayed too far from this innovative path (doge.gif). What's remarkable is that the taro paste outer layer and duck meat filling, fried to a golden-purple hue, are neatly arranged in pieces and served—a feast for the eyes. Of course, the taste is even more delightful. One bite and it's incredibly crispy; if you didn't use a bowl to catch it, it would practically leave crumbs all over the table. The taro paste flavor is rich, and each bite is smooth and creamy. The duck meat inside is also pre-fried—crispy skin and firm, tender meat, savory and flavorful. As someone who loves taro, I was completely captivated by this Taro Paste Crispy Duck; it was pure bliss!

Pan-fried sole is also delicious; the fish is tender with few bones, and it has a nice crispy, caramelized flavor. By the way, if you accidentally get a bone in your mouth, just chew it a few times with the fish meat and you can swallow it without worrying about getting a bone stuck in your throat. The Jade Pillow Cabbage truly lives up to its name; when it's served, it looks exactly like eight small jade pillows arranged on a plate. The cabbage wrapper encases minced meat, shrimp paste, and celery pieces. One bite offers the crisp sweetness of the cabbage, the tender minced meat and shrimp paste, and the celery adds a lot of flavor. Overall, it's light and delicious.

The loofah and three-delicacy soup was even better than I expected. One sip filled my mouth with the sweet, refreshing taste of loofah, followed by the savory aroma of minced meat and shrimp, along with the fragrance of mushrooms and eggs. The loofah was soft, tender, and smooth; the sliced ​​meat was flavorful, the shrimp sweet, and the mushrooms and poached egg were delicious!

[Images of braised pork ribs with lychee and taro, crispy duck, pan-fried sole, Chinese cabbage, and loofah soup]

[Encounter: I am once again amazed at how fortunate I am to be a resident of Jiang City, to be able to have a meal at Gu's Private Kitchen from time to time. It is simply the greatest comfort after a hard week of work, and a place for my tired soul to relax and recharge.]

Today's braised pork ribs with lychee was really delicious. It was sweet and sour with the fragrance of lychee. The pork ribs were well-cooked, and the lychee flesh was sweet and juicy.

The taro-flavored crispy duck was the best dish of the night. Biting into the crispy skin allowed you to taste the rich aroma of taro paste, while the duck meat was tender and savory. The combination of the two was novel and delicious.

To be honest, this was my first time eating sole. It was pan-fried until crispy and fragrant, and the fish meat was very tender. There were basically no fish bones, so it was very convenient and enjoyable to eat.

I was quite surprised by the Jade Pillow Cabbage filling; it was packed with a generous amount of ingredients, including minced meat and shrimp paste. It was made with high-quality, substantial ingredients.

The loofah and three-delicacy soup is also very sweet and fragrant. Each of the sliced ​​meat, shrimp, mushrooms and poached egg is enough to eat half a bowl of rice on its own. After soaking up the sweet soup, it tastes even better.

[Images of braised pork ribs with lychee and taro, crispy duck, pan-fried sole, Chinese cabbage, and loofah soup]

[Lucky Cat Meowing: I was recently on a business trip to Jiang City and was too busy to eat at a restaurant, so I simply ordered food from Gu's Private Kitchen to be delivered to my hotel. Seeing the table full of tempting meat dishes was incredibly satisfying. My headache, which had been a bit aching from talking to customers all morning, instantly lessened, and I felt refreshed and energetic enough to enjoy the meal.]

The braised pork ribs with lychee and osmanthus flavor are sweet and sour, very appetizing. The pork ribs are clearly high-quality, and the lychees are fresh and sweet. The crispy taro duck has a crispy skin, and the aroma of the taro and the savory duck meat combine to create a rare and delicious flavor; it's also great with rice. The pan-fried sole is simply fresh! The jade pillow cabbage looks light but tastes very fragrant; the cabbage is crisp and sweet, wrapped around minced meat and shrimp paste. The loofah and three-delicacy soup is very sweet and refreshing; the loofah is tender and smooth, and the sliced ​​meat, shrimp, mushrooms, and poached egg are also very flavorful.

This meal was incredibly satisfying, sweeping away all my fatigue and filling me with energy. I didn't even feel tired thinking about the work in the afternoon.

I've decided to eat at Gu's Private Kitchen for the next few days, and try to find a free day to go there and experience the lively atmosphere depicted in the picture on the takeout bag.

[A group photo of meat and vegetables in a takeout box from Gu's Private Kitchen.jpg]

[...]

Yang Shuyi read through many comments. The top-rated ones were long reviews praising each dish in detail, realistically, and immersively. She read them carefully, word by word. Sometimes, she didn't even read those posts on Weibo with evidence to expose information about herself as carefully as she did when surfing the internet with her alternate account.

Before, when I read these long reviews, I just felt really hungry and thought how great it would be if I could eat it. But now, probably because I just had a table full of the same thing for lunch, my mindset is a little different, and I feel more involved.

She agreed with every line of the descriptions of how delicious each dish was, deeply impressed by how these netizens were practically her online mouthwash!

Yang Shuyi not only read the text, but also clicked on the food photos attached to the long review. Even though she had seen and eaten them herself, she still found it very interesting and started to feel a little hungry.

She chuckled and touched her still slightly bloated belly, saying in a low voice, "Just behave yourself. You ate enough at noon. If Sister Li finds out, she'll definitely call you one after another to scold you."

She stood against the wall for a while, browsing Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), almost scrolling through all the comments in the post's comment section, liking the ones she liked, before finally exiting to browse Weibo.

There are no small matters in the entertainment industry; even when there's nothing to talk about, they can still stir up some gossip. The trending topics are quite lively. Yang Shuyi picked through the ones that interested her and chuckled when she saw something funny.

Xiaoyun also cleaned up the leftovers and put them away, then wiped the table clean with alcohol wipes. After that, she stood by the table and scrolled through her phone.

When her agent, Sister Li, sent her an inquiry about the situation, she briefly reported on the morning's filming, omitting the part about having lunch at Gu's Private Kitchen, and then replied to some other messages.

After standing for about half an hour, Yang Shuyi felt her stomach was less bloated and she felt more comfortable. She put away her phone and went back to her room for a nap, while Xiaoyun also went to the next room for a nap.

Yang Shuyi also had several scenes in the afternoon. She was quite focused on filming on set and was in good condition. In addition, she had a good working relationship with Chen He, who played the male lead Shao Boyan, from their previous collaboration in Shanghai. There were very few NGs, and almost all of them were done in one take, which went very smoothly.

When it ended a little after 5 o'clock, Yang Shuyi couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After thanking the director and others, she walked to the lounge chair in the rest area and sat down. Xiaoyun immediately handed her a cup of warm brown sugar ginger tea that she had prepared.

Yang Shuyi took a few sips, her mouth full of brown sugar and ginger flavor, when she suddenly remembered something and exclaimed in surprise, "Huh, I didn't seem to be in much pain this afternoon. Is this brown sugar ginger tea really that effective?"

To be honest, she always knew that brown sugar ginger tea wasn't very effective; the only useful thing was the hot water. But since it was a rare treat to have some sugary drink during this special time, she figured it was best to drink it. In the past, even though she was in pain, any relief she felt was probably just psychological.

Xiaoyun exclaimed in surprise: "Really? That's good! Maybe it's because you ate well and slept soundly at noon, and your mood made you feel less pain?"

Yang Shuyi nodded thoughtfully: "That's possible!"

They rested for a while and then returned to the hotel. Xiaoyun went to heat up the leftovers, and when she came back, the two of them sat down at the table to eat.

As planned, Yang Shuyi drank a bowl of loofah and three-delicacy soup, and of course ate sliced ​​meat and shrimp. She also ate a pan-fried sole, which was fresh, tender and delicious, and she was very satisfied.

Xiaoyun ate the remaining dishes of braised pork ribs with lychee, crispy duck with taro paste, and cabbage with great relish.

After eating and resting for a while, Yang Shuyi took Xiaoyun to the gym to work out. While she worked out, Xiaoyun played on her phone.

After practicing an extra half hour compared to usual, Yang Shuyi was drenched in sweat. She hurriedly returned to the hotel to shower, then applied a face mask for skincare before going to bed.

The next morning, after waking up, using the toilet, and washing up, Yang Shuyi habitually stepped on the scale to weigh herself, thinking that even though she had made up for it by exercising the night before, eating too much would most likely result in weight gain.

When she looked down at the red number displayed on the scale, Yang Shuyi was stunned.

Not only did it not get any heavier... it actually lost a pound?!