Chapter 84 I Count to Three
The last thing served was the dessert - Taotie Pastry.
A black mythical beast of exquisite size squats on the snow-white porcelain plate, with rounded and full outlines, smooth curves, and layers of black puff pastry like fluffy and smooth fur, with each strand distinct and stretched out.
Although it is only two inches long, the details are handled very delicately. On the furry little face, the forehead and cheeks are painted with beautiful and complex golden divine patterns, the golden eyes are dazzling, the nose is slightly wrinkled, and the animal teeth are slightly exposed, as if it is ready to open its mouth to swallow the world if it disagrees with something. It is eight parts domineering and two parts childish, not fierce enough, but more than cute.
The curved horns on the little guy's head and the hooves under his feet are bright yellow and crystal clear. In the middle of his back there is a pair of wings made up of golden patterns and tender yellow petals. He looks majestic and lifelike.
The whole dessert is so exquisite and ingenious that for a moment it is hard to tell whether it is a decoration or a delicacy.
Everyone looked left and right at the cute creature on the plate, sizing up this beautiful dessert from 360 degrees, and were reluctant to eat it.
"What a miraculous craft." Jiang Huai couldn't help but exclaim in admiration as he looked at the Taotie pastry in front of him that was carved with the shapes of moon and clouds.
The food critic with nearly ten million fans looked at Qi Huan and asked half-pleadingly, "Can I take it in front of the camera in the live broadcast room and take a picture?" The camera in the live broadcast room was fixed on the left side of the kitchen counter, not facing this side.
Qi Huan: ???
"I want to go too. With such beautiful snacks, we should at least be able to take a souvenir, right?" Another food critic followed suit. If they were not allowed to take the photos themselves, they should be allowed to capture them from the live broadcast footage.
"Then let's make an exception." Qi Huan couldn't resist the two people's eager gazes and nodded. They didn't prohibit the use of recording equipment to prevent this.
The two of them ran over excitedly with the plates in their hands.
As everyone was amazed, only the nine-tailed white fox squinted its eyes and looked down at the black ball on the plate, swishing its tail unhappily. What was so good about it? It was black and bald with only a tail!
When everyone was hesitating whether to start eating, there was a sudden crisp sound at the table. Looking in the direction of the sound, they saw that Lin Jian had already opened his mouth and bit off half of the Taotie's body.
“The crust is crispy and delicious, and the filling has a floral and fruity aroma. It’s sour and sweet, and very delicious.” Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Lin Jian held up the remaining half piece of Taotie pastry in his hand and gave his evaluation.
Everyone: ...
"As long as you like it." Qi Huan smiled.
The eyes and hoofs of the Taotie pastry are specially made by him with syrup, and the taste is also specially prepared to be sweet and sour, which can perfectly present the hard and crystal clear texture, and can also refresh and relieve greasiness.
The vines next to them suddenly stretched out a vine, snatched the remaining half of the dessert from Lin Jian's hand, and began to chew it. The two food critics came back with the plates, smelled the aroma, listened to the crisp sound of the puff pastry breaking next to them, and finally couldn't resist the temptation and took a bite.
The rest of the people couldn't help it and started eating too. Qi Huan walked over to serve the last dish to the viewers in the live broadcast room and said goodbye before going off the air.
Only Bu Fan frowned and sighed as he looked at the snacks on the plate. The four tails of the nine-tailed fox pressed on his wrist as a warning, not allowing him to touch the snack.
"How about I try it?" Bu Fan tried to negotiate with his own spirit.
The white fox glanced at him sideways and slowly raised its tail. Just when Bu Fan thought it agreed and was about to reach out, the most beautiful and thickest main tail in the middle of the nine-tailed fox suddenly rose up and slammed the plate hard. It was clear that it was going to flatten Bu Fan's hand and the snack together.
Bu Fan thought something was wrong and quickly pulled his hand back. Just as the Taotie pastry on the plate was about to be smashed into pieces, a black shadow rushed out like lightning, with the golden horns on its head heading straight for the white fox.
The white fox took a few steps back and barely avoided the attack.
There was a black ball the size of a palm in front of the plate.
The little fellow has smooth black fur, with a symmetrical golden pattern like wings in the middle of his back, a pair of glittering yellow crystal-like curved horns on his head, and four equally crystal clear hooves under his feet, which are sparkling and sparkling.
Everyone at the table was stunned. Could this be the real Taotie Su? It was so beautiful!
The black ball's pair of eyes, as bright as amber, were glaring at the white fox angrily, and the white fox bared its teeth, not to be outdone.
The next second, two spirits, one black and one white, rushed to the same place, rolled into a ball and started wrestling, rushing into the ruins behind the long table.
"What's going on?" Qi Huan looked at the black and white group that was rampaging through the ruins like an invincible fire wheel, and then looked at Bu Fan.
"One of them doesn't like the appearance of another person and wants to destroy it, but the other one won't let him touch it." Bu Fan touched his nose and lowered his eyelids, feeling a little guilty, which was a rare feeling.
When everyone's attention was attracted by the movement over at the ruins, a vine silently crossed over the long table. By the time Bu Fan felt something strange, the vine had already opened its mouth and bit the Taotie pastry on his plate. It was too late to stop it.
"Cui Yi, how could you do this? Give it back to me!" Lin Jian was a little embarrassed and quickly taught his spirit a lesson. But the little guy ignored his words and just gathered up and ate the stolen Taotie pastry frantically. The black pastry crumbs fell from the vines all over the table.
"I'm sorry. How about I buy another one from Huanhuan and compensate you later?" Lin Jian looked at Bu Fan apologetically.
"Forget it, just give it to it if it likes it. Qianzhen won't let me touch it anyway." Bufan waved his hand indifferently, and was surprisingly easy to talk to.
"Bang!" The black and white ball smashed a stone pillar.
"Boom!" Another half of the remaining wall was knocked down, and smoke and dust rose up.
Demolition team, Qi Huan held his forehead speechlessly.
"Is that almost enough?" Qi Huan signaled Bu Fan to stop them.
Bu Fan sighed, his handsome face full of helplessness, "It's angry now. If I go over there, I'm afraid it will attack me with its underground fire."
Qi Huan looked around, and an idea struck him. He picked up the cup and knocked it, shouting, "I'll count to three. Whoever stops first and comes back to me will get a snack tomorrow that he has never eaten before. The whole alliance will be the first to eat it!"
Everyone:!!!
"1~" Qi Huan deliberately prolonged the ending tone, and the black and white ball in the ruins spun faster, as if it didn't hear Qi Huan's words at all.
"The berries with the most sunshine in the Blue Feather Forest, the freshest cream in the Harmonious Grassland, and the king of nuts in the Dalman Mountains are all top-quality ingredients brought from the Five Star Regions~" Qi Huan deliberately increased the temptation, "2~"
The black and white ball flattened a metal tree.
Everyone shook their heads. It seemed that the trick of tempting with delicious food was useless to the two angry little guys.
“3”!
As soon as Qi Huan uttered the word "3", the black and white groups suddenly separated and appeared in front of him as if they had changed their positions.
Everyone: ...
The two little guys looked a little disheveled. The white fox's ear had two holes bitten in it, and several of its tails had large and small bald spots. The black one's cheek had three long claw marks, and its right hind leg didn't dare to touch the ground.
"嘤~" The white fox raised its head and looked at Qi Huan. It was the first to arrive.
"Hmm!" Monday was not to be outdone. It was obviously me.
The two little guys looked at each other, and sparks flew immediately. Seeing that they were about to rush together again, Qi Huan quickly stretched out his hands to hold them in the middle, separating them one by one, and comforted them in a gentle voice, "Okay, okay, we're tied for first place, and you can both have new snacks tomorrow morning."
"Hmph!" The black and white balls looked at each other with disgust and turned their heads together, leaving each other with the back of their heads, but finally did not attack again.
Qi Huan winked at Bu Fan, suggesting that he take the Nine-tailed Fox to see a doctor for its injuries, while he himself took Xingqi away with a distressed look. This little fool was twice the size of the other boy but still fought so hard.
The guards also came to take the tour group to the rooms arranged in the starship to rest.
"Quickly take a look at its legs. Do we need to go to the medical cabin?" Qi Huan walked into Jiufangyu's room carrying Xiao Ba and anxiously handed him over.
"It's okay. The two of them were just fighting because they were angry. They didn't kill each other. Go back to the scene tonight to repair it, and the damage won't be visible tomorrow." Jiufang Yu signaled him not to worry.
Qi Huan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking about it carefully, the two little guys made quite a lot of noise, but the Nine-tailed Fox didn't spit out fire, and Monday didn't just open its mouth and swallow them up. They still had some sense of propriety.
"Huanhuan, I want to try tomorrow's new snacks, too." Diwu left the monitor screen and rushed over to ask for a seat for the tasting.
"They are tied for first place, and you are third." Qi Huan agreed, glancing at the remaining Taotie pastry on the table, he was a little surprised, "Were you so busy that you didn't eat it?"
Although the people on the starship did not sit at the table during the dinner, Qi Huan also prepared a portion for everyone, which was delivered by the robot bear butler.
"That's not mine. It's Monday's."
"Xiao Ba didn't eat it?" Qi Huan was stunned. The little guy always swallowed the food that was put in front of his mouth the first time. It was his style to eat even the plate.
“I thought the food you cooked was so delicious that I circled the plate several times but couldn’t bear to eat it. So when I saw the fox trying to destroy the snacks you made and waste your hard work, I rushed out immediately.” Jiufang Yu explained.
Heituanzi seemed a little embarrassed by what Jiufangyu said. She snuggled into his arms like a spoiled child, not daring to look at Qi Huan.
"Why are you shy? Just eat." Qi Huan poked the little guy on the back with a smile.
Seeing Jiufang Yu's waist muscles tremble in sync with the little guy's, Qi Huan realized that he had "crossed the line" again.
"Oh, I remembered, there is another one over there on the stove. I'll go get it." Qi Huan's ears turned red and he ran out as if escaping.
The one on the stove was the extra original flavor he had prepared for the signaler. He had originally planned to eat it himself when the time came, but now that Black Tuanzi liked it so much, he decided to give it to him as a gift. Anyway, he had tasted it several times when he was trying to make it before.
In order to avoid the awkward atmosphere, Qi Huan deliberately stayed at the kitchen counter for a while longer. He stared at the Taotie pastry and said to Jiujiu who appeared, "You feel so pent up tonight, right? How about we use syrup to make a crown for this little Ba?"
Little White Ball grabbed a lock of white hair and shook it. A voice clearly appeared in Qi Huan's mind, "Okay."
Qi Huan was stunned. Could this be the voice of a spirit?
"Jiujiu, is that you?" Qi Huan looked at the little white ball, trying to confirm, but the little guy ignored him and happily stirred the syrup with the ends of his hair.
Qi Huan recalled the pattern on Jiufang Yu's epaulettes and used syrup to make a mini and delicate crown of thorns. He stuck it on the curved corner of the Taotie pastry, which was cute and exquisite.
When Qi Huan returned to Jiufang Yu's room again, Diwuyuan had already left.
"Thank you Xiao Ba for helping me protect the Taotie Su today. This is a thank you gift." Qi Huan smiled and handed the limited edition Taotie Su with a small crown to Xingqi Ba.
The black ball looked at the mini version of itself in surprise and joy. It happily circled around it several times, pushed the plate over, and finally wagged its tail at Jiufang Yu and made a "hmm" sound.
Jiufang Yu nodded.
"What did it say?" Qi Huan asked the translator to go online.
"It asked me to help it put away these two Taotie pastries and no one is allowed to touch them. It's incredible that there are things that Taotie is reluctant to eat." Jiufang Yu pretended to sigh helplessly, but there was a smile in his eyes.
Qi Huan: ...
He can't bear to eat two of them? When did the little guy develop a hoarding habit?
But, I have to say, it feels pretty good to be cherished by the little guy.
"By the way, are they doing anything secretly?" Qi Huan looked at the pile of pillows spread out where Diwuyuan had just sat, and remembered that he had forgotten to ask about the main business.
"Well," Jiufang Yu's jaw moved slightly, "After the meal started, Diwuyuan discovered on the scanning screen that the old viewer in the live broadcast room sitting in seat 9 secretly hid a camera and filmed your stove all night. At first, I wasn't sure if he wanted to learn on his own or was instructed by someone, but just now he and Qi Shan deliberately walked at the back and handed over the camera, which clearly showed that he had received Qi Shan's money in advance."
"The entire cooking process was recorded?" Qi Huan sighed. The audience member at seat 9 was not very noticeable throughout the entire banquet. If Jiu Fangyu and the others hadn't found out, he really wouldn't have noticed that the other party was secretly recording.
"Bang!" A loud noise like something being smashed came from the guest room, causing the floor of Jiufang Yu's room to tremble slightly. If you listen carefully, there seems to be a faint sound of angry curses.
Qi Huan: ???
Jiufang Yu raised his eyebrows slightly and answered his question, "When Diwuyuan and the others stood up and left the long table, they activated a three-second high-frequency oscillation refresh, and everything in the camera was cleared out."
"It seems someone's defense has been breached." Qi Huanchao raised his finger and drew a 6. His two comrades were so reliable.
"So now it's confirmed that the whole drama on Starnet was caused by the Qi family, right?"
"Well, we can confirm that it is them, but we still lack some evidence that can be presented. We will look for it again tonight." Diwuyuan had just hacked into Huaitong and Qishan's personal terminals. In the evening, he planned to look through them in detail with him and Kong Hu to see if there are any clues that can be used to find evidence. After all, the chat data obtained by hacking into the backend cannot be made public.
The next morning, Qi Huan got up early as promised and made a new dessert for Xiao Ba and Qian Zhen.
In addition to the two first-time eaters, there were naturally also portions for Diwuyuan, the Pozhan couple, the store owner, Senior Aluan and others. Lin Jian and Bu Fan also got one each.
The other people who attended the Clear Sky Banquet received an invitation to rate the interstellar food at the human restaurant while having breakfast in their room. After scoring, they could get a Golden Jade Egg Yolk Pastry.
"What is this?" Diwuyuan had been up all night and had been planning to catch up on some sleep after breakfast while those people outside were going to the hunting area. But when he saw the three beautiful desserts on the plate, his eyes widened immediately.
They were three brightly colored cream-filled pastries, with the upper and lower layers shaped like five-petal peach blossoms.
The first 'flower' is lemon yellow, with a piece of light green cream at the center and decorated with crushed nuts. The cream underneath is also light green, with beautiful wavy patterns, and is silky and fluffy.
The second 'flower' is pink, with a pistil of milky white cream dotted with small pearl-like mini sugar beads. The layer underneath is also milky white cream that matches the pistil, and it is as fluffy and attractive as a cloud, with dots of sugar beads interspersed in between, flashing a fine and beautiful luster from time to time.
The third 'flower' is completely covered with chocolate, and the outermost layer is sprinkled with a layer of fine white crispy cream, as if it had just been brought out from the ice and snow, with the sweet scent of the first snow.
Hei Tuanzi also squatted in front of his plate, showing the same curious eyes as Jiufang Yu. Jiujiu, who was sitting on the cup lid, was shaking his feet happily. It was made by him and Huanhuan together, and the beauty seemed to like it very much.
"This dessert is called Dacquoise. I specially made three different flavors. Everyone can try it." Qi Huan said with a smile.
Dacquoise is a French dessert, a close relative of the famous macaron. The main ingredients of the crust are also almond powder and meringue, but the amount of meringue in the crust of Dacquoise is reduced and starch is increased. Not only is the difficulty of making it relatively much lower, the taste is also more in line with the Chinese people's highest evaluation of desserts - not too sweet.
The inside can be filled with a variety of silky cream fillings and auxiliary ingredients as desired. You can give full play to your creativity in terms of appearance and taste to create all kinds of surprising tastes.
The original Dacquoise was relatively large in size, closer to a cake, but after modification it became the size of a biscuit suitable for eating, and the shape of the crust also became the common square and oblong shape of biscuits.
Qi Huan didn't have a special mold for Dacquoise, so he took a flower cookie mold and made it into a flower shape.
Diwuyuan picked up the pink piece and took a gentle bite. The outermost layer was sweet and crispy like a caramel cookie, while the inner part was moist and soft, almost like a cake, accompanied by a rich nutty aroma, which was wonderful and tempting. The white honey-flavored cream filling in the middle was fruity and refreshing, and melted on the tongue like ice cream. The pearl-like sugar beads were actually sour popping candies, which crackled and exploded between the teeth with great vitality, sour and sweet, which made people feel refreshed instantly.
Jiufang Yu tasted the lemon yellow one. He was very curious about the texture, which was between biscuits and cakes, with crispy outside and soft inside. The tender green cream filling inside was rollin fruit flavored, and topped with slightly salty chopped nuts. It was sweet and delicious, with delicate and rich layers, light and mellow.
Zhou Qi Ba swallowed the piece of chocolate in one gulp, squinted his eyes in satisfaction, and his little tail started wagging wildly. It was so delicious!!!
After breakfast, the twelve attendees of the Clear Sky Banquet took an airship to the hunting area.
In this in-depth experience, apart from Bu Fan and Lin Jian who hunted two stone beasts with ease, Qi Shan and a reporter barely protected themselves, the rest of the people had almost no ability to fight back and were chased by the stone beasts.
While escaping, they encountered a group of wind-breathing beasts. Everyone was so scared that their brains stopped working and their faces turned pale. Several of them fell into the sand pile one after another.
The guards, Bu Fanlin and Jian all rushed to rescue people. It was unknown whether it was a tacit agreement or not, but the three parties all skipped Huai Tong and Yang Yuan and went to rescue others first. The two were chased by the wind beast and crawled in a panic. They screamed heartbreakingly for a long time before they were rescued by the guards who turned back again.
Huai Tong and Yang Yuan were bitten by the wind-breathing insects and were bleeding profusely, with almost no healthy flesh left on their bodies. A guard and Bu Fan were also injured while trying to save people, with their wounds so deep that the bones were visible.
All four were taken to the small starship's medical bay.
"Jiujiu, why don't you go and help them?" Qi Huan looked at the guard and Bu Fan who were in the medical cabin, enduring the pain and refusing to say a word, and he couldn't help feeling a little guilty. After all, it was he who suggested the hunting area experience.
Little White Tuanzi looked at the guard, then at Bufan, and finally turned his head away in rejection.
"What do you mean?" Qi Huan poked the little guy's head.
[Not as pretty as Yuyu, I won’t go. 】
The little guy's meaning was directly conveyed to Qi Huan's mind.
Qi Huan: ...
You guy, you even look at your face when saving people!
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