Chapter 141 Eight-Treasure Gourd Duck, Imperial Concubine Duck Wings [First Update]...
After only a month apart, when Wen Fan saw Han Lulu again, he was surprised to find that Han Lulu had grown taller. Han Lulu was already over 1.7 meters tall, but now she was heading straight for 1.8 meters.
Qin He had to look up at Han Lulu when she spoke to her.
Han Lulu was also distressed: "My parents have taken me to the hospital for a check-up."
Although many people wish they could grow taller, being this tall...
Han Lulu hunched her shoulders and lowered her head, her back slightly bent.
Qin He comforted her, "What's wrong with being taller? Look at those models, they're all so tall, some are even 1.85 meters!"
Wen Fan nodded, took out some pork jerky he had made from his bag, and gave it to Han Lulu as a gesture of comfort.
The pork jerky successfully diverted Han Lulu's attention; she took a bite and exclaimed how delicious it was.
"Did you make this yourself? It's incredibly delicious!"
Of the five pigs from before the New Year, Wen Fan managed to salvage a significant amount of pork. Some was used to make sausages, and the rest was made into pork jerky. Unlike the pork jerky sold outside, Wen Fan's jerky is thicker and has a softer, more chewy texture. The pork jerky is cut into small pieces, and not much honey is used to prevent it from becoming too dry. With one bite, the savory-sweet jerky is firm and chewy, and the aroma of roasting and the sweetness of honey make the jerky even more substantial.
Han Lulu was still not satisfied after eating a few pieces, so Wen Fan simply took out all the pieces he had brought in his bag, and Qin He and Han Lulu each got half.
Chewing on pork jerky, Han Lulu vaguely asked where to go.
Qin He suggested going to the bookstore, as school was about to start and she planned to buy some supplementary textbooks first.
Han Lulu: ……
"Please, I told my family I was going out for the whole day, just to go to a bookstore. I also want to see a movie and go shopping."
Qin He: "Okay, okay, then let's go."
Wen Fan didn't care. She looked cold, but she was actually the easiest to talk to.
The three of them first bought a cup of milk tea each, and then started buying snacks and strolling around. Han Lulu couldn't resist buying anything she saw, and Qin He helped her pick out snacks.
Wen Fan couldn't understand the differences between the characters, so he came out first and started trying out the snacks he had just bought.
Hmm... this place's stir-fried chicken nuggets are pretty good, just too salty. The pork cracklings were a bit burnt. The candied yam beans, I've never tried them before, but surprisingly they weren't bad.
Soon, Han Lulu and Qin He came out. Han Lulu was carrying a bag full of badges and photocards with great interest.
"Where to next?"
"Let's eat."
The three of them chose a restaurant with a nicer ambiance. It served Thai food and was located on the second floor, directly facing the bustling traffic outside.
Wen Fan looked out and saw a hospital across the street.
As luck would have it, Wen Fan glanced outside and spotted a familiar face.
Fang Weiyue.
Fang Weiyue stood at the hospital entrance, seemingly waiting for someone.
Soon, a man who looked like Fang Weiyue's father rushed over. The traffic was terrible at the hospital entrance, so he simply got out of the car and walked by himself.
Fang Weiyue listened to the other person with her head down. Fang Weiyue's father seemed to be full of irritation. After scolding Fang Weiyue, he angrily walked towards the hospital, with Fang Weiyue following behind him.
Wen Fan stared out the window, and Han Lulu, curious about what she was looking at, came over as well.
Han Lulu didn't see Fang Weiyue at first glance, but she did see Fang Weiyue's father, and immediately asked Wen Fan if he was her relative.
"You look quite a bit like me... Hey, is someone in your family hospitalized?"
Wen Fan turned his head, paused for a moment, and then asked, "They look quite alike?"
Han Lulu: "They really do look alike, especially the eyes. Haha, to be honest, your aunt and uncle don't actually look that much like you. When I first saw them, I thought they were people hired by your shop..."
Wen Fan just looked at Han Lulu, and his voice grew softer and softer as he looked at her.
"You wouldn't be..."
Wen Fan snorted softly, "Of course they're my mom and dad, you blind fool!"
"Wow! Who said I'm blind? I'm perfect in both eyes!"
Wen Fan: "Let's eat!"
Thai fried noodles, Tom Yum soup, and coconut curry chicken.
Wen Fan soon stopped thinking about Fang Weiyue and began to seriously savor the exotic flavors.
...
Meanwhile, Fang Weiyue's father rushed to the ward, where an elderly man lay on the bed with tubes inserted all over his body.
Fang Weiyue's father half-squatted in front of the hospital bed and called out "Dad" twice.
The other person only vaguely called out "Xiaoyue", and after a while called out "Xiaofan".
Upon hearing Xiao Fan's name, Fang Weiyue unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes.
Fang Weiyue's father stood up abruptly and paced around the ward several times. In the end, he could only suppress his anger, but he still couldn't help but grumble.
“The person has been dead for so many years... and you still call him Xiao Fan? You didn’t even mention looking for him when you threw him out, but now you’re bringing it up again.”
Fang Weiyue's father was somewhat irritable. Back then, his younger sister ran away with someone, and after giving birth to a child, she became seriously ill. When she returned home, she was already depressed, hiding in her room all day, refusing to see anyone or seek treatment. She also didn't seem to like the child she had given away.
She was probably deceived by a man, so she transferred her affections to her daughter. Later, she took the child out and lost her herself.
This happened a long time ago, and the old man never mentioned looking for her. But as he got older and his beloved youngest daughter passed away, he began to believe in karma and retribution, and would often grumble about looking for his granddaughter from back then.
Fang Weiyue's father was naturally unwilling to look for someone. The old man was getting on in years; why would he needlessly bring back someone to divide the family fortune? He wasn't stupid. The old man's health was deteriorating, and he always gave the vague excuse that he was looking.
He then turned around and asked Fang Weiyue to take care of her grandfather.
The words were sharp: "Isn't it because you're useless and don't please the old man? Otherwise, why would your grandfather always be thinking about finding that bastard child?"
Fang Weiyue had grown accustomed to these accusations. In her father's eyes, her role as a daughter was simply to establish a connection with the Fu Chuan family and, moreover, to take over everything left behind by that girl named Xiao Fan.
She grew up to be sixteen, and then...
I met that little Fan.
Wen Fan looked remarkably similar to the photos left by his aunt, to the point that it frightened Fang Weiyue.
She kept avoiding facing Wen Fan, but fate cruelly bound them together...
After venting his frustrations, Fang Weiyue's father went to see the doctor, leaving behind the words, "What use are you?"
Fang Weiyue gave a self-deprecating laugh. Yes, what's the use?
Facing the elderly man in the hospital bed, she felt an urge to expose all the secrets.
*****
After shopping, the start of school is just around the corner.
But there is another important matter before the start of the school year.
Wen Fan started making preparations in the morning, telling her parents that she was going to host a dinner party for some of her classmates who had tutored her that evening.
"Just like when I used to cook at home, I only need to set aside three tables."
There were quite a few classmates tutoring her; Wen Fan roughly counted at least twelve or thirteen. With so many people, one table definitely wouldn't be enough, so they simply split into three tables.
Wen Fan had already prepared the menu and planned to show off his skills to his classmates.
Xiao Ge was naturally eager to help out, but Wen Fan told him to finish taking orders for the restaurant first.
The highlight of the evening was a duck.
Wen Fan bought four ducks, cut them open at the neck, removed all the bones and internal organs. This step required exceptional knife skills; a slight mistake could easily tear the duck skin.
After cleaning the duck, you need to remove all the duck wings and legs, and break part of the bones in the duck's neck, leaving only the head.
When Xiao Ge finished his work and went into Wen Fan's kitchen, he immediately saw Wen Fan stir-frying ingredients. The aroma wafted everywhere, making him twitch his nose.
"Young boss, what are you stir-frying?"
Wen Fan didn't even look up: "Shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots, tendons, sea cucumber, shrimp, pork belly, green peas, and glutinous rice."
Xiao Ge peeked out and, sure enough, the pot contained brightly colored and glossy eight-treasure filling.
Wen Fan quickly prepared the filling and began stuffing it into the duck through the opening at the neck. Once it was about seven-tenths full, Wen Fan sealed it with cotton thread.
The plump duck is tied with cotton thread at one-third of its length, making it narrower at the top and wider at the bottom, thus creating the shape of a gourd-shaped duck.
Xiao Ge watched as Wen Fan made one, and then Wen Fan handed over the remaining three to him. Xiao Ge was no stranger to this dish, and his movements as he stuffed the filling were very skillful.
"Young boss, my master's Eight Treasure Gourd Duck doesn't seem to be made this way."
Wen Fan was holding a duck wing, pondering how to eat it, when he heard this and became interested: "How did your master make it?"
"He stuffed the pigeon with filling and then put the pigeon into the duck."
Xiao Ge had only seen his master make it once. After it was done, his master only tasted a few bites and then threw it all away, so he didn't know what it tasted like.
Wen Fan: "Then your master made three sets of ducks."
The so-called "three-layered duck" dish actually involves layering pigeons, domestic ducks, and wild ducks inside each other.
The most important step here is deboning. Deboning pigeons is much more difficult than deboning ducks, not to mention that the skin must not be broken. After deboning, the whole pigeon is put into the deboned duck, and then the duck is put into the deboned wild duck.
During this process, it is important to ensure that the shape is full and that the beginning and end are consistent.
The three sets of ducks are stewed in a clay pot with ham, bamboo shoots, and duck carcasses in the broth. They need to be stewed for five or six hours before they are considered done.
Xiao Ge was so engrossed in listening that she accidentally filled the container with too much filling, so she quickly poured some out.
He pressed Wen Fan, asking, "What filling do you put in the pigeons?"
Wen Fan: "The Three-Layer Duck isn't for show; it's all about the deliciousness of wild duck soup. If you're talking about fillings, there is a dish called Three-Piece Duck."
The so-called "three-piece soup" nowadays mostly consists of a whole chicken, a whole duck, and a pork hock, stewed together.
Wen Fan's "Three Dishes," though also called "Three Dishes," consisted of a three-yellow chicken stuffed with dried scallops, a pigeon stuffed with bird's nest, and a duck stuffed with abalone. While no longer nested inside each other, the three dishes were still deboned and filled with hidden delicacies.
Thus, there are three visible items and three hidden items, hence the name "three visible and three hidden items".
Four ducks are arranged in a container and fried briefly in oil. After frying, the duck skin has shrunk considerably, perfectly sealing the filling inside. Now it's ready to be steamed. The steamed Eight Treasure Gourd Duck already looks quite presentable. At this point, all the cotton threads are cut off, and a sauce is prepared and poured over it.
Wen Fan divided one portion of the four plates of Eight Treasure Gourd Duck, which were almost identically replicated.
The golden, glistening duck skin, when cut with a knife, produces a satisfying scraping sound as the blade slices through the crispy shell. Wen Fan deftly slices it open, the crispy, fragrant skin instantly breaking apart, releasing the rich aroma of the filling inside.
Wen Fan cut a few pieces and gave them to his parents. The duck meat under the skin was tender and juicy, and the eight-treasure filling was soaked in duck oil and tightly locked in by glutinous rice. The filling was firm, with sticky glutinous rice, fresh bamboo shoots and green beans, crisp sea cucumber, and fresh shrimp. There was also tendon with a gelatinous texture, which made this eight-treasure gourd duck even more delicious.
Wen's father and mother ate two pieces, while Xiao Ge was conflicted after trying them.
The young owner's skills are even better than his master's...
Wen Fan put the remaining three copies away, and soon her classmates arrived.
"Hello, Auntie. Hello, Uncle."
Mr. and Mrs. Wen were exceptionally enthusiastic: "It's all good, it's all good, why did you bring anything else?"
Qin He took the lead, and everyone bought some fruit together, making it quite a hefty load so they didn't leave empty-handed.
Mother Wen said reproachfully, "You're too kind. Auntie should be thanking you."
My daughter's improved grades are also thanks to this group of good friends.
"Come in quickly, it's cold outside."
Perhaps knowing that it would be awkward with adults around, Wen's mother simply left Wen Fan's shop empty tonight, just for Wen Fan and her classmates.
Wen's mother provided everyone with a drink, and then ignored the rest.
Wen Fan poked his head out from the kitchen: "Come and serve the dishes!"
"I'm here! I'm here!"
Everyone rushed to eat, but Wen Fan didn't cook too many dishes: a braised duck with eight treasures, pork belly with pine nuts, duck wings, pearl meatballs (which Han Lulu had mentioned earlier as a pity she hadn't had), farmhouse tofu casserole, and a few vegetarian dishes.
Since they were all young people, Wen Fan didn't say anything fancy and started eating as soon as the dishes were served.
Han Lulu hurriedly stopped others from taking a bite of their chopsticks.
"I haven't taken any pictures yet!"
In the past, it would have been fine if they didn't take photos.
But what is this?
This is Eight Treasure Gourd Duck!
Han Lulu kept taking pictures and exclaiming how amazing it was.
The Eight Treasure Gourd Duck was placed on the table, glossy and shiny, and it really did look like a big gourd.
Wen Fan took out a knife and cut it open, and Han Lulu looked regretful.
But she ate the most of the sliced gourd duck.
Unlike Peking duck, where the skin is the most beloved part, the skin here is almost ignored. Everyone is vying for the eight-treasure filling, a mixture of glutinous rice and various ingredients. The duck fat is not as heavy as other animal fats, so even though the glutinous rice has many ingredients and is shiny with oil, it doesn't feel greasy.
"Absolutely amazing!"
"These duck wings are delicious too!"
The so-called "Imperial Concubine Duck Wings" are actually named so because "fly" sounds like "concubine." Wen Fan stir-fried the remaining duck wings and then braised them. The braising liquid was nothing special, but what was special was that Wen Fan added a little wine to it.
Wine-braised duck wings have a bright red color after braising. The richness of the wine itself can remove the fishy smell and enhance the aroma. After braising, Wen Fan reduced the sauce, so the duck wings that look ordinary on the plate are irresistible.
Once someone said the duck wings were delicious, the few remaining ones were snatched up by everyone, and in the end, some people still didn't get any.
Those who didn't get any could only pout and try to pick up the pine nut and pork cubes on the table.
The braised pork with pine nuts consists of nine square pieces of braised pork, skin side up, with a thick, tempting, glossy, bright red sauce, surrounded by a ring of deep-fried small potatoes. The pork pieces are sprinkled with pine nuts.
"Is this braised pork?"
Upon closer inspection, it's not braised pork at all!
Beneath those neatly arranged, seemingly square pieces of braised pork, were clearly not layers of braised pork belly, but rather neatly stacked meatballs!
As the incredibly smooth and delicious meatball entered his mouth, the student tightly gripped Wen Fan's clothes.
"How did you do that?"
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