Chapter 69 Three people can't pool together a good brain.
Master Jiang was born into a prestigious family and enjoyed a life of luxury from a young age.
Having lived to this age, he has lost interest in many worldly things.
His particular fondness for food has remained unchanged for decades.
Master Jiang, who boasted of having tasted all the delicacies in the world, was unexpectedly amazed by a plate of ordinary lotus root and pork dumplings.
From then on, he never forgot Sheng An's excellent skills, and every day he looked forward to what surprises his good student would bring him.
Over the course of more than a month, Master Jiang tasted the crispy-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside fried small fish that could be eaten even with the bones; the fragrant but not greasy, soft and tender braised pork; and the crisp, refreshing pickled cucumbers that were perfect with rice.
Even the green beans, which he disliked the most, became so delicious when made into green bean and meat filling buns that Jiang Fuzi found unforgettable, and he fell in love with the unique green bean flavor.
Of course, this is on the premise that Sheng An does it himself.
The cook in the Jiang family painstakingly devised a recipe for steamed buns with green beans and pork filling, but Master Jiang only wanted to feed them to the pigs.
At this moment, Master Jiang sat in the main seat, looking at the dishes in front of him, which were made with ordinary ingredients but were more appetizing than any delicacies he had ever eaten. He was unusually impatient.
Not wanting to be laughed at by his rebellious disciples, Master Jiang ignored their urging gazes, coughed lightly, and looked at Xu Jinnian:
"Today your family is doubly blessed. I will not say much else, but I hope that you will remain humble and not arrogant, and that you will be able to pass the imperial examination in three years. Do not let me down."
Xu Jinnian stood up and respectfully replied, "Yes."
Looking at this student whom he had such high hopes for, Master Jiang stroked his beard and smiled, clearly extremely satisfied.
Tan Zhenlin was extremely anxious and kept giving Xu Jinnian meaningful glances, urging him, as the host, to quickly pour wine for Master Jiang so that they could start eating.
Xu Jinnian pretended not to see it and sat down quietly.
Master Jiang glanced at Tan Zhenlin, whose face was filled with anxiety, and coughed lightly again, preparing to say something to him.
The next moment, with lightning speed, Tan Zhenlin grabbed a piece of fish paste stuffed tofu from the plate and precisely stuffed it into Master Jiang's slightly open mouth:
"Master, this is my sister-in-law's specialty dish. It must be eaten while it's hot to fully appreciate its exquisite flavor."
Tan Zhenlin had never eaten Sheng An's fish paste stuffed tofu before; he was just making an excuse to shut up Jiang Fuzi's incessant chatter and not delay everyone from enjoying the food.
The others were genuinely surprised by Tan Zhenlin's move and were all stunned.
Fang Qingzhou and Ye Yunhua were the first to react, immediately cooperating with Tan Zhenlin's actions, vying to pick up their chopsticks, randomly grabbing the dishes closest to them, and sincerely offering them to Master Jiang's lips:
"Master, these two dishes are extremely delicious. They will lose most of their flavor if they get cold. You will know once you try them."
Master Jiang nearly choked on the fish paste stuffed with tofu that was stuffed into his mouth. Seeing that his two other traitors were following suit, as if they were afraid of choking him to death, he couldn't help but glare at the three traitors and remind them to stop.
Xu Chenglin, who was standing to the side, was dumbfounded and his face showed a look of emotion.
Unexpectedly, Jin Nian's three classmates were so filial to their teacher, even feeding him their meals by hand. This deep teacher-student relationship was truly touching.
As Xu Chenglin was deeply moved, he suddenly realized that his eldest son was not moving, so he quickly nudged him with his elbow: "What are you sitting there like an idiot for? Hurry up and serve the teacher his meal."
Master Jiang was greatly surprised, his beard trembling slightly as he waved his hand at Xu Chenglin: "No need, no need, I am perfectly healthy and do not need their service!"
Xu Jinnian looked at the three people who were about to continue feeding them and said in a calm voice, "If you don't sit down soon, these dishes will get cold."
One, two, or three of them can't even put together a good brain. There are plenty of ways to shut the teacher up and get him to eat, but they choose the stupidest one.
When you arrive at school tomorrow, being punished by copying the scriptures ten times will be the least of your worries.
To their surprise, Tan Zhenlin and the other two didn't care at all. Seeing Master Jiang sit down with a glare and pick up his chopsticks, they happily returned to their seats.
Not wanting to waste the delicious food on the behalf of his three rebellious disciples, Master Jiang smiled and invited Xu Chenglin to join him in eating.
Without hesitation, he picked up a piece of fish paste stuffed tofu, his eyes filled with delight for the dish.
The tofu is smooth and tender, and the fish paste is fresh and delicious. When the two are combined, the tofu perfectly absorbs the freshness of the fish paste without any beany smell, and the chewy fish paste creates a rich texture.
Master Jiang savored the food carefully, and the more he tasted it, the more he marveled at the chef's superb culinary skills.
He was really lucky to be able to taste such delicious food while he was still alive.
Afterwards, Master Jiang sampled a variety of dishes, including braised fish head with mountain delicacies, roasted chicken with secret sauce, and pan-fried lamb chops...
Each dish brought him an ultimate taste experience, causing him to have decision paralysis and not knowing which plate to put his chopsticks on.
If Master Jiang is like this, then Tan Zhenlin and the other two are even more so.
I thought that Sheng An would showcase his culinary skills to the fullest when he went to the Xu family's house for a free meal that day.
Only after tasting this meal today did they realize that it was just a small sample of what others had prepared.
Tan Zhenlin ate heartily while glancing at Xu Jinnian with envy.
Old Xu really got incredibly lucky to marry such an amazing woman as his sister-in-law.
Sigh, if only he had met his sister-in-law first.
Fang Qingzhou and Ye Yunhua shared the same thought, their eyes filled with undisguised envy as they looked at Xu Jinnian.
They didn't consider themselves greedy, but once they tasted the dishes their younger siblings made, they wished they could eat them forever.
If the four of them were like this, then the people in the private room next door were even more so.
Xu Cuilian, her mouth glistening with oil, couldn't control her appetite at all: "An'an, with such skills, you should have opened a restaurant directly. I'm afraid you would have taken all the customers from Zuixianlou."
Butcher Zhang, who was usually a man of few words, couldn't help but praise her: "That's right, An'an's cooking skills are definitely no less than those of the head chef at Zuixianlou."
He had never been to Zuixianlou, but he had heard many people mention it.
They said that the food and drinks at Zuixianlou were only slightly better than those at other restaurants, and not as miraculous as some claimed.
The best example is the Ding family. Back then, Master Ding spent a lot of money to hire the head chef of Zuixianlou Restaurant to cook for his young master at his mansion. And what was the result?
Young Master Ding's health gradually improved after eating his nephew's wife's cooking; otherwise, Old Master Ding would have been foolish to give his nephew's wife such a large house as a thank-you gift.
"Sister-in-law, sob sob, your cooking is so delicious I want to cry! I really want to be your little brother so I can eat your cooking every day!"
Zhang Xiao Kui ate with loud gurgling sounds, expressing his deep longing with genuine emotion, only regretting that he wasn't reborn as Sheng An's younger brother in this life.
Sheng An couldn't help but chuckle: "What's the big deal? If you like it, come to my house. I can make it for you every day."
Zhang Xiao Kui's eyes lit up: "Really?"
The next moment, I was hit on the back of the head.
"What do you mean 'really'? An'an is your cousin-in-law, not your cook. How dare you have such a big face!"
Zhang Xiao Kui scratched the back of his head resentfully, turning his disappointment into appetite. He picked up a piece of glistening braised pork and ate it in one bite, his cheeks puffed out as he chewed vigorously.
Wow, this is so delicious!
Sheng An wanted to laugh even more. He used the serving chopsticks to tear off a chicken leg from the braised chicken with the secret sauce and put it into Zhang Xiao Kui's bowl over Xu Cuilian: "There's an oven here. If you want to eat it in the future, just tell me and I'll grill it for you."
Zhang Xiao Kui was deeply moved. Ignoring his mother's eye-rolling, he nodded vigorously, "Thank you, sister-in-law, you're so good to me!"
He felt that no future wife would treat him as well as his cousin's wife.
Seeing her youngest son almost in tears, Xu Cuilian couldn't bear to look at him. She subconsciously glanced at Zhang Zhaodi across from her, wishing she could slap him to death.
This good-for-nothing acts like a child in front of girls; there's no way he'd be interested in them.
Xu Cuilian sighed silently and turned her gaze to her second son, who was standing next to her eldest son.
Yeah, two starving ghosts reincarnated.
Don't be angry, don't be angry. It would be such a waste to get so full from being angry, there's still so much delicious food on the table!
Forget it, let's eat first.
Even though her three sons are all bachelors, it doesn't affect her mood for cooking!
Grandpa and Grandma Sheng are getting old and their teeth aren't very good, so Sheng An placed several easy-to-chew and easily digestible dishes in front of them and reminded Zhang Zhaodi to pick up some food.
This was the first time Zhang Zhaodi had ever tasted so much delicious food, and it was also the first time she had truly witnessed how amazing Sheng An's culinary skills were. While eating, she gave Sheng An a thumbs up: "An An, Sheng Yuan will definitely be a huge success!"
Before this, Zhang Zhaodi would have worried that Sheng An wouldn't make any money, but now she has no such concern at all.
With such excellent culinary skills, it would be an injustice if Sheng Yuan didn't become a hit.
This celebratory feast, a double celebration, left everyone thoroughly satisfied.
In the end, all twenty dishes on Sheng An's table were eaten clean, not even a drop of soup was left.
There were few people at Xu Jinnian's table, and even though the four teachers and students of Master Jiang could eat a lot, they couldn't finish the food. However, only four or five plates were left with a little less than half.
Since it was still early, the group went for a walk around Ming Lake to digest their food.
Upon discovering that there were boats available for rent by the lake, Zhang Xiao Kui decided to rent one and take a boat trip on the lake.
Xu Cuilian, who was in charge of the finances, did not spoil her youngest son's fun. She waved her hand and called to the others, "Come on, let's all go up."
Zhang Zhaodi was eager to try and subconsciously looked at Sheng An.
Sheng An smiled and gave her a gentle push: "I'll go with you."
Zhang Zhaodi nodded and happily boarded the boat.
This was her first time taking a boat trip on the lake, and she was both excited and looking forward to it.
The boat was small and couldn't accommodate everyone, so Xu Jinnian rented another one, and he, along with Master Jiang and his three students, boarded the boat together.
Grandpa Sheng, Grandma Sheng, and Xu Chenglin weren't interested in boating on the lake, and being old, they were afraid of getting seasick, so they sat in the pavilion by the lake and waited for them to come ashore.
The two boats, one after the other, slowly sailed away from the dock and floated on the gently rippling lake.
Admiring the scenery on both sides of the lake, Zhang Zhaodi carefully lay on the bow of the boat, put her hand into the cool lake water, and carefully felt the water flowing over her fingertips.
Suddenly, a small fish playfully swam away from her fingertip, its tail gently brushing against her palm. Zhang Zhaodi excitedly shouted, "An'an, there's a fish! The fish here aren't afraid of people; it just swam into my palm!"
This shout attracted the attention of others, including Zhang Daikui, who stood steadily at the hatch like a tower.
The water rippled, the sunlight shone brightly, and the reflected light fell on the girl's radiant smile, her eyes sparkling brighter than the stars in the night.
Compared to how he had been terrified and cried his eyes out that morning, Zhang Daikui felt as if he had been gently bumped in the chest.
A tingling, numb sensation, as if something is taking root and sprouting.
His dark face turned red without him even realizing it.
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