"Temporarily there are insufficient ingredients. Next time, ok?" While speaking, Yuan Zhou began to prepare to make the dumplings.
"You stinker, why didn’t you keep the good stuff for us to savor?" said Sun Ming discontentedly.
"Because it’s too good, it was sold out." Wearing the face mask, Yuan Zhou was adding water to the pot.
"Honey Tremella is nothing special. It’s definitely the way you cook it that makes it delicious," KFC muttered.
"It’s royal jelly," with his sharp ears, Yuan Zhou answered him directly.
"Pardon? Do you know you are recklessly wasting the God’s good gift to cook dishes with royal jelly? It’s totally a waste. You might as well give it to me to drink so that I can keep fit," Sun Ming stood up in surprise and said loudly.
"Sun, I’m not deaf," said Yuan Zhou lightly.
"I’d say you are indeed deaf. You are selling such a superior dish at 1 RMB. Dear me, my liver is aching." Sun Ming indicated that his balls ached. The royal jelly had a good market, but no one would like to sell it, not to mention that there were a lot of fake ones on the market.
As far as he knew about his brother, he would never sell the fake ones. How could one expect an honest person to resort to deceit? Therefore, the royal jelly definitely wouldn’t be fake.
"He’s not selling your stuff. Why do you love money more than Compass?" KFC said in surprise.
"Humph. I feel heartache in place of him," Sun Ming pointed at Yuan Zhou and said deservedly.
"Come on, man. I think you feel heartache because you didn’t manage to eat the cheap dish of 1 RMB," KFC didn’t believe in him at all, hence said unreservedly.
"I think so, too." Yuan Zhou also nodded the head at the side, pretending to be serious.
"You get down to knead the dough. Don’t you see we are still waiting to eat?" Sun Ming directly waved his hands and then said to KFC.
"You are absolutely foolish. Apart from the tremella, you even sell the royal jelly at such a low price of 1 RMB."
"Compass has said this is welfare price. I feel it’s really not a bad idea. Just think, he’s doing the high-end business. Of course, he has good reason to serve a superior welfare." KFC was a salesperson and was quite clear about these strategies.
However, Yuan Zhou didn’t think that much. He just felt that rarely did he have an opportunity to set the price, why couldn’t he be capricious for just once? So after he got the number 1 by shaking the phone, he set the price at 1 RMB. It was way justifiable.
Hearing that, Sun Ming also felt Yuan Zhou’s words somewhat made sense and thus said straightforwardly, "You are right. Ok, forget it. I will just wait to eat."
Then the two of them got seated again. As soon as they did that, they became curious about what Yuan Zhou was doing.
"Are you kneading the dough to make dumplings?" asked Sun Ming curiously. He was unable to stay idle for even one moment.
"Yes. It’s one of the Eight Unique Qinhuai Snacks." Yuan Zhou spoke a few more words.
"Aren’t Eight Unique Qinhuai Snacks the southern snack? It’s not sweet, is it? If it’s sweet, I’d drop it." Sun Ming was a person who never ate sweet food.
"He has told us it’s dumplings. How could the dumplings be sweet?" KFC gave a glance of contempt at Sun Ming.
"How can it not be? People there are said to put sugar in whatever they cook." Thinking of the scene in his mind, Sun Ming felt a toothache.
"No, it’s not sweet," said Yuan Zhou earnestly.
"That’ll be great," Sun Ming got relieved and said mercifully.
"But I heard from you last time that the Duck Oil Sesame Seed Cake was also one of the Eight Unique. Why is there another one again?" KFC finally asked an ordinary question.
"Every unique stands for two dishes. These are the last two. Apart from the dumpling, there’s another sweet snack," Yuan Zhou said lightly while wielding the dough ably and quickly.
"Which one is sweet?" asked KFC curiously. He had no special dislike for either sweet food or salty food.
"Sweet Osmanthus Sandwiched Yuanxiao①." Yuan Zhou reported the name and then asked after a pause, "Do you want to eat it?"
"Ok, sure. Get one serving for me, please." KFC didn’t behave reservedly at all and immediately agreed.
"I don’t want it." Sun Ming refused hurriedly before Yuan Zhou turned the head toward him.
"You are not counted in." After Sun Ming finished speaking that, Yuan Zhou answered.
"Eh...." Sun Ming was quite helpless with the embarrassing way Yuan Zhou talked.
"Luckily this guy was always working in the logistics department of the previous hotel. Otherwise, he definitely wouldn’t have got employed. Now that he runs his own restaurant and has top-notch craftsmanship, he needn’t worry about the business. If not so, he probably would have starved." Sun Ming, who seldom muttered in the heart, thought bitterly.
The restaurant quieted down soon. Yuan Zhou was making the dough seriously while Sun Ming and KFC were earnestly watching Yuan Zhou kneading the dough like the floating clouds and flowing water.
Seeing the two of them have no questions temporarily, Yuan Zhou became curious about the water in the flour. After all, the water looked quite different. Although it appeared to be ice-cold, it nevertheless felt slightly warm and was quite suitable for dough mixing.
"System, what advantages does the water have?" Yuan Zhou asked with curiosity.
Such questions of Yuan Zhou would usually be responded by the system with an answer.
The system displayed, "It’s the Jinghua Water taken from a well of flourishing population in Qiannian Village. The more flourishing the population is, the more luscious the well water is. The quintessence of the well water rises after being retained for a night. At the first ray of the morning sun, the very first barrel of the water will be taken. It is moisturizing and luscious. If the water is used to wipe the face, it could likewise moisturize the complexion."
"Tsk-tsk. It surprisingly has the effect of improving one’s looks." Without a trace, Yuan Zhou stared at the water in the big transparent pot and appeared quite interested.
However, the system displayed words again before he tried the effect of the water.
The system displayed, "Jinghua Water kept overnight can't be used randomly for washing hands and face. Otherwise, the well water couldn’t be drawn anymore. Nor could it be used for drinking.
"Alright. It's really a delicate thing." Yuan Zhou felt rather helpless.
Nevertheless, methods were always figured out by people. Just like right now, Yuan Zhou was planning to provide the snack every morning so that he can take some of the water for washing up. Although he was way handsome, his pretty face likewise required exquisite skin care.
Wiping the face was not an option for him. After all, it was a waste of resource not to use it as much as possible since it was provided by the system. With such a thought in mind, Yuan Zhou directly made the decision.
In just a little while, the dumplings were steamed well. It was thin-skinned dumplings, but was actually steamed.
As Yuan Zhou added some mung bean flour inside, the skin of the well-steamed dumplings became translucent. Thus, even the beautiful filling inside could nearly be seen.
"Wow, it’s so fragrant and is probably comparable with the soup dumplings," Sun Ming said impatiently.
"It’s indeed aromatic. But what flavorings should be eaten along with the steamed dumplings?" KFC ate boiled dumplings more, or else, the dumplings with chili oil, the specialty of Chengdu City.
"I don’t care what to eat with. But I must eat one right now." Sun Ming couldn’t wait to receive the plate from Yuan Zhou. He immediately took the chopsticks and began to eat it.
"You can eat them along with vinegar." Yuan Zhou pointed to the plate of vinegar in the tray.
"There’s no chilli, but still it’s good." KFC ate the dumplings in a more decent manner.
After all, he had never been to Yuan Zhou’s restaurant before, but just eaten the Egg Fried Rice cooked by Yuan Zhou once. As the taste of the dish truly couldn’t reach full score due to the inferior ingredients, he could yet control himself. Contrarily, Sun Ming had already immersed himself in the delicacy of the Thin-Skinned Dumplings.
The vinegar used by Yuan Zhou this time was another different one. It was rice vinegar, of which the fragrance and sour were taken.
"I have heard about your craftsmanship for a long time. Now that I get the fortune to eat it for free, I’d have to savor it carefully," said KFC smilingly.
"You are welcome. Please," Yuan Zhou said with a smile on his face.
"Then I'll not stand on ceremony." While speaking, KFC took the chopsticks and also began to eat.
...
① Yuanxiao is the round sweet dumplings made of glutinous rice flour with various fillings inside (for the Lantern Festival in China).