Chapter 38.4 Vermillion Meat (d)
Translated by Ultra
Edited by Gumihou
Things that should be said have all been said. Unwilling to delay the Head Chef’s work any longer, she quickly followed Master Wang into the kitchen.
The Celestial Fragrance Dwelling’s kitchen was quite spacious. One side of the kitchen was dedicated to shelves filled with all kinds of fresh fruits and vegetables. As for the meat and fish, she was informed that those were kept frozen in a special ice house at the back.
Master Wang has his own special set of knives and stove. Since Shiyu wished to know how to make Vermilion Meat, he made a sincere effort to teach her all the individual steps that went into making the cuisine.
“Young Miss, surely you would have guessed the main ingredients for the making of Vermillion Meat?”
Shiyu nodded, “If I’m not mistaken, it should be pork.” Well, she said pork, but the correct answer was really pork fat without a single trace of lean meat. That’s right, fat.
“Not bad,” Master Wang smiled. He went over to a steamer and lifted the lid, revealing a crockpot inside. When the cover of the pot was taken away, it revealed the smooth surface of some milky white broth.
The aroma of the broth was very fragrant with a touch of sweetness to it. Master Wang gave the broth a glance and said, ‘It should be done soon’, before pouring the broth out into a different pot. Only then, did Shiyu notice the four pieces of meat/fat nestled within like four blocks of yellow jade shining within the crockpot.
The fat blocks looked like it was on the verge of melting and trembled like very soft tofu. The colour was a mellow gold.
“Master, the oil is hot.” Chef Li said, taking up his role as a sous chef properly.
Shiyu knew that the Vermillion Meat was golden yellow on the inside and brilliant scarlet on the outside. More interestingly, the surface of the meat was actually crisped, which meant that the meat had to go through the frying process.
However, as she looked at the quivering meat that looked like it would melt if you glared at it wrong, just how does one fry this thing without having it melt into a puddle of lard the moment in enters the wok?
She was pondering over this question when Master Wang grabbed a glass of water and poured its content over one of the blocks of fat. A thin layer of ice formed on the outside. At the same time, the quavering meat solidified. Well, now there’s no fear of the meat melting inside the hot oil.
Shiyu looked up at Master Wang in amazement. She really could not tell that this person was actually a Cultivator.
Aware of her surprise, Master Wang explained, “I am Water Attribute, but have no talent for cultivation. My skill is good enough for freezing food quickly.”
Shiyu nodded understandingly as she watched Master Wang placed the frozen block of meat into the hot oil. The ice disappeared immediately and the oil began to crackle and spit from the liquid. When the splattering settled, a bright golden block of meat floated to the surface.
He swiftly removed the meat and placed it in a flat bottom pan. A dusting of seasoning was sprinkled on top, followed by a dash of thick red sauce. A short simmer later, the Vermillion Meat dish was done.
Now that she knew the entire process, Shiyu also asked to taste the white broth from before and the final sauce used on the meat. Once done, she thanked him and left.
Regardless of what had happened today, she had to thank Feng Luo for lending his authority for the day. Without him by her side, she would not the privilege of ‘Exploiting the Tiger’s Might [1]’ and effortlessly gain entry to the kitchen. However, seeing Feng Luo’s slightly depressed air, she decided that she could properly thank him another time.
“My business is done for today, many thanks to you.” Then, she hinted, “If you wish to placate someone’s heart, you still have time.”
Feng Luo forced a smile, “Now that you’re fine, I shall take my leave. If you wish to see me, you may find me at the Feng House.”
“Alright,” Shiyu did not decline this open invitation.
To be fair, this Feng Luo was a very good person. He’s generous, fair and comfortable to be around. However, he has the tendency to procrastinate over matters of the heart and prefer to handle things in a roundabout way. However, these shortcomings did not hide his true character, and everyone has their own individual way of dealing with things.
Please read this at kitchennovel dot com~
Once Feng Luo left, Shiyu strolled aimlessly about the streets for a while. Generally wasting time and ruminating over random things until she turned a corner and came upon a rather large trading house.
Within her secret space, something odd had happened. A few dozen of the Cinnabar Fruits were starting to ripen again, that was normal. What was not normal was the unexpected addition of a tree that had just sprouted yesterday. Its growth rate was incredibly fast, who knows how much faster it was growing compared to the real thing outside. While Shiyu had already noted that the space actually accelerates plant growth, she had no idea how many much faster it was really growing.
On the other hand, there was no need to really bother herself over these things yet. The most pressing issue now was the inconvenience of living at an inn. She had finally decided that she should just buy herself a estate.
The Trading House was basically a place to exchange things. If you wish to sell things, you may rent a booth and sell it yourself. Naturally, you may also hand the goods over to the Trading House and have them sell it for you. This was the fastest and most convenient way of doing things. Also, the seller could protect their own identity. The main drawback was a great reduction in profit.
For Shiyu, the convenience and secrecy outweigh whatever money she could make by having her own booth. She quickly handed over 50 Cinnabar Fruits for the Trading House to process. Once the fruits had been appraised, they handed her a crystal card containing 1.2 million silver taels. As well as an invitation letter.
Upon inspection, she found that the invitation was for this establishment’s weekly auction. Because Shiyu’s single transaction had exceeded 1 million taels, she was invited for next week’s auction.
Shiyu tucked the invitation away and began to browse through the trading booths.
All kinds of things were being sold at the trading market, but the majority of them were Cultivation related. This-and-That pill or So-and-So Manual of Some Secret Techniques. Some stalls were so crowded that she couldn’t squeeze past the people to see what was being sold.
However, Shiyu was not particularly interested in these Cultivation related things and spent most of her time wandering around the less popular stalls.
Even among the less popular stalls, quite a few things caught her eye. The human skin mask, for example, was the staple item among Jianghu assassins. There were also some young medicinal plants and seeds, which Shiyu bought without hesitation. She wanted to buy some vegetable seeds as well, but since this was not the vegetable market…
The other thing she would like to get hold of were some useful cooking tools, as well as some better quality cooking knives, perhaps a good pot or two. However, after browsing through the wares for a long time, she still could not find what she was looking for.
At the end of the day, Shiyu abandoned the idea of purchasing a estate. It’s better to wait before sinking her funds on such a large investment for now.
Back at the inn, Shiyu slipped into the secret space. She had no idea whether it was her imagination or not, but she had a feeling that the land within the space had gotten a lot bigger. The floating book was still hovering quietly above the stone table. Around her were lushly growing plants she had collected from the Spiritual Beast Mountain.
The Spring of Life was as calm as before. However, the plants growing by the little pond was visibly lusher than the others. After some thought, Shiyu cleared a patch of land and scattered the seeds over it. Once the seeds were in place, she poured a bit of the Spring of Life water over them.
Plants that had been growing well were separated according to their species and planted together on the other side.
It took her most of the day to properly tidy up this little plot of land that was neither too big, nor too small. Just right for a vegetable garden. After wiping off her sweat, Shiyu took a sip of the spring water. The moment she gulped down the water, her fatigue disappeared and even her mind felt refreshed.
Well, there’s no doubt about it. This Spring of Life water had to be some very good thing.
She thought of bringing out a big jar of this water and drinking it on a regular basis.
Finally, she left her space and sat in a lotus position on the bed to meditate. San Pang was sleeping soundly in his corner of the bed.
No words were spoken throughout the night.
For the next few days, Shiyu would leave the inn and explore the city, looking through goods for sale and just taking in the scene as someone with money to buy most of what she wished instead of a poor beggar. Feng Luo never turned up. This put her in a slight dilemma and delayed her plans to purchase a estate.
The day before the Trading House Auction, Shiyu overheard the same rumours making its rounds at just about every place she went: An amazing newcomer had stormed through the Imperial College. On his very first day, this newcomer managed to take down the previous semester’s first place freshmen…
[Gumihou: Er, two guesses on who this ‘newcomer’ is, lol!]
[1] Exploit the Tiger’s Might – Make use of powerful connections to intimidate people
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This fellow…