Chapter 853: Chapter 852: Festive Season
"Master."
Ye Feizhou entered the tea room, his eyes flickering as he asked, "You disclosed Chef Xia’s whereabouts to her like that..."
"What, worried?"
Long Head glanced at his beloved disciple strangely a few times, unable to stop himself from laughing, "Feizhou, I didn’t expect that after one competition, you have already been captivated by his culinary skills." The old man blinked, "Well, if there are companions on the path of exploration, it’s a beautiful thing. In the past, you lacked such a mentor-friend companion role, the outside world saw you as solitary and arrogant."
Ye Feizhou blushed, "Companion? That Demon King doesn’t need such a role, right?"
The old man shook his head, his gaze deep, "No one wants to become more and more isolated, even if they reach the pinnacle, but there is no one to witness, no one to share the joy of reaching the summit. Is that meaningful?"
He sighed.
"Let’s not talk about this." The old man waved his hand, "Lei Aoxue wants to have a fateful culinary duel with the Seven Stars Knife. With that person’s character, he may not care about such a challenge. Let her go and hit a wall before we talk."
Upon hearing this, Ye Feizhou’s furrowed brows relaxed. Although he had not interacted much with Xia Yu, Ye Feizhou roughly understood what kind of person he was.
In a certain sense, he and Li Han were equally lazy.
In other words, Xia Yu had never had much enthusiasm for culinary duels, unless Lei Aoxue could pique his interest.
What value does Lei Aoxue have that is worth him overcoming?
To legitimize the Seven Stars Knife?
It seems, this motivation for a culinary duel does not exist.
Before leaving, Ye Feizhou paused, suddenly remembering something, he turned to Long Head who was enjoying his tea and said, "Oh right, the triennial selection for the management rights of Juxia Building will be held on the Lantern Festival after the Spring Festival, will you still send me to preside over the venue this time, Master?"
The old man sat for a while, evidently considering something.
"These past three years, has there been any improvement in the management of Juxia Building?"
Ye Feizhou’s eyes flickered with a subtle disdain as he replied, "This is a selection among the branches of the Liu Clan. Over the past hundred years, this branch of the Liu has fallen into decline. The last selection was won by Liu Lan from this branch. It’s true that Liu Lan is a Special Chef, but he doesn’t have many reliable helpers, and his son’s team was eliminated in the second round of the preliminary selection..."
"So, these three years, I’ve heard that the business of Juxia Building hasn’t improved much, and its reputation in Jin City has gradually worsened."
As he spoke, Ye Feizhou appeared cautious, observing the master’s expression. Seeing that he was not angry, calm and peaceful, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, this year you shall continue to preside over the Liu Clan’s selection on my behalf."
"Alright!"
...
The Spring Festival is near!
This is also why Xia Yu hurried back to Shu after the competition ended.
After all, the roots of the Xia Family are in Shu, and this was Xia Yu’s first return to his motherland. Naturally, he wanted to see how the customs and traditions here differ during the Spring Festival.
After getting off the plane and taking a taxi, as the car shuttled through the old city, a scent of sausages and cured meats wafted from the homes by the street. Xia Yu inhaled deeply, feeling he had caught a whiff of the unique year flavor found only on Chinese soil.
Walking down a relatively secluded alley, unsurprisingly, the doors and windows of each household had new couplets posted. Children’s laughter mixed with the sound of firecrackers came through, making the residential area lose its usual tranquility but intensifying the festive atmosphere.
"Here it is, the Xia Mansion—"
Zhu Qing, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped and turned back with a smile.
Huh.
The stone steps ahead led to a wide-open courtyard entrance, voices came from the skywell, bang bang bang bang bang, the familiar sound of chopping vegetables, crisp and pleasant, conveying a feeling of warmth.
Xia Yu stepped up, the elderly turned around upon hearing the noise, the young and the old exchanged glances.
"You’ve returned?"
Asked coolly.
"Yes." Xia Yu replied, placing his suitcase at the door, then walked into the skywell, looking around. It was quite a classical courtyard, several buildings, two or three stories high, stairs were outside, wooden structure, just by looking at the mottled paint of the stair railing, one could tell these houses have been around for some years.
To preserve such a quaint old mansion in the heart of a metropolis is quite rare. This was one of Xia Yu’s dreams in his past life, to have a house with a courtyard and walls, raising cats and dogs, amusing birds and watering flowers, essentially creating a new dimension of homeliness.
At first sight, Xia Yu liked this house.
"Not bad, not bad!"
Praising repeatedly.
Soon, he leaned close to the old man, seeing him chopping pork, next to a basin already filled with minced meat mixed with spices, a fermenting aroma wafted out, "Are you making sausages?"
Xia Yu propped his chin, "Hey, I mean old man, don’t you get tired of eating pork sausages every year? Why don’t we try something new this year?"
The old man set down the knife.
"Alright, you do it!"
The tone was straightforward, setting down the knife, he went to the well to fetch cool well water to wash his hands and then somehow found a smoking pipe and squatted a short distance away, interestingly watching the busy young man.
The old mansion had a special ingredient pantry, a three-story building, even filled with dust-covered tables and chairs all over. It was evident that the Xia Mansion was once a family-owned deep-alleys style restaurant, but due to various reasons, only ten tables were set outside for business, turning it into an old-fashioned private restaurant hidden in the city.
Zhu Qing also came to help.
Preparing sausage food was no challenge for Xia Yu, who was highly proficient in Dragon Roll Fish Fin Sausage, his skills on this dish were perhaps already maxed out.
Plus, with the support of perfect spice skills, in less than half an hour, two large basins of sausage meat filling were placed beside the skywell, the encompassing fragrance rising like pillars, lingering in the air for quite some time.
Unlike traditional pork sausages, the rich freshness made mouths water.
"Wow—"
At the door, a few children were clearly attracted by the aroma, peeking around.
"This kid, showing off everywhere!" Xia Qing puffed out a circle of smoke, tapped the smoking pipe on the green brick ground, intending to go back to the house, only to find that the young man there was still not satisfied, "Hey, old man, what other New Year flavor food do we need to prepare?"
"All the ingredients are in the pantry, just figure it out!"
Crackle.
Two days later in the evening, firecracker sounds came from the old house, a very short string of firecrackers. The old man offered incense at the ancestral hall for prayer before turning around to see Xia Yu and Zhu Qing’s arrangement of a large New Year’s Eve dinner table, involuntarily revealing a gentle smile.
Not only Xia Yu, but this was also Xia Qing’s return to his homeland to celebrate traditional festivals after years of leaving bitterly for abroad.
"Ha, here it comes, here it comes, the final pot of herbal fish soup, New Year’s Eve dinner special—" Xia Yu smiled as he set down the steaming clay pot and untied his apron, Zhu Qing’s eyes brightened, her brow filled with delight, "Yu Yu, Yu Yu, is this the culinary work you presented at the Culinary Competition’s Heavenly King Mountain battle?"
"Yes, it’s called ’Big Fish’!"
Xia Yu replied, seeing Zhu Qing eagerly grabbing a bowl and soup ladle, smiling while grabbing her wrist, "Don’t rush, the soup at the banquet is surely meant to be served at the end, drinking it as an appetizer will make all the other dishes taste bland later."
Zhu Qing trembled unexpectedly as he grabbed her wrist.
Her eyes twinkled as she looked at Xia Yu’s hand.
"Let go, let go..."
"What?"
"Let go of your salted pig hand!" A shrill voice from tingling scalp.
"What’s this about salted pig hand, I call this... uh!"
Suddenly, Xia Yu caught wind of the situation, glancing at Zhu Qing’s flushed cheek, then the blush spreading to ears and neck, skin turning as red as a boiled shrimp, he immediately knew something was not right.