I See through Everything

A look of utter disappointment crossed the old man’s face. "You good-for-nothing! Do you think it’s that easy for me to make money? It’s tough to earn a living in any industry these days. If you don’t perfect your dishes, how are you going to attract customers? In business, you need a product to be proud of. Otherwise, you might as well go home and plant sweet potatoes."

"The money your restaurant makes in a month isn’t even as much as the rent I collect from my properties in Yangcheng and Peng City. What’s the point of all this trouble," his daughter muttered under her breath.

"All right, Sis. Why don’t you and Xiaoxin go look around for a bit? I’ll go with Dad to check out the truffles."

"Fine!"

"Jiajun, don’t you be like your sister. Come on, it’s over there." The old man led his son to the adjacent exhibition area.

They soon arrived at the agricultural products section.

A dozen or so minor online influencers from the Shanmei District had caught wind of the event and were also there, trying to ride the wave of popularity. Through their livestreams, they were vividly describing the White Truffles to an audience from all over the country.

Chen Jiajun picked up a serving of pasta with White Truffle and took an eager bite. "This is definitely White Truffle, and the aroma is far better than the domestic ones I’ve had before. It’s practically on par with top-tier White Truffles from Italy."

His family owned a chain of high-end Western restaurants with seven branches in the Pearl River Delta. While Chen Jiajun wasn’t in charge of the whole operation, he did manage one of the locations.

He might not know how to cook, but he certainly knew how to judge a dish.

In the past, domestic white and black truffles couldn’t fetch a high price.

On one hand, this was due to deliberate market suppression by companies in Europe and America. It was similar to how diamond corporations in Europe and America refuse to recognize diamonds from Lucia; they only acknowledge White Truffles from Italy as top-tier, dismissing truffles from the Yun Gui and the Rocky Mountains as substandard.

On the other hand, the harvesting of white and black truffles on the Yun-Gui Plateau had been completely unregulated in recent years. Driven by profit, many foragers disregarded environmental protection and whether the truffles were even mature, simply digging up everything they could find, big and small alike.

This behavior devastated the wild truffles’ natural habitat, causing a year-on-year decline in harvest volumes. Furthermore, the immature truffles lacked flavor, which gave domestic wild truffles a bad reputation.

From just one bite, Chen Jiajun could tell that the flavor of these White Truffles was incredibly intense, easily rivaling the top-tier ones from Italy.

"Dad, the quality of this White Truffle is excellent. It would be a perfect addition to our restaurants."

Chen Wei said quietly, "And the price isn’t too steep. Their select-grade White Truffle is only 3,000 yuan per kilogram. The lower-grade ones are just 1,000 yuan per kilogram."

After finishing the truffle-fried egg on his small plate, Chen Jiajun proposed, "Dad, why don’t I call Ah Le right now and have him bring a team over to arrange a purchase? We can take advantage of the National Day Golden Week, launch a few new White Truffle dishes, offer customers a discount, and see if we can drive up some traffic."

"Good idea. And by the way, their tomatoes and strawberries are also excellent. Purchase a batch of those too," Chen Wei said, his gaze fixed on the White Truffles on the counter, his eyes practically seeing dollar signs.

"I understand." Chen Jiajun turned, found an empty corner, and made a call to Ah Le, who was in charge of procurement.

When Chen Jiajun returned to the agricultural products section, he found his father had vanished. He quickly walked back out and scanned the other exhibition areas.

Finally, amid the sea of people, he spotted his dad’s distinctive receding hairline and hurried over.

He glanced at the sign for the section, saw it was for aquatic products, and came up behind his father.

Taking a closer look, he saw his dad was watching eels swimming leisurely in a large tank.

"Dad, what’s so interesting about eels?"

Chen Wei turned around. Instead of explaining, he simply handed him a small plate with a piece of steamed fish on it. "Try it. You’ll see."

"Oh?" Chen Jiajun took the plate and speared a small piece of the fish with a little fork. As soon as he tasted it, his brows furrowed. He speared another small piece and savored it carefully. "What kind of fish is this? It doesn’t quite seem like eel."

Suddenly, he looked at the nearby tank and asked, his voice filled with disbelief, "This is really eel?"

"Yes. I was shocked too. These white eels can actually be steamed, and there isn’t a hint of a muddy taste," Chen Wei said, staring at the eels in the tank as if trying to figure out just how the Hailufeng Company had managed it.

For diners in the Lingnan Region, the highest praise you could give a fish was that it was good enough to be steamed.

Only a fish with a pronounced fresh flavor, no muddy aftertaste, and tender, juicy flesh was suitable for steaming.

Although eel is a common ingredient in Eastern Guangdong and Min Nan, the preparation methods—much like the Japanese kabayaki style—tend to converge on the same point: using heavy sauces and seasonings to mask any off-flavors, emphasizing the fish’s richness rather than its natural freshness.

This is because eels often have a muddy taste, especially those raised in open-air earthen ponds where it is unavoidable. Only high-standard, flow-through aquaculture systems can produce eels with a minimal muddy taste.

"Jiajun, when Ah Le gets here, have him purchase a batch of these white eels, and some of the food-grade glass eels too."

"No problem."

Both father and son felt this trip to Shanmei had been more than worthwhile.

As news spread across the country and even the world via the internet, the Hailufeng Company’s newly released White Truffle shot up the trending charts on the first day of the National Day Golden Week. While it didn’t hit number one, it still broke into the top ten.