I'm the Culinary God

Soy sauce meat is widely spread.

In places like Jiangsu and Zhejiang, Wenzhou in the south, Shandong, Beijing, and even the entire North China Plain in the north, you can find soy sauce meat.

For example, the most famous Qing sauce meat in the Yanjing Region, though shrouded in mystery with many historical and celebrity buffs, is actually just soy sauce meat.

In the past, Qing sauce meat was made at Shandong restaurants, and the chefs there were accustomed to calling soy sauce "Qing sauce," hence the name Qing sauce meat.

At the time, the sauces used in restaurants, like soybean paste, dry yellow sauce, and sweet flour sauce, were all solid or semi-liquid, with only soy sauce being as thin as clear water. Nevertheless, the soy aroma was undiminished, which is why it was called Qing sauce.

In the Qing Dynasty, the foodie blogger Yuan Mei also referred to it as "autumn oil" in his "Suiyuan Food List," a term that puzzled modern food researchers.

It was later discovered that autumn oil refers to soy sauce brewed in the autumn.

"Boss Lin, come have some tea... the tea leaves aren’t great, don’t mind, okay?"

Uncle Shang came out of the tin house with a tea tray, warmly greeting Lin Xu.

Uncle Shang’s name is Shang Weixing. The year he was born, the country’s first satellite was launched, so he got this name.

Earlier in the house, Shang Weixing had already inquired with Dou Wenjing about Lin Xu’s detailed background.

Suddenly, someone helped him out, and old Shang, who was used to the ups and downs of life, was inevitably cautious and worried it might be a trap.

However, when he learned that Lin Xu was famous online and worked at Yanjing Hotel and the Fishing Platform, he was completely at ease.

He didn’t know what the Fishing Platform was like, but he knew it was a place where the most important people dined.

Would someone from such a place be a fraud?

With the new job, Shang Weixing was relieved.

He had already thought it through. In the half month before the Spring Festival, he would deal with the remaining ducks, clear the fish ponds, sell the surrounding fruit trees, and then return to his hometown with his wife for a pleasant Spring Festival.

After the New Year, he would return to Beijing to work for Boss Lin.

A monthly salary of 7,000, with food and housing covered, meant he and his wife could earn 14,000 in a month, which was 168,000 a year. With 8,000 for pocket money, they could still save 160,000.

This income filled him with anticipation for a new life next year.

Most importantly, working for someone else meant less stress. Unlike now, where he had to bow and scrape to meet people, fearing to offend anyone with a wrong word.

Ever since he contracted land here to start a business, he had suffered endlessly.

Now, with a job that didn’t require constantly bowing and scraping, old Shang was particularly happy.

Lin Xu took the tea tray and placed it on a table made from cement slabs, pouring tea while saying:

"Uncle Shang, there’s no need to be so polite. We happen to need an expert in breeding, and you could solve our big problem."

This wasn’t just flattery.

Because business at Ginkgo Garden would surely boom next year, there would be a high demand for ingredients like chickens, ducks, and fish, requiring a breeding expert to hold the fort.

Plump chickens and ducks, slaughtered and cooked with a ground stove, would surely win over all the city dwellers.

"What expert! I’m just a farmer who knows how to raise some chickens and ducks, hardly a skill."

Dou Wenjing held Shang Weixing’s contract and said:

"Uncle Shang handed the contract over to me. What should we do?"

"Give it to Brother Feng, let him negotiate as Uncle Shang’s representative and see how the other side reacts."

Now that Shang Weixing was one of their own, they naturally had to help him seek justice.

"Old Shang, get a pair of size four Iseni hooks!"

"I need a set of 3.0 main lines."

"Uncle Shang, get me a cup of instant noodles, please, spicy beef noodles."

"I’m almost done here, calculate the total for me, I still need to go to my mother-in-law’s for dinner tonight, can’t be late."

"..."

Shang Weixing’s business was quite extensive. Besides the Black Pit where people could fish for a fee, he also sold various fishing gear and provided instant noodles and such.

He offered comprehensive services for the spending fishing enthusiasts.

Seeing how bustling it was here, Lin Xu planned to head back, lest they disrupt Shang’s business:

"Uncle Shang, you go ahead, we’ll head back first and come around when it’s less busy."

"Don’t go, don’t go, let me grab you some ducks..."

Shang Weixing called out to the fishing customers, then, with his wife, packed four ducks into woven bags and was about to pack more when Lin Xu stopped him:

"That’s enough, Uncle Shang, it’s more than we can eat."

He hadn’t originally intended to take any but feared refusing might make Shang Weixing think he was being dismissive, so he took four fat ducks each weighing over ten pounds.

Saying goodbye to Uncle Shang, everyone drove back.

The quacking of ducks from the trunk made Shen Jiayue look forward to tonight’s dinner:

"Xu Bao, these ducks look pretty good. How should we cook them?"

Remembering a conversation they had about blood duck preparation, Lin Xu smiled and said:

"Let’s try making blood duck. It’s rare to get live ducks for slaughter; it would be a pity not to make blood duck."

"Alright, alright. I’ve been wanting to try blood duck for a while. It’s said to be very fresh, both fresh and chewy, but when I used to dine with dad at restaurants, I didn’t dare to try it..."

Brother Qiang, sitting in the back, laughed and said:

"I’ve never had blood duck either, let’s try it today... Lele, why that expression? Not interested in blood duck?"

The Little Mushroom Head sitting nearby shook their head:

"I’m thinking about the IELTS exam. Writing and listening are fine, but the key is speaking—it’d be great to have a foreigner to practice with."