I'm the Culinary God

Speaking of foreigners, Lin Xu immediately thought of Lucy, the one his master kept talking about, and wondered if she was still in China.

It was a pity that the message didn’t get passed along last time. After adding her on WeChat he realized he’d actually added his master’s wife. That old sea king had been a playboy his whole life, and finally ran into someone who could completely keep him in check.

Yue Liyue suggested:

"For IELTS speaking the most important thing is an English environment. You should go to the Tsinghua foreign languages department and find a language teacher to practice with."

If it were an average score, Geng Lele wouldn’t be scared, but an IELTS 8 has really high requirements for speaking. Not only do you need Western-style language thinking, you also have to fix your accent.

Shen Jiayue said:

"How about I find you a one-on-one foreign tutor? From pronunciation to speed to grammar, they can give you full-on guidance... Don’t get hung up on this. This is a market economy, all of this is just services you can pay for."

Lele’s eyes lit up.

She was used to handling everything by herself, and only after hearing this did she realize she could actually pay someone to teach her speaking.

Since that’s the case, she’d just find one later, practice secretly in private, and then amaze that Tsinghua professor who’d used public office to settle a private score!

With the big rock in her heart finally set down, the Little Mushroom Head returned to normal:

"I’ve never eaten Blood Duck since I was a kid. I’ve gotta eat a few more pieces later. And don’t forget to leave a duck leg for Dundun, our Holy Master also needs his meat."

As soon as Dundun heard that, he immediately jumped from Shen Jiayue’s arms to the back seat and high-fived Geng Lele.

Up in the Panamera in front, Chen Yan, who was driving, said with a face full of regret:

"I’d actually been on a crazy luck streak these past two days and was planning to reel in a thirty-catty fish to show you all what’s what. Who knew the place was fully booked. You guys have no idea how lucky I was. Take driving for example, no matter what intersection I went to, the red light would turn green. I was starting to suspect I’m literally the Luck Star incarnate..."

She was still showing off when she saw the green light in front of them turn red.

This...

Zeng Xiaoqi, in the passenger seat, roasted her:

"Tsk tsk tsk, Luck Star incarnate, how come your luck just died?"

Dou Wenjing covered her mouth, laughing:

"If you’d been three seconds earlier you would’ve made it. Feels like this traffic light is deliberately slapping President Chen in the face."

Chen Yan opened her mouth. It really did feel like a face slap.

"Where’d my luck go? Little Qiqi should know how amazing I was at the claw machines last night. Just tell them how my Luck Value was then?"

She’d just finished when Xiao Qing asked a particularly brutal question:

"President Chen, if you were that lucky yesterday, why didn’t you think of using it on business? Even if you’d just grabbed a few apartments, you could’ve flipped them for a nice profit, right?"

Chen Yan: ????????

Right! Was my brain fried yesterday?

She’d been fighting claw machines and basketball machines the whole time and never once thought about doing business.

With that level of Luck Value, scooping up a few bargain apartments should’ve been a sure thing!

Waaah!

I regret it so much!

Zeng Xiaoqi comforted her from the side:

"Alright, alright, don’t be mad. Sure, you missed out on making a few million, but you gained the joy of playing claw machines. Joy is priceless..."

Chen Yan patted her chest:

"How come the more you comfort me, the more suffocated I feel?"

Joy, my ass. How can that be more important than making money!

After all, I’ve still got a tall, strong, and handsome man to support. I can’t slack off.

The light turned green and the car moved on, but Chen Yan’s luck was completely gone; she hit a red light at almost every intersection. It pissed her off so much she slowed down and pulled over, letting Lin Xu’s car go ahead.

This time, once they switched to Lin Xu’s car, the luck seemed to flip.

The car basically hit green lights all the way and barely ran into any traffic.

By a little after four in the afternoon, they’d driven to the complex where Lin Xu lived.

Lin Xu didn’t plan to bring these ducks to the shop; after all, that’s a business premises and bringing live ducks in would violate the rules.

Besides, he planned to keep two of the ducks, and when he made Soy Sauce Meat, he’d marinate them together into Soy Sauce Duck to see if they were as delicious as Salted Duck.

Carrying the ducks upstairs, Lin Xu said:

"Might as well make the Soy Sauce Meat at home too. The stairwell on the roof is perfect for hanging meat to dry."

He called Car Boy and told him to deliver eighty catties of pork belly and fifty catties of hind leg meat to his place.

Since he was going to make it, he might as well make a lot. Once it was done, he could give some to relatives and friends. Whatever they couldn’t finish, he could take back to his hometown in Yinzhou and compare it with the cured meat and Ham his mom air-dried in the mountains to see which tasted better.

"Xu-baby, aside from the meat, what ingredients do you need for Soy Sauce Meat?"

"The main ingredients are Original Soy Sauce paired with Dark Soy Sauce. As for the seasonings, there’s Crystal Sugar, Sichuan peppercorns, Star Anise, bay leaves, cinnamon, Fennel, and Floral Carving Wine..."

Every family has their own recipe for Soy Sauce Meat, but roughly speaking, it follows the same pattern as making soy-braised cucumbers.

You boil the Soy Sauce into a Soy Sauce broth, let it cool, then soak the meat in it, turn it once a day, take it out on the third day, and hang it in a well-ventilated place to dry. After that you can seal it up for storage.

Although a lot of people say Soy Sauce Meat needs to be sun-dried, the real method isn’t sunning, it’s drying.

If you leave it out in direct sunlight, the skin will become very dry and hard to chew, whereas meat that’s air-dried might look dry, but as long as you steam it or soak it in hot water, it’ll become tender and delicious again.

While Car Boy hadn’t arrived yet, Lin Xu planned to get the four ducks processed first.

To make sure he didn’t mess up during slaughter, he even specifically exchanged for the Cooking Technique of Yongzhou Blood Duck.

He took a small basin and poured some Rice Wine into it, then lifted the duck by the wings with his left hand, pressed its head down with his thumb, and used the kitchen knife in his right hand to cut open the duck’s blood vessels.