Chapter 93 - Esteemed Gues (2/2)
The final dish on the menu, ‘poached sliced fish in hot chili oil’, had completely conquered Steward Wu’s taste buds. The dish seemed to be filled with the bright red of chili peppers. However, when he was eating it, it was spicy without being too pungent, numbing but not bitter. The fish had been cooked in a way that made in slippery and tender, fatty without being greasy. All of the fishy smell had been taken away but it still had that unique soft and delicate taste that fish meat had. As soon as one ate a bite, it made the person want to continue eating without stopping.
After finishing the entire meal, Steward Wu rubbed at his bulging stomach that almost couldn’t bend anymore as he felt extremely conflicted in his heart. Ever since he had been promoted to a steward at Prince Jing’s estate, he had pretty much eaten every delicacy and special cuisine that was available. He had never forgotten his manners, even when he had eaten at the restaurants reckoned to be the first or second best in the capital. However, this simple and crude restaurant was unexpectedly a jewel in the rough and had such a fresh and fantastic way of cooking. The next time his master came over, he definitely needed to bring him over to try the food.
“The chef here is quite talented. Let him come over and get rewarded!” Steward Wu leaned back in his chair as he slowly sipped on the fragrant tea that he had brought himself to this restaurant. He suddenly wanted to see this divine chef who could make food that he had never tasted before in his life.
Brother Six poured him another cup of tea and smiled, “The person who made the food really isn’t this restaurant’s chef. It was someone I found and brought over especially for you!”
“Eh? Liuzi, you really are quite detailed and considerate! Good, good! I’ll remember this...I’m extremely curious, where did you find someone who’s so talented at cooking?” Steward Wu looked deeply at Brother Six as he asked.
Brother Six didn’t attempt to conceal it and replied, “A little girl had appeared on the docks these past few days selling ‘a portion of meat for one copper coin’. She has the ability to take ingredients that other people would throw away, for example a pig’s head, intestines, and tiny fish, and make them into delicacies that people fight over. This lowly one believed that she was definitely talented at cooking, so I had her come over to help me create a table for you today.”
“A little girl? You’re telling me that this table of food was all made by a little girl? Then I really need to reward her!” Steward Wu became even more interested in this little girl after hearing Brother Six’s story.
In the kitchen, Xiaocao had sincerely started to clean up the area after the last dish had gone out to the guests. When one was borrowing another person’s kitchen, it was only right and proper to return it to the original condition…
Just as she finished tidying up the kitchen and was about to leave, the waiter suddenly chased after her and yelled, “Little girl, the esteemed guest inside wants to meet you! He said he really likes the food you made and wants to reward you!”
A reward? Never say no to free money! She had spent time racking her brains to come up with these dishes, and it wasn’t easy to make them either. If the noble guest who ate the food thought it was good and wanted to give her some money, it would definitely be more money than she could earn from selling one day’s worth of braised food.
Xiaocao scampered after the waiter into the only private room in the building. She gave him an out of place bow and lowered her head as she stood there waiting for her reward.
“Liuzi...are you telling me that the little girl who can make simple ingredients into delicacies is her?” Steward Wu stared at the little girl who was around seven to eight years old that was standing in front of him. She was dressed entirely in shabby yet clean clothes, and her hair had been combed into two braids. Her face was thin but she had fair and clear skin. It was obvious that he couldn’t quite believe that a child this young was the creator of such delicious food.
Liuzi, however, very solemnly nodded his head and said, “That is her…”
Steward Wu clearly was someone who had seen a wide aspect of life, so he quickly got over his surprise at the matter. He smiled at Xiaocao and asked, “Little girl, where did you learn how to make this food?”
Xiaocao very slightly raised her head and looked him in the eye for a glance. She replied in a tone that was neither servile nor overbearing, “These dishes were all recipes that I figured out myself. Brother Six had saved my life, so since he needed to receive a noble guest, I naturally used all of my ability to help him.”
Steward Wu exclaimed in surprise, “These were all thought up and created by you? It’s not a good habit to start trying to trick people at such a young age!”
Despite the obvious censure and displeasure in the man’s tone, Xiaocao calmly replied, “My family is poor, and we pretty much can never get a taste of meat or fish throughout the year. This is why when I saw that the butcher was throwing away the pig offal I thought, ‘pig offal is still a part of a pig, so it still should be edible!’. When I got back home and pondered about it for a couple of days, I made braised pig head and intestines after adding a lot of spices and condiments to the meat. It not only doesn’t have any weird smells but also tastes supremely delicious! From then on, I became interested in cooking and creating new dishes. A set of weird and interesting thoughts started to pop up in my mind. Because my family’s ability to buy things are limited, I never had the chance to experiment. Yesterday, Brother Six gave me money to create an entire table’s worth of food. I went back and experimented for an entire afternoon and finally managed to create this table. If you don’t believe me, you can bring my father over and ask him. In the past my family almost had nothing to eat, how could we possibly have the money to hire a teacher to teach me how to cook?”
Steward Wu glanced again at the cotton padded clothes and coat on her body that were only cleaner than a set that a beggar would wear. Although he felt the situation was somewhat inconceivable, he didn’t continue to pursue this line of questioning and simply labeled her in his mind as someone who was naturally gifted and talented at cooking.
Originally his intentions for meeting the chef was to see whether or not he could tempt the person to work for the Prince Jing’s Estate instead. Recently the matriarch didn’t have a good appetite and only wanted to eat foods that were novel and refreshing. However, when he saw this skinny and tiny little girl in front of him, he let go of that idea. A child that was only seven to eight years old still needed an adult to take care of them, so how could she leave the place where she grew up to go to the far away capital? If she missed her home and started crying, who would comfort her?
After rewarding Xiaocao with five taels, Steward Wu followed Brother Six, who led him to a nearby guest house for him to get some rest.