Gourmet of Another World

A period of coldness follows after an autumn rain, and winter follows after ten autumn rains.

After a few periods of autumn rain, the temperature within the imperial city was gradually decreasing. The autumn wind was beginning to change into a bone-chilling cold wind. Bu Fang woke up early in the morning. It was so cold that he did not want to leave his bed.

After washing up, Bu Fang wrapped himself in a thick coat and opened up the store. As the cold wind blew into the store, he felt a chill along his back as the cold air burrowed down his neck.

Bu Fang rubbed his hands together and lightly sucked in a breath of cold air.

Glancing at Blacky who was lying on the ground, Bu Fang pursed his lips and thought, ”This lazy dog… It only knows how to sleep all day. Why doesn’t it have the sort of awareness a supreme beast should have? Shouldn’t it be standing in a majestic manner at the entrance to improve the classiness of the store?”

”Brat, this lord dog wants to eat Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs,” Blacky opened its eyes and lazily said to Bu Fang. Its voice was not considered old, but was masculine and filled with magnetism instead.

Bu Fang raised his eyebrows. ”You lazy dog, you’ve only been freeloading here and now, you’re even ordering dishes?”

Blacky rolled his eyes and ignored Bu Fang. It buried its head in its paws and went back to sleep. Its meaning was obvious, whether he cooked the dish was up to him.

Bu Fang was furious… How dare the lazy dog ignore him! Was it not afraid that he would add a large spoonful of Abyssal Chilli Sauce into the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs? It would make that lazy dog wish for death.

Bu Fang turned around and returned to the kitchen. Even though he said he did not want to cook the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs, Blacky helped out yesterday after all. So, Bu Fang reluctantly decided to agree to its request for once.

He took out some of the main ingredients needed to cook the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs from the freezer: the prime ribs of the Flying Cloud Boar, some starch, and the sauce used for seasoning.

Bu Fang placed the prime ribs onto the chopping board. As he waved his hand, a kitchen knife glimmering with sharpness began to twirl in his hand. After twirling the knife in his hands a few times, Bu Fang rapidly smacked the prime ribs with the back of the kitchen knife.

The meat was easier to chop once he loosened the meat by smacking it. After practicing the Meteor Cutting Technique for so many days, Bu Fang’s skills had improved by quite a margin. As the kitchen knife firmly chopped into the prime ribs, only an afterimage could be seen.

When Bu Fang first tried cooking the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs, he felt that chopping the meat was extremely tiring. However, since his cutting technique had improved, it was much easier to chop it.

Once he chopped the prime ribs, that were filled with spirit energy, into pieces, he placed them into the starch paste that had just been prepared and ensured that each piece was coated.

Filling half of the wok with oil, he waited until the hot air rising up was hot enough to scald his hand and placed each piece of meat into the wok.

Pssst!

As the pieces of meat rolled within the oil, a fragrance was drifting out.

Once all of the pieces of meat were deep fried, Bu Fang placed them into a large bowl. The tangerine sweet and sour sauce was mixed together with the meat and finally placed onto a plate.

”Blacky, it’s time to eat,” Bu Fang walked out of the kitchen with the plate of Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs and lightly called out.

Blacky’s half-opened eyes immediately lit up as its doggy nose sniffed the air. Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth as it eagerly looked at the plate of Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs in Bu Fang’s hands.

As he placed the plate of Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs in front of Blacky, it began to gobble down the food in the plate while wagging its tail.

The corner of Bu Fang’s mouth widened into a smile as he stroked Black’s smooth and immaculate fur. He stood up and pulled a chair toward the entrance. As he sat down, he began to leisurely bask himself in the sun.

Even though a large battle between the top experts of the imperial city happened yesterday within the store, there was not much of a change to Bu Fang’s daily life.

The rays of the late autumn sun were even warmer and more comfortable and his clothing was exuding an intoxicating light fragrance under the sun’s rays.

What a wonderful day.

From a distance, Fatty Jin and his buddies were majestically approaching. Fatty Jin who was leading the group was limping and his pudgy face was even slightly swollen.

”Good morning, Owner Bu. You’re sunbathing? What a leisure mood you’re in,” Fatty Jin greeted Bu Fang.

Bu Fang nodded and puzzledly stared at him as he said, ”Why’s your face swollen? You’re already very fat, there’s no need to make it swell up even more.[1]”

”Owner Bu… Can’t we have a proper chat? Isn’t this all because of you?” The moment the wounds on his face were mentioned, Fatty Jin’s eyes were filled with resentment.

”Your Oyster Pancakes were too fragrant...” He recounted everything that had happened at the execution grounds to Bu Fang, causing the latter to be slightly stunned...

So, the debut of the Oyster Pancake created such a stir.

”You did such an inhumane act, why didn’t he just beat you to death...” Bu Fang simply said as he stood up and stretched his body. Then he walked toward the kitchen.

Fatty Jin did not know whether to laugh or cry. He did not expect Owner Bu to mock him. ”Owner Bu, I’ll have the same as usual.”

Bu Fang waved his hand to indicate that he heard. After a while, a rich fragrance drifted out from the kitchen.

Ouyang Xiaoyi was skipping as she arrived. Her mood that day was pretty good.

”Oh my, Fatty Jin. What are you trying to pretend to be by making your face swell up like that?[1]” The first thing Ouyang Xiaoyi noticed when she entered the store was Fatty Jin’s wretched appearance and she immediately laughed out loud.

Fatty Jin could only bitterly smile. Under Ouyang Xiaoyi’s constant pestering, he recounted the story about the Oyster Pancake once more.

”Is the Oyster Pancake really that delicious? Then, I’ll have to make the smelly boss make a serving for me. I’ll bring it back to let mom, dad and grandpa have a taste,” Ouyang Xiaoyi thought.

”Xiao Yi, serve the dish,” Bu Fang lightly shouted. He knew that Xiaoyi had arrived when he heard her laughter coming from the dining area.

”Oh!” Ouyang Xiaoyi eagerly ran toward the kitchen window and served the dishes to Fatty Jin and his buddies.

Fatty Jin and his buddies satisfactorily finished their food and left after paying their bills. Naturally, each of them was carrying Oyster Pancakes when they left.

Ji Chengxue was wearing a white robe as he elegantly arrived. He was practically a regular customer of the store and a gentle smile could often be seen on his face

”Your Highness big brother, what do you want to eat?” Ouyang Xiaoyi asked.

”I’ll have a serving of Lees Fish and a jar of Ice Heart Jade Urn Wine.” Ji Chengxue chuckled.

After a while, the dishes were served. Ji Chengxue contentedly poured and drank the Ice Heart Jade Urn Wine by himself as he ate the Lees Fish.

At the entrance of the alleyway, a slim figure with white hair was approaching while swaying his hips.

”My gosh, I almost got a heart attack. Why is this dog still staying here! You’re still a supreme beast after all, could you at least display the domineering aura of a supreme beast?”

Lian Fu had fair and clear skin and was wearing casual clothes with his white hair rolled up and bound by a bronze headdress. When he saw Blacky, his heart quivered as he pinched his thumb and middle finger together and said.

Blacky could not be bothered to care about the damn eunuch. It was slowly gnawing on the Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs with a contented expression as a fragrance drifted everywhere.

”Hmm, it’s… quite fragrant,” Lian Fu muttered as he gestured while pinching his thumb and middle finger together.

Blacky’s body froze as it alertly glanced at the damn eunuch. Then, it shifted its body so that its buttocks was facing Lian Fu before it continued to gnaw on its Sweet ’n’ Sour Ribs.

Who would want that! Lian was exasperated. As if he, the Chief Eunuch, would fight over dog food.

Hmph! Lian Fu proudly snorted as he stepped into Bu Fang’s store while swaying his hips. He was not there to create trouble or to capture anyone. He was purely there to buy food.

His Majesty had given him an imperial edict the day before to bring back all the dishes in the store to let him have a taste. If the taste was alright, he would even entice Bu Fang into joining the imperial palace.

”He’s just a little cook from a store located inside an alleyway. Are his skills really comparable to the imperial chefs?” However, Lian Fu was not particularly keen about his mission that day.

”Oh my, Your Highness! Why are you here? Oh my, isn’t this our General Ouyang’s young lady?” The moment he stepped into the store, Lian Fu’s eyes immediately lit up when he saw Ji Chengxue who was eating and drinking, and the adorable Ouyang Xiaoyi who was nearby.

”Hmm? Lian gong gong, why… are you here today?” Ji Chengxue was slightly surprised. Lian Fu was his father’s personal eunuch. It was truly strange that he would appear within the store...

”There’s something Your Highness is unaware. His Majesty ordered me to bring back all of the dishes to the palace. Isn’t that why I am here? I can’t disobey my orders.”

”Hmm… Eh? Takeout?” Ji Chengxue nodded but soon his expression became strange as he looked toward Lian Fu.

[1] To beat up one’s own face to pretend to be fat (打肿脸�

胖子) - When someone does something beyond their own abilities to impress others.