Right after Lin Xiao fully grasped the mastery of the new dishes, he realized that his surroundings had undergone another earth-shattering transformation.
His restaurant had unknowingly expanded quite a bit.
The decor had also become much more presentable.
The entire restaurant was now primarily furnished with mahogany, and even the lanterns hanging from the ceiling exuded a strong Chinese palatial style.
As expected.
Every time he unlocked a new cuisine, the layout of his restaurant would be elevated to the next level.
Unfortunately, this time, a super refrigerator was not added.
Looking up at the restaurant’s menu plaque, there were now three dishes listed.
[Menu]
[Beauty-Nourishing Rock Sugar Bird’s Nest – 15,000 Mora]
[Wensi Tofu Soup – 3,000 Mora]
[Scallion Oil Fried Rice – 600 Mora]
Compared to other dishes, this price was indeed quite a bit more expensive.
However, if one considered the ingredients, fifteen thousand Mora was actually too cheap.
Natural bird’s nest was already expensive to begin with, not to mention the ingredients provided by the super refrigerator, which were absolutely of the highest natural quality.
Although he had already been busy for a whole day, unlocking new dishes instantly gave him a rush of excitement.
Since the dish names were already on the menu, he naturally had to prepare the ingredients in advance!
He spent some time cleaning up the bowls, chopsticks, and tables.
Naturally, Lin Xiao didn’t have to wash the dishes himself.
After all, this was a restaurant provided by the system.
He only needed to place them in a box, and after a while, they would be spotless.
It was just that magical.
This saved Lin Xiao a lot of time, allowing him to prepare tomorrow’s ingredients!
***
Thinking about the bird’s nest, he opened the super refrigerator.
Whoosh~
It was as white as jade and crystal clear, with some swiftlet feathers still attached to it.
Lin Xiao took out several pieces of bird’s nest and weighed them in his hands to feel their texture.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk…”
Bird’s nest of this quality would cost at least 40 to 50 yuan per gram in China, without any exaggeration.
When cooked, it would be as smooth and refreshing as natural jelly.
Without hesitation, he took out over thirty dried bird’s nests, processed the swiftlet feathers, and tossed them all into a basin to soak.
This stuff needed to be soaked for at least a few hours.
However!
The true flavor of the “Rock Sugar Bird’s Nest” entirely depended on the sugar water!
In an ordinary Chinese household, the method for making rock sugar bird’s nest was simple.
It was nothing more than putting the soaked bird’s nest, various beauty-nourishing dessert ingredients, and white sugar into a pot to boil for a short while, and it would be done.
But!
What constituted a state-banquet-level medicinal cuisine technique?
Preserving the nutritional content was the first aspect!
Ensuring it was sweet but not cloying to the taste was the second!
It was also the most difficult to achieve!
Lin Xiao immediately began preparing the sugar water.
He poured boiled water that had been filtered through cheesecloth into the pot!
He used rock sugar and honey to create a base flavor, then simmered it over low heat until melted.
As the steam evaporated and the water in the pot began to reduce, the sugar water started to become slightly thick!
To what extent should it be boiled?
The sugar water should coat the spoon, but no more than three drops should fall from it.
It was just that meticulous!
If it was boiled for even a few seconds too long, or if too little sugar was added, this step would have to be completely redone.
The requirements were extremely strict.
However, for Lin Xiao, he got it right on the first try.
At this consistency, it would be incredibly smooth on the throat, providing a refreshing sensation!
“Not bad, the consistency is just right.”
He turned off the heat!
But he still wasn’t done.
After all, a state-banquet-level sugar water processing technique wasn’t that simple.
How could he achieve both “sweet but not cloying” and a “sense of comfort”?
The answer lay in Lin Xiao’s hands.
He took out a large amount of fresh mint leaves and dried them by charcoal roasting.
This step alone took an hour.
Then, he crushed them all!
Now came the most complex step in the process!
The size of the crushed mint had to be such that it didn’t feel like a foreign object in the throat, yet it still had to linger slightly on the inner walls of the throat.
This specific size of crushed mint was extremely difficult to master and required slow, meticulous sorting, comparable to selecting individual grains of rice!
Otherwise, how could it be called a state-banquet-level technique?
“Phew…”
This step alone took Lin Xiao two hours, but he finally obtained several cups of crushed mint for tomorrow’s use.
If one’s technique was poor, this step might take an entire day.
However, Lin Xiao had long since perfected this skill; for him, it felt as though he had done it tens of thousands of times.
Sugar water paired with carefully selected crushed mint.
Although it looked like nothing more than sugar water, it would bring an incomparable sense of surprise!
***
The next day.
The sunrise at Liyue Harbor was as beautiful as ever.
Each day’s sunrise heralded the beginning of the harbor’s bustling prosperity once again.
However, on this day, Lin Xiao did not open the restaurant early, as he had been busy until the latter half of the night.
Although everyone was craving his food, they had no complaints.
“QAQ Alright, good things come to those who wait!!!”
Approaching nine o’clock, Lin’s Chinese Cuisine opened for business.
As soon as the doors opened, the surrounding shop owners greeted him very friendlily.
It was still relatively quiet at this hour.
After all, those who were busy were already working, and those who were resting might still be sleeping in.
At the entrance of Chihu Rock street.
A beautiful young woman in a purple brocade short skirt attracted the gazes of many.
“It’s Lady Yuheng!”
“Lady Keqing, it’s rare to see you resting. We haven’t seen you out shopping in a long time.”
“Yeah, the last time we saw Lady Keqing in Chihu Rock was probably a month ago.”
The young woman had purple hair in twin tails and pink eyes.
Although she looked somewhat aloof, her smile was incredibly heartwarming.
The two hair buns on her head looked just like cat ears, making her appear even cuter, giving off an inexplicable tsundere vibe~
Keqing, the Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing.
In charge of civil affairs, despite being born a young lady of a wealthy family, she bore hardships without complaint, and the common people adored her.
She often led troops in drills, and her one-handed sword skills were nothing short of sublime.
Naturally, she was usually incredibly busy.
But when she had some free time, she would also wander around Chihu Rock with her friends to find good food, buy clothes, and the like.
After all, at her age, she was in the prime of her youth and naturally loved to look pretty.
And so~
“Ehe~ Keqing must have been staying up late a lot recently, she even has dark circles under her eyes! Hahaha~ You look a bit like Guoba.”
Keqing: “???”
“I… I don’t look like that little yellow bear.”
Beside Keqing was the chatterbox Paimon, along with Liyue’s social butterfly, Lumine.
They walked and chatted along the way.
Keqing had also let go of her usual working demeanor, occasionally letting out a silver-bell-like laugh.
“Lumine, Paimon is just bragging, right?”
“Paimon is not bragging! The fried rice at Lin’s Chinese Cuisine is so delicious it could make you cry from craving!”
Paimon was incredibly excited, desperately promoting Lin Xiao’s restaurant to Keqing.
Lumine also nodded repeatedly, describing a bowl of scallion oil fried rice as if it were something miraculous.
Just then.
Some stall owners spoke up:
“Ah, Traveler, you don’t know the half of it. Yesterday, Lin’s Chinese Cuisine introduced a new dish!!”
And so, Lumine and Keqing heard about the events that transpired in Chihu Rock early that morning.
Keqing found it even more unbelievable.
So the gathering of hundreds of people at night that the Millelith reported yesterday was because of this?!
She had thought some kind of disturbance had occurred.
She never expected that the appeal of a single dish could be so exaggerated.
A restaurant that caused hundreds of people to gather overnight…
“Could there really be a restaurant with such delicious food…?”
Keqing was a pragmatist by nature; she always held a degree of skepticism toward anything she hadn’t witnessed with her own eyes.