Rong Se calmly displayed the recipe to everyone, taking a circle around the hall and even waving it briefly in front of Yan Shuning before saying with composure, “I obtained this recipe in a foreign land. The characters do not belong to the Great Jin. This humble person is untalented, but after translating it for quite some time, the dishes at the Floating Life Tower are merely one or two tenths of what the recipe contains.”
Song He’s expression changed slightly. He had originally assumed that if Floating Life had some ancestral recipe, all he needed to do was make a scene in public and claim it was copied from him, and Floating Life wouldn’t be able to explain it away even with a hundred mouths. Who would have thought the original version was written in foreign characters!
Lan Ying was dumbfounded. Others might not know, but she knew the inside story; this was clearly something her master had memorized and written down himself!
The full hall of customers watching the commotion also murmured among themselves, looking at Song He with a gaze tinged with faint ridicule.
A moment later, Song He refused to admit defeat. “No one can read the characters on your paper anyway. Naturally, it is whatever you say it is!”
“Very well.” Rong Se closed the recipe, cupping his fists toward the diners in the traditional manner of etiquette. “If the honored guests seated here have a moment, please step into the kitchen to serve as witnesses. Just so happens that the Floating Life Tower is rolling out a new dish today, and I invite everyone to try it for free.”
With that, he glanced at the visibly panicked and startled Song He, speaking courteously: “Since you claim the recipe is yours, there is no reason I know how to make it while you do not.”
Relying solely on a recipe would only muddy the waters further; rather than that, drawing the firewood from under the cauldron was the only way to bring the truth to light!
Upon hearing this, the diners readily chimed in. Spending extra silver was normally required to eat a dish personally prepared by Floating Life, let alone the fact that he was making a new dish today, such an occurrence couldn’t be found anywhere else throughout the entire Jinjing!
Someone in the corner stepped forward and said, “The owner is quite magnanimous! Very well! Today, I shall act as this witness!”
Upon taking a look, Rong Se fell silent.
Good grief.
Wasn’t this Ji Miaotong, the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices?
Fortunately, Ji Miaotong, much like Cao Haoyun, failed to recognize him. Probably no one would ever imagine that the gloomy, cold-hearted Regent would show up in a restaurant working as a cook.
Song He panicked for only a moment before quickly calming himself. Restaurant back kitchens usually forbade outsiders from entering, first to prevent anyone from tampering, and second to prevent anyone from stealing techniques. Since everyone earned a living through their craft, even when officially taking on apprentices, they were only allowed to do menial labor for the first two years, and only after mastering the skill would they serve and work for the master. For this Floating Life to be so arrogant as to invite him into the kitchen together, when the time came, he would just watch how it was made and copy it gourd-style!
Thinking along these lines, his confidence returned. Song He stood up and said, “Fine! What are we making?”
Unable to guess Song He’s petty little thoughts would be impossible for Rong Se. He smiled even more genially. “Easy. The name of this dish is Peony Fish Fillets.”
Rong Se led the crowd into the back kitchen. Although it was a cooking room, it was kept immaculately clean. The fresh vegetables and meats displayed on the surfaces were fresh, and even the small bottles holding seasonings were wiped completely spotless.
This was precisely the reason Rong Se remained so unfazed and confident. As for the dining environment, letting the diners see it could also count as good publicity.
The kitchen had two large woks and four small woks. Rong Se brought over the grass carp prepped by the kitchen hand, expertly split it open, peeled the skin, removed the bone, leaving only the crystal-clear fish meat on both sides, and used practiced knife skills to slice it.
Seeing this, Song He also tried to imitate the movements in a professional manner.
This was merely basic knife work, and the two looked evenly matched. Once the fish fillets were washed, Rong Se added cooking wine, scallions, and ginger, mixed them well, coated them in starch, and began tapping them one by one. This tapping was also technical work; the force could neither be too heavy nor too light. If it was too light, it wouldn’t break the muscle fibers, and if it was too heavy, it would mash the fish meat straight into paste.
At this step, Song He began to fluster. After pounding several pieces of fish meat into mush, he switched to cautiously tapping them.
Compared to him, Rong Se moved much faster. Without hurrying or lagging, after finishing his unhurried tapping, he used scissors to cut the fish fillets one by one into the shapes of flower petals, divided into large, medium, and small sizes.
Glancing sideways to catch Song He’s movements, Rong Se hooked the corners of his lips slightly.
Jokes aside, for this exact dish, how many times had he flipped his vehicle back then before successfully filming a single video?
Wanting to learn it live by following him?
You can just slowly struggle away to your heart’s content!
While Song He was still battling with the fish fillets, Rong Se first went ahead to steam the potatoes, then tossed the fish fillets into the wok. With moderate oil temperature, he carefully fried them piece by piece, ensuring the fillets didn’t break, his expression serious yet composed.
By the time Rong Se’s fish fillets came out of the wok, Song He had only just begun laboriously trimming his fish fillets.
Rong Se had already started stir-frying the sauce, dropping minced ginger, scallions, and garlic into the wok, adding sugar, vinegar, and fine salt, and then thickening it with a starch slurry. A rich aroma instantly diffused through the air.
Once the sauce was done, Rong Se took out the steamed potatoes, mashed them into a paste, shaped them into a base plate, used cordyceps flowers as the pistils, and arranged the fish fillets by size to piece together two peony flowers, placing them upon a white porcelain plate. The lotus leaves at the bottom of the plate perfectly set off the peony fish fillets, resembling an elegant and lively painting.
Rong Se always knew how to find the right angles when filming videos, and while cooking, he also intentionally or unintentionally struck good poses, so that in the eyes of the onlookers, his movements flowed like moving clouds and flowing water without the slightest stagnation, even carrying an aesthetic of leisurely self-containment that sharply contrasted with the flustered and hurried Song He.
Before even tasting the dishes, Rong Se had already won by a skill level.
Meanwhile, Song He was still fighting with the oil wok. With quite a few of his fish fillets broken, he had no choice but to start all over again from the beginning. Watching coldly, Rong Se gave a subtle cue to the kitchen hand.
The kitchen hand promptly brought over the dish to present to the diners. Ji Miaotong immediately stepped forward, picked up a fish fillet, dipped it lightly in the sauce, and popped it into his mouth. After savoring it for a brief moment, he instantly gave a thumbs-up: “Crispy on the outside, fresh and fragrant, tender and smooth on the inside! Master Floating Life, superb craftsmanship, truly superb craftsmanship!”
Controlling his voice to sound slightly hoarse, Rong Se replied, “You flatter me.”
Once everyone had tasted it one by one, praises poured forth without exception. This fish fillet was delicious and additionally shaped into the likeness of a peony, matching the other dishes at the Floating Life Tower as something simply unheard of!
Yan Shuning, who had followed along to watch the drama, wore an ugly expression. He had originally assumed that since Song He was so confident, he was bound to win. Who could have imagined that the situation would flip so drastically, and that Song He couldn’t even make this dish at all!
Cao Haoyun, who had tagged along, felt quite intrigued. Completely ignoring Yan Shuning, his gaze stared with a strange intensity at those peony fish fillets while quiet calculations stirred within his heart.
This cook had genuine skills; the imperial chefs in the palace probably lacked this capability. If he could bring this person into the palace.
By the time Song He’s peony fish fillets were served, the fish fillets were incomplete. Having no more fish available, he could only throw together a makeshift plating with poor visual appeal. Ji Miaotong reluctantly tasted a single bite, frowning as he said, “Too far off, far too far off! Your fish is nowhere near as fresh, tender, and appetizing as Master Floating Life’s. The crispy outer coating on this is also overcooked, and this sauce, tsk, far too salty.”
For the sake of fairness, the crowd tasted them in sequence and all shook their heads.
The gap was too vast, instantly establishing the superiority of one over the other.
Rong Se smiled genially, yet the words he uttered carried a sarcastic edge: “Insufficient pounding is why the fish meat ended up like this, Master Song. How is it that the dishes on your own family’s recipe are less skillfully made than by an outsider like me?”
Led by Ji Miaotong, the diners burst into laughter.
Song He’s face turned pale, then flushed a deep red. Gritting his teeth, he turned around and attempted to leave.
“Lan Ying!” Rong Se commanded sharply.
Catching the intent, Lan Ying immediately stepped forward to grab and immobilize Song He.
Rong Se stated coldly, “You want to walk away after splashing dirt everywhere? There is no such cheap bargain under heaven. Lan Ying, report, cough.” Swallowing the word police that almost slipped out, Rong Se corrected himself: “Send him to face the officials!”
Unable to believe his ears, Song He turned pale as paper.
Rong Se remained unmoved. This person was clearly nothing more than a local ruffian and scoundrel, purely intending to come extort money. If left unchecked, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t harbor lingering resentment and go around spreading wild rumors outside.
A fearful thing is public opinion; many mouths can melt gold. He had already learned this lesson back when he was a food vlogger. If he didn’t deal with this severely, the future troubles would be endless.