Chapter 57

Chapter 57

“First, help me hold off the female ghost! Let...”

After slicing eighty pieces of Wensi tofu in one go, Chen Ran had just come out of that state of extreme mental focus.

She even felt slightly tired.

Exhaling deeply, she steadied herself and quietly opened the system panel.

On her personal panel, the A-level behind her knife skills had already turned into S-level!

Chen Ran picked up the kitchen knife, but just as she raised her hand, Xu Zhuoxing stopped her.

“Practicing is good, but don’t overdo it. Finish making the lion’s head meatballs first and complete today’s dishes.”

Chen Ran nodded, gently lifting the sliced tofu with the knife and transferring it to a tray on the side, then continued making the lion’s head meatballs.

Though the names of clear-braised lion’s head and braised lion’s head were similar, the actual cooking steps were vastly different.

Chen Ran had originally planned to check the recipe in more detail, but since she had this “senior brother” Xu Zhuoxing, who had a deep connection with her family, she saved herself the trouble.

“Alright, now you can start seasoning.”

Chen Ran found a dish and added each seasoning in order. After adding each ingredient, she looked up to see Xu Zhuoxing’s reaction and only proceeded when he showed no response.

Clear-braised crab roe lion’s head requires shrimp. Just as she was about to add it, Xu Zhuoxing stopped her for the first time: “Crush the shrimp before adding.”

Chen Ran crushed the shrimp with a few cuts and added the last ingredient. Then she began preparing to knead the meatballs.

“You also need to add egg white.”

Finally, Xu Zhuoxing stopped being silent and began explaining the tricks of this dish.

“Clear-braised lion’s head is different from braised lion’s head. This dish must be tender and flavorful. How tender? So tender that you don’t need teeth—just the tongue pressing can mash the lion’s head in your mouth.”

“I watched your braised lion’s head video,” Xu Zhuoxing’s expression was subtle, “What’s the most important thing about lion’s head? It must have both form and spirit! The whole lion’s head placed on a spoon, gently shaken, should tremble like a lion shaking its head.”

“Does the fried lion’s head have that spirit?”

“To make the meat particles stick together to this degree without frying and just by clear-braising, you rely on the egg white to bind them.”

“However, the more egg white you add, the more it affects the original freshness of the meat. So the less egg white you use, the more the chef’s own skill is required to smash and knead the meat to extract the gelatin and fat, finally binding into a perfect lion’s head.”

Chen Ran looked down at the seasoned meat mixture in the bowl, grabbed an egg, and asked Xu Zhuoxing, “Xu Yeye, so the difficult part of this dish is smashing the meat mixture?”

Xu Zhuoxing sighed, thinking of Yang Jingzhou’s expanding Kaitian Restaurant.

“The difficulty of this dish is probably,” Xu Zhuoxing sighed and thought of a phrase, “‘Few true friends; who will hear when the strings break?’”

“This bowl of meat mixture, adding one to three egg whites is acceptable. Unless it’s a gourmet who has eaten thousands of lion’s heads, ordinary diners won’t taste much difference.”

“But with one egg white, you have to smash the meat for several tens of minutes or half an hour to get the right texture. If you add three egg whites, just kneading a few times can get you to the next step.”

“This isn’t even a big restaurant, it’s just a haunted house. The dish you’re making isn’t a delicacy to be judged by guests at the table, but more like a prop.”

Xu Zhuoxing no longer looked into Chen Ran’s eyes but lowered his gaze to the meat mixture.

It seemed that speaking passionately just now had affected the wound on his face, even shifting the position of his mask.

But his gaze toward the meat mixture was very gentle.“When no one understands you...”

“How many egg whites do you choose to add?”

Chen Ran’s answer was the crisp sound of cracking an eggshell!

For a chef, cracking an egg with one hand or even separating the yolk with one hand was basic skill.

Adding one egg white, Chen Ran put on gloves, reached into the bowl, grabbed a lump of meat filling, and started pounding it hard!

At the first hit, the meat filling was still fresh and clean; the lean meat was elastic, and the fat was slippery and didn’t stick to the hand.

Ten hits, a hundred hits, even a thousand hits...

After pounding for twenty minutes, the lean meat granules no longer held their original neat square shape; the fat gradually became sticky, and with a simple roll, it formed a complete meatball.

Chen Ran casually pinched one to show Xu Zhuoxing: “Xu Yeye, is this level okay?”

“It’s fine.”

Xu Zhuoxing was quite satisfied; the young girl really had strength!

“This is your first time making it today. I’ll make the broth for you. I’ll come back tonight to teach you exactly how to prepare this broth.”

In the pot beside them, which was bubbling, Xu Zhuoxing had already prepared a clear broth. While directing Chen Ran to add the lion’s heads and place a piece of crab roe on top, he explained some knowledge.

“Huaiyang cuisine has three fundamental techniques: clear broth preparation, deboning, and binding. Clear broth preparation is making the broth; deboning, I’ll teach you later with a ‘three-set duck’ recipe; binding is for things like chicken congee or Sichuan’s chicken tofu, used to make purees.”

“Besides that, there are concepts of ruler-minister-assistant-envoy, complementary flavors, and perfect combinations. For this lion’s head, if the pork is the main flavor, then shrimp and crab roe are the special notes, and finally, a fresh ingredient to complement it—that’s this clear broth.”

Chen Ran had also made clear broth before; broth preparation was a basic skill for chefs. But the broth she made was nowhere near as clear as water and fragrant as Xu Zhuoxing’s.

Several lion’s heads went into the pot, covered with a layer of cabbage leaves, and finally the lid was put on.

“Alright, take care of the other small dishes as you see fit.”

Xu Zhuoxing’s energy was a bit exhausted. He waved his hand and went to rest.

Chen Ran, on the other hand, was extremely excited!

She quietly asked the system: “Why don’t you teach me these basic things?”

The system naturally didn’t reply; Chen Ran only complained to herself.

During cooking breaks, she took the chance to poke around the system panel. Soon she saw the special flavor mission for caramelized sweet potatoes was nearly complete!

Ah?

Just as she looked at the progress bar, the craving value suddenly jumped by over a hundred.

Chen Ran had no idea that while she was fully immersed in honing her knife skills, outside it was almost chaos!

The first victim was Shu Jianmin.

Chen Ran’s fan group found him, various self-media reached out, gourmets’ groups contacted him, and all kinds of restaurant owners sought him.

Shu Jianmin’s phone didn’t stop ringing all day!

However, although he never went to university, he wasn’t a novice in social hustle. Whenever someone called asking about Chen Ran’s situation, he would first smile and recommend his own business.Although most people were coming for Chen Ran, he still managed to squeeze out a few business deals.

“Really not booking two tables for the banquet? Hey, no matter where you’re from, I’ll pay the fuel and come myself!”

“Thank you! If I want to order again later, I’ll definitely book with you!”

He Xin hung up the phone helplessly; this was already her third call to Shu Jianmin.

The whole gourmet group was a bit chaotic.

“The day after eating the clear stewed pork elbow, I still crave it.”

“Why not caramelized sweet potato! You bunch of wooden tongues can’t even taste how amazing the oil base and starch technique is!”

“Sigh, for other dishes, you can find a big restaurant, though it’s not on the level of the Famous Chef Rankings, but still passable. But my favorites—the small fried fish and Chinese fried chicken—small places can’t make them, and big places won’t bother! Why do I have to meet such an excellent chef at the age when I can eat the most?!”

Seeing this situation, He Xin hesitated many times before reporting the latest results in the group.

“I called the banquet boss; he’s very tight-lipped but a smooth talker. After so many inquiries, not only did I fail to find Chen Ran’s whereabouts, but I almost got talked into booking twenty tables at his place...”

“Why didn’t he keep Chef Chen! If Chen Ran were still there, I’d hold a three-day banquet at People’s Square, anyone could come!”

“But there’s good news. I joined several of Chen Ran’s fan groups. If Chen Ran is found, it will be announced immediately.”

He Xin was quite capable.

Not only was she calling Shu Jianmin, but she was also actively surfing the internet.

Under several videos related to Chen Ran on Zhu Nan’s account, He Xin sharply noticed a group of people familiar with each other who liked to use lion’s head meatballs as a unit of measure.

“It has to be Little He!”

“Never thought that before you could just book a meal, now you have to follow a chef everywhere...”

“I actually think this is good,” Chen Songtao, who organized an agricultural aid event to eat Chen Ran’s dishes, said, “Before I worried about getting tired of one chef’s dishes, but now, no chance of that at all.”

“Your perspective is so unique. I’d rather get tired of it! Just hope this time Chef Chen isn’t running to some too strange places. I’m old, can’t take the hassle.”

In Chen Ran’s fan group, they were also discussing this topic.

“You don’t know how homebound I was before. Now, to find Chen Ran sooner, I roam everywhere every day...”

“Exactly! My Douyin is all food videos now! Last time Xiao Xiao’s 140-jin banquet video took six hours before it was shared in the group—what a disgrace for the fan group! I swear, next time I’ll find out immediately!”

“Missing Chen Ran the second day...”

“The math upstairs is terrible. Chef Chen has been missing two days, but when was the last time you actually ate Chen Ran’s food?”

The suddenly appearing sharp tongue struck the hearts of every fan in the group.

Everyone looked closely and saw it was Wang Zhaoshan, whose name had the tag “Pinned.”

“Pinned people have no rights, shut up!”

Wang Zhaoshan struggled and said a few more sentences: “Don’t worry. Chen Ran is getting some fame now. Her photo is already on the Famous Chef Rankings. Won’t she be easier to find? Braised lion’s head is famous now too...”

Indeed, recently videos summarizing Chen Ran’s various deeds had been getting modest views.

Ying Zhixuan saw two such summary videos in a row and quickly clicked “Not interested.”She loved eating lion’s head meatballs the most! But only watching videos without eating them was also very frustrating.

“Xuānxuān, you’ve already turned off your alarm for the third time, aren’t you getting up?”

Her roommate poked her head down from the upper bunk: “Didn’t you say yesterday you had plans to go to the haunted house today?”

“I did say that…”

Ying Zhixuan sighed.

To be precise, she didn’t arrange to go to the haunted house; she was forced to accompany her bold best friend to the haunted house.

“Forget it, no more delaying, or I’ll get scolded soon.”

She really didn’t like haunted houses!

Usually, when she watched horror movies, she had to cover her eyes. But now, having lost a bet, she had to accompany her extremely brave best friend to challenge some super long haunted house.

The two had gone to the same school since childhood, even university together. Her friend was already very familiar with Ying Zhixuan’s procrastination and simply came to the dorm directly.

“Let’s go, Xuānxuān, don’t worry! This one shouldn’t be too scary, it’s story-based.”

“I don’t believe that…”

“Come on! I’m treating this time, no dragging your feet or we’ll be late!”

However, many procrastinators actually know their own timing well. Although she refused to leave until the last minute, when the two finally arrived at the haunted house, they were not late but even a minute early.

“This is the place, right?”

The amusement park’s exterior was very rundown, which suited the haunted house theme. However, Ying Zhixuan was a bit surprised to find that the haunted house’s set was very carefully constructed.

“This is a typical Chinese garden, the builder must have some architectural background.”

Many temporary Chinese garden sets on the market would inadvertently mix in some Japanese elements, but this one was very professional.

Whether it was the plaque above the gate or the garden layout on one side, it all showed a strong Chinese style.

“Alright, a group of eight people. Let’s check, is everyone here?”

Xu Ruyi came out early to greet the customers. She counted and found only six had arrived.

To attract customers, she offered group-buy coupons on the platform that could be refunded even if expired, but lately she hadn’t been able to fill groups.

Although she was confident her haunted house scenes were carefully selected, still...

“Okay, here’s the basic story introduction. Let me confirm, does anyone have cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or heart problems?”

Seeing everyone shake their heads, Xu Ruyi led the visitors through a side door into the scene.

“Alright, this is the first scene of the haunted house. Please explore on your own and find the answers to the puzzles.”

The shop owner, dressed a bit classically, left, leaving the group of customers behind.

Ying Zhixuan tightly held her best friend’s arm.

She was most afraid of this kind of Chinese-style horror scene! Not only was she scared, it also made people feel oppressed...

The chastity plaque hanging on the main door, and the small room they entered that clearly looked like a bridal chamber, everywhere was filled with eeriness.Though it was called a bridal chamber, under the dark red bed canopy, the bride was nowhere to be found, only a male mannequin with a strange face sat there.

“According to the introduction, this is a ‘widow at her husband’s door,’ meaning her husband died before she married in? Then the husband’s family locked her up her whole life for a chastity plaque…”

“So scary!”

Zheng Tao, Ying Zhixuan’s best friend who was holding onto her, was also a little scared. But since she was the one who dragged her here, she had to muster courage and pretend not to be afraid.

“I read some reviews before saying this haunted house isn’t that scary, it’s more about the ideology… ah!”

Just as she was still talking about the ideology, a red bridal gown suddenly floated past on the wall!

Xu Ruyi had triggered a mechanism.

The haunted house’s layout was very large. The first scene mainly revolved around the marriage theme. The scary elements included the red bridal gown, the ghost banquet, and the ghost bride played by socially anxious Song Yuhan.

The red bridal gown, hung by invisible threads, floated lightly by. In the background, the mournful wails of ghosts played fittingly.

At the same time, shredded pieces of the red bridal veil were blown everywhere by a blower!

Zheng Tao, who always thought she was brave, froze on the spot. She felt something cold and soft on the back of her neck. She screamed in fright.

Ying Zhixuan, who had been quite scared before, suddenly realized the crying sound was getting closer—it was the ghost bride chasing after them!

She grabbed Zheng Tao and dashed out of the courtyard.

The others, still looking around the courtyard, suddenly saw the two girls run out first, along with the increasingly close crying. They hurriedly followed them out.

Song Yuhan, wearing the long bridal gown, breathed a sigh of relief.

Very good!

This was why she loved this job!

Few people, no social contact, and a role to play.

Xu Ruyi’s makeup for her was very scary, since she played a hanging ghost, she even had a long fake tongue glued on.

Plus the horror effect of the Chinese bridal gown, whenever she appeared, a crowd would scream and scatter.

For a socially anxious actor, what job could be more suitable?

To make her ghost role more realistic, she even learned the ghost steps from opera! Her whole body seemed to float on water, gliding smoothly forward...

Because of this, she scared Zheng Tao and Ying Zhixuan so badly.

The two ran desperately forward; normally brave Zheng Tao was almost crying.

“My… my neck! That cold thing on the back of my neck! Hurry!”

Ying Zhixuan was out of breath from running but still managed to grab a piece of the red bridal veil from the back of Zheng Tao’s neck and threw it away.

The haunted house owner was really mean—the red silk fragment was still wet! No wonder it scared her best friend so much.

“Okay, okay, it’s nothing! Threw it away! Let’s keep running!”

“That ghost just now can’t be real, right… She has no feet, did you see? She slid out! No shadow either!”

The lighting in the bridal chamber was created by many red lights combined. This lighting setup imitated the shadowless lights of an operating room. Combined with the mottled floor, shadows diluted from many directions were hard to see with the naked eye, giving the feeling that the ghost bride had no shadow at all.“All right, all right, it’s nothing! She runs slowly, she can’t catch up!”

This was also something Xu Ruyi often complained about.

As a female ghost actress, Song Yuhan’s skills were undoubtedly excellent, especially since she had self-taught the ghost steps—very dedicated!

But as a seasoned social anxiety sufferer, this ghost was really not proactive at all in catching customers!

Every time she really got close to a visitor, she would slow down…

Xu Ruyi sighed. Watching from the surveillance, just as Song Yuhan was about to catch up to a visitor, she quietly let a group of visitors slip away again.

Forget it! This state of almost getting caught but always escaping was also good!

Six visitors were chased by the ghost and scattered, and soon reached the ghost banquet scene.

The courtyard, filled with dead trees, was lit by broken red lanterns casting a mournful, miserable light. A scary black figure lay on the table eating something.

All the dishes were very plain, and because they were so simple, under the red light they looked especially pale and terrifying.

Some plates even had fresh scarlet blood dripping underneath.

The dish in front of the black figure was especially gruesome. He sat there chewing with a satisfied face, but his twisted expression was too horrifying to look at. The pale bones he pulled from his mouth looked like a human hand…

This scene was inspired by Xu Ruyi’s idea that the family benefited from the ghost’s chastity plaque. The entire family was exempted from taxes and even received an audience with the county magistrate, but these benefits came from literally feeding on the ghost.

The black figure eating was Xu Laoguai Xu Zhuoxing, who was in costume and makeup.

He strongly agreed with his granddaughter’s script and was happy he didn’t have to wear a mask as an actor.

Seeing people enter, he hoarsely spoke,

“No one leaves… everyone tastes…”

Zheng Tao’s legs went weak again, especially when she saw the bones pulled from the figure’s mouth were clearly a hand!

“Hurry, go! Hurry!”

At the same time, the ghost behind was closing in! The faint ghostly wails changed into another sound,

“Don’t eat me… don’t eat me…”

Trapped between two ghosts, but this ghost banquet seemed to have obvious eating clues.

Ying Zhixuan could no longer complain about her scared-yet-adventurous best friend. At this moment, she had to step up herself!

The gate in front was clearly locked; they had to find the key to leave the courtyard. Otherwise, they would have to face the ghost getting closer and closer.

Could they really have to eat something?

Ying Zhixuan quickly rushed to the center of the courtyard and lifted the lid off the clay pot in the middle of the table.

It was a pot of clear-stewed crab meat lion’s head meatballs!

No key there…

She flipped over the plates one by one and finally found the key under one of the plates.

Meanwhile, the ghost closing in had almost scared her best friend into fainting!“All right, all right, I found the key, let’s go!”

Quickly opening the door, she dragged Zheng Tao and fled the scene. Her best friend was useless now; she even had to support Zheng Tao under the armpits, half lifting, half pulling.

In a daze, she heard her best friend say something.

“Smells so good…”

What? Smells so good?

Prompted by Zheng Tao, Ying Zhixuan raised her hand to smell and also caught the strange fragrance!

The first scent was a hint of fresh shrimp and crab meat flavor, then, in this almost indescribable rich aroma, she slowly detected a trace of the mellow, rich pork flavor.

After taking two deep sniffs, besides those two scents, there seemed to be another deliciousness that only years of stewing old hen could produce…

It was from that pot of lion’s head meatballs just now! She had moved the lid too roughly, and some soup spilled on her hand!

Unimaginable — just a little bit of the soup smelled this good. How delicious must those lion’s heads be!

The ghost was still chasing closer and closer. Ying Zhixuan suddenly felt that since she had been dragged into this suffering by her best friend, she should at least get some reward she liked.

“Taozi, didn’t you say you’re not afraid of ghosts? Go quickly! Distract her for me!”

Pushed by Ying Zhixuan, Zheng Tao suddenly charged face-to-face at the ghost, both screaming simultaneously.

Zheng Tao was scared out of her wits, and Song Yuhan was scared too!

After playing the socially anxious ghost for so long, why did someone actually rush back at her face to face?

Before Zheng Tao could wonder why the ghost screamed too, she only saw Ying Zhixuan turn around and charge back.

“You block her for a while! I absolutely have to eat that lion’s head!”