Chapter 68

Chapter 68 “An Ordinary Plain Congee”...

Cutting chicken breast on pork skin, yet you must not damage the pork skin?

When Chen Ran lifted the knife, she felt for the first time a sense of having nowhere to start.

Deboning duck and pigeon is difficult too, but it is a difficulty with clues; you can begin by understanding the anatomy.

It’s even different from the difficulty of cutting wen si tofu.

Cutting wen si tofu requires no hesitation at all; even a slight hesitation will break the tofu threads. Each cut must be done with the whole body twisted into one force, cutting decisively with no turning back.

No retracting the knife is allowed; if the cleaver pulls even a bit, the tofu slices or threads will break.

This trains the sense of knife precision.

But cutting chicken breast on pork skin, where it must be minced into chicken paste, is completely different.

The knife must be steady and fierce, but when the cleaver hits the board at the end, it must be soft and rounded; otherwise, if the pork skin is cut, all previous efforts to avoid mixing flavors are wasted.

If cutting wen si tofu is ultimate firmness, then the knife skill here for cutting this chicken breast must be a balance of firmness and softness.

With both firmness and softness combined, one can sustain through.

Chen Ran took a deep breath and first touched the piece of pork skin prepared by Du Zhaohu.

To avoid mixing flavors and to prevent chicken paste contamination by pork fat, all the fat on the pork skin had been shaved clean.

Old Master Xu nodded on the side: “Good, try the strength first.”

He watched as Chen Ran carefully made a gentle cut on the pork skin; lifting the knife, the pork skin remained intact.

But this was still cutting, not chopping.

To mince a piece of chicken breast into chicken paste, cutting won’t work; chopping is necessary.

Seeing Chen Ran’s cautious movements, Du Zhaohu couldn’t help but say: “Master, don’t worry, I prepared more than twenty pieces of pork skin, all fresh!”

Chen Ran took a deep breath and chopped down!

From lifting the cleaver, she nearly used all her strength to control her forearm muscles; just as the cleaver was about to touch the pork skin, she suddenly lifted it.

The first try, lifted too early, the cleaver didn’t touch the pork skin.

The second try, lifting the cleaver was too slow, and still cut a small inconspicuous notch on the pork skin.

Du Zhaohu wanted to remind her and looked anxious and eager, but Old Master Xu gave him a sharp look to silence him.

The thought process while solving a problem is most precious! At this time, Chen Ran’s mental exploration must not be interrupted.

In his eyes, although Chen Ran had failed twice, she still stood her ground, her head slightly tilted, eyes unwaveringly fixed on the cleaver.

Outside the window, it had started raining heavily; raindrops pattered loudly on the ground.

Chen Ran looked out the window, inhaled air carrying a faint earthy fragrance, and lifted the cleaver again!

Unlike before, when she only exerted force near the chopping board, this time, the cleaver was still in midair when Chen Ran began to swing with force!

The first chop after restarting still failed, leaving a cut on the pork skin even larger than before.The second chop failed again.

The third, fourth... up to a full hundred chops.

Finally, she controlled the force just right—just as the cleaver was about to hit the pork skin, it was at the limit of that swinging power.

The pork skin didn’t break!

Du Zhaohu excitedly went to fetch a new piece of pork skin: “Master, you’re learning so fast! You actually figured out the method of using the knife by yourself so quickly!”

Chen Ran was more than ten years younger than Du Zhaohu, and every time he called her “Master,” she felt a bit embarrassed.

“It’s all because Grandpa Xu laid a good foundation before.”

Back when she was still at the Chen family, although she practiced knife skills for a long time, she almost only “knew how but not why.”

Her daily knife practice was just about cutting; no one ever taught her about muscle exertion.

But in the haunted house over this more than half month, Old Master Xu had almost fully supplemented her basic knife skills!

And not just the basics...

The medicinal soups she soaked in every day, the massage techniques Xu Ruyi gave her daily, and even the treasured medicinal wine that Old Master Xu now took out after years of keeping...

It can be said that even Du Zhaohu didn’t enjoy such treatment when he trained back then.

He quickly laid out the pork skin for Chen Ran again, looking at the treasured medicinal wine Old Master Xu took out with a somewhat simple smile.

“Chopping this chicken congee wastes the forearm the most; we should let Little Master rest well later. I’ll help debone the three sets of duck today.”

Old Master Xu sighed: “This medicinal wine, the master back then didn’t even dare to let you use it. You don’t blame the master, do you?”

Many of the ingredients in this medicinal wine are now protected species; he had treasured this bottle for decades, and its medicinal power was just right.

Du Zhaohu’s head shook like a rattle: “Back then, I just couldn’t learn the chopping method for this chicken congee, wasting so many pork skins. How could I have used such a good thing?”

Old Master Xu nodded imperceptibly; the two of them together watched Chen Ran’s knife.

With a new piece of pork skin, Chen Ran began chopping!

The tender chicken breast was all deboned by Du Zhaohu early that morning—tender and springy, with membranes and fat shaved clean, ready for chopping.

Chen Ran first swung empty cleaver strokes twice, feeling the texture of cutting the chicken, then chopped down!

The cut was slightly restrained; the bottom layer of the chicken breast was still slightly connected and not fully separated.

But with the second chop, she immediately adjusted the force. One chop and the chicken breast was cleanly and neatly separated, with the pork skin not damaged in the slightest.

After that chop, she pondered briefly, then the cleaver fell like a sudden downpour!

However, because she couldn’t cut through the pork skin, each chop was swung with maximum force in the air, with the force dissipating upon hitting the chopping board.

It seemed like she used great power, but because the final force was restrained, every chop fell silently without a sound.

Outside, the raindrops hitting the ground clattered like drumbeats, adding sound effects to the bright flash of the cleaver!

The chicken breast first became strips, then slowly chopped into a mound of meat paste, and finally transformed into delicate, smooth, almost liquid chicken paste.

Chen Ran didn’t know how many chops she had done, but Du Zhaohu timed it—it took a full ten minutes.By the time this mound of chicken paste was finally chopped, her forearm had already started to feel numb and swollen.

“All right, first apply a hot towel. After the chicken porridge is ready, then rub it with medicinal wine.”

For the sake of the porridge’s flavor, the chicken paste couldn’t even touch the chopping board, and the medicinal wine definitely couldn’t be used just yet.

“Okay.”

Early that morning, Old Master Xu had instructed Chen Ran to simmer a pot of matsutake chicken soup. This chicken soup was the base for making the chicken porridge.

“For the next technique, I can only explain it verbally; then you try it yourself.”

Chopping the chicken paste with such a difficult method was the first challenge of this dish, while processing the chicken paste to resemble plain porridge was the second.

Since it was a savory dish imitating a vegetarian one, the appearance had to be flawless as well.

The cooked chicken paste needed to look like plain porridge, with grain-like shapes, each separate and never sticking together—only then would it resemble real porridge.

To achieve this appearance, a deep mastery of the heat was essential.

If the temperature was too high, the chicken paste would clump into one piece and no longer look like grains of rice; if too low, the chicken paste would scatter and not form grains.

“Turn off the heat. When the clay pot’s boiling has just settled, stir the soup with one hand and pour in the chicken paste with the other.”

The chopped chicken paste didn’t even look like minced meat but rather a slightly thickened soup.

Chen Ran stared motionless at the surface of the soup in the clay pot. At the instant the soup surface finally calmed, both her hands moved simultaneously!

The smooth chicken paste was gently poured into the pot, quickly dispersing under Chen Ran’s soft stirring. The proteins coagulated from heat, rapidly forming grain-like shapes.

It worked!

If you held your breath and looked at the clay pot, it was almost just a pot of plain white porridge, with white grains and broth—nothing extraordinary in appearance.

But this porridge emitted an extremely rich and fresh aroma!

The clear broth used as the base for the chicken porridge had no oil spots at all, and the chicken paste itself was made from chicken breast, without any fat.

This fresh flavor was completely free of greasiness, just like plain porridge—so fresh it felt comforting.

Chen Ran scooped a bowl and handed it to Old Master Xu with both hands.

Old Master Xu raised the spoon and took a scoop.

Anyone who becomes a chef, whether with their hands or tongue, is used to heat. He just blew slightly and swallowed.

This spoonful of fragrant, smooth, slightly hot chicken porridge spread from the tip of the tongue downwards, quietly gliding down the throat, bringing a warm feeling through the esophagus, all the way warming the stomach.

And warming the heart.

Old Master Xu showed a bit of weakness; he didn’t even put the spoon back but rather, somewhat unsteady, held onto Du Zhaohu’s hand and sat down on a nearby bamboo chair.

Outside, the rain pattered gently, hitting the small kitchen’s roof with a tinkling sound, making the room feel even more tranquil and the aroma of the chicken porridge more lingering.

Chen Ran saw Old Master Xu’s condition and became a little worried, unable to help but ask, “Grandpa Xu, is it too hot?”

She should have waited a bit before handing it over. Although he was a chef by trade, after all, he was getting older.

Sitting on the chair just then, Chen Ran suddenly noticed that Grandpa Xu’s back was slightly stooped.However, he opened his eyes, and they were still shining brightly!

“Though made by man, it seems naturally created by heaven!”

“Ordinary yet extraordinary, mild yet flavorful, common yet elegant...”

The light in Old Master Xu’s eyes was not a reflection from outside the window but a tear that finally slowly fell.

This inheritance did not end with his hands!

He didn’t know how many times he had worried. From the astonishment over the Three-set Duck dish outside, it was clear that this once-famous dish, which had won full applause at the salt merchants’ banquets, had become unheard of by many.

As for the chicken porridge, no one mentioned it anymore.

But where could he find someone to inherit it?

His own son was useless, lacked talent, and had deformed fingers from killing eels; his knife skills never improved. What else could he say?

The eldest apprentice was full of crooked schemes and had now received the punishment he deserved.

The second apprentice, though an innocent victim, had his spirit almost destroyed. Having been addicted to drugs, Xu did not dare let him touch a single cent.

And his own hands...

Old Master Xu raised his hand and wiped away his tears with some difficulty.

But, the world ultimately belongs to the young! There are still youths!

He looked up at Chen Ran and then answered the earlier greeting, “Not hot, not hot at all...”

There was no porridge better than this one in the world!

“Ah Hu, you try some too.”

Du Zhaohu responded honestly, scooped himself a small bowl of chicken porridge, and after one bite exclaimed, “It tastes just like Master’s!”

Chen Ran didn’t try it herself but focused her gaze on the pot of porridge just cooked.

The system displayed a line of text:

【A pot of chicken porridge complete in color, aroma, and taste】

After these days, Chen Ran had also figured out the system’s evaluation rules. Judging from this line, the dish’s rating was probably between S and double S.

If the chicken porridge had the word “perfect” in front, and “complete in color, aroma, and taste” was replaced with more specific praise, that would be the most perfect evaluation of this dish.

One could only say the appraisal function was as proud and difficult as the system itself...

She took another piece of chicken breast from the refrigerator, ready to continue practicing.

This time the chopping motion was too large, so Chen Ran didn’t dare to continue adding difficulty with the sandbag. She thought for a moment and planned to chop with both hands simultaneously. Old Master Xu saw Chen Ran picking up a kitchen knife to challenge herself again and nodded with some satisfaction, though the nod was almost imperceptible.

He quietly instructed Du Zhaohu, “Keep an eye on your shigu! Remind her to use medicinal wine later.”

Watching Du Zhaohu nod seriously, Old Master Xu slowly withdrew from the kitchen and took out the smartphone his granddaughter had bought for him.

The font on the smartphone was set very large. He slowly found a contact named Chang Yatou and opened the contact screen.

“Chang Yatou, you...”Old Master Xu wrote half a sentence by hand, then stopped. He took a deep breath, as if making up his mind, and sent a voice message directly.

“Chang Yatou, do you have any jobs over there that can get on TV and make someone famous? Introduce me to a few.”

On the other end, Chang Nian was at a lecture. She casually opened her phone and saw the contact was Old Master Xu.

She converted the voice message to text, and after reading it, she was so surprised her typing speed even sped up!

“You old weirdo, back when you were at your peak you refused to go on TV no matter what, and now you’re suddenly trying to join shows?”

In her memory, Old Master Xu hated all those “seeking fame and fortune” things the most.

“Mind your own business!”

Old Master Xu looked at the text message Chang Nian sent back: “If you’d realized earlier, would Chen Yun have made such a big fuss today?”

Yeah.

Back then, he only cared about cooking, thinking as long as his culinary skills were good, that was enough.

But…

Old Master Xu glanced toward Chen Ran in the room.

“Now, it’s not too late.”

The Chen family was now wealthy and powerful; in this regard, he, as a senior apprentice brother, couldn’t compare.

But now trying to go out again, at least with some old connections and experience, he might still carry some weight?

In the future, if the Chen family really made things difficult for Chen Ran, he mustn’t let this girl be left unsupported.

He clumsily tried adding some friends from his contacts. Over the years that his hands and face were ruined, many old friends had stopped contacting him.

Soon, he added a few friends, but not all accounts were familiar faces. Some nephews and nieces replied with a hint of sadness.

“Uncle Xu, my dad is no longer here.”

Old Master Xu sighed, but then heard Chen Ran’s bright voice from the kitchen.

Hearing her cheerful tone, he could almost see the sunlight streaming down her smiling face.

“I succeeded!”

Putting away his earlier gloom, Old Master Xu felt more determined.

His hands were useless, but if he risked his pride, he could still be a stepping stone for those who came after.

“Grandpa Xu! Come quickly, look at the chicken mince I chopped with both hands this time!”

Chen Ran pulled open the door and called Old Master Xu to come see the chicken mince she chopped.

She wanted Grandpa Xu to share her success.

After all, the system never responded to her about things like this.

Before, when the system popped up skill upgrade prompts, it would congratulate the host. But now, it didn’t even do that!

This was her first double-S-level skill!Chen Ran repeatedly opened the system interface, looking at the "SS" behind the knife skill on her personal attribute panel, feeling that even the soreness in her arm had completely disappeared.

Old Master Xu, however, put on a stern face: "Don’t get carried away. Go find Sister Ruyi and have her find that ointment for you. This chicken porridge can only be made once a day from now on!"

He emphasized again: "Don’t think about using this to practice your knife skills too much—people need to rest too!"

“Oh, I know!”

Chen Ran was a bit disappointed to have her intentions seen through by Old Master Xu, but she obediently went to find Xu Ruyi.

After the excitement of success passed, her arms really felt sore and numb. This knife skill, which mainly relied on "swinging," was just too exhausting.

When she ran to the monitoring room, Xu Ruyi had just hung up the phone. Chen Ran only caught the last two sentences.

“Sister Ruyi, what’s wrong? I just heard you arguing with someone.”

Xu Ruyi turned her head to look at her and immediately saw Chen Ran’s hands were red: “Nothing much, just some trouble renting a computer. What did you do? Why are your hands so red?”

“Nothing much, Sister Ruyi, where’s that ointment? I’ll find it myself,” seeing Xu Ruyi busy, Chen Ran didn’t want to trouble her, but couldn’t help asking, “Is the computer rental for trying out a game?”

“Yes, but the price is a bit hard to negotiate. It should be ready by then.”

However, the cost performance of renting computers was still too low, and the amusement park was a bit too remote. Xu Ruyi even temporarily moved two computers from the game studio, making a total of ten computers.

But who would have thought, on the designated day, the place was packed with people!

Wang Zhaoshan saw many familiar faces in the crowd.

Brother Qingjiao’s entire dorm came, and the one still wearing a sunhat in November must be the Movie King, plus the ever-elegant Ms. Wang and her little assistant.

Zhu Chenchen even brought Zhu Kuangkuang along, while the cook and photographer were teasing Zhu Kuangkuang.

Wang Zhaoshan struggled through the crowd and opened his mouth with his usual style: “Unexpected! Looks like Chen Ran’s fan club has to change to Lin Wei’s fan club now.”

“Aren’t you here yourself?”

“Can’t help it, I want to eat Chef Chen’s dishes too. But the group is so useless, no one’s found Chef Chen yet.”

“Old Wang, I heard last time you fainted from fright at the haunted house. Can you really handle the game this time? Don’t scare yourself into drooling.”

Wang Zhaoshan mocked: “I’ve been practicing at home for days. Wait and see! The draw’s about to start, I’ll show you my superb gaming skills!”

Not only Chen Ran’s fan club was here, but almost the entire Laotie group was present!

He Xin moved through the crowd jokingly: “This is even more packed than our usual team building.”

After all, in team building, tastes and cuisines matter, and no matter the dish, someone will dislike it.

But for a nearly lost pure skill-display dish like the three-set duck, even those who don’t like duck or pigeon found it hard to resist trying.

“How does Brother Zhuang feel?”

Unlike the haunted house’s age restriction, this treasure hunt was more like rewarding players, not very scary.

Zhuang Zhiping finally got the chance to taste the three-set duck, which had been divided countless times!

“Don’t underestimate me! I’ll definitely meet the standard this time!”

Soon, the number draw ended, and to everyone’s surprise, Wang Zhaoshan was number 1!Sharp-eyed Zhu Chenchen noticed that when Wang Zhaoshan walked up, even his hand was slightly trembling.

As a food critic, Wang Zhaoshan had quite a few opportunities to appear on TV and to participate in events in front of large crowds.

“Old Wang is really afraid of horror games?”

However, don’t underestimate the attraction of the three-set duck to gourmets. After several days of intense gaming practice at home, Wang Zhaoshan’s effort was rewarded—he barely missed the cutoff by a few seconds and ultimately earned the qualification for the treasure hunt!

The first batch of ten people quickly rushed into the haunted house, and after more than ten minutes, they finally found the clue.

The rule of this adventure was that everyone could use the clue they found to enjoy the corresponding delicacy. Wang Zhaoshan found a clue for chicken porridge, which greatly disappointed him.

What about the promised three-set duck?

He tried to find someone to exchange, but no one was willing to trade their dish for his.

Come on, the three-set duck had already been hyped by major media and was almost regarded as an intangible cultural heritage delicacy. Who would trade the hard-earned qualification for three-set duck for a plain-sounding chicken porridge?

Wang Zhaoshan sighed.

He dragged himself with the paper slip toward the finish line and met Brother Qingjiao, who came in with the same group.

“How’s it going, Old Wang? Did you get the three-set duck?”

Brother Qingjiao came in with his roommate, and the two of them found clues for the three-set duck and lion’s head meatballs respectively. Although no one got the Wensi tofu, they were satisfied.

After all, Wensi tofu is a vegetarian dish, while three-set duck and lion’s head are meat dishes!

“No... I got a dish I’ve hardly heard of.”

Chicken porridge required very high technique, and Wang Zhaoshan’s specialty was not Huainan cuisine. Even he hadn’t heard of chicken porridge as a dish.

Brother Qingjiao suddenly leaned over to take a look and couldn’t help but laugh: “Alright, Old Wang, when we go to taste the dishes later, we eat the meat dishes, and you just drink your porridge.”

Wang Zhaoshan felt even more depressed.

Three-set duck!

Among the people attending this event, many were food critics or gourmets; it seemed he was the only one who hadn’t tried three-set duck.

How would he face people later?

The group laughed as they reached the finish line. Those who drew three-set duck went to the other side to wait until there were enough people to share, while the others each received their individual dish.

Wang Zhaoshan couldn’t help but peek at the duck with three heads sticking out on the table across the way, while lifting the lid of the bowl in front of him.

It was just a plain white porridge, with only a pure and fresh chicken aroma, letting him know this wasn’t ordinary plain porridge.

“Chicken broth stewed porridge?”

Wang Zhaoshan felt disappointed.

However, even if it was chicken broth porridge, Chef Lin Wei’s seasoning should be good.

He comforted himself while slowly scooping a spoonful of the porridge into his mouth.

Soft and smooth, with an even purer aroma.

How could the chicken broth flavor be this strong? Even stranger, why was there no rice fragrance at all in this white porridge?Could it be that it was stewed too long, and the rice grains absorbed all the flavor?

But in that case, the rice grains should have already broken down and disintegrated...

Wang Zhaoshan chewed slowly with some puzzlement, trying to taste the texture of the rice grains.

The "rice grains" were gently crushed between his tongue and lips, and he suddenly turned pale with shock.

This seemingly flawless bowl of "plain porridge" actually had every single grain made from chicken!