NOVEL NEXT Chapter 65: Herbal Tea Eggs
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
The shell of the Herbal Tea Egg had been dyed a dark brown but one could still see it was originally a white egg.
Concerning chicken eggs, the grandpa had quite a bit of knowledge. For example, the color of the eggshell depended on the types of feed the hens ate at some specific periods. The hens laid eggs with different color eggshells based on the type of feed they ingested.
Therefore, just by using common sense, one could tell that those chicken eggs with dark-colored eggshell on the market that were said to come from cage-free chickens were a bunch of bullsh*t.
The Herbal Tea Egg in front of the grandpa was larger than ordinary eggs, with an oval shape and a perfect figure.
After he peeled off the eggshell, the grandpa discovered something odd. Usually, there would be an egg membrane covering the egg. The harder it was to peel off, the fresher was the egg. For this one, on the contrary, the membrane was peeled off quite easily.
“Don’t tell me this young brat used top grade tea leaves to cook a stale egg?” the grandpa couldn’t help feeling suspicious.
Angrily, the grandpa finished peeling off the eggshell quickly. It was only then did he realize the Herbal Tea Egg could be said to be a work of art.
Actually, there was always an odor of gypsum when Century Eggs were peeled, which smelled rather offensive. Nevertheless, the cooked egg white was extremely beautiful. It seemed to have white snowflakes scattered around its dark blue background, just like the stars in the sky, appearing extraordinarily spectacular.
Compared to the Century Eggs, this Herbal Tea Egg appeared as if a skilled master had painted a drawing on the egg white. The patterns and lines blended well together with the egg white, as if they grew on it. If one looked carefully, he would see an exquisite calligraphy painting of a natural village household.
They were both deep and shallow print marks all over the egg white. Furthermore, the Herbal Tea Egg contained an alluring fragrance in particular, which stirred one’s appetite.
“Zi”
As he slightly rotated the plate, the fragrance of the Herbal Tea Egg mingled with the delicate orchid fragrance of the black tea wafted upwards. As the plate rotated, the calligraphy painting on the egg white seemed to come alive. Moreover, the smoke drifting from the egg gave the painting a mystical feel.
“The young master’s Herbal Tea Egg is like a work of art,” the grandpa heave a sigh, saying.
“Absolutely,” Division Chief Lin looked at the small egg in the plate as well and then added.
On the other side, Yuan Zhou finally got the official explanations from the system.
The system read: “The eggs are laid from the Langshan White Chicken of the Langshan breed.”
“The history of rearing Langshan Chickens goes as far back as 1000 years.”
“The Langshan White Chicken is a variant of the Langshan breed. There is only one Langshan White Chicken in every thousand Langshan Chickens, thus they are very few of them. The Langshan White Chicken has spotless white feathers and a bright red chicken crown. With the two colors in contrast, it appears quite pleasing to the eyes.”
“Langshan Chickens can be used for their meat and eggs but the Langshan White Chicken is only used for laying eggs. All the Langshan White Chickens or Langshan Chickens that exist on the market now are no longer of pure breed. The pure breed Langshan White Chicken lays huge eggs and in large amounts.”
As for the tea leaves, Yuan Zhou had gotten sufficient knowledge about them. The attitude of the several customers including the grandpa just now had well proven that.
How Herbal Tea Egg are eaten differed from man to man. Some people liked peeling off half the eggshell and holding the other unpeeled half egg to eat; some others prefer to peel off the entire eggshell and poking it with chopsticks to eat. The grandpa, nevertheless, liked splitting the egg apart with chopsticks to eat.
The chopsticks that Yuan Zhou had prepared for the grandpa were specially used for the noodles, with a tall, slender body and a sharpened point. Therefore, the grandpa split the Herbal Tea Egg apart quite easily.
The egg yolk inside was a soft orange color and had just solidified. After being split apart, the fragrance given off by the Herbal Tea Egg became much stronger, rushing up the grandpa’s nose.
Only now did the grandpa feel that the egg barely deserved to be matched with the Keemun Black Tea.
While holding up the first half egg, the grandpa stuffed it into his mouth and chewed it with an enjoyable “ba ji ba ji”. His face revealed a blissful and enjoyable expression.
The intense fragrance of tea mingled with the fragrance of the egg itself left no doubt that it was the number 1 among the black teas. The fragrance smelled terrific but yet, it didn’t overwhelm the scent of the egg. The grandpa could feel two distinct but complementing tastes at the same time in his mouth. Even when the egg was swallowed, the faint fragrance of the orchid still lingered in the mouth.
Just as if he had eaten an orchid.
Now, the grandpa finally experienced how the ancient people described their beauties that breathed out the fragrance of orchids.
Right now, he was exactly exhaling the fragrance of an orchid.
“Grandpa, is the Herbal Tea Egg delicious?” the man in glasses beside him asked curiously after observing for a long while.
When the grandpa had almost fought with Yuan Zhou because of the tea leaves, the man in glasses also watched like he did now. The grandpa had declared then that the egg couldn’t deserve the tea leaves but now, it did not seem that way. His expression full of enjoyment already proved it was tasty indeed.
“Young kids knows nothing but it was indeed delicious.” the grandpa understood what the man in glasses was implying but for him to say the Herbal Tea Egg was not delicious… that was impossible. At the very beginning, he just felt that it was a pity and, moreover, a painful thing to use those top-graded tea leaves to cook the Herbal Tea Egg.
Although tea leaves used to cook the Herbal Tea Egg wouldn’t be a lot, he still felt it was a waste as he loved the tea very much.
After eating, however, he found the two ingredients matched well with each other and made the best use of their respective fragrance, thus formed the unutterable delight of the Herbal Tea Egg.
After the grandpa finished eating the egg, he left quietly. Other customers could only see his plate was quite clean, not leaving a single drop of broth.
“Division Chief, shall we leave?” Seeing that the Division Chief had also finished his meal, Vice Division Chief Lee asked in a low voice.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Division Chief Lin stood up first.
“What do you think of this restaurant?” while walking outside of the restaurant, Vice Division Chief Lee asked.
“I believe there are no problems. There isn’t only one restaurant like this that has good culinary skills and possesses a unique temper. Despite the high price, the dishes deserve the price.” Division Chief Lin summarized his thoughts while smiling.
After the meal, Vice Division Chief Lee felt that only such a high price could match such delicacies. It was the epitome of enjoyment for one’s taste buds every time one came to have a meal.
Just like the saying in the movie Cooking Master Boy, “Delicacies are what brings happiness to people.”
The delicacies served in Yuan Zhou’s restaurant could just make people feel happy and delighted, as exquisite ingredients could even make people healthier, both physically and mentally.
……….
The rush hour during noontime soon passed. Without even noticing, the opening hours in the evening had arrived.
“Boss, a cup of watermelon juice, please.” A voice floated in before body arrived. A girl then rushed into the restaurant with quick steps, her ponytail hair waving in the air.
“Ok, one moment please.” Having answered the girl, Yuan Zhou crouched down and picked up a watermelon, preparing to make the watermelon juice.
With a steady hand and a firm knife, Yuan Zhou precisely carved out the middle part of the watermelon to extract the juice.
After half a day’s word of mouth advertising, people coming in for the juice increased and were basically all girls. Although he still remained cold and arrogant, Yuan Zhou nevertheless feasted his eyes on pretty girls.
For example, the various cute and coquetry acts of the girl with the ponytail hair.
“Boss Yuan, look, I spent 88 RMB for your watermelon juice. If you use the whole watermelon to make only one cup of watermelon juice, don’t you think it’s necessary for you to give away the remains?” The girl was young and pretty. She said to Yuan Zhou while looking at him with her big watery eyes.
Yuan Zhou raised his head, giving her a glance and then said, “The price of 88 RMB is only for one cup of juice, and the remaining part doesn’t belong to you.”
Even if she was a beauty, Yuan Zhou still refused her as usual.
“But Boss Yuan, I heard that the remaining part is recycled by you. Then it means you don’t need it. Since you don’t need it, can’t you give that to me?” the girl with a ponytail hair put her palms together and looked at Yuan Zhou pitifully.
“No, this is my rule.” Yuan Zhou still gave a decisive and ruthless refusal.
At this time, Wu Zhou walked into the restaurant with his girlfriend following. Whenever Yuan Zhou saw the lovers, he knew it must be a weekend tomorrow.
To the lovers who subconsciously showed off their intimate relationship, Yuan Zhou had always expressed his disdain.
“Boss Yuan, I brought my girlfriend here today.” Wu Zhou happily led his girlfriend to be seated and as usual greeted Yuan Zhou.
In return, Yuan Zhou merely nodded his head out of politeness, saying nothing.
“Boss Yuan, my girlfriend came specially to drink the watermelon juice. Please offer us two cups of watermelon juice.” Wu Zhou deftly prepared to order the other main course.
“Sorry, the watermelon juice has been sold out.” Yuan Zhou felt quite delighted when he said that. Although he couldn’t make money out of the juice, it was the first time the quota set by the system made him so happy.
Only 100 cups of watermelon juice could be served every day.
Looking at Wu Zhou’s constipated-like expression, Yuan Zhou became even happier.
Simply speaking, the upset expression on Wu Zhou’s face pleased Yuan Zhou.