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Ren Xiao's appetite was whetted by Chen Zao's words. She had already been hunting outside and had only casually eaten a couple of bites of dry rations at noon, hardly having a proper meal.
Now that she heard Chen Zao could cook, Ren Xiao immediately unfastened a beast skin pouch from her waist and took out a Mutated Blood-Crested Wild Chicken she had caught that morning. She said to Chen Zao, "Can you cook? I'll give you this valuable Blood-Crested Wild Chicken. How about we eat it together after you're done?"
"This chicken has hardly any meat; you can't make a decent dish with it."
"Does this chicken have no meat? Look at all the meat on its legs!"
To be honest, Ren Xiao had caught quite a plump wild chicken. If it had been one of those scrawny chickens with no meat, she wouldn't have bothered hunting it.
However, even if this type of chicken was fat, the meat would still taste sour and rotten, making it impossible to prepare anything good.
"The meat of this chicken is too coarse; the ingredients are too poor. I won't waste my time cooking something like this," Chen Zao said with a dismissive expression.
Ren Xiao felt like crying as she pointed at Chen Zao and said, "This wild chicken with a blood crest on its head is the most delicious! It's one of the best ingredients you can catch near Luohan Slope! Chen Zao, take another look; are you sure this chicken won't work? I've eaten Three-Cup Chicken made from this kind of Blood-Crested Wild Chicken, and it was incredibly delicious! If this chicken were taken to a restaurant in Tangling, they would fight to buy it. A chicken of this size could easily sell for 1 gram of gold. It took me quite some time to catch it."
"If you think it's so good, keep it for yourself and let your Third Brother cook it for you. I don't cook with such low-grade ingredients."
"Then what can you cook?"
"I can cook many things; do you have the money to buy them?"
Chen Zao sensed that Ren Xiao seemed like a greedy yet wealthy girl who had spent quite some time hunting such a fat chicken. Perhaps he could make a good profit off her.
Ren Xiao hesitated for a moment, looking up at the much taller Chen Zao and said, "I don't have any gold on me, but I do have 1 milliliter of Diluted Primary Beast Oil. If your dish turns out really delicious, I can trade you this 1 milliliter of Beast Oil."
"Your Primary Beast Oil is diluted? What is the ratio?"
"A 1:1 ratio, containing at least 1 milliliter of pure Beast Oil, and the mixing liquid is premium black milk candy essence, which has a very smooth flavor. This bottle of Beast Oil can be exchanged for 15 grams of gold without any problem."
Chen Zao stroked his chin and thought for a moment, then said, "15 grams of gold is a bit low. You know, I sell a bag of high-quality flour for several dozen grams of gold. If you want me to cook a dish for you, you should at least pay me 1 gram of gold, right?"
"1 gram of gold?" Ren Xiao was somewhat taken aback.
"Is that too much? That's just the price of an entry-level food voucher at Tangling. Seventh Sister, don’t tell me you can’t afford Tangling. I'm not bragging; my skills are far superior to those chefs at Tangling. If you’ve tasted my cooking, you’d think it’s worth any price."
Chen Zao stretched his neck to look into Ren Xiao's bag and asked, "Do you have anything else valuable besides the Beast Oil?"
"I came out hunting; I didn’t bring anything valuable."
Ren Xiao was sincere and even opened his beast skin bag to prove it to Chen Zao.
Chen Zao felt somewhat disappointed and said, "Then let’s wait until you have money next time for me to cook for you."
"Don't wait for next time! I don't even know when I'll run into you again."
Ren Xiao really wanted to taste the skills of this person who could grind out Fragrant Flour, so he took out his family token and negotiated with Chen Zao: "How about this? I’ll pledge my family token to you, and you help me cook first. Later, you can come home with me, and I’ll go to the Exchange Office to get 1 gram of gold and redeem the token. How does that sound?"
"Pledging a token? It seems you're really greedy for food."
Ren Xiao shyly shook his hand in self-deprecation: "Compared to my Third Brother, I'm not that greedy; I just want to taste your skills. So, is it a deal for 1 gram of gold?"
"Alright, it's a deal. But there's no need to pledge the token; I trust that Seventh Sister will keep her word."
"That's natural! But the premise is that your cooking must be delicious! If what you make isn't worth even a gram of gold, I won't pay you that much. Although you can grind fragrant flour, don't underestimate me. I've eaten at many restaurants in Tangling, and I know what kind of feast one can have for a gram of gold. If you think you can fool me with some random food, I definitely won't pay you that much."
"I haven't been to Tangling, so I don't know what kind of feast one can have for a gram of gold. Can you give me an example? I'll use that standard to cook for you."
"For a gram of gold in Tangling, you can enjoy precious marinated wild goat leg seasoned with black pepper! That's one of the best dishes I've ever had!"
Ren Xiao was already salivating again, patting the Blood-Crested Wild Chicken in his bag: "If we make a Blood-Crested Wild Chicken, we could prepare a full set—seven dishes, including soup and meat, paired with good Golden Chestnut Rice."
"I've never seen or eaten any of those. What is Golden Chestnut Rice? Is it made from chestnuts?"
"Ah! You don't even know what Golden Chestnut Rice is?"
Ren Xiao suddenly became worried and asked Chen Zao, "Can you really cook?"
Chen Zao scratched his head, speechless.
"Golden Chestnut Rice is made from sun-dried Black Chestnut Rice as the main ingredient. Once the flavor has settled, it's cooked in a pot until the Black Chestnut Rice is done. Then it's left to cool naturally for a while. During this time, many chefs will use their special methods to deodorize the Black Chestnut Rice again. Once the rice is completely cooled down, it's stir-fried with Golden Ostrich Egg while adding some spices. Some chefs like to add fish essence during stir-frying to mask the odor from the Ostrich Egg; others prefer to add Black Pepper Powder to cover up the smell; and some even like to mix in Black Pork to create golden black pork chestnut rice—these are all excellent choices." Ren Xiao said while slurping: "In short, no matter how it's made, Golden Chestnut Rice is incredibly delicious; anyone who loves good food can't resist it. How could someone with a heart for gourmet food not know what Golden Chestnut Rice is?"
Chen Zao was both amused and exasperated by Ren Xiao's enthusiasm. What was this Golden Chestnut Rice? It was just fried rice; why make such a big deal out of it?
Chen Zao pretended to reach into his camouflage backpack and pulled out an old aluminum lunchbox from the storage space, placing it in front of Ren Xiao: "I don't know what your beloved Golden Chestnut Rice is because I usually only eat this kind of rice. This rice doesn't have as flashy a name as Golden Chestnut Rice; I just call it Fried Rice."
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