The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 246 The Ownership of Ornamental Fish
"Clap--"

As Zhuo Hong clapped his hands, everyone turned their attention to him.

"I've already tasted all the dishes cooked by everyone in this impromptu cooking competition," Zhuo Hong said with a smile, looking at everyone. "I've seen everyone's performance. Perhaps your cooking skills vary, but your creativity and inspiration are all impressive."

"If I had to choose the best one from among them..."

Zhuo Hong paused slightly, then grabbed Qin Lang's hand and raised it, "Mr. Li Yuantu and I both agree that it is Qin Lang."

As soon as he finished speaking, cheers and applause erupted in the arena. Everyone had actually expected this result.

"Idol, your cooking skills are truly amazing!" Jiang Jun rushed up to Qin Lang, gave him a thumbs up, and then took a bite of the snow-white food in his hand. "This snow-white red bean paste is also super delicious!"

"Snowy red bean paste?" Di You couldn't help but ask.

He had already realized that what Jiang Jun was holding was the same food that he had seen when he served dishes to the judges earlier, the kind that everyone had one of.

"Brother Di You, you don't know yet, but our idol prepared some delicious desserts for us!" Jiang Jun waved the snow-white red bean paste in his hand. "This dessert called snow-white red bean paste is so delicious, you should try it!"

"Dessert?" Di You was taken aback.

"Try it." Qin Lang smiled from the side, and Cao Dongdong and Zuo Ge were already walking over excitedly with a plate of snow-white red bean paste.

Snow-white Red Bean Paste, a famous dish from Northeast China, is both a dish and a dessert. Before the advent of convenient tools such as egg beaters, it was almost lost due to its complicated and laborious preparation process, but it has gradually regained popularity in recent years.

This was probably the fastest Cao Dongdong had ever mastered it. After watching Qin Lang do it two or three times, he was already able to produce a finished product with a snow-white surface.

“…Thank you.” Di You said subconsciously, then picked up one.

He doesn't actually like desserts that much, but since it was his idol's kind offer, he couldn't possibly refuse.

He tentatively took a bite, and Di You couldn't help but widen his eyes.

The soft, fluffy surface is coated with a layer of granulated sugar, giving it a delicate and light texture, but it's more substantial than a marshmallow.

With a slight chew, the unique soft texture slowly melts in your mouth, leaving only a rich egg aroma and a sweetness that isn't cloying.

Sweet but not cloying, that's probably the best description of Snowy Red Bean Paste.

After finishing the snow-white red bean paste in his hand, Di You couldn't resist picking up another one.

It turns out that it wasn't that he didn't like desserts, but that the desserts he used to eat weren't good.
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"A sheep is hidden inside the fish's belly, eat it."

Qin Lang placed two portions of fish belly stuffed with lamb, fresh from the oven, on the dining table. He cut one portion in half after opening the foil and placed it in front of Danbao and Lala, while he placed the other portion in front of Cao Dongdong and the other two who were drooling.

Already craving it, Danbao and Lala didn't hesitate to rush over and take a big bite. Immediately afterwards, the eyes of the two food spirits lit up at the same time, and Xuan's speed increased even more.

"It feels so good to eat meat in big bites!" On the other side, Cao Dongdong got his wish and ate a fish with a lamb inside, and couldn't help but sigh.

He had only gotten a small bite before and was really craving it, but now he could finally enjoy it to his heart's content. He also learned how to make a new dessert, Snow Cotton Red Bean Paste, from Qin Lang. It was quite a fruitful day.

"Hey, leave some for me!" Zhao Qian glared at Cao Dongdong, quickly scooped a large piece of fish and diced vegetables into her bowl, and then, as if she had thought of something, looked at the fish tank on the side of the table.

"Qin Lang, Xiao Cai doesn't seem to be eating fish food."

"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, Qin Lang walked to the fish tank.

In the fish tank, a pretty little fish with a blue-purple gradient around its body was idly blowing bubbles. Even when Qin Lang approached, it only glanced at him before continuing to idly blow bubbles.

Fish food that Zhao Qian had sprinkled was floating above the surface of the fish tank, but the small fish didn't seem interested in it and didn't even look at it.

It was the prize Qin Lang won after winning the impromptu cooking competition—the ornamental fish he accidentally caught during the fishing process.

After some discussion, Qin Lang and the others decided to name it Xiao Cai. However, the little guy doesn't seem to be in good condition right now.

"Have you ever kept fish before?" Qin Lang, who had no experience keeping ornamental fish, looked at them for a while and then turned to look at the other three.

"When I was a child, I did feed the family's expensive ornamental fish," Cao Dongdong said casually after thinking for a moment.

"Oh?" Qin Lang's eyes lit up. He was about to ask Cao Dongdong to check on Xiao Cai's condition when he heard what Cao Dongdong said next.

"Then the next day, all the fish in the tank died."

Qin Lang: “…”

Forget it, I knew I couldn't count on this guy.

"Could it be that the food isn't to its liking?" Zuo Ge thought for a moment and asked, "Perhaps if we change the fish food, it will eat it."

"I've tried seven or eight different kinds of fish food," Zhao Qian sighed as she fed the fish, "but it hasn't eaten any of them."

"Looks like you're a bit delicate, little one." Qin Lang smiled helplessly, sticking a finger out of the fish tank to tease Xiao Cai.

Xiao Cai glanced at Qin Lang's finger with disdain, silently swam to the spot in the bathtub furthest from his finger, and then began to stare blankly.

Seeing this, Qin Lang thought of something and tentatively took out a grain of rare rice from the Traveler's Book.

The moment the precious rice fell into the water, Xiao Cai, who had been staring blankly, cleared her eyes, looked at the rice, and then quickly approached by swaying her tail.

After swallowing the precious rice in one gulp, Xiao Cai didn't even glance at the other fish food floating on the surface of the water, and then returned to the spot where she had been lost in thought.

"It actually eats rice?" Zhao Qian couldn't help but widen her eyes.

“Ordinary rice definitely won’t do,” Cao Dongdong couldn’t help but say. “This little guy is really picky; he’s only interested in rare ingredients.”

Xiao Cai seemed to understand Cao Dongdong's words, her eyes moved, and then she opened her mouth.

A stream of water pierced through the surface and hit Cao Dongdong's face directly.

"Oh my god!" Cao Dongdong exclaimed in surprise, wiping the water off his face and looking at Xiao Cai in the fish tank. "You can actually attack?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Cai spat out one more mouthful, then two more…

"Hahaha." Seeing Cao Dongdong dodging left and right, Zhao Qian couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh, "Even Xiao Cai doesn't like you!"

“But this little guy is indeed peculiar,” Qin Lang couldn’t help but say.

Normal fish can't spray water that far.

"drop--"

Zhao Qian picked up the food spirit scanner and scanned Xiao Cai's condition again, then shook her head, "No matter how many times you test it, it's just an ordinary fish."

"At most, it's a mutated variety."

After saying that, Zhao Qian stretched and said, "I'm a little tired after all this fuss, I'm going back to my room to rest."

With that, she waved and walked out of the room.

Call me if you need anything!

(End of this chapter)