The Spirit of Gourmet

Chapter 367 Recipe: Hanging Dragon Robe

Yuehu Cemetery, South Section.

Today is not the season for tomb sweeping, but many people are standing in front of a lonely tombstone.

Xu Chen held a bouquet of white daisies and gently placed it in front of the tombstone, where all the writing had been scraped off. He stared at the tombstone for a moment, then sighed, "It has been many years since I've been here."

"Mr. Xu Chen, the inscription on the tombstone has been scraped off. Do you have any clues?" Qin Lang suddenly asked.

Upon seeing the tombstone, he suddenly thought of a question that had never been resolved: who had scraped off the inscription on the tombstone, and why had they scraped it off to conceal the tombstone's owner?

Perhaps Mr. Xu Chen, who was present at the time, knows something about it.

However, Xu Chen's answer was somewhat unexpected.

“The teacher’s tombstone has always looked like this,” Xu Chen said softly. “The teacher died of natural causes, not from illness.”

"About a month before his death, he had already begun making preparations for his funeral."

"Although we felt it was inappropriate to prepare for his own funeral before his death, we disciples still chose to respect that and helped him make the preparations together."

"This tombstone was prepared by Senior Sister Feng Xi. Initially, there were words engraved on it, but the teacher was not satisfied after seeing it."

"So he took matters into his own hands and gradually erased the writing on it, hoping that his tombstone would be presented in this way after his death."

"Mr. Gu Cong polished it himself?" Qin Lang couldn't help but widen his eyes, looking at the tombstone with a hint of surprise.

He had previously speculated that perhaps one of Mr. Gu Cong's disciples had done this out of resentment because they hadn't been able to obtain the recipe.

Now it seems that I misunderstood.

But why did Mr. Gu Cong do this?
Is it...

Thinking of a certain possibility, Qin Lang suddenly looked at the crowd behind him, "Please put the fragments of the jade pendant together in front of the tomb."

"Although many years have passed and things have come full circle, the harmony between us fellow disciples should be what our teacher would have wanted most." Xu Chen sighed and gently placed his fragment in front of the tombstone.

Next up was Zheng Chuan.

Then Ren Qiu and Zhang Qian exchanged a glance, stepped forward at the same time, took out the jade pendant fragments belonging to their respective families, and pieced all the fragments together into a whole.

The complete jade pendant reappeared, and a soft "whoosh" sound appeared in Qin Lang's mind—the sound of the Traveler's Book turning pages.

However, Qin Lang had no time to pay attention to the changes in the Traveler's Book; his attention was completely drawn to the strange phenomenon before him.

The jade pendant, formed from the reassembly of four fragments, shimmered faintly as it rose from the central circular notch and slowly flew toward the tombstone.

Everyone fell silent, a look of surprise appearing in their eyes.

Under their gaze, light was projected onto the tombstone, and then tiny characters of light appeared on the surface of the tombstone where the text had been worn away.

That is…

A recipe!
Xu Chen's body swayed violently. Seeing the recipe that had torn his fellow apprentices apart, there was no excitement or agitation in his eyes, only endless regret and disappointment.

"We were wrong."

"After the teacher passed away, we immediately got into a dispute, even though the recipe was right in front of us..."

In a daze, the teacher's aged yet kind smile appeared before his eyes, and beside the teacher were four young and harmonious fellow students.

"I am ashamed of my teacher's teachings and do not deserve it."

With that, Xu Chen sighed and turned to leave without looking back. "Young friend Qin Lang, I'm entrusting my jade pendant fragment to you."

Xu Zhe couldn't help but take another look at the inscription on the tombstone, then shook his head, followed his father's footsteps, and went forward to help him up.

"I was merely keeping this jade pendant fragment safe for Mr. Yue Shan," Zheng Chuan said softly. "Now that the jade pendant has been returned to its rightful owner, I should be going." With that, Zheng Chuan also turned and left.

Ren Qiu turned to look at Ren Xi beside him. After exchanging glances, Ren Qiu calmly said, "We don't need this recipe."

"If my mother were still alive, she would probably have made the same decision."

“If you don’t want it, then we don’t want it either.” Zhang Qian crossed his arms. “I don’t want to embarrass my father.”

The two exchanged a glance, their eyes seemingly flashing with electricity.

"Hmph!" x2
After letting out a soft hum, the two families turned and left, but they remained shoulder to shoulder as they walked away.

"I never imagined things would turn out this way." Su Wanxia smiled as she watched the two leave. "But now, the Ren family and the Zhang family should no longer be as hostile as they were in the past."

"Xiao Bing, it's time for us to go too."

"Okay." Qi Bing nodded, and then Su Wanxia was about to leave.

"President Su, please wait!" Qin Lang snapped out of his daze and quickly called out to them, "You've all left, but the recipe and the jade pendant..."

“Of course it belongs to you.” Su Wanxia stopped and turned back with a smile. “Don’t feel too guilty, just accept it.”

"Based on my understanding of Mr. Gu Cong, this is also his idea."

This…

Watching Su Wanxia gradually disappear into the distance, Qin Lang opened his mouth, then slowly closed it.

His gaze finally settled on the tombstone.

The clear lines of small print encapsulate Gu Cong's lifelong culinary philosophy.

Recipe: Dragon-embroidered Jacket with Hanging Tail...
-
The five people, including Qin Lang, were unusually quiet upon returning to their hotel room.

The silence lasted for a while before Cao Dongdong finally couldn't help but ask, "Qin Lang, can you make this dish?"

Upon hearing this, the others also cast curious glances at him.

They had all seen the dish that Gu Cong had left behind, but its cooking steps were extremely complicated and difficult. Cao Dongdong and Zuo Ge only saw the beginning and their scalps tingled, so they gave up immediately.

Even Zhao Qian and Fatima couldn't hold on until the end.

"Not for now." Qin Lang shook his head slightly. "The cooking steps for this dish are very difficult. I need to practice for a while before I can try."

There are three main ingredients needed to make the dragon-patterned robe.

Fish, crab, snake.

Mr. Gu Cong taught his disciples how to cook fish and crab, but he did not teach his four disciples how to cook snake.

If I'm not mistaken, Mr. Gu Cong took Xu Chen in his later years with the intention of teaching him how to cook snakes, but for some reason he gave up.

It would be equally difficult for Qin Lang himself to prepare this dish.

He is not yet able to perform some of the cooking steps mentioned.

Upon hearing Qin Lang's answer, the four of them sighed in disappointment.

It seems we won't be able to taste this dish anytime soon.

After the four people said goodbye and returned to their respective rooms, Qin Lang slowly closed his eyes and entered a state of inner vision.

It's time to see what reward I'll give myself for finally completing this fifteenth painting, which I've worked so hard to finish.

(End of this chapter)