Soon, the first pot of five chickens was officially set to braise.
Braising chicken takes a little longer than braising chicken feet.
About fifty minutes is ideal.
Of course, this wasn’t a hard and fast rule.
The time needed varies with the quality of the meat.
For Li You’s chickens, braising for around fifty minutes was best.
He walked out of the kitchen.
Then, he added a new item to the "Today’s Specials" board:
"Braised Chicken: 35 yuan per jin."
This price was about the same as the braised chicken sold in town.
This price would do just fine.
...
「Changxi County.」
Mianwei Jia Noodle House.
Though it was still early morning, the shop was already bustling with customers.
Many people chose to have a bowl of noodles for breakfast.
Most of the customers coming in chose the Yangchun Noodles.
The restaurant’s Yangchun Noodles were famous throughout the county, and many came just for them.
Jiang Caidong was used to most customers ordering the Yangchun Noodles.
He never tried to recommend any other type of noodle.
But today, he was strongly recommending that they try the beef noodles.
"Boss, everyone knows your Yangchun Noodles are the star of the show. They’re incredible. We pretty much all came here for them. Why are you recommending the beef noodles today?"
The customers were all perplexed by Jiang Caidong’s strong recommendation.
"I’ve had the beef noodles here before, and they’re quite good. I’d say they’re in the top five in the whole county. Still, I’d rather have the Yangchun Noodles."
"Boss, to be honest, I only come here for the Yangchun Noodles. If I wanted beef noodles, I’d go to another place. It’s closer to where I live."
"..."
Jiang Caidong could understand where his customers were coming from.
He gestured for the customers to be patient and then said, "The reason I’m recommending the beef noodles is that a couple of days ago, Master Liang received some guidance from an expert on how to make them. The flavor of our beef noodles has improved immensely compared to before. I guarantee you won’t regret trying them."
Guidance from an expert? Immense improvement in flavor?
The customers were skeptical.
Jiang Caidong continued, "Our regular customers might know that a while ago, our Yangchun Noodles were good, but they were nothing compared to what they are now. The flavor only became this good recently. Why did they improve so much in such a short time? It’s because that same expert gave Master Liang some pointers on the Yangchun Noodles as well."
Hearing this, a customer in the crowd quickly spoke up. "The boss is right. I’ve been a regular here for over a year. The Yangchun Noodles really did just recently get this delicious. We were all wondering how the flavor suddenly got so much better. Now we know—it was an expert’s guidance."
’So that’s what happened?’
The other customers slowly nodded. If that was the case, then maybe they really should try the beef noodles.
’Let’s see just how much better they are after this expert’s guidance.’
And so, one after another, the customers chose the beef noodles.
Jiang Caidong was thrilled. He was confident that the customers would be pleasantly surprised after trying the beef noodles today.
Although Liang Heng’s beef noodles only had about forty percent of the skill behind Li You’s, it was more than enough.
Even with just forty percent of that skill, they were absolutely the best beef noodles in the entire county.
Of course, Liang Heng’s beef noodle-making skills would surely continue to improve. He might eventually reach about eighty percent of Li You’s level.
That would be his ultimate limit.
But that would still take some time.
From now on, the shop’s beef noodles were bound to slowly make a name for themselves.
In the future, the beef noodles and Yangchun Noodles would become equals, both serving as the restaurant’s star dishes.
Business would undoubtedly become even more explosive.
Jiang Caidong grew excited just thinking about it.
Then he thought that the restaurant was still a bit too small.
’I wonder if the shop next door is for sale?’
’Their business doesn’t seem to be doing that well,’ Jiang Caidong noted.
’If it is, I’ll buy it out and knock down the wall between the two storefronts.’
’That size should be just about right.’
Jiang Caidong schemed to himself.
Meanwhile, the beef noodles ordered by the customers were brought to their tables one by one.
The moment they saw the bowls, their eyes lit up.
’Wow, they actually look more appetizing than before.’
Even the customers who hadn’t tried the beef noodles here had seen them being served to others.
They had to try it right away.
They could barely wait.
After the first taste, they were absolutely astounded.
The customers who had eaten the beef noodles before all exclaimed excitedly, "It really is so much better! The beef, the noodles, the broth—everything is much more delicious. With this flavor, it’s definitely the best beef noodle soup in the entire county. And it beats the second-best by a long shot."
"The boss wasn’t lying. With this quality, you can’t go wrong ordering either the Yangchun Noodles or the beef noodles here."
"Exactly. While the flavor isn’t quite as stunning as the Yangchun Noodles, it’s still incredibly delicious. I’d definitely choose to eat the beef noodles."
"I’ll probably order the beef noodles more often from now on. When it comes down to it, I prefer a meat-based noodle dish over a plain one."
"..."
The customers who had never tried the beef noodles here before were equally amazed.
They couldn’t know how much of an improvement today’s beef noodles were compared to the old version, but that didn’t matter.
What mattered was that these beef noodles were unbelievably delicious. They had never eaten beef noodles this good before.
It seemed Master Liang’s beef noodle-making skills had skyrocketed after receiving guidance from that expert.
It was hard to believe beef noodles could taste this amazing.
An expert was truly an expert; with just a few pointers, they could make a chef’s skills improve by leaps and bounds.
’Speaking of which, just who is this expert?’
’A Special-Level Pastry Chef?’
Suddenly, all the customers were very interested in this question.
So, they started asking Jiang Caidong, "Boss, is that expert a Special-Level Pastry Chef? What’s his name? Can you tell us?"
Jiang Caidong smiled. "That expert isn’t a Special-Level Pastry Chef. But that’s only because he’s never bothered to get certified. His skill is actually above that of a Special-Level Pastry Chef. And he isn’t just good at noodles; he’s also an expert at stir-fry dishes. His name is Li You, and he runs a restaurant in Jiulong Gorge."
Hearing this, the customers were at once incredulous, delighted, surprised, and confused.
They were incredulous because the boss claimed the expert’s skill was even higher than a Special-Level Pastry Chef’s.
’Is that for real?’
’Is there even a level above Special-Level Pastry Chef?’
’That shouldn’t be possible, right?’
They were delighted because the boss said the expert ran a restaurant in Jiulong Gorge. Did that mean he was from their own Changxi County?
’An outsider wouldn’t run all the way to Jiulong Gorge to open a restaurant, would they?’
All the customers knew that Jiulong Gorge was a place within Changxi County.
Even if they hadn’t been there, they had heard of it.
’Our Changxi County has someone even more skilled than a Special-Level Pastry Chef?’
’That’s so badass!’
So, the customers were absolutely thrilled.
As for their surprise and confusion, that was also because the expert had opened a restaurant in Jiulong Gorge.
There was nothing wrong with an expert opening a restaurant.
The key question was, why open it in Jiulong Gorge?
That place was extremely remote.
Could he possibly get any business opening a shop there?
And so, the customers were once again left feeling very surprised and confused.
...