Seeing that Zeng Dayong was hesitant to speak, Su Yujin understood and stopped asking. She just smiled and said, “I’ll take half the basket of your shísānxiāng.”

“Alright,” responded Zeng Dayong promptly and eagerly.

Su Yujin called Shuangye and others to get clean porcelain jars to hold the shísānxiāng.

The seasonings originally used were scarce, and various seasonings were already not cheap. Ordinary people usually bought them for just a few coins or a couple of taels, and they could last for a long time.

Su Yujin asked for half the basket at once, which weighed five or six kilograms, but it was a big deal.

Zeng Dayong felt happy in his heart, and he added an extra half spoonful to Su Yujin’s dish. “Consider these as a gift for Miss Su,” he said.

“Thank you very much.” Su Yujin said with a smile, “Besides shísānxiāng, what else do you do? This glutinous rice flour can they be sold individually?”

“I’m really sorry, this glutinous rice flour is not sold individually. Master and I only make these shísānxiāng.” Zeng Dayong said embarrassedly, “But if Miss Su really wants the glutinous rice flour, if the price is right, I’ll go back and talk to the master to see if it can work.”

“Your master is a good cook, so he must be a little arrogant. If you go back and ask directly, your master will definitely disagree. Why don’t I go and visit in person? Won’t that show my sincerity?”

Su Yujin blinked and smiled.

“This…” Zeng Dayong scratched his head, “My master usually doesn’t like to see outsiders and has a bad temper. I’m afraid…”

He refused.

Su Yujin wrapped the money for shísānxiāng and handed it to Zeng Dayong, “This is the money for the shísānxiāng.”

Zeng Dayong weighed the silver and said, “Miss Su, this money seems to be a lot.”

“The payment for the Shísānxiāng is for the Shísānxiāng, but the rest is for recognition of your craftsmanship, which should be given. Since your master has a bit of a temper, it’s okay. It’s natural to be proud of one’s skills, so it should be expected.”

“However, I am eager to meet your master, and I am not afraid of these trivial matters. How about this? I’ll consider the extra money as a token of goodwill between me and your younger brother. In the next couple of days, I will prepare some of my best dishes for you to take back to your master to taste. Perhaps after tasting them, your master will be more willing to meet me,” Su Yujin proposed.

Looking at the smiling Su Yujin, Zeng Dayong weighed the money in his hand. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded, “Okay, but I will only take the food back. As for whether the master is willing to see Miss Su, I can’t guarantee it.”

“It doesn’t matter, I just want you to take the food back.”

With a cheerful smile, Su Yujin chatted with Zeng Dayong for a while longer, arranging a time for him to come and collect the food. As Zeng Dayong mentioned that he still needed to go and sell the rest of the Shísānxiāng, she then saw him off from the shop.

Watching Zeng Dayong selling along the street and promoting the Shísānxiāng when he entered the food shop, Su Yujin observed for a while before returning to the shop. She then looked at the full jar of Shísānxiāng and said, “Let’s put this thing in the back kitchen for now. We won’t need it for a while.”

“Feng sǎozi may be able to use it for cooking at home. Wrap some for Feng sǎozi to take home.”

Feng Shi knew Su Yujin’s temperament well on regular days, so she didn’t refuse and thanked Su Yujin before happily heading out to pack the Shísānxiāng.

When it came to Ai Cao, she was extremely suspicious, “Miss, won’t we use this Shísānxiāng?”

“Although the Shísānxiāng tastes good, the various seasonings we make in our daily meals have fixed amounts. If we add this Shísānxiāng, the fragrance will be added, the taste won’t be quite right.”

Su Yujin said, “And if you want to make stews and soups with good taste, you still have to adapt to local conditions. The Shísānxiāng can be used in ordinary restaurants or home-cooked dishes.”

Their Miss’ cooking skills were so good, so of course she won’t need to use them.

Ai Cao nodded, “That’s true.”

But since Miss didn’t need this Shísānxiāng, why did she still buy half a basket at once? Was it to just meet the person who made the Shísānxiāng?

Could it be that that man’s cooking skills were much better than Miss’, so Miss was trying every possible means to meet that man?

Su Yujin stayed at Su Ji for a while before going back.

After returning, Su Yujin began to think about what kind of food to make as a stepping stone to meet the mysterious man with superb cooking skills.

Since that person had superb cooking skills and could make glutinous rice flour that few people knew about, he must have come into contact with most kinds of expensive and high-end ingredients in his daily life.

Trying to win favor with exotic ingredients will have little chance of success.

And since this person only made Shísānxiāng and didn’t even sell things like glutinous rice flour, she guessed his temper was indeed as Zeng Dayong said, a bit weird. Since he was such a person, she thought he preferred to play his cards without following the routine.

After hesitating for two days, Su Yujin called Mother Liu to go to the street and buy a cabbage, two chickens, and a pigeon.

After buying all these things, Su Yujin rushed into the kitchen and stayed there for the whole morning.

When Zeng Dayong came to get food, Su Yujin handed him a casserole.

“This is what Miss Su made…” Zeng Dayong looked at the steaming casserole and sniffed hard.

But unfortunately, he couldn’t smell anything.

“Dùn báicài.” Su Yujin opened the lid.

After the heat dissipated, when Zeng Dayong looked at the young cabbage leaves floating in the casserole and the clear soup, he pursed his lips and smiled, “It’s actually kāishuǐ báicài. It’s really not easy to make this dish well.”

“Please, take this back first and let your master taste it,” Su Yujin said with a smile as she covered the lid.

“I’ll go right away.” Zeng Dayong nodded, picked up the food box, and walked back quickly.

kāishuǐ báicài?

Ai Cao scratched her head and muttered, “Isn’t this dish too simple?”

Even she could cook it.

“It might sound simple, but I’ve heard of this dish. It’s called ‘kāishuǐ báicài.’ Although it looks like plain boiled water, it’s actually made with a rich broth from chicken and pigeon, paired with tender napa cabbage hearts. The dish, called ‘kāishuǐ báicài,’ may seem unremarkable, but it’s actually incredibly delicious,” Mother Liu added.

“No wonder the girl asked us to buy chickens and pigeons. I thought it was to eat braised pigeons.”

Ai Cao laughed, then slapped her head suddenly, “Uh-oh!”

“What’s wrong?” Mother Liu asked, suddenly startled.

Meanwhile, Ai Cao had already entered the kitchen. After a thorough search and confirming that the pot was completely clean, not a drop of soup left, she felt disappointed. “If only I had known, I would have asked Miss to leave a little…” she lamented.

Even just a mouthful, to taste the flavor!

Just thinking about eating!

Mother Liu rolled her eyes at Ai Cao helplessly, “The chicken for the girl’s soup is still there. I’ll tear it up later. I already know how to make the dipping sauce for the scallion chicken that Miss made last time. I’ll make it later. You can eat the scallion chicken.”

“Yes!” Ai Cao’s expression suddenly changed from cloudy to sunny.

“Keep the chicken legs for Miss. Miss doesn’t like chicken breasts.” Mother Liu warned again, and then asked Su Yujin, “Miss, in addition to the scallion chicken at noon, let’s make a roasted bean curd, braise a radish, and eat sausages. How about steamed rice?”

(End of this chapter)

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Ok, the name of the dish translates to Boiled Cabbage Water which is a very famous and unique Chinese dish that is said to have originated from the Qing dynasty kitchen. I found this video that shows not only how to make it but also the science behind it. I thought Buddha Jumps Over The Wall is a complicated dish (and one that every transmigrated foodie FL makes), but this one is parallel to it in terms of ingredients and techniques used.