Chapter 364 - 192: Master, You’ve Changed

Chapter 364: Chapter 192: Master, You’ve Changed

Zhou Yan put the fish basket into his back-basket, then got on his bike and headed to the restaurant with Xiao Lei. "Master, that Shanyu Zhang really can’t forget your Linjiang Shanshi."

"When you meet an eccentric, you have to show them what you’re really made of. That’s the only way to win them over." Xiao Lei’s lips curved into a slight smile. "The first time I met Shanyu Zhang, he wasn’t so easy to deal with. If he had eels in the tank, fine. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t go catch more, not even for extra money."

"So later, I made a pot of Linjiang Shanshi and invited him over. After that, no matter how many eels I wanted, what size, or what weight, he’d get them for me without a second thought. As long as I treat him to Linjiang Shanshi for the holidays and keep up the goodwill, everything’s easy to talk about."

Zhou Yan nodded repeatedly. When it came to handling people and social situations, his master truly was in a class of his own.

The two returned to the restaurant.

Qian Siyuan and Lin Zhiqiang were sitting on the stone bench by the entrance, watching Zhou Momo draw.

The little girl sat on a small stool with another one in front of her. She held a crayon in her hand, occasionally glancing up at the two men, drawing with great seriousness and concentration.

"What’re you drawing?" Zhou Yan squeezed his brakes and craned his neck to see.

Well, I’ll be.

The little girl had moved on to portraits.

And it wasn’t half bad. The drawing showed Qian Siyuan in his Western suit and Lin Zhiqiang in his tunic suit, sitting side-by-side on the long bench. One had his hair combed back, and the other wore black-framed glasses. It was actually quite good.

"I’m drawing a picture for the uncles as a gift." Zhou Momo looked up at him with a wide grin. "Look! I’m almost finished!"

"Wow, that’s amazing," Zhou Yan said with a smile and a nod. Ever since she’d gotten those crayons, the little girl’s artistic skills had improved at lightning speed, evolving from her abstract phase to being able to draw recognizable figures.

The details could still use some work, but she had an excellent grasp of her subjects’ defining features. The little girl’s perspective was unique—the figures were drawn extra large, which was very much her personal style.

"Hehe." Zhou Momo giggled proudly, then lowered her head to continue coloring in the clothes. The picture was nearly complete.

"Boss Zhou, you’re back!" Qian Siyuan stood up, his gaze falling on Xiao Lei, who was parking his bike nearby. "This must be Master Xiao?"

"I’m Xiao Lei." Xiao Lei smiled and extended his hand.

"Hello, Master Xiao. I’m Qian Siyuan." Qian Siyuan took his hand. "Thank you for making the trip."

"Zhou Yan told me about your situation, Mr. Qian," Xiao Lei said, looking at him. "For overseas Chinese like yourself, tracing your roots is no easy task. We’re happy to offer what little help we can. What was your mother’s name? The year she was born? What do you know of her life in China? My own Master was from Linjiang, and our Kong Sect is the most famous culinary lineage there. I might have heard her name."

Qian Siyuan considered for a moment. "My mother’s name was Kong Simin. She was born in 1900. She rarely spoke of her life in China, and she hardly even taught me to speak Chinese. She followed my father and came to the United States by ship in 1921. She spent her entire life in New York and passed away in 1956."

"Her surname is Kong!" Zhou Yan’s eyes lit up. That narrowed the search considerably.

"Kong Simin?" Xiao Lei frowned. After a long moment of thought, he murmured, "The name sounds vaguely familiar, but for the life of me, I can’t remember where I’ve heard it..."

Qian Siyuan’s fists clenched tightly, his excitement overflowing. His voice trembled as he asked, "Master Xiao, you’ve really heard that name before?"

"Your mother was two years older than my own Master, and she left the country way back in 1921. I hadn’t been born yet, and even my Master hadn’t finished his apprenticeship. It was a very long time ago." Xiao Lei shook his head. "So it’s hard to say for sure. I’m free tomorrow, though. I can go with you to Linjiang and ask some of the town elders. We could also check the household registration records at the police station; we might find something there. But it’s too late today. I didn’t clear it with the missus, so I have to head home after dinner."

"Oh, thank you so, so much!" Qian Siyuan grasped his hands gratefully.

"You’re welcome. Where there is longing, there will be an echo," Xiao Lei said with a smile, patting the back of his hand. "Zhou Yan told me your mother in the United States often reminisced about the Linjiang Shanshi from her hometown. That dish is my Master’s specialty, and it’s one of my signature dishes as well. We’ve already bought the eels and all the side ingredients."

"We don’t want to get in the way of his evening business, so we’ll get started in a little bit and have it for dinner. Then you can see if the taste is the same as what your mother described."

"Okay." Qian Siyuan nodded.

Zhou Yan reached into the fish basket, pulled out an eel, gripping it tightly with three fingers. He grinned and said, "Mr. Qian, this is the eel you thought looked like a snake."

Qian Siyuan took a step back in surprise. "Oh! It really does look just like a snake! So smooth and slimy... It looks even more frightening than a snake!"

It was the first time he had ever seen an eel. Its slimy appearance was almost exactly as he had imagined it as a child.

But this one seemed smaller, with a pointed head, and it didn’t look particularly aggressive.

However, when he remembered that the delicacy his mother yearned for was made from these small eels, his revulsion and fear subsided a great deal. "Linjiang Shanshi... it’s made with this?"

Xiao Lei nodded. "That’s right. Small eels, each weighing about five qian. Eighty of them in total, making four jin for a single pot of Linjiang Shanshi. It’s considered a famous dish in Jiazhou; you can’t even get it in Suji."

He then turned to Zhou Yan. "Go get some giant hyssop. The key to Linjiang Shanshi is that final handful of hyssop. It’s an indispensable ingredient."

"Got it!" Zhou Yan answered, wheeling his bicycle into the shop before heading out to pick the giant hyssop.

By the time Zhou Yan returned with the giant hyssop, Xiao Lei had already washed the eels.

"Alright, get to it. Start by chopping the ginger and garlic, dried chilies, pickled peppers, pickled ginger, pickled mustard, cilantro, and giant hyssop," Xiao Lei instructed, placing the eels into a deep wooden bucket.

"Got it!" Zhou Yan tied on his apron and immediately got to work.

’Being his master’s prep cook wasn’t demeaning. On the contrary, it was a fantastic learning opportunity.’

’Opportunities to learn a dish hands-on, with an expert right there to guide you, were few and far between.’

’Knife Skills were Zhou Yan’s specialty; he’d cut everything exactly as his master instructed, guaranteed to please.’

The side ingredients were chopped.

The water in the pot was boiling.

"Watch closely," Xiao Lei said as he demonstrated. "Once the water boils, dump all the eels in at once. This step requires both courage and care, quick eyes and quicker hands. The second the eels go in, you have to slam the lid on, or there’s no telling how high they’ll jump!"

As the lid went on, a series of frantic THUDS echoed from inside the pot, but the sounds quickly subsided.

"You don’t kill them first?" Zhou Yan asked, surprised.

"Nope. We’ll gut them when we debone them. It’s faster. Otherwise, with twenty eels to a jin, having to kill them and then debone them would drive a man mad. Besides, if you slice the belly open first, the flesh falls apart too easily, and the texture won’t be as good." As he spoke, Xiao Lei lifted the lid and used a large spoon to skim the scum from the surface.

Zhou Yan had eaten Linjiang Shanshi many times, but he had never witnessed its preparation in a professional kitchen. He knew hot oil was poured over it at the end, but his understanding of the cooking process was hazy at best.

"Boil the eels for five minutes, then take them out immediately." Xiao Lei used a bamboo strainer to scoop the eels from the pot. Amidst the rising steam, he picked one up and handed it to Zhou Yan. "See? In this state, the eel is about seventy percent cooked. It should feel soft to the touch, but not fall-apart mushy. That’s how you know it’s right. The time varies depending on the quantity of eels; it’s not a fixed rule. You have to learn to judge the Fire Control yourself."

Zhou Yan squeezed the eel, feeling its texture and observing its condition. He was starting to get the hang of it.

The cooked eels were poured out onto a large cutting board. From his bag, Xiao Lei took out a yellowish sliver of bone, its tip ground thin and sharp. He showed it to Zhou Yan, a nostalgic look in his eyes. "This is a bone knife, ground from a cow’s rib. It’s what you use to fillet the eels. My Master gave this to me when he taught me how to make Linjiang Shanshi. It’s been almost thirty years."

"Master, so have you prepared one for me?" Zhou Yan asked, looking at him seriously.

Xiao Lei’s expression froze, and he looked a bit awkward. "I’ll get to it. I’ll get one for you later."

"Master, you’ve changed!" Zhou Yan sighed dramatically. "I’m not even in your heart! Your Master didn’t treat you this way."

"What in the Magic Cloak are you on about?! Pay attention. Filleting the eel is the crucial step. The quality of the dish lives or dies by these three cuts." Xiao Lei’s expression grew serious. He picked up a slightly curled eel and laid the bone knife against it. "First, a slice right here along the belly. Then, one cut on the left and one on the right of the backbone. Just like that, one eel becomes two fillets and a complete spine. The organs are still whole; you just push them aside. The technique is simple. Practice makes perfect. One slice, two slices, three slices..."

Zhou Yan watched as, under his master’s bone knife, eel after eel was transformed into perfect fillets. The bones piled up in a neat stack, completely clean, without a single speck of flesh left on them.

His technique was fast and steady. SWISH, SWISH, SWISH. It had a rhythm to it that was incredibly satisfying to watch.

"Got it?" Xiao Lei asked, looking up at him.

"My brain got it," Zhou Yan nodded.

’Now he just had to see if his hands could keep up.’