Chapter 72: Genius!!

Chapter 72: Chapter 72: Genius!!

Chen Jingle turned his head and said, "It’ll be ready in a second. Go sit in the living room for a bit."

Chen Qiyun sniffed the air, catching only the faint aroma of bread. Suppressing her curiosity, she headed back to the living room.

"TA-DA!"

A moment later, Chen Jingle emerged carrying a large platter. Resting on it was a massive, glistening roast chicken.

Chen Qiyun’s eyes widened as she gulped down her saliva. She wondered if this meant the two of them were going to devour an entire roast chicken. That would be absolutely awesome! Just the thought of it made her bubble with anticipation.

The next second, she suddenly realized something was wrong. "Wait! This doesn’t look like a roast chicken!" she exclaimed. She didn’t smell the savory scent of chicken meat at all. Instead, it was the rich, buttery aroma of bread!

Staring at the "roast chicken" in front of her, Chen Qiyun began to question her sanity. Undoubtedly, it looked remarkably like a real roast chicken. What was completely absurd was that its surface even had the texture of chicken skin. Every single part, down to the chicken’s rear end, was meticulously crafted to look identical to the real thing!

However, upon closer inspection, she noticed faint, unnatural seams where the drumsticks, wings, and neck were attached.

"Is... is this bread?!"

Recalling the scent of bread she had smelled earlier, Chen Qiyun found it hard to believe. This "roast chicken," which looked exactly like the real deal but entirely lacked the scent of roasted meat, appeared to be one gigantic loaf of bread. It was no exaggeration to say that the roast chickens sold at Wallace didn’t even look as much like a chicken as this thing did!

"You guessed it!" Chen Jingle beamed. "How is it? It’s the mystery gift I prepared for you!"

"A roast chicken made of bread?" Chen Qiyun snapped back to reality, her small face scrunching up. "What kind of mystery gift is this?" While shaping bread into a roast chicken was certainly impressive, she was craving meat right now, not bread.

"It is, but it isn’t," Chen Jingle chuckled. "Tear it open and see."

"How do I tear it?" Chen Qiyun hesitated.

"Uh, start by pulling off a drumstick," Chen Jingle gestured.

Muttering to herself, Chen Qiyun carefully pulled off a drumstick. Unsurprisingly, it really was bread, completely snow-white on the inside.

Just as a sliver of disappointment set in, she suddenly noticed something: the outer "skin" of the drumstick seemed like it could be peeled off. She gasped. The layer could actually be peeled off, exactly like the crispy skin of a real roast chicken! That was incredible!

Chen Qiyun’s eyes widened, her heart filled with sheer astonishment. She immediately took back her earlier complaint. This mystery gift was more than okay.

When she popped a piece of the "chicken skin" into her mouth, she tasted a hint of sweet honey alongside the fragrant wheat flour. It was delicious! The white "chicken meat" was soft and fluffy, tasting just like a Gangrong steamed sponge cake. It was absolutely fantastic.

"Huh? Why..." Chen Qiyun froze once more.

As she continued to break the drumstick apart, she saw that there was actually a "bone" inside! Oh my god! She stared at Chen Jingle in shock, her expression shifting from disbelief to absolute dumbfoundment.

"Bro, you..." she mumbled. "You’re a genius!!"

A "roast chicken" made of bread—the skin could easily pass for the real thing, it tasted amazing, and it could be pulled apart layer by layer. The most absurd part was that even the skeletal structure had been perfectly recreated! Could it get any more outrageous?!

"Don’t tell me you recreated the skeleton for the entire bread chicken?" Chen Qiyun took a deep breath and asked cautiously.

For some reason, it felt like her older brother had suddenly become some sort of legendary figure. This kind of miraculous craftsmanship seemed like something that only existed in anime or movies. It was just like the glowing egg fried rice or the clothes-bursting dishes from the show Food Wars!—it simply defied all common sense. Who in reality had ever seen something so absurdly over-the-top?

Chen Jingle shook his head. "Not quite. Doing the entire rib cage and everything else is too difficult, and I didn’t have enough time to pull it off."

She realized that meant he actually could do it if he had the time! Chen Qiyun secretly gulped. Good heavens, she could have racked her brain forever and never come up with such a creative idea, yet he had just casually made it a reality. He was a god!! She was ready to declare him the God of Bread!

"This bone..." She took a bite and realized it had a completely different flavor from the "skin" and the "meat." It was truly impressive.

"Is the whole bread chicken like this?" Chen Qiyun asked curiously.

"Why don’t you keep tearing it apart and find out?" Chen Jingle replied.

So, Chen Qiyun continued dismantling the bird. When she finally ripped the whole thing open, the contents of the chicken’s belly left her dumbfounded once again.

"There’s actually real chicken inside!"

It wasn’t bread made to look like chicken anymore—it was actual chicken meat! It seemed to have been marinated and then steamed to perfection inside the belly of the bread chicken. It smelled fantastic and tasted just as wonderful.

Chen Qiyun couldn’t sit still any longer. She hurriedly wiped her hands, tapped open her Xiaotiancai smartwatch, and aimed the camera at the bread chicken in front of her.

"Teacher Li, look at this! My brother made a roast chicken out of bread! Isn’t it amazing? The skin can actually be peeled off, there are bones inside the drumsticks, and the best part is that there’s real chicken stuffed inside!"

Chen Jingle facepalmed, rendered somewhat speechless by her antics. "Just eat your food. Why do you have to record a video and send it to her?"

"Why not?" Chen Qiyun retorted.

"It’s not that you can’t, it just feels weird."

"What’s weird about it? Can’t I share my fun daily life with others?"

"The problem is that she’s a teacher. She doesn’t have the free time to chat about nonsense with you every day."

"That’s not true. Teacher Li replies to my messages every single time."

"..."

Chen Jingle didn’t know what to say. He decided to just let her do whatever she wanted. Speaking of which, if Chen Qiyun hadn’t asked him to go to the school to fill in for a parent-teacher conference, he wouldn’t have earned that 20,000 yuan from Li Beixing in the first place. Thinking of this, Chen Jingle dropped the subject. As long as the kid was happy, that was all that mattered.

Chen Qiyun was genuinely overjoyed. The surprise factor of Chen Jingle’s mystery gift far exceeded her expectations. Not only did she share it with Teacher Li, but she also sent it to her close friends. In short, she wanted everyone to know that she had an invincible, super-awesome older brother!

"All those so-called master chefs pale in comparison to my brother!" she cheered.

At this moment, Chen Qiyun’s ego was inflating infinitely, acting as though she were the invincible one.

In the end, she devoured more than half of the bread chicken all by herself. She leaned back in the mahogany chair, patting her stuffed belly in utter satisfaction. Although the bread chicken might not have tasted quite as savory as the sauce-filled meat buns or the potato and beef stew, the sheer mental satisfaction it provided was far greater than the other two. It was just one surprise after another! As for the chili fried pork mixed with rice that she had been obsessing over at noon, it was already completely forgotten.

"Will the next mystery gift be this again?" Chen Qiyun couldn’t help but ask.

Chen Jingle silently rolled his eyes. "I’ve already made it once. How would it still be a mystery?"

"Then what are you planning to make for me next time?"

"Since it’s a mystery gift, I obviously can’t tell you right now," he replied. In reality, he just hadn’t thought of anything yet.

Chen Qiyun pursed her lips, but having seen what he was capable of this time, she couldn’t help but look forward to the next mystery gift with burning anticipation. She cursed internally, wishing she could grow taller faster. If she could just grow to two meters tall, she would receive so many more mystery gifts!

Meanwhile, on the other end of the phone, Li Beixing was genuinely stunned after watching the video Chen Qiyun had sent her.