Chapter 1365 - 536: Salt-fried Lamb Lives Up to Its Name! Is This the So-called Mysterious Grand Gift Pack?

Chapter 1365: Chapter 536: Salt-fried Lamb Lives Up to Its Name! Is This the So-called Mysterious Grand Gift Pack?

"My stomach hurts in bouts, especially in the middle of the night. It’s not that bad, sometimes I just rub it a bit and it’s fine."

"Could be gastritis. Cut down on greasy and spicy foods that irritate the stomach. If you’re still worried, go to the hospital for a checkup. A gastroscopy isn’t that expensive and it lets you see your stomach inside and out."

"..."

Everyone tossed out questions one after another, and Han Shuzhen answered at an unhurried pace. She even subconsciously wanted to tell the students to take notes, only to snap back and realize this wasn’t an outpatient clinic.

Shen Jiayue said with a grin:

"I thought everyone would be crowding around me, asking this and that and urging me to have a baby. Didn’t expect Mom to be this popular, totally stealing my spotlight."

Lin Xu deftly sliced the green peppers:

"It’s way too hard to see a doctor these days. Now that we finally have our mom, a real authority, of course everyone’s going to ask more."

Shen Jiayue handed him the scallions and lowered her voice:

"What they don’t know is, Mom’s the worst doctor in our whole family. Grandpa, Grandma, my uncles and aunts on Mom’s side, every last one of them is better than her."

Lin Xu: "..."

You really don’t need to tear her down like that.

He cut the green chilies into oblique chunks, then chopped some scallions, put them all in a basket, and dumped them into the mutton pot.

He stir-fried twice to let the mutton fat draw out the fresh spiciness of the green chilies and the aroma of the onions, then it was ready to serve.

"Mm, the smell is so rich. Xu-bao, if we used the lamb from Datong, would it taste even better?"

"Definitely better. The lamb over there’s different. If you want to eat it later, I’ll have Old Huang send one over by cold chain so our whole family can indulge."

"Thanks, Xu-bao!"

Before long, everyone had arrived and started taking their seats.

Twenty tables of guests, seated in the restaurant and in the iron canopy at the other end of the courtyard.

The courtyard was sheltered from the wind and quite warm; eating under the canopy wasn’t cold at all, and even had a bit of rustic charm.

Lin Xu and Shi Wenming carried down the heated chicken stew pot and let it simmer a bit longer so the braised chickens could be plated and served.

Looking at the pot of braising broth, Shi Wenming said with a smile:

"We’d better save this broth. Who knows, maybe in the future every tourist at our scenic spot will be walking around with a roast chicken in hand."

He was half joking, but Lin Xu actually felt it shouldn’t be that hard.

After all, this roast chicken was Perfect Level; the flavor was absolutely flawless.

Dish after dish went up, and Lin Xu also started getting busy in the kitchen.

He put the marinated fish into a large pot of hot oil to fry. First a preliminary fry, then later, right before serving, he’d fry them again and pour over the prepared sweet-and-sour sauce. The sweet-and-sour Carp would then be officially done.

There are rules to rural banquets. The first few dishes are basically all cold plates, like cold sliced beef, cold pig’s ears, peanuts and the like.

Once the cold dishes are done, the hot dishes start, and in the middle you intersperse whole chicken, whole fish, and whole pork knuckles.

After all the big items are served, it’s time for the toasting segment.

Once the toasts are over, a salty soup is served first, then it’s the turn of the main dishes to go with rice and all kinds of steamed and inverted bowls. After all of those, a sweet soup goes up last, marking the end of the banquet.

In Yinzhou, the custom is that there are no rolling meatballs at happy events; they only appear at funerals.

At happy events, they’ll serve taro balls or sesame balls in the middle. Kids love these and will even fight each other over them.

"Start serving the roast chicken!"

Hearing this, Lin Xu immediately removed the lid from the braising pot and, with a big ladle, skimmed off all the fat floating on top of the broth.

By now the chickens were tender and falling apart, so he simply scooped them out onto plates.

Once plated, he tilted them slightly to drain off some of the sauce, then set them on a large serving tray.

The roast chickens today were intentionally made in extra quantity so they could be served tomorrow on New Year’s Eve. He plated all the remaining chickens and carried them into the kitchen to cool.

Then he took off his apron, and under the lead of Lin Hongqi and an elder in the family, went around with Shen Jiayue toasting everyone.

When the toasting ended, Shen Jiayue whispered:

"Xu-bao, can you sit and eat with me? I get nervous eating with the elders; I don’t dare eat freely."

"Once I dish out the lamb, I’ll come eat with you."

Only then did Shen Jiayue remember they hadn’t even eaten the Salt-fried Lamb yet, so she said happily:

"Right, we’ve still got lamb. Later at our table, give us extra, I’m scared there won’t be enough."

Lin Xu chuckled:

"We’ve got two whole lambs; there’s no way it won’t be enough."

With that, he picked up a stack of small stainless-steel bowls and went to the iron pot. As he lifted the lid, the wonderful aroma of the Salt-fried Lamb wafted out.

The lamb in the pot was slightly charred on the surface, carrying a strong spicy aroma and the fragrance of scallions.

There was a lot of fat at the bottom of the pot, but no trace of gaminess.

Lin Xu scooped lamb bowl by bowl. When he was done, he put the rest into a big basin, carried it over to the table where Shen Jiayue was sitting, and plopped down next to her.

"Wow, so this is the Salt-fried Lamb? It looks delicious."

Unable to wait, Shen Jiayue picked up a piece and put it into her disposable bowl. As soon as she took a bite, her mouth filled with the rich flavor of lamb.

The lamb was tender, its surface carrying a faint fried texture, while the inside was juicy. The meat’s savor, the freshness of the green peppers, and the saltiness all merged together, instantly whetting the appetite.

Han Shuzhen tried a lamb rib and immediately lavished praise on Lin Xu’s skills:

"Xiao Xu, this lamb is really fantastic—so fragrant, so fresh, and very tender to eat."

Lin Xu said:

"And this is using goat, which doesn’t have much fat. If we used sheep with more fatty meat, it would taste even better."

Hearing it could be even tastier, even Shen Guofu at the next table, who’d been clinking glasses with Lin Xu as relatives, was drawn over. He said:

"I’ll call Old Huang in a bit and have him send a few grassland sheep over as soon as possible, see just how high the ceiling is on this Salt-fried Lamb."

Lin Xu certainly wasn’t going to turn that down—in fact, he’d just been planning to redeem the Perfect Level Technique for Salt-fried Lamb.

After all, the system required ten Perfect Level dishes. This Salt-fried Lamb is easy to master and tastes great, perfect for adding to the menu at the scenic spot.

By now, most of the dishes being served were mains to go with rice, and the staples came out too.

Those who liked steamed buns ate buns, those who liked rice ate rice—two options, free choice.

Lin Xu scooped a bowl of rice for Shen Jiayue. She immediately grabbed two pieces of lamb and dropped them into her bowl, ready to dig in.

Seeing how happily she ate, Lin Xu picked up a lamb shank for himself and tasted it. He found it really good; compared with the original "a handful of scallions, a handful of salt, a bowl of water," he’d added dried chili and green chili, making it even tastier and more perfect with rice.

While they were eating, several types of inverted steamed bowls came up one after another.

Shen Jiayue picked up a piece of Crispy Meat and popped it into her mouth, sighing:

"These big village banquets are just more satisfying. It feels way better than eating at a restaurant. Thank you, Xu-bao, for letting me experience the old Yinzhou banquets from your hometown."

Lin Xu smiled and was about to say she didn’t have to be so polite, when the system’s notification sounded in his mind:

"Host has held a traditional village banquet and completed the reward task [Village Banquet Feast]. Special reward: one mysterious big gift pack. Congratulations to the host."

Right after the notification, a golden little pouch appeared in his inventory.

So this was the mysterious big gift pack?

Lin Xu tried opening it, and another notification sounded:

"Congratulations to the host for obtaining one Superior cuisine learning card and one Superior local snack lottery chance. Draw now?"

He’d run himself ragged to complete the task, and all he got were two Superior-level rewards.

This was really stingy, wasn’t it?

Lin Xu was grumbling to himself when he suddenly saw Dundun running over, and his hope immediately flared back up.

As long as this little guy pulled his weight, a Superior draw might still yield a great dish. Local snacks cover a huge range; something like whole roast lamb, that super grand dish, is still classified as a snack in the world of food.

Roast duck, that famous Beijing calling card, is also a snack.

So this time it all depended on Dundun—whether they could channel the luck of the "European God" and draw something really eye-catching.

Thinking of this, he scooped Dundun up in his arms and silently intoned in his heart:

"Draw!"

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This Chapter is 5600 words. Today’s the last day for double Monthly Tickets—brothers, I’m begging for those Monthly Tickets!