Chapter 153: Rice Gruel and Porridge
Translator: Xiong Guoqi Editor: DesTheSloth
Under the direct instructions of Fang Heng, the waiter packed the dishes very quickly. In just a short while, several specialty dishes with liquor were finished being packed and filled in the porcelain lunch box.
"Take it away," Fang Heng handed it to Zheng Jiawei in a disgusted manner.
"Thank you," Zheng Jiawei thanked him with a smile and prepared to leave after he received the lunch box.
"Wait. Are the dishes of that restaurant really so delicious?" Fang Heng asked cautiously.
"What, are you curious?" Looking at Feng Heng, Zheng Jiawei teased him.
"Yes, I’m just asking," Fang Heng frankly admitted.
"They are truly delicious. At least Wu Hai is quite satisfied with them. He has taken that place as his canteen by now." Speaking of this, Zheng Jiawei felt both angry and funny.
"Ok, got it. You can leave now, bye bye." After hesitating for an instant, Fang Heng started to see his customers off.
"On this point, you are so alike to Wu Hai, always burning the bridge after crossing it," Zheng Jiawei complained before getting back to Wu Hai and then leaving.
.....
"Boss Yuan, since the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine can also include liquor making, I want a bowl of plain porridge," during the opening hours in the evening, a customer said that.
"Porridge doesn’t fall under the 100 Style of Rice Cuisines. Please change to another one," Yuan Zhou answered earnestly.
"Well, fine. Then give me white rice and a serving of Jin’ling Grass." Finally, the customer selected plain white rice.
Shortly afterwards, Yuan Zhou carried the dishes ordered to him and set the dishes down on the table, saying politely, "Please help yourself."
"Boss Yuan, I’m here again. What about taking a guess what I’m gonna order today?" Dressed in the white shirt and jeans, Jiang Changxi looked as youthful as a university student. She did not seem like a "Three-Lost" woman at all.
"Not guessing," Yuan Zhou refused squarely.
Since she had eaten the Black Sugar Rice Cake last time, Jiang Changxi had fallen in love with the dish and thought of various rare dishes under the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine for Yuan Zhou to cook for her.
She came here once every day and ordered the 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine every time. They were strange and eccentric, such as Fried Rice Pancake, Rice Cracker and Multilayer Rice Cake, etc. Her selection was too numerous to mention all of them. With this established habit, Yuan Zhou naturally knew what she would order today without even guessing, but he didn’t want to answer her.
"Sigh. Boss Yuan, did you use too much of your energy last night? You can’t even give such an obvious answer," she looked at Yuan Zhou with a regrettable look.
The reason why Yuan Zhou did not guess was also because of her manner of speech. This woman always said some inexplicable things every time she came.
"What do you eat?" Facing Jiang Changxi, Yuan Zhou brought out a solemn expression.
"Boss Yuan, you really scare me that way. Please, be tender with me. Then I will tell you." Jiang Changxi never missed any opportunity to tease Yuan Zhou.
"Hi, Sir. What would you like to eat?" Yuan Zhou directly disregarded her boring request and enquired the customer behind her.
"Fine, fine. I won’t take advantage of you anymore. I want porridge." With a smile, Jiang Changxi ordered the most ordinary 100 Styles of Rice Cuisine.
"Porridge isn’t under the 100 Style of Rice Cuisines." Yuan Zhou’s face revealed slightly complacent expression; it was almost unnoticeable.
"Why is it not considered? Porridge requires no more than rice and water, without any other ingredients." Jiang Changxi was a little astonished.
"Porridge isn’t under the 100 Style of Rice Cuisines. Please order again," Yuan Zhou didn’t mean to explain anything to her.
"Good. You don’t want to cook it, huh? You wait, let me search for something," while speaking, she sat down and took out her phone to search through Baidu.
Having ignored Jiang Changxi for that moment, Yuan Zhou looked towards the customer waiting behind her with an enquiring look.
"Boss, just serve him the Egg Fried Rice Set," Mu Xiaoyun said in time at the side.
"One moment." Yuan Zhou turned around and went back to the kitchen.
The slender and beautiful fingers of Jiang Changxi slid swiftly across the phone screen. Just in a little while, she got what she longed for.
When Yuan Zhou carried the Egg Fried Rice Set to the customer behind her, she said confidently, "Boss Yuan, I order a serving of Rice Gruel under the 100 Style of Rice Cuisines."
"Ok, one moment," Yuan Zhou accepted it with a nod.
"Wait. Something is wrong," the customer who had ordered the porridge just now barely finished his meal.
When he first heard that someone ordered the same dish but was likewise refused, he nevertheless sympathized with her. But now, there was only dissatisfaction left in his heart.
"What’s wrong?" For this kind of issues, Yuan Zhou never let Mu Xiaoyun deal with it. Instead, he inquired in person.
"Boss Yuan, it probably doesn’t conform to your rules if you play such tricks. It also ruins your reputation," despite the unpleasant expression on his face, he nevertheless spoke with a normal tone.
"Get to the point," Yuan Zhou’s expression still remained calm.
At that moment, all sorts of comments arose among other customers who were waiting in line likewise.
"What’s wrong with Boss Yuan? Aren’t the porridge and rice gruel the same thing?" somebody asked in puzzlement.
"You are right. Is it because they have different names?" Someone else even suspected that it was because of the different names.
"What’s the difference? It’s no more than the difference in the number of characters." With the dismissive tone, this person waited to watch the scene.
"It’s not due to that difference. Based on the structure of the character, the character of porridge is comparatively far more ancient. The appearance of rice gruel only happened not long ago," this person continued speaking more of the literary quotation of rice gruel. This nevertheless greatly frustrated the person who had mentioned the difference was only the number of characters before that.
"In my opinion, they have different cooking ways." The customers still trusted Yuan Zhou’s reputation quite a bit. He definitely had decent reasons for saying that. They merely wanted to get his explanation.
"Let’s just wait for Boss Yuan to explain this matter," the people waiting in line naturally wanted to watch the scene.
"Just now, I ordered porridge and Boss Yuan said porridge didn’t fall under the 100 Style of Rice Cuisines. But when the lady ordered it, he unexpectedly accepted it. What is the meaning of this?" The customer mentioned Jiang Changxi in one go.
"Because you ordered porridge and she ordered rice gruel. Do you have any more problems?" With an indifferent tone, Yuan Zhou directly stated the difference.
"Aren’t porridge and rice gruel one thing? Why is it that she can order it but I couldn’t?" The customer was rather bewildered.
"No, they aren’t," Yuan Zhou corrected him seriously.
"They just have two different names. What difference is there?" The customer, nevertheless, still persisted.
"Oh my god. Come on. Let me explain to them." Having watched the bustling scene for quite a while, Jiang Changxi decided to join in the debate personally.
"Boss Yuan, you don’t have to be too grateful to me. Hurry up and go to cook my dishes," before the explanation, she yet didn’t forget to tease Yuan Zhou.
"Porridge is actually indeed different from rice gruel," seeing Yuan Zhou really turn around and return to the kitchen, Jiang Changxi then turned her head and said to the customers.
"Why are they different things?" The customer crossed his arms against his chest and showed a manner of disbelief.
"What you want to order is the plain porridge, right?" Jiang Changxi first set out the fundamental problem of this dispute.
"Yes. It doesn’t violate the rules of the 100 Style of Rice Cuisines." This customer obeyed the rules of Yuan Zhou’s restaurant.
"But, plain porridge is a traditional food of the Chinese Han in Qingzhou Province. The local people there call porridge without any condiments as plain porridge. Am I right?" Judged from her manner of speaking, Jiang Changxi liked to keep people in suspense while talking.
"Yes. That’s also why I believe the porridge is one of 100 Style of Rice Cuisines." The customer revealed a firm expression.
"No, it isn’t. As for the difference in the cooking methods between plain porridge and rice gruel, I don’t want to go into details anymore." Although she appeared to be youthful and charming, Jiang Changxi’s words were nevertheless quite persuasive.
"What’s the main point?" The customer and others surrounding to watch had their curiosity pipquied.
Theoretically, there were no other differences apart from those mentioned by her. However, this woman spoke as if there was any significant difference.
"Because the porridge requires broth to be boiled while the rice gruel doesn’t," Jiang Changxi brought out the major difference between the two.
"Broth? Does porridge require that during the boiling?" the customer was fairly stupefied. It was the first time for him to know that plain porridge and the rice gruel weren’t the same thing…