Abnormal Gourmet Chronicle-Chapter 783 - 397: The Chef’s Heart

As the steamer lid was lifted, thick steam billowed out from the pot, spreading all around, accompanied by the aroma of the Four Happiness Rolls.

Indeed, the aroma of meat.

Friends who often eat ham know that whether it’s fried or steamed, the aroma of ham is incredibly rich. It’s very intense, very savory, and you can even smell the salty freshness of the meat.

The Four Happiness Rolls require top-quality ham. With Huang Ji’s supply, even if the Young Master’s business skills were lacking, it’d be impossible to procure poor-quality ham. The raw materials are undoubtedly top-notch.

Thus, at the moment the rolls leave the pot, the aroma is also first-rate. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

The scent of diced ham, sesame oil, and chopped green onions mixed together is practically synonymous with salty freshness, making one feel they should eat some staple food.

The Four Happiness Rolls are the staple food.

Zheng Da deftly took the Four Happiness Rolls out of the steamer one by one, cut them in half, and arranged them on a plate. Qin Huai and others immediately gathered around to witness this historic moment.

They had cloud patterns, and the shape was fairly decent, though the quality control wasn’t quite there.

Zheng Da demonstrated to everyone through his actions that even failed rolls could have cloud patterns, though these cloud patterns might not look very appealing. However, they were recognizable as cloud patterns. After all, aesthetics are diverse; someone might just like this kind of cloud pattern.

Some of Zheng Da’s Four Happiness Rolls reflected a unique aesthetic, but most of them were quite normal, not particularly outstanding, but definitely satisfactory.

It was Qin Huai’s first time seeing successful cloud patterns, knowing that if Guli’s Ruyi Rolls were successful, they might have a similar appearance when cut open.

The group of Qin Huai marveled at Zheng Da’s Four Happiness Rolls.

Honestly, these rolls were more successful than Qin Huai had imagined because Zheng Da’s back-rolled technique showed many obvious issues. Qin Huai several times thought that Master Zheng would fail today. Yet, the final products turned out surprisingly well, indicating the rolls had a high tolerance for mistakes.

Huang Shengli was also quite moved, his face full of gratification. Clearly, he was relieved that his junior was finally no longer secretly making Four Happiness Rolls at home during Chinese New Year and then feeding them to the dog.

Only Gong Liang showed no astonishment or appreciation, his eyes filled with a longing for the Four Happiness Rolls.

Gong Liang claimed he had finally found a chance to sneak into the kitchen today, so of course, he would openly sit and feast in the kitchen.

As for what Gong Liang said the night before about possibly having something to do today and sending an assistant to pick up snacks, that was conveniently forgotten by him.

Gong Liang didn’t ask the question, "Can we eat now?" because even though he was some distance from Zheng Da, he could tell that Zheng Da’s mood was a bit off, and everyone was waiting for Zheng Da to respond.

Zheng Da’s expression was very complex, quite uncharacteristic of Zheng Da.

There was a hint of melancholy, a touch of nostalgia, a yearning for the past, and a specific middle-aged reminiscence of youth in his expression.

It was the first time Qin Huai saw Zheng Da with such a complicated expression; most of the time, Master Zheng was a very simple person.

Simply lazy, simply unambitious, simply complacent, simply generous with money, simply fond of giving red envelopes, and simply wanting to take him on as a disciple.

Perhaps because Zheng Da himself is such a simple person, he would, despite not knowing Qin Huai, simply after a video call guiding Qin Huai on making locust flower buns, find Qin Huai talented and discover that just a video call wouldn’t resolve the issue, go all the way from Gusu to Shan City to guide Qin Huai.

Thinking about it carefully, it seems so unbelievable and incomprehensible, yet with Zheng Da, it makes perfect sense because that’s just who he is.

Even though he had stopped being a chef for many years, ventured into business and achieved financial freedom, his essence remained a pure-hearted chef, still the same Master Zheng from the State Owned Restaurant, who once, due to the leadership’s prejudice against pastry chefs, couldn’t become a master and cried for days at home before resigning in anger.

Master Zheng stared dumbly at the plate of Four Happiness Rolls.

These were the Four Happiness Rolls he made by hand, using the exact same method, the exact same imperfections, but with a changed filling; the recipe altered from incomprehensible fatty diced pork, diced pork belly, lean diced pork, minced meat to fragrant diced ham.

Zheng Da slowly reached out his hand and precisely picked out the ugliest, most failed, and the cloud-patterned roll that seemed the most problematic.

He picked it up and took a bite.

A big bite.

Just like a seventeen or eighteen-year-old after a day’s work, hungry enough to eat a whole cow, taking two bites to fit an entire large bun, he took a big bite, his cheeks puffing out as he chewed.

Zheng Da quickly refused, mumbling indistinctly:

"It’s diced ham, it’s really diced ham, truly diced ham."

"Master, I said there was something wrong with this filling. I finally know what the right filling is."

"It’s ham, surprisingly ham."

Zheng Da muttered, blinked his eyes, and two teardrops fell instantly, then like floodwaters breaking through a dam, tears flowed uncontrollably. Zheng Da, still chewing on the Four Happiness Roll, started to sob uncontrollably while eating.

Everyone was stunned; Guli even stepped back two steps in fear.

Even Zheng Siyuan looked at his father with incredulous eyes, as if he didn’t know who this father was.