Journey to the West: Starting by taking Sun Wukong as my disciple!-Chapter 470: The Timid Yang Chan

"I know, brother," Yang Chan sighed, "but Shopkeeper Chen has always treated me just like a regular customer. Even if I wanted to get closer to him, it seems like there is no chance at all."

"You said Nuwa also likes him, and as far as I know, I think Fairy Baihua also has a special regard for him," Yang Jian said, "He doesn’t go out much. If he met people more often, surely the number who like him would increase. Are you truly content with being just a customer?"

"I’m not content, but I really can’t see any way around it," Yang Chan sighed deeply again, "It feels like each of them might have a chance to get closer to Shopkeeper Chen, but for some reason, I just can’t find a way to say more than a few words to him. He really is a good person, and I’m so afraid of him being taken by someone else, yet I don’t know how to win him over."

"Can’t you be a bit bolder?" Yang Jian said, "I think I saw Fairy Baihua descend to the mortal world a few days ago, not once but twice, all for Chen Nuo. There must be some spell in the mortal world that Fairy Baihua could use. Can’t you start from there and help him out?"

Yang Chan listlessly propped her head up with her elbow, "I wish I could, but all I have is the Precious Lotus Lantern. There doesn’t seem to be a time when Shopkeeper Chen needs the Precious Lotus Lantern, and besides that, his own mana is much higher than mine. How could I possibly be of help to him?"

What she said was indeed true; Yang Jian didn’t know what to say, only feeling that if his sister remained this indifferent, Chen Nuo might really drift further away from her.

"How about you talk to him about other things, like whether he has any new dishes coming up, or if you tried some tasty snack in the mortal world and ask Shopkeeper Chen if he could adapt it into a dish here? Those are all opportunities," was all Yang Jian could think of.

"It’s easy for you to say, brother, but I have no chance to experiment. Shopkeeper Chen leaves as soon as he serves the dishes, and I can’t find him at other times. Where am I supposed to find the opportunity to talk to Shopkeeper Chen about these things?"

While they were talking, Chen Nuo had already brought the dishes over.

"Here you go, the dishes you ordered." Chen Nuo directed the Roc Demon King to place each plate on the table, then transferred mana to the stove, igniting flames under the stone pot.

Chen Nuo sprinkled a bit of oil on top and waited as the pot’s temperature slowly rose from the fire. He then used tongs to place slices of pork belly into the pot.

"For grilling meat, I suggest starting with pork belly," Chen Nuo explained while grilling, "The belly is rich in fat which not only can be released to season the pot while eating but also can be used to cook other meats later on without needing to add more oil."

"That’s an interesting way to eat; it really opens one’s eyes," Yang Jian praised.

Once the pork belly slices he’d placed were cooked, Chen Nuo picked them out, dipped them in seasoning, wrapped them in a lettuce leaf, and handed them to the siblings, "All done, you can eat now."

Yang Chan took the wrapped pork, bit into it.

The first taste was the fresh crispness of the lettuce, followed by the savory flavor of the seasoning, then the rich and fragrant taste of the fatty pork.

The bite was large, and to avoid leaving teeth marks on the food, Yang Chan stuffed the entire lettuce-wrapped pork into her mouth. By the time she had chewed and swallowed, the second slice of meat was ready.

But this time, Chen Nuo didn’t serve it to them. Stone pot grilling was meant for the enjoyment of self-service; Chen Nuo didn’t want to spoil their fun and thought it better to let them do it themselves.

While Yang Chan was still hesitating, Yang Jian had already started eating on his own.

He imitated how Chen Nuo had shown them, also picking up a slice of pork belly, dipping it in the seasoning, and putting it on a lettuce leaf to eat.

"Wrapping the meat in lettuce isn’t necessary. If you’re okay with fatty meat, you can skip the lettuce. This way, the flavor of the pork belly might be even richer," Chen Nuo explained to Yang Jian, who was still following his eating method.

He had suggested wrapping the meat in lettuce mainly because he thought that Yang Chan, being a girl, might not be too fond of fatty meat. Besides, eating too much meat can indeed become overly filling.

Wrapping it in lettuce might be better, but for someone like Yang Jian, a military general, it wouldn’t be necessary; he probably wouldn’t find eating just the meat too greasy.

Yang Jian nodded, picked up a piece of pork belly, dipped it in the sauce, and put it directly into his mouth. Indeed, the pork belly tasted even more delicious this way.

Yang Chan couldn’t eat much meat, so she still wrapped hers in lettuce. This method also didn’t diminish the flavor of the pork belly and even offset the greasiness.

The pork belly was cut rather thickly, but the two of them ate quickly. In an instant, half a plate of pork belly had vanished. Just as Yang Jian was about to cook more, Chen Nuo stopped him.

"There’s already a lot of grease from the pork belly. You might want to try this," Chen Nuo said as he placed the black pepper beef tenderloin into the pan.

As the meat touched the hot oil, white smoke rose instantly. Chen Nuo casually used a magic artifact for storing items to suck in the smoke, then flipped the meat in the pan with tongs. After thinking for a moment, he added about half a plate of onions as well.

"The beef tenderloin doesn’t need to be too well-done; it becomes too dry," Chen Nuo said, dishing out the meat onto two small plates and sprinkling them with chili, cumin, and five-spice powder before setting them in front of the siblings.

"This is ready to eat?" Yang Jian paused. The pork belly from earlier had been cooked for quite some time, whereas the beef tenderloin seemed to have been scooped up almost immediately after being put in. "It doesn’t look very cooked."

"Are you questioning my skills?" Chen Nuo glared sideways. "If you like it well-done, then put it back in the pan for a while. But if it gets overcooked later, don’t blame me."

"Big brother, how can you talk like that? Shopkeeper Chen is a cook; of course, he knows what he’s doing," Yang Chan intervened immediately in Chen Nuo’s defense. "If you’re not going to eat, then I’ll start."

With that, she picked up a piece of meat, put it in her mouth, and her eyes lit up. What was this? It was incredibly delicious!!

Unlike the crispy exterior of the pork belly, the beef tenderloin was so tender it felt like she wasn’t eating meat, more like she was eating a custard egg - incredibly soft!

"Brother, you have to try this; it’s so tasty!" Yang Chan couldn’t even pretend to be reserved. She had called him "big brother" before, but the meat was so delicious that she couldn’t even feign modesty.

Seeing Yang Chan’s exaggerated reaction, Yang Jian set aside his hesitation and followed her lead, also picking up meat to taste.

He didn’t realize he was eating meat until he took a bite, then took a few more pieces and put them in his mouth. Only when he crushed the black peppercorns did he realize that he was indeed eating meat. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"How can this meat be so tender?" Yang Jian asked. "How did you make this?"

"Weren’t you watching?" Chen Nuo said with a cold snort, disliking his skills being doubted after Yang Jian’s earlier remarks.

Yang Jian also realized he had misspoken and quickly apologized to Chen Nuo, "I was blind to your talent; I’m a bit of a brute. Shopkeeper Chen, please don’t take offense. I never knew meat could be prepared in such a way. Forgive my ignorance."