Chapter 140 Cooking Skills Are Higher Than Martial Arts
"Master Chen, come and have some tea."
"I don't have that many good things to entertain guests here, so this little tea is the only thing I can offer." Li Xiang greeted him, and Chen Jue followed him and sat down at the tea table.
After drinking a cup of green tea, Chen Jue felt calm inside. He sat and talked with Li Xiang for a while. After a while, a well-dressed middle-aged woman came back from outside carrying a basket of vegetables.
"Old Li, are there guests at home?" The woman exuded energy as she entered the door. She was obviously the one who took care of the housework and was in charge of the family. When she saw Chen Jue, a stranger, she asked this question.
"This is Master Chen Jue, a friend I just made who practices boat boxing with me."
"Did you send Xiaoqin to school?" Li Xiang replied while holding a cup of tea, then lowered his voice and told Chen Jue that this was his wife, Li Yanhong. There was a bit of fear in his eyes, and it was obvious that he was in awe of his wife.
"I didn't expect that Li Xiang, such a brave and fearless Baji master, is actually afraid of his wife?" Chen Jue noticed the other party's expression, felt funny in his heart, and showed a sympathetic smile on his face.
"Chen Jue?"
"Isn't he the young master who just won the first place in the competition?"
"So, the wound on your hand was also caused by him!" Li Yanhong took the vegetable basket back to the kitchen, then wiped her hands , tied an apron on, held a fruit knife in her hand, and walked out with a fruit plate. She looked at Chen Jue with a somewhat unfriendly expression.
"Ah? Haha! It's a martial arts competition! It's inevitable to get injured. It's no big deal. You just need to rest for a week." Li Xiang recognized his wife's tone and hurriedly stood up to take the fruit plate and put it on the tea table. Then, while muttering, he pushed his wife into the kitchen.
"All you do all day is practice martial arts! Old Li, I think you've lost your mind! You're this old, but you don't even care about Xiaoqin's grades. I won't keep you at home for lunch today. Go to your senior brother!" Li Yanhong glared at her husband, turned and swung the fruit knife in her hand, and it spun in the air before firmly sticking into a red apple on a fruit plate not far away. She snorted twice, then turned and went to the kitchen to do housework.
"What an amazing knife throwing technique!"
"What a tough woman!" Chen Jue was also shocked by this sudden scene. The other party's technique of throwing the flying knife was very skillful, and it was obvious that she had practiced it before.
Li Xiang's face turned red after being scolded by his wife. He returned to the tea table with an embarrassed look on his face. After refilling Chen Jue's several cups of tea, he hurriedly got up and went upstairs to change into casual clothes.
"Master Chen Jue, let's go to my senior brother's place for lunch. My wife doesn't like me dealing with people from the underworld. She gets angry every time someone comes."
"Except for my students who paid tuition, even my senior brother didn't look good when he came." Li Xiang explained helplessly. With such a tough wife, his brave and unstoppable boxing spirit was useless. He grabbed the car key on the shoe cabinet at the entrance and led Chen Jue out the door.
Chen Jue had no objection. After all, the guest should follow the host's wishes. He also wanted to meet the senior brother who practiced Tai Chi that Li Xiang mentioned.
They put on their bags and got into the seven-seater nanny car in the yard that was used to pick up the children from school. The two chatted while the car drove out of the villa and sped along the village road.
Finally, we arrived at the foot of a group of lush green mountains more than ten kilometers away. We followed the winding mountain road and finally stopped outside an antique farmhouse with a sign that read "Green Bamboo Wine House" halfway up the mountain.
After getting off the car, Chen Jue looked around the surroundings. The trees were tall, the birds were singing, and the flowers were fragrant. In the distance, there seemed to be the sound of a waterfall, and the farmyard in front of him occupied a large area.
At first glance, it is as big as more than twenty old rural houses. The yard is filled with various luxury cars. I guess they are rich people who come from the city to enjoy the scenery.
"Master Li Xiang, does your senior brother run a farm stay?" Chen Jue was a little curious. This place had nothing to do with martial arts. Instead, it was a good place to cultivate one's sentiments and relax on weekends.
"Haha! Not only does he run a farm stay, he is also the head chef here."
"You'll know his skills after you try his cooking." Li Xiang didn't keep Chen Jue in suspense and took him into the farm house. He greeted the waiter at the front desk. He was probably a frequent visitor, so the waiters knew him.
After speaking a few words on the intercom at the front desk, Li Xiang led Chen Jue to the innermost farmhouse, pushed open an door to an elegant private room and sat down.
After a while, a bald man wearing a white chef's uniform, with a round face, a ruddy face, broad shoulders and a thick waist, walked in from outside the private room carrying a tray with appetizers.
"Junior brother! How come you have time to come here today?"
"Were you kicked out by your sister-in-law again?" The big man came in and said a few words, then spread out the exquisite plates on the tray one by one, and glanced at Chen Jue who was sitting in the box.
"Brother, please stop teasing me!"
"Come, let me introduce you first. This is the Master Chen Jue of the Boat Fist that I mentioned to you a few days ago. Master Chen's martial arts have been practiced to perfection. Even I have been defeated by him. His Tai Chi posture is not inferior to you, brother."
"I brought him here today because I wanted him to try your specialty dishes, and to introduce you to me so we can make friends." Li Xiang stood up and introduced.
"oh?"
"It's actually Master Chen who has been making a name for himself these days! It's such a great honor for Master Chen to come to my Green Bamboo Wine House!"
"My name is Li Wei, the successor of Mengcun Baji, and also Li Xiang's senior brother." The chef was surprised. He didn't expect that the winner of this competition would be so young. He put down the tray in his hand and saluted towards Chen Jue.
"Master Li Wei, you are too polite. These are just empty titles." Chen Jue stood up and returned the greeting, then had a brief exchange with the other party.
However, Li Wei was obviously busy. After saying sorry, he turned around and went to work in the kitchen.
It was almost lunchtime, and as the chef of the farm stay, the other party must be his busiest, so Chen Jue and the others didn't want to keep him.
I sat down and took two bites of the appetizers served by Liwei. One was the crispy pickled radish, and the other was the sweet and refreshing smashed cucumber. They stimulated my appetite and refreshed me, and they really had a flavor that I couldn't get in restaurants outside.
"Delicious!" Chen Jue took two bites and couldn't help but exclaimed.
"Haha! Not bad!"
"My senior brother has two unique skills. One is cooking, and the other is martial arts. His cooking skills are even better than his martial arts." Li Xiang introduced and chatted about the management of this farm stay.
When the lunch dishes were served one by one, Chen Jue's appetite was completely aroused by the exquisite food in front of him.
Lotus bird's nest, crystal chicken slices, tile fish in sauce, pot-fried pork elbow, pocket pork tenderloin, deep-fried shrimp, each one is a signature dish. When all the fish and meat are almost finished and feeling a little greasy, the waiter then brings a dish of emerald white jade soup at the perfect time to finish the meal.
“It’s absolutely amazing!”
"This is the first time I've eaten such delicious food in my life." Chen Jue's appetite was whetted, and he and Li Xiang cleared all the dishes on the table, even eating a large bowl of white rice sprinkled with sesame seeds.
After the meal, the waiter came in to clear the plates and brought in a pot of chrysanthemum tea. After drinking a cup of tea, the fragrance lingered on his lips and teeth, and it cleansed his intestines and relieved his greasiness. Chen Jue felt that he had eaten so many meals since he was a child, but never had he enjoyed them as much as today.
When we were sitting and digesting the food, it was almost 1:30 in the afternoon when Chef Li Wei, dressed in a new outfit, pushed the door open from outside the private room.
"The dishes for lunch are all my specialties. Do they suit your taste, Master Chen?" Li Wei asked.
"Master Li Wei, the dishes you cook are absolutely amazing!" Chen Jue gave a thumbs up.
“Haha! As long as you like it! It means my cooking skills haven’t deteriorated.” Li Wei smiled happily. A chef’s favorite thing to hear is people praising his cooking skills.
…
The three of them chatted in the box for a while, then stood up and followed Li Wei out of the farmhouse and headed towards a higher location on the back mountain.
After climbing for more than ten minutes, a forest villa built next to a waterfall appeared in Chen Jue's sight.
The villa is square in shape. It is not a traditional Chinese villa. Instead, it has a bit of the feeling of those western villas in the forest. It must have been specially designed by an outside designer.
After entering the yard of the villa, Chen Jue saw training equipment scattered everywhere in the yard. They were similar to the furnishings in Li Xiang's yard, except that there was an additional large metal ball that emitted bright silver light in the sun.
Chen Jue was curious and felt that it was similar to the big stone ball he had held when practicing martial arts at the beach, so he walked forward, grabbed it with one hand, and lifted it up suddenly, lifting the big metal ball directly from the ground.
"Buzz buzz buzz" a sound like rolling water came from the ball. Chen Jue grabbed the metal ball and rolled it around on his body. He found that there was a strange spinning force when the big ball rolled on his body.
Li Xiang and Li Wei, who were standing by, looked at each other in horror when they saw that Chen Jue could actually grab the large ball of lead and mercury with one hand.
"Master Chen Jue! What great skills!"
"I spent a lot of money to ask a master craftsman to make this big lead-mercury ball. Each ball weighs one hundred and eight kilograms. Normally, I have to use both hands to barely hold it up to practice. I didn't expect that Master Chen Jue could play with it with just one hand." Li Xiang couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. Today he really saw someone better than himself.
"A large ball of lead and mercury?"
"It turns out that the ball was made based on the Taoist inner alchemy technique that 'skin and flesh are lead, blood is silver mercury'."
“No wonder it feels so wonderful to get started!”
Chen Jue rolled the big ball around and suddenly found that his proficiency in Tai Chi stance had increased by more than ten points without him noticing.
Only then did he realize that his trip to Cangzhou on a whim to visit his fellow apprentices Li Xiang and Li Wei was the right decision.
