At night, south hill city would shine brightly as if it was lit up by lights. And Star Hotel was full of celebrities. You can tell merely from its parking lot, which looks like a large exhibition of famous cars.
"Dad, I saw Zhao Yingying just now, the new film queen." Like a horny male dog, Bao Wenchao gaped with his eyes glued on those super stars and models in the crowd.
"Yu Bancheng has invested in the film and television industry in recent years. Using his influence in the real estate industry, he has acquired 70 movie theaters in our province and our neighbouring provinces and cities. Nandi Cinema is now the second largest cinema chain in China. So, it doesn't need to be surprised that there are famous stars and directors. Watch your manners, don't behave stupidly like you have never seen any women."
"Who is she? What a boomshell!" Bao Wenchao pointed at the attractive girl not far away and asked.
Bao Mingfan raised his eyebrows and answered: "She is different from those stars. Do you notice the old man next to her? That is the chairman of Shanhai Group? If I'm not mistaken, she is Guan Lingshan, the beloved granddaughter of Guan Tianping.
Bao Wenchao took a deep breath, "Shanhai Group? So he is the ship tycoon Guan Tianping. Yu Bancheng could even invite him here!"
Although Yu Bancheng is the richest man in south hill city, and even the top richest man in the entire province, his businesses are still far behind the international company like Shanhai Group.
"If you can get Guan Lingshan, then it won't be impossible for our Mingfan Real Estate to surpass Nandi." Bao Mingfan's words greatly excite Bao Wenchao.
Such a superb beauty with this extremely rich family, whoever marries her, like marring a fortune, will be successful and doesn't even need to work on it. That's the so - called effortless winner.
Bao Wenchao was not the only one that had great interest in Guan Lingshan. Most men here, either love her beautiful look, or wants to share her rich family, are all looking for a chance to approach her. Guan Lingshan accompanied Guan Tianping to the main table since the banquet started, so these men didn't have any opportunities to accost her.
"I have heard that the executive chef of Star Hotel was once the head chef of Michelin star, but I have never had the opportunity to enjoy his food. Tonight my dream will be realized." said the mayor of South hill city, who is one of the guests of honor tonight.
"That's right, in addition to the hotel's executive chef, old Yu also invited a mysterious chef. I believe that we will eat to our heart's content at this birthday banquet tonight." Fu Hongshen, who was also sitting at the main table, said this and glanced at Guan Tianping.
"Well, since our extensive traveler and experienced gourmet, uncle Fu, speaks highly of the food tonight, I really can't wait to eat." Guan Tianping joked by saying Fu Hongshen's nickname.
The lights on the stage turned on while people were still chatting, then Yu Maolin stepped onto the stage ruddy-faced, and there was applause from the audience.
"I really appreciate that you could come here to celebrate my birthday today. How time flies, 60 years has passed in a blink. Difficulties and hardships are inevitable in my life. I have been working hard over half of my lifetime and when I look back, I find that my greatest wealth is to meet you. Life is short, but friendship exists forever. Tonight, please have a great time and drink as much as you may."
The performance on the stage continued, from singing, dance operas, to acrobatics and magic, etc.. All of these were excellent. The guests on the stage were enjoying all kinds of exquisite delicacies. Both Chinese and Western delicious dishes were served on the table one by one.
One of the biggest differences between Chinese food and Western food is the "individual dining system". The Chinese dishes at the birthday party are served directly on the table, and the Western dishes will be put on the dining car with their names on the utensil. The waiter will serve one for each guest. If the guest doesn't like it, he can ask the waiter to take it away. So the food plate in front of the guests will never be empty until they are full.
"This is a Hong Kong-style Buddha jumping over the wall." the waiter introduced while serving it.
"This is Craftsteak."
"This one is called 'You Can Get Both', which is made of abalone and bear's paw. It takes 3 days to stew the bear paws to make its meat soft and tasty."
"This is Golden Dragon Offering Treasure. It is made of the Mozambican rose lobster, the clamps are cooked as the main dish, its shell and meat are stewed for stock. After stir frying lobster clamps with Imperial Used Egg a few minutes, the chef added shark fin and white truffle in, and in the end the specially made lobster stock was poured on the surface. This is a new dish made by our executive chef Boris for today's birthday banquet."
Each time they serve a dish, the waiter will make a brief introduction of it. This Golden Dragon Offering Treasure is the only dish that is made of the most expensive ingredients. Almost each bite is worth 10,000 yuan, not exaggerate.
This golden brown dish is gorgeous, and its aroma is appetizing. What's more, the white truffle hidden in the stock is as appealing as diamonds.
Although these guests are either rich or powerful, they seldom have the chance to eat such expensive dishes.
"I guess the chef added cream in the stock to make the lobster taste more mellow, that's really nice." Sun Daoxian praised.
"Since the magnitude of aquatic product industry feels this lobster dish is good, then i guess it is really not bad." Yu Maolin also felt complacent when he heard the praise.
Soon the guests are almost full, and the dessert should be served at this time. Instead, there is another dish. The strange thing is that even the waiters didn't know the name of that dish. When the guests asked about this dish, the waiters couldn't tell them what ingredients were used.
Yu Maolin was a little bit unhappy about this, which made him lose face. The hotel manager next to Yu Maolin frowned after seeing the facial expression of his big boss. Immediately, he asked a waiter to go to the kitchen and ask the chef about this dish. Later, this manager came over with a small note.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this dish is called Qie Xiang, which is made of eggplant. It is also a new dish cooked by a new chef."
"Qie Xiang?!" the mayor of south hill surprised when he heard the name.
"It tastes fresh, smooth, chewy but not tough. The unique salty aroma of the oil, made of grains of wine, combines the fragrance of eggplant, gives this vegetable the flavor of chicken, fresh bamboo, and mushroom. With each bite, you can taste a new flavor. I have not eaten a dish with such a complex and exquisite taste." Fu Hongshen praised after a few bites.
"Authentic Qie Xiang, for sure!" the mayor also expressed his excitement after having some.
"Is this dish very famous?" Guan Lingshan puzzled. She didn't know why these people were so crazy about this dish.
"President Wang is an expert in the history department, so it's better to let him make a detailed introduction of this dish to us."
"Haha, ok. This dish, Qie Xiang, is originally from chapter 41, Chia pao-yue tastes tea in the Lung Ts'ui monastery, old goody Liu gets drunk and falls asleep in the I Hung court, of the novel The Dream of the Red Chamber." Wang Ming swallowed the food in his mouth, tried to feel this nice flavor with his eyes closed, then started to tell these guests the detailed information about this dish.
"Ah, it turned out to be a dish in the classical novel The Dream of the Red Chamber!" Guan Lingshan exclaimed with one hand concealing her mouth.
"Yes, there are many dishes being mentioned in that book, but only for this dish, Lady Feng described how to cook it. I still remember her original words, 'You take the newly cut egg-plants and pare the skin off. All you want then is some fresh meat. You hash it into fine mince, and fry it in chicken fat. Then you take some dry chicken meat, and mix it with mushrooms, new bamboo shoots, sweet mushrooms, dry beancurd paste, flavoured with five spices, and every kind of dry fruit, and you chop the whole lot into fine pieces. You then bake all these things in chicken stock, until it's absorbed, when you fry them, to finish, in sweet oil, and adding some oil, made of the grains of wine, you place them in a porcelain jar, and close it hermetically. At any time that you want to eat, all you have to do is to take out some, and mix it with some roasted chicken, and there it is all ready. '" As a history expert, Wang Ming deserves his title because he is extremely familiar to all the information in The Dream of the Red Chamber.
"Old Goody Liu had shook her head and put out her tongue after hearing this. "My Buddha's ancestor!" she shouted. "One wants about ten chickens to prepare this dish! It isn't strange then that it has this flavour!""Wang Ming tried to imitate Old Goody Liu while he was reciting these words, and the guests were amused.
The main table of the birthday party was surrounded by people who wanted to propose a toast or cotton up. The legends about this dish has been spread by word of mouth. And some people took out their mobile phones and took some short videos on WeChat when Wang Ming was delivering an introduction, then sent them to their wechat group. Very soon, the guests all knew that this seemingly ordinary eggplant dice is actually a famous dish in The Dream of the Red Chamber.
Why are these celebrities and financial giants willing to spend a lot of money on food? In addition to satisfying the other stomach, it is also to show off. So, they have to eat the high level and fancy food. The rareness and preciousness of the ingredients can embody the standard of the food, but it's absolutely nobility if you can also understand the culture and history behind the food.
Many rich people like to leave one wall for bookshelves in their office, and fill it with Shakespeare's complete works, four major classical novels as well as Chinese and foreign classics. It doesn't matter whether they will read these books or not, because their primary purpose is to let their visitors know that I'm not only rich, but also well educated. This is also the thoughts of ancient Chinese people, "nothing is lofty except reading books."
This eggplant dish, like a strong storm, brought this ending birthday banquet into a new climax. Everyone now is talking about this dish. They highly praise its taste and cooking method. They said it felt like being baptized by that book with each bite they took, and their strong secular thoughts were purified. Some even feel like they are not in Star Hotel, but sitting in the Jung Kuo Mansion and appreciating the words written by Cao Xueqin (the author of The Dream of the Red Chamber). This dish is regarded as the most wonderful one.
Yu Maolin walked on the stage again with a young man in a white chef uniform. To the microphone, Yu Maolin said, "I'm very happy today, and i have invited a good friend to introduce to you. It is him who made this famous dish, Qie Xiang, for us. He is also my old friend, Fang Tang."