"Uncle Zhong, come in." Seeing him remain silent, Bei had to put away the cloth, cover Cheng Mo with a light blanket, drop the curtain, and walk to open the door for Uncle Zhong and the others to come in and talk.
"Has the young master gone to sleep? Shall we talk in the lounge?" Cheng Zhong was a bit puzzled, wondering if he had misunderstood, and if the young master was really unwell.
"He's fine. He hasn't fallen asleep; he's just lying down to relax. We can chat here; he can still hear us. It avoids having to report twice if he asks later," Bei explained.
Cheng Zhong smiled understandingly. That made sense. He thought he had misunderstood earlier. He signaled, and a servant came in to replenish the water and change the basin. Master Cheng and Master Yang, along with a young apprentice and Duo'er with pen and paper, entered. Following Uncle Zhong's gesture, they all gathered around the tea mat. Bei directly took a goose feather pen and sturdy rice paper, folded into a small book of A4 size, and asked Duo'er to prepare a plate of ink. She began to take notes while explaining.
The so-called "Zhan Shui" is similar to modern thirteen-spice or something like the spicy dip used in Yunnan and Guizhou. It involves sprinkling or marinating ingredients in a concentrated sauce made of various seasonings during grilling or cooking.
Powdered ingredients are divided into two types: those that need to be roasted in a hot wok and ground into powder, such as peppercorns, star anise, grass fruit, and dried red chili. These are mixed and slowly heated in an iron pot. Sesame, on the other hand, can easily burn and only needs light toasting for fragrance. The other type needs to be ground cold into powder, including pepper, cumin, ginger, sand ginger, and yellow gardenia. After turning all into powder, add refined salt to complete the mixture.
"Master Cheng, for these ingredients, specific quantities for each might not be necessary. I suggest you experiment with different amounts based on individual tastes. By adjusting more or less according to preferences, you can create flavors suitable for various regions. For example, Master Yang likes it spicy, so we can make one with extra hot chili powder. If someone prefers cumin with lamb, we can recommend cumin lamb powder. For those who enjoy ginger with chicken, we can suggest ginger-roasted chicken powder. In this way, relying on your valuable decades of experience, you could potentially introduce dozens of variations. We can evaluate them ourselves and invite others for tasting. Finally, we can select three to five popular options for promotion."
"I dare not claim to have valuable experience, but Miss Bei's words make me want to try it right away. Could I trouble Miss Bei to share a copy of the recorded recipes with me?"
"Of course, feel free to take it. We'll be awaiting your good news."
"Duo'er, we can't do without your pen in the kitchen." The masters lured Duo'er away again as they left.
Cheng Mo lifted the curtain and peeked out, waving to Bei. "Come here, Xiao Bei, I have a brilliant idea."
"What kind of mysterious idea is this? Just say it; who's going to eavesdrop anyway?" Bei complained while walking over. Still, she bent halfway to listen when Cheng Mo whispered something.
"Why are you so devious? What's wrong with him? You've been targeting him the whole day." North looked at Cheng Mo in disbelief. Why would he ruin the perfect image of a handsome guy towering above everyone? Did he really have to break the illusion with such adolescent behavior?
"It was you who suggested inviting people to taste and encouraged him to consider placing orders. I just thought of a way to alternate between tasting and ordering, so we can do both. Look, something aromatic, spicy, sweet, and so on..."
"Alright, alright, he's arriving soon. Don't let Uncle Zhong keep him company. Just come to the lounge and accompany him. Let's see how you can make it interesting."
After chatting for a while, Cheng Mo actually fell asleep. He did wake up quite early today, waiting at the foot of the mountain even before the sun rose. North told him to rest, taking a seat at the table himself.