IRDFPFCIW Chapter 54

“Achoo—!”

Jiang Tang was startled by Wen Renyuan’s sudden sneeze as they walked side by side. He turned to look. Upon seeing Wen Renyuan shake his head to indicate he was fine, he continued walking.

He probably got scolded by someone, Jiang Tang thought to himself.

They decided to return to the apartment for dinner because if they stayed at the military headquarters, they would only be able to drink nutrient solutions!

From his observations today, Jiang Tang noticed that Wen Renyuan had a strong taste and liked spicy dishes, just like him. Eating together with similar tastes was quite enjoyable.

On the way, Jiang Tang thought about the menu for tonight and finally decided to choose from Sichuan cuisine and make a spicy and salty dish of twice-cooked pork with rice.

“First, we need a piece of pork belly with an even balance of fat and lean meat. You can buy pork belly in the mall. Did you get any?”

Jiang Tang placed the long strip of pork belly into water and added a little cooking wine to blanch it.

This pork belly came from wild boars that were a specialty of the barren planet. After being castrated, the meat had lost its slight gamey taste, making it even more tender. The different cuts of meat from the wild boar were also available in the mall.

Jiang Tang naturally received fresh ingredients right away.

After blanching in water, the pork belly turned white. Jiang Tang specifically chose a piece of pork belly with the skin still on, which had become translucent and looked beautiful.

Once the pork belly cooled down, Jiang Tang swiftly sliced it into even thin pieces and neatly arranged them on a plate for later use.

Then he prepared the side dishes and small ingredients. He chose garlic sprouts. Jiang Tang crushed the cleaned garlic sprouts at the roots and then cut them into several centimeters long. The roots and leaves were placed in separate bowls for later.

He heated oil in a pan. Once the oil was hot, he added the pork slices to stir-fry, rendering the fat and releasing a fragrant aroma. Then he pushed the meat to one side of the pan, ladled out some excess oil, and added the pre-chopped scallions, ginger, garlic, and dried chili peppers to continue stir-frying until fragrant.

The aroma intensified at this moment. Jiang Tang took out two exquisite small jars, scooping a spoonful of sauce from each to add to the pan.

“Add a spoonful of red oil bean paste and a spoonful of sweet noodle sauce, and continue stir-frying until the red oil is released.”

This was the first time the fans had seen sweet noodle sauce. Its dark color looked a bit scary.

Sure enough, some people began to question whether it was really delicious.

[What sauce is this? It looks so different from the tomato sauce we saw before. It looks strange!]

[Uh… will this really taste good?]

[Does anyone dare to try it?]

Jiang Tang pointed to the sweet noodle sauce and said, “You can try a little bit. Remember the soybeans from before? This is all made from them.”

“I also made soy sauce and soybean paste. Although soybeans are tiny, they can be processed into soy milk, made into tofu, and can even grow bean sprouts. Isn’t that amazing?”

Hearing this, the fans finally reacted. Although they hadn’t seen soybeans in person, they had always been around in other forms. It was surprising to learn that such small beans could be used in so many ways!

[So natural food is this magical!]

[Yes, in the hands of the streamer, not only can natural food be made into various delicacies directly, but it can also be further processed into more delicious dishes!]

[I’m really experiencing the charm of natural food!]

[Yes… no wonder the prices are so “beautiful”.]

As Jiang Tang stirred and watched the comments, the Academy had already discovered these things earlier. Jiang Tang had been helping them research this for the past few days. The results were expected to be out soon.

Once the research results on how natural food enhance spiritual power were published, wow, the prices for natural food would probably become even more “beautiful”.

But Jiang Tang still hoped to lower the prices so that more people could afford natural food and freely enjoy various delicacies.

Jiang Tang sighed inwardly. Alas, it was a long road ahead.

After frying the sauces and meat slices evenly, he added the garlic sprout stalks and continued stir-frying. Jiang Tang poured a little cooking wine and soy sauce along the edge of the pan, then added a bit of sugar and pepper.

In the final step, he added the garlic sprout leaves to the pan, stir-frying quickly over high heat until the leaves were cooked. Then the dish was complete.

“And there you have it. A colorful, fragrant, slightly spicy dish of twice-cooked pork with garlic sprouts.”

Jiang Tang picked up a piece of meat and placed it on the steamed rice. The meat slice was coated with a bit of red oil and paired with tender green garlic sprouts. It gave people a big impact visually, and the taste was even better. He felt he could easily devour three large bowls of rice with this dish.

After tasting, the comments flooded in with praise.

However, many people who weren’t used to spicy food noticed a key point.

[Another spicy dish.]

[Sisters, have you all noticed that almost all of Tang Tang’s recent dishes are spicy…]

[What’s there to not understand? It’s just that man again. Those who understand will understand.]

[Those who understand will understand…]

[Sisters above, wait for me, I understand too!]

[……]

That man—Wen Renyuan was currently sitting in the living room and watching the live stream with a small account. Since the last time he had gone to the kitchen to “help” and accidentally broke two bowls, Jiang Tang was reluctant to let him back in.

Seeing the comments filled with “that man”, Wen Renyuan narrowed his eyes slightly and stroked his chin. It was time to show his presence again.

Jiang Tang was unaware of Wen Renyuan’s intentions to “help” again. He put the twice-cooked pork on the table and moved on to making crispy pork.

The crispy pork also required a piece of pork belly with a good balance of fat and lean meat. The thin slices of pork belly were tender. When made into crispy pork, it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. It was rich but not greasy, which was a must-order dish for Jiang Tang whenever he had hotpot in his previous life.

Jiang Tang cut the pork belly into finger-width strips, about an inch long. He marinated them with salt, pepper, minced ginger, and cooking wine.

And the most crucial seasoning was to add crushed Sichuan peppercorns.

He chopped up a handful of Sichuan peppercorns into small pieces and added half to the pork belly strips for marinating. The other half was mixed into the prepared batter.

Finally, Jiang Tang poured the batter over the meat strips and stirred to ensure that each piece was evenly coated with batter.

He heated oil in a pan. When it was about 50% hot, he added the pork belly strips to fry.

Jiang Tang controlled the oil temperature perfectly. As soon as the meat strips hit the oil, they floated to the surface. After frying, he scooped them out and increased the heat for a second fry.

After the second fry, the crispy pork was coated in a golden crispy crust. Taking a bite revealed an unimaginably crispy skin. Plus, the combination of the fat and lean meat with the Sichuan peppercorns greatly enriched the taste inside.

Although it was fried food, it truly achieved a “smooth and tender” quality.

Jiang Tang plated the crispy pork, placing a small dish of ketchup and another of dried chili powder on the side.

“Those who can’t handle spicy can dip it in ketchup. It’s all delicious.”

[Love it! Ketchup is forever godlike!]

[Such crispy and delicious meat! I ate until I cried QAQ]

[Alright, considering this plate of crispy pork, I can reluctantly forgive that wild man who keeps coming over for free meals!]

Just eating meat wouldn’t do, so Jiang Tang quickly stir-fried two plates of vegetables.

As he was about to serve them, the plate in his hand was taken over.

Jiang Tang was already accustomed to it. He naturally said goodbye to the audience before shutting down the live stream and sitting across from Wen Renyuan at the dining table.

Qin Fei had already gone to school, which was a boarding school. He wondered how it felt to switch from Jiang Tang’s delicious meals to nutrient solutions. For the past few days, it had just been Jiang Tang and Wen Renyuan eating together.

At first, Jiang Tang felt a bit reserved. But as time went on, he grew accustomed to it. He even even felt happy about Wen Renyuan’s “company”.

After all, it would be so lonely to eat alone without anyone to share the delicious food with.

Unbeknownst to Jiang Tang, their relationship was rapidly advancing, transforming from newly acquainted friends into a solid dining friend.

If Wen Renyuan, who was sitting across from him, knew Jiang Tang’s thoughts, he would probably be both amused and exasperated.

After working so hard these days, he ended up with just the identity of a “dining friend”. He couldn’t tell if it was a gain or a loss.

After dinner, Wen Renyuan couldn’t stay any longer, so he said goodbye to Jiang Tang and left.

That night, Jiang Tang lay in bed and recalled the feeling of piloting the mecha earlier. Thinking about the possibility of one day piloting a mecha himself, he rolled around happily in bed and fell asleep with a sweet and yearning smile on his face.

Not long after, the two fluffballs at home were suddenly enveloped in a soft light. The sleeping Jiang Tang seemed to sense the light source, so he turned over and slept even more deeply.

Then the fluffy bodies gradually stretched out. After the white light faded, two tall and handsome men stood in the same place. Although they had different styles, one cold and one gentle, they both had incredibly handsome and flawless faces.

These two were Lin Yucang and Gu Lin.

After arriving at the Imperial Capital Star, they naturally did not continue to stay at home to pretend to be pets. They took some action. Lin Yucang contacted the family, while Gu Lin reached out to trusted subordinates.

For the past few days, they had been sneaking out at night after Jiang Tang fell asleep to deal with the matters that had piled up.

Then they would return home before dawn and before Jing Tang got up, transformed back into fluffy creatures, pretending to be well-behaved and just waking up.

Both were very cautious people, so they never revealed any clues, and everything had gone smoothly.

Of course, it was also possible that Jiang Tang had no other thoughts at all. After all, who would have thought that their fluffy pets would transform into a film emperor at night to manage scripts and a talent agency? And the other would become the richest man, making hundreds of millions of interstellar coins in minutes!

The robot George, who saw all this but was threatened not to reveal the truth to his owner, thought: … It’s outrageous!