Chapter Seventy-Five: Chili Noodles

  She looked up at the snow-white ceiling, listening to the humming of the air conditioner on the top. Cui Xiaoyan combed her long hair and let out a faint sigh. With some reluctance, she glanced around at the owners of the seasoning stalls before walking into the next booth.

  Cui Xiaoyan rushed towards an old boss sitting at a stall, and asked in a soft and expectant tone: "Boss, do you have any chestnut shells here?"

  Only the seasoning boss was seen with his legs raised, casually flipping through an old book. Without raising his head, he said: "There are chestnuts in the miscellaneous grain hall. I'm selling seasonings here!" After finishing speaking, he didn't care about Cui Xiaoyan anymore. He then lowered his head and continued reading his own book.

  Cui Xiaoyan furrowed her own willow-leaf eyebrows, narrowing her eyes slightly. She thought to herself: Why is there a walnut shell in the lamb skewer recipe that Dad left me? What is this thing anyway? Is it really a walnut shell? She shook her head immediately.

  Cui Xiaoyan saw the chestnut shells as a seasoning, so she personally picked a few chestnuts. She cracked them open, washed them clean and actually threw them into the mutton to marinate overnight.

  On the second day, when Cui Xiaoyan had finished roasting the lamb skewers, the flavor hadn't changed at all. At that time, Cui Xiaoyan was confused and thought she needed to chop them up and marinate them. The result of the second roast was a disaster. The burnt smell ruined that batch of test products, they couldn't even be sold.

  After the experiment failed, Cui Xiaoyan was certain that the chestnut shell must be a seasoning or condiment and absolutely not the shell of a peeled chestnut.

  It wasn't until Li Xiaoteng was buying seasonings that he saw Cui Xiaoyan. Li Xiaoteng turned sideways to look at Cui Xiaoyan, who was frowning and thinking deeply while searching for something from stall to stall. He then smiled and quickly walked two steps closer. In a gentle voice, he said: "Sister Xiaoyan, what a coincidence!"

  Cui Xiaoyan suddenly turned her head and saw that it was Li Xiaoteng. A faint blush appeared on her face, but the shy expression flashed by in an instant. She hurriedly nodded at Li Xiaoteng and said: "Boss Xiaoteng, why did you come to Xinfadi personally today?"

  Li Xiaoteng shrugged and said: "I'm also here to buy some seasonings. I see you seem to be looking for something, just came over to say hello?"

  Cui Xiaoyan looked at Li Xiaoteng with a strange gaze. This look made Li Xiaoteng feel a bit uneasy in his heart.

  Li Xiaoteng shivered and asked with a forced smile: "Xiao Yan, are you okay? Why are you staring at me like that?"

  Cui Xiaoyan couldn't help but laugh and say, "You're a rich person now. Why not hire someone to do these chores instead of coming yourself?" Li Xiaoteng replied helplessly, "Some things are better kept within a certain scope. After all, everything has its own formula."

  Cui Xiaoyan's little heart suddenly accelerated by two beats. Pretending to be calm, she asked: "Oh? Your hot pot seasoning recipe, isn't it passed down from father to son and not to daughters?" Li Xiaoteng dryly laughed twice, then said: "What hot pot seasoning recipe?! I'm going to grill skewers now! Come over and help with the marinade sauce."

  Cui Xiaoyan's face suddenly turned a bit pale as she asked: "So soon? I thought we'd have to wait for some days..."

  Li Xiaoteng nodded and said, "Yes, not only will we have roasted skewers, but also plan to launch a unique snack that our capital city doesn't have." Cui Xiaoyan deliberately leaned in closer to Li Xiaoteng and asked curiously, "Oh? What else does the capital city not have?"

  Li Xiaoteng said in a low voice, "Don't spread it around! The capital city hasn't done roasted chicken wings yet. I plan to launch three flavors of roasted chicken wings! One of the names is already thought out, called 'Abnormal Spicy'!"

  Cui Xiaoyan's face turned even paler...

  Li Xiaoteng didn't pay much attention to the changes in Cui Xiaoyan beside him, and bought some thyme from the east, some cumin from the west, and wandered around a few houses. Thyme, cumin, star anise, cinnamon, galangal, bay leaves, lemongrass... A crazy big shopping spree.

  Cui Xiaoyan followed Li Xiaoteng in a daze, watching as he bought several large bags of spices. By her estimate, there were at least 15 kilograms or more. Cui Xiaoyan looked at Li Xiaoteng's slender body and asked with concern: "Xiaoteng, let me help you carry some!"

  Li Xiaoteng didn't stand on ceremony with Cui Xiaoyan either, and said a simple "thank you" as he handed over the plastic bag in his left hand to her.

  Cui Xiaoyan didn't say a word either. She just quietly followed Li Xiaoteng, wandering back and forth in the vast seasoning hall.

  Cui Xiaoyan asked inexplicably: "What else are you looking for? Is there anything else you haven't bought?"

  Li Xiaoteng leaned against a stall, nodded and said: "Just didn't buy chili noodles! But the chili noodles on the market are not good." After finishing speaking, he lowered his voice and whispered to Cui Xiaoyan's ear: "You may not have seen that the chili noodles they sell are all colored with additives?"

  Cui Xiaoyan asked in confusion: "Added colorant? How is that possible? Can chili powder have colorant added?"

  Li Xiaoteng pursed his lips and said in a low voice, "Don't you know this? There are many poor-quality chili peppers, such as those that have turned yellow from drying or those that are too long. When crushed, they don't produce a deep red color. Of course, these aren't too bad, just slightly affecting the spiciness. The impact on quality isn't too great."

  Cui Xiaoyan looked at Li Xiaoteng in a daze, listening to him talk about spicy noodles, and was surprised that he could still pretend. It made Cui Xiaoyan feel like she was hearing a story, full of novelty and fun. At the same time, a faint warmth rose up in her heart.

  "There's something even more ridiculous you don't know about!"

  Cui Xiaoyan asked strangely, "What else could be more absurd?" Li Xiaoteng said casually, "Not enough quantity, just add some tree leaves! Crush the dry yellow tree leaves and mix them directly into the chili powder. Then add some red pigment water. After drying in the sun, it's done! It's exactly the same as high-quality chili powder!"

  Cui Xiaoyan's mouth was agape in shock. She said disbelievingly, "Impossible! Nowadays, female entrepreneurs are actually...heartless female entrepreneurs!"

  Li Xiaoteng nodded and said, "No wonder! Why is the pepper not spicy? The quality is poor! Food safety in China... Ah, never mind. Living in China, you can't have a strong heart, nor a tough personality. But you must have a strong stomach!"

  Cui Xiaoyan covered her mouth and chuckled: "Look at what you're saying, it's as if there's nothing edible in the whole of China!"

  Li Xiaoteng said with a smile, "You shouldn't laugh either, the chili powder you use isn't good stuff. The day I ate your roasted skewers, the spiciness was particularly bad! I reckon it's because they added leaves to it! Don't believe me? Go back and try it yourself!"

  Cui Xiaoyan asked somewhat gloomily, "Then how can you tell if the chili powder isn't good quality when buying it on the market?" Li Xiaoteng suddenly revealed a sly smile and said, "I can smell it out with my nose. People who don't often come into contact with it can't tell the difference. However, I can teach you a method to quickly distinguish whether the chili powder has colorant or not!"

  Cui Xiaoyan's ears perked up like a blood elf. Nono asked, "How can you tell?" Li Xiaoteng said calmly, "Get a bowl of vegetable oil, grab a handful of chili powder, soak it in the oil, and five minutes later you'll be able to see. The light red color is the natural color of the chili pepper. If it's bright red, then there's added pigment!"

  Cui Xiaoyan curled her lip and said disbelievingly, "I don't believe it! Your hot pot is bright red! Did you also add coloring to the hot pot seasoning?"

  Li Xiaoteng suddenly said with dissatisfaction: "Damn it! Where is the face of dried chili, pickled pepper and lantern pepper? There's no such thing as a spicy noodle!"

  Cui Xiaoyan's heart skipped a beat. She muttered to herself, and unexpectedly, the spicy hot pot base was made with dried chili peppers and pickled peppers.

  Li Xiaoteng had just finished speaking when he saw the boss of a nearby stall where two people were chatting, come over and tug on his sleeve, saying: "Come, little brother. I have something to discuss with you again!"

  Li Xiaoteng looked at his boss strangely and said: "What's up? Can't talk about it here?"

  The boss suddenly said with embarrassment: "I have authentic Sichuan pepper powder here! Come and take a look!"

  After Li Xiaoteng pulled the boss of the stall into the stall, the boss of the seasoning shop smiled and said to Li Xiaoteng: "Little brother doing my line? How are you so familiar with our chili noodles? Are we in the same industry?"

  Li Xiaoteng shook his head and said casually, "So you have friends in this line of work, I know a thing or two about your operation mode!" He thought to himself: In two years, let the 315 evening party expose it! Everyone on earth will know!

  The seasoning boss nodded and said, "Hey, we're not easy either! Various taxes, transportation costs, labor costs are all considerable expenses. Plus the pressure from competitors to lower prices. Now doing this is also a helpless measure!" He paused for a moment and continued, "If you want something good, we have premium products here! These are directly supplied to Michelin-starred restaurants, Huaxia Hotel, Tianlun Dynasty and other five-star hotels. It's just that the price..."

  Li Xiaoteng said casually, "The price is easy to say!" The boss was also frank and opened the large woven bag with a flourish. Suddenly, a burst of fragrance that had never been emitted from all the chili noodles on the stall came out.

  Li Xiaoteng looked at the chili powder in the burlap bag, smiled and nodded: "This is the real good chili powder!" After finishing, his eyes were slightly moist. He remembered the scene when Master taught him to cook red oil.

  Suddenly, I felt a sour feeling in my heart. I had actually gone to apprentice just to let Master open a stock account. Thinking about the rubbish things I used to do. In order to open a stock account, I was unscrupulous. Suddenly, I felt a little nauseous...

  When I think about it, I'm also being held hostage by the brokerage firm with a knife to my throat. If I don't cut clients, they'll cut my rice bowl...

  Shaking her head, her gaze refocused on the chili noodles.

  The boss asked: "Young man, how much?" Li Xiaoteng didn't say a word, went forward directly, took the bag from the boss's hand, sealed it with one move, and said: "One buys one sack..."

  "One buys one gets a free bag!" The boss also learned a sentence. Suddenly the two burst out laughing.

  Cui Xiaoyan smiled and squeezed over, saying: "Little Teng, let me taste this premium spicy noodle and see what's different from my own!" Without waiting for Li Xiaoteng to speak, Cui Xiaoyan used her delicate fingers to take a small bite.

  Opened his mouth and licked it. Suddenly his face twisted, his five senses were all squeezed together... He spat out a small tongue...

  Li Xiaoteng and the seasoning boss burst out laughing. After a while, Cui Xiaoyan finally came to her senses. With tears in her eyes, she said: "Indeed, it's spicier than my chili noodles! It has a fiery feeling, but the aftertaste is surprisingly sweet!"

  Li Xiaoteng nodded and said: "Your tree leaf chili can't be compared with mine! By the way, what seasoning are you looking for? Ask the boss if he has it?"

  Cui Xiaoyan immediately asked: "Boss! Do you have chestnut shells?" The boss shook his head and said: "What's that? Never heard of it..."

  Li Xiaoteng laughed and said: "Dizzy! You ask me! I know..."

  ￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥￥

  When Jiang Di logged out of his game account, he looked at the time display below the computer monitor and frowned, muttering to himself: "Damn! I've been hooked. How is it already 3:30?" After saying that, he opened the chart software and saw a long straight line pulled up from the bottom by Lafite Electronics. His expression suddenly froze...

  They say that when you want to sleep, a pillow comes. This kind of thing is not reliable! But today I really want to thank book friend Huang Guoshu! A reward of 100 starting coins! Deep love! Just today, I was still thinking that there would be no rewards this week. And then Huang Guoshu's reward came!

  Brother, in order to show respect for you, Li Xiaoteng can no longer smoke Huangguoshu. Must change cigarettes! Change cigarettes!

  Alright, I won't bother you if book friends see this, thank the book friends who have always supported Li Da's books, thank you for your collection and recommendation! Also, please cast your precious recommendation vote to new book friends. If you haven't added it to your collection yet! Hope you add the following. These are my motivations for creation.