Chapter 396: Chapter 396

Qian Qi shamelessly devoured the entire stir-fried beast intestines, leaving Xu Jinghong no choice but to grit his teeth and make another batch.

However, whenever he got focused, a small annoying hand would reach over, disrupting his cooking rhythm, "Xiao Hong, this dough, you didn’t knead it evenly, it’s really affecting the aesthetics."

"Xiao Hong, do you really have to remove the seeds from the peppers? We can’t waste food, you can’t discriminate against them just because the seeds aren’t tasty and get stuck in your teeth, we should be people who respect food equally!"

"Xiao Hong, slow down while cutting, intestines are still intestines, have you considered their feelings when you chop so fast?"

Why should I consider the intestines’ feelings?!

For a chef, having someone constantly nagging and pointing fingers next to you while cooking is undoubtedly a major pet peeve, but Xu Jinghong couldn’t defeat Qian Qi, and even had to rely on her for survival, so he had to force himself to treat her like a boss.

Can’t smack the boss, I’ll endure...!

To his surprise, Qian Qi’s incessant nagging was annoyingly frequent, one blabbering comment after another, "Eh, I wonder whose baby this Illusion Thunder Beast is. Does its mother know its intestines are being sliced and stir-fried with peppers by us?"

"Do you think if its mom knew its child was doomed to this fate, would she still choose to give birth to it? Would she just give its dad a big slap and tell him to scram?"

"Would she? Would she? Xiao Hong, answer me!"

By the time the second batch of stir-fried beast intestines was ready, Xu Jinghong was so infuriated that he could barely control the ladle in his hand, almost wanting to dunk her head into the pot and stir-fry her.

But since he couldn’t hit Qian Qi, he could only throw the ladle into the pot, cursing and swearing, "If I cook for you again, then I’m shit!"

Qian Qi looked at him with pity, "Don’t be like that, the poop family might not even want to acknowledge you as one of them."

Xu Jinghong pointed at her, his fingers trembling, too angry to speak; Han Li and Zhang Yun had always said they wanted to team up with Qian Qi again, but he thought it was unnecessary—anyone partnering with her would be driven to death by anger!

Anyway, he never wants to team up with Qian Qi in an instance ever again in this lifetime!

Qian Qi, unaware that Xu Jinghong had already blacklisted her, stood beside the pot and tasted this batch of stir-fried beast intestines.

As she expected, this batch was not as potent as the previous one, its energy level similar to the one she made, and its flavor was also much lacking compared to the last one.

Of course, whatever the case, it was definitely way more edible than the batch she made which tasted like crap.

She raised her hand to call the others, "It’s ready to eat."

At first, everyone hesitated; after all, Qian Qi’s batch three hours ago had left an indelible psychological shadow on them. However, after mustering the courage to taste Xu Jinghong’s stir-fried beast intestines, everyone couldn’t help but burst into a sharp, ecstatic cry, praising its deliciousness.

"Xu, your cooking is amazing!" Xiao Wang was so moved by the tasty food that he started crying, tears of both joy and relief, "Poor me, what kind of hard life was I living before!"

Heavens know, after five days without food and being forced to taste hellish cuisine, finally eating proper human food felt like such a redemption and thrill!

Tears flowed from everyone’s eyes, and they asked, "Can you be the one cooking from now on?"

They never wanted to taste Qian Qi’s cooking again!

All those people, looking at him with pitiful eyes like those of his younger siblings at home, made Xu Jinghong, who doesn’t usually enjoy socializing, waver in his resolve, "This..."

Qian Qi softly reminded from the side, "If you cook again, you’re shit."

What I meant was if I cook for you again, I’m shit!

Ultimately, Xu Jinghong agreed to their request. After all, making delicious food benefitted not only others but also himself.

He didn’t want to eat Qian Qi’s cooking anymore either. A chef usually cherishes their sense of taste, and Qian Qi’s cooking... to a chef with a keen sense of taste, it’s undoubtedly an apocalyptic disaster.

Since deciding that Xu Jinghong would be in charge of cooking, everyone was surprised to find that Qian Qi changed the once-every-five-days meal system to two meals a day. She brought back different parts of magic beasts every day for Xu Jinghong to cook for everyone.

Their days of bliss began, but Xu Jinghong’s nightmare also arrived.

"Xiao Hong, how should this be cooked to taste good?" Qian Qi held a freshly pulsating heart in her hand, looking at Xu Jinghong with hopeful eyes alongside the eager Moyu.

That look was even more longing than the gaze of a farmer praying for rain during a three-year drought.

But Xu Jinghong only felt nauseated.

Couldn’t she ever find normal food? Why was it always hearts or nerve fibers, beast intestines or beast stomachs?!

Which serious person would eat those?

Seeing Xu Jinghong’s disgust, Qian Qi quickly raised her hand and vowed, "Tomorrow, tomorrow we’ll definitely eat vegetarian!"

Xu Jinghong took a deep breath and finally softened, "This is the last time."

After speaking, he picked up the A-level knife that Qian Qi lent him, focusing on dissecting, cleaning, and slicing the beast heart, then began preparing a special marinade for it.

This special sauce was made by grinding, soaking, and fermenting various magic plants. Xu Jinghong had a talent for this; he could tell if a magic plant was a suitable sauce ingredient just by tasting it, and at moments like these, his concentration was terrifying, the energy overflow was so evident that even Qian Qi could clearly notice it, it was definitely a skill unleashed unconsciously.

Or rather, because it was unconscious, the energy overflow was noticed by the keen Qian Qi.

Xu Jinghong didn’t notice anything unusual at all. After marinating the beast heart, he heated magic plant oil to a certain temperature on a stone plate, then began to fry the beast heart, adding green herbs, flipping, adding sauce, flipping, and taking it out, pouring sauce over, a dish resembling a steak but made of beast heart was done.

Qian Qi mimicked earnestly on the side. She didn’t give Xu Jinghong the essence demon salt that could maintain the energy of essence demon meat, but for her own portion, she added the essence demon salt.

She needed to confirm exactly what Xu Jinghong’s skill was—was it like essence demon salt that could maintain the energy of essence demon meat and enhance it, or could his magical spirit rice make any beast meat more energetic regardless of being essence demon meat or not.

As a sidekick, Xi Pingzhe naturally learned earnestly alongside Qian Qi, occasionally pulling out a small notebook from his baseball jersey pocket to jot down notes, the tuft of hair on top of his head even excitedly twitching as he got excited while documenting.

Once Xu Jinghong was done, Qian Qi tasted each meal prepared by the three people, confirmed Xu Jinghong’s skill, and fed the rest to the eagerly awaiting Moyu and Ice Crystal Antelope. Follow current novels on novel✶fire.net

She had her answer: Xu Jinghong’s skill surpassed essence demon salt, capable of maintaining and enhancing the energy of demon beast meat, regardless of whether it was essence demon meat or not. As for how many times it enhanced, that depended on the amount of his skill’s energy that penetrated the food.

Importantly, magic beasts exceptionally favored this magic spirit rice.

If the nutritious meat vomited by Bone Mother was a one-to-one energy food, comprehensive in nutrition but bland in flavor, then the magic spirit rice Xu Jinghong made offered sheer energy like 1-to-N, with incredible taste despite not being fully nutritionally complete, rivaling Bone Mother’s nutritious meat, and even more popular among magic beasts.

After all, for a magic beast, energy that enhances strength is the core.

She wondered what kind of spark would emerge when combining nutritious meat and magic spirit rice... this was something to muse over later.

Next, it must be experimented to see if his skill applies the same effect to stir-fried or cold magic plant dishes!

Qian Qi thought, looking at Xu Jinghong as if he were the most perfectly genetic little cabbage in a research field, filled with an exciting sense of anticipation inherent to a researcher.

While Xu Jinghong was relieved that tomorrow he would finally be eating vegetarian, suddenly, he felt a chill on his back.

How strange, why such a foreboding feeling?