That Si Xi Meatballs, round and plump, melted in his mouth, leaving no trace of meat residue, yet it wasn't so soft as to lack chewiness.
The meatballs were both firm and smooth, both savory and sweet. Combined with the unique, protein-rich flavor of the Wild Rhinoceros Pig meat, this contradictory yet harmonious taste in a single dish was utterly irresistible.
He noticed the sounds of polite conversation gradually fading as the five members of Xia Chujian's Team focused intently on eating.
Only Xia Yuanfang, holding a glass of freshly squeezed Green Yi Fruit juice, watched them all with a smile.
Her gaze occasionally swept across Zong Ruoan's face, then turned to Xia Chujian.
Xia Chujian ate with immense joy, her eyes and mind solely focused on the dishes she wanted to eat, her shrewdness entirely dedicated to snatching food.
Xia Yuanfang's lips twitched, realizing she had been overthinking things.
This New Year's Eve Dinner featured an exceptionally abundant array of dishes.
In addition to the twelve large dishes in total that Xia Yuanfang had made, Zong Ruoan brought twenty-eight large dishes, not counting the four staple foods.
The dishes were arranged distinctly on the rectangular dining table.
One-third of the table was occupied by Xia Yuanfang's dishes.
The large, white porcelain bowls with blue floral patterns were simple and unadorned, indicative of a well-off family from the lower levels of Mulan City.
The other two-thirds of the table held the dishes brought by Zong Ruoan.
They were all arranged on various jade-like plates and soup bowls.
Each plate was a solid color without any patterns. Although the colors of the plates varied slightly, they were clearly all in the same color family.
It was a light green with a hint of dove gray, extending from the bottom to the top of the plates and bowls in a gradient from light to dark.
It resembled the color of the sky at dusk after a rain shower.
Under the restaurant's lights, these simple and elegant plates and bowls possessed an indescribable grace and refinement, almost making one forget the New Year's Eve Dinner they contained.
Because they themselves were exquisite works of art.
When Zong Ruoan's dishes were first brought out and arranged, Xia Chujian and her Team expressed ample amazement and curiosity.
But after tasting each of the various dishes and soups, their chopsticks unanimously turned towards the Xia Family's large, white porcelain bowls with blue floral patterns that seemed full of everyday life.
Although Xia Yuanfang had only made four dishes, the portions were very generous, each dish filling three large bowls.
Despite this, everyone devoured them as if a whirlwind, finishing all her dishes in just half an hour.
It could only be said that what truly gave dignity to a dish was not the container it was served in, but the diners who consumed it.
No matter how beautiful the packaging, without true substance (flavor), it would not be chosen by gourmets.
After finishing Xia Yuanfang's dishes, which had them eating in silence, reluctant to speak, they patted their half-full stomachs and began their New Year's Eve conversation.
For the remaining hour and a half, everyone ate and chatted while enjoying the thirty-two dishes brought by Zong Ruoan, finally capturing the feeling of celebrating the New Year.
This was also the first time Zong Ruoan truly understood the meaning of the saying, "There is always someone better, and there is always a sky beyond the sky."
He said with emotion, "...Indeed, I was narrow-minded. Xia's culinary skills are undoubtedly the best in the entire Beichen Empire."
For Zong Ruoan to say these words carried significant weight.
Even Li Fu asked in surprise, "Colonel Zong, are you just being polite? We're all honest people and will take it seriously!"
Xia Chujian nodded repeatedly, her eyes shining like stars, looking at Zong Ruoan as if to say, "We will take it seriously!" Although her face wasn't particularly beautiful, at this moment, she appeared exceptionally adorable in Zong Ruoan's eyes.
He smiled slightly and said, "If it weren't delicious, I would have remained silent. Since I praised it, it's truly delicious. My words are as good as gold."
Song Mingqian and Ping Qiong together exclaimed "Wow!" and gave Xia Yuanfang a thumbs-up, "Xia Gugu is amazing!"
Ye Shijie said, "Since Colonel Zong says so, then Xia Gugu's cooking skills are indeed extraordinary. We always come to freeload, and we really feel bad about it."
In their opinion, Zong Ruoan came from a top-tier wealthy family in the Beichen Empire and even frequently attended banquets in the Royal Family.
Therefore, if his words weren't just polite, then Xia Yuanfang's culinary skills were truly astonishing.
Zong Ruoan said with a smile, "If Xia wants to open a restaurant on Beichen Star or Shaofu Star, I will definitely lend my full support. Such talent will not be buried anywhere."
Xia Yuanfang didn't pay much attention. Cooking was her hobby outside of her academic pursuits, and she didn't care about rankings.
Just as she was about to politely decline, she heard Xia Chujian say, "Colonel Zong, that's not right. Why should someone with good cooking skills become a cook?"
She clearly hadn't had any wine, yet her cheeks were flushed pink, as if she had natural rouge.
Zong Ruoan found it amusing and said, "With such good cooking skills, why not be a chef?"
"That's because my Gugu's skills are even more amazing than cooking!" Xia Chujian waved her hand generously. "My Gugu used to be a senior researcher at Li's Pharmaceuticals! If she hadn't suddenly fallen ill three years ago, her achievements would have been limitless!"
However, after saying that, she immediately added, "I don't mean to look down on chefs. A chef is a legitimate profession, just like us Bounty Hunters. I even thought about opening a restaurant to make money... but then I realized I didn't have the capital to open a restaurant, and it would take too much time, so I couldn't go to school. That's why I gave up on the idea."
Zong Ruoan was even more interested. "Oh? You can cook? How does your cooking compare to your Gugu's?"
Xia Chujian gestured with her hand. "Compared to my Gugu, it's far behind... but compared to other chefs, I think I could reach the top."
Everyone: "..."
That was a bit of an exaggeration.
Xia Yuanfang smiled and touched Xia Chujian's forehead, saying, "You didn't eat a lot of candy today, did you? Why are you so drunk?"
Xia Chujian hugged Xia Yuanfang's shoulder and said, "Gugu, I'm so sleepy, my heart is beating so fast..."
"It's not midnight yet, you can't sleep," Ping Qiong pulled Xia Chujian over. "Come on, let's play rock-paper-scissors!"
The two girls enthusiastically started playing rock-paper-scissors.
Li Fu pulled Song Mingqian and said, "Let's play too! Real men's rock-paper-scissors!"
Ye Shijie drank red wine alone, staring blankly ahead, seemingly without any focus.
Xia Yuanfang lowered her eyes, not looking at anyone, and ladled herself a bowl of cream soup from the Zong Family.
The soup tasted alright, but the proportion of cream was a bit too much, so the first bite felt greasy and choking.
Xia Yuanfang thought that if she had the same ingredients, she could make it taste better.
At this moment, Zong Ruoan looked at Xia Yuanfang, changed his address to get closer, and said, "Xia Gugu, Chujian just said that you used to be a senior researcher at Li's Pharmaceuticals?"
Xia Yuanfang nodded. "Yes, I raised Chujian on the salary from there."
Since Xia Yuanfang didn't intend to be a chef, and Xia Chujian said that Xia Yuanfang was more capable in other areas than cooking, Zong Ruoan suggested, "I wonder if Xia Gugu would like to go back and continue being a researcher?"
Xia Yuanfang smiled. "No, at my age, I don't want to work for others anymore."
But without working, there would be no income.
Zong Ruoan felt that it was really inappropriate for Xia Chujian to be a Bounty Hunter at such a young age, risking her life.
He gazed at Xia Yuanfang and said, "Xia Gugu is still very young, haven't you thought about finding a new job?"
Xia Yuanfang seemed to understand his meaning and smiled, "Of course I have, but I want to do something new and meaningful. I'm currently collecting information, and once my health improves, I'll start working on it."
Zong Ruoan wanted to persuade her further, but he thought of Xia Chujian's school records that he had looked up before.
With her terrible grades, she probably couldn't do anything else besides being a Bounty Hunter.
Moreover, she did have some talent as a Bounty Hunter.
Even though she wasn't a Gene Evolver, she had an outstanding talent for firearms.
Zong Ruoan looked at Xia Chujian with deep eyes, many thoughts running through his mind, but he suppressed them one by one.
The group chatted and laughed, and soon it was almost midnight.
Everyone opened their virtual display screens and tuned into the Imperial Royal Family Television's midnight countdown event.
Although the Beichen Empire already had quantum communication technology, allowing them to communicate with each other instantly, regardless of the long distances between stars, each planet also had its own seasons and day and night cycles, so they couldn't achieve time consistency in everything.
For example, the New Year's Eve midnight was based on the time in the Imperial City of Beichen Star.
And midnight in the Imperial City of Beichen Star, not to mention on other planets, could be daytime or nighttime in other places on the same planet, so the time varied.
Therefore, some events, such as this empire-wide New Year's Eve event, were recorded in the Imperial City of Beichen Star and then sent to local planet television stations, which would then broadcast them at the appropriate time.
When it was midnight on New Year's Eve in Mulan City on Guiyuan Star, they were watching a recording of a large New Year's Eve event held in the Imperial City of Beichen Star several hours earlier.
But everyone was used to it and didn't lose any interest just because it was a recording.
Because they could use three-dimensional holographic projection to project the situation at that time into their own living rooms and feel the atmosphere.
When the recording of the New Year's Eve event began to play, everyone saw that the virtual screen in front of them seemed to show all the people of the entire Beichen Empire gathered in the large square in front of the Imperial Palace in the Imperial City of Beichen Star.
Of course, only a small number of people actually come to this square to participate in the New Year's Eve countdown and blessing activities every year.
The vast majority of people can only project themselves onto this square using a three-dimensional holographic virtual system.
These projected people are either standing or sitting, and some are even lying in bed.
Of course, because there is a live broadcast component to this projection, there is mechanical intelligence responsible for supervising and filtering the projections that can be broadcast.
Those projections that are making indecent gestures, attempting to attract popularity during the New Year's Eve countdown, have long been blocked by the mechanical intelligence.
These people can see themselves, but others cannot see them.
Let them entertain themselves...
The second update is at 1 p.m. Have a great weekend, everyone!
-----------
This high quality machine translation is powered by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
To read the full translation, as well as more than 444+ fanfic and original translations or request new translations, check out: https:// randomtranslator.com/
You can also join the RandomTranslator community on Discord to connect with other readers: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------