HDRDTH -Chapter 22 He Literally Cooked the State Banquet Chef Into Depression

Beijing, the Qin family residence.

The antique-style kitchen carried an atmosphere thick with tension.

Three top-tier private chefs employed by the Qin family stood nearby with folded arms, their eyes filled with disdain and hostility.

They had served Old Master Qin for decades and had cooked every delicacy imaginable from mountains and seas.

Yet today, the young miss had brought back a man wearing oversized shorts and flip-flops, claiming he was going to make a “life-saving meal” for the old master.

“I say, uh… Master.”

The chubby head chef, Wang Datou, looked Yu Xian up and down with a fake smile.

“Did you make a mistake with this ingredient list?”

“We have Australian lobsters, premium abalone, and freshly air-flown truffles.”

“And all you want is… leftover cold rice and two eggs?”

Yu Xian was washing his hands slowly under the faucet. Hearing this, he didn’t even lift his eyelids, casually flicking away the water droplets.

“Bad students rely on fancy stationery.”

“The better the ingredients, the more delicate and troublesome they are to handle.”

“I just want to finish quickly and go home for a nap.”

Wang Datou was so angry he laughed.

“Troublesome? You think cooking for Old Master Qin is troublesome?”

“Do you know his anorexia has gotten so bad these past few days that he wouldn’t even touch the state banquet cabbage soup? And you think this leftover garbage even pigs wouldn’t eat can fool anyone?”

“Whether pigs eat it or not, I don’t know.”

Yu Xian took the clumped leftover rice from the refrigerator, his gaze indifferent.

“But in a moment, the smell alone will make you cry from craving it.”

“You—!”

Wang Datou was about to explode when Qin Yue stopped him.

“Chef Wang, let him cook.”

Truthfully, Qin Yue wasn’t confident either. But remembering Yu Xian’s series of near-miraculous feats, she could only grit her teeth and gamble on him.

“If anything goes wrong, I’ll take responsibility.”

Yu Xian ignored the undercurrents around him.

Standing before the stove, his entire aura suddenly changed.

If one second ago he had seemed like a lazy salted fish, the moment his hand gripped the heavy iron wok, a masterful presence—almost Dao-like in nature—instantly enveloped the entire kitchen.

Wok on.

Oil heated.

No flashy wok-flipping tricks.

Only the simplest and purest form of stability, precision, and ruthlessness.

The flames roared upward.

The bowl of cold, hardened rice was poured into the wok, and under the pressure of the spatula, the clumps instantly broke apart like an avalanche into perfectly separated grains.

Next came the golden egg mixture cascading down like a waterfall.

But instead of pouring directly onto the rice, Yu Xian used rapid spatula movements to create a swirling vortex of egg in midair, coating every flying grain of rice with perfect precision.

“Holy shit… that hand speed!”

Wang Datou’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

All he saw was a blur of golden afterimages.

This wasn’t fried rice.

This was nanotechnology-level gold plating for every individual grain!

SIZZLE—

Bright green chopped scallions entered the wok one second before completion, igniting the final soul of the dish.

Only three minutes had passed.

The fire stopped.

The wok lowered.

Then—

A fragrance erupted.

Pure.

Utterly pure.

The scorched aroma of rice mixed with the intoxicating warmth unique to true wok hei burst outward like a tidal wave.

It was tyrannical beyond reason.

The simmering abalone sauce, the roasted truffle fragrance—all of it was instantly crushed and swept away.

Like a gentle revolution, the aroma proclaimed that the taste of home was the only true king.

The fragrance seemed to grow legs of its own.

It kicked open the kitchen doors, ignored every ventilation system, and charged straight into the main hall.

In the hall, Old Master Qin lay weakly in a rocking chair, gaunt and exhausted, waving away the medicinal soup offered by his caretaker.

“Take all that crap away… no appetite… everything smells like medicine…”

Then the aroma drifted in.

Old Master Qin’s nose twitched violently.

The previously dull and cloudy eyes suddenly exploded with terrifying brilliance.

“Th-This is…”

The old man shakily sat upright.

His throat involuntarily bobbed.

“This smell… it’s exactly like back during the Long March… before crossing the snowy mountains… when my squad leader handed me that bowl of rice…”

Qin Yue walked in carrying an ordinary white porcelain plate.

On it sat the golden egg fried rice, each grain perfectly distinct.

No fancy presentation.

No side dishes.

Just a bowl of fried rice.

“Grandpa… try a bite.”

Qin Yue carefully handed him a spoon.

Old Master Qin’s trembling hand scooped up a spoonful and placed it into his mouth.

The next second—

Two muddy tears silently rolled down the deeply wrinkled face of the old man.

“Wuu…”

The veteran who had spent his entire life on battlefields suddenly burst into loud sobs like a child while clutching the plate.

“This is the taste!”

“This is the exact taste!”

“Squad Leader… I can finally taste it again…”

One bite.

Two bites.

Three bites…

The old man who couldn’t even drink medicinal soup devoured the entire plate of fried rice like a hurricane sweeping through the land.

At the end, he even licked the bottom of the plate clean with his tongue.

“More!”

“I want ten bowls!”

Old Master Qin slammed the plate onto the table and roared with astonishing vigor.

The chefs secretly peeking from the doorway were completely dumbfounded.

“Th-This… how is this possible?”

Wang Datou refused to believe it.

Looking dazed, he rushed into the kitchen and dipped his finger into a few leftover grains still stuck to the wok before putting them into his mouth.

BOOM!

It felt as though a lightning bolt made of food exploded through his skull.

That wasn’t flavor.

It was memory.

He suddenly found himself back in his teenage years, awkwardly holding a spatula for the first time and making fried rice for his mother returning home late from work.

Simple.

Pure.

But overflowing with love.

All the techniques, delicacies, and honors he had pursued for decades were shattered completely by this most basic flavor.

THUMP.

Wang Datou’s legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees before the stove, tears streaming down his face.

“The stuff I cooked before… was pig feed…”

“This is rice… THIS is food for humans!”

Beneath the old jujube tree in the courtyard, Yu Xian squatted there picking at his teeth while complaining to Su Wanyi.

“That old man can really eat. Frying two woks of rice is more tiring than fighting fish all day.”

“Hurry up and tell him to get the plane ready. I’m going to the Maldives. If I don’t get to fish soon, I’m gonna fall into depression.”

Su Wanyi looked at the group of top-tier chefs inside the kitchen worshipping an empty plate as though witnessing divine revelation.

Then she looked back at the utterly annoyed man in front of her.

The corner of her eye twitched violently.

A bowl of overnight leftover rice had cured the anorexia of one of Beijing’s most powerful elites.

And the payment was…

Use of a private jet.

Wasn’t the exchange rate for this soft-rice lifestyle completely destroying the global financial order already?