I Awakened to a Farming TALENT

## Chapter 28: An All-Vegetarian Birthday Dinner (Part 2)

Jiang Tingyun didn’t strictly follow the so-called rules for the order of serving. After the appetizers were finished, she started serving the hot dishes directly.

The hot dishes were quite simple and home-style, all using the most seasonal summer ingredients. The cooking methods included stir-frying, steaming, and roasting, and the combinations were very straightforward.

Even though each portion was plated quite elegantly, it was clear that the ingredients themselves were nothing special.

But after tasting the delicious appetizers, the old man didn’t assume these dishes were as ordinary as they looked.

He first picked up a bite of stir-fried lotus root shoots. Lotus root shoots are the young, tender rhizomes of the lotus plant, with a texture different from mature lotus root.

If cooked poorly, they could turn tough, but these lotus root shoots were crisp, tender, with no fibrous bits—sour and spicy, absolutely delicious.

The sourness didn’t taste like vinegar; it seemed to carry a hint of lime’s fragrance, which was incredibly appetite‑stimulating.

He had eaten sour and spicy lotus root shoots made by Chef Sun at Boti Garden, and they were good too, but they didn’t have this natural, rustic quality that lingered in the memory.

Then there was steamed lily bulb, plated to resemble a lotus flower. It was sweet, soft, and velvety, with no bitterness at all, only a faint, pleasant note of bitterness in the aftertaste.

He didn’t know what had been done to the lily, but it was truly delicious!

As for the featured mushroom dishes among the hot courses, there were no truffles or matsutake. The preparations were very plain: roasted sweet peppers with king oyster mushrooms, and green pepper stir‑fried with *ganba* mushrooms.

Yet these two dishes—one tender, smooth, and fatty like pork belly but not at all greasy, the other dry, fragrant, and savory, like chewing on the finest wind‑dried beef from the grasslands—were outstanding.

There were also stir‑fried seasonal vegetables: cauliflower, wood ear fungus, silver ear fungus, tofu skin, and the like. The ingredients looked almost rustic and plain, but they all tasted incredibly savory, making the mouth water.

This time, there was no more quiet murmuring at the table. Even Qi Boyuan and his wife were momentarily lost in the meal.

The younger generation was even more astonished. At previous family dinners, the high‑end chefs they’d hired used much more premium ingredients, elaborate plating, and sophisticated techniques—yet the flavors couldn’t compare!

*Could this cook be secretly using some kind of chemical enhancer?* But so many helpers were in the kitchen, watching. That shouldn’t be possible…

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Jiang Tingyun had no idea what the wealthy young people were thinking. She was busy preparing the main course, Dinghu Vegetarian Delicacy.

She cooked the three mushrooms, six types of wood ear fungi, nine kinds of bamboo shoots, and the bamboo fungus one by one with oil, seasonings, and broth—a process of stewing and simmering. The nineteen ingredients each required different cooking times and techniques, demanding great skill in heat control.

She then took out more than a dozen small cups. Along the edges of each cup, she arranged various bamboo shoot skins, mushrooms, elm ear fungus, and so on, then filled the rest of the cup with the remaining ingredients. Since the family ate in individual portions, just the plating alone exhausted Jiang Tingyun.

After plating, she drizzled over each portion a vegetarian stock thickened with water chestnut starch. To preserve the original flavors of the dish and keep the sauce from overpowering them, the sauce had to be very thin—what is commonly called “glass sauce.”

Finally, she inverted each cup onto a plate, so the ingredients formed a neat mound, and put them all into a large steamer for further steaming.

As the steaming time went on, a fragrance that was not quite meat but not quite vegetable began to waft out.

*Time’s up!* Jiang Tingyun quickly opened the steamer and took out the trays. When she lifted the inverted cups, a golden broth flowed out, and the ingredients stood in the center of each plate like a small mountain, layered and distinct.

*Finally done!*

Jiang Tingyun let out a long breath. The dinner was finally coming to an end—only the staple dish remained.

She wasn’t going to do anything fancy. She decided to make noodles. How could a birthday meal not have noodles?

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As the servants came to change the plates, the Qi family members hurriedly put down their chopsticks.

*How mortifying. The food was so delicious that we lost our composure and ate ravenously. How uncouth.*

Suddenly, an intense aroma—almost maddening—wafted in.

“Is that another vegetarian Buddha Jumps Over the Wall?”

“Doesn’t seem like it. I doubt even the real Buddha Jumps Over the Wall is this fragrant.”

The younger generation whispered among themselves.

The old man was also stirred by the smell.

When the servants brought the dishes to the table, everyone saw that the fragrance came from the small plates—presumably the main course.

Once it was set down, the old man looked at the layered mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and ear fungi, the golden, elegant broth, and the rich aroma. He said in surprise, “Could this be Dinghu Vegetarian Delicacy?”

Having lived many years and dined at many high‑end restaurants, he had eaten this dish numerous times.

Of course, he had seen more exquisite presentations, but never one with such an overpowering fragrance!

He no longer restrained himself and began to savor it slowly.

At the first bite, he found that each ingredient had a different texture. The mushrooms were saturated with broth, extremely savory. The bamboo shoots varied in taste but were all crisp, tender, and grew more fragrant with chewing.

Even though there were many ingredients, the light seasoning preserved their original flavors while combining them into a singular, incredible fragrance—even more satisfying than meat. *Truly delicious.*

Each portion was small. The old man felt he had taken only a few bites before the small plate was empty. He regretfully put down his chopsticks.

“This Dinghu Vegetarian Delicacy is very well made.”

*Not just “very well”—it was amazing! Who is this chef? He wanted to eat it again in a few days!*

Qi Xiyuan said happily, “Father, this dish uses nineteen ingredients. Just for one—the hanging silk shoot—we searched all over the city to buy it.”

“Mm, that hanging silk shoot is a specialty of Pingzhou. Not expensive, but it’s not common here. You’ve done well to find it.”

Though the old man was simple in his ways, he had been born into wealth and, after many years of being a vegetarian, knew vegetarian cuisine inside out.

Qi Boyuan and his wife were furious. *Hadn’t the third brother fallen out with Father? Now he’s putting on this filial act—who’s he trying to impress?*

He had promised Chef Sun of Boti Garden many perks to get him to turn down this invitation, yet Qi Xiyuan had found some random cook who won Father’s favor. *How infuriating! He’d have been better off letting Chef Sun come.*

“The staple dish is here: Snow Cabbage and Bamboo Shoot Noodles.”

The final dish finally arrived. The old man was already about eighty percent full. According to his usual eating habits, he should have stopped.

Moreover, he didn’t like snow cabbage, which is a salted, pickled ingredient—he felt it wasn’t healthy.

But thinking of the wonderful flavors of the previous dishes, and noticing how small the noodle bowl was, he decided to try a bite out of courtesy.

Locally, noodles weren’t a specialty; the noodles themselves were usually ordinary, with no emphasis on springy texture. Chefs put all their effort into the broth and toppings, trying to make them as elaborate as possible.

This bowl of noodles looked plain, but the snow cabbage was savory and refreshing, the bamboo shoot cubes crisp, tender, and sweet. As for the broth, he couldn’t tell what was in it, but it was full of mushroom umami—rich and aromatic.

Anyone who had eaten the vegetarian noodles at Fenghuang Temple would recognize that this bowl was almost a replica of Master Zhengyuan’s craft. The only difference was that the snow cabbage was even more refreshing and delicious, without a trace of bitterness.

The old man slurped down the small bowl in a few bites.

*Not enough! Such delicious noodles, and he only got three mouthfuls—does this chef know how to cook for a birthday?* He had completely forgotten his earlier reservations and wished he could have several more bowls.