I Awakened to a Farming TALENT

## Chapter 10: Chinese Toon and Locust Flowers – An Addictive Taste

After a busy day, everyone in the sect was starving, their stomachs growling.

For dinner, Jiang Tingyun cooked a big pot of noodles, served with the Chinese toon bud sauce and locust flower egg sauce she’d made earlier.

Chinese toon buds and locust flowers were both tender wild spring vegetables from the mountain—precious gifts from nature.

She chopped wild garlic, stir-fried it with fermented black beans until fragrant, blanched the toon buds, squeezed out the excess water, mixed everything together, and added just a bit of salt, sugar, and sesame oil. The result was a fragrant Chinese toon bud sauce—delicious whether spread on steamed buns or mixed into noodles.

The locust flower egg sauce had a completely different flavor profile. She stripped the fresh locust flowers off their clusters, washed and dried them, then coated them repeatedly in flour, fried them until they turned slightly golden, mixed the fried flowers with fresh eggs, and stir-fried everything together. The locust flowers had their own natural sweetness, so she didn’t need to add sugar—just a little salt. The sauce came out fragrant, lightly sweet, and savory.

The disciples were happily slurping down their noodles when another customer walked in. He looked vaguely familiar.

Qi Cong hadn’t eaten lunch and was already in a foul mood. To make things worse, his classmates had spent the whole afternoon raving about how good the food at this place was.

He was unconvinced. Those dishes at lunch looked perfectly ordinary.

But his classmates had shot back: “You didn’t even eat them, so how would you know?”

That really pissed him off. As soon as they wrapped up for the day, he headed straight for the restaurant. He was determined to taste the food, find a dozen things wrong with it, and go back to debate with his classmates.

He found his way to Qionghua Restaurant. Lost in thought, he didn’t notice that there were no customers inside, nor did he see the “Temporarily Closed” sign on the door.

When he stepped into the dining hall, the restaurant staff all looked up at him strangely, bowls in hand.

“We’re closed for the day,” Zhu Lili said, quickly putting down her chopsticks.

Only then did Qi Cong notice that the door was half-shut and there wasn’t a single customer. He’d been so distracted he hadn’t realized. His face flushed bright red, but he refused to back down.

“What kind of business are you running? You barely have any dishes, and now you’re already closed at dinner time?!”

Jiang Tingyun stood up helplessly. “Sorry, we’re sold out. What exactly do you want?”

“I… I want to eat. I want the same dishes from lunch,” Qi Cong mumbled.

“All sold out. Come back tomorrow if you want to eat.”

Qi Cong wasn’t about to give up. He’d come with a fire in his belly, ready to find fault.

His eyes landed on Pei Jingmo, who was happily eating a bowl of noodles. “What’s he eating? Noodles? You still have those. Give me a bowl too.”

Pei Jingmo paused, then sucked down the entire bowl of noodles in one go without even chewing. He wiped his mouth and held up the empty bowl.

*So infuriating.* Qi Cong was livid.

“A hundred yuan for that bowl of noodles. Take it or leave it.”

Without waiting for an answer, Qi Cong pulled out his phone, scanned the QR code, and paid.

Jiang Tingyun rubbed her chin. *Hey, if he’s throwing money at me, what can I say?*

She smiled. “Fine, you can have some. But you’ll have to wait.”

Qi Cong sat down, seething. *What the hell? My parents are probably having a fancy dinner delivered for me at home, and instead I’m here at this crappy restaurant eating crappy noodles. And the worst part? I had to beg to buy them.*

A few minutes later, Jiang Tingyun came out with a tray. On it: one bowl of plain noodles and two small dishes of unidentifiable sauce.

*This presentation is so ugly.* Qi Cong was about to complain when a loud rumble came from his stomach. Fortunately, no one seemed to notice. He forgot about complaining and tentatively tried a bite of the noodles.

*These are just ordinary noodles. Not good at all.* Tomorrow, he’d tell his classmates—he was right.

The two sauces looked completely unrecognizable.

He tentatively tried a bit of the Chinese toon bud sauce. The moment it hit his mouth, he nearly gagged.

*What the hell is this weird taste?!*

He was about to lose his temper when he saw Jin Feifan and Pei Jingmo glaring at him with clear displeasure. He was outnumbered, so he didn’t dare cause a scene. He reluctantly tried the other sauce.

“Mmm! That’s… interesting.” Qi Cong naturally liked sweet and savory things. The moment the locust flower egg sauce touched his tongue, it was crispy, moderately sweet and savory, with a faint, unexpected floral aftertaste. Bite by bite, he ate the entire dish without any noodles.

That left him with just a bowl of plain noodles. He reluctantly tried the toon sauce again.

*It’s a little better than before. But what IS this weird, kind of addictive flavor?*

He ended up mixing the sauce into the noodles. The noodles diluted the toon’s strong taste, leaving behind a unique fragrance, a savory freshness that grew on him more with every bite. By the time the bowl was empty, he realized he hadn’t found a single thing to criticize.

And with all these empty bowls lying around, any criticism would probably sound pretty hollow.

Still, he couldn’t figure out what those sauces were made of. He couldn’t help but ask.

“Boss, what were those two dishes?”

“Locust flower sauce and Chinese toon bud sauce. How was it?” Jiang Tingyun crossed her arms and looked at him with amusement.

Qi Cong lifted his chin defiantly. “It was… average. A little ugly looking. Barely worth a hundred yuan.”

Fenghuang Mountain Scenic Area was on the outskirts of the city. Although there were buses direct to downtown, by the time Qi Cong got home, it was already late.

As soon as he walked in, his mother grabbed him by the ear and chewed him out.

“Who was it that kept nagging me yesterday about wanting a big feast? I had a hotel chef come to the house today and cook an entire table of food, and you didn’t even come home!”

Qi Cong was terrified of his mother. He lowered his head and begged for mercy.

“So what did you eat out there?” His mother looked at him suspiciously.

Qi Cong had completely forgotten his earlier complaints. Beaming, he said, “Mom, I had some amazing noodles today—mixed with Chinese toon buds and locust flowers. So good, even better than the crab roe noodles we had at that fancy restaurant!”

Qi Cong’s mother had grown up poor and only gotten rich later. When she heard that, she burst out laughing. Toon buds and locust flowers? Those things grew wild all over the mountains this time of year. She’d eaten them so much as a kid she was sick of them.

“Oh, come here, Mr. Qi! Come look at your son. Skipping a gourmet meal at home to go out and eat wild weeds!”

Qi Cong’s temper flared. “They really are delicious! If you don’t believe me, come with me tomorrow and try them yourself.”

His father doted on him. Hearing this, he chuckled. “Son, hearing you say ‘delicious’ is a rare thing indeed. Your mother and I will have to go try it.”