I Awakened to a Farming TALENT

## Chapter 42: Stirring Up Envy

Pumpkin flowers—those fuzzy, golden blossoms—are a true summer delicacy.

The trick is to tell the male flowers from the female ones when picking. Male flowers don't grow pumpkins, so those are the ones you pick for cooking.

The pumpkin flower soup Old Mr. Zhou ordered was very simple to make. Usually, you'd throw in some lean pork to lend a bit of savory flavor.

Jiang Tingyun grabbed a piece of pork shoulder blade, quickly sliced it into thin pieces, and marinated it with scallion-ginger water to remove any gamey taste.

In the meantime, she started boiling water in a pot. As soon as the water came to a boil, she dropped in the lean pork slices, gently stirring them so they cooked through over high heat.

Once the meat had slightly changed color, she added the prepared pumpkin flowers to the soup. Just a few gentle stirs, and the pumpkin flowers softened right up.

This dish didn't take much time—in fact, the faster, the better. If it cooked too long, the flowers would get mushy and the pork would get tough.

The soup was meant to be light, sweet, and fragrant. Right before taking it off the heat, she added a pinch of salt. No other seasonings needed. The quick-boiled lean pork and pumpkin flower soup was ready.

As soon as the soup hit the table, Zhou Zhongming couldn't help opening his mouth wide in anticipation.

Amazing! So fresh!

From the moment those pumpkin flowers were picked to the moment they entered his mouth, it was truly no more than ten minutes.

He happily scooped up a spoonful and put it in his mouth. The flavor instantly filled his senses.

The pumpkin flowers were sweet, smooth, and refreshing. The pork slices were fragrant and savory. The flower cores had been thoroughly cleaned, with not a trace of bitterness.

The soup slid down his throat, making him feel as if he were standing in a summer breeze. Aside from the word "fresh," he didn't even know how to describe it.

Several customers nearby had already finished their ribs and were reluctantly mixing the sweet-and-sour sauce from their plates into their rice.

Seeing this old man who hadn't gotten any ribs being so enchanted by a bowl of light soup, they couldn't help feeling curious.

"Excuse me, what's that soup that old gentleman is drinking? Give us a bowl too!" several of them said.

Zhu Lili hesitated. "Wait a moment. Let me ask my boss if there's any left."

By the time she ran into the kitchen, Jiang Tingyun had already started another oil pot and was coating pumpkin flowers in batter.

"Sect Master, a few customers want pumpkin flower soup too," Zhu Lili said, then secretly grabbed a fried flower with her chopsticks and took a bite. "Ouch!! Hot hot hot! This is so crispy!"

Jiang Tingyun paused. Damn it. Why didn't she say so earlier? She'd already mixed the batter and started frying the pumpkin flowers. She was planning to make these as little snacks.

All she could say was, "No more pumpkin flower soup. Only fried pumpkin flowers."

Then she continued calmly dropping the battered pumpkin flowers into the oil. A rich aroma spread through the kitchen.

"Got it." Zhu Lili hurried back out.

When the customers heard there was no more soup, only fried pumpkin flowers, they were still interested and immediately clamored for a serving.

As soon as the fried pumpkin flowers hit the table, everyone grabbed their chopsticks and fought over them.

*Crunch, crunch*—the sound filled the air. The flowers were crispy on the outside, tender and sticky on the inside, sweet and fragrant.

And pumpkin flowers don't absorb oil. Even though they were fried, they weren't greasy at all. Instead, they left a light, fresh aftertaste.

"Oh, this is good. So crispy!"

"I think this tastes just as good as meat."

"I knew you could eat pumpkins, but I didn't know pumpkin flowers were this delicious too."

Too bad the owner was stingy. The portion was tiny. It felt like everyone only got one or two flowers before the plate was empty.

...

When the restaurant finally closed for the night, everyone at Qionghua Eatery was both exhausted and excited.

Who knew the green plum sauce ribs and pumpkin flowers would be so popular? Today's customer volume had hit an all-time high!

Jiang Tingyun secretly felt relieved. Luckily, she had cooked the ribs in big pots ahead of time. In the evening, she'd had to use multiple burners at once just barely to keep up.

If she'd had to cook everything on the spot for that many people, no matter how fast she was, she wouldn't have been able to handle it.

But her prices were high. No matter how busy the day was, looking at the revenue made her feel pretty good.

The group didn't rush upstairs. They sat there calculating the profits over and over.

Only Jin Feifan was left in the kitchen washing dishes. "Waaah, so unlucky. Why did it have to be my turn to wash dishes on the busiest day? I'm definitely going to invent a dishwashing robot."

...

Late at night, a thin figure crept furtively under the wall of Qionghua Eatery.

The thin figure looked around, confirmed there were no cameras or pedestrians, stepped back, then took a running leap and grabbed onto the low wall.

Pei Jingmo's eyes snapped open. Someone was outside the yard gate. In an instant, he rolled out of bed, didn't turn on any lights, and quietly slipped out of his room.

Everyone from Qionghua Sect lived on the second floor. In the faint moonlight, he saw a figure sitting on the wall, pouring something down into the yard.

With the darkness as cover, Pei Jingmo stopped hiding his abilities. He jumped straight down from the second-floor balcony.

The sound of his landing startled the thin figure.

The thin figure panicked, threw everything in their hands into the yard, and then, no longer caring how much noise they made, jumped down from the wall.

"Oof." The thin figure landed hard on their rear.

But they didn't dare linger. They scrambled up and ran off in a flash.

Pei Jingmo wanted to chase after them, but he was worried about what they had thrown down. It was a bag—something inside was moving around, seemingly alive. He had the opening of the bag pinned tightly under his foot.

*Click.* The lights in the yard turned on.

Jiang Tingyun had woken up. She'd heard some noise in her sleep and quickly came downstairs to check.

"What's going on? A thief?" Jiang Tingyun ran over. "What's that moving thing under your foot?"

"Nothing. Just rats." With the bright lights on, Pei Jingmo finally got a clear look at what was under his foot. He had the opening of the bag pinned down. Inside were quite a few rats. One had already crawled out, and he had its tail pinned.

Pei Jingmo bent down, unhesitatingly pulled the bag out from under his foot, and tied a knot in it.

"Be careful. Don't get bitten." Jiang Tingyun watched nervously. Where did this bag come from? Did someone just throw it in?

Pei Jingmo hooked the bag with his pinky, walked outside the yard gate, and got his bearings.

"I'm going after that person. You search the yard and see if any rats got out of the bag."