Rebirth of a Portable Space: Transforming My Hometown

Chapter 195 Another World Version of Beggar's Chicken

"Yufei, the boss is back! Come quick, come quick, see what Lao Qi has done!"

Li Lanjuan greeted Yufei and Lei Jun warmly when they arrived.

Then, he took Yufei's arm and gestured for her to look at something that might be unusual for her.

Qi Huang was seen rummaging around beside a small mound of earth, while Mi Le and her five brothers watched her with bright eyes and adoring expressions. Anyone who didn't know better would think she had done something truly extraordinary.

"Beggar's Chicken?!" Yufei looked at the object, which resembled a small earthen cellar, and then at the yellowish-brown thing, and roughly guessed what it was.

Li Lanjuan glanced at Yufei in surprise, not expecting that the little girl actually knew about this.

Indeed, in the summer of 2006, beggar's chicken was not yet popular; in the south, it was something you could only hear about in martial arts novels.

It's perfectly normal for Li Lanjuan to be surprised by Yufei's reaction.

Qi Huang had already dug out two or three oval-shaped clods of earth, and was still digging around; he probably hadn't finished.

Yufei seemed to be explaining, intentionally or unintentionally.

"I don't have any other hobbies, I just love to eat. I've done some research on food, and beggar's chicken is one of them. I've tried making it before, and it tasted pretty good. I'll invite Sister Lan to try my beggar's chicken sometime."

But later you'll have to judge for yourself who makes better beggar's chicken, me or Brother Qi!

Yufei gave Lan Jie and Qi Huang a sly smile, then ran over to Miler and joined them in eyeing Qi Huang's things.

"This girl!"

Li Lanjuan cursed under her breath, embarrassed, while simultaneously being astonished by her keen observation skills. How had she discovered her relationship with Lao Qi? She recalled her interactions with Qi Huang over the past few days.

I don't think I've shown any better relationship than others. This little girl is really terrifying when she gets meticulous, but it's also a good thing.

Attentive people in this line of work are much less likely to encounter danger; thankfully, they are not adversaries.

Li Lanjuan shook her head and went over to help. Old Qi is so slow, he's starving!

They didn't eat lunch until after 1 p.m., and the dishes were quite plentiful.

Qi Huang's six beggar's chickens, still unopened, were sitting there, along with another comrade's braised pork, stewed pork ribs with potatoes, steamed fish, stir-fried beef with yellow peppers, fish head with chopped chili peppers, stir-fried pork with chili peppers, roasted lamb chops, beer-braised duck, and a mixed wild vegetable salad.

Aside from the fact that Qi Huang's beggar's chicken was made with a type of bird they hunted that was similar to a wild pheasant from Earth, there was something else unexpected.

The rest of the meat was taken from a dimensional pocket.

Qi Huang used a small hammer to crack open the first beggar's chicken, and after digging through the soil, there was a particularly large leaf.

This leaf is also the leaf of a plant from this other world, called broadleaf.

Miler identified it as an edible food, and the leaves also have a fragrance.

However, this fragrance differs from the fresh scent of lotus leaves; it exudes a rich, mellow aroma that is not overly cloying.

Qi Huang was actually quite nervous, as this was a new experience for him.

It was their fault for not preparing lotus leaves. Thinking of Qi Huang, he felt a pang of annoyance. It was supposed to be the peak season for lotus blossoms on Blue Star right now; the logistics team remembered to prepare tender lotus pods, but forgot about the lotus leaves.

He had no choice but to find this substitute to make beggar's chicken, but the taste... he really couldn't guarantee.

Lotus leaves are arguably the soul of beggar's chicken, and with Qi Huang's movements...

The fragrance hidden beneath the yellow mud unfolded as each layer was peeled away.

Unlike the delicate fragrance of lotus leaves, this rich and mellow aroma, seemingly bestowing a profound depth, unfolds in layers upon layers on your nose.

Gradually, a meaty aroma and the fragrance of seasonings emerge, and the combination of these scents surprisingly smells even better than some of the finest perfumes.

It even made one's mouth water; "Gulp~" Everyone, even Lei Jun with the strongest willpower, couldn't help but swallow.

My stomach is rumbling with cravings.

After the beggar's chicken was separated, Qi Huang didn't hesitate, took a small piece of meat and put it in his mouth to taste it.

As the 'chicken' from this other world entered his mouth, Qi Huang felt that he had been eating chicken for the past 23 years without realizing it; he had never tasted such tender and delicious chicken.

He had also made beggar's chicken on Earth, but it tasted completely different from the beggar's chicken he was talking about now. That chicken had a delicate fragrance and a chewy texture.

The rich aromas unfolded in his mouth in varying degrees; the tender meat of the bird and chicken, whose names he couldn't discern, melted in his mouth, transforming into a thick, yet not greasy, and rich, yet not dry, broth that entered his stomach.

The exquisite taste made him feel blissfully lightheaded.

The deliciousness was so overwhelming that he couldn't find any adjectives to describe it; he could only express how delicious it was through his actions.

He kept stuffing the beggar's chicken meat into his mouth, occasionally remembering to painfully cut some meat out and put it in Li Lanjuan's bowl, gesturing for her to eat quickly.

They all knew how delicious this food must be, and without needing Qi Huang's invitation, they all conscientiously helped themselves.

Even Yufei and the others, who had tasted countless delicacies of the Great Xia Dynasty, were so engrossed in the food that they almost swallowed their tongues. This was even more true for Miler and the other six, who had never eaten like this before.

She actually started crying while eating, lamenting the kind of life she used to live and the kind of coarse food she ate.

While eating, he made up his mind to learn how to make this dish called Beggar's Chicken from Qi Huang.

In the future, if you want to eat this, you won't need to bother Qi Huang; you can make it yourself!

Meanwhile, he kept stuffing chicken meat into his mouth, his eyes fixed on the last few pieces of beggar's chicken that he hadn't yet eaten, looking like a refugee entering the city.

I wish I had more hands and more mouths so I could eat all those beggar's chickens they saw.

"Don't just focus on the beggar's chicken, try the other dishes too, they're delicious too. Don't rush, there's plenty of rice and vegetables."

Having already tasted the beggar's chicken, Lei Jun invited Miler and the others to try other dishes.

Miler and the others didn't refuse, and they tried the other dishes as well. However, compared to this top-notch beggar's chicken, the other dishes, which would normally be amazing to them, paled in comparison.

He then became a supporting character.

"What kind of bird is this? It tastes pretty good!" Yufei asked, spitting out the bird bones. She could tell from the taste that this wasn't the chicken she remembered.

It didn't have that earthy smell of chicken, and the meat was more tender than chicken from Earth. Chicken from Earth, including the chickens in her space, couldn't reach this quality.

Therefore, she was quite certain that they were not chickens from Earth, but rather birds from this other world.

"I don't know either. It's a kind of bird with a very long, multicolored tail that can fly."

Qi Huang had finished eating and drinking and was answering Yu Fei's questions.

He originally meant to say a type of flying bird that looks somewhat like a chicken from his planet Earth.

But Miler couldn't say this to Yufei. To be honest, the meat of this bird was even better than the so-called "dragon meat from the sky" that he had eaten when he was a child.

He hadn't expected this. When he thought back to when Miler said the bird didn't taste good after they caught it, he wondered what kind of chaff and bran Miler and the others were eating.

This isn't tasty at all?!