As soon as the dishes were out of the wok, Bai Mengmeng picked up a piece of pork belly to taste. The flavor was decent, and she was already quite satisfied to have achieved this result with so few ingredients.
When she picked up a piece of potato next, her eyes widened involuntarily. How could it be this delicious? It was even better than the pork belly!
With just a single bite, the soft and delicate texture of the potato melted in her mouth, both savory and fragrant.
The taste was many times better than anything Bai Mengmeng had cooked in the past, and for a fleeting second, she felt she could easily polish off two bowls of rice.
The wonderful flavor of the potatoes blended so naturally and harmoniously with the pork belly that the taste of the entire dish was noticeably elevated.
The stir-fried shredded cabbage in vinegar was also wonderfully crisp and appetizing. If she had previously only been able to bring out half of the vegetables' flavor, now almost their entire deliciousness had been unlocked.
Moreover, she could sense that these ingredients were not even top-tier. If they were grown by her own hands, they would undoubtedly taste even better.
This Talent skill was simply amazing! As a true foodie, Bai Mengmeng closed her eyes and felt as though tears of happiness were about to well up.
Seeming to sense something, she opened her eyes to find that all three of her disciples had returned and were currently peering through the doorway at her with eager expressions.
Uncle Xu was even more exaggerated, standing off to the side with his chopsticks raised, drool practically dripping onto the floor.
"Do you have to be so dramatic?" Bai Mengmeng said, speechless. "Get ready to eat."
Liang Cha, the eldest disciple, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, took a giant stride right over to the dining table, and sat down with effortless flair.
Bai Mengmeng was startled. Was that lightness Kung Fu just now?
The others were no less enthusiastic, acting as if they had been pumped full of adrenaline. Some served the dishes, others scooped the rice, and they all crowded around the table to eat.
Wang Hao didn't even care that it was hot; he swiftly grabbed a piece of braised pork and popped it into his mouth. His eyes instantly lit up. The fat melted on his tongue, the lean meat was tender rather than stringy, and his mouth was filled with a rich, savory aroma.
Thinking of the zombie-like meat he had eaten at noon, he immediately protested with indignation: "So this is what human food is like! Old man Liu, what you’ve been feeding us before was pig swill!!"
Uncle Xu was stuffing his mouth with potatoes stewed with meat, tears welling in his eyes. "Sect Leader, in all my years, this is the best braised potato and pork I've ever eaten, especially the flavor of these potatoes! Sob, sob, it's too delicious."
Hua Guduo turned her gaze to the sweet and sour stir-fried cabbage, with its silvery-red color and glossy, light sauce. She hurriedly picked up a mouthful. Before it even reached her mouth, a heavy fragrance of sour, spicy, sweet, and savory wafted over. When she finally tasted it, she found it even better than the meat—sour, spicy, immensely satisfying, and deeply refreshing, instantly whetting one's appetite.
Throughout the meal, Liang Cha didn't say a single word, burying his head and eating fiercely. In the end, seeing that all the dishes were completely gone, he simply grabbed an enamel basin, scooped up all the remaining rice, mixed it with the leftover broth from the stewed potatoes and pork, and shoved it straight into his mouth.
Even after finishing the rice, he still felt unsatisfied. He grabbed a spatula, scraped up all the crispy rice crust at the bottom of the pot, dipped it into the meat broth, and cleaned the platter down to the last speck.
Bai Mengmeng stared in horror at his table manners. Was he a reincarnation of the gluttonous beast Taotie? Looking at his slender waist, where on earth did all that food go?
She couldn't help a quiet sigh of regret. If not for the fact that he looked like a minor and she feared stirring up controversy and trouble, she could have supported the entire sect just by doing a eating livestream!
Finally, Liang Cha put down the basin with a look of contentment. It was too delicious! A rare, faint smile actually appeared on his face.
By the end of the meal, the other three were also stuffed to the brim, happily rubbing their bellies.
Seeing that everyone had finished, Bai Mengmeng gave a light cough and said, "Now that everyone is full, as Sect Leader, I have a few things to say."
"I've been here for a few days now. Even though we gathered here for the sake of cultivating immortality..."
At the mention of cultivating immortality, Bai Mengmeng couldn't help blushing slightly. It really felt a bit second-hand embarrassing, so she immediately turned serious again. "However, as you've all seen, Spiritual Energy is practically gone these days, and there's no real future in cultivation. Plenty of people spend their entire lives without awakening a Talent, and just as many never manage to upgrade one."
"Although I promised my grandfather that I wouldn't disband the Qiongye Sect, if everyone just sits around without working while our savings dwindle to nothing, that certainly won't work. We need to find a way to make money!"
Wang Hao quickly raised his hand. "I have a job. I do odd jobs at the recycling station... It's just that all the money goes toward buying materials."
"I have one too. I'm currently doing Tarot card reading livestreams..." Hua Guduo glanced at Bai Mengmeng, her voice gradually trailing off.
Bai Mengmeng crossed her arms and asked, "How many followers? How much have you earned?"
"Cough..."
Splendid, just splendid, Bai Mengmeng thought. True to the Qiongye Sect, her disciples and even herself were all unemployed vagrants. They were truly a nest of lazy bums.
However, she actually already had an idea for making money. When she went to the town in the morning, she noticed that the Phoenix Mountain Scenic Area was very close by.
The scenic area was packed with attractions, including a botanical garden and a film city, with Phoenix Temple right nearby and plenty of agritainments and guesthouses lining the route.
Their courtyard was huge anyway, and the first floor was completely unoccupied and practically empty. Why not simply open an agritainment restaurant right here and sell country-style dishes?
Her own cooking skills were already quite good, and now, likely influenced by her farming Talent, the vegetables she cooked tasted absolutely stunning. She was more than qualified to be a chef.
She wasn't afraid of hard work either. After awakening her Talent, her physique was much stronger than before, and at times she felt energetic enough to slaughter a pig.
Besides, she had so many cheap labor disciples!
They could all come and do odd jobs for her! Haha!
Her Talent was agriculture, anyway. Once the backyard fields were plowed and planted with vegetables, they would be self-sufficient in produce. If that wasn't enough, there were still several plots of land at the foot of the back mountain.
With this in mind, she shared all her ideas with the others.
Though everyone looked a bit dazed, none of them raised any objections.
Bai Mengmeng let out a breath of relief and laughed heartily, "Since everyone agrees, it's settled then! I've even thought of the name: Qionghua Restaurant. Let's get the renovation started first!"
No sooner said than done. Over the next few days, Bai Mengmeng was busier than ever. First, she hired a specialized renovation crew to tear down and remodel the entire first floor.
Deeming the original kitchen too small, she moved it to the detached flat on the side that used to serve as a storage room, hiring professionals to reinstall kitchen equipment. She also commissioned a light-up signboard, purchased tables, chairs, bowls, chopsticks, and all sorts of other supplies, exhausting the majority of her savings.
She didn't bother hiring anyone to design the front yard; she simply pulled up the weeds in the strip of private land surrounding it and scattered seeds for sunflowers and evening primroses.
She left the concrete pavement in the middle of the yard untouched, setting up a few large parasols and some outdoor tables and chairs to complete the setup.
The sect disciples also suffered immensely, being dragged out every day to scrub tables, mop floors, and wash everything in sight.
Through everyone's hard work, the preparations were finally completed bit by bit.
By the time the business license, health permits, and all other certificates finally came through, the weather had gradually grown warm.