Chapter 54 Native Farmhouse Dishes

  The restaurant in the tangerine garden is a separate house connected to the main building, with a corridor full of wisteria flowers in between. The space is very large, with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides facing the lush green lawn. In the distance, the background is layered mountains, and the scenery is breathtakingly beautiful.

  "You kids, hurry up...". Old Lady Zhou sat at the head of the long table, turning to Zhang's wife beside her and said, "Everyone is here, serve the dishes."

  Guan Xian was sitting next to Old Lady Zhou, looking like she had just taken a bath and changed her clothes, with a refreshed expression.

  "Sit here, Ning Meng..." Yang Ming pointed to another seat.

  "Oh, okay." It's better to stay away from that cold-faced god, Ning Meng secretly felt relieved.

  Before she finished speaking, a hand had already stretched out from the side and pulled her back, saying "Brother, I'll sit with Ning Meng, you go to Ge's side."

  "Oh dear, you little scamp." Yang Ming muttered to himself and walked over to the side of Guan Xuan with a huff.

  Finally, Ning Meng sat on the right side of Old Lady Zhou, facing Guan Xian. He seemed to have cast a glance at his opponent, then furrowed his brow and remained silent.

  She thought he was still angry, and didn't dare to make a move, so she simply picked up her chopsticks honestly and waited for the dishes to be served. As each dish was brought in one by one, when it finally came to the last one, she took a glance and was stunned - this full table of food made her dizzy, and she didn't know where to start...

  "Ah, this is Zhang's specialty, not usually brought out so easily. Today you're in luck!" Old Lady Zhou seemed to be in high spirits, and with a playful tone, said while looking at the four young people, "Guess the name of this dish, whoever guesses the most will be rewarded, but if someone can't guess it, they'll be heavily penalized. What do you all think?"

  Guan Xian said, "Grandma, stop making a fuss, let everyone eat first."

  Old Lady Zhou insisted, "You can eat and answer at the same time."

  "Great, great, there's a prize for the quiz," Yang Ming shouted. He turned around and yelled towards the kitchen, "Aunt Zhang, come out quickly to be the judge."

  Zhang Shu tied up her apron and ran out, laughing happily, "Oh my, these are all new farm dishes I just learned to make. You guys hurry up and try them, next time you come, I'll be even better."

  Yang Di was even more exaggerated, pulling out the paper slips from Zhang Shu's pocket, handing one to each person, along with four pens, and clapping his hands saying, "This way it's fair."

  Fair play or ghost, who knows if this family has colluded with each other? Ning Meng was thinking of a small nine in his heart.

  The old lady pointed to the first dish and said, "This corn, taro, pumpkin, etc. are all steamed together, what's it called..." The four people held up their signs, without exception, all of which read "Five Grains Abundant".

  The second dish was steamed taro wrapped in butter and fried to a golden color. The four of them looked at each other, seemingly puzzled, Ning Meng thought it must be related to gold, so what should it be called? Golden Taro...Golden Butter...no, that's not right, it should be more auspicious, she scribbled on the paper "Golden Ten Thousand Taels", just as Zhou Lao Tai shouted and raised her sign, she stood up. Looking at the other three people again, they were indeed Golden Taro...Golden Butter..., Guan Xian wrote "Golden Bun".

  Zhou old lady invited a judge, Zhang Shu covered her mouth and smiled, saying "This is called 'ten thousand taels of gold', Ning Meng answered correctly."

  "Ning Meng, you're so amazing! You can even guess this." Yang Di said with a curved eyebrow, extremely envious.

  Old Lady Zhou pointed at a bowl of soup and asked, "Everyone try some, what's this good for?"

  Ning Meng used chopsticks to scoop it up, and it turned out to be eel stewed with grass chicken. In rural areas, these two things are particular about, so the answer is obvious, should be "Dragon and Phoenix Stew".

  She won again with just one card left.

  Straw-wrapped meat, braised carp, lily stir-fried with purple yam, lantern-shaped wontons... Ning Meng passed the five gates and beheaded the general, fortunately without any danger.

  The last dish was a stew made with chicken head rice, black fungus and red dates. Everyone looked at each other in confusion, and Old Lady Zhou turned to Ning Meng excitedly, "Girl, can you guess what this is?"

  Ning Meng held the spoon and stirred it, smiling and saying, "Actually, I'm not very clear either, but I think the chicken head rice is like a pearl, so the name should be related to pearls. As for this black fungus and red dates stuffed inside, at first glance, it's quite distinctive, a bit like amber, I guess the name can't leave these two things behind."

  Zhang Shu raised her thumb and praised continuously. Guan Xuan glanced over, his eyes flashing with unclear meaning.

  Old Lady Zhou suddenly became interested and asked more detailed questions, "How did you know so much? Have you eaten it before?"

  Ning Meng smiled and said, "When I was a kid growing up in the countryside, I had seen many of these dishes before, they just weren't cooked as deliciously, and they didn't have names either. Just now, I was guessing wildly."

  Everyone suddenly realized.

  Zhang Shu calculated the results, Ning Meng ranked first, followed by Guan Xian, Yang Di and Yang Ming.