The Reviled God of Cooking Tries to Slack Off - Chapter 33

After Zhou Lifen finished speaking, she hesitated for a moment, organized her thoughts, and continued, “Boss Jiang, you’ve helped me make so much money over the years—more than I ever imagined. I’ve never properly thanked you. There are so many ham makers in our village. Other people are willing to buy from them, but they can’t offer this price. I know you’re looking out for me and respecting us craftsmen, but I haven’t been able to do anything for you in return.”

All merchants cared about profit. Only Jiang Tingzhou ever said he wanted quality—and the quality required for the Gongyan had to be the best on the market.

“I’m sorry. I was too emotional yesterday. I won’t act like that again,” Zhou Lifen said. “I’ll go to the hotel later and take the samples out to the market to see if anyone is willing to pay a higher price.”

Jiang Tingzhou was one of the few truly decent people she had ever met. She couldn’t let someone else shoulder her burden.

Li Shuyan stopped her and said, “I’ll buy some. Just take a break first.”

Anyway, she could treat it as a form of charity.

“Miss Li, you can’t finish all this by yourself,” Zhou Lifen said worriedly, seeing the leftover ham in Jiang Tingzhou’s kitchen. She had just helped wash the dishes. “Boss Jiang, there’s too much here. You can’t eat it all.” She thought for a while, then said, “How about I help you make ham sauce? We often do this in our village. It can be preserved for a while. Although it’s not as good as yours, my skills aren’t bad.”

Jiang Tingzhou thought about it for a moment and nodded.

She was a quick worker. Rolling up her sleeves, she went into the kitchen. Before long, the aroma of chili peppers filled the air—pungent, spicy, and rich.

She had already started cooking the sauce.

Zhou Lifen cut a small piece of the remaining ham into fat-filled dice, added chili peppers, minced garlic, ginger, and other spices, then poured in the fried mushrooms and bamboo shoots. Heating the oil over high heat, the resulting aroma was even more intense than yesterday’s salty, savory ham feast.

Seeing Jiang Tingzhou walk in, Zhou Lifen smiled and said, “Try it—see if it tastes good.”

The sauce wasn’t done frying yet. It would get more flavorful with time, but it was already edible. Still hot, and with ham of that quality, it tasted good no matter how it was cooked.

Li Shuyan tasted it and said decisively, “It’s edible.”

“It feels like something you’d eat with rice,” Tian Hui added. “And it’d be convenient to bring to the office.”

Jiang Tingzhou didn’t say anything. He scooped a spoonful into his mouth, tasted it carefully, then said, “Wait a minute.”

The chef’s instinct kicked in. He immediately fetched a few more ingredients and spices: a type of local black bean from Yongqing, some green peppers, and a small bag of dried tofu.

Then, without a word, he took the utensils from Zhou Lifen and began adjusting the flavor of the sauce. Once he finished stir-frying his version, Zhou Lifen became the one doing the taste-testing.

The ham was already salty, so not much was needed. Besides the original ingredients, he added green peppers for color and tofu for chewiness. The local Yongqing fermented black beans gave the sauce a deeper, richer flavor. It wasn’t as spicy now, but had a more distinctive and layered taste.

Li Shuyan and Tian Hui said in unison, “This is better!”

Zhou Lifen was stunned. “What would this go well with?”

Suddenly, she remembered something. She pulled out a plastic bag from her bag containing some dry noodles—the food she had brought on the road. She scooped a spoonful of the bright ham sauce onto the noodles and ate.

This was how she usually ate it at home. But with Jiang Tingzhou’s flavor improvements, the bland dry noodles became delicious.

The difference between high-end ham and regular ham became clear once it was cooked and tasted.

The diced ham in the sauce grew more fragrant with every bite. The fat from the ham melted into the sauce, blending perfectly with the ingredients.

After frying a large batch, Jiang Tingzhou filled an enamel jar and handed it to Zhou Lifen.

“Didn’t you want to sell the ham? Take this jar of sauce with you—”

Zhou Lifen nodded quickly. “You’re right, I get it now!”

This way, buyers would see that her ham wasn’t on the same level as those priced at 70 or 80 yuan. A higher price was completely justified. Ordinary ham sauce didn’t taste like that at all.

Before Jiang Tingzhou could say more, Zhou Lifen took the jar and rushed out excitedly.

She left first. Jiang Tingzhou looked at the remaining ham—it was enough to make several more jars.

Besides, after tasting it just now, he realized the flavor could still be improved.

The ham sauce from Zhou Lifen’s hometown was already delicious. It featured ham and chili as the main ingredients, with a strong and overwhelming flavor—but it lacked the refined taste preferred in Yongqing.

People in Yongqing preferred more refined, complex dishes. They were willing to pay for good food, but Zhou Lifen didn’t have a platform like the Gongyan. Even if Jiang Tingzhou personally cooked the ham, he couldn’t create a high-end restaurant from nothing. Good flavor alone wouldn’t guarantee sales.

The price was too high. People might not even try it. Just seeing it on a menu could get them complaining about profiteers.

But food came in many forms.

While ham dishes were expensive, ham sauce was much cheaper. While it might not be Gongyan-level, the local population could still afford it if it was just slightly more expensive.

At that moment, Zhou Lifen was on her way to the wholesale market.

There were several ham shops in the old market. One of them sold the highest-end products—the priciest ham leg there cost over 8,000 yuan, more than twice the price of Zhou Lifen’s.

This shop had seen her ham yesterday but tried to take advantage by offering only 80 yuan per catty.

Today, Zhou Lifen mustered up the courage to go back. The boss recognized her immediately and said, “Sister, I advise you to sell it quickly. Soon, even this price won’t be on the table.”

“I’ll sell it at 150 yuan per catty, bottom line,” Zhou Lifen said. At that price, she was already earning much less. “Boss, you know your products.”

The boss was still busy. Seeing that she wouldn’t give in, he lost interest in continuing the conversation. He waved her off impatiently and muttered that he was too busy to talk.

He hadn’t even had time for breakfast and was chewing on a dry steamed bun while juggling paperwork. He didn’t look up or say another word to her. He simply refused to pay a higher price.

“Really…” Zhou Lifen was at a loss. She circled around him anxiously, then opened the lid of the enamel jar. “If you don’t believe me, just try it!”

It was freshly made ham sauce. As soon as the lid came off, the fragrance hit hard. Steam still curled up from the surface. Chunks of ham were mixed with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and dried tofu. Red and green chili peppers glistened in oil—visually and aromatically irresistible.

She noticed the boss swallow.

No one could resist a spoonful of that sauce, especially not with a plain white steamed bun in hand.

Sure enough, he tore open the bun, scooped in two spoonfuls of sauce, pressed the bun shut, and took a big bite.

That was how Zhou Lifen always ate it. She believed that once anyone tried it, they couldn’t say no to that level of ham.

As expected, the boss’s expression changed.

Zhou Lifen, full of confidence, said, “Isn’t this worth 180 yuan? I only quoted you 150. Isn’t that cheap?”

The boss swallowed, looked at her, then at the sauce, and finally said, “Cheap. It’s really worth 180.”

Zhou Lifen had been waiting to hear those words. But before she could speak, the boss suddenly reached out and grabbed the jar from her hands.

Not just grabbed—more like snatched. He moved so fast she didn’t even have time to react.

“180, right? I’ll take this jar,” he said. “Those two spoonfuls just now count as mine.”

He pulled 200 yuan from the counter and shoved it into her hand.

Zhou Lifen stood frozen. “Wait, don’t you want my ham?”

“I do,” the boss replied, already sealing the jar and stashing it in a cabinet. “This is the ham, isn’t it? We’ve agreed. So, 200 for this jar. No change.”

The big enamel jar weighed almost two kilos. It hadn’t been easy for Zhou Lifen to carry it all that way. She didn’t expect it to go like that.

She frowned and said, “Give it back. That was just a sample. I need it.”

She hadn’t brought it to sell. She just wanted the boss to try it and taste the ham inside. Now he was taking it like it was a purchase.

But the boss ignored her. He sealed the cabinet door, scooped a few more spoonfuls into the last of his steamed buns, and kept eating. He was clearly famished—and he had already paid, so he wasn’t planning to return it.

Zhou Lifen: “…”

Unable to argue, she stood at the door, a bit dazed.

The sauce she had gone through so much trouble to bring was gone. All that remained was the cold 200 yuan in her hand.

…Is this right?

It didn’t feel right. But somehow, it also kind of did.

The jar hadn’t been all ham—there were vegetables, oil, and spices too. And the enamel jar itself.

She mentally retraced her steps. About one-fifth of it was ham, and even that was plenty. Each spoonful had visible meat, and the more ham in it, the tastier it became. But proportion mattered too.

Two catties of sauce—that was 1,000 grams—contained about 200 grams of ham. At her base cost of 135 yuan per catty, that came out to just over 50 yuan.

But ham meat wasn’t the same as whole ham. The inedible parts like bone and rind were removed, making the actual cost higher. Still, even the bones had value—good for soups and stocks.

All the other ingredients cost money too, but not much. The wholesale prices of mushrooms, bamboo shoots, fresh chilies, oil, and spices were quite low.

All in all, the total cost for the two catties of sauce was under 120 yuan—closer to 100.

She had just made nearly double her money!

Zhou Lifen went over the numbers again and again, calculating for losses, making sure she wasn’t wrong. And sure enough, she was making a profit.

What confused her was why no one wanted the 150-yuan ham, but people were rushing to buy ham sauce at twice the price.

She sat in the rest area of the old market for a long time, 200 yuan clutched in her hand, her mind spinning. She felt like she had just opened the door to a whole new world.

She hadn’t wanted to bother Boss Jiang again, but now she had a lot on her mind that she needed to confirm.

Like someone in a trance, she walked back to Jiang Tingzhou and handed him the 200 yuan.

“I… sold it. No, I didn’t want to. He insisted on buying it.”

Then she told him everything that had happened.

Jiang Tingzhou didn’t seem surprised. He didn’t even look at the money and just waved for her to keep it. He only cared about one thing—the taste.

“I made a slight improvement after the first batch,” Jiang Tingzhou said. “Go try it. The first one was a bit bitter—maybe it was overcooked. Did you taste it?”

Bitter?

Zhou Lifen hadn’t tasted any bitterness. She had only found it fragrant and rich.

Jiang Tingzhou’s tongue was unusually sensitive, his cooking skills far beyond anything she had seen. She couldn’t say what the improvement was, but somehow, she liked the new version even more.

“Sister Zhou,” he said, “I’m just an ordinary person. I can’t help you much. In the end, you have to help yourself. You have time to think here. There are countless ways to cook ham—and just as many ways to make a living, right?”

Zhou Lifen had lived her whole life in a mountain village. She had only a primary school education and had never seen much of the world. She sniffed the air, filled with the aroma of ham.

She had been making ham for years—handling those expensive ingredients herself, seeing them every day—but she had never truly tasted the full, rich flavor of ham.

Until today.

Today, she finally did.