Liu Ming untied his apron and followed Tohru out of the kitchen.
"What do you want this time?" he asked grumpily.
After speaking, he didn't stand on ceremony and directly pulled over an empty chair to sit down.
"Look what I brought you?"
Chitawara Natsume didn't say directly, but pointed to a large box under the table.
"What is it? So mysterious," Liu Ming looked at her strangely.
Their relationship clearly wasn't very good, so why would she send him something?
But why refuse a free gift?
However, as soon as he opened the box and saw what was inside, his expression immediately became very peculiar.
Abalone, sea cucumber, fish lips, king oyster mushrooms, beef tendons, and so on—these ingredients looked familiar no matter how he looked at them.
"What do you mean by that?" Liu Ming asked, puzzled.
"I've already prepared all the main ingredients for you, are you going to refuse now?" Although Chitawara Natsume said this, she was still a little nervous inside, afraid that Liu Ming would really refuse.
"You're making things difficult for me. You know I can't cook, but you still brought the ingredients." Liu Ming scratched his head helplessly, feeling like he was being forced to cook.
"You just need to cook. If you fail, you fail. I won't mind. Besides, I brought your share too, don't you want to eat it yourself? These are all top-grade ingredients. Even I spent a lot of effort to collect them all," Chitawara Natsume's tone was full of temptation.
Liu Ming looked at Chitawara Natsume, then at the top-grade ingredients in the box.
To be honest, he was a little tempted.
After all, he really wanted to eat it. These were all top-grade ingredients, and the Chinese Cuisine made from them would undoubtedly be incredibly delicious.
However, as soon as he thought about how troublesome the dish was, he hesitated.
It was simply too much trouble.
Chitawara Natsume didn't rush him, sitting there quietly.
This was Chihiro Orie's first time seeing Liu Ming. His appearance wasn't bad, but wasn't he too young, perhaps only around twenty? She hadn't expected her sister to go to such great lengths to find ingredients just to hand them over to him to cook. Who exactly was he?
"Alright, you win. I'll make this dish," Liu Ming agreed after a moment of consideration.
This was not only his nature as a foodie but also his self-awareness as a chef.
Faced with top-grade ingredients, he always wanted to try cooking them. Moreover, it was the famous Chinese Cuisine, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, his first time truly cooking it, and he felt a little excited inside.
Also, he had a bunch of foodies at home, so this dish would be a treat for them.
"Really? You really agreed?"
Even though Chitawara Natsume was confident she could persuade him, hearing Liu Ming agree in person still made her unable to control her excitement.
"This dish requires a lot of preparation time. Don't even think about tomorrow. Come eat the night after tomorrow."
"It doesn't matter. I'm here every day anyway."
"You really treat this place like your own kitchen, eating here every meal. Don't you have to work?"
"I leave the less important work to my subordinates. For the important stuff, don't I have a sister?" Chitawara Natsume glanced at Chihiro Orie.
Chihiro Orie was speechless. Even if you really wanted to do that, don't say it in front of her.
While the two were talking, Tadokoro Megumi had also finished the two dishes.
What Liu Ming didn't expect was that these two dishes were ordered by Chitawara Natsume.
Chitawara Natsume looked at the two steaming hot dishes on her table, her eyebrows twitching slightly.
"These two dishes aren't made by you," she looked at Liu Ming.
"Of course, they're not made by me. Wasn't I here the whole time? When would I have had the time?"
"Aren't you being too much? I eat here to taste your personal cooking, and you actually let someone else cook for me," Chitawara Natsume's expression was a little angry.
"You can rest assured. Since I allowed it, it means there's definitely no problem. I wouldn't joke with the reputation of my restaurant. Oh, right, I forgot to tell you, these were made by my apprentice. Give me your evaluation after you eat." Liu Ming said.
"Your apprentice? You mean that girl with two pigtails? Can she do it?" Chitawara Natsume still didn't quite believe it.
"You try it," Liu Ming confidently raised his eyebrows.
"If it's not delicious, even if she's your apprentice, I won't acknowledge it," Chitawara Natsume emphasized once again.
Liu Ming didn't speak, just gestured with his eyes for her to try it quickly.
"I'm going to eat," Chitawara Natsume picked up her chopsticks.
With just one bite, she was stunned.
This taste, there was absolutely no mistake.
She suddenly turned her head to look at Liu Ming, confirming once again, "These dishes really aren't made by you."
Liu Ming gave her a roll of his eyes.
"You must be lying. This taste is exactly the same as what I've eaten before. How could it not be made by you?"
"This taste, this feeling, this sensation, I couldn't possibly forget it," Chitawara Natsume said with an expression of enjoyment. The reason she stayed here was for this soul-stirring tremor.
Is it that exaggerated, Chihiro Orie thought to herself.
Although the aroma did smell good, wasn't Chitawara Natsume's expression a bit too enjoyable?
She didn't believe it. She also picked up a pair of chopsticks and took a bite.
"This is…" Chihiro Orie's eyes immediately widened.
Such strong explosive power, such a perverted taste sensation. This small Chinese Restaurant could actually produce such exquisite cuisine.
She somewhat understood why Chitawara Natsume had stayed here all this time.
Even she, after tasting such deliciousness, had the urge to keep eating.
However, she believed her endurance was far superior to her sister's and she wouldn't abandon her work because of this.
She thought to herself, after eating the Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, she would leave and wouldn't get addicted here like her sister.