Chapter 78 - Birthday Party Preparations
Ch78 – Birthday Party Preparations
Ruan Tang arrived at the military canteen. Since it wasn’t meal time, there was no one there apart from a few smart robots doing the daily cleaning. Ruan Tang walked in the direction of the back kitchen. There was also a smart terminal installed at the door that checks the personnel’s identity. After all, this was related to the dietary safety of soldiers throughout the military. People without authority were absolutely not allowed to enter.
Ruan Tang pressed his palm to the smart terminal at the door. After his biometric identity was confirmed the door automatically opened.
“Master!” The few people who were busy in the kitchen, after hearing the sound of the door opening, looked over and were very surprised to see that it was Ruan Tang.
Although Ruan Tang didn’t often come to the military canteen to instruct them, he still kept in touch with his six apprentices to answer their questions about cooking. The six of them also watched his live broadcasts and learned from his videos. The six of them now completely regarded Ruan Tang as their own master, and no longer called him ‘Teacher Ruan’ as before, but called him ‘Master’.
“Well, what are you all doing?” Ruan Tang asked with a smile.
“We are discussing the menu for today’s lunch,” Wen Zeyang replied immediately.
“Oh? What are you preparing to make?”
Wen Zeyang nodded and gave a report. “Saucy ribs, tomato scrambled eggs, hot and sour shredded potato, wood ear scrambled eggs, cucumber and stir-fried pork, green pepper and stir-fried shredded pork, potato and beef stew, stewed chicken and mushrooms, tomato tofu soup, winter melon pork rib soup. A total of eight dishes and two soups. ”
“Nice.” Ruan Tang nodded slightly. He was very gratified to see that they had once again learned new dishes.
He talked to them for a bit more and then let them go to do their work.
Several apprentices began to get busy preparing food ingredients, while Ruan Tang sat to the side and began to think about what gift to prepare for He Yun Chen. Birthday cake was a must, and longevity noodles were indispensable. Shoutao and eggs were also very representative of great blessings.
Thinking of this, Ruan Tang couldn’t help but give a bitter laugh. He really couldn’t change his habit. When it comes to birthdays, the first thing that comes to mind was food. After all, the only he could do well enough was cook.
Instead of racking his brains for a birthday present, it was better to carefully prepare a birthday banquet and let He Yun Chen eat to his heart’s content.
At that moment, Ruan Tang’s light brain rang. He glanced at the screen and saw that it was He Yun Yi.
“Big Brother He?” Ruan Tang immediately accepted the call.
“Xiao Tang, are you free today?” He Yun Yi sounded teasing.
“I’m free. Does Big Brother He need any help?”
He then paused and asked, “Ah yes, Big Brother He. I heard that tomorrow is Chen Ge’s birthday. Do you have... anything planned for him?”
After all, He Yun Chen has a family. If their family already has plans to celebrate his birthday, then he needed to think of other ways.
“Yes, tomorrow’s his birthday, but what arrangements should we make?” He Yun Yi asked a bit doubtfully.
It sounded like they weren’t planning to celebrate He Yun Chen’s birthday at all, and Ruan Tang couldn’t help but hesitate, “Don’t you ... prepare a birthday feast or something?”
“Birthday feast? It’s just a birthday. Just send him a gift. Do we need to celebrate?”
It’s not that He Yun Yi deliberately ignored his younger brother, but that the people of the Blue Star Empire did not have the concept of birthdays. After all, they were used to taking nutrient solutions for a long time, but no group of people would gather around a box of nutrition solutions to celebrate their birthday. Before, when the brothers had their birthdays, they would basically take a day off and do something they liked; maybe play some mech battles on the Star Network. Afterwards, some friends and family would give them gifts.
“Then would it be better for me to prepare a birthday party?”
“Okay, no problem.” As long as there was something delicious to eat, He Yun Yi wouldn’t object, “Where are you going to do it?”
“This ...” Ruan Tang also hesitated a bit. He hasn’t bought a house yet. His apartment was too small. It was ok to entertain maybe three or four people, but any more than that would be impossible.
“It’s better to do it at our house. Aren’t you going to go house hunting tonight? You can just come to our house and stay over for the night.”
“Won’t it be a bother?” Ruan Tang was a bit hesitant. After all, the He Family also had the He mother and father. One of them was even the big boss of the live broadcast platform. He always felt that him coming over might affect their work.
He Yun Yi laughed, “It’s all right, they also like you very much.”
“Well then ...” Ruan Tang nodded. “I don’t know who to invite. I’m sorry but I’ll have to ask Big Brother He to come up with a list. May I know how many people there’ll be?”
“Of course!” He Yun Yi agreed quickly, “Then come here now. You’re also going to need a lot of things from my side.”
“Okay! Thank you, Big Brother He!”
Ruan Tang sent a message to He Yun Chen, telling him that he was going to the Academy of Sciences. After He Yun Chen was done that evening, he could go over to the Academy to look for him.
He Yun Chen naturally agreed.
Ruan Tang immediately called a suspended car and went to the Academy of Sciences.
He Yun Yi personally went to pick him up at the door and took him to the research lab. From the looks of the two new ingredients they have just restored, it was indeed inexplicable.
“Look at this. When we first restored the embryos, they were still little black spots, and we didn’t know what they were. Then, after a few days, they grew a tail, and then legs came out. They turned green, they grew bigger and bigger and uglier too. These things aren’t poisonous, but ... maybe they aren’t supposed to be eaten?” He Yun Yi took him to the No. 1 laboratory, pointing at the contents of the cultivation chamber, “You see?”
Ruan Tang stepped forward to look at it, and couldn’t help laughing. He thought it was something strange but wasn’t it a bullfrog? Wok grilled bullfrog was very delicious. Although a lot of people expressed aversion to this ingredient, Ruan Tang was quite satisfied with this new ingredient.
“Brother He, rest assured, this ingredients can be eaten.”
“But is it delicious?” He Yun Yi parried back immediately, afraid that he was playing with words. Ruan Tang chuckled, “It’s delicious.”
“That’s good, that’s good.” He Yun Yi nodded again and again, since Ruan Tang said it was delicious then it must be delicious.
He Yun Yi and Ruan Tang arrived at the second laboratory. The contents of the cultivation chamber seemed familiar.
“There’s also this one. We don’t know what’s going on. It actually looks like the monster lobster on the nineteenth planet, but it’s much smaller. Should this be edible?”
“Crayfish!” Ruan Tang suddenly lighted up. This was authentic earth food, not an alien variant! With this ingredient, He Yun Chen’s birthday banquet could be made even more delicious.
Seeing these two ingredients, Ruan Tang unconsciously began to plan out the birthday party menu in his head. Since it was a birthday banquet, although the Blue Star Empire did not have the habit of celebrating birthdays, it certainly won’t just be the four of five of them in the family. The servings cannot be small, otherwise there won’t be enough for everyone.
Since He Yun Chen liked spicy food Ruan Tang intended to focus on Sichuan cuisine for his birthday banquet. Spicy chicken, chopped chili pepper fish head, Mapo tofu, spicy crab, Shui Zhu fish, Wok grilled bullfrog, spicy crayfish, Qiang Guo Perch, twice cooked pork , Foie gras steamed eggs and garlic scallops. For the soup, he will make tomato and potato beef soup and for the staple, it will be Dan Dan Mian, Shoutao and birthday cake.
“Okay, the problem has been solved. Let’s go and see the surprise we have for you.” He Yun Yi laughed. “About that happy fat house water that you mentioned. We have developed three versions, but I don’t know which one tastes like the one you described. It would be best if you go and taste it.” He Yun Yi didn’t notice Ruan Tang’s distraction and took him to the next laboratory.
“Okay!” Ruan Tang immediately came back to his senses upon hearing this. He didn’t know whether it was cola or beer that they had developed but in either case there would be drinks for He Yun Chen’s party. It just so happened that the feast was all spicy dishes. Pairing these with cold bubbly cola or ice-cold beer would be truly refreshing.
When he arrived at the laboratory, He Yun Yi had three glasses of black drinks still bubbling up, and Ruan Tang tried them one by one.
Ruan Tang took a sip and his eyes lit up. The Academy of Sciences was indeed filled with talented researchers. In just a few days, they had gotten the taste of these drinks almost right. There were three flavors of cola, one of which was a bit light and tasted a bit like Diet Coke. The other was a bit sweeter, and the other tasted like Chinese medicine.
“These two cups are not bad, but it is better to dilute the taste of the second cup a bit.” Ruan Tang pointed to the first and second cups that he had just tasted.
“Okay, I got it.”
“Well, Big Brother He, what about the cooking wine that I requested. How is your research coming along?” Ruan Tang had wanted cooking wine for a long time. Cooking without it was really inconvenient.
“Ah ... I almost forgot. Yesterday, I heard a report that said there was a sample ready, but the taste was a bit weird. Come with me.”
He Yun Yi took Ruan Tang to another laboratory to taste the sample of cooking wine that they had just developed.
“Oh ... This is it!” Ruan Tang took a sip and smiled with satisfaction.
Cooking wine had the effect of removing the fishiness and accentuating the taste of foods. It could be considered a must when preparing meat. With cooking wine, the taste of the dishes at the birthday party would be greatly improved.
The trip to the Academy of Sciences was very fruitful and Ruan Tang was extremely satisfied.
He stood at the gate of the Academy of Sciences and waited for He Yun Chen to come over. He Yun Yi looked at him and couldn’t help but say, “You two get along really well.” He sighed theatrically and when he saw Ruan Tang looking at him, he said, “My birthday is three months later than A’Chen’s. Will you make me a birthday party for my birthday too? ”
“Okay, no problem.” Naturally, Ruan Tang wouldn’t reject the light of science.
He Yun Yi nodded with satisfaction, and then said that he would prepare these ingredients and send them home tomorrow morning. As for how to hide this from He Yun Chen, he was not worried at all. “That guy has no interests at all. He never really cared about birthdays. He will definitely go to the military headquarters as usual. You can rest assured.”
Ruan Tang nodded and remembered something. He said, “Ah, yes, Big Brother He, I remember when you came back from the 19th, you brought some water monsters for research. I wonder if you can give me some?
“No problem.” He Yun Yi signaled with his hand, and then they saw a floating speeding car coming from above, so he said, “Your Chen Ge is here, go on.”
He watched Ruan Tang happily bid goodbye and then run towards He Yun Chen. He Yun Chen’s solemn and serious face also had on a rare smile. After they got in the car and left, He Yun Yi couldn’t help but smile lightly and shake his head.
Originally, he had been worried that his younger brother was too withdrawn to even go and pursue someone. But now, it looks like it won’t be long before the iron tree blooms.