Chapter 105: This cooking wine is divine!

Chapter 105: This Cooking Wine Is Extraordinary!

When Chu Lin saw the attributes of the Mesopotamian cooking wine, he immediately understood why it was considered one of the ultimate ingredients to end dark cuisine. Cooking wine is a staple in everyday culinary practice, used to enhance aroma and flavor, especially at the moment it hits the hot pan—the fragrance that wafts up is irresistible to the senses.

Now, this Mesopotamian cooking wine boasts an “aroma +1” attribute. It could easily make anyone’s mouth water just from the scent alone. More importantly, it also has a “deliciousness +1” attribute. With just these two features, even a dark cuisine enthusiast could be transformed, capable of creating genuinely tasty dishes.

As for its final “appetite +1” attribute, the already delicious and enticing food becomes even more irresistible, almost as if its purpose is to make you eat until you’re stuffed.

So, this is undoubtedly a valuable treasure.

He was just about to partner with Cai Yao to open a high-end restaurant; with oysters and prawns already drawing crowds, pairing them with this cooking wine would be simply unbeatable.

With excitement bubbling inside him, Chu Lin took the bottle of cooking wine out of the game and headed straight to the kitchen, eager to test its effects.

The kitchen was stocked with plenty of ingredients. He took out some fish fillets, and, after a moment’s thought, grabbed a few leafy vegetables, intending to run multiple experiments.

For instance, he’d prepare one dish carefully, another casually, and deliberately burn a third into a dark culinary disaster, just to see how the cooking wine would impact the results.

Chu Lin wasted no time.

He washed the vegetables, lit the stove.

Into the pan, he poured the cooking wine!

In that instant, an indescribably captivating aroma burst forth from the pot, drifting straight to Chu Lin’s nose.

The fragrance sent his taste buds into a frenzy, making him swallow involuntarily.

This scent was so enticing, it bordered on unbelievable.

At the surveillance monitor.

Liu Xiao was diligently watching over the screens. This relaxed, discrimination-free job was something he cherished, and he never dared slack off.

Suddenly, an alluring aroma reached him, and his throat reflexively tightened.

Hadn’t the boss already had breakfast? Why was he cooking again? But this smell—it was too good!

As he pondered, the aroma made him swallow once more.

A simple stir-fried vegetable was ready from the pan, and Chu Lin quickly grabbed his chopsticks to taste it. Just one bite set his eyes aglow with a fiery brightness.

The dish possessed a special deliciousness and fragrance that deeply captivated him; it was truly delectable.

He knew his own culinary skills; he’d never made anything so tasty before.

Just a single kind of cooking wine made him feel like a master chef.

Now he finally understood why people said the Mesopotamian civilization excelled at food research, even developing a scientific system around gastronomy, and what it meant to transform ordinary ingredients into extraordinary delicacies.

This one cooking wine proved it all.

A van stopped outside the farm, and three girls stepped out—Chu Ling and her two roommates.

Naturally, they were here to purchase blue-ringed jellyfish in bulk.

Chu Ling had already arranged with her older brother to come by in the morning.

“Ling Ling, this is your brother’s farm? It’s huge!”

“Yeah, but why does he live here if he’s the chairman?”

Chu Ling replied simply to her roommates’ questions, “Because my brother likes the environment here.”

She didn’t mention the beauty of the bay; after all, if her brother hadn’t said anything, she wouldn’t promote it herself.

What if her roommates got interested and asked to see it? What if her brother didn’t want others inside?

Chu Ling led her two friends into the farm, and as soon as they entered, two dogs ran up, circling around her.

“Big Yellow, Little Yellow!” Chu Ling greeted the dogs happily, rubbing their heads.

Anyone with a kind heart loves smart pets, especially since Big Yellow and Little Yellow had been raised in their family since childhood.

Just then, Chu Ling caught a whiff of the enticing aroma drifting through the air.

“So fragrant,” Chen Nian Nian exclaimed in surprise.

The other girl nodded repeatedly, “Who’s cooking at this hour? It smells amazing.”

“Let’s go check it out,” Chu Ling, drawn by the aroma, led her two friends toward its source with curiosity.

Arriving at the steel-paneled kitchen, they saw a handsome figure busy at the stove.

“Ling Ling, that’s your brother!” Chen Nian Nian said in astonishment.

The other girl added, “Ling Ling, your brother seems to have some serious cooking skills.”

Chu Ling was equally surprised; her brother’s cooking had never been this good. She’d tasted his food before—it was nowhere near as good as their eldest sister’s. Yet the aroma here alone could outshine her sister.

Could her big brother have been hiding his talents all this time, simply not wanting to cook?

Just like those stories online, where someone only discovered their husband had a master chef certificate after seven years of marriage, never seeing him cook a single meal.

With these thoughts, Chu Ling stepped forward, “Brother, did you make this dish?”

“Here you are,” Chu Lin greeted his little sister with a smile.

“Brother, can I try some?” Chu Ling couldn’t resist asking.

“Take it outside!” Chu Lin nodded.

Without hesitation, Chu Ling grabbed the freshly stir-fried dish and carried it out.

Chu Lin then made a fish dish casually, and deliberately burned a vegetable dish into a dark culinary mess.

He brought these two dishes to the table in the yard, and saw that Chu Ling and her two friends had already devoured most of the previous two vegetable dishes.

Seeing him come out, the three girls appeared slightly embarrassed—they’d simply lost control because it tasted so good.

“Brother, when did your cooking get so amazing?” Chu Ling couldn’t help but praise him.

Chu Lin smiled, saying nothing, and placed his two new dishes on the table. He picked up his chopsticks and tasted each dish one by one.

The aroma from the cooking wine lingered, even long after the dishes left the pan.

Moreover, he could instantly discern the differences—the taste varied distinctly.

The carefully made dish was incredibly delicious.

The casually made one was still tasty, but not quite as good.

The burnt one, which should have been inedible, was surprisingly palatable thanks to the “deliciousness +1” and “aroma +1” attributes, and under the “appetite +1” attribute, even such a dish was devoured with great appetite.

It was truly miraculous.

“Brother, even your burnt dish tastes fantastic!” Chu Ling praised him again after tasting the scorched vegetables.

Under four pairs of chopsticks, the dishes disappeared in a whirlwind, not a morsel left.

At that moment, the three girls exclaimed in surprise:

“Ah! We ate so much—I’m supposed to be watching my figure!”

“Me too, all my efforts undone.”

“Brother, it’s all your fault!”

Chu Lin stared in amazement at the three girls.

Honestly, Chen Nian Nian and the other girl really had personalities similar to his little sister, which probably explained why they got along so well.

Still, it was a shame not to see Lin Fei, the other roommate.

He’d seen her private photos shared by his sister (Chapter 43); such a beautiful girl was truly rare.

Chu Ling, remembering their purpose, said, “Brother, we’ve prepared thirty thousand yuan. Later, please pick out some good jellyfish for me.”

Chu Lin nodded, and offhandedly said, “Little sister, you have another roommate named Lin Fei, right? Don’t exclude anyone from your dorm. Since fate brought you together, cherish it, work together, and bring her along if you get the chance.”

“Brother, your calculations are so loud, they can be heard miles away,” Chu Ling couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him.

Her brother was wonderful in every way, except he was too much of a philanderer—already with a girlfriend, yet still interested in other girls.

The other two girls found Chu Lin’s words reasonable. Chen Nian Nian added, “True, we shouldn’t exclude Lin Fei. We’ll ask her if she wants to join us, though her family is quite well-off, and she doesn’t seem to work hard at her studies.”

“All right, let’s go check out the jellyfish,” Chu Ling quickly changed the subject, not wanting her roommate to inadvertently play matchmaker.

Chu Lin smiled, leading the three girls to the pool where the blue-ringed jellyfish were kept. He grabbed a special net and began scooping them out.

He offered them a wholesale price, 30% off, so seventy per jellyfish, and gave them four hundred, totaling twenty-eight thousand. With their thirty thousand, he told them to keep the remainder as backup.

After sending the girls off, Chu Lin returned to the farm, his thoughts drifting back into the game.

Having experienced the magic of the cooking wine, he was even more eager to see its recipe. Entering the game, he picked up the scroll containing the Mesopotamian cooking wine formula and chose to use it.

In the next moment, the scroll transformed into a beam of light, just like in the game, and shot into his forehead. A flood of information surged into his mind.

This information detailed exactly how to prepare the Mesopotamian cooking wine, including the steps and ratios for adding each ingredient.

Indeed, the process required that each ingredient be added in order—even a single misstep could affect the final product.

Most importantly, the ratios had to be perfect. Only by following them precisely could he create wine of this quality. If the proportions were off, the effects would diminish greatly, and if the mistakes piled up, it would be no different than ordinary cooking wine.

Additionally, after mixing, the wine needed to ferment in a temperature-controlled environment of 23–25 degrees Celsius for one week.

Likewise, any temperature fluctuation or deviation from this environment would affect the wine’s efficacy.

With all this information, Chu Lin was itching to begin. He exited the game and went to the yard, where he saw Liu Fa had already returned from deliveries. Chu Lin quickly wrote down the list of ingredients needed and handed it to Liu Fa, instructing, “Master Liu, please buy everything on this list, with the quantities specified. Also, make sure to buy them from the places I mentioned. And get two large fermentation vats as well.”

He’d listed enough ingredients for over a hundred pounds of cooking wine.

“Understood, Mr. Chu.” Liu Fa took the list, hopped into the small truck, and drove off.

Just then Chu Lin’s phone rang; it was Chen Feng calling—likely about the Linfeng aquatic pets business.

He answered, and Chen Feng’s words made Chu Lin’s eyes light up with excitement.

(End of chapter)