How much water do you add to cook rice?

Is that a question a head chef should be asking? Even if that head chef was the boss!

Aunt Fang stared in disbelief at Su Chen, who had poked his head out. "Just enough water to cover the first knuckle of your finger..."

"Alrighty~"

Su Chen pulled his head back in, and the kitchen door closed again. The group of people outside were truly dumbfounded this time.

Zhang Yali tugged on the corner of Li Mingtao’s shirt and turned around. "That was your boss just now?"

Li Mingtao grunted in affirmation.

"He doesn’t even know how to cook rice, and he’s your head chef? Why don’t we just go home and eat?"

Although Zhang Yali also had a job, she would still cook at home in her spare time. For someone who knew how to cook, making rice was arguably the most basic of culinary skills.

If a person couldn’t even cook rice, what kind of delicious food could he possibly make?

"Go home? What for?" Li Mingtao lowered his voice, glanced at his other colleagues, and seeing that no one was paying attention to them, he said, "It looks like we’re not getting that money back, so we should recoup our losses however we can. If our son doesn’t want to eat it, grab some ingredients from the storeroom on the way home and make something separate for him. But we have to eat!"

Zhang Yali wanted to say more, but Li Mingtao shot her a harsh glare, and she fell silent.

Su Chen had no idea that his casual question had caused the employees, who had just started to gain some confidence in him, to feel a new wave of concern.

Intimidated by his status as the boss, no one dared to say anything. They could only stare anxiously as Su Chen fumbled around in the kitchen.

In fact, a few of the young women had already made a secret decision.

’I’ll just say I’m on a diet and skipping dinner, so I’ll just have some water!’

Meanwhile, Su Chen followed Aunt Fang’s instructions and got the rice cooking. He clapped his hands in satisfaction.

"Next up is the soul of the eggplant and potato stew!"

A large handful of cilantro was minced, three spicy peppers were finely diced, and finally, a whole head of garlic was minced.

This dish with and without garlic were two completely different things!

These simple tasks left Su Chen drenched in sweat.

’Looks like I’ll have to practice my knife skills in the training room when I have some free time...’

Especially when chopping the garlic. It was fine at first, but when he got down to the last little bit, Su Chen was terrified he was going to cut his own hand.

He put the chopped garnishes into a bowl, and after scanning his surroundings, Su Chen spotted what he needed among a pile of seasoning bottles.

Purple Forest Aged Vinegar.

As a city in the central region, Jingzhou People couldn’t have a meal without vinegar.

It was said that the number of soup dumplings drowned in vinegar by Jingzhou People each year could circle the earth more than a dozen times!

After adding some aged vinegar to the bowl to soak the freshly chopped garnishes, Su Chen lifted the pot lid slightly to take a peek inside.

Because the potato chunks had been cut relatively small, after simmering over medium heat for nearly twenty minutes, they had now become soft and tender.

Seeing that it looked exactly the same as when he’d made it in the training room, Su Chen lifted the pot lid in satisfaction.

He grabbed a large spatula and began to press down on the eggplants and potatoes in the pot. The soft, stewed vegetables lost their original shape after just a few presses.

The chunky eggplant was crushed until only its fibrous strands remained, while the potatoes were mashed directly into the broth!

"Mission accomplished!"

Su Chen poured the vinegar and garnishes from the bowl into the pot. He stirred everything evenly from the bottom up with the spatula. The broth in the pot immediately became thicker.

Under the high heat, the aroma of the vinegar, carrying the scent of cilantro and spicy peppers, was infinitely amplified. It seemed to have a magical reaction with the eggplant and potatoes in the pot, and the flavor began to grow in complexity.

He took a deep breath of the aroma, and his throat bobbed a few times.

He had made this over eighty times in the training room, and every single time he could only look, not eat!

’I’m definitely going to devour three huge bowls of this later!’

Resisting the rumbling in his stomach, Su Chen washed his hands. "It’s done! Time to eat!"

Bai Xiaobo was the first to rush into the kitchen. "I’ll carry it out!"

However, he didn’t move to carry the dish. Instead, he went straight to the stove to inspect this pot of "food."

"Boss, can I ask a question?" Bai Xiaobo’s eyes were glued to the iron pot.

Su Chen dried his hands and grabbed a large bowl for himself. "Go ahead."

Bai Xiaobo pointed at the pot. "What are we eating today?"

As he spoke, the others also filed into the room.

Su Chen was a little confused by Bai Xiaobo’s question. "Eggplant and potato stew. Didn’t you all know that?"

"Boss, where are the potatoes then?"

Su Chen: "They dissolved."

"And the eggplant?"

"It’s been mashed to a pulp."

"Then this is..."

"Eggplant and potato stew."

Bai Xiaobo frowned. "Everything you said seems to be correct, but I still feel like something’s not right."

Su Chen scoffed. "Li Mingtao, stop standing there gawking. Help Xiaobai carry the pot out to the table."

"Carry the pot?" Li Mingtao had also come in with his own dinnerware; both he and his wife were holding their own lunchboxes and chopsticks.

"Yeah, just carry the whole thing out. It’ll save us a few plates, and I’m too lazy to wash them."

Now that the cooking was done, Su Chen was the boss again!

And the boss’s orders, of course, had to be obeyed!

Li Mingtao handed his lunchbox to Zhang Yali and walked over to the iron pot. "What is this stuff?"

Liu Shengnan sighed. "It doesn’t look like any eggplant and potato stew I’ve ever eaten."

"I don’t know much about cooking, but I know about color, aroma, and flavor." Li Mingtao looked at the pot of ’mush’. "Which of those do you think this dish has?"

Aunt Fang shook her head. "Oh, well. Let’s just have a bite. He already made it."

Bai Xiaobo grabbed a rag to protect his hands and placed them on the side of the pot. "Let’s go."

The two men carried the large pot, while Aunt Fang held the rice cooker. The group sat down at the dining table with complicated feelings.

Su Chen was the first to stand up. He served himself half a bowl of rice, then used a ladle to scoop some of the stew from the pot onto his rice. He lifted it to his nose and took a sniff.

This was the smell!

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Su Chen used his chopsticks to mix the rice with the eggplant and potato stew.

He then took a huge mouthful of the mixture.

’Holy crap! Did I really make this?’

The moment it entered his mouth, Su Chen himself found it unbelievable!

The fibrous strands of eggplant, which had been cooked to a pulp, were coated in the rich broth, and that broth was full of mashed potatoes!

With that one bite.

The soft texture of the eggplant was enveloped by the smooth, sandy texture of the mashed potatoes. With just a gentle chew, the fragrance of garlic and spicy pepper instantly filled his mouth!

It wasn’t until he had swallowed the entire mouthful that the unique aroma of the cilantro burst forth, carrying with it a hint of the aged vinegar’s distinctive sweet fragrance.

’This level of cooking would be considered top-tier even in many restaurants!’

Su Chen shoveled the mixed rice into his mouth while thinking to himself.

Back when he was a streamer, he knew many restaurants didn’t make their eggplant and potato stew like this.

The reason was simple. As delicious as this dish was, it didn’t look appealing!

He had made this today because he was short on time, and it was the only dish he could think of that could be made quickly enough to feed ten people.

Half a bowl of rice wasn’t much. After just a few bites, Su Chen’s bowl was empty. Satisfied, he stood up to get himself another serving.

"Why aren’t you guys eating?" Su Chen was a bit puzzled, seeing everyone else at the table holding bowls of plain white rice, staring at him motionlessly.

Although they were at the dinner table, Su Chen’s question had the same weight as if it had been asked in a meeting room...

The young college students all lowered their heads in unison, pretending to shovel plain rice into their mouths.

Just then, Li Mingtao stood up with a smile and took the large ladle. "Kids these days are so picky. The boss cooked for us personally, how could it possibly taste bad? Heh, I’ll take the lead!"

With that, Li Mingtao also ladled a layer of the eggplant and potato stew over his own white rice.

His portion, however, was much smaller than Su Chen’s.

Bai Xiaobo looked at Li Mingtao in disbelief. ’A backstab at a time like this?’

Everyone else turned their gazes to Li Mingtao, their eyes...

Full of schadenfreude!