Chapter 140: Culinary Skill Surpassing Martial Prowess (Part 1)

"Master Chen, come and have some clear tea."

"I don't have many fine things here to entertain guests, but this tea is just about presentable." Li Xiang offered a greeting, and Chen Jue followed him to sit down at the tea table.

After a cup of green tea went down, Chen Jue felt inner peace. Sitting and conversing with Li Xiang for a brief moment, it wasn't long before a brightly dressed middle-aged woman walked back from outside, carrying a basket of vegetables.

"Old Li, do we have a guest at home?" As soon as this woman stepped through the door, she radiated an air of high efficiency. One could tell at a glance that she was the one who managed the household and called the shots. Seeing the unfamiliar Chen Jue there, she asked a question.

"This is Master Chen Jue, a friend I recently made through practicing boat-boxing."

"Did you drop Xiao Qin off at school?" Li Xiang replied while holding his tea, then lowered his voice to reveal to Chen Jue that this was his wife, Li Yanhong. Seeing the look of apprehension in his eyes, it was clear he held his wife in respectful awe.

"Who would have thought that Li Xiang, a Baji grandmaster as fierce as they come, would actually be afraid of his wife?" Chen Jue noticed the other man's expression and found it quite amusing, a sympathetic smile appearing on his face.

"Chen Jue?"

"Isn't he that young master who just won first place in the grand martial arts tournament?"

"In that way, the injury on your hand was also caused by him!" Li Yanhong carried the vegetable basket back into the kitchen, wiped her hands, wore an apron, and walked out holding a fruit knife and a fruit platter. She glanced at Chen Jue with a somewhat unkind look.

"Ah? Haha! It was just a martial arts sparring match! Getting injured is inevitable, it's no big deal, just a week of recovery and it'll be fine." Hearing his wife's tone, Li Xiang hurriedly stood up to take the fruit platter, placed it on the tea table, and while muttering under his breath, casually nudged his wife back toward the kitchen.

"All you know how to do all day is practice martial arts! Old Li, I think your brain is flooded! At your age, you don't even care about Xiao Qin's grades. This afternoon, I'm not keeping you two for dinner; get lost and go to your senior martial brother's place!" Li Yanhong glared at her husband. With a flick and a spin of her wrist, the fruit knife in her hand twirled in mid-air and then steadily plunged straight into a red apple on the fruit platter nearby. She gave two huffs through her nose and turned back to the kitchen to do her chores.

"What an impressive throwing knife technique!"

"What a fierce woman!" Chen Jue was also startled by this sudden turn of events. The other party's technique in throwing the knife was exceptionally brilliant, clearly showing she had practiced it extensively.

Li Xiang, having been scolded like that by his wife, turned red in the face. He sat back down at the tea table looking thoroughly embarrassed. After refilling Chen Jue's cup a few times, he hurriedly stood up and went upstairs to change into a set of casual clothes.

"Master Chen Jue, let's go grab a bite at my senior martial brother's place for lunch. My wife isn't very fond of me interacting with people from the martial arts world, and every time someone visits, she throws a fit."

"Aside from the students who pay tuition, even when my senior martial brother comes over, she doesn't give him a pleasant expression." Li Xiang explained somewhat helplessly. With such a formidable wife, his fierce and indomitable boxing intent had nowhere to be used. He grabbed the car keys from the shoe cabinet by the entrance and led Chen Jue out the door.

Chen Jue didn't mind; since he was a guest, he would follow the host's convenience. He also wanted to meet the Tai Chi senior martial brother that Li Xiang had mentioned.

He shouldered his bag and got into the seven-seat van in the courtyard used for picking up the children from school. Conversing and chatting along the way, the vehicle drove out of the villa compound and sped along the village roads.

Finally, they wound around to the foot of a lush, green mountain range a dozen kilometers away, following a twisting mountain road before stopping outside an antique farmhouse courtyard halfway up the mountain that hung a sign reading "Green Bamboo Wine and Flavor Residence".

After getting out of the car, Chen Jue looked around at the surrounding environment: tall trees, the sounds of chirping birds and fragrant flowers, and the distant rushing sound of what seemed to be a waterfall. The farmhouse courtyard before them was quite sizable.

At a glance, it was as large as twenty or so old rural houses. The courtyard was packed with various luxury cars, presumably belonging to wealthy people from the city who had come to appreciate nature and relax.

"Master Li Xiang, is your senior martial brother running a farmhouse resort?" Chen Jue asked with some curiosity. This place didn't have the slightest connection to martial arts; instead, it was a fine retreat for cultivating one's character and spending a leisurely weekend.

"Haha! Not only does he run a farmhouse resort, but he is also the head chef here himself."

"In a while, once you taste his cooking, you'll know what kind of skills he has." Li Xiang didn't keep him in suspense. He led Chen Jue into the farmhouse resort and greeted the receptionist at the front desk. Since he was likely a frequent visitor, the receptionist recognized him.

After speaking a few words into the front desk's walkie-talkie, Li Xiang led Chen Jue to the innermost farmhouse room, pushed open the door to a quaint private dining room, and sat down.

Before long, a burly, bald-headed man wearing a chef's uniform, with a round face and a glowing complexion, walked in from outside the private room carrying a tray of appetizers.

"Junior brother! How do you have time to come over today?"

"Did my sister-in-law kick you out again?" The big man walked in with a teasing remark, placed the delicate dishes from the tray onto the table one by one, and cast a glance at Chen Jue sitting in the private room.

"Senior brother, stop teasing me!"

"Come, let me introduce you first. This is Master Chen Jue of boat-boxing whom I mentioned to you a few days ago. Master Chen's martial arts have reached a pinnacle of perfection; even I was defeated by him, and his Tai Chi stances are not the least bit inferior to yours, senior brother."

"Today I brought him here to try your signature dishes and also to introduce you two so you can make friends." Li Xiang stood up to make the introductions.

"Oh?"

"To think it's Master Chen, who has been shaking the martial arts world these past few days! It is truly a supreme honor for Master Chen to grace my Green Bamboo Wine and Flavor Residence!"

"I am Li Wei, a successor of the Mengcun Baji lineage, and also Li Xiang's senior martial brother." The chef revealed a look of astonishment, not expecting that the champion of this martial arts tournament would be so young. He set down the tray in his hands and cupped his fists in a salute to Chen Jue.

"You are too polite, Master Li Wei. These are just empty reputations." Chen Jue stood up to return the salute and exchanged a few brief words with him.

However, Li Wei was clearly busy. After apologizing, he turned around and hurried back to the kitchen to work.

With the midday meal hour approaching, as the head chef of the farmhouse resort, he was naturally at his busiest, so the two of them didn't try to keep him.

Sitting down, they picked up a couple of bites of the appetizers Li Wei had served. One was crunchy and refreshing vinegar-pickled radishes, and the other was crisp and sweet smashed cucumbers. Eating them stimulated the appetite and refreshed the mind, truly possessing a flavor hard to find in outside restaurants.

"Delicious!" Chen Jue took a couple of bites and couldn't help praising.

"Haha! Not bad, right?"

"My senior martial brother has two unique skills: the first is his culinary art, and the second is his martial art. His cooking skills are actually even higher than his martial arts." Li Xiang introduced from the side, taking the opportunity to chat about the operations of this farmhouse resort.

As the main courses were served one by one at noon, Chen Jue's appetite was completely hooked by the exquisite delicacies before him.

Hibiscus swallow vegetables, crystal chicken slices, braised fish in sauce, braised pork knuckle in pot, lotus-pocket tenderloin, and crispy fried shrimp—every single dish was a masterpiece. Finally, after the heavy meat dishes were mostly eaten and a slight sense of greasiness began to set in, the waiter timed it just right to serve a jade-white soup to cleanse the palate.

"Simply marvelous!"

"Such delicious food, and this is the first time in my life I've ever eaten anything like it." Chen Jue's appetite was thoroughly aroused. He and Li Xiang completely cleared the table of dishes, and even finished off a large basin of white rice sprinkled with sesame seeds.

After the meal, the waiter came in to clear the plates and brought in a pot of imperial chrysanthemum tea. After a cup of tea went down, it left a lingering fragrance on the lips and teeth, clearing the stomach and cutting through the grease. Chen Jue felt that in all the meals he had eaten from childhood to now, none had ever been as flavorful and enjoyable as today's.

By the time they had sat digesting until nearly 1:30 PM, Master Li Wei changed his attire and pushed open the door to enter the private room.

"How were today's dishes? Do they suit your palate, Master Chen?" Li Wei asked.

"Master Li Wei, your cooking is truly extraordinary!" Chen Jue gave a thumbs-up.

"Haha! As long as you like it! That means my skills haven't gotten rusty." Li Wei smiled happily; what a head chef loved most was hearing others praise their culinary skills.

...

The three of them chatted in the private room for a short while before standing up and following Li Wei out of the main courtyard of the farmhouse resort, heading towards the taller positions on the back mountain.

After climbing for more than ten minutes, a forest villa built right next to a waterfall came into Chen Jue's view.

The villa was constructed with square, neat lines—not a traditional Chinese villa, but rather giving off the feel of a western forest villa. It must have been specially designed by an outside architect.

Entering the courtyard of the villa enclosure, Chen Jue saw martial arts equipment scattered everywhere, much like the setup in Li Xiang's courtyard, except there was an additional large metal ball that gleamed silver in the sunlight.

Filled with curiosity, Chen Jue felt it resembled the large stone ball he used to embrace while practicing martial arts by the sea. He walked up, grabbed it with one hand, and with a sudden heave, lifted the large metal ball directly off the ground.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz"—a rolling sound resembling flowing water emanated from within the ball. Chen Jue gripped the metal sphere and rolled it around his body, discovering that as the large ball rolled over him, it carried a strange, swirling force.

Li Xiang and Li Wei, standing nearby, exchanged looks of utter shock upon seeing Chen Jue lift the heavy lead-mercury ball with a single hand.

"Master Chen Jue! What marvelous kung fu!"

"I spent a fortune having master craftsmen make this lead-mercury ball, and a single one weighs a full one hundred and eight catties. Normally, I have to rely on both hands just to barely hold it for practice. I never expected Master Chen to be able to play with it effortlessly using just one hand." Li Xiang couldn't help but praise. Today, he truly realized there was always someone better out there.

"A lead-mercury ball?"

"So it was crafted by referencing the mention in Taoist internal alchemy of 'skin and flesh as lead, blood as silver-mercury.'"

"No wonder it feels so miraculous to handle!"

As Chen Jue rolled the large ball around, he suddenly discovered that the proficiency of his Tai Chi stance began to unconsciously rise by more than a dozen points.

Only then did he confirm that his sudden impulse to visit senior and junior martial brothers Li Xiang and Li Wei during this trip to Cangzhou had indeed been the right choice.