r18novel Page 481
Page 481
"Caiwei, I can help you refine something to make food taste better."
Chapter 289 Chu Caiwei: I love you to death!
Chu Caiwei perked up at the mention of food flavor enhancement.
"Can you concoct a seasoning that makes food taste better? Could you help me advance to the level of an alchemist?"
Li Chang'an said, "This seasoning is called a flavor enhancer. When it is sold to every household, people's food will taste better, and of course they will recognize its value."
So-called chicken essence is mainly composed of monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is primarily composed of monosodium glutamate.
Before his reincarnation, Li Chang'an knew a saying: the harm of MSG to the human body is the same as that of mobile phone radiation; the lower the education level, the greater the harm.
"I knew you had a way!" Chu Caiwei exclaimed excitedly.
She only came to Li Chang'an because she had no other choice. After all, different professions are like different worlds, and Li Chang'an had never demonstrated any alchemical abilities.
"We need to prepare some materials: sea cucumbers, kelp, and shiitake mushrooms. We'll prepare about a pound of each. We don't need too much. I can ask the night watchman or the government office to get some."
As soon as Li Chang'an finished speaking, Chu Caiwei interrupted, "No need, no need, leave it to me! Senior Brother Song has all sorts of materials. If it's not enough, I'll have someone go to the palace to get some."
"Leave all these things to me. You just need to rest and recharge your energy so you can prepare to teach me alchemy!"
"Alright then." The Imperial Observatory has a lot of influence, and Chu Caiwei is also very familiar with the princesses, so this matter is indeed not difficult.
"Li Chang'an, I'm leaving now."
Chu Caiwei jumped up from the chair, smiled sweetly, and her eyes seemed to sparkle.
After Chu Caiwei left, Li Chang'an looked at Xu Lingyue, who walked over shyly with her hands clasped in front of her.
Xu Lingyue is the fresh and refined type, while Chu Caiwei is the charming and cute type; each has her own merits.
However, Xu Lingyue's status was relatively low, so she lacked confidence and could not fully show her charm. Therefore, Li Chang'an decided to help her.
"come over."
Xu Lingyue sat smoothly on Li Chang'an's lap, letting Li Chang'an hold her waist.
“Lingyue, let’s start from where Caiwei interrupted us.”
"Mmm." Xu Lingyue's voice was barely audible, but she leaned forward honestly and pressed her thin red lips against hers.
Li Chang'an took the opportunity to capture her and began to teach Xu Lingyue how to kiss passionately. Xu Lingyue cooperated awkwardly but actively.
She didn't know when it started, but their relationship grew closer and closer, and she not only didn't reject it, but actually looked forward to it.
After all, the Xu family was not wealthy. Xu Lingyue's eyes were opened when she came to Li Chang'an's place. Li Chang'an's mansion was extremely luxurious, and the two princesses and people like Wei Yuan visited frequently.
Xu Lingyue felt that being Li Chang'an's maid for life would be a very prestigious and proud thing.
The quick-witted girl knew that Li Chang'an would definitely become very wealthy and powerful in the future, but he didn't have a single concubine by his side at the moment.
Xu Lingyue secretly hoped to become Li Chang'an's first concubine, at least before that courtesan entered the household.
Li Chang'an held the beautiful woman in his arms. He knew that Xu Lingyue appeared pure and refined to outsiders, but that was only in other people's eyes.
Just like Huaiqing, who appears aloof to outsiders, she is not like that in front of Li Chang'an.
For maids in wealthy households, even those from good families, becoming a concubine of their master was a very good career path.
Therefore, it's only a matter of time before Li Chang'an wins over Xu Lingyue.
"You have to eat your rice one bite at a time, and you have to cook your daughters one by one. You have to keep an eye on what's in the pot while you're eating what's in your bowl. You have to eat them all one by one."
Inside the Imperial Observatory.
"Senior Brother Song, do you have any sea cucumbers, kelp, or shiitake mushrooms?"
A white-robed sorcerer looked up from a pile of bottles and jars, sporting dark circles under his eyes that rivaled those of Zhang Yi.
This is Song Qing, a sixth-grade alchemist. It's not that this Senior Brother Song is incapable of advancing, but rather that he is obsessed with alchemy and unwilling to do so.
His dark circles were caused by overworking his body for the Dafeng Chemical and Biological Business, not like Zhang Yi's, which were formed to promote the domestic sales of Dafeng's brothel industry.
“I have quite a few sea cucumbers, as you know. I’ve been studying the differences between sea cucumbers and sea urchins, and whether they can mate.”
"I don't have seaweed or shiitake mushrooms, you'll have to go to the restaurant and buy some better ones yourself..."
Song Qing said a couple of words, then continued to bury himself in what he was doing.
"Senior Brother Song, I need sea cucumbers. Give me the warehouse key."
"Junior sister, you should focus your energy on alchemy now. You're not very bright and you don't put in the effort. When will you ever become an alchemist?"
Hearing Song Qing's words, Chu Caiwei puffed out her cheeks and said angrily, "I'll use sea cucumbers to nourish my brain, hurry up!"
Song Qing tossed a bunch of keys over, telling Chu Caiwei to go and get them herself.
Not long after, Song Qing saw Chu Caiwei carrying a large basket of sea cucumbers and casually handing the keys back to Song Qing.
Song Qing immediately became anxious, "At least leave me some. You can't eat too much seafood at once."
Chu Caiwei knew that Song Qing was very particular about her materials, and that she desperately needed these sea cucumbers.
The restaurant certainly couldn't collect as many of these rare seafood items as Song Qing, so she took all of the sea cucumbers that Song Qing had raised, totaling about twenty catties.
"Senior Brother Song... I've actually already figured out how to advance to the level of an alchemist. I need to use these sea cucumbers to make a flavor enhancer that will make the food even more delicious!"
Song Qing blinked her small eyes, which were surrounded by dark circles, looking astonished.
"You don't even know the most basic alchemy, what good ideas could you possibly come up with? Are you just drooling over food?!"
"Besides, even if you want to try it yourself, do you need this much?" Song Qing still grabbed the basket containing sea cucumbers, looking annoyed as if she had been robbed.
Chu Caiwei clung tightly to the large basket in front of her and said, "Trying will fail, just like you often fail at alchemy, don't you?"
Seeing Chu Caiwei's determined expression, Song Qing became even more puzzled, because he knew that Chu Caiwei did not have this ability.
“Your alchemy skills are too poor. I must be present to supervise you and I absolutely cannot let you do anything reckless.”
Actually, he was afraid that Chu Caiwei would use alchemy as an excuse to eat all his sea cucumbers.
Chu Caiwei pulled Song Qing's hand away and said smugly, "Come to the Li residence on Xuanwu Street first thing tomorrow morning, and I'll broaden your horizons!"
She had complete confidence in Li Chang'an. Although she knew nothing about Li Chang'an's refining plan, she knew that Li Chang'an was capable of anything.
Song Qing was a tech geek who didn't care much about the outside world, especially things like romance, poetry, songs, and talented men and beautiful women.
He had certainly heard about Li Chang'an, but after hearing it, he let it go in one ear and focused all his energy on alchemy.
"The Li residence... There are alchemists outside the Imperial Observatory, could it be a restaurant?"
He was talking to himself when Chu Caiwei ran off in a hurry.
"This flavor enhancer wasn't something my junior sister made up, was it? We should go check on her tomorrow morning; we can't let her eat all the sea cucumbers!"
The next morning, Chu Caiwei sat in the carriage and arrived at the back gate of Li Chang'an's house with great excitement.
Her legs swung back and forth under the carriage shaft, and she was chewing on dried meat, looking very happy.
The carriage behind Chu Caiwei and the driver was loaded with several large baskets, which startled Xu Lingyue when she opened the door.
"Miss Caiwei, didn't the young master say he only wanted one pound of each?"
Chu Caiwei jumped off the carriage, put her small hand on Xu Lingyue's shoulder, and her expression became extremely serious.
"Lingyue, you don't know alchemy, you don't understand."
"Alchemy has a very high failure rate. My fellow disciples have failed hundreds of times and might not succeed even once. So it's better to be prepared and have more resources."
Xu Lingyue didn't quite understand, but she thought it was very impressive.
"Then come in quickly, the cook that the young master asked me to arrange is ready."
Afterwards, Xu Lingyue arranged for the servants to load all the large baskets on the cart into the kitchen.
The kitchen in the six-courtyard house was very large. Li Chang'an sat on a chair outside the kitchen and began to think about a traditional method for making MSG.
Due to the limited resources of that era, extracting monosodium glutamate was impossible; only a rudimentary version could be produced.
He only needed to make the simplest version and then let Chu Caiwei improve it herself. After all, true foodies can cook their own food, so she would definitely be able to do it.
Li Chang'an was somewhat surprised to see the servants carrying in several large baskets filled with piles of kelp and mushrooms.
Chu Caiwei is truly reliable when it comes to getting things done.
"Li Chang'an, how about this? Is this enough?"
Chu Caiwei hopped in front of Li Chang'an, put one hand on his shoulder, and Li Chang'an sat with his face directly facing Chu Caiwei's open chest.
Li Chang'an raised his gaze and looked at Chu Caiwei's delicate and lovely face, which was very pleasing to the eye.
"That's enough, even enough for you to refine the formula yourself."
Subsequently, Li Chang'an directed the cooks and servants to begin refining MSG. It certainly wouldn't be perfect, but he was confident that it would elevate the cuisine of this era to a new level.
The cooks and servants rolled up their sleeves and began washing the shiitake mushrooms and kelp, and then cleaned all the sea cucumbers.
In the middle of the journey, Song Qing came to visit. Li Chang'an had been in the capital for more than half a year and this was the first time he had met this great Fengtian biochemist.
Song Qing clearly didn't care much about who Li Chang'an was; he simply greeted him politely and then began to observe the MSG production process.
"Nothing special, what kind of flavor enhancer can these things make?"
Since it is impossible to purify these ingredients, we can only use methods such as distillation and baking to minimize the moisture and impurities in them.