Chapter 490 - 232: [An Exceptionally Good Salted Burnt White]

Chapter 490: Chapter 232: [An Exceptionally Good Salted Burnt White]

And it had earned everyone’s unanimous approval.

Zhou Yan believed the dish was good enough to add to the menu.

Improving it to the ’Excellent’ tier would come with practice.

As for the Salted Burnt White, for which he had a perfect recipe, there was no need for any further thought.

He’d already bought high-quality Yibin pickled mustard, and the steamer was ready to go.

He’d definitely have to steam a batch tomorrow to try it out.

As soon as the dishes were cleared away, customers started trickling in, and the restaurant quickly got busy.

"Yaoyao!" Zhou Momo, who was sitting by the door, spotted Xia Yao coming out of the factory and immediately jumped up to run over.

"Momo," Xia Yao said with a smile, taking her hand and walking toward the restaurant. "Come on, let’s go grab a table. My aunt will be here soon with Jingxing and Bingwen."

"Okay." Zhou Momo nodded. After they sat down inside, the little girl went to grab her sketchbook to show Xia Yao the picture she had drawn that day.

Xia Yao was surprised when she saw the drawing of a dozing tiger. She looked at the little girl and asked curiously, "This sleeping tiger you drew today is wonderful. It’s not one of the pictures from your art books. How did you think of it, Momo?"

Zhou Momo tilted her head and beamed. "Brother said tigers are big kitties. My Huahua sleeps like this, so I thought tigers must sleep like this too. That’s how I drew it."

Just then, Meng Anhe entered the restaurant with her two children. Hearing their conversation, she walked up behind Xia Yao to look at the sketchbook, her face also showing surprise. "Momo’s sense of composition and color is very good. She even understands lighting and hue. It’s really well-drawn."

"Huh? Momo drew this?" Lin Jingxing leaned over to look, his face a mask of shock.

"Then what does that make the five-clawed loach you drew, Big Bro?" Lin Bingwen asked, just as stunned.

"That was a dragon! A five-clawed golden dragon!" Lin Jingxing said through gritted teeth.

"Mom, do you think it looks like one?" Lin Bingwen turned to ask Meng Anhe.

The corners of Meng Anhe’s mouth twitched upward. "It does look a bit like a loach."

"Mom..." Lin Jingxing pouted. He glanced at Zhou Momo’s drawing again and sighed in resignation. "Fine, a loach it is. It’s not as good as Momo’s drawings anyway."

Zhou Momo beamed at the praise, happily flipping to another page to show them. "Look, you guys! I drew a little Sun Wukong."

"Whoa! So cool!" Lin Jingxing and Lin Bingwen’s eyes lit up.

"It’s very cute," Meng Anhe remarked, looking at the little monkey holding a staff in the picture.

"I gave her two of Liu Jirou’s books, Great Heavenly Palace Rebellion and Wu Song Fights the Tiger. Instead of copying the illustrations, she read them and then drew whatever she felt like. And she’s so fast—she must have drawn both of these today." Xia Yao looked at Meng Anhe. "Auntie, what do you think of her talent? Do you think she needs any guidance?"

"This child loves to draw and is willing to put in the time. She finds her own subjects, she’s full of ideas, and she doesn’t need a lot of prep—she just dives right in and draws. The fact that she can finish two pieces in a day... that’s top-tier talent.

"At three and a half, she doesn’t need any intervention. Just give her plenty of paper and crayons and let her imagination run wild. As long as she keeps drawing, her skills will naturally improve," Meng Anhe said with a smile.

"That’s what I was thinking, too," Xia Yao agreed with a nod.

Meng Anhe looked at her and said softly, "Her talent for color is a lot like yours was at that age. I’ve met many geniuses over the years, but if they met you, they’d have to call you the genius. Yaoyao, being a designer is fine, but you must never put down your brush."

Xia Yao broke into a radiant smile. "Auntie, I plan to be a designer who makes a living with her brush."

"That’s the spirit. I’ve been looking at a lot of foreign ads recently, and I’ve noticed their concepts and color palettes are so bold..." Meng Anhe sat down and began chatting with Xia Yao about the advertising industry.

Meanwhile, Lin Jingxing and Lin Bingwen crowded around Zhou Momo, flipping through her drawings one by one.

"Wow! Momo, you’re so good! This kitty you drew is so cute!"

"Whoa! This fish is huge..."

It was a chorus of oohs and aahs.

If nothing else, the two brothers were certainly providing maximum emotional support.

Their parents—one an architectural designer, the other a mechanical engineer—were often drawing up plans at home.

Despite being constantly exposed to this, the two brothers had somehow failed to inherit a single shred of that talent.

Luckily, Meng Anhe and Lin Zhiqiang were open-minded enough not to force the issue, letting the boys draw or not as they pleased.

But seeing how well Momo could draw at such a young age, the two brothers, who had struggled with art themselves, were truly impressed.

"If your mom were to see Momo, she would absolutely adore her," Meng Anhe said with a smile, watching Zhou Momo explain her drawings to the two boys.

"She’s so adorable, who wouldn’t love her?" Xia Yao said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Meng Anhe shook her head slightly. "It’s different. Your refusal to learn landscape painting has been a point of regret for her and your grandfather for years. If she were to come across another promising young talent, she might get the idea to take on an apprentice."

"Well, they’ve got plenty of things to regret, then. Like a certain aunt of mine who refused to study landscape painting and insisted on architecture instead," Xia Yao teased with a grin. "Taking on an apprentice seems a bit far-fetched, don’t you think? My mom is someone who loves her peace and quiet. She’s happiest staying in a beautiful, tranquil place with just paper and a pen. Besides, Suji is well over a thousand miles from Hang City."

"That’s right, well over a thousand miles. Ten years ago, neither of us could have imagined we’d be sitting in a restaurant in this small town, eating one meal after another," Meng Anhe said with a smile.

Xia Yao glanced toward the kitchen and smiled. "Life’s encounters are always unexpected."

"Sorry, my meeting ran a few minutes late," Lin Zhiqiang said as he sat down, smiling. "Have you ordered yet?"