Everyday Romance After Becoming a Billionaire

Dinner.

Su Ran finished cooking, and Liu Buqun had also arrived. The family that wasn’t quite a family gathered around the round table.

Today, Liu Piaopiao was fighting with her husband, Shan Zhentian, so she didn’t sit next to him at dinner. Instead, she sat to Su Ran’s right, while Shan Weizi sat to his left, sandwiching him between the mother and daughter.

The table was laden with food. Two of the dishes were the Tang Monk’s Flesh and Dragon Meat made by Su Ran and Shan Weizi. The rest had been specially prepared by Shan Zhentian to placate his wife upon his return.

Outsiders all envied Shan Zhentian. They said he was a lucky man to have a wife several years his junior. Shan Weizi was eighteen, and Liu Piaopiao had given birth to her at eighteen, making Liu Piaopiao only thirty-six this year—a young, pampered wife.

Spirit Sword Mountain was suffused with spiritual energy, so those who lived there were naturally radiant and lovely. His daughter, Shan Weizi, was no exception.

Sigh... Others envied Shan Zhentian, but Shan Zhentian had his own unspoken grievances. His wife had a childish temperament and was clingy and possessive. In his own words, ’Damn it, it’s like I’m raising two daughters, but this "daughter" never calls me Daddy. Not under any circumstances.’

「At that moment.」

The dishes were served. Su Ran and Liu Buqun, not having seen each other in a while, exchanged a few polite words. Shan Weizi poured a round of drinks, sat down, and said expectantly, "Grandpa, hurry and try these two dishes. What do you think?"

The old master smiled. "Alright. I’ll start with this Tang Monk’s Flesh that Su Ran made. Let’s see if it has the same flavor as the one your grandma used to make."

Su Ran and Shan Weizi had gone out in the afternoon and had been experimenting with recipes in the kitchen ever since they got back. With so few people in the house, everyone knew what they were up to.

The old master picked up a piece of ’Tang Monk’s Flesh’ and put it in his mouth, starting to chew.

All eyes were on him, especially a very nervous Shan Weizi. Before the old master could even swallow, she was tugging at his hand, asking, "Grandpa, does it have that flavor? Grandpa, don’t just keep chewing, say something!"

The old master didn’t speak. Instead, he picked up a piece of ’Dragon Meat’ to taste. Then he invited Liu Buqun to try some as well. "In-law, have a taste of this Dragon Meat. See if it can help you break through to the Nascent Soul Stage."

The old master was usually quite playful. Liu Buqun chuckled. "Alright, I’ll try the Dragon Meat too. We’ll see if I can ascend to the heavens sooner."

Liu Piaopiao said, "Dad, what are you talking about? Ascending to the heavens just means dying, doesn’t it? Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! Don’t say such unlucky things! Knock on wood! Quick, knock on wood!"

"Hahaha... I’m knocking on wood, is that better?" Liu Buqun patted the table leg with a benevolent smile. He was actually very content with his life. His daughter had married into a good family and was living happily in the Shan Family. The matter of the couple quarreling was no big deal. After all, what couple doesn’t fight? Shan Zhentian would always give in to her. Of course, Liu Buqun also frequently called her in private to set her straight.

Shan Weizi picked up a piece of ’Dragon Meat’ and personally fed it to Liu Buqun. "Grandpa, try Su Ran’s cooking. How does it taste?"

Liu Buqun chewed a couple of times, savoring the aftertaste for a moment. "It’s like fish when it first enters your mouth, like pork as you chew it, and then like donkey meat as you keep chewing... No, that’s not right. It’s none of those. Anyway, it’s a meat I’ve never had before. Could this really be... Dragon Meat?"

On one side of the round table, a husband was trying to placate his wife; on the other, no one was paying them any mind, as they were all busy discussing the ’Dragon Meat’.

Su Ran decided to be mysterious. "Old Master," he said, "did you taste the flavor of what Grandma Xu used to make for you?"

Liu Changqing pointed at the Dragon Meat on the plate, which looked remarkably like pork belly. "It’s very similar, but not exactly the same," he said. "First, tell me how you made this Dragon Meat."

Su Ran exchanged a glance with the old master, then looked around at the baffled faces. "This *is* Dragon Meat," he said. The crowd shook their heads in disbelief. Su Ran explained, "None of you have ever eaten dragon meat, so how can you deny that this is dragon meat? What does dragon meat taste like? Sweet? Sour? Salty? Who’s ever tasted it? Who knows?"

The old master laughed. "Hahaha... Now *that* has the right flavor! Back then, I also said it wasn’t Dragon Meat, and Weizi’s grandmother retorted in the exact same way. She left me speechless. It’s true I’ve never eaten dragon meat, so I don’t know what it tastes like. No one can say this *is* Dragon Meat, but no one can say it *isn’t*, either."

The old master nodded, greatly admiring this sharp-witted young man, Su Ran.

Other people had focused on how to make Dragon Meat, using exotic delicacies to replicate it.

But Su Ran, just like Shan Weizi’s grandmother back then, took the stance: ’This is Dragon Meat. You’ve never eaten it, so you can’t say it isn’t.’

Because Su Ran understood a very crucial point: the time period.

Shan Zhentian asked, "Su Ran, even if you say this is Dragon Meat, how can you prove that what you made is the same Dragon Meat my mom made back then?"

"Actually, I was just guessing..." Su Ran said, picking up a piece of ’Dragon Meat’. "Weizi said that when the old master was young, he stopped by her grandmother’s restaurant and asked her to make Dragon Meat and Tang Monk’s Flesh, right?"

The old master nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"According to legend, there are many ways to make Dragon Meat, requiring meat from many different animals with ’dragon’ in their names. Uh... but as for whether it really tastes like dragon, who knows, right?"

"For the Dragon Meat I made, I first had to analyze the timeline. The old master was young back then, which was about sixty years ago, right?"

"A small restaurant back then couldn’t possibly have had as many ingredients from all over the country as we do now. Material conditions were poor at the time."

The old master nodded frequently.

"Plus, since the old master requested the dish on the spot, Grandma Xu must have gone back to the kitchen and made the best use of what she had."

"What ingredients would a typical kitchen have? Nothing more than chicken, duck, fish, goose, pork, beef, and so on. And to create a unique ’Dragon Meat,’ I figured it must have been a hodgepodge. She must have mixed several of these meats together, ground them into a paste, and layered them one by one to resemble pork belly, creating this Dragon Meat. After all, when Grandma Xu brought it out for you to taste, if you couldn’t identify what kind of meat it was, it could only be Dragon Meat."