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That was quite weird. Based on how Liu Zhang had been hiding nothing from Yuan Zhou, he should have allowed Yuan Zhou to join him in the kitchen to see how the liver was prepared. However, he did not do that.

Instead, he left Yuan Zhou and Wu Hai waiting in the courtyard.

“This Master Liu is an interesting person,” Wu Hai said, obviously amused by the ingredients planted all over the courtyard.

“He is a master,” Yuan Zhou said.

“Yeah, he never hides anything,” Wu Hai nodded in agreement before adding, “This is something I won’t be able to do.”

For example, his upside-down painting had attracted many painters who wished to exchange pointers with Wu Hai. However, he could not teach strangers everything without inhibitions.

Judging by how Liu Zhang had been teaching Yuan Zhou everything, from how to pick good livers to how to buy good livers, Liu Zhang was indeed worthy of being called a master.

In fact, raw liver was not hard to make. Yuan Zhou alone knew several preparation methods.

For example, the raw liver used by the people of Yi to serve their guests.

They would first mix the lamb liver with bananas before mincing them. Next, a suitable amount of pepper powder and salt would be mixed on it. After leaving it to marinate for about 20 minutes, boiled pork blood, pork tripe, and intestines would be chopped into tiny pieces before being mixed in as well. Then, the dish would be ready to eat.

That preparation method had subsequently evolved into a preparation method of many livers, such as pork liver, chicken liver, duck liver, or even cow liver. However, the prerequisite of all these preparation methods was to have the liver cooked first.

Therefore, this was a dish where the word “raw” was part of its name but the pork liver was, in fact, cooked. Let alone the fact that the system would not acknowledge the dish as a raw dish and judged it as a cold dish instead, even Yuan Zhou felt like this was way too different than the raw liver dish that he had in his mind.

“I am looking forward to Master Liu’s raw liver,” Wu Hai said longingly.

“Yes,” Yuan Zhou nodded.

“Since you are both looking forward to it, start eating. I will tell you first that I don’t have any other dishes,” Liu Zhang said as he came out with a tray.

“It’s ok. The raw liver is enough,” Wu Hai said.

“Thank you, Master Liu,” Yuan Zhou stood up to take the tray from him.

“You don’t have to help me with it. I still have a test for you,” Liu Zhang said as he avoided Yuan Zhou.

“Ask away, Master Liu,” Yuan Zhou said.

During the past year, Yuan Zhou’s cooking skills have improved in all aspects. Therefore, he was not afraid of Liu Zhang’s question.

“Eat first. I will ask after eating,” Liu Zhang placed the tray down and said.

“Okay.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head.

Then, Liu Zhang took three pairs of chopsticks out from his house.

Nothing fancy was on the table. Only a pure white tray and three pairs of chopsticks were on it. The three of them were seated around the table, waiting for Liu Zhang to announce the start of the meal.

The raw lamb liver on the table was indeed raw. Yuan Zhou knew this with a single glance at the dish. However, this dish looked very weird as it had been cut into strips.

The strips were thin and slender, and at first glance, it looked gorgeous and pretty, resembling a rose. There was a reason for it to look like a rose, it would seem. This raw lamb liver was emanating a scent that was similar to the scent of a rose.

It was both fragrant and aromatic, also extremely spicy at the same time.

“It smells so good,” Wu Hai remarked.

“Yes. It smells like the rose. The scent is buried amid the spicy aroma,” Yuan Zhou said.

“Start eating. You will know after you eat it,” Liu Zhang picked up his chopsticks and invited them to dig in.

“I won’t hold myself back, then.” Wu Hai was never a hesitant person. He picked his chopsticks up and immediately started eating.

As for Yuan Zhou, he first waited for Liu Zhang to pick up a piece of liver before he started eating.

Yuan Zhou was very attentive, taking only one strip at a time.

The thin dark red raw liver was picked up by the dark green chopsticks. The contrast of their colors looked rather pleasant to the eyes.

Its good looks and nice smell enticed Yuan Zhou greatly. Therefore, he immediately stuffed it into his mouth.

Let alone raw lamb livers, even ordinary lamb rivers were supposed to have a certain odor to it. That was an odor so strong one would have difficulty eating it. However, not a trace of that odor was present in this dish served by Liu Zhang.

This astonished Yuan Zhou greatly and filled him with expectation.

The moment the raw liver entered his mouth, Yuan Zhou was shocked.

“Oh, the strip is tiny, the texture is tender, and the combination of these two with the spicy taste showcased the freshness of the liver. The tiny trace of sourness in it helps to magnify the natural sweetness it has. There’s also a tiny trace of bitterness in it. I see, it’s the bitterness that has harmonized the odor from the liver,” Yuan Zhou analyzed while he ate.

After finishing this piece, Yuan Zhou picked up another piece. This time, he picked a piece from the bottom of the tray as there was some broth down there.

This broth was, in fact, a result of the numerous condiments flowing down the pieces of liver before pooling at the bottom. Therefore, the taste of this piece of liver was different.

“The sourness and spiciness are more pronounced this time. However, the natural freshness and tenderness of the liver are not as pronounced as the earlier piece,” Yuan Zhou concluded.

“Wait, I thought it smelled like a rose? Where did that smell go?” Yuan Zhou frowned and started thinking deeply.

At the same time, he finished chewing on the piece of liver in his mouth and swallowed it down. The aftertaste left in his mouth was supposed to be sourness and spiciness, or even the freshness of the liver. However, a clear flavor of rose had appeared instead.

While Yuan Zhou was in deep thought, Wu Hai was thoroughly enjoying himself.

“It’s so good. I have never expected that raw lamb liver could be this good,” Wu Hai muttered.

A lamb liver was not very big. Therefore, even with Liu Zhang not eating much, the dish was nearly finished after a few moments of Wu Hai’s ravenous eating.

“It’s going to finish soon. Boss Yuan, what do you think?” Liu Zhang asked with a wide smile.

“It’s very delicious,” Yuan Zhou nodded.

“I purposely had you wait out here while I prepared the dish. But I am sure you can figure out how this dish is prepared from eating it,” Liu Zhang said with certainty.

Liu Zhang heard about Yuan Zhou from the rickshaw grandpa. To be precise, he heard about Yuan Zhou when the rickshaw grandpa was eating lamb liver here as the rickshaw grandpa would spend a good deal of time talking about Yuan Zhou.

The grandpa had been making Yuan Zhou out to be some sort of legend with excellent cooking skills and great popularity. Therefore, Liu Zhang was quite curious about Yuan Zhou.

That was why Liu Zhang had decided to give Yuan Zhou this test.

“You’re right. I do admire your recipe and usage of ingredients. I have never thought of something like this. You are an excellent chef,” Yuan Zhou declared solemnly.

“Hahaha, you are exaggerating, Boss Yuan,” Liu Zhang said modestly.

“Boss Yuan, stop talking in riddles. How is this liver prepared?” Wu Hai asked curiously.

“You will never be able to make something like this,” said Yuan Zhou. One glance at Wu Hai was all he needed to see that Wu Hai was thinking of preparing the dish himself.

“That might not be true. I only need to cut the liver into strips before mixing in the ingredients. How hard can it be?” Wu Hai said.

Yuan Zhou directly ignored him and turned around to look at Liu Zhang instead.

“The water you used to wash the liver is water with roses soaked in it. During the first wash, you added rose juice in it as well, with minced roses. On your second wash, you took off the layer of the membrane around the liver before washing it with pure rose water again,” Yuan Zhou said.

Liu Zhang gazed at Yuan Zhou with a smile, gesturing to him to continue speaking.

“After the washing, you cut it into strips. That makes it easier to mix it with the condiments. Finally, you used chili and knotweed to remove the odor from the liver,” Yuan Zhou spoke, shock apparent on his face.

That was because Yuan Zhou knew clearly that the knotweed used by Liu Zhang was not the body of the plant like what the system had recorded.

What Liu Zhang used was the bud of the plant.

The bud of the knotweed had a fresh and bitter taste to it. However, this bitter was somewhat different than the regular bitter taste. When eating it alone, it was awful. However, this unique bitterness was able to harmonize the odor of a lamb liver.

And to determine the perfect amount of knotweed to use for this purpose, countless tests would be required.

“Haha, that is the only dish I know. Boss Yuan is able to see through it so easily,” Liu Zhang laughed and continued, “Boss Yuan is indeed a great chef.”

“Thank you for allowing me to taste your dish,” Yuan Zhou thanked politely.

“System, is this raw liver considered a dish now?” Yuan Zhou asked.