Rebirth: Slice-of-life Cultivation-Chapter 226 - 197 Braised Chicken in Brown Sauce

Chapter 226: Chapter 197: Braised Chicken in Brown Sauce

Chapter 226 -197: Braised Chicken in Brown Sauce

After school in the afternoon.

Jiang Ning went out to buy food, having tried practically every restaurant and snack stall around the school over the semester.

He always checked out any new businesses that popped up.

Once, Shao Shuangshuang had asked him if he wanted to arrange for the company’s chef to prepare meals and have them delivered at meal times.

Or, more simply, to open a restaurant right at the gate of Fourth Middle School.

Jiang Ning had declined, feeling it unnecessary.

He preferred this simple, unadorned life.

When Jiang Ning left the school gate, his classmate Huang Yuzhu passed by him.

Huang Yuzhu waved, “Jiang Ning, I’m off.”

They had dined together for a while, but eventually, Huang Yuzhu decided to eat at home in the afternoons to save money, so they went their separate ways.

Jiang Ning leisurely walked through the crowd, enjoying the human hustle and bustle.

For dinner, he didn’t opt for snacks but headed to the newly opened “Braised Chicken with Rice” by the school gate.

In March 2014, Braised Chicken with Rice had rapidly expanded across the country, eventually becoming a well-known delicacy, alongside “Sha County Snacks” and “Lanzhou Noodles.”

Jiang Ning had tried many Braised Chicken with Rice places, and what struck him most was the vast disparity in flavors between different outlets; it was almost like the difference between heaven and earth.

Good outlets carefully concocted their sauces and used fresh chicken legs, making the dish exceptionally tender.

Unscrupulous businesses, on the other hand, used very poor-quality chicken, which almost crumbled when bitten into, which was terrible.

And it wasn’t just the chicken; conscientious outlets also used high-quality rice that was wonderfully textured.

Jiang Ning remembered the Braised Chicken outlet by the gates of Fourth Middle School having particularly good flavor.

The first time he ate their Braised Chicken with Rice, he was so impressed that he wished he could eat there every day.

However, Braised Chicken with Rice wasn’t cheap; the small serving at this outlet cost sixteen yuan and came with slices of potato, some greens, and a few mushrooms.

These days, many students generally had a budget of about ten yuan for meals.

Once, Jiang Ning’s dream had been to attain “Braised Chicken Freedom.”

And that period was surely the happiest time of his life.

Jiang Ning pushed open the glass door of the Braised Chicken shop, and warmth from the air conditioning hit him.

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The shop was mostly filled with students; the seats were arranged in two rows, with four-person tables on the right and two-person tables on the left.

Jiang Ning went to the counter to order. He looked up at the hanging menu and ordered a small portion of Braised Chicken, with an additional side of kelp slices and fish tofu.

The kelp slices cost two yuan, and the fish tofu was three yuan.

That brought the total to twenty-one yuan.

Jiang Ning also ordered a bottle of Assam Milk Tea, spending a total of 25 yuan on dinner.

Not just students— even ordinary workers would feel a pinch spending 25 yuan on a meal these days.

Jiang Ning held the cold bottle of Assam Milk Tea.

It was winter now, and although Jiang Ning could drink ice water directly given his constitution, something warmer was certainly better.

He used his Spiritual Power to slightly heat the milk tea.

Jiang Ning found a two-person table and sat down, while a spell swept over the seat, cleaning it as if it were new.

Indeed, even if Spiritual Power couldn’t be used in battle, applying it in daily life was still very convenient.

The Braised Chicken was quite impressive; before long, the shop door saw a steady stream of people coming in.

Almost all were students from Fourth Middle School. Some entered clutching their phones, ordered their meals, and asked the owner for the WIFI password. Once connected, they immediately started swiping on their phones, opening the video player, and began downloading videos.

Jiang Ning’s food hadn’t arrived yet when the door was pushed open again and a tall figure walked in.

Li Shi looked around; there were only a few seats left in the restaurant. She almost decided to leave, but then she remembered what Ding Shuyan had said—the braised chicken here was delicious—so she eventually entered.

Li Shi came from a well-off family. She had dined on meals costing tens of thousands, even over a hundred thousand yuan per table, but that didn’t mean she would disdain ordinary food.

She was a student, and she often went to buy snacks at the school gate.

The waiter brought over the small clay pot of braised chicken and set it in front of Jiang Ning, cautioning:

“Be careful; it’s hot.”

At the same time, Li Shi passed by, tossing her phone onto Jiang Ning’s table, marking her spot.

This action caused two boys in the restaurant to look disappointed; they had noticed such an attractive girl like Li Shi the moment she walked in.

They had hoped she would choose to sit across from them; a close encounter might spark something, possibly even leading to exchanging contacts and a developing a romantic story…

Unfortunately, with the fall of the phone, such fantasies ended.

Jiang Ning saw the phone; it was an iPhone 5S with a simple, transparent soft rubber case. It was still clear at the moment but would yellow and become unattractive with use.

After ordering the braised chicken, Li Shi sat down across from Jiang Ning. She was still wearing a coat that accentuated her figure.

She picked up her phone and while doing so, she glanced at Jiang Ning, then opened WeChat and messaged Ding Shuyan:

“Guess who I ran into?”

“Who?”

“Jiang Ning.” Li Shi felt pleased.

Ding Shuyan replied, “Try not to talk to him.”

For the sake of her friend’s safety, Ding Shuyan also reminded, “Don’t stare at him too much.”

Li Shi was puzzled, “Is there something special about him?”

This time, Ding Shuyan didn’t reply.

Li Shi set aside her warning and continued to steal glances at Jiang Ning as she waited for her meal.

It was her first time seeing a guy whose eating could be described as good-looking. His demeanor was natural, his movements were fluid, and watching him was extremely comforting,

like watching a tea master brew tea, a pleasing sight.

Li Shi shifted her gaze away, but after a while, she looked back.

The waiter brought her braised chicken; the broth in the small clay pot was boiling, with steam rising as if it was about to spill out but gradually subsided over time.

Li Shi picked up a piece of chicken with her chopsticks and tasted it. Hmm, it was very delicious.

Looking at Jiang Ning’s face, she took another bite of her meal. For the first time, Li Shi understood the meaning of the idiom ‘beauty so entrancing one forgets to eat.’

“Could it be that Shuyan warned me to stay away from him because she likes Jiang Ning?”

Li Shi couldn’t help but speculate.

But it was too absurd. From what Li Shi had observed so far, it seemed that apart from being good at studying, handsome, agile, and having a good-looking way of eating, Jiang Ning had no other merits.

Alright, Li Shi admitted that those merits were already plenty.

Jiang Ning took a sip of his milk tea and suddenly asked, “What are you looking at?”

Li Shi was stunned and immediately felt guilty, instinctively retorting, “How do you know I’m looking at you?”

Jiang Ning calmly said, “As you wish.”

He certainly could reveal the number of times and the duration she had been watching him, but it wasn’t necessary.

Jiang Ning finished his meal, put down his chopsticks, and got up to leave the restaurant.

His crisp action elicited a grudging thought from the usually proud Li Shi:

‘Am I not beautiful enough? Shouldn’t he have stayed and talked to me a bit more?’