Chapter 92: Candied hawthorn

At the dining table, Lu Yuxi, who had been persuading Sun Zhi to eat an hour ago, was snatching the food from his hands. “That’s enough. You’ve already eaten a lot. If you continue like this, you’ll ruin your body.”

Sun Zhi dug into his rice until the last grain of braised pork trotter with rice was sucked into his mouth. Then, he reached out for the Mapo Tofu in Lu Yuxi’s hand and said, “There’s still half left. It’s a pity not to finish it… Burp!”

He burped loudly.

Xu Le couldn’t stand it anymore and said, “Stop right there. Get up and walk around. You can only eat if you have space left in your stomach.”

It took a lot of effort to persuade Sun Zhi. He was holding onto his stomach and could barely stand up. His stomach was even bulging.

“I haven’t eaten so much in a long time! I’m so full.” He exclaimed.

“Go, Auntie Liu. Buy some digestive tablets or probiotics.” Lu Yuxi frowned and said worriedly, “This won’t do. Eating so much at once will spoil your stomach.”

Auntie Liu had yet to buy any digestive tablets and Sun Zhi was already complaining that he was about to throw up. Lu Yuxi coaxed him to drink water and walk slowly.

After a long time, Sun Zhi, who had taken the digestive tablets, calmed down and found a remote corner of the sofa to sleep.

Lu Yuxi tried her best to persuade Auntie Liu not to be too innovative and cook normally. Otherwise, it would really be her fault if the child did not eat.

Auntie Liu nodded repeatedly, blaming herself.

The roaster that Xu Le had ordered was delivered in the afternoon. After examining it, he turned it on according to the instructions. The process was very troublesome.

Hence, he said, “I’ll make that crispy pork belly tomorrow. Let’s change it to something else today.”

Lu Yuxi noticed that he was looking at Sun Zhi when he said this. She was afraid that it would harm the child if he overate during dinner again, so she nodded and said, “Okay.”

She went to the nearby supermarket and bought a few pounds of fresh hawthorn, strawberries, walnuts, melon seeds, oranges, and dark chocolate.

After six in the evening, the number of customers in the store gradually decreased.

Xu Le finally had the time to make an appetizing candied hawthorn. Lu Yuxi used a tool to cut off the hawthorns from one side. After cutting off the hawthorns from the other side, she used a pair of pliers to pull them out.

This process was boring and repetitive. She could not stop talking and casually found a topic to talk about. “Have you noticed that recently, Li Qing has been coming to the restaurant for meals every day. He even sits there playing games for two to three hours.”

“Oh?”

“I have a feeling that he wants to get to know you. He’s been watching you quietly every time.”

“What’s there to know about me?” Xu Le recalled the minor conflict between him and Li Qing and said, “You must have guessed wrongly.”

“Alright, what flavor are you making today?”

Xu Le reminded her, “Remove the seeds for half the batch and cut the other half in a circular shape. Take out the seeds and put both sides together. We’ll stuff walnuts in later.”

“Okay.”

Lu Yuxi responded and continued to deal with the hawthorn.

Xu Le began to place them through the skewers. The first method was to follow the standard method and line it up according to the size.

The second type was to form place them at 45 degrees above and then 45 degrees below the previous hawthorn.

He stuffed the bean paste inside and inserted the walnut.

After preparing more than 30 skewers, there were still a lot of hawthorns that had gone bad or had defects.

Lu Yuxi asked, “What do we do with these? Do we eat them raw?”

“Don’t worry about it. You can just place them through the skewers. Who cares what shape they are in? Just place them through the skewers and flatten it when you’re done.”

“Oh, sure.”

The flat candied haws were not difficult to make. After Lu Yuxi finished preparing the skewers, she also made a few skewers of strawberries and oranges, making it seem that there were a huge variety of skewers.

He brushed a layer of oil on the chopping board to prevent them from sticking together later on. When everything was ready, Xu Le started to simmer the sugar.

Guangxi cane sugar was added to the pot, and its bubbling was the best among the sugar. It was prepared by mixing water and sugar in a 2: 1 ratio.

The difficulty of simmering sugar was to the heat control. Xu Le started the fire first, and after there were bubbles formed, he immediately switched to medium heat. During the process of stirring the sugar with the spoon, it was obvious that the sugar had become more and more viscous.

Xu Le took a bamboo stick and dipped it into the pot. He then dipped it in cold water. After alternating between hot and cold, he put it into his mouth to taste the crispiness.

With a crack, the layer of candy immediately shattered in his mouth, and they even stuck slightly to his teeth.

During the process of making the candy, the most important thing to take note of was to ensure that the candy had not become completely crispy. Otherwise, it would gradually be burnt before it started to stick to the hawthorn.

Xu Le immediately switched to a small fire. He picked up the candied hawthorns by the side and coated them with a layer of white sugar. Then, he put them in the prepared dipping sauce and wrapped them with a layer of melon seeds.

And he did so with a layer of chocolate sauce and sometimes with the coconut cream, so that the skewers had different flavors.

“Lu Yuxi, give me the fruit skewers you had prepared.”

“Why? There are still so many hawthorns that aren’t wrapped in sugar. Can’t they be prepared in order?”

“The skin of the fruit is thin. It’s different from hawthorn. When the temperature of the sugar is a little higher, it will shatter the moment it enters. When the juice flows out, it will affect the sugar hanging.”

“I see.”

Lu Yuxi handed the fruits over and Xu Le wrapped it with a layer of candy properly.

He sprinkled a handful of white sesame seeds on the remaining sugar in the pot and rolled the specially prepared flattened candied hawthorn in the pot.

“It’s ready. It can be frozen in the fridge now. We can take it out in an hour.”

Lu Yuxi happily complied with his instructions. “Okay!”

When Xu Le walked out of the kitchen, he bumped into Li Qing and their eyes met. Li Qing, who was wearing earphones, suddenly felt a surge of courage and strode forward. Then, he said, “Boss, order please.”

Lu Yuxi stepped forward. “Huh? What do you want to eat?”

“I don’t want the dishes on the menu.”

Xu Le did not even look at him. “Then there’s nothing else.”

Li Qing choked and said, “I resigned.”

“Oh.” Xu Le thought to himself, ‘It’s none of my business.’

Li Qing was too straightforward and stubborn. He did not show mercy when he spoke and his temper easily offended people. Because of that, the chefs of Giant Crab had joined forces to force him to leave.

“Boss, I’ll order some Wensi tofu.”

“I said that I don’t accept any orders.” Xu Le said, “You can go to another restaurant.”

The two of them were in a deadlock. No matter how much money Li Qing offered, he wouldn’t accept it. The atmosphere became more and more tense. Lu Yuxi came out to smooth things over. “Everyone, let’s eat candied hawthorn. We made a lot of candied hawthorn. Let’s share them.”

Xu Le remained silent.

The frozen and cooled candied hawthorns were taken out of the refrigerator. Some were fruits, wrapped with walnuts, wrapped in coconut, dark chocolate, and melon seeds. Each were more tempting than the last.

There was a layer of clear sugar coating on the outside. With one bite, the crispy sugar coating was mixed with the sweet and sour hawthorn, which was appetizing and helped with digestion.

This was specially made for Sun Zhi. When Auntie Liu passed it to him, she didn’t forget to remind him, “You can’t eat dinner today, or you’ll get sick. Eat more hawthorn to help digest your food.”

Li Qing also took one and took a bite with mixed emotions.