Hearing this, Matsumoto Kiyoshi didn’t pick up his chopsticks so quickly.

He looked at Bai Yang, his expression suddenly becoming serious: “So, who are you really? I’ve come to China many times before, and I’ve never seen you in President Bai’s car. As far as I know, she’s always used one driver.”

Seeing this, the others instinctively wanted to help cover up the lie, but Bai Yang stopped them with a bitter smile, shaking his head: “I’m very sorry. I didn’t tell you the truth earlier because I wanted to give you a surprise… After all, my sister said you’re a very respectable person. If I had said right away that I’m President Bai’s brother and wanted to personally cook a home-style meal for you from our Bai family, you probably wouldn’t have agreed so readily.”

“So, you’re Bai Yang?”

Matsumoto Kiyoshi’s expression finally relaxed: “I’ve heard your sister mention you. She said you make cakes, and that you can’t eat spicy food… I didn’t expect you could make these Sichuan dishes.”

If it had been six months ago, Bai Yang would never have imagined that being at No. 29 would give him some confidence, but the fact was, only after returning to Huangliang Yimeng did he finally gain some awareness that he too was “President Bai.”

Bai Yang stepped forward and pulled out the chair across from Matsumoto Kiyoshi: “There’s a Chinese saying that seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. Mr. Matsumoto, please forgive my earlier rudeness and try these dishes first—although they all look like very common dishes, these truly can only be tasted here.”

Hearing this, Matsumoto Kiyoshi stared at him for a while, then finally picked up his chopsticks. He first tried a bite of mapo tofu, and his brow quickly relaxed: “There’s… seafood in this?”

Bai Yang smiled: “Yes, this is my mother’s original creation. Because my sister likes to eat shrimp, my mother added shrimp and octopus to the home-style mapo tofu… Japan has a lot of seafood. I heard that Mr. Matsumoto, you want to use our family’s chili sauce in new dishes, so I wanted to introduce this dish to you.”

“Mr. Bai is very thoughtful.”

Matsumoto Kiyoshi then tried the Sichuan pepper fish and sighed: “Is this also a dish you’re recommending to me because Japan is rich in seafood?”

Bai Yang shook his head: “Not only that. It’s just that Bai family chili sauce has one obvious difference from many other chili sauces in flavor—my mother’s chili sauce is very ‘numbing.’ Don’t laugh at me, but actually this flavor was also because I couldn’t eat spicy food since childhood, so my mother wanted to accommodate my taste and improved it for me.”

Matsumoto Kiyoshi raised his eyebrows: “So you’re saying this dish is also ‘special’?”

Bai Yang nodded: “Exactly. After all, you’re going to make Sichuan cuisine across the ocean, and importing many ingredients probably isn’t convenient. This Sichuan pepper fish best brings out the advantages of Bai family chili sauce, and it’s also very simple to make. Now that you’ve tasted it, you should be able to feel what’s special about it, right?”

“There are no Sichuan peppercorns in the dish, but it still tastes very numbing… This is indeed good news for some customers who don’t like biting into peppercorns but enjoy the numbing flavor.”

Matsumoto Kiyoshi looked thoughtful, then said: “Mr. Bai, why don’t you directly introduce the remaining dishes to me? I believe you have your own considerations… I’d like to hear your reasons for making these dishes.”

“Good.”

Bai Yang took a deep breath, thinking of his mother’s busy figure in the kitchen when he was young. He unconsciously straightened his posture.

Just like his cakes, these were originally his mother’s recipes.

“Bobo chicken was made by my mother to accommodate both mine and Bai Liu’s tastes. Because it’s a cold dish, it can relatively reduce the spiciness, accommodating customers who can’t eat very spicy food… Moreover, bobo chicken is very inclusive of ingredients. In China, bobo chicken can be duck tongue and chicken feet. In Japan, it could be oden. It should be very suitable for operating in your restaurant.”

“I don’t eat spicy food, so chicken tofu pudding was a regular at our family table since I was young. To increase the tenderness of the chicken, my mother would add fish paste. Sometimes because Bai Liu preferred seafood, my mother would even use fish directly instead of chicken to make fish tofu pudding. People who don’t eat spicy food can have it as soup, and those who do can use chili sauce as a dipping sauce. It’s a dish you can’t order wrong.”

Finally, Bai Yang took a pair of clean chopsticks and stirred the seemingly plain bowl of chili sauce mixed rice in front of Matsumoto Kiyoshi.

The memory of Bai Liu secretly smiling while stirring her bowl in front of him surfaced, and Bai Yang said helplessly: “Although it’s called chili sauce mixed rice, there’s actually more than just Bai family chili sauce in here. Because if there was only chili sauce, I, who can’t eat chili sauce, couldn’t eat it at all. To coax me, my mother would add diced radish and pork floss to the mixed rice, so even without adding chili sauce, it would still have flavor. So… this bowl of mixed rice has more than one layer, and the taste when eating it is far more complex than simple mixed rice.”

After explaining all this, Bai Yang pushed the bowl back in front of Matsumoto Kiyoshi. In a trance, he seemed to return to many years ago, when his mother pushed his small bowl of rice across the table.

What did she say then?

Bai Yang saw that figure appear before him, smiling warmly at him.

“Eat first.”

He murmured, following his mother’s words word by word.

“All these dishes are surnamed Huang, you can’t get them anywhere else.”

“Good.”

Only then did Matsumoto Kiyoshi finally pick up his chopsticks. He looked like he was somewhat hungry, and his expression was much more relaxed than when he first came in—in fact, if Bai Yang looked carefully, he would find that this person was almost completely different from a few hours ago.

“Because I have to return to Japan tomorrow.”

Before eating, the man thought for a moment and suddenly asked politely but pushily: “So although it’s somewhat impolite, Mr. Bai, could I trouble you for tomorrow’s breakfast as well?”

The next morning, after being busy for a whole day plus a morning, Bai Yang sent Matsumoto Kiyoshi to the airport, then rushed non-stop to the hospital to deliver breakfast. Before he could chat with Bai Liu for more than a few sentences, he had already collapsed on the sofa and fallen fast asleep.

Bai Liu: “…”

Just then, the phone on the bedside table buzzed. Bai Liu, whose wound was beginning to heal, tiptoed to the corridor to answer it. As soon as she spoke, her tone became completely impolite.

“So, you really dared to keep ordering my brother around?”

Bai Liu said irritably: “He had to serve you while also taking care of cooking for me. He barely slept last night… Yuan, if you don’t want to sign the contract, you can tell me directly. People wanting to cooperate with me stretch from Yujiang Bridge all the way to Jiefang Road. Do you think I’m short one business partner? Do I have to sell chili sauce in your shop?”

“Aiya, Sister Bai, don’t be so formal. We’re old friends… Didn’t we agree back in school that we’d get rich together?”

The man on the other end of the phone was completely different from how he appeared in front of Bai Yang.

Facing his old classmate, Matsumoto Kiyoshi switched to a distinctly Yujiang-flavored accent and laughed: “Wasn’t it you who told me to train your brother? I thought since I’m tired of hotpot anyway, if your brother was willing to cook me a meal, that would naturally be the most comfortable… I didn’t expect him to be so dedicated.”

“Heh.” Bai Liu sneered coldly. “You even dared to ask him to make you noodles. In all these years, I’ve never even eaten noodles made by my brother.”

“Aiya, who told your brother to cook so well? Even the noodles were different from those outside. Speaking of which, Sister Bai, your brother is much more capable than I imagined. I also tried the new fermented rice cake and cold shrimp milk tea from his shop… I think these also have great potential.”

“Great potential?”

“Yeah, he also said these dishes don’t actually bear the Bai surname, just like his shop—they’re surnamed Huang. He suggested that if we want to copy these cooking methods, we should name the new dishes Huang’s Sichuan Cuisine.”

“This kid…”

Bai Liu sighed and helplessly rubbed her forehead: “So what do you think?”

“I think it’s quite good. After all, if we directly tell people this is Bai family Sichuan cuisine, wouldn’t that be equivalent to letting customers know we’re being lazy, completely relying on chili sauce to cook?”

Matsumoto Kiyoshi smiled slyly and continued: “Your brother provided me with some good dishes and ideas. According to etiquette, I should give him a return gift.”

There was implication in his words, which Bai Liu naturally caught.

She wasn’t particularly surprised, just snorted with laughter: “What, after targeting me, now you want to target my brother?”

“Ai, I’m just asking.”

Matsumoto Kiyoshi smiled, but suddenly changed the topic: “But I heard he’s about to open a branch shop… Sister Bai, I just want to casually ask, does your brother still need investors?”

[End of Extra Chapter 6]

Author’s Note Bumingyan Author 2022-08-02 There are still two epilogues left to wrap up Boss Bai’s branch shop. It will be completely finished tomorrow or the day after.