CHAPTER 731: CHAPTER 730: RIPPLES ON THE TIP OF THE TONGUE

"Golden droplets of water!"

Yan Qi gave these peculiar Italian spiced pastries a very fitting comment.

The shape of the pastries was indeed exquisite.

They were baked treats to begin with, having a beautiful pale golden hue on the surface. According to common knowledge, this layer shouldn’t have any golden halo effect, but it was important to know that before Xia Yu had shaped the dough into droplets, he had mixed in the specially made "Xia’s Italian Mixed Spices"!

More precisely, it was "Merck’s Stars" that were shining!

"I’ve always wanted to ask, what on earth did you mix into the spices?!"

Chen Yang stared intently at the small plate in front of him.

The freshly baked bread, with its warmth rushing to the face, and within that heat, Chen Yang once again experienced the addictive sensation.

Enveloped and tightly wrapped by the tide of spices. It was only thanks to Chen Yang’s years of building up resistance at the "Gourmet Society" that he didn’t completely succumb to it.

Yan Qi, however, had a serious look on his face.

"The source of the light... could it be that most elusive thread of aroma?" Yan Qi sniffed the air, sensing a vague familiarity, but unable to see through it at the moment.

There was no helping it.

"Merck’s Stars" belonged to mysterious and forbidden spices, their origin likely controlled by the "Gourmet Society," and even the leaders of the Chinese Dark World had gaps in their knowledge in this area.

"It’s not any precious delicacy, just a small Western pastry, and moreover, it’s a failure of a practice piece. If you two don’t mind, just treat it as complimentary hospitality. It’s free!"

Xia Yu took off his apron from cooking and came out of the open kitchen, carrying a tea tray in his hands.

"Boss Xia, I want to eat it, too—"

Yuchuan Meisha called out coquettishly, giving the illusion of a junior acting sweetly towards a senior.

"There’s not much of the practice batch, one each for you," Xia Yu said with a smile, pointing to the bar. "Try it, and if it’s good, please leave a positive review!"

"A positive review is a given!"

With permission granted, Yuchuan Meisha happily dashed to the bar, first handing a small plate and fork to her sister Ayaka, and then holding her portion with anticipatory delight, she opened her mouth to take a bite.

Soft!

Even the lightly browned surface crust was incredibly tender.

Before she had fully savored it, Yuchuan Meisha blissfully squinted her eyes and murmured, "This is truly the finest of pastries!"

Then, the bitten dough released a complex burst of rich flavors in her mouth.

Because a lot of milk powder had been mixed into the dough, Yuchuan Meisha tasted a delicate milk flavor.

"Ah—"

An unguarded exclamation, the fork dropped on the plate, and the hand holding the fork moved to cover her mouth, her pretty face twitching slightly, convulsing as if enduring something.

The flood of spices erupted!

Yuchuan Ayaka also bit into the water droplet-shaped baked bread, and her mouth was instantly struck as if by an electric shock, "What, what kind of spice is this? The flavor is indescribable... it’s too wonderful!"

Yan Qi’s eyes shone with a hint of astonishment.

Similarly, his mouth and tongue were twitching!

Numbed!

His tongue was completely paralyzed; no matter how he tried to encourage it, the once most agile thing in his mouth remained still.

The bread was, of course, flawlessly baked; there was no fault in the baking.

As for the dough itself, the chef used a bunch of ordinary ingredients, artfully kneaded and mixed. These ingredients, after optimized pairing, gave one the feeling no less than that of Fantasy Ingredients.

The most crucial was a dancing ripple on the tip of the tongue!

It made one’s soul tremble.

"What is that?!"

This time, Yan Qi couldn’t hold back. A spice that could easily conquer his Dragon’s Tongue was certainly extraordinary. He stared fixedly at Xia Yu, and after a while, when his tongue straightened out and recovered, he asked in a grave voice, "I can taste it, this mysterious and elegant spice is what you’ve highlighted! In other words, this recipe, this Western-style baked bread, is all to showcase it! It is the highest lady there, basking in the golden light!"

Beside Yan Qi, Chen Yang was petrified in front of the bar, dumbly holding a fork, with a water droplet-shaped bread on the plate in front of him missing a small corner.

No one knew in what kind of gourmet world Chen Yang was lost at this moment.

"Right, it is the most dazzling queen!"

Xia Yu answered and then let out a light sigh, "But its veil has not yet been lifted!"

Yan Qi stared blankly for a moment, continuing to chase the taste on his tongue, now ethereal, now restrained, and his mood mysteriously followed the transformation of the flavors—lively, somber, and even a secretive sorrow when hidden from the eyes of outsiders.

His entire body shuddered.

The leader of the Dark World, the Eight-faced Building Owner, tightly controlled his emotions, and his face gradually returned to calm from excitement.

"There is no culinary justice!"

"Nor is there any trace of the Chef’s Heart Mark!"

"These Western-style grilled bread are just as they originally were!"

Yan Qi finished off the ’golden droplets,’ one bite at a time, slowly.

"But why..."

He couldn’t help but place his hand over his heart.

Just maintaining a forced calm on the surface, the frequency of his heartbeat was telling Yan Qi that the turmoil deep in his heart was probably far from subsiding.

The little shop was terrifyingly quiet.

Seeing this, Xia Yu shrugged his shoulders, quietly communicating with the system:

"Hey, hey, what’s the final score?"

"Not qualified," the system replied.

"I know it’s not qualified, but what’s the score? Be specific!"

"...30 points."

The system struggled for a while before giving a definite score.

"Don’t be so reluctant!"

Xia Yu’s mouth twitched.

Only 30 points? He showed a hint of disbelief, glanced at Yan Qi touching his chest, then at the enthralled Yuchuan Sisters.

Oh, and at Chen Yang, who was completely dumbfounded.

Really only 30 points?

After asking the system several times and receiving the same answer each time, Xia Yu finally believed it.

"A super failure with just 30 points can make the leader of the Dark World sing endless praise, so wouldn’t a 60-point qualified work potentially succeed in drugging a Dragon Chef?"

Indeed, it was a taboo recipe!

His face flushed with heat.

Xia Yu turned back to the kitchen, placed the plate of grilled bread beside him, occasionally grabbing pieces to bite into, while he pondered the deficiencies in the bread’s spice formula. At the same time, he took a pen and on a blank sheet of paper, wrote personal notes, expressing his passion for researching this recipe.

"Xia’s Italian Mixed Spices, ingredients include pizza herbs, rosemary, oregano, thyme... The amount of rosemary seems too much, a refreshing woody scent, a hint of sweetness in the aroma that slightly stands out, the issue lies in the dosage of rosemary!"

The praise from Yan Qi didn’t make him lose his head and just be content.

This was just 30 points, a 30% completion rate.

What he was pursuing was the limit of ’Light of Merck,’ the perfect version!

He first looked for problems in the spice formula.

The reasoning, he believes, is that he has already attained perfection in the bread-making aspect, so the missing completion rate could only lie in the spice formula!

The issue to resolve was not just the frying to release the aroma, but also the precise measurement of each milligram of spice. Perhaps a mere milligram’s error could result in a slight taste deviation, signifying a 1% completion rate slipping away.

Snap!

After a while, he tossed the pen aside, Xia Yu rubbed his eyebrows, "The core issue still lies in the technique of releasing the aroma! ’Merck’s Stars’ has only had its outermost veil lifted. To use such taboo spices like this is simply a waste!"

After finishing his statement, he looked up, only to meet a pair of eyes filled with "deep affection."

Uh!