Chapter 675 - The Strategy for Picking a Chicken

Lake Moissan was the largest freshwater lake near Chaos City, and there were many types of fish that could be found within the lake. Strangely enough, there were no magic beasts that frequented this place, so it was extremely safe even to ordinary people.

The Buffett owned a manor to the west of Chaos City, directly neighboring Lake Moissan. There were a few intricate little buildings beside the lake, and the area was surrounded by a bamboo fence.

There was a large tree beside the lake, which was growing in a slightly crooked manner. The tree was also twisted in the middle, and was growing toward the lake, creating a natural canopy that obscured the bright autumn sunlight.

At this moment, there was an elderly man with a head of white hair sitting on a small stool underneath the tree. He was holding a fishing rod in his hand while staring intently at a white buoy floating on the surface of the lake.

Scheer stood beside the old man, and asked, “Grandpa, do you think this is something worth taking the risk to invest in?”

“Shh, you’ll scare the fish away,” the old man whispered as he tightened his grip on his fishing rod. The white buoy tremored slightly before suddenly sinking into the water as if it had been dragged under the surface by something. At the same time, the fishing line also immediately stretched taut.

“There’s a fish on the hook!” A mixture of elation and anxiety appeared on Scheer’s face as she urged, “Grandpa, hurry and reel it in!”

“There’s no need to rush. This is a big fish, and the bigger the fish, the more patient you need to be. Otherwise, both the line and rod could easily snap. In that case, you’d lose the fish and a fishing rod. That would not be a pleasant experience,” the elderly man said with a smile as he began to slowly reel the fish in.

“I need to be patient?” Scheer faltered slightly as she looked at the large fish rising to the surface before sinking into the lake in a repetitive cycle. All of a sudden, she became rather unsure of whether she was the fisherman or the fish in this deal. She didn’t know if she was the one in control, or if Mag was actually the one in the driver’s seat.

The hooked fish struggled for over 10 minutes in the lake before it was slowly dragged to the shore. The elderly man scooped it up with his net, and found that it was a red carp that was over five kilograms in weight.

“We’re going to have a good meal for lunch today! This is the first red carp of its size this year.” Ian looked at the large carp in his net with a smile before he turned to Scheer, and said, “Little Scheer, you should join me for lunch today. Your luck has always been quite good.”

“If Grandpa says this is a good fish, then it must be a good fish.” A smile also appeared on Scheer’s face as she followed Ian toward his house.

“In business, it’s important to realize that some money should be left for other people to earn. Otherwise, your own business will eventually fail. However, the most important factor is who you’re doing it with. If the person doesn’t have a good set of moral standards, then you can’t collaborate with them even if there’s profit to be gained,” Ian said with a smile as he walked.

Scheer nodded with a thoughtful expression.

“The newly brewed wine in our winery should be ready to come out of the cellar soon, right?” Ian suddenly asked.

“It’ll be ready in a few days; I’ll get someone to bring you some when it’s ready.” Scheer turned to Ian with a perplexed look as she asked, “But there’s wine with more age in the cellar; why wouldn’t you drink some of that, Grandpa?”

“I prefer the taste of new wine. In contrast, I don’t really like aged wine,” Ian replied as he shook his head.

“Speaking of wine, the wine that Mr. Mag used in his steak is of even better quality than the wine from our winery. It’s just that he refuses to sell it and uses it exclusively for his steaks.” Scheer knew that Ian was an avid wine enthusiast. In order to drink the wine of his desires, he had expended several decades, as well as countless wealth and effort, to create the best winery on the entire continent. This was something that only he was capable of doing.

“Really?” Ian’s footsteps immediately faltered. He had displayed no interest in the phenomenal steam engine, yet he was now acting like an excited child.

Scheer nodded, and confirmed, “The wine that he brewed for his steak has a better flavor and texture than even the most premium wine brewed in our winery.”

“That’s very interesting.” Ian nodded with a smile before continuing onward.

…

In the city lord’s office, Dicus was looking at City Lord Michael with an excited expression on his face as he said, “City Lord, if Mr. Mag really has developed the steam engine and devised practical uses for it, this could change many things and take infrastructure development in our Chaos City to the next level.”

Michael sat behind his desk, his brows furrowed in deep thought. After a prolonged silence, he shook his head, and said, “Don’t jump to any conclusions before we see the actual product. If the Buffett Family is willing to participate in the collaboration, then they’ll be assuming most of the risk.”

“Should we go to Mamy Restaurant right now, then?” Dicus was barely able to contain his excitement. He had been closely following the progress of Hydle’s research team in the past few years, and was well aware just how much the steam engine could change the world.

“There’s no hurry; I have a couple of upcoming meetings to attend, so we’ll go later tonight.” Michael shook his head as he rose to his feet and made his way over to the door. As he passed by Dicus, he stopped and smiled as he said, “I know you’re very excited, but don’t tell anyone about this for now, not even Hydle and his team.”

Dicus faltered slightly upon hearing this before quickly nodding in response. “Yes.”

…

Mag made a lap around the food market and had made a rough assessment of which ingredients could be found in which location, as well as what the level of quality was like.

It’s a real shame that these ingredients are going to waste. With the mediocre culinary standards of this world, there most likely aren’t many people who can truly do these ingredients justice, Mag thought to himself wistfully. The diversity of ingredients in this market was making his eyes water; at the same time, he was very much looking forward to creating his own recipes after becoming a chef who was truly proficient in his craft.

Is that a human-sized lobster? I wonder if it’ll taste good as a spicy dish… Mag speculated internally.

After organizing his scattered thoughts, he had already decided on the ingredients that he was going to purchase. The system had stipulated three dishes, and taking into consideration the fact that he would be able to source his own ingredients once he reached Rodu, he decided on the spicy grilled fish, braised chicken and rice, and black pepper steak.

The iridescent scale grass carp was a crossbred fish that the system had conjured up, so it didn’t exist in this world. After looking through all of the fish being sold in the market, Mag decided on a type of fish known as the kirin carp in the end.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

This type of fish had thick and heavy scales, yet its flesh was very tender and succulent, and its bones were quite large. Mag looked on as the shop owner killed the fish, and he was already devising a plan to remove some of the smaller bones from the fish. There should be no issues with using it to cook spicy grilled fish.

The braised chicken required fire chicken, and when Mag set out in his quest to find the right chicken, the shop owner whom he had just saved from getting into major trouble was more than happy to help him out. He went into extensive detail about how to pick the best chicken, telling Mag about everything from the feathers to the feet, giving Mag an extremely practical insider’s perspective on the subject.