Special Forces: I Can See the Experience Bar

Chapter 12 Show Off

With hard work and a touch of talent, this person may not necessarily achieve great success, but they can certainly surpass most people.

Before meeting Xiao Mao, Chang Ning believed that no one could match him in terms of self-discipline. But after meeting Xiao Mao, he realized what the king of discipline truly was.

Xiao Mao's real name is Wang Xiao Mao. He used to be a cook, and he still is a cook now. The difference is that he went from working in the civilian sector to working in the military.

"Squad Leader Mao, look, I've been chopping vegetables for days. Can you teach me how to cook today?"

There's nothing he can do; Chang Ning is still just a private, so he has to respectfully call any sergeant "squad leader."

Chang Ning placed the chopped pumpkin in front of Wang Xiaomao; the pumpkin pieces in the bowl were all the same size. If Wang Xiaomao hadn't been nearby while Chang Ning was cutting them, he would have thought that Chang Ning had measured the pumpkin pieces with a ruler.

Seeing Chang Ning's results, Wang Xiaomao, a seasoned chef, was secretly amazed. If he remembered correctly, Chang Ning couldn't even peel potatoes properly with a cleaver at first, but now, just a few days later, she was handling the cleaver with ease.

Thinking of this, Wang Xiaomao decided to test Chang Ning and see if he really had the talent in this area.

If possible, it wouldn't be a bad idea to teach Changning how to cook a few of her signature dishes. It's the 21st century now, and we can't be so secretive about what we have.

"No rush, let me see how good your knife skills are first."

As he spoke, Wang Xiaomao casually picked up a potato from the cutting board and placed it in Chang Ning's hand.

"Come on, I won't make things difficult for you. Let me cut some potato shreds for you."

The assessment task turned out to be cutting potato shreds, which delighted Chang Ning. He'd been cutting potato shreds the most lately; he really wasn't confident about cutting a simple tofu dish like Wensi Tofu.

Although he has now filled up his knife skills experience bar and gained more knowledge about using knives, he has never actually used one in real life.

It's like listening to music a few times and thinking you can sing it, but if you actually sing it, it's not the same thing.

Seeing that the squad leader wasn't making things difficult for him, Chang Ning felt he couldn't afford to let him down. He picked up a potato and peeled it off with practiced ease and speed.

The thin potato skin didn't break under Chang Ning's knife, and Wang Xiaomao carefully noticed that there wasn't a single piece of flesh on the potato skin that was peeled off.

He immediately knew just how skilled Changning was at knife work.

It's important to know that the surface of a potato is uneven, and peeling off the skin completely requires a lot of strength when using a knife, not to mention that Chang Ning separated the skin and flesh perfectly.

Achieving both is far more difficult than simply adding one to two.

In fact, when it comes to knife skills, it all boils down to one thing: skill!
Just like how Qiao Feng became a master with Taizu Changquan, he relied on his proficiency in this style of boxing. The more he practiced, the more he understood, and the greater his skills became.

But why can't everyone become Qiao Feng?
There's a famous saying that goes, "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration."

Of course, everyone knows the second half of his statement, which is directed at top scientists like Einstein and Edison. Ordinary people who put in enough effort in a particular area will still reap rewards, though their achievements may not be as great.

Few online novelists achieve legendary status with a single book in twenty years; the great authors have all achieved success through years of dedicated effort.

Chang Ning was just an ordinary person. His "golden finger" gave him one percent more inspiration, allowing him to perfectly coordinate various knife techniques and muscle movements throughout his body to deal with the potato the moment he got his hands on it.

The surface of the potato after the knife was removed was very smooth, without any sharp edges left after the knife was used, as if the potato in Chang Ning's hand was supposed to be like this.

Chang Ning temporarily put the potatoes into a bowl and then soaked them in clean water. After washing her hands, Chang Ning picked up the potatoes from the bowl.

A chef's knife skills are not just about how well they cut vegetables; it takes many factors into consideration. Is the chef clean and diligent?

Are you wasting raw materials while cutting vegetables? Is the knife sharpened?
These are the main aspects that test a chef's knife skills.

Since it was a test, Chang Ning didn't want his work to be imperfect because of some avoidable details. Next came the main event: the rhythmic chopping of vegetables began on the cutting board; good chefs all have their own rhythm. Chang Ning wasn't a chef, but he had his own insights into using a knife.

Cutting a potato doesn't take long. After Chang Ning finished cutting, Wang Xiaomao looked at the potato slices on the cutting board with a puzzled expression.

"I told you to cut it into potato shreds, not potato slices."

"It really is shredded potato."

Putting down the cleaver, Chang Ning was also confused by what Squad Leader Xiao Mao had said. So he looked down and his gaze fell on the cutting board before he suddenly realized what was going on.

It turned out that he cut the potato too quickly, causing the shredded potatoes to stick together.

Seeing that Chang Ning's expression was off, Wang Xiaomao, being an experienced chef, knew the characteristics of the ingredients like the back of his hand.

Potatoes tend to stick together because they contain starch, and they often stick to the knife when you cut them.

"Squad leader, the moment of witnessing a miracle is about to begin!"

Chang Ning put the potatoes into a bowl filled with water. The potato shreds floated in the water like blooming flowers, covering the bottom of the bowl.

At this moment, Wang Xiaomao was filled with disbelief. Could an ordinary person achieve this level after practicing for just over ten days? It could only be explained by genius.

Wang Xiaomao gently picked up some shredded potatoes from the bowl with his chopsticks; the pale yellow shreds shimmered in the air. If he had to describe them in one word, it would be "thin enough to be translucent!"

Wang Xiaomao could actually see the texture on the chopsticks through the shredded potatoes. He even thought Chang Ning could make Wensi Tofu.

Seeing that Squad Leader Xiao Mao remained silent, Chang Ning felt uneasy. "Squad Leader, did my knife skills not meet the requirements?"

"what?

Your knife skills are already quite good.

Wang Xiaomao only snapped out of his daze when he heard Chang Ning's voice. If his knife skills weren't good enough, did that mean he wasn't even fit to cook?

"Okay, I'll keep my promise. What dish do you want to learn?"

"Scrambled eggs with tomatoes!"

The class monitor was going to teach her how to cook, and Chang Ning quickly suggested a dish she had been considering for a long time.

This dish is a childhood memory for him. When he was little, he would ask his mother to make him scrambled eggs with tomatoes every day. And this dish was eaten with rice; Changning will never forget that taste.

Unfortunately, the places we can never reach are far away, and the places we can never return to are our hometowns.

Chang Ning is stationed in the military and has very few holidays, so he can only use this dish to send his longing from afar.

"Are you sure? I can cook most of the eight major cuisines, like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and Dongpo Pork."

Wang Xiaomao thought it was strange that Chang Ning had gone to so much trouble just to learn how to make such a simple dish as scrambled eggs with tomatoes. It's something anyone with hands can do.

P.S.: Three chapters completed!!!

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(End of this chapter)