Literary Master 1978.

Chapter 427 A scholar dies for his confidant
Blanching is a unique cooking technique of Chaoshan area, which is similar to the common blanching or boiling, but the trick lies in using the right amount of seasoning to match and highlight the deliciousness of the ingredients themselves.

Cai Lan’s blanched beef is slightly different from ordinary home-cooked dishes. It tastes tender and fresh, and has a salty and fresh flavor.

There are no such delicious dishes as those in “The Cooking Master Boy” in this world. It is difficult to satisfy everyone, but being able to make everyone at the table say that a dish is delicious shows the cooking skills.

After everyone finished eating Cai Lan's blanched beef, they turned their eyes to Lin Chaoyang, full of anticipation.

For them who roam in the world of fame and fortune, gatherings are common, but this sudden cooking competition is something new. Everyone is looking forward to Lin Chaoyang's performance with great interest.

What he wanted to make was pork loin slices with sesame paste, a typical dish to go with wine.

You won’t find sesame paste in ordinary Hong Kong homes, but Zhang Cuiying is from Yanjing, so her family has no shortage of this stuff.

After washing the pig kidneys, he first used a sharp knife to slice both sides flat and discarded the kidney smell, so as to ensure the integrity of the kidney slices to the greatest extent.

Then use cold water to drain out the blood. Change the water three or four times and check whether the water is clear before it is considered complete.

The next step is to boil water and blanch the pork loin slices. In this regard, Lin Chaoyang and Cai Lan's methods are similar. They both use a large pot with plenty of water. When the water boils, put the pork loin slices into the pot and immediately scoop them out with a colander.

At this time, the tenderloin slices are half cooked. Pour out the first pot of water, boil water again, and repeat the previous steps.

After being blanched twice, the pork tenderloin slices were cooked but still tender and crisp. When Lin Chaoyang used a strainer to pour the pork tenderloin slices into the plate, the pork tenderloin slices unexpectedly made a duangduang elastic sound when they touched the ceramic, which made everyone around him look at them in wonder.

While waiting for the water to boil, Lin Chaoyang had already prepared the dressing, including sesame paste, bean paste, chopped green onion, chopped ginger, and minced garlic, and poured it into the pork loin slices that had been squeezed dry.

After stirring evenly, a dish of sesame paste mixed with pork loin is ready.

When Lin Chaoyang was cooking, the kitchen was full of people standing and watching the whole process. When the dishes were ready, they didn't need to be served on the table. Everyone could just pick up a pair of chopsticks and taste them.

Cai Lan stopped them and asked everyone to drink some water to clear the remaining taste in their mouths.

"You made it look like a TV show."

Li Hanxiang said this, then picked up two slices of tenderloin and put them in his mouth. He bit them with his teeth, and the firm and tender taste was transmitted between the teeth and bones, making a crunching sound between the eardrums.

This sound was not loud to other people's ears, but it was very clear. Li Hanxiang kept chewing and felt the food was tender, fresh, smooth, fragrant, salty, sweet and spicy, with an unusually rich taste.

Everyone looked at his greasy mouth and the constant crunching sounds coming from his mouth, and their mouths began to water. They couldn't help but pick up their chopsticks, and the kitchen was filled with the sound of crunching chewing.

"Hmm~ delicious!"

"Not bad, not bad. This is my first time eating pork loin slices like this. It tastes really good."

Li Hanxiang took two bites of the pork tenderloin and wanted to take more, but Lin Chaoyang picked up the plate.

"Don't just eat it, at least give a review!"

Everyone immediately cheered in unison.

Just now, everyone praised Cai Lan's blanched beef, except Li Hanxiang, who thought it tasted bland. So, Lin Chaoyang won the cooking competition by one vote.

Li Hanxiang said in a pretentious voice: "I declare that the final winner of this year's gourmet competition is..."

He paused deliberately here, and Yue Hua, Ti Lung and others immediately understood and imitated the drum beats on TV that were designed to whet the audience's appetite.

"Dangdangdangdang..."

Lin Chaoyang and Cai Lan smiled at each other and shook their heads.

"He is... Lin Chaoyang!"

As soon as Li Hanxiang finished speaking, the crowd burst into warm applause and were very excited, as if they had really participated in a cooking competition.

There were more than a dozen men present, the oldest of whom was nearly 60 years old, but when they started to make a fuss, they acted like a group of teenagers.

Lin Chaoyang also stood up in a pretentious manner, with his head held high and chest puffed out, as if waiting for an award. He also waved to the crowd, which once again drew thunderous applause.

"Hey, that's not right. Why should a cooking competition be called 'Gourmet'? Shouldn't it be called 'Chef God'?" Yue Hua raised an objection.

Li Hanxiang waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about these details."

After some laughter, the atmosphere of the party became lively.

Compared with gatherings with writer friends in the mainland, gatherings and interactions with Li Hanxiang and others were more casual, and the topics were more popular and down-to-earth. Each has its own advantages.

Unlike the nodding acquaintances they had at Li Hanxiang's house after the Academy Awards last year, Lin Chaoyang got really familiar with these people at today's party.

In the following days, Tao Yushu went to Lockhart Road almost every day. Although New Kunlun Pictures was just a shell company, in Tao Yushu's eyes there were still many things to learn.

Since Lin Chaoyang supports her to start her own business in the future, she naturally cannot be lazy. No matter whether it is useful or not, it is always a good idea to learn first.

Lin Chaoyang, on the other hand, focused on writing and spent most of his time every day typing away.

One advantage of coming to Hong Kong is that you can stay indoors all day and focus on your work. Lin Chaoyang's creative progress has returned to its peak, and he wrote 12,000 words in one day.

At this rate, the first draft of the novel can be completed in less than half a month.

Of course, it will have to be modified and improved when the time comes.

That evening, he had just come out of the study when Tao Yumo said, "Brother-in-law, there are a few letters for you."

Lin Chaoyang was a little surprised. They had only informed their families of their safety and contact address after they had settled down in Hong Kong. It had been just over a week, and the letter had arrived so soon.

He took the letter and first looked at the sender and address. One of the letters was sent from Yanjing and was signed by Lin Erchun. The other two were forwarded, one in China and the other abroad.

He first read Lin Erchun's letter, which was full of trivial topics about family matters, and his greatest concern was for Xiao Dongdong and the unborn baby in Tao Yushu's belly.

In addition, at the end of the letter, Lin Erchun mentioned the two forwarded letters, which were sent within two or three days after Lin Chaoyang left, so Lin Erchun forwarded them all to Lin Chaoyang.

The sender of the letter from China was Li Shifei from Huacheng Publishing House. The content of the letter was nothing special. It just reported the current sales of "Crossing the Boat" and "Crossing the Guandong", and then asked about the progress of Lin Chaoyang's new work.

The latter purpose was of course the main point of Li Shifei's letter. Lin Chaoyang thought about it and mentioned the matter of Yanjing Publishing House to Li Shifei in his reply. This kind of thing must be mentioned in advance, at least to let people be mentally prepared. The other letter from abroad was actually sent by Naoko Kondo. When Lin Chaoyang opened the letter, he didn't notice that the first thing that fell out was a few photos.

Lin Chaoyang picked it up and took a look. The photos included a Japanese manuscript being translated, as well as work photos of Naoko Kondo and a middle-aged man.

Lin Chaoyang read the letter again. According to Naoko Kondo's description, after returning to Japan, she devoted most of her spare time to translating the Japanese version of "Crossing the Guandong".

Because the workload and difficulty exceeded her expectations, Naoko Kondo had to ask Shozo Fujii, an associate professor at the Faculty of Letters at the University of Tokyo, for help.

The two spent more than three months and have completed most of the translation of "Crossing the Guandong". It is expected that the entire translation work will be completed in another two months.

During this period, Naoko Kondo and Shozo Fujii were also using their connections to communicate with various publishing houses in Tokyo. After reading some of the manuscripts translated by the two of them, Kawade Shobo became interested in "Crossing the Guandong".

However, because the manuscript has not been translated yet, Kawade Shobo is not sure about the quality of the final manuscript, so its attitude is a bit ambiguous.

At the end of the letter, Naoko Kondo made some assurances to Lin Chaoyang, saying that she would definitely facilitate the publication of "Crossing the Guandong" in Japan.

His firm attitude made Lin Chaoyang feel a little embarrassed.

That's a long novel of more than 600,000 words. Most of the translation was completed in just over three months, and that was in my spare time. You can imagine the effort and hard work that went into it.

Lin Chaoyang could probably understand Naoko Kondo's thoughts. In her eyes, Lin Chaoyang gave her the manuscript of "Crossing the Guandong", which was undoubtedly entrusting all his hard work to her.

A woman looks good to one who pleases her, and a scholar dies for a confidant.

This is the origin of Naoko Kondo's firm attitude.

At the end of the letter, she also mentioned that if the Japanese version of "Crossing the Guandong" is translated into Chinese in the future, she will have to have formal negotiations with the publishing house. She hopes that Lin Chaoyang can come to Tokyo to see the red leaves in Kyoto.

After reading the letter, Lin Chaoyang wrote back to Kondo Naoko to express his gratitude.

May arrived in a flash, and Lin Chaoyang's family had been here for more than half a month. Except for Tao Yushu who often went out to work, Lin Chaoyang and Tao Yumo basically stayed at home. Taking advantage of the good weather on this day, he planned to take his family out for a walk.

Unfortunately, the phone at home rang. It was Li Hanxiang calling to ask him to have a cup of coffee.

Lin Chaoyang knew that something must have happened. After all, he still owed Lao Li a favor, so Lin Chaoyang agreed without thinking.

The two of them met at a cafe near Princess Road, called Hair Culture Cafe, which roughly translates to "hair style culture cafe."

When Lin Chaoyang arrived, he found that there was a middle-aged man with a bald head, small eyes and a pair of black-framed glasses sitting next to Li Hanxiang.

"Old Li!"

"Michael!"

"Lin Sheng!"

Both sides greeted each other.

Michael is Xu Guanwen's English name. According to the mainland's transliteration habits, it should be "Michael". Everyone calls him that, and Lin Chaoyang also follows the local custom and calls him that.

After a few pleasantries, Li Hanxiang said, "It was actually Michael who wanted to see you today, about the thing I told you about before."

When Lin Chaoyang saw Xu Guanwen, he had already guessed the reason why Li Hanxiang had asked him to come today. He smiled and asked, "I heard that Michael, aren't you filming "The Brave Double Bang: The Three Treasures of Wisdom and Courage"? It's full of movie stars, so it shouldn't be a problem for it to be a big hit, right?"

“The box office should be good.”

When talking about the box office, Xu Guanwen looked very confident, but there was no excitement on his face.

"Aren't you happy about the box office success?"

Xu Guanwen waved his hand and said, "I might be anxious if the box office fails, but I don't care if the box office succeeds."

If someone else said this, it might sound a bit crazy, but when it came from Xu Guanwen, it didn't feel out of place.

Over the past decade, he has conquered moviegoers across East Asia with one critically acclaimed and commercially successful film after another, and is the undisputed comedy king in the Hong Kong film industry.

After Xu Guanwen finished speaking, he ignored Lin Chaoyang's reaction and continued:

"When I was young, I wanted to buy a gold Rolex. Later, the gold Rolex became a Mercedes. But how much can I eat? How much can I drink? How much can I use?
For my bank deposit, one more zero or one less zero doesn’t make much difference.

I am forty-three years old this year. The audience loves to watch me perform comedies, but how many more years can I keep doing it?
I can’t act anymore. I don’t want the audience to look at me acting crazy and stupid on the screen and look disgusted one day in the future.”

Speaking of this, Xu Guanwen's face was filled with loneliness.

As one of the most popular stars in the Hong Kong film industry in recent years, people only see his glamour, but no one knows his mental journey.

Xu Guanwen is the eldest in the family. After he became famous, he was determined to help his younger brothers to succeed in life. Now his three younger brothers have made a name for themselves. Over the years, the reputation of the four Xu brothers as heroes in both literature and martial arts has spread throughout Hong Kong.

As his brothers grew stronger, Xu Guanwen decisively chose to let go.

In the past, whenever he, as the eldest brother, acted in a movie, there would always be a place for his younger brothers, but now, Xu Guanwen has not worked with his younger brothers for a long time.

Xu Guanwen kept talking about his inner thoughts, while Lin Chaoyang and Li Hanxiang listened quietly beside him.

"Mr. Lin, do you know why I came to see you?" Xu Guanwen suddenly asked Lin Chaoyang.

"why?"

Xu Guanwen laughed at himself, "We Hong Kong people, you can call us snobbish or realistic. If I said these things to that filmmaker, they would just think I was being pretentious. But you are different..."

Xu Guanwen looked at Lin Chaoyang with admiration, "You are a writer, I believe you understand me."

Lin Chaoyang smiled. He didn't know whether Xu Guanwen's words were sincere or a compliment.

In his opinion, Xu Guanwen has the narcissism of an artist. Narcissism is certainly not a good thing in the eyes of others, but for many people engaged in artistic work, it is a trait that must be possessed in order to succeed.

"Michael, I understand how you feel. But even if I work with you, I may not be able to achieve the success you want, right?"

Lin Chaoyang’s question hit the nail on the head. If Xu Guanwen wanted to transform, why did he have to choose him?
(End of this chapter)