Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Unfortunately, Nissin Ramen is the only instant noodle brand on the market worldwide, so Tatsunosuke's "doubts" are easily disproven.

Therefore, Director Zhao and others ignored Tatsunosuke's attempts to sow discord.

Zhang Dabiao was getting a headache. So what if I belittled it? Your crappy instant noodles didn't even sell here. There's no market for them in China anyway. Does my belittling affect your sales?

Do you expect me to pay you a few dollars for damage to your reputation?

Zhang Dabiao said to Director Zhao, "Director Zhao, I'll be leaving now if there's nothing else for me. I don't like this noodle anyway, is that alright?"

Director Zhao frowned, but was still about to wave Zhang Dabiao away. In this situation, regardless of whether Zhang Dabiao's words made sense or not, it was not good for him to argue with the foreign businessman.

But Tatsunosuke suddenly stopped him—

"Mr. Zhang Dabiao, since you're tired of chicken broth ramen, why don't you show us some other flavors of instant noodles you eat?"

"As long as you can produce it, I'll believe you—that you're really tired of instant noodles with chicken soup."

Zhang Dabiao frowned. What did this mean?

Why should I show you something?

But after thinking for a moment, Director Zhao nodded.

"Da Biao, this is also your chance to prove your innocence, so that others won't accuse you of smuggling."

Zhang Dabiao scratched his head and thought for a while before he realized what was going on.

"Director Zhao, but wouldn't that give them a chance to steal our skills?"

------------

In the end, Zhang Dabiao compromised. He had to prove himself, otherwise he wouldn't be able to explain himself later.

Director Zhao trusts him, but it's uncertain what others will think if this gets out. Having several leaders and clerks from the department present to give Zhang Dabiao a fair assessment on the spot isn't necessarily a bad thing.

But Zhang Dabiao had a rule: he was allowed to go into the kitchen to get the noodles and seasonings, but no one else was allowed in, as those were his secret recipes.

The secret recipe must be protected. If you want to do business with the Japanese, that's your business, it has nothing to do with me.

Because Tian Youfu had previously criticized Zhang Dabiao for selling the patent to capitalists as treason, resulting in Tian Youfu receiving a reprimand from the ministry, no one objected to Zhang Dabiao's claim of protecting the secret formula this time.

It's yours to begin with. You're not a factory worker, and the secret recipe doesn't belong to the factory, so you can do whatever you want with it.

The group arrived at the courtyard house in a large throng, including Tatsunosuke and the translator, and all went into the small side courtyard.

Zhang Dabiao instructed people to set up a table and boil water.

He went into the side kitchen, closed the door, went into his "little nest," took a few packets of instant noodles, quickly unpacked them, and then divided the powder packet, sauce packet, vegetable packet, etc., into several bowls before leaving his "little nest."

Everyone looked and saw that Zhang Dabiao had brought out a lot of flatbreads, some square, some round, some whiter, some golden yellow like corn, and some slightly thicker.

Everyone found it strange that the noodles could be made like that, twisted and contorted like an earthworm.

Meanwhile, Tatsunosuke carefully examined the noodle cake, even taking a small piece and chewing it slowly to see how it differed from their Nissin Ramen.

Once the water boiled, Zhang Dabiao even borrowed Director Zhao's watch to keep track of time, and told everyone to make instant noodles first—make sure not to use the pre-made meal kit!

Tadanosuke expressed his confusion, but still followed Zhang Dabiao's instructions.

Zhang Dabiao timed it perfectly, and once the time was right, he had everyone pour out the water, then added the powder packet, vegetable packet, and sauce packet, and then quickly stirred it.

Then add water until it's 8% full. At this point, the aroma fills the small courtyard. Director Zhao and the others are very surprised. This flavor is much more powerful than the Japanese specialty Nissin Chicken Ramen that Tatsunosuke brought!

Just as he was about to eat, Zhang Dabiao stopped him again—

He looked at his watch with feigned seriousness: "Soak for another 30 seconds!"

Everyone held back and followed Zhang Dabiao's instructions. When the time was up, Zhang Dabiao waved his hand, and everyone began to wolf down their food.

"Mmm! It's delicious!"

"Da Biao, you've got some knowledge, huh!"

"Why do I think this tastes so much better than those Japanese chicken noodle soups?"

"Yes, it's in a completely different league! Delicious!"

Zhang Dabiao was smug. "Absolutely!"

Nissin Chicken Ramen was indeed a high-end fast food in this era, but it was, after all, the first generation of instant noodles.

How can it be compared to instant noodles of later generations?

Putting aside other factors, the noodle processing methods are different, and chicken soup ramen only comes with a powder packet, while Zhang Dabiao's ramen sometimes has a vegetable packet and sometimes a sauce packet. How can you compare them?

That's a complete game-changer!

The more Tatsunosuke ate, the darker and more somber his face became, while Zhang Dabiao continued to boast and talk big.

"Director Zhao, what you're eating is my favorite pickled cabbage and beef noodles."

"Your colleagues ate braised beef noodles, spicy beef noodles, and old hen soup noodles, while Mr. Tatsunosuke ate tomato beef noodles."

"So when I said I was tired of chicken noodle soup, I wasn't exaggerating."

When it comes to food, we Chinese are the ancestors.

The more Zhang Dabiao talked, the darker Da Zhizhu's face became, because even he could taste that the chewiness and richness of the noodles were several levels above Nissin Ramen!

There's simply no comparison!

If China were to also produce instant noodles and enter this market...

So Tatsunosuke, disregarding hygiene, asked Zhang Dabiao to get him another bowl, chopsticks, and spoon, because he wanted to try all the flavors.

Director Zhao and the others were stunned. Don't you find it embarrassing?

However, everyone complied with Tatsunosuke's small request. After finishing his meal, Tatsunosuke stood up and bowed deeply to Zhang Dabiao: "Mr. Zhang Dabiao, please sell me the recipe!"

"Just name your terms!"

Everyone was taken aback by Tatsunosuke's behavior. "You weren't this excited when you bought the lighter patent license!"

That's naturally different. In Asia, there are only a few major countries that eat noodles, especially ramen. You could say that noodles are of great significance to them!

Whoever masters this technology first will be the first to start production. Forget about exports or international markets; within their own countries, as long as they seize the opportunity, they will become national-level enterprises!

In the instant noodle market, you are king!

How could Tatsunosuke not be excited!

A large crowd had gathered at the entrance of the courtyard, partly attracted by the leaders and the Japanese, and partly by the aroma of the instant noodles. Although Zhang Dabiao had eaten there countless times, the taste was still as irresistible and enticing as ever.

Especially Jia Zhangshi, who was drooling all over the place!

But in front of the department leaders, especially those with higher ranks than Director Yang, she didn't dare to cause any trouble.

I just hope that Da Biao's nephew will make a bowl for your third aunt sometime.

All I can say is that she's overthinking it.

Zhang Dabiao was also stunned. Selling instant noodle recipes?

How the hell am I supposed to know how this bread is made?