Chapter 35: Tang Yihan’s Dark Dessert
After sending off those guests, I felt a slight sense of relief. Although a few more people arrived afterwards, at least I didn’t have to say the morning greetings.
To prevent this kind of awkward situation from happening again in the future, should I look for some nice greetings during my free time?
After all, I can’t be sure those guests won’t come back in a few days. If this becomes a habit, that would be bad.
After being busy for a while, I smelled a fresh aroma wafting through the fragrant shop, which was the smell of something just out of the oven.
Soon, I saw Tang Yihan walking out of the kitchen, holding a large iron tray with thick anti-scald gloves.
“Xiao Han~ Come and try the new flavor!” Tang Yihan called out to me, who was standing around without much to do.
“What is this?” I stared at the dish she brought over, unsure of how to refer to it.
“It doesn’t have a name yet, but it was made using a flaky pastry method, and the filling should be good.”
“What kind of filling is it?”
I asked curiously, getting ready to take one to taste. However, seeing how steaming hot it was, I didn’t dare to grab it directly with my hands and had to wrap it in paper first.
“You’ll know once you try it.”
Tang Yihan said with a smile, not directly revealing the flavor, her expression full of anticipation as she watched me take a bite.
I took a small bite, and the crispy skin provided a novel texture. The hot steam carried a fragrant smell that hit me right in the face. I must say, just the flavor was quite overpowering; it was somewhat unsuitable for selling.
But soon, I tasted the filling, and a strange flavor began to spread in my mouth, reminiscent of the aftertaste left after rolling on the grass for three acres…
For a moment, I wasn’t quite sure how to describe it…
Tang Yihan looked at my expression, which was beginning to twist up, seemingly not very surprised.
Instead, she tried a piece herself.
Before long, she showed the same expression I had.
“Yuck… it’s still hard to eat. It seems the online learning method can’t neutralize this flavor; it smells so good…”
“What exactly is this?” I made a grimace, trying to wash away the taste with my saliva.
“A type of plant root, very nutritious, but the flavor is a bit odd. It seems it still needs improvement.”
“Ah… can this flavor really be used to make desserts?” I asked in disbelief; this was already beyond just being odd, right?
Even if you got tired of the usual desserts, you wouldn’t seek out such a peculiar flavor, would you?
“Of course.” Tang Yihan replied confidently.
“Are you really not afraid of getting poisoned?”
“I’m not too bad at detoxification spells, and there’s a hospital nearby.” She said very confidently, seeming experienced, even having detoxification spells on hand.
And she must be quite familiar with the route to the hospital, right?
“Okay… fine…”
I felt I should be careful from now on; I need to be alert whenever Tang Yihan sends me something to taste, or I really wouldn’t know when I might drop dead.
I certainly don’t expect any resurrection spells to bring me back; if possible, nobody wants to d*e.
Then I saw Tang Yihan, slightly dejected, taking her new products with her. I even saw her sadly talking to the trash can after dumping the items.
Unfortunately, I didn’t catch what she said.
But soon, I was called into the kitchen by Tang Yihan. After the morning, the customers in the shop reduced significantly, so she directly called me in to start teaching me how to make desserts.
And she began teaching from the most basic level.
The first attempt was a small cookie, the very ordinary kind, perfect for a newbie like me to practice on.
Once I got started, I realized the key was in the precise measurements. If I got the amounts right, I could follow the steps to complete the cookie making process.
Though there were some minor mistakes, under Tang Yihan’s wise guidance, the final product turned out quite well.
At least I thought the taste was quite nice, and the texture was okay, albeit a bit soft.
It seemed like there was room for improvement on the oven’s temperature settings.
“The taste is mediocre, the texture… is okay; it reminds me of what I almost threw up on before.” Tang Yihan gave a very honest evaluation; it seemed she had eaten a fair amount.
“You seem to have some talent. In that case, I’ll temporarily entrust this baking recipe book to you.” After saying that, she fished out a slightly thick notebook from somewhere.
The binding was somewhat like a cookbook, and she patted off the nonexistent dust before handing it to me.
“Thank you, senior.”
I took the recipe book. Although there were many traces of it being flipped through, it seemed like it had been pressed under something for a long time, giving it a feeling of being unused for ages.
“No need to thank me. This is what I bought for reference back in the day. If you want to try, start with the basics. You can experiment with the materials in the shop, but just don’t waste too much.”
While Tang Yihan was saying this, she took off her various accessories, like her hat and apron.
“Senior, where are you going?”
“To buy materials. Shi Qian said she would go buy materials this time, but when this incident happened, she ran off. I realized this morning that the materials are running low.”
“Oh, I see…”
I nodded slightly, unsure how much material they usually stock, but based on the shop’s sales efficiency, it wouldn’t be too much.
Probably most of it ended up in the trash.
Similarly, I silently prayed that Tang Yihan wouldn’t buy any strange materials, like the one I just tasted. That was far from edible.
Adding some salted egg yolk would taste better than that.
“Xiao Han~ Watch the shop well. If any customers come that you can’t handle… oh right, you haven’t added my contact information yet, have you? Add me, and you can just call me directly later.”
“Sure.”
I quickly grabbed my phone, and soon, a new contact appeared on my phone.
“I’m going to be busy now, bye-bye.”
I watched as she left the shop. I stood at the door for a long time until I couldn’t see her figure anymore. I didn’t expect Tang Yihan was also a master at riding a broom.
Since she rides a broom, she should be back quickly, right? After all, it’s like flying in a straight line in the sky.
Since I learned about the extra income source of the bakery, I understood that this place was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t receive any of those strange orders during this time.
Feeling a bit bored, I returned to my spot and opened this dessert ingredient list to start looking at it. I must say, many of the items were indeed different from what I was familiar with in my past life.
Although I had never encountered such things in my previous life, I could still see the differences.
At least the ingredient list from my past life didn’t include materials containing extraordinary energy.
