6 a.m.

Lin Xu opened his eyes from his slumber to find Shen Baobao clinging to him like an octopus. He carefully removed the girl's arm wrapped around him and moved the smooth, pale long leg draped over his waist, finally feeling a bit more relieved.

No wonder I felt like there was a ghost pressing on me in my sleep...

To prevent Shen Baobao from catching a cold from the air conditioning, Lin Xu meticulously covered her perfect body with a blanket, then stole a kiss and got out of bed.

Today was the trial opening day; he couldn't sleep in. He needed to go check on the restaurant. After all, it was the first day of business, and many problems would likely surface. They needed to be resolved as thoroughly as possible to prevent them from becoming hidden dangers after the official opening.

Leaving the bedroom, Lin Xu first scooped the cat litter, then washed his face and brushed his teeth, changed into the new clothes his mother-in-law had bought him, locked the door, and carried Dundun to the restaurant.

Hmm, I'll let Shen Baobao sleep a bit longer. I'll come back and wake her for breakfast at seven o'clock.

Arriving at the restaurant, Chezi, who was responsible for procurement, and the early-shift chefs had already arrived.

After they greeted each other, Lin Xu asked, "What's for breakfast this morning?"

The head chef on duty responded, "Pumpkin millet porridge, Scallion Oil pancakes, savory meat buns, and our homemade sweet and sour radish cubes and cold Pork Skin salad. Does the boss need a special dish?"

Making a "special dish" meant preparing something separately. Everyone knew that the boss's wife was now living with the boss, so they were subtly asking Lin Xu if he wanted something different made for her.

Lin Xu said, "No need for a special dish. We'll eat whatever you guys are making... Oh, right, steam a chicken leg after removing its skin. Dundun hasn't had breakfast yet."

Today was again time for the little one to work its magic. So, he had to ensure the little darling had a good meal, lest their restaurant's God of Wealth Divine Artifact be slighted.

"Alright, boss. I'll get started on that right away."

Lin Xu checked the upstairs preparations. He took out the two boxes of chilled pork fore hocks and one box of Pork Skin that Chezi had brought in, then cooked them in batches in a pot for several minutes.

After boiling, he laid the pork hocks and Pork Skin on the workbench and began using a blowtorch to scorch the skin. This step was the same as for Crystal Sugar Pork Hock: first, use hot water to shrink the pork skin and make the bristles protrude, then use a blowtorch to scorch the skin. Using the blowtorch's high-temperature flame, he burned away the sweat glands, pores, hair follicles, and the like from the surface of the Pork Skin.

Making Crystal Pork Hock required impeccably clean ingredients, so this step had to be thorough. The more thoroughly the pork hock skin was scorched, the cleaner it would become after washing, and the better the dish would look.

While he was scorching the skin, Chezi, who had finished signing off on the deliveries, came over. "Let me do it, boss. I'm good at this kind of work."

Lin Xu said with a smile, "I can handle this. Just boil some hot water so I can soak these hocks and Pork Skin. Soaking them for a while before washing makes them cleaner."

"Okay, boss."

Chezi started boiling water on a nearby stove. He didn't remain idle while the water boiled. He ran to the vegetable washing area and soaked the tomatoes, eggplants, and small leafy greens needed for the sauce. This would make them easier to clean later.

By the time he returned to the main stove, Lin Xu had already finished scorching all the pork hocks and Pork Skin.

"Chezi, how many pig heads did we get in today?"

"Eight."

"After breakfast, remember to send four to Master Xu downstairs. Have him clean them and soak them. Once I'm finished here, I'll go braise them. We'll continue to press pig heads today."

When they were preparing them yesterday, Lin Xu had worried that eight pig heads would be too many and they wouldn't sell out. But after tasting the final product, he felt he had prepared too few. With its enticing flavor and outstanding presentation, customers would surely snap them up immediately. And although two pig heads seemed like a lot of meat, it would shrink considerably after being pressed firm, yielding only a few plates.

So today, he decided to press four more pig heads to see how they sold. If that still wasn't enough, they would continue to increase the quantity.

Once the water was hot, he soaked the charred black hocks in it. He didn't rush to wash them, instead letting the hot water soak them thoroughly. This would ensure the hocks came out cleaner.

"The place where I used to work also made Crystal Pork Hock," Chezi remarked, "but we never processed it like this. We always soaked them in formalin and bleaching powder, then added gelatin when cooking."

Chezi, though new to the industry, had witnessed many "secrets" of the kitchen from his time as a helper. Of course, the other chefs also knew about these things, but being old hands at the game, they usually didn't mention these "unspoken rules" of the industry. Only a hot-blooded youth like Chezi, who had just turned eighteen, would pay attention to such matters.

Lin Xu said with a smile, "By using those methods to deceive customers, they ultimately only deceive themselves."

If they had treated customers sincerely, perhaps their restaurant wouldn't be on the verge of closing. Now, it's said they even have trouble paying salaries. As soon as word got out that Lin Ji was hiring, even chefs in the middle of cooking rushed over for interviews. In order to stay, some even sought favors through Chezi and Xu Xinhua, making Chezi, young as he was, realize that "the ways of the world aren't about brawls and bloodshed, but about human connections and intricacies."

About ten minutes later, Lin Xu took the Pork Skin soaking in hot water and began scrubbing it with a new brush, trying his best to wash off all the black, torched spots. This was to avoid affecting the final quality of the dish.

After washing the Pork Skin, he took out the thoroughly soaked hocks, scrubbed them clean with a steel wool scrubber, and rinsed them twice with clean water as well.

Once everything was done, he started to prepare the hocks for cooking. For Crystal Pork Hock, the meat couldn't be cooked until it was too tender, or it would lose its satisfying chewiness. To prevent uneven cooking, which could compromise the texture, the hocks needed to be cut open and deboned before cooking.

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