"Fantastic! Absolutely fantastic! The garlic pork belly, mouth-watering chicken, and that trotters dish—so spicy and fragrant, it's a real treat!"

"The other dishes are also delicious. The squid rings are crispy and tender, the thousand-layer tofu with preserved eggs is silky and flavorful, and the okra is especially crisp and refreshing! You guys shouldn't favor spicy dishes too much; it's not good for the stomach!"

"Oh my, who would have thought there was such a top chef hidden inside Jiang University? I've really had my eyes opened today!"

"..."

This group of people, who were previously so dissatisfied with the Seventh Dining Hall, now couldn't praise it enough; perhaps this was their best way to dissolve the embarrassment.

Well, what could they do, considering how they were looking down on it before?

Liu Shurong, however, remained calm, always keeping a faint smile on her face and occasionally nodding to acknowledge their praise.

Praising the Seventh Dining Hall is essentially praising Jiang Yu, right?

This was undoubtedly something she was happy to see.

As for Principal He, he was all smiles, beaming with pride. With the Seventh Dining Hall receiving so much acclaim from the leaders, he also felt honored, since this is the student dining hall of Jiang University, after all!

At that moment, while listening to the praises from everyone, he secretly regretted:

Although he had heard about the Seventh Dining Hall several times before, he never took it seriously. It seems he made a mistake; who knew the chef here was so highly skilled?

It seems he should pay more attention here in the future.

Director Liu was also quite remorseful at this point.

In most people's minds, a restaurant above a university cafeteria mainly serves students and teachers because they have various gathering needs, and having a private room may appear more high-end.

Moreover, the dishes in such restaurants are surely more delicious than the cafeteria's mass meals, and students might occasionally want to treat themselves.

But ultimately, these restaurants are never top-notch, at most equivalent to street stalls, not comparable at all to the city's starred hotels and big restaurants.

Director Liu thought this way too, which is why he initially displayed such disdain.

But to his surprise, he was slapped in the face unexpectedly fast!

He hadn't even caught his breath when a "wham" of a slap hit him—six slaps in a row, swelling both of his cheeks.

This cold dish was like a massive slap!

How could it not hurt?

But hurt, swelling or not, the dish was truly delicious!

If he had to compare, Director Liu believed that compared to the top-notch private restaurant he visited last time in Beijing, the food here was not inferior at all!

As for which was better, he was just an ordinary food lover, not one of those keen-tasting gourmets, so he couldn't tell the difference!

At this moment, Director Liu turned to look at Principal He, who was beaming with pride, and said with a resentful expression:

"Principal He, it's not fair for you to keep such a high-level chef hidden in your place without informing me beforehand—it seems you were just waiting to see me make a fool of myself!"

Let's be clear, I'm not the one who underestimated the Seventh Dining Hall; it was Lao He who kept it under wraps without mentioning it, and I was uninformed!

Principal He glanced at Director Liu, gave an apologetic smile, and said:

"Hehe, Liu, your words make me feel ashamed. To be honest, although this is our school cafeteria, it's my first time here too. It's my oversight!"

Blame me? Your scapegoat skill is pretty slick, huh? I didn't even know there was a top chef hiding here!

The two of them kept smiling on the surface, having a heated exchange in secret, cleverly resolving their awkwardness. Just then, Yan Tongtong came to serve another dish!

She carefully placed a large oval platter from the serving cart onto the round table, took a deep breath, and introduced with a smile:

"Steamed fish head with chopped chili, please take your time to enjoy!"

The steamed fish head was split in half and laid flat in the dish, with milky white fish flesh covered with bright red, glistening chopped chili, garnished with a sprinkle of green scallions. Just a glance made everyone's mouth water.

The steamed fish head should have just come out of the steamer; it was still emitting a slight steam, and a rich aroma of chopped chili mixed with the fresh scent of fish filled the air.

"Gulp!"

Everyone was staring at this dish of steamed fish head, taking deep breaths to smell its fragrance, and at that moment, someone couldn't resist swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

That sound instantly woke everyone up.

What are you still staring at? Hurry and dig in!

"Everyone, eat! Let's all eat! The fish won't taste as good if it gets cold!"

This time, Director Liu was not polite at all. After he greeted everyone, he directly stood up from his seat, holding a small bowl in one hand and chopsticks in the other, and effortlessly grabbed a large piece of fish face, placing it in his bowl before sitting back down to enjoy it with contentment.

Seeing this, the others jokingly accused Director Liu of being inconsiderate, but they too quickly reached out with their chopsticks, fearing someone else might eat more than them, competing even more fiercely than little kids at a meal table.

"Mmm! This fish is tender and silky, fresh, spicy, salty, and aromatic, absolutely delicious!"

"Sizzle! I can't take it, can't take it! This, this chopped chili is just too spicy, feels like my tongue is cramping from the heat!"

"Spicy is indeed spicy, and aromatic is indeed aromatic; I've never had such a delicious chopped chili fish head even in Xiang Chu!"

"This chef is amazing, opening a shop here is really an underestimation of their talent!"

"Underestimation? Now you know how amazing they are; can you resist not coming back here in the future?"

"Hahaha, that's true, good wine needs no bush!"

"..."

This dish of chopped chili fish head is quite substantial, just the fish head alone weighs five to six pounds, and while everyone was still eating, Yan Tongtong brought out another series of hot dishes one after another.

This left everyone dazzled, with so many dishes laid out in front of them, they didn't know where to place their chopsticks!

At a crucial moment, Niu Wenlin came into play, as he knew Jiang Yu's skills too well—be it spicy or non-spicy, meat or vegetarian—if it's Jiang Yu's dish, it must be top quality!

Why worry about so much? Just close your eyes and reach your chopsticks out to grab from the plate!

You definitely won't be disappointed!

In front of him was a plate of enticingly fragrant and colorful braised pork, and without saying a word, Niu Wenlin picked up his chopsticks, grabbed a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing with satisfaction as he exclaimed:

"Wow! This braised pork is soft, flavorful, fatty but not greasy, and melts in your mouth, truly delicious! If it's buried in rice, it's simply a rice killer!"

Before he could grab a second piece, Director Liu reached out and directly turned the dish of braised pork away, as he really loved braised pork. He had been tempted since he saw the dish earlier, and seeing Niu Wenlin's look of enjoyment, how could he resist?

Of course, he unhesitatingly turned it away!

Niu Wenlin didn't mind at all, as there were already seven or eight dishes on the table; no matter how they were turned, there was always a dish he could reach.

He extended his chopsticks towards the dish in front of him, grabbing a piece of spicy boiled beef, and his eyes instantly lit up, as this was his favorite spicy dish!

As the beef entered his mouth, he couldn't help but close his eyes, slowly chewing:

"This beef is fresh, flavorful, silky, spicy, and numb, appetizing and refreshing, one bite and you can't forget it!"

After chewing for a good while, he reluctantly swallowed the now-chewed-to-bits beef, and when he opened his eyes again, sure enough, the dish of spicy boiled beef had been turned so quickly, everyone at the table was trying to grab it!

Actually, the dishes everyone was snatching weren't just spicy boiled beef and braised pork; the remaining braised duck gizzard, fiery pork kidneys, scallion-flavored enoki mushrooms, sweet and sour ribs were also being seized.

Who said people from Jiangzhou don't eat dishes with a sweet flavor?

Jiangzhou's pickled radish skin and cold lotus root slices are all full of spice and slightly sweet, not to mention purely sweet eight-treasure rice and breakfasts like white sugar cake and rock sugar sponge cake.

Therefore, these sweet and sour, tender, flavorful ribs were frantically seized by everyone for a while.

Liu Shurong saw this and secretly thought to herself, "Oh no," since this was a dish she specifically ordered for Lele. If it was all snatched up, wouldn't Lele end up not having enough to eat?

So she picked up a small bowl and stood up, boldly joining the fierce "chopsticks battle" with the men, securing some sweet and sour ribs and Longjing shrimp for Lele.

There was no choice, Longjing shrimp, with its overflowing tea fragrance and savory aroma, was even more popular than sweet and sour ribs!

As everyone was in the thick of the grabbing frenzy, Yan Tongtong brought out the last few dishes: steamed pork with rice flour, spicy small shelled turtles, superior broth baby cabbage, and osmanthus honey yam.

Seeing new dishes again, and with two of them being commonly seen on Jiangzhou tables—steamed pork with rice flour and spicy small shelled turtles—they were instantly overjoyed, eagerly grasping their bowls and chopsticks to compete for them.

Niu Wenlin and a few younger guests, seeing that they couldn't keep up with the dish turning, simply stood up and left their seats, running to whichever dish they wanted to grab next, managing to seize quite a bit in the process.

"This is the best steamed pork with rice flour I've ever had! The meat slices are fatty but not greasy, spicy, flavorful, melting in your mouth, getting more aromatic the more you eat, and the more fragrant, the more you want to eat!"

"Spicy, spicy, spicy! This small shelled turtle is so flavorful, it's indescribably delicious!"

"This superior broth baby cabbage is fantastic! Crispy, tender, refreshing, flavorful, and delectable, especially this broth, definitely a superior broth!"

"Mmm! This yam, tender, juicy, sweet, fragrant, filled with osmanthus aroma with every bite, it's wonderful!"

"..."

Despite having eaten quite a bit, Director Liu, Niu Wenlin, and the others were already feeling a bit full, but looking at the delicious dishes before them, how could they bear to put down their chopsticks?

Let's not talk about others, at least let's finish everything on our plates!

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