Chapter 149: Mountain Delicacies Pavilion
Translator: AstralGhost Editor: Kurisu
"En."
Zheng Xuan nodded and did not say anything else. He turned around and led the two into the villa.
The interior of the villa was not as luxurious as Bei Feng imagined. Its design was also not the European style villa which was more common—this villa had a traditional Chinese style design, and gave the feeling of a masterful painting sealed away for a hundred years.
Bei Feng felt like he had walked into the ideal Chinese way of life from times long past. All concepts of time and worldly clutter were forgotten, and he felt like he was sipping on a cup of red tea. It was exquisite and gentle, and the fragrance grew firmer with time.
The villa's interior architecture inherited the quintessence of traditional Chinese buildings, and retained the unique artistic style of traditional architecture which was elegant, simple, and rich in style. Using nature as a guide in accordance with Confucianism and incorporating the concepts of Buddhism, it implied both concealed grace and rustic elegance to contain the notions of implicitness and gracefulness.
Several ink paintings hung on the wall, and while Bei Feng did not really understand much about art, he still felt very comfortable while looking at them. He could feel the spirit not only within the form of the painting, but also of the world inside of the painting!
There was quite a number of exquisite vases along the corridor. They were resplendent in color, and the figures and illustrations of wind and water portrayed on their sides were extremely lifelike.
"There is a total of 12 rooms and two servants quarters in this villa. Additionally, there is an open swimming pool. The entire mountain is part of the villa. Apart from that, the furniture and the decorative accessories are also included for sale."
The old man waved his hands and introduced with a heavy sigh.
Bei Feng could tell that the old man had a very deep emotional attachment to every blade of grass and piece of trinket in the house. He seemed rather reluctant to part with the villa.
Ultimately, an old man like him still wished to spend his old age together with his family. His children had asked him to emigrate and live together with them in a foreign country and after much thought, he finally relented.
"I'm very pleased with this villa. How much do you want for it?" Bei Feng asked. As he toured through the villa, he had grown increasingly satisfied with it. Furthermore, the mountain was quiet and beautiful, which suited his taste.
"300 million! If the price is okay, we can settle the papers on the spot."
Zheng Xuan looked at Bei Feng and raised three of his aged fingers with a sigh.
Bei Feng furrowed his brows lightly. This price was not low! Turning around, he asked, "Are we able to take out this much money right now?"
"Boss, we only have about 50 million or so in cash right now. If you wish to buy this villa, we will have to sell off some of the company's assets."
Mystic Four reported respectfully.
"I have slightly more than 100 million with me. After adding everything up, we are still lacking quite a bit. In that case, let's sell off some of the company's properties," Bei Feng instructed without any hesitation.
When all was said and done, the reason he'd established the underground gang was only to have some manpower so that he would not have to do everything himself.
A piece of property was an important source of income for the gang. After all, one could not expect such a large gang to let the underlings work without a wage, right?
But Bei Feng did not care about that at all. The gang was created to serve his purposes. If he had to sell off a few properties because of that, so be it.
Seeing that Bei Feng had made up his mind, Mystic Four also nodded his head.
Once Bei Feng's instructions were confirmed, Mystic Four immediately stepped out to make some calls to Wulong Gang.
Five of the bath centers under Bei Feng's Guards were sold to Wulong Gang for 230 million yuan.
Once the amount was transferred over, Bei Feng and Zheng Xuan made a trip down the mountain and to the bank and finalized the purchase.
By the time everything was settled, it was already four in the afternoon. The small group arrived at a shop called Mountain Delicacies Pavilion to have dinner.
The shop wasn't big, and there were only four dining rooms. However, while it was located within a bustling city, the design was traditional and filled with antiquity. The fact that they were able to operate a business at the most luxurious part of the town also stood testament to the power and influence that stood behind the shop.
"Young man, the mountain delicacies here can be described as formidable! I can guarantee that after trying it once, you will want to keep coming back here to eat it! Ai, it will be really difficult for me to ever taste any dishes like those here again after I leave the country," Zheng Xuan sighed lightly.
Bei Feng and Mystic Four exchanged an awkward glance. They did not know how to reply to the old man's depressed words. Although he was leaving to reunite with his family, to ask an old man so advanced in his years to leave his nest and go to a foreign land was still a rather heartbreaking affair. It was unavoidable that the old man would feel downcast.
Four dishes and a soup were soon served out. Surprisingly, out of the four dishes, three were fungi dishes! The remaining dish and the soup were meat-based.
"In the ancient days, the mountain folks listed and enjoyed the seven mountain delicacies: bear's paws, elephant's trunk, deer tendons, camel's hump, swallow's nest, bamboo fungus, and the lion's mane mushroom. But you won't be able to find those stuff now. They've all become protected species."
Zheng Xuan narrated with a smile.
Bei Feng could hear a hint of reminiscence in the old man's words. D*mnit, this old geezer really ate the real mountain delicacies before! This Mountain Delicacies Pavilion is also quite something! Those ingredients should be impossible to obtain for normal people, even a few decades ago!
Shaking his head, he turned his attention back to the dishes on the table. The dish closest to him was a plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots. The bamboo shoots were all cut to the exact same size, and glimmered with jade-white radiance. A tinge of pink could be seen on each bamboo shoot. From the looks of it, each small piece was cut out of a specific section of a bamboo shoot. This small plate of stir-fried bamboo shoots was actually made of an inestimable number of whole bamboo shoots!
Don't ask how Bei Feng knew about something like this, but he was aware that bamboo shoots were supposed to have a conical shape. It was impossible to create a dish like this with the evenly shaped cut bamboo shoots with just a single bamboo shoot.
Grabbing a piece lightly with his chopsticks, he placed the bamboo shoot lightly into his mouth. The taste was rather mild and there were no unnecessary flavors. There was only a fresh, tender texture and a faint bitter taste mixed with a mild sweetness in his mouth.
The refreshing taste of bamboo shoots had been brought out to the maximum with this dish. It was unlike other restaurants which tend to add too much seasoning, which masked the original qualities of the bamboo shoots.
Bei Feng's eyes lit up with delight. 'So even normal ingredients can actually be cooked to the point of bringing out such great flavor! What amazing culinary skills!'
Although normal ingredients could not benefit Bei Feng's body anymore, the taste was enough to let him immerse himself in pleasure.
His chopsticks turned to a plate of unknown meat dish.
The first thing Bei Feng felt when the meat entered his mouth was how smooth the meat was on his tongue. With a gentle bite, the juice which had been perfectly retained in the meat seeped out and filled his tongue. The meat itself seemed to have melted into minced meat. With the soft and springy skin attached, the meat tasted more and more fragrant as he chewed.
"Is this hare meat?" Bei Feng asked uncertainly.
"Haha, that is not hare meat. It's a bamboo rat which only appears once a year!"
A bright and clear laugh sounded outside the door as a red-faced old man dressed in a Chinese tunic walked in.
"Old Xuan, you're so old already and you still want to follow the trend of the young people and emigrate? Aren't you afraid of passing away in a foreign land?" The old man scolded as soon as he entered the room. From the looks of it, the two old geezers were rather familiar with each other. Such words were not something ordinary people could say to Zheng Xuan.
"Haha, aren't you just worried that there will be one less customer in your restaurant after I leave?"
A rarely seen smile crept up Zheng Xuan's wrinkled face. "Didn't I bring a potential customer here for you today? As for whether you can keep this customer and turn him into a loyal customer of yours is up to your culinary skills now."
"Oh? Then I'll have to bring out my true skills this time. Apart from that, we have to see if our little friend has enough courage to eat!"
The red-faced old man chuckled as he measured Bei Feng with his eyes.
A customer chooses his chef, but a top-tier chef would also choose his customer!
"My courage had always been pretty big... " Bei Feng began to grow excited as well. This old geezer was also quite an interesting person. He still required his customers to have great courage just to eat his food? Bei Feng's anticipation grew.
The old man raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled. "Good, you guys eat first. I will go and cook!" With that, the red-faced old man left the room.
Twenty minutes later, he returned—this time with a heavily lidded dish.