The kitchen floor was still littered with a pile of metal plates and fragments. Qi Huan moved a stool for the little dumpling, letting him sit by the door while he swiftly tidied up. He then opened the fridge and freezer to check the ingredients, taking out three star eggs, seven or eight shrimps, a small piece of pork belly, a green gourd, and a large bowl of red rice left over from dinner.

Speaking of which, he was quite curious about what the meat of that B-grade fire claw would look like once dismantled. Could it be edible?

“Is it a new dish?” The little dumpling, with his hands supporting his cheeks, watched in confusion as Qi Huan placed the washed green gourd and pork belly on the slicer, then turned to start removing the shrimp heads, unable to imagine what kind of dish they could form.

“Imperial Queen Mother Rice,” Qi Huan mischievously raised his right eyebrow at the little dumpling.

“Huan Huan is amazing,” the little fellow clapped his small hands in admiration, not really understanding but feeling it must be impressive.

“I told you not to call me that,” Qi Huan protested, waving the scissors.

The ingredients were all quick and easy to cook, and before long, two steaming bowls of late-night snacks were placed on the table.

On top were slices of green gourd stir-fried with meat, the gourd slices a warm, jade-like green, the cooked beast meat infused with the rich aroma of soy sauce, the fatty parts translucent like jade, the lean parts brown like amber, with the oil from the high heat stir-fry, the sauce glistening, the meat tender and juicy. In the middle was a layer of smooth egg and shrimp, the golden egg liquid kissed by sunlight, bright and vibrant, fluffy and soft, wrapping the shrimp like a cloud. The bottom layer was shrimp oil fried rice, the steam rising with a fresh and enticing aroma.

A spoonful revealed the silky smoothness of the egg melting on the tongue, the savory meat slices, the light green gourd, the sweet shrimp, and the rich rice fragrance, layer upon layer of flavors unfolding, rich in texture, mild and mellow.

Indeed, the famous Imperial Queen Mother Rice from the Banquet of the Tail was essentially stir-fried egg and meat over rice. Qi Huan, to make the taste richer, had created an upgraded version based on the ingredients at hand.

“Is it good?”

“Delicious! Really, really delicious!” The little fellow praised repeatedly, quickly finishing the bowl in front of him.

Seeing him blink his big, glassy eyes longingly towards the kitchen, Qi Huan ‘ruthlessly’ cut off his thoughts, “You can’t eat too much before bed. The rest is for your breakfast and lunch tomorrow.”

Little Dumpling: …

After coaxing him to bed, Qi Huan checked the time, realizing there was only an hour left until he had to get up. Afraid he wouldn’t wake up, he set three alarms on his personal terminal.

The more he wanted to sleep, the more he couldn’t. After tossing and turning a few times, he decided to open his personal terminal to read something to induce sleepiness. He casually checked who the Jiufang family’s enemies were, and the result left him speechless. There were ten notable families in the entire alliance, and the Jiufang family only interacted with two of them, meaning they were at odds with the remaining seven. Wow, they were practically the public enemy.

A family with poor character and bad relations! Qi Huan silently stamped his approval. When he tried to investigate those seven families further, he failed to find anything.

As expected, it was a local network with blocked terms! Helpless, he had to turn off his personal terminal and try to sleep.

The work at the unloading site was packed, cutting star beasts in the morning and dismantling three D-grade stone beasts in the afternoon. At noon, he even went around the nearby hotels to inquire about the silver-haired youth, but unfortunately, the person wasn’t staying nearby.

Using the excuse of looking for his lifesaver, he asked Quan Hai and Lundo to help inquire around the repair shop and Red Light Restaurant. He opened his terminal eight hundred times a day, and just before getting off work, Lundo sent a message.

The good news was that he found out where the two people who defeated the fire claw yesterday were staying and learned that their hunting team was called the Ferocious Beast Squad.

The bad news was that they seemed to have something urgent and left the base in the morning.

Qi Huan was feeling down when Lundo sent another message, saying that those people hadn’t checked out, so they probably wouldn’t be gone for long.

[Thanks, leave me the shop owner’s contact info, and let me know when they return!] Qi Huan typed happily, his fingers moving much faster.

On his way out after work, Qi Huan yawned as he habitually headed towards the discount counter. Wan Laoda and his wife were sighing as they piled boxes into the cabinet. The lights weren’t on yet, and the dim light made it hard to see what was in the boxes, only that they were a dark green color. As he got closer, Qi Huan’s half-yawn was instantly retracted, and his eyes widened—crabs!

Each one was tied with something like a cable tie, but they were still blowing bubbles, alive!

“Wan Shu, how much are these?” Qi Huan happily inquired with Wan Laoda.

“You want them?” Wan Laoda hesitated, “These square crabs are too small.”

“Yeah, not tasty, all shell,” Wan Laoda’s wife also advised Qi Huan, “We got scammed this time, nearly half the box is small ones.”

Crabs are delicious and relatively expensive ingredients on the Waste Star, but shelling them is too troublesome. To sell well, they need to be at least two pounds or more. These crabs were only four or five ounces, practically a loss, and no one would buy them.

“Can I dismantle one to see?” Qi Huan examined the crabs in the box. The claws had no fuzz, the shell was square and round, with scattered white spots of varying depth, resembling hairy crabs in shape but with patterns similar to flower crabs.

Wan Laoda casually handed over a round-bellied crab. Inside, it was full of crab roe, and the structure wasn’t much different from the crabs Qi Huan knew. He sniffed it, the fishy smell mixed with an earthy scent, feeling more like river crabs.

“Wan Shu, I’ll take all of these,” Qi Huan boldly circled his finger, encompassing the ten or so boxes already in the discount cabinet and on the ground.

“Are you sure?” Wan Laoda was stunned.

“What if they spoil after buying so many?” Wan Laoda’s wife frowned. There were about fifty or sixty pounds in total, and with the restaurant not open and Qi Huan living alone, he definitely couldn’t finish them.

“Don’t worry, I know what to do with them,” Qi Huan smiled, his eyes curving, making it hard to refuse, “But I’ll need to take half a day off tomorrow morning.”

Crabs can’t be stored for long, but they can be made into two top-notch delicacies for preservation: bald yellow oil and crab roe sauce.

However, having almost pulled an all-nighter last night, dealing with this pile of crabs tonight would definitely mean another sleepless night. He needed a good rest.

“Alright,” Wan Laoda agreed readily.

Since they were discounted ingredients and Qi Huan bought them all, Wan Laoda and his wife generously offered a rock-bottom price. He didn’t earn enough today, so he had to put some on credit. He even borrowed money from Wan Laoda to buy empty bamboo glass bottles and takeaway boxes from the shop next door.

With three or four baskets full of stuff, Qi Huan couldn’t carry them all, so he gritted his teeth and used the delivery service for the first time.

His pained expression contrasted sharply with his earlier boldness in wanting to buy all the square crabs, making Wan Laoda’s wife chuckle. She kindly waived the delivery fee for him.

The delivery machine was similar to a large drone. After inputting the specific address and confirming it on the electronic map, it would deliver point-to-point, conveniently and quickly.

By the time Qi Huan walked back to the Human World Restaurant, the baskets of ‘flying’ goods were already neatly placed at the door.

Opening the door, the little fellow was sitting properly at the table closest to the door, waiting for him.

Seeing the large baskets of stuff at the door, the little fellow jumped off the stool and rushed towards one of the baskets.

“That one’s especially…” heavy, you can’t move it. Qi Huan hadn’t finished his sentence when he saw the little fellow easily carrying the iron basket, almost as tall as himself, into the door.

Qi Huan: …

Well, beastmen are indeed beastmen.

Since there was no need to remove fur or scales, Qi Huan directly opened a few boxes of crabs and tossed them into the kitchen’s cleaning basket. The little fellow curiously followed behind, “Can these be made into something delicious too?”

“Yeah,” Qi Huan glanced at the cute little creature beside him, feeling playful, and pretended to be troubled, “But it’s very troublesome. You’ll need to stay up late to help tonight. Are you willing?”

“I’ll do my best,” the dumpling nodded solemnly, “There’s no such thing as a free dinner.”

Uh, Qi Huan awkwardly rubbed his nose. This kid sure had a good memory.

Speaking of labor, how could Qi Huan forget about another person? He immediately opened his terminal to message Quan Hai, [Help needed, there’s good food, but it’s a hassle to make. I need you and Quan Yu to come over and help.]

Quan Hai replied almost instantly, [Be there in half an hour.]

“My two friends will come over to help later. They’re both very nice. Would you like to join them?” Qi Huan squatted down to discuss with the little fellow.

The little dumpling hesitated for a few seconds, then cautiously shook his head, indicating he didn’t want to meet them.

“Alright, then, just like before, you help upstairs, and I’ll have them stay on the first floor,” Qi Huan offered a solution.

The first batch of crabs was soon cooked, and opening the steamer released the unique aroma of seafood. Amidst the steam, a dozen crabs puffed up their snow-white bellies, with a few male crabs’ long navels oozing translucent orange crab oil, clearly full of meat and roe.

The little dumpling sniffed, tugging at Qi Huan’s clothes, tiptoeing to look at the steamer.

Qi Huan originally intended to teach him how to dismantle crab roe, crab paste, and crab meat, but seeing his eager expression, he changed his mind and took out a few crabs for him to eat first.

Dismantling crab meat is more complicated than gnawing on bones. Without specialized crab tools and worried that scissors might hurt him, Qi Huan taught the little fellow to dismantle the shell by hand.

“Crack!” The little fellow crushed the crab shell with his hand.

“Sorry, I was trying to be careful,” he said, a bit flustered, looking at Qi Huan helplessly.

“Relax, you don’t need to use so much force,” Qi Huan, worried he might hurt his hand, gave him another crab and continued teaching him to remove the inedible crab intestines, gills, and the crab stomach on the shell cover, as well as the crab heart inside the body, then use the back of a long-handled spoon to scrape out the crab meat.

Eating crabs is quite casual in order. Qi Huan’s personal habit is to eat the crab cover first, then split the crab body along the center line to eat the crab roe and meat, and finally eat the crab legs. His older sister likes to dismantle and eat later, piling all the crab paste and meat into the crab shell to enjoy in one go. When he was a kid, he often tried to snatch it, resulting in a ‘righteous iron fist’ from his sister. His parents preferred to eat the crab legs and claws first, then dismantle the crab cover.

Thinking of his family, Qi Huan couldn’t help but feel a moment of distraction.

“Ah, I’ve eaten this before,” the little fellow said, mimicking Qi Huan’s way of holding a long crab leg and taking a bite of crab roe, the familiar taste awakening his memory.

Qi Huan snapped back to reality, helping the little fellow crack the crab claw shell, “You’ve eaten it?”

“But not like this, without the shell, just the meat inside, in a big bowl.”

Qi Huan understood, someone had probably pre-dismantled the crab meat.

The little fellow struggled with the first crab but was noticeably more skilled with the second. Qi Huan mixed a de-fishy vinegar sauce, though he preferred the fresh taste of crab, he worried the little fellow and Quan Hai might not be used to it.

After eating two crabs, the little fellow was temporarily full. The two of them moved the remaining crabs from the first batch upstairs, and the little fellow sat there, starting to dismantle the crab meat.

When the second batch of crabs was ready and the third batch was being washed, Quan Hai and Quan Yu knocked on the door and came in.

“Come, come, just in time to eat,” Qi Huan brought out the freshly steamed crabs and sauce dishes, inviting the two to a meal first.

The Quan siblings had never eaten crabs before, nor had they even seen them. Qi Huan, like he did with the little dumpling, taught them from scratch. This time, besides the long-handled spoon, there were also scissors and a hammer. The scissors were for cutting crab legs, and the hammer for cracking crab claws.

The sauce dishes were mostly unused. The square crabs were delicious, and the Quan siblings preferred the fresh, sweet original taste.

After a hearty meal, the Quan siblings were also more skilled at dismantling the shells. Qi Huan explained today’s ‘work content’ in detail, asking them to dismantle all the remaining crabs, putting the crab meat in one bowl and the crab roe and paste in another.

The three of them split into three tables, and Quan Hai, with six hands, got to work enthusiastically.

Crab meat isn’t very filling, so Qi Huan got up midway to make a mixed fried rice in the kitchen. After eating upstairs and downstairs, they continued working, and three hours later, the over a hundred crabs were finally finished.

After dismantling the crab meat, there was still the final stir-frying to do, but it was already very late. Qi Huan let Quan Hai and Quan Yu go home to rest, promising to deliver the finished product to them tomorrow.

After the Quan siblings left, the little dumpling relaxed, pattering down the stairs to watch Qi Huan stir-fry the crab roe.

Bald yellow oil is made from pure crab roe and paste. ‘Bald’ is actually a Wu dialect word ‘tei,’ meaning ‘only’ or ‘solely,’ while crab roe sauce is made by adding crab meat to the crab roe and paste.

“Not sleepy?” Qi Huan looked at the little fellow with wide eyes. Normally, he might have already woken up from a nap by this time, but today he seemed so energetic.

The little fellow shook his head, watching the process with great interest.

As the stir-frying neared completion, Qi Huan began adding seasonings. When he opened the sugar jar, the little dumpling frowned and tugged at his hand, protesting in a childish voice, “I don’t like sweet things.”

“It’s not sweet, just to enhance the flavor,” Qi Huan reassured him, still adding a spoonful.

“Adding sugar can enhance flavor?” The little dumpling looked puzzled.

“Yeah, many things can’t be judged by their appearance. A little sugar can enhance flavor, and adding a bit of salt when baking sweets can also bring out the sweetness. Deliciousness is actually the result of multiple flavors layered together just right.”

The little fellow blinked, half-understanding.

For a perfect bald yellow oil, the best partner is actually lard. The closest substitute Qi Huan could find now was beast oil. Considering the possibility of beastmen being poisoned by beast oil, Qi Huan decided to make two versions, a regular oil version and a beast oil version for himself.

While preparing to stir-fry the lard, not the beast oil version of the bald yellow oil, Qi Huan suddenly discovered a problem when he went to get the oil. All the leftover oil residue from last night was gone!

He nervously rolled up the little dumpling’s sleeves, “Did you eat all that oil residue?”

The little dumpling timidly nodded, “I was a bit hungry after lunch, so… I ate it.”

The little fellow’s arms were white and clean, with no signs of a rash, but Qi Huan was still a bit worried, “Are you sure you don’t feel uncomfortable anywhere?”

“No. Don’t worry, I can eat it,” the little fellow patted his chest in assurance.

It had been at least eight or nine hours since he ate it, so Qi Huan breathed a sigh of relief. This kid might really be completely non-allergic to stone beasts.

“Consider yourself lucky,” Qi Huan pinched the little dumpling’s round face.

The beast oil version of the bald yellow oil had a noticeably richer aroma. Fine, clear oil bubbles gurgled in the pot, sizzling around the golden, creamy crab roe and paste, lively and cheerful, as if applauding the upcoming delicacy. Qi Huan deftly drizzled light wine along the edge of the pot, a white mist rising with a sizzle, the aroma wafting as he stir-fried, making the little dumpling circle around from Qi Huan’s left to right and back again, drawn in circles.

“Go sit and wait for your midnight snack. If you keep circling, I’ll get dizzy,” Qi Huan laughed, sending him to the table by the door. After simmering thoroughly, he quickly turned off the stove, using the residual heat to give it a final stir.

The little dumpling counted the chopsticks in the holder over a dozen times before Qi Huan finally came out of the kitchen with the bald yellow oil and two bowls of white rice. He generously scooped two large spoonfuls over the rice, mixing it with broad strokes.

Steam rose, mingling with the aroma, spreading in all directions. The golden, shiny crab oil coated the plump rice grains, making them glisten, each grain distinct, interspersed with large, golden crab roe and creamy crab paste, whetting the appetite.

The little fellow eagerly shoveled a big spoonful of rice into his mouth, too amazed to speak.

Qi Huan also leisurely took a bite, the rich umami bursting on his tongue, followed by the subtle, silky aroma of beast oil. The soft, rich crab roe and the gelatinous, sticky crab paste intertwined perfectly, crumbly and dense, pure and exquisite, with the unique sweetness of square crabs, leaving a lingering fragrance in the mouth, the aftertaste long-lasting.

Rich and fragrant, the taste was even more perfect than he remembered, truly a taste of the human world.

Across from him, the little dumpling kept shoveling spoonful after spoonful, too busy to look up.

“Still want your little uncle to hit me?” Qi Huan teased, waving his spoon.

“No, I’ll ask him to marry you,” the little fellow replied earnestly, his cheeks puffed like a dumpling.

Qi Huan’s spoon froze mid-air. Well, it seemed he had overcorrected.