Chapter 272: A Bite Of China
Evening.
The first episode of Prison Break aired smoothly, and just as Xiang Chuan expected, it sparked widespread discussion among modern viewers.
History enthusiasts and historians were concerned with the civilization forms in 21st Century America that differed from ancient Huaxia, as well as laws, punishments, and the like.
Plot enthusiasts were deeply attracted by Prison Break’s tight narrative and performance, which differed from Empresses in the Palace and My Own Swordsman, and kept discussing the possible plots that might happen next.
For a while, the Third Fleet viewers who had been drawn by the A Bite of China trailer all became Prison Break drama fans. Xiang Chuan even felt that they now might have their minds full of Prison Break’s plots and suspense, forgetting that A Bite of China was to be aired next.
Sure enough, bullet comments urging for the next episode appeared immediately.
【Xiao Xue! Xiao Ming! How about we watch the next episode right now!】
【Play next episode fast! Play next episode fast!】
【Don’t play that A Bite of China first! We want to watch Prison Break!】
……
Seeing the full screen of urging comments, even Xiang Xue and Lin Ming, who had witnessed various grand scenes in the past few months, wavered a bit. She hesitated and looked at Xiang Chuan, who was sitting on the sofa to her right, biting a straw and staring at the screen, then hesitantly spoke:
“Sister Xiang Chuan, what do you say about this…”
To be honest, Xiang Xue wavered because she also wanted to watch the next episode.
Moreover, she knew that all seasons of Prison Break had passed the audit of the Information Turbulence Processing Office. As long as Xiang Chuan nodded and was willing to provide the video file, they could immediately air the second episode.
“Why are you looking at me? Hurry up and play A Bite of China?” Xiang Chuan glanced at her, “Don’t forget that we announced long ago that we’d watch A Bite of China tonight.”
The implication was: Stop thinking about Prison Break, hurry up and play A Bite of China!
Xiang Xue’s mouth twitched, then she reluctantly opened the first episode of the first season of A Bite of China.
Hearing the melody she didn’t know how many times she’d heard in the trailer, Xiang Xue felt discouraged for a moment. Mainly because this documentary didn’t seem dramatic or engaging enough like Prison Break no matter how she looked at it.
Of course, agriculturists and historians were exceptions; no matter what drama Xiang Xue aired, they would always be at the forefront clapping and cheering.
But when many viewers saw Xiang Xue open A Bite of China, they all sent out wailing texts in the bullet comments. A few cheering remarks were buried in the complaints.
Xiang Chuan, who had administrator privileges, naturally saw this too, but she didn’t take it to heart.
“Huaxia has a vast population and the world’s richest and most diverse natural landscapes…”
When the familiar narration lines and Huaxia’s terrain, landforms, and scenic images appeared on the screen, the viewers hoping to watch the second episode of Prison Break could only give up struggling and follow Xiang Xue and Lin Ming to start watching A Bite of China dejectedly.
Moreover, with the editing of the footage, different natural scenery and cultural landscapes appeared on the screen. After modern ultra-high-definition restoration, these images appeared even more vivid.
When the footage switched from rice grain, Mushroom, fish to the stir-frying and stewing soup footage familiar to Xiang Chuan, the bullet comments were full of 【Wow!】, just like the pond in a 21st Century rural summer, filled with waas.
Many ingredients never seen before briefly appeared in the footage, making Xiang Xue and Lin Ming, who weren’t very interested at first, involuntarily widen their eyes and stare closely at the screen, afraid to miss anything. The three A Bite of China Club members sitting next to Xiang Chuan, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Xiang Weiguo and Li Wei sitting opposite the four, weren’t much better off.
【What is that sliced thing!】
【Wow! So many fish! Could ancient people catch so many fish? I saw Class Eight Grade One catching just a few fish and getting exhausted!】
【What is that thing full of mud!】
……
Questions flashed by one after another in the bullet comments. With Xiang Xue and Lin Ming’s ancient knowledge, they naturally couldn’t answer them, but fortunately, the viewers didn’t expect them to answer immediately. They were just venting the shock they felt in this short one and a half minutes from the beginning of the documentary through these questions.
“Nature’s Gift”
When the title of the first episode appeared, the rapid flashback editing finally slowed down, allowing Xiang Xue and Lin Ming in front of the lens to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Sister Xiang Chuan, this… this is a documentary?”
Lin Ming looked at Xiang Chuan with eyes full of disbelief.
At this time, Xiang Chuan had already picked up the bucket of French fries + potato wedges (with ketchup) prepared in advance by Xiao Xing, about the size of a certain KFC family bucket, and was staring intently at the footage on the screen.
“I haven’t watched many documentaries either, but this is said to be one of the highest-rated food documentaries in ancient times.” Xiang Chuan bit a French fry and answered somewhat unclearly, “At least after I watched it back then, I really wanted to eat something.”
The implication was that this documentary perfectly fulfilled its task as a “gourmet food” documentary.
Lin Ming wanted to ask more, but at this moment, the footage had cut to Shangri-La in Yun Province and started airing the first small story. He was deeply attracted by the natural scenery in the footage, and even with a hundred questions in his mind, he could only hold them back and continue focusing on the documentary.
——
When an ethnic minority woman in Yun Province peeled open pine needles in the footage, revealing matsutake mushroom to the lens, the bullet comments erupted in another wave of 【Wow!】.
Many people frantically @ Agriculture Bureau, asking them to help popularize these things.
Xiang Chuan laughed outright at the sight.
Agriculture Bureau and Historical Research Institute were probably staring at the screen without blinking at this moment, with no time to check the viewers’ comments.
However, seeing the dense questions in the live stream, Xiang Chuan already foresaw that Agriculture Bureau would face the biggest wave of email bombardment this year.
Agriculture Bureau: This year? For nearly ten thousand years!
The Agriculture Bureau building in the government office area was brightly lit right now, just to watch this precious documentary material at the first moment. But only two and a half minutes in, discussions up and down Agriculture Bureau didn’t stop. If not for everyone wearing headphones, the noise would probably drown out the live stream audio.
When the footage reached the matsutake mushroom being sliced and grilled by chefs, accompanied by steady and deep narration and lenses, modern viewers who had never tasted matsutake couldn’t help swallowing saliva.
Chicken soup made with edible mushrooms was occasionally sold at high prices in Yue Xiang Restaurant, and even so, diners willing to spend a fortune for a pot of chicken soup with shiitake mushrooms were endless. Those diners who had tasted the delicious flavor brought by edible mushrooms now watched the matsutake in the footage, constantly swallowing saliva.
If ordinary edible mushrooms were already so delicious, then this matsutake, regarded as a treasure by ancient people… what kind of supreme taste would it have!
While fantasizing about the taste of matsutake in their minds, they pondered whether to write to Agriculture Bureau and Historical Research Institute, calling for the use of cloning cultivation technology to achieve artificial farming of matsutake.
“This matsutake…”
In the live broadcast room, Ainuo couldn’t help but exclaim. But before he could say much, he shut up.
Because the footage switched to the village and the mountain.
“Are these also scenes built by those what drama crews like in the TV series?”
He looked at Xiang Chuan.
At school, Xiang Chuan, as the script provider and nominal advisor for the Drama Club, often chatted with Chou Manman about these TV series in the A Bite of China Club Small Restaurant. Some terms were memorized by the three A Bite of China Club members and surrounding students during their discussions.
“What are you thinking? This is a documentary.” Xiang Chuan glared at him irritably, “People in documentaries might be staged, but scenes can’t be staged. These are real, real villages and scenery that existed in ancient times.”
Real existence!
Because Xiang Xue and Lin Ming were focused on watching the documentary and barely spoke during the broadcast, Xiang Chuan’s words sitting nearby were directly broadcast to the live stream room by Xiang Xue’s microphone. These five words once again caused the bullet comments in the live stream room to boil.
Especially the people from Historical Research Institute.
The documentaries they had seen in the live stream room before were all fictional scenes, which made them both admiring and frustrated.
Historians most wanted to see real ancient scenes.
The scenes, nature, and terrain in TV series might be real shots, but whether they truly existed would leave them in doubt.
When they first started watching this documentary, they were also worried about such a situation, but with Xiang Chuan’s definitive statement, it plunged them into extreme excitement no less than that of the Agriculture Bureau group.
“The famous scene is coming.”
Xiang Chuan’s one sentence made the bullet comments decrease a lot at once, and everyone stared closely at the footage.
At this moment, the footage showed ghee heated on a clay plate and sliced matsutake. The sizzling clay plate and the somewhat curled matsutake slices directly made the Third Fleet residents in front of the screen swallow saliva wildly again.
They clearly hadn’t eaten matsutake and didn’t know what ghee mentioned in the narration was, but the scene, camerawork, music, and sound effects almost made them feel how fragrant and delicious this long-lost modern ingredient was.
“High-end ingredients often only require the simplest cooking methods.”
Hearing this line she didn’t know how many times she’d heard at the dining table, Xiang Chuan raised an eyebrow and nodded in deep agreement.
Only by truly frequenting the kitchen could one appreciate the true meaning of this line.
“But we go through a lot of trouble making soy sauce and tofu. Aren’t beans high-end ingredients?”
Ainuo looked at Xiang Chuan.
“Beans were one of the ancient staple foods. Although there are some rare varieties among various staple food crops, ordinary staples often don’t match with high-end, so they need various processes for processing.”
Xiang Chuan shook the potato wedge in her hand and pointed to the steamed bun slices placed in the insulated cart nearby.
“Potato, beans, rice, wheat… these were all staples in ancient times. If just for filling the stomach, simple cleaning and steaming, boiling, or deep frying would do, but the staple foods made this way aren’t very delicious and often need to be paired with various dishes.”
“Like the French fries and potato wedges in my hand; to make them tasty, they need to be cut, washed, deep fried, and seasoned with salt and sauces to have flavor. Rice is the same; although white rice and porridge are tasty, without side dishes, eating too much feels bland.”
“While the matsutake in the footage is a high-end ingredient. This type of ingredient often has its own flavor, so simple cleaning, slicing, pan-frying with oil, or cooking with rice in the rice pot allows enjoying their taste, without extra seasoning.”
Hearing Xiang Chuan’s explanation, everyone in the live broadcast room nodded as if they understood.
Xiang Chuan didn’t expect them to understand immediately; after all, modern ingredients were good in quality but few could be called high-end.
Perhaps only when those rare ingredients were truly cultivated could they understand the meaning of this line in A Bite of China.
