Chapter 72: You Said No Review, Then Ace?

"Squirrel fish? Can it really be tasty when made with squirrel and fish together?" Kushina voiced her doubt.

"It probably isn't made with squirrel and fish together — maybe the finished dish just looks like a squirrel." Minato said after washing the vegetables.

Since he hadn't washed any squirrel, there probably wasn't one in the dish.

"Minato is right. There's no squirrel in this dish." Muyue washed the scaled and gutted fish clean and explained.

Squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish is a very classic dish in Su cuisine; it can be said to be perfect in color, aroma, and taste.

In Muyue's previous life, he had watched many videos of this dish and even tried it once himself, but because his knife skills were lacking, the final product could only be described as not looking like the same dish as the original.

But now with the chef skill, when Muyue picked up the fish, he had already mentally processed how to handle it, just hadn't started yet.

Muyue first used a knife to cut off the dorsal bone of the fish, leaving about 1 centimeter of backbone near the tail, then spread the fish skin-side down, and used a slanted knife to cut crosshatch patterns, cutting to four-fifths of the flesh depth.

This step is very important — any mistake would make it impossible to guarantee the appearance of the final dish.

With the boost of the culinary god skill, Muyue perfectly recreated the squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish from his memory. The golden, crispy fish meat resembled a squirrel; topped with the prepared sweet and sour sauce, it not only looked beautiful but also smelled rich.

"Huh? I just chatted with Minato for a moment, and the fish turned into this?" Kushina stared at the squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish on the dining table, dumbfounded.

Without exaggeration, she had never seen such a beautiful dish.

In her impression, food was first to fill the stomach, and second to taste good.

Minato stood up and walked over to the dining table to observe the freshly cooked squirrel fish up close. He was also very surprised — there was actually such a beautiful dish.

"This is the first time I've thought a dish looked beautiful." Minato praised. Muyue's squirrel-shaped Mandarin fish was truly pleasing to the eye.

"Don't just look — give it a taste." Muyue said with a smile.

Kushina and Minato didn't stand on ceremony; they picked up chopsticks and each took a piece of fish.

The moment he ate the fish, Minato first felt the sweet and sour taste, then the texture of the fish — crispy on the outside and tender on the inside — and then the sweet-and-sour flavor soaking into the fish.

After recovering from the momentary daze, Minato quickly served himself a bowl of rice and began eating voraciously. This sweet-and-sour dish was such an appetite stimulant.

"No way, either me or Minato must learn this dish!" Kushina said seriously after finishing the meal.

Although she still preferred braised pork belly, squirrel fish scored much higher on appearance.

"No problem, I'll teach you." Muyue revealed a smile.

"But this dish is much harder than braised pork belly. Be mentally prepared." Muyue reminded.

With braised pork belly, you don't need to worry about appearance; as long as the steps are correct, the final result won't be too bad.

But squirrel fish is different — appearance is the soul of this dish. Once there's a problem with the looks, it's basically a failure.

"I don't believe this dish is harder than those advanced sealing techniques." Kushina had considerable confidence in herself and Minato.

"Muyue, how far have you gotten with the Three-Finger Seal? Have you encountered any problems?" Minato asked about Muyue's sealing technique training.

"It feels much harder than the One-Finger Seal from before. I've trained for ten days and still have no clue." Muyue sighed lightly.

Although he actually mastered it in six days, Kushina estimated he would finish in a month, so Muyue planned to say he'd completed it on the twenty-seventh day.

Then Muyue described the problems he encountered on the first day, putting on an air of an eager beginner.

Kushina and Minato enthusiastically answered Muyue's questions.

Muyue didn't waste the opportunity either. Besides questions meant to disguise his training progress, he also asked some sealing technique knowledge questions he genuinely didn't understand.

With two sealing technique experts like Minato and Kushina explaining things, Muyue gained a lot. He felt the chef skill had come at just the right time.

Without the chef skill, the progress of his friendship-building plan would have been much slower.

…

Two days after the final exam, Kotetsu, Izumo, and Anko agreed to go check their grades together.

The three met at the agreed spot and then headed to school together.

"I got second in the practical again. If my theory score were a bit better, I could ask Muyue-sensei for more rewards." Anko was in a very good mood today.

"Anko, didn't you think the questions were quite easy after the exam? You've definitely scored high." Kotetsu said with a smile.

"Yeah, we're doomed. A lot of questions we weren't sure about." Izumo showed a worried expression.

"It's okay, after we see the results, I'll treat you to breakfast." Hongdou said generously.

"Hongdou, is that for real?" Gangzitie asked eagerly.

"When have I ever lied to you?" Hongdou asked with her hands on her hips.

Gangzitie and Shenyue Chuyun exchanged a glance and shook their heads, wondering what kind of person could be fooled by Hongdou.

As they neared the school, Hongdou remembered something and looked at them suspiciously. "You both did so well last time—you're not tricking me into thinking I did badly, are you?"

"No way, last time was just luck." Gangzitie refused to admit it.

"Yeah, we probably won't be so lucky this time." Shenyue Chuyun sighed.

The final exam results could be checked on the bulletin board, or you could go back to the classroom and look at the handed-out test papers. The three went straight back to the classroom, where Muyue had already placed the papers on the corresponding students' desks.

After greeting Muyue, the three went back to their seats to look at the papers.

"Huh, only seventy-eight? That's two points less than last time." Hongdou put down her paper and scratched her hair. This wasn't what she expected—she thought she'd get eighty-seven or so.

"Zitie, Chuyun, what about you?" Hongdou asked with a worried face. How could she still have the nerve to ask Teacher Muyue for a reward now?

"Looks like I got lucky again on this exam—a bit higher than you." Gangzitie placed his paper face-down on the desk and said with a smile.

"Me too, just a bit higher than Hongdou." Shenyue Chuyun also smiled when he saw his own score.

"A bit higher?" Hongdou instantly burst into speed and snatched both their papers.

"You call a hundred versus seventy-eight 'a bit higher'?" Hongdou gritted her teeth as she looked at the scores on their papers.

"Zitie, you also got a hundred?"

"Chuyun, you also got a hundred?"

Gangzitie and Shenyue Chuyun both looked shocked. What happened to "didn't review and didn't do well"? How did they get a perfect score?

"Chuyun, did you trick me two weeks before the exam? You actually weren't playing games at all—you were studying hard the whole time!" Gangzitie couldn't help asking.

"Zitie, look at yourself—you kept saying you were reading novels, but you were actually reviewing every day, weren't you?" Shenyue Chuyun retorted.

"You two!" Hongdou stared at them in disbelief. So these two bastards said they didn't review but were secretly grinding behind her back.

Unable to hold it in, Hongdou directly chased after them to hit them.

"You two bastards, you've ruined me! Forget breakfast—take this punch first!"

Watching the three full of energy, Muyue smiled. Looking at the rewards that popped up from the system, she felt this end-of-term harvest was pretty good.

This drawing is a bit rushed—I'll revise it later.