Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Phoenix!

“Five stars!”

“Di Renjie’s restaurant review brings another five-star dish!”

Although Di Renjie is just a self-media influencer, he has millions of followers across the internet, making him an absolute traffic magnet in this field.

Moreover, due to his background, no one could argue when he claims to be an expert in this area.

He has been live-streaming for two years, and the five-star dishes he’s given out are few and far between.

This signifies that this former five-star chef can’t find a single flaw in this dish!

It means this dish has completely conquered Di Renjie in terms of color, aroma, and taste.

“To say nothing else, just this pork knuckle made by the owner is more than enough to be a signature dish or even the finale dish of a five-star hotel. And this whole pork knuckle only costs 60, definitely worth every penny. It’s located not far from the Ice and Snow World, in a snack street. If you want to try it, hurry over and taste it, it’s definitely worth the trip.”

“Lucky for me, I’m right here in Harbin haha, I’ll go buy it first thing tomorrow morning, you’re all going to be so envious haha!”

“Yo, what a coincidence! I’m also in Harbin haha, I can’t get up in the morning, so I’ll go buy it tomorrow afternoon haha.”

“Ah, why on earth did I come to Hainan? Here in Harbin, 60 yuan can buy a whole big pork knuckle, but here 60 yuan can’t even fill me with a bowl of noodles.”

Di Renjie chuckled as he looked at the messages, when suddenly one message caught his attention.

“By the way, Old Di, I think the Northeast dishes you’ve been eating these past few days are pretty good too. Why aren’t they part of the Eight Major Cuisines?”

Seeing this message, Di Renjie chuckled: “I haven’t looked into this, but I’ve heard a saying I’ll share with you guys. Just take it as a story, don’t take it seriously. Have you heard Sun Yunpeng’s recent ’reporting dish names’ comic skit? The one with steamed lamb, steamed bear paw, steamed deer tail, grilled duck, roast chick? Many of those are Northeast dishes.”

“But now many animals from those dishes are on the endangered species protection list. Like the chicken stew with mushroom we had the other day, it wasn’t called that before; it was called monkey head stew with flying dragon. The flying dragon is the current hazel grouse and is a national first-class protected animal. Once it wasn’t allowed to be eaten, it was changed to monkey head stew with mountain chicken, then the mountain chicken also became protected, and monkey head mushrooms became more expensive, so we had to change it to chicken stew with mushrooms. According to the people from the Northeast, the big ones are protected, the small ones are magical, and none should be messed with. The Northeast cuisine was already less established than other cuisines, and with so many ingredient changes, naturally it wasn’t selected as one of the Eight Majors.”

“Wow, no wonder.”

“I’m getting more and more curious about the Northeast; I must visit when I have time.”

…

It was just around 6 o’clock, but Harbin was already completely dark.

The night was deep, yet the opposite Ice and Snow World was brightly lit and bustling.

Various ice sculptures were draped with colorful lights, looking magnificent and filled with artistic vibes.

“Hey, look over there, wow, that’s beautiful!”

“Oh my God, they even have a phoenix performance?”

“This trip to Harbin was so worth it.”

“It’s really beautiful, hurry up and take a picture for me!”

Suddenly exclamations erupted from the queue, many people were pointing and jumping excitedly, arousing Wang Fan’s curiosity.

He simply pushed open the panoramic sunroof overhead, and the scene unfolded before him took his breath away.

Two phoenixes, one gold, one blue, were circling in the pitch-black night sky.

The phoenixes were exquisitely crafted, the lines of the colorful lights smooth and natural, perfectly outlining the graceful figures of the phoenixes.

Their bodies shimmered with a kaleidoscope of colors, their wings flickering as if radiating the brilliance of the stars, even the changing hues of each feather were delicately depicted.

Their tails resembled flowing ribbons, elegant and magnificent, fully showcasing the beauty of agility.

The two phoenixes echoed with each other, flying together in the night sky, making it look incredibly dreamy.

Not just the little girls at the stalls, even the big fellows were somewhat entranced by the sight.

“Wow, you guys living in Harbin are so lucky! Do you get to see the phoenix performance every night?”

“I’m really envious, I saw a winged black horse at the Saint Sophia Cathedral today, it was just so cool.”

“I’m so jealous of you people in Harbin, back in my hometown we just have a large cockroach every night, it’s disgusting!”

Shen Lang was a true Harbin native, having lived here for thirty years.

Listening to these southern girls, he felt both comforted and saddened.

Comforted that his hometown was being praised; as for sadness…

Shen Lang took out his phone, silently activated the recording function, and then shared the video to the Harbin forum.

At this moment the forum was bustling, posts popping up one after another.

“Erbin, you son of a gun, you’re making me feel like a stranger! What? You’re asking me why it’s called Erbin and not Harbin? Because the ’Ha’ has already flown onto the faces of the southern girls!”

“I’ve lived in Harbin for thirty years! Thirty years! Do you know how I’ve survived these thirty years?! How many times I tripped over the stairs of that underground passage on Central Avenue, honing my skills on being cautious about slippery floors? And now, a southern person comes and you lay out carpets! I have nowhere to put my skills to use!”

“What’s carpet? How many times have I left home without being frozen like a blockhead, yet look now, warming huts are everywhere! Sitting inside and sweating profusely!”

“Huh? Someone just posted a new video, let me see what it is… Damn!”

“Damn!”

“Erbin be human!”

“Where the heck did they get those two hill chickens?! I just want to know where they got them from?!”

“Uh… if I’m not mistaken, they probably borrowed them from Old Shen…”

“Well, well, well! Looks like Erbin truly isn’t acting human, first they put down carpets, then built warming huts, invited the Oroqen people, even horses have wings now, tofu pudding becomes sweet bean curd, even roasted sweet potatoes come with a spoon! Now even big moths have been borrowed!”

“And it gets even crazier, I went to a restaurant today, the owner not only sliced frozen pears but arranged them into a rose and soaked them in water to drink! Anyone ever seen that?”

Watching the twisted faces of envy in the forum, Shen Lang finally found a bit of solace. He put away his phone and began to enjoy the phoenix show he hadn’t even seen before.

Wang Fan curiously asked his Second Uncle beside him, “Second Uncle, when you used to tell me about Harbin, you mentioned frozen pears, delicious food, snow landscapes, and those buildings. How come you never mentioned the phoenix? Don’t you like watching it?”

Second Uncle gritted his teeth and said, “No… No… I don’t like those fancy things, I just love to see the pure white ice columns.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep