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Cao Guixiang indeed cooked casually, heating the oil before frying the chicken pieces until they were done. There was no issue with that process, but she had scored a crosshatch pattern on the chicken pieces before frying them.
One could say she did whatever she felt like.
"Why did you score the chicken pieces?" cooking theory master Zhang Chu asked.
"It's so the cornstarch sticks better and gets more flavorful. Otherwise, Zhiyuan would lick the sauce off the surface and then spit out the meat," cooking practice master Cao Guixiang answered.
After the chicken pieces were fried and drained, she left a small amount of oil in the pan, added ingredients, fried the chicken pieces together until evenly coated, then removed them from the heat, thickened the sauce with cornstarch, and drizzled sesame oil over the top.