Five Fleeting Years, Alice's Challenge (Bonus chapter)

"The so-called Golden Ratio Shumai is the cooking of various ingredients combined in a golden ratio. As the saying goes, a protagonist without supporting roles is not a true protagonist. To highlight the flavor of the shumai's main ingredient, 'pork,' it must be accentuated by side dishes!

Spinach, fried egg yolk, and shrimp paste are the three ingredients I've found to best enhance the taste of pork, so I chose them. Of course, if the main ingredient is changed to lamb or beef, the supporting ingredients will also change. It's a matter of analyzing each specific situation."

Dylan explained with a smile. Back in his days in the underground cooking world, he had been obsessed with making Golden Ratio Shumai for a while. Besides this most basic version, he had experimented with many other types.

For example, Curry-flavored Lamb Golden Ratio Shumai, Braised Beef-flavored Golden Ratio Shumai, Slow-cooked Chicken Country Style, Seafood Medley, Duck, Crab, and even Crocodile meat—as long as he could get his hands on the ingredients, he would research them.

It was this spirit of continuous exploration that allowed him to reach where he was today. Otherwise, even with the most heaven-defying talent, it could only guarantee a high lower limit for him.

What truly allowed him to reach the pinnacle of the underground cooking world was his heart, that 'chef's heart' that constantly yearned to create even more delicious food!

"Ah!"

Reaching out and grabbing the hem of her clothes, even though she had tried her best to suppress the impulse, the impact of such deliciousness still made Alice Nakiri cry out, and an unusual blush appeared on her cheeks.

At the same time, the clothes on her body burst open at this moment. This was the third time this year, and Leonora Nakiri was already used to it.

However, this time she didn't immediately cover her chest as before. Instead, she greedily ate the shumai in front of her until she had finished it all. Only then did she react, lowering her head with a face full of shyness, while also glancing at Dylan not far away out of the corner of her eye. He was currently facing away from them.

He seemed quite gentlemanly, but she had felt a burning gaze just now. This guy had definitely been peeking, and more than just once!

However, at this moment, Dylan did have his back turned, so she couldn't say anything. She would just take it as a small perk for him treating her to such delicious food.

Because she was mentally prepared, Leonora Nakiri, although embarrassed, didn't react strongly. Seeing that Dylan wasn't looking over, she put down the hand that had been covering her chest and instead pulled Alice Nakiri towards her own room upstairs.

"You're a big girl now, you should be a little more shy."

Looking at Alice Nakiri beside her, who was immersed in a sea of deliciousness and didn't have the slightest intention of covering herself, Leonora Nakiri reached out and pinched her nose, her voice filled with helplessness.

This girl was still a child, but after all, she was female. She couldn't be so shameless. Some education needed to start!

"Don't worry, Mama, I know. It's just because that person is Brother Dylan, so I don't mind."

Hearing Leonora Nakiri's words, Alice Nakiri came back to her senses from the delicious food. Then she looked down at herself, her face also turning a little red, but she still said it as a matter of course.

"Oh~ Only like this in front of little Dylan~ That's fine, but you can't be so shameless in front of outsiders."

"I know, I'm not some frivolous woman!"

"You're still just a girl now."

Hearing Leonora Nakiri's teasing words with a hint of sternness, Alice Nakiri nodded seriously, then retorted coquettishly.

"But that shumai was really delicious! I have to get Brother Dylan to make some more later. Whether it's for breakfast or a midnight snack, it's absolutely delicious!"

After casually complaining, Leonora Nakiri's worried heart finally relaxed, and then she began to reminisce about the deliciousness just now, her mouth watering profusely.

Dylan had finished 50 of the 100 bite-sized shumai, and the two of them had finished the other 50. Their stomachs were full to bursting, yet at the time, they hadn't noticed at all, only knowing to stuff food into their mouths.

Even though they were completely full now, the thought of the shumai's exquisite taste still made them swallow hard, wanting another plate!

"Master is really amazing, to actually have such powerful kneading skills, and he can even make Golden Ratio Shumai that emits golden light..."

Thinking of Dylan, the look of admiration on Alice Nakiri's face was hard to hide. After more than a year of getting along, she had thought she wasn't far from him anymore, but she was wrong, terribly wrong...

The more she learned, the more she understood the distance between herself and Dylan. He was clearly only a few years older than her, so why was he so powerful?

And this was the question that puzzled Alice Nakiri and Leonora Nakiri the most. Where exactly did Dylan come from? Such a powerful chef couldn't possibly be unknown!

Her cousin, Erina Nakiri, was merely blessed with a God Tongue and was already revered as a deity in the Japanese culinary world, seen as the hope of Japanese cuisine.

And Dylan...

Because of this, Leonora Nakiri had even used her connections to investigate, finding information on all the famous chefs around twelve or thirteen years old in the world.

But regarding Dylan's identity, she remained completely in the dark.

This person was like he had appeared out of thin air, with no identity, no origin, his whole being filled with mystery, and yet he was a top-level chef.

nii

"No matter who he is, right now he is Alice's master!"

Looking at Alice Nakiri beside her, whose voice was light and cheerful as she praised Dylan's incredible skills, Leonora Nakiri secretly made up her mind.

No matter what, she would protect this person!

·

·

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, five years had passed.

On this day, Dylan was shirtless, lying on the ground supporting himself with three fingers, sweat constantly dripping from his forehead onto the ground. He was doing one-handed three-finger push-ups, with a slender girl sitting on his back.

The girl wore a beige shirt underneath and a brown and beige striped skirt. Her legs were covered in sheer black stockings. At this moment, she was sitting with her legs crossed, holding a gourmet weekly magazine in her hand, looking at the new dish introductions from nearby restaurants in this issue.

"Brother Dylan, the vanilla waffle and ice cream at this shop looks so appetizing. The new fried milk with fruit at this tea restaurant is also quite good. Let's go for afternoon tea after lunch."

That's right, this person was Alice Nakiri. As she grew older, Alice no longer called him Brother Dylan but changed it to Dylan-nii.

The first time she called him that was half a year ago. The reason was that her cheeks burned fiercely after saying the word 'brother', so she changed it to 'nii'.

Dylan had been sad for a few days because of this, but he could also understand Alice Nakiri. After all, reduplicative words were the patent of children, and she was now considered an adult.

Although only thirteen years old, her figure was very well-developed. Except for a slight childishness in her cheeks, she looked no different from a high school student.

Moreover, being in Northern Europe, her personality had matured relatively early. If people didn't ask her age, they would really treat her like a high school student.

"If you want to, then let's go together, but we have to finish the morning practice first."

"Eh... I feel like my knife skills are already very strong. How about we take a day off today? It would be a good time to go out and relax~"

Alice Nakiri grabbed Dylan's hand and started to act coquettishly. After five years of tireless practice day and night, her knife skills had long reached a supernatural level.

Now, she had easily passed the first-class chef examination last year, and because of the novel concept of molecular gastronomy, she had received widespread praise from the Japanese Culinary Association.

"Didn't you just rest the day before yesterday! Don't think you're qualified just because you passed the knife skills assessment yesterday. You still have a lot to learn!"

"I've heard these words so many times I'm getting calluses on my ears! Besides, I specialize in molecular gastronomy. Is it really necessary to practice knife skills so meticulously?"

"Even if you're learning molecular gastronomy, the basics are still very important: knife skills, ingredient processing, flipping the wok, seasoning..."

As Dylan spoke, he moved his body, and Alice Nakiri immediately understood and jumped off his back.

After getting up, the young man's whole body was wet with sweat. Seeing his serious and earnest look, her face couldn't help but turn red.

"Master, let's have a competition!"

Taking a deep breath, thinking of the hard practice over the past few years, Alice Nakiri suddenly changed her address for Dylan and said to him seriously.

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