Chapter 9 Chapter Four

The next day, I received a call from chef "Goldfinch" Urushitani.Chef Urushigu is a middle-aged woman with a calm personality and polite speech. "The small porcelain doll in the shape of a broad bean was indeed put by me. Since it is a congratulatory dessert, 'seven' is more auspicious than 'six', so I added one more without authorization. I wanted to make up the 'eight' which represents prosperity, but It’s too much for a king’s pie of this size. I wrote a card with instructions and told the clerk to attach it when delivering the pie. Didn’t you get it?”

"No, I didn't receive the card you mentioned." "That's our negligence, I'm really sorry, it caused you a lot of trouble, we will sincerely apologize." The original reason is so simple.But the attitude of chef Changfeng yesterday made me a little concerned. Why did he investigate the stock of the small porcelain dolls, and why did he ask me those questions?Did he discover something I hadn't noticed?Obviously he only glanced at the little porcelain puppet in the shape of broad beans! "Should this little porcelain doll be returned to Miss Ayabe, or sent directly to Miss Saijo Momoka?"

"I'll go over to your side in a few days, so please help me keep it first." "Okay, looking forward to your visit." I really want to go again - because their cakes are super delicious, and I also want to buy some macarons and biscuits, and have afternoon tea by the way. Of course, the reason is not only that. I called "Louis" that day, and asked the clerk to ask Mr. Okimoto to answer it, and asked him if it would be inconvenient to go to Chef Changfeng after the business was closed.Although it's not good to bother people because of private matters, but I can't think of a better reason.

"As long as Ms. Ayabe speaks, it's absolutely fine," Mr. Okimoto said, "Our head chef is a fan of Fukusakudo! Then please come back after the cafe closes as last time, because the chef The chef usually stays in the coffee shop to conceive inspiration during this time, unless he is on a business trip, he must be there." I passed by according to the time Mr. Okimoto said, and sure enough, I saw Chef Nagamine sitting in a cafe with no customers.Wearing work clothes, he was also sitting in a seat against the wall in the store today, flipping through books, with notebooks, pens and pens that he had seen before placed beside him.

I walked over to say hello to him. It turned out that he was reading a book about Japanese paintings. The book was printed with paintings of soft colors, green mountains and cool streams. Can this also be used as a reference for designing desserts?Looking at the refreshing colors, you may be thinking about new products suitable for summer. Chef Changfeng cleaned up the books and stationery on the table, and moved the dinner plate to me with his big bony hands.There is a mouthful of yokan on the plate. In addition to the traditional red bean flavor, there are also popular flavors such as matcha, brown sugar, and coffee.

I said, "Sorry to bother you..." "You don't have to be so polite. Don't you like yokan?" "No, I like it very much." "Then you're welcome." Chef Changfeng took out his mobile phone from his pocket and ordered two pots of tea.Soon, green tea was brought by uniformed clerks.Because there is no green tea on the cafe menu, Chef Nagamine, who loves wagashi, seems to be used to preparing some green tea in the kitchen.I am embarrassed to drink tea. While peeling off the outer packaging of the yokan, I explained that I had received a call from Chef Urushitani.After hearing what had happened, Chef Changfeng said, "So it sounds reasonable."

I continued: "But I still have some doubts about giving an extra one. It stands to reason that one or six small porcelain dolls will pop out one by one when cut into six equal parts, although the surface of the 'Congratulations Pie' is a piece of cake. Tail snapper, but the shape is still traditional round. And in order to cut into equal parts, usually match the pattern, engrave marks along the edge to guide the position of the knife. I think most people will start from the left side facing the fish head, along the Cut the knife along the engraved line on the edge, as long as you use such ingenious psychological awareness, you can avoid the place where the knife is cut and insert the small porcelain doll. The problem is that it is really difficult to allocate seven. If the position is not good, it is easy Cut to all the little china figures."

"How is the little porcelain doll in that pie configured?" "I heard from my friend that six were placed at equal distances near the outer edge of the pie, and only one was placed slightly on the inner side. That is to say, this is a way to bury two people at a time. As for the broad bean The small porcelain doll in shape is buried on the inside." Chef Changfeng took a sip of the yokan and was silent for a moment.After a while, I took a sip of green tea and looked at me again. "Professional chefs' judgment and consideration of cakes cannot be questioned. If they are not confident in their own creations, they will never serve them to others. So in a sense, Chef Qigu should not be questioned, since she said she is An extra gift, and because I felt that eight were too many, and then decided to add only one more, it should be true."

"But..." I felt that apart from curiosity, there was also an inexplicable emotion. I always feel that there must be some important truth hidden in this matter, and maybe continuing to pursue and fight will inadvertently hurt others. I think the reason why Chef Changfeng said that is to imply this. Chef Changfeng said: "So what I'll say later is at best my guess. If Ms. Pobu also feels the same way, it's up to you to decide how to deal with it afterwards. I can only open my mouth and not help. Can you understand that?" "After all, it's my friend's business, and I don't want to ruin our relationship because of it. I will handle it carefully."

"Understood, then I'll tell you. When I saw the small porcelain doll in the shape of broad beans, I immediately noticed a few things. The first is the shape. The small porcelain doll is different from the products mass-produced by the industry with molds. The shape is different. This is what I am most interested in. And the size is slightly larger than the small porcelain dolls in the shape of broad beans, that is to say, I reasonably suspect that this is a small porcelain doll made by hand.” "It means that this little porcelain doll was secretly inserted through other channels? Where did it happen?"

"According to Ms. Morisawa, it should be difficult for outsiders to sneak into the warehouse, and there is no need to take such a big risk just to put a small thing. So no matter how you think about it, when Chef Urushigu made the King Pie, it is more reasonable to put one more on purpose." "So this little porcelain doll was made by Chef Urushigu?" "That's not necessarily the case. After all, as a pastry chef, you have to be very cautious about putting hard foreign objects into the food. What's more, the things to be stuffed have not been inspected by quality control, but are handmade. Unless you can't hold back the other party's request, or there is a reason to do so." "Someone please..." "Only for those who want to stuff the doll into the pie, that is, a friend of Ms. Ayabe." "Wait! Only the six of us know that we are going to send King's Pie as a congratulatory gift. Everyone has chosen one, so why add one more?" "That's the answer to the riddle, isn't it?" There was a tangle in my mind, and no answer emerged.What is this feeling?Obviously he hasn't touched the truth yet, but his heart is still agitated. Chef Changfeng continued: "After this person selected the small porcelain dolls with everyone in the store, he went to the store to find Chef Qigu the next day, and asked her to put the small porcelain dolls in the shape of broad beans into the pie as well. Please Chef Qi Gu, if Tao Xiang asks, please make up a suitable reason to deal with it." Among our group of friends, someone deliberately chose two small porcelain puppets?Who will it be?Why do you do this? Chef Changfeng said: "There is another point, which is what I am most concerned about, that is, the size of the small porcelain doll is larger than usual, and it is also relatively heavy." "Although there are only slight differences, people in our industry are very sensitive to subtle things. When they think of something made by hand, they will think why it is heavier? Why should it be shaped like a broad bean? In other words, that small The porcelain doll may be hiding something." That little porcelain puppet in the shape of a fava bean hides something...? "The fire temperature for baking King's Pie is 200 degrees Celsius, and it will take about fifty minutes to bake. If something with a low melting point is hidden in it, it will definitely melt or be damaged. However, there are still small ones with high melting points in the world. Something, like a platinum ring." ring? ! Ignoring my astonishment, Chef Changfeng said flatly: "The melting point of platinum is 176 degrees Celsius, which is enough to withstand the heat of the oven, and the specific gravity of platinum is higher than that of gold and silver, so it has a sense of weight. That size and A foreign object with a sense of weight... I immediately thought of the ring, and the king's pie was a wedding gift..." "meaning is--" "I don't think it should be a good thing! The most common guess is that there is a man who has never had a chance to express his love to the person he likes, so he has to bury his love deeply... Maybe this is the feeling! Have you thought of who it might be? ?” There are three male friends as a joint gift, Hiiragisuke, Shogo, and Tetsuya.Although Hiiragisuke and Shogo are still single, I heard that both of them have stable partners, and Tetsuya has long since died. I shook my head, "Think about it more carefully," Chef Changfeng said, "He has design talent and can bake objects. He was born in a related art department of a fine arts university, or he has studied pottery." "There is one who meets these conditions, but..." "Already have a girlfriend or a significant other? If that's the case, forgive me, it may be two boats or an affair." "But he really doesn't look like this kind of person..." "As I said just now, I'm only in charge of reasoning, and it's up to Ms. Ayabe how to deal with it."