Chapter 229 – Why Not Try Desserts?

Lilith lifted the lid of the teapot to make sure there was no separation inside and that everyone would be drinking the same thing. Only then did she cast a Flash Freeze into it.

Vasida immediately drained the plum juice from her cup, then floated the teapot over and poured herself another glass.

“It really does taste better with ice!” she said contentedly.

Mo Lan, Lilith, and Sylph exchanged looks of speechless horror.

“Eat up! Why aren’t you eating?” Vasida urged.

In Mo Lan and the others’ eyes, this wasn’t a warm invitation—it was a demon’s call.

“Why so polite?” When they didn’t respond, Vasida had no choice but to direct the serving chopsticks herself, picking up food for each of them.

“No no no! We’ll help ourselves! We’ll help ourselves!” Mo Lan hurriedly declined, then went for the dish that looked most normal—a plate of minced pork with eggplant.

She cautiously picked up only a small piece, but popped the whole thing into her mouth to show she wasn’t being shy and didn’t need anyone serving her.

But the moment it entered her mouth, before Mo Lan even had a chance to chew, she knew something was wrong.

The minced pork with eggplant, which looked like a savory, appetite-whetting dish, was sweet and umami—cloyingly sweet and nauseatingly savory.

She didn’t even need to think to know how much sugar and MSG had gone into it.

Seeing the stunned expressions on Sylph and Lilith’s faces, Mo Lan knew their dishes were probably no better.

Lilith had just tried the braised pork belly, and Sylph had gone for the blanched lettuce.

The braised pork belly she could understand—Mo Lan had watched the sugar being pulled into threads with her own eyes—but how bad could blanched lettuce possibly be?

Mo Lan tried it out of curiosity, then lost all interest in the entire table of food.

It was terrifying. The blanched lettuce had been made with brown sugar, and the MSG hadn’t been spared either.

The three of them now had such a cloying sweetness in their mouths that they desperately needed water, but none of them dared touch the plum juice.

They all simultaneously reached for the rice in their bowls.

The rice should be better.

It was clay pot rice with cured meats, after all—surely that couldn’t have sugar in it too!

One bite later, all three of them regretted everything.

Those reddish-brown chunks of spicy meat were actually sweet!

Mo Lan had originally wanted to spare Vasida’s cooking enthusiasm, but she truly couldn’t hold back any longer. “Vasida, this is clay pot rice with cured meat? Why are these cured meat pieces sweet? They taste like… like candied fruit?”

“Exactly! I combined smoking and sugar-curing techniques to make sugar-preserved cured meat,” Vasida said. “How is it? Isn’t it a brilliant idea?”

Mo Lan: “…”

Her mood was now in as much shambles as her taste buds.

Sylph looked at Vasida’s mouth with concern. “Vasida, is your tongue really okay?”

“???” Vasida was completely baffled. “It’s fine! My tongue is perfectly fine!”

Lilith wasn’t nearly as tactful. She frowned and said, “Vasida, don’t you think all these dishes are way too sweet? And there’s a strange taste too! I thought your palate used to be perfectly normal! What happened…”

She was feeling nauseous at this point! She didn’t dare eat another thing on the table.

“Too sweet?” Vasida tasted the food herself. “It’s fine, isn’t it?”

But seeing the looks on her friends’ faces, it belatedly dawned on her that perhaps they didn’t share her enthusiasm.

“Whenever I used to eat, no matter how delicious the food was, I always felt like something was missing. After I started studying cooking on my own, I gradually realized what it was—a touch of sweetness.”

“A touch of sweetness?” Lilith said.

She genuinely suspected something was wrong with Vasida’s sense of taste.

Vasida hung her head.

“…” Lilith sighed. “Fine, I can overlook the sweetness—just think of it as eating candy. But what’s that weird taste about?”

“Weird taste? What weird taste?” Vasida asked, puzzled.

“I’m guessing it’s MSG,” Mo Lan said. “Vasida, did you use too much MSG?”

“I don’t think so! I only put three tablespoons of MSG per dish! Tablespoons this big,” Vasida said. “MSG tastes so wonderfully savory—how could that be a weird taste?”

“Three tablespoons? Only?” Mo Lan looked at the oversized tablespoon that couldn’t even fit in one’s mouth and closed her eyes. “Vasida, doesn’t it say right on the MSG label that a small pinch per use is ideal? One tablespoon would be enough for this entire table of food with some left over. MSG is great, but you can’t be greedy with it! Excessive consumption is bad for your bones and your nerves!”

“That serious? But what are nerves?” Vasida asked.

Mo Lan explained what nerves were.

Vasida’s takeaway was: “Too much MSG is bad for your bones and your brain?”

That was a bit scary. She was already short, and her brain wasn’t as sharp as Mo Lan’s.

She shot to her feet. “Stop eating all of this! Feed it to the Devouring Stomach! The Devouring Stomach isn’t even afraid of poison, so this should be no problem. I’ll make everything again from scratch!”

“Let us help!” Mo Lan said quickly.

This time, there was no way they were letting Vasida cook alone.

“Yes, yes! Let’s all help! I brought some ingredients too—see if you can use any of them!” Sylph added.

The four young sorceresses, each with their mobile kitchens, sprang into action together.

Mo Lan directed her cooking utensils while keeping a close eye on Vasida, stopping her the moment she reached for the sugar jar.

When the new dishes were served, they were finally free from the “sweet assault.”

“Now this is what food is supposed to taste like!” Lilith said with relief.

Mo Lan and Sylph dug in enthusiastically too, a complete contrast to their earlier behavior.

Watching them, Vasida realized just how unpopular her proudly developed cooking secrets had been all this time.

Her friends were eating the food on the table with gusto, but to her, something felt missing. If only it could be a little sweeter, a little more savory—then it would be perfect.

After experiencing the wonder of ultra-sweet flavors, her palate could never go back.

Mo Lan noticed Vasida’s dampened spirits and pushed a slice of raspberry cake in front of her. “Try this. I made it specially for you—it should suit your taste better.”

Vasida reluctantly took a bite, and her eyes lit up. “It’s delicious!”

Of course, it would be even better if it were just a little sweeter!

“Seriously, Vasida, if you have a sweet tooth like that, you should really focus on desserts and confections! Xian cuisine from Earth isn’t a culinary tradition that lends itself to sweetness.”

Mo Lan offered her sincere advice.

She truly never wanted to see sugar-spun braised pork belly again.

The shadow cast by today’s meal was so deep that if Vasida ever invited her to eat Chinese food again, she would flee on the spot.

During the cooking just now, if Mo Lan hadn’t been watching the entire time, the sugar would still have been excessive! Vasida kept muttering “use less sugar” to herself, but the amount she ended up adding was still far beyond what any normal person could tolerate.

With a sweet tooth like that, desserts were truly the right path for her!

“Desserts?” Vasida looked thoughtful. “I’ll give it some serious thought.”