Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 116: Chapter 113: Missing an Ingredient

“Auntie Zhang, we have guests coming tomorrow, can you take a look at this list I’ve made? We need to go out and buy these things tomorrow morning.”

Huang Hongying had prepared the menu and went to the kitchen to discuss the details and arrangements with the nanny, Auntie Zhang. This matter couldn’t be taken lightly.

However, after looking at the menu Huang Hongying had prepared, Auntie Zhang’s face showed a hint of difficulty: “Ma’am, the hairy crabs are easy to deal with, but the wild Reeves shad is hard to find. Normally, you have to reserve it in advance. If you suddenly want to buy it, you probably won’t be able to get it right away.”

Upon hearing this, Huang Hongying’s face immediately tensed up. She had thought about preparing a high-class family banquet, so the recipes she wrote were all very rare dishes, but she hadn’t considered the problem with ingredients.

“What should we do then? We can’t just make do, this is related to Old Su’s big business plans for the year. If something goes wrong, a two billion investment project could fall through!” Huang Hongying was pacing frantically in the kitchen.

“What two billion project?” Su Qingqing had just returned home and, upon hearing Huang Hongying’s mutterings, approached out of curiosity to inquire. She glanced down at the menu her mother had prepared and couldn’t help but take a few extra looks, “Mom, what’s this?”

...

“It’s a menu, your dad is hosting some important guests at home tomorrow. They are investors from Hong Kong, so your mom is racking her brain over this menu. Quick, take a look for me, how is the menu?”

“White-cut chicken, crisp-skinned. Milk-fed. Pigeon, steamed hairy crabs, sweet wine stewed Reeves shad…” Su Qingqing read the menu once and nodded, “Not bad. Typical Shanghai cuisine, all the things I love to eat.”

Huang Hongying gave Su Qingqing a blank look, unimpressed: “It’s useless that you love to eat it, it’s not for you. Didn’t you notice any problems here?”

“What problems?” Su Qingqing looked down at the menu again, didn’t find anything amiss, and asked puzzledly.

“The ingredients! Auntie Zhang said the hairy crabs are still manageable, but wild Reeves shad is hard to find. The problem is, if we don’t use wild Reeves shad, there’s a big difference in taste, and after all, we’re entertaining important guests. Too poor ingredients would be a letdown, and if it makes the guests unhappy, it could spell trouble!”

“Why don’t you let Dad figure it out? He’s the Party Secretary, surely he can manage to find a wild Reeves shad?” Su Qingqing said nonchalantly.

“Go on, go on, what kind of lousy idea is that? You know what your dad is like. A person who’s reluctant to even take advantage of the public bus fare, how could he abuse his power for something like this?” Huang Hongying spat at Su Qingqing, yet her brows were tightly furrowed, a look of deep distress on her face.

“Then I can’t help either. You figure it out. If it really doesn’t work, just change to another dish, do some sea cucumber, abalone, shark fin or something. Isn’t that what rich people eat?”

Su Qingqing shrugged her shoulders, glanced once more at the menu in Huang Hongying’s hand, and then prepared to go upstairs.

Having only taken two steps on the stairs, she suddenly stopped as a thought struck like lightning. Turning back to Huang Hongying, she said: “Maybe you could ask Ningning. Although I’ve never seen her selling wild Reeves shad, she might know people who do.”

With those words, Huang Hongying dramatically slapped her forehead, as if suddenly enlightened: “Right, how could I forget about Ningning? Her store sells wild aquatic products, doesn’t it? Last time I was there, I saw so many wild fish in her big pond. Plus, the hairy crabs you brought home the other day, we all tasted them, and they were even better than those sold at the fresh market!”

Remembering this, Huang Hongying wasted no more time, hurriedly pulled out her phone, and eagerly dialed Huo Sining’s number.

Huo Sining had classes the next day so, after finishing up at the store, she returned to her villa. She hadn’t even had the chance to step inside when she received Huang Hongying’s call.

Why would Auntie call her at this time? Huo Sining felt it was a bit odd, but she quickly answered the call, “Hello, Auntie?”

“Ningning, are you busy right now?” Huang Hongying asked with a laugh.

“Not busy at all,” Huo Sining replied. “Do you need something?”

“Here’s the thing, your uncle will entertain guests at home tomorrow evening, and I’m missing an ingredient for the menu I prepared. I have no idea where to buy it at such short notice, so I was wondering if you might have some connections.”

“An ingredient?” Huo Sining was puzzled; if the Su Family couldn’t find it, how was she supposed to have any connections?

“Where does your shop source its wild aquatic produce from? Could you ask if those suppliers have any wild Reeves shad? We can negotiate the price, but it needs to be fast; I need it before four o’clock tomorrow afternoon, and preferably the fish should be alive.”

When Huo Sining heard that Huang Hongying was looking for wild Reeves shad, she was stunned.

Reeves shad, commonly known as Sanli fish or Sanlai fish, is an anadromous species, entering the Yellow River in April or May to spawn and returning to the sea in October, punctually arriving each year on schedule, which is why they’re called Reeves shad.

Adult Reeves shad migrate in schools from the coast into the Yellow River system in a journey of 700 kilometers. Their scales are sharp, and they swim quickly, earning them the nickname “Mixed River Dragon.”

The flesh of Reeves shad is delicate, offering the taste of fish with a meat-like texture—it’s smooth, finely textured, and rich, surpassing ordinary fish, which is why it’s listed as one of the three delicacies of the Yellow River. Moreover, the Reeves shad is a treasure among treasures, traditionally hailed as the “king of fish.”

However, Reeves shad quickly die once removed from the water, making them very hard to catch; it’s quite an achievement to catch even one, let alone a live wild Reeves shad—it’s an even taller order.

Nowadays, the Reeves shad available in the market generally costs a few dozen yuan per jin; usually, they are either farmed or imported from overseas sources such as Myanmar or the United States. These fish, in both color and taste, are far inferior to the wild Yellow River Reeves shad.

Huang Hongying wanted wild Reeves shad, but Huo Sining didn’t even bother to think before preparing to refuse her. It wasn’t that Huo Sining was unwilling to help, but that this was help she couldn’t provide.

In the past few months, she had dived into the Yellow River numerous times and had caught countless fish, including Huangjiang knifefish, but never a single wild Reeves shad.

It was now mid-October, which should be the migrating season for Reeves shad, yet she hadn’t so much as seen a shadow of one.

It seemed that, just as the rumors said, wild Reeves shad had approached extinction due to rampant overfishing, disturbing their ecological balance over the years.

“Auntie, it’s very difficult to catch wild Reeves shad; you might not see a few dozen migrating in the Yellow River basin in a whole year. Fishing one out would be like searching for a needle in the ocean. Unless one has incredible luck, it’s very hard to catch them,” Huo Sining explained with some helplessness.

Hearing this, Huang Hongying felt discouraged: “I see, then alright, I’ll ask around elsewhere.”