Chapter 423 - "You have violated my portrait right." (3)
“Yes, I happened to know how to make Yangzhou fried rice. But I was under the impression that Comrade Jie is from Capital City. How are you craving Yangzhou fried rice?”
Jie Chengzhou’s voice chocked. “My mother is from Yangzhou. She would always make me and my siblings Yangzhou fried rice when she was around. She stayed in China when I left the country, and I never had her fried rice again.”
His mother passed away ten years after he had left the country. He was on the other side of the ocean and had no way of returning.
He had departed 29 years. He was an unfilial son who did not even make it to see his mother one last time.
Jie Chengzhou removed his glasses and dabbed his eyes with his sleeve.
Xiao Jie patted him on his shoulder in an effort to comfort him.
The atmosphere inside the car got heavy all of a sudden.
The car took them first to Gold Spring Hotel so Jie Chengzhou and his son could drop off their luggage.
During this time, Tong Xuelu boarded the other car and headed back to East Wind Restaurant to picked up ingredients so she could return to this hotel and prepare the food.
As they were VIPs, Director Lin said that they wanted them to feel as home. As such, they would not be asked to dine at the restaurant. Rather, Tong Xuelu would have to go and prepare their food at the hotel.
Naturally, Tong Xuelu did not have the authority to object to this type of special treatment.
In either case, she would be picked up and dropped off anyway. It was really just a matter of cooking at a different place.
Tong Xuelu had asked about Jie Chengzhou and his son’s preferences in food in a roundabout way during the car ride.
After some considerations, she planned to make a Yangzhou fried rice, a braised beef ribs, a stir fried cabbage with garlic, and a tomato and egg soup.
From what she could gather from Jie Chengzhou, what he missed the most of his mother’s family cooking.
As such, 3 out of the 4 dishes were prepared for him. The last one, the braised beef rib, was made with Comrade Xiao Jie’s Chinese American stomach in mind.
Yangzhou fried rice, in addition to rice, also called for eggs, peas, carrots, shrimp, and corn.
Tong Xuelu cooked each of the ingredient separately before she adopted the technical of egg fried rice to coat the rice with egg. Each grain of rice was loose and a golden color.
It was then when she added the other ingredients inside and out came two platefuls of soft, smooth, and colorful Yangzhou fried rice.
The beef ribs, too, were finished braising when she finished up with the cabbage and garlic stir fry and tomato and egg soup.
The meat on the beef ribs could fall off the bone when picked up with chopsticks. The meat was a translucent color and the aroma filled the entire kitchen instantly.
She suddenly heard a few “kasha” sounds coming from behind her.
Tong Xuelu turned and saw Comrade Xiao Jie taking photos of her with a camera.
When Xiao Jie noticed that Tong Xuelu had noticed him, a bright smile appeared on his handsome face. “Hi Comrade Tong, you looking very pretty when you are focused on your cooking!”
He had actually been there for quite a while already. Nevertheless, Comrade Tong was so focused on the cooking that she failed to notice that he was there.
She had on a very thick padded jacket earlier that made her looked like a giant grey ball. He did not think that she had such a curvy body under that padded jacket.
He only noticed how pretty she was when he was taking photos of her. She made a good model.
Tong Xuelu gave him a look and said, “You’ve violated my portrait rights. I’ll let it go this time. Don’t do that again.”
Xiao Jie raised his brows when he heard that. “Comrade Tong is truly special. I have never heard that response before.”
He had been walking around taking photos with his camera earlier. Some of the people who saw his camera were curious, others fearful. They all became very excited when he offered to take photos of them.
She, on the other hand, was very calm. In fact, she complained that he had violated her portrait right!