Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
“Wow, this smells great. Is this even congee?” Xiao Xing rushed over, forgetting to even say goodbye to his girlfriend.
“Um. Plain white congee,” Yuan Zhou nodded.
“How can plain white congee smell so nice?” Xiao Xing started swallowing his saliva when he saw the boiling congee in the casserole.
The smell was way too appetizing.
While Xiao Xing was staring at the congee, Yuan Zhou had already scooped out two bowls of congee. He gave one to Xiao Xing and placed the other bowl before himself.
“Dig in,” Yuan Zhou said.
“Gulp. Ok,” Xiao Xing swallowed the accumulating saliva in his mouth and sat down like an obedient child in preparation to eat.
Xiao Xing was a very polite person. Since this meal was cooked by Yuan Zhou, it was natural that he had to wait for Yuan Zhou to take the first bite before he started eating.
Thus, he sat there staring at Yuan Zhou’s lips with a burning gaze, causing Yuan Zhou to cover his mouth while raising the bowl in awkwardness.
The moment Xiao Xing saw Yuan Zhou eating, he lifted his bowl and started eating as well.
There was an extremely fitting ancient saying: one would rather be waiting for the congee than had the congee be waiting for the person. This saying basically meant that congee must be eaten while hot, scalding hot.
“Hiss, ouch, so hot. So hot,” Xiao Xing cried out from the heat but he still couldn’t resist chewing on the hot congee.
He could not help himself. The congee was too delicious. He did not look the slightest bit like the person who had, just earlier, claimed to have no interest in congee.
One important thing when cooking congee was to ensure the essence from the rice was seeped out from the boiling. With this, the fragrance of the rice would start seeping out. When putting the congee into one’s mouth, apart from the fragrance, the taste of the rice’s essence and the congee’s unique flavor would be mixed within the fold.
“Ahh, ummm,” Xiao Xing stuffed yet another mouthful of congee into his mouth despite how hot it was.
This time, it was no longer as hot, enabling Xiao Xing to have a greater appreciation of the taste.
When the congee entered his mouth, his first sensation was fragrant instead of hot. A faint, yet everlasting rice fragrant coursed down his throat to arrive inside his stomach.
Next, he started tasting the mellow and rich flavor of the rice milk that had appeared after the rice grains were boiled. Together with the sensation of the rice grains entering his mouth, he started chewing on them.
The two ends of the slender grains of rice were already mushy, but the middle part of the grains was still springy and tender. When chewing on them, they tasted extremely aromatic.
Gulp. Xiao Xing swallowed the thick congee in his mouth, leaving a pleasant lingering aftertaste in his mouth.
That’s right. Even after swallowing the congee, a pleasant aftertaste was left in the mouth. That was an aftertaste left after chewing the rice grains, a sweet and natural flavor of the rice grains.
“So the Thai aromatic rice is actually this good? No wonder those tourists are buying so many packets each time they visit,” Xiao Xing lamented.
That’s right. Xiao Xing was of the opinion that although the Thai aromatic rice was good, it wasn’t good enough to be a tourist attraction. But now he understood. If he had known earlier that congee cooked with the Thai aromatic rice was this good, he would be eating congee everyday.
“That’s because my cooking skills are good,” Yuan Zhou clarified.
“Yes, yes, yes. Chef Yuan, your cooking skills are too good,” Xiao Xing nodded repeatedly.
“We have side dishes as well. Eat the side dishes,” Yuan Zhou reminded.
“The congee alone is satisfying enough. This is great,” Xiao Xing said as he reached out towards the Sour and Spicy Chicken Shreds, his heart filled with expectation.
The flavor of this Sour and Spicy Chicken Shreds had been adjusted with Thai lime for the sourness, while peppermint was being used as the basic flavor. As for the spicy flavor, it came from chili mixed with iced water before being mixed with sugar and table salt.
The dish was sour and appetizing with a natural flavor of fruits attached to it. Each of the flavors were perfectly displayed and the flavors combined with the tenderness of the chicken meat were so appetizing one could eat two additional bowls of rice just to go with this dish alone.
This was exactly what Xiao Xing did. In a shameless manner, he stole one bowl of congee from Yuan Zhou, the one who was actually sick. He alone ate three bowls of congee, one plate of Sour and Spicy Chicken Shreds, and half a plate of Salad Water Spinach.
“Little Yuan, Chef Yuan, Master Yuan, your cooking skill is too good,” Xiao Xing said, somewhat embarrassed when he saw the completely clean plates and bowls.
“Thank you for the praise,” Yuan Zhou answered.
“That’s the truth, not praise. You are my new idol. How can someone cook so well?” Xiao Xing said solemnly.
“That’s not what you said when you snatched my congee,” Yuan Zhou said dryly.
“Cough, cough. I did that because I was worried that your stomach will feel unwell from eating too much,” Xiao Xing explained himself.
“Oh,” Yuan Zhou gave him a deadpan look, clearly not believing him.
“Little Yuan, I feel like there is one place you need to visit,” Xiao Xing quickly thought of a good idea.
“What place?” Yuan Zhou asked.
Xiao Xing said, “Folding Umbrella Market. That is a place many tourists will visit.”
The moment Yuan Zhou heard that, he lost his interest. He had already visited many markets of various sizes here in Thailand. He had also visited many streets filled with stalls.
“The Folding Umbrella Market is different,” Xiao Xing said. “It also has a different name, Railway Market, as the market is located by two sides of a railway line.”
Railway Market was a familiar name to Yuan Zhou. He asked, “Are you talking about the market where the train will pass by six times per day?”
Xiao Xing nodded solemnly. Yuan Zhou was getting interested. This was a place he had seen in the news before. It was called the most dangerous market in the world as every day, six trains would go by it. When the trains came, the stalls on both sides of the railway would quickly keep their goods away and only put them out again after the train left. They were truly doing business with their lives on the line.
Perhaps the only comparable group of people were the Indians that had to ride on the top of the trains.
Xiao Xing quickly said after he saw that Yuan Zhou’s interest was piqued, “If we go now, we will arrive just in time to see the train.”
They immediately headed towards the Railway Market.
In truth, Xiao Xing’s true intention was not to bring Yuan Zhou there. Rather…
After getting on the car, Xiao Xing said, “We can buy some stuff there. I will let you use my kitchen tonight as well. In any case, you are not used to Thai food, right?”
“I thought we were going to eat Beijing Roasted Duck tonight?” Yuan Zhou frowned.
“The duck there is not nice anyway. There’s nothing special about it. It is very normal and is not worth visiting. If you want to eat Beijing Roasted Duck, you might as well eat it at Beijing,” Xiao Xing started berating the roasted duck before adding, “We might as well cook ourselves at home.”
It was an absolute certainty that he had been addicted to Yuan Zhou’s food. That was why he was overturning everything he had said. Just that morning he was still singing the roasted duck praises but now, he was saying that the roasted duck wasn’t nice. For the sake of food, he did not mind slapping his own face.
His argument was quite logical. Yuan Zhou had already tasted almost all types of Thai food he could. Now that his stomach was feeling unwell, it was better for him to eat something he cooked himself.
But now, he was presented with another problem. If he could not spend 6,799 THB by tonight, his mission would fail. Therefore, he had to go eat the roasted duck.
Yuan Zhou stood firm, “I want to know how roasted duck tastes at Thailand. Therefore, we can visit the Railway Market but we won’t be buying anything there.”
Xiao Xing was completely dispirited when he heard that. While he drove, he would send occasional bitter glances over at Yuan Zhou.
Fortunately, Yuan Zhou was quite immune to such a gaze. After all, he was a person who knew Wu Hai, the most shameless of them all.
