After My Rebirth Chapter 9: Tasting tool

Chapter 9: Tasting tool

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

Zheng Ming was the best-looking boy in Mulin Village, and as far as he could remember, he grew up with the praises of others. After he went to junior high school, the reactions of people around him were a side note that those words of praise were not faked.

Boys would call him a bitch out of jealousy, but privately they would whisper that they envied his good looks, girls were more willing to get close to him, and even his teachers would compliment him on his ‘good-looking boy’.

The best-looking boy in Mulin Village was not his self-appointed name, but was recognized by everyone. In his perception, only the TV stars could barely compare with him. Until Li Sinian came.

It was a weekend, Zheng Ming was playing basketball with his classmates, walking on the road laughing and talking. Almost home, he ran into the neighbor’s children. The neighbor’s child was in the second year of junior high school this year, which was a low grade, so as soon as he saw him, the child poured out the new things he saw today. The village had a big star move in, good-looking, now lived in the east part of the village in the big house that no one lived in.

Zheng Ming was aware of the house in the east of the village.

In the past, an old woman was living in the house, and during the New Year’s holidays, there would be people in very expensive cars wearing very expensive clothes coming back for the New Year. Then the old woman left, the house was empty, those rich people never came, only once a week someone would come to clean.

Neighbors say that the house now had a big star living in it… Was it possible that it was one of the rich people from before? Zheng Ming did not take this matter too seriously, but not entirely, after all, he had always been the one who was recognized as the best-looking.

Often people urged him to participate in talent shows, because everyone said that his face could let him become a star, and now a big star arrived and it was more or less on his mind.

Zheng Ming was a little concerned about this matter.

His heart really produced a sense of crisis, and he even went so far as to run to this big star’s yard and squatted in front of it. Zheng Ming has always had a secret crush on the person he played with in his childhood.

His Qing Mei had always been a very light person, not how to participate in the same age girls some of the topics discussed about the opposite sex, but unprecedented, yesterday afternoon, Qing Mei surprisingly said that he felt that the Li family’s brother in the east of the city was very good-looking. When he went back to ask, he learned that the new star who moved in was surnamed Li.

Zheng Ming’s sense of crisis rose up at once. He had been suffering all day today and finally couldn’t resist at night. He came to the family’s yard to see how good-looking was the person who made his sweetheart say such a thing.

Only, it seemed that he came at the wrong time? The big star didn’t seem to be at home.

Zheng Ming was outside Li Sinian’s house for a while, and his heart calmed down a little.

Why? It was rude of him to peep at someone when he was curious about their looks.

He was torn about whether to leave or not, and the result was not yet decided when he heard a very soft male voice from behind him, “Hello, are you here to see me?”

Zheng Ming heard the sound and felt as guilty as a thief, he was scared enough to fly. He almost jumped into the other person.

Behind him stood a young man, looking very young, as he had also just graduated from college.

He was wearing an ordinary white T-shirt black sweatpants, his hair was a little long, probably a little longer than his chin, with a leather band loosely binding it to the back of his head.

No one in the village had long hair, so this was the first time Zheng Ming saw such a man, but Zheng Ming did not feel that it was strange. He felt that the other person’s temperament deserved such a haircut.

He looks good. Zheng Ming was reluctant, but could not help it. Seeing Li Sinian look at him, his mind popped up with this thought. Only when his brain finished did Zheng Ming feel disgusted.

Yuck! Growing long hair! Faggot! How does he look good?!

Li Sinian saw the teenager’s face change, but did not say anything, good-naturedly asked again, “You came to see me for something?”

Zheng Ming snapped his eyes up and his tone was unkind, “I can’t come to you if there’s nothing?”

Li Sinian cocked his head, seemingly not quite understanding the other party’s sudden malice, but that malice was different from those he had experienced at the mall, and could even be called bluffing, so he didn’t take it to heart, “Well, if there’s nothing, I’ll go back first.”

“Wait!” Zheng Ming called him, lips buzzing for half a day, viciously asked out, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

After the question, his ears turned red first. Li Sinian froze for a moment. It was the first time he was asked by the same sex on the road if he had a girlfriend. He could not help but look at Zheng Ming and eyes became a little subtle.

When Zheng Ming saw his strange face, his ears got even redder and he spoke even harder, “Why are you looking at me? I’m not a faggot! I asked about it for someone else!”

The subtlety in Li Sinian’s eyes didn’t dissipate because of his words. There were usually two kinds of questions for someone else, one was that someone else was himself, and the other was that the person he was talking about was someone he liked.

Li Sinian asked directly, “Is the other person you are talking about someone you like?”

A trace of panic flashed in Zheng Ming’s eyes and he hastily denied, “No!”

Li Sinian understood. He didn’t think too much of Zheng Ming, and when he learned the purpose of the other party’s visit, he was even more indifferent. A child’s jealousy was not a big deal.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Li Sinian replied while taking out the key to open the door, the courtyard door opened, he turned around and asked Zheng Ming, “Do you want to come in and sit down?”

Zheng Ming did not want to go to this sissy’s house. He snorted and said, “Yes.”

* *

Zheng Ming followed Li Sinian into the courtyard, and when he saw the vegetables at the door, he slowed down and took a closer look, “You’re growing vegetables?”

“Hmm.” Li Sinian then went to open the door of the house.

“I can’t believe you grow your own vegetables.”

“Is that unusual? There are quite a few people in the village who grow their own vegetables, right?” Li Sinian turned around, “Come in and sit down.”

Zheng Ming lifted his feet and followed him in, his mouth still full of good words, “A rich man from the city like you, can you grow vegetables?”

Li Sinian gave him a cup of honey passion fruit, “Isn’t it natural for Chinese people to grow vegetables? And perhaps you know that modern society is all about scientific farming? There are many books on agronomy.”

Zheng Ming just wanted to skewer him with sarcasm, then saw the coffee table stacked several books on agronomy, his open mouth closed. He tasted the cup of passion fruit drink, with just a sip of the sweet and sour juice his eyes could not help but light up.

Tasty!

Zheng Ming could not help but try another sip.

Honey passion fruit was considered a common drink, but he had never had such a good drink.

Half a cup down, Zheng Ming could not help but ask, “What additives did you put in this drink? Why does it taste different?”

He originally wanted to ask why it tasted so good, but he was jealous of Li Sinian, so his question turned sour.

Li Sinian didn’t take Zheng Ming’s childish tantrums to heart, or rather he didn’t even pay attention to what attitude Zheng Ming was talking with, so his answer was still very bland, “Nothing, the helper who came to help me weed the other day, a family beekeeper, gave me a little bit of his own honey. So I mixed it with passion fruit to make it taste like this.”

Li Sinian continued to be polite despite his own repeated prickliness, which made Zheng Ming embarrassed. He licked his mouth and didn’t say anything more.

The drinks were almost finished, and Zheng Ming wanted to go back, when he heard Li Sinian ask again, “Have you eaten? If not, stay and eat dinner together? I think I’m not a bad cook, want to try?”

Zheng Ming agreed to stay, based on the principle of knowing one’s enemy and knowing oneself. His sweetheart thought this big star was good, and he had to find out more about what was good.

With Zheng Ming’s consent, Li Sinian turned around and went into the kitchen to cook. There were only two of them, and it was dinner, so he made it simple.

The dishes were cantaloupe fried shrimp ¹, cold shredded chicken with soy sauce² and the main dish was salted green vegetable congee.³

Zheng Ming was actually not too convinced that Li Sinian’s cooking was any good, when the old lady was alive in the past, every New Year’s Day, he could see this big star. Although he did not know who he was at that time, and did not see the face clearly, the other party was noble from head to toe. He did not believe that this kind of pampered young master could cook.

Zheng Ming waited in the living room bored, then he smelled the aroma coming from the kitchen.

The smell of cooking cantaloupe was sweet and fresh, like the smell of ripe cantaloupe, but there was more than the fruity smell of cantaloupe, this aroma smelled more appetizing. The aroma didn’t last long before Li Sinian came out with the dishes.

When he first saw the fried shrimp with cantaloupe on the table, Zheng Ming still felt a little incredulous, “Cooking with cantaloupe?”

Li Sinian nodded, “Yes, this is a Cantonese dish, I think the taste is not bad. I made it for myself to eat.”

Suzhou was in the south, but those in Suzhou ate more Suzhou style and Zhejiang cuisine.

Both Suzhou and Cantonese dishes were not spicy, but the taste of Suzhou was more focused on freshness, to be thick but not greasy, light but not thin. Although Cantonese cuisine also focuses on freshness, the taste of Cantonese cuisine was a little on the sweet side, so the taste was still different.

The cuisine was like seeing a  mountain. It was normal for Zheng Ming to not eat cantaloupe with fried shrimp.

Zheng Ming was already distrustful of Li Sinian’s cooking, and when he saw that the other party brought out a dish he had never eaten, he felt that it was not the right decision for him to stay for dinner.

Although it was to know the enemy, he did not have to be sacrificial…

Li Sinian, however, no longer cared about him, set his chopsticks in front of him, and then began to eat by himself. It was the first time he had cooked those dishes, and they tasted pretty good. He thought they were not too different from what he had eaten at another restaurant before.

When Li Sinian was small, Li Cheng specially hired an etiquette teacher for him, so his eating style was very elegant. But since his rebirth, Li Sinian was very concerned about eating. Every time he ate, he was very serious, so this elegance and seriousness superimposed and his eating face became extra attractive.

How could someone eating be so attractive? It was probably like some mukbang bloggers that increased one’s appetite.

Zheng Ming did not eat dinner, and at his age, boys were easily hungry. Seeing Li Sinian eating so pleasantly, he also could not help but swallow his saliva.

After half a day of struggling, Zheng Ming finally couldn’t resist and gave in to his instincts. There were two dishes on the table, and Zheng Ming first conservatively chose the normal-looking shredded chicken with cold sauce.

The spicy and fresh soup wrapped in shredded chicken, mixed with cilantro. After entering his mouth, the spicy stimulation made him secrete more saliva, but he could not wait to eat the next bite.

The texture of the chicken actually tasted a little woody, but because the sauce was really fragrant, fragrant to the point that he could ignore the texture of the chicken and focus only on the taste of the dish.

Zheng Ming only ate one bite, his eyes lit up, he then went to clip a large chopstick of chicken into his mouth to feel its flavor.

The cold shredded chicken was a Sichuan dish, Li Sinian seasoned the sauce using the village’s own grown spices. After eating two bites, Zheng Ming felt that it was so spicy he could almost not stand it.

He used a spoon to scoop a large mouthful of congee into his mouth, and then was surprised by the taste of the congee.

The ratio of rice to water was just right, not thick like rice, and not like the congee sold outside with excessive starch water content, which looked thick but was actually very thin.

And the starchy water would largely affect the taste and texture of the congee, without the starchy water, the taste of congee was sweeter.

The congee also had chopped bok choy in it, as well as salt and other seasonings, because it tasted salty.

The crushed bok choy was the finishing touch, the sweetness of the vegetables made the congee taste less homogeneous and more chewy.

Zheng Ming didn’t expect Li Sinian to be such a good cook. The cold vegetables and congee gave him a certain degree of trust in Li Sinian’s cooking skills, so he tried it, extending his chopsticks to the fried shrimp with cantaloupe. Then, once again, he felt what it was like to be punched in the face.

The shrimp was well handled, no fishy smell, and the sweet, silky cantaloupe made the already tender shrimp even fresher and more flavorful. It was probably a good control of the fire, the taste of the shrimp was very tender, bursting with juice when bit down, mixing well with the sweetness of cantaloupe.

This combination of fruit and seafood was not only not odd, but exceptionally delicious. Zheng Ming could not hold back and ate several bites.

Li Sinian was very conscious of the quantity of food, so he put down his chopsticks when he was seventy or eighty percent full.

The rest of the dishes and congee were eaten by Zheng Ming, and from the other party’s action of almost licking the plate clean, his skill was really not bad.

After Zheng Ming ate, Li Sinian asked him with a smile in his eyes, “How does it taste?”

Zheng Ming licked his mouth and nodded his head, “It’s okay.”

“Just okay?” Li Sinian also took a look at the plate that didn’t even have any chili left on it.

Zheng Ming also saw it, his ears flushed and he was very embarrassed, “Delicious, especially delicious.”

“That’s good.” Li Sinian smiled, “I plan to open a restaurant. The store is expected to open in three months, thank you for helping me taste the dishes.”

Zheng Ming scratched his head, and the redness on his ears scattered cleanly.

Taste the dishes? So he was invited to eat not because the other side was shocked by his aura, but just because the other needed him to try the dishes?

“I just came to this village, there are not many people I know here. Since you came to my door, I would invite you to eat a meal.” Li Sinian stood up and said to him with a smile, “Judging from your performance just now, my cooking seems to be more to your liking, how about it, do you want to come back tomorrow? You can also bring your friends, I still have many dishes to try and need more feedback.”

Zheng Ming, “…”

 

 

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