Chapter 38: Sandwich
On the coffee table, a square sandwich was cut diagonally into two triangles. Judging from its thickness, it looked very substantial. As she got closer, the aroma of toasted bread intensified, and Ji Junxin gulped silently. Next to the sandwich, a glass was filled with a milky white liquid. Sniffing it, it seemed to be milk. Under the glass was a quarter of an A4-sized piece of paper, which read, “Celebrating one month of living together! o(n_n)o~”. Ji Junxin picked up the still slightly warm glass of milk, took out the paper, and felt a warmth emanating from the delicate handwriting.
She washed up faster than ever. Forget about lotion, Ji Junxin didn’t even apply toner, returning to the coffee table in record time. She touched the glass of milk. Yes, still slightly warm. It seemed that her speed, despite having to suppress her appetite, was commendable. The aroma of breakfast was enticing. Ji Junxin, finally back at the table, didn’t immediately reach for the food. Instead, she picked up the note she had already read several times before washing up, read it again, carefully placed it aside, and picked up the glass of milk.
The milk was rich, smooth, and not greasy, with a hint of sweetness. It must be fresh milk with a shelf life of five to seven days, heated gently with a little sugar. Ji Junxin loved this taste and took several sips. The warm milk flowed down, warming her from the inside, dispelling her drowsiness and bringing a morning vitality.
For Ji Junxin, whose cooking skills were subpar and showed no signs of improvement, besides meticulously calculated egg fried rice, milk with cereal was her most frequently made dish. Fresh milk, gently heated, a little sugar added, removed from the heat while still warm, and then poured over honey-flavored cereal rings, eaten quickly after stirring. The crispy cereal rings had to be eaten immediately after being soaked in warm milk, so that the outer layer was slightly moist while the inside remained crispy. A satisfying crunch with every bite, fragrant and delicious, mixed with milk, no matter how much she ate, it wouldn’t be dry. After finishing the cereal, there would usually be a little milk left, infused with the honey and wheat flavors from the cereal, tasting much better than plain milk. Compared to the complexity of stir-frying different dishes, with different amounts and combinations of ingredients, requiring different amounts of oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, adding a fixed amount of sugar to a fixed amount of milk was much easier for Ji Junxin. So, milk and cereal were always stocked in her apartment as emergency rations. Therefore, adding sugar to milk, even if Ji Junxin wasn’t an expert, wasn’t exactly new to her. But for some reason, she felt that this glass of milk, both in terms of flavor and texture, was much better than what she usually made. It was strange.
There was no cereal to go with the delicious milk, but compared to cereal, the sandwich on the plate was clearly more tempting.
The greater the anticipation, the greater the need for patience. The warm milk dispelled the freshness from washing up, while also putting her body in a state of maximum craving and anticipation for food. Ji Junxin approached the sandwich, cut into two triangles, with the anticipation of a grand feast, not finding anything wrong with such solemnity.
The bread slices on the outside of the sandwich were slightly yellowed, with a subtle sheen. Ji Junxin picked up the triangle on the right. The sandwich felt a little firm, not as soft as the ones she usually bought from the bakery. From the cut side, she could see layers of lettuce, egg crepe, ham, and meat floss between the two slices of bread. The vibrant red, yellow, and green layers were visually appealing and appetizing. All the preparation and waiting were for this moment, for this perfect bite! Ji Junxin’s fingers tightened around the sandwich, and she took a bite…
Restraint and patience were just a facade. In reality, Ji Junxin, driven by intense craving, had washed up and even lingered a bit. When she finally started eating, she took a large bite, her pearly white teeth brushing past her fingers holding the sandwich. The sandwich lost a significant chunk, the teeth marks very close to her fingers. If someone saw this scene, they would definitely ask if she had bitten her finger. Of course, Ji Junxin wouldn’t admit it, even though the part of her finger that brushed against the teeth marks on the sandwich throbbed with a dull pain…
As the saying goes, when it comes to food, nothing else matters. Ji Junxin, after taking a bite of the sandwich, didn’t have the slightest bit of attention to spare for her narrowly escaped, slightly injured finger, because all her senses were captivated by the wonderful taste in her mouth.
As soon as she bit into it, Ji Junxin knew that the outer layer of bread was different from the sandwiches she usually bought. Fragrant! Crispy! Crunchy! Her teeth easily broke through the slightly firm outer layer of bread, and then came the soft inside.
The seasoned, thin egg crepe layers provided a rich and substantial texture. The pan-fried ham slices were firm and slightly crispy on the surface. The concentrated aroma, compressed during the frying process, now exploded in her mouth, intoxicating her senses. And the loosely layered, sweet, savory, and fragrant meat floss, a taste of childhood, added a sense of comfort and nostalgia to the sandwich. The lettuce, also used as filling, must have been blanched. Although it wasn’t as crisp as raw lettuce, it still retained its fresh fragrance and successfully neutralized the greasiness of the sandwich. Although the blanched lettuce wasn’t as texturally pleasing as raw lettuce, from a hygiene and safety perspective, it showed the maker’s care. During the month they lived together, they had gone to the buffet downstairs twice. Every time she took some raw vegetables, Mi Hongdou, with a worried expression, would silently replace them with other food. Thinking about how Mi Hongdou, although young, acted mature and caring, the slightly wilted lettuce tasted even better than usual.
Thin egg crepes, pan-fried ham, shredded meat floss, blanched lettuce, and evenly spread salad dressing, the five flavors blended harmoniously, each detail showing care. But the most amazing part was the two outer slices of bread, crispy and fragrant, both in texture and taste, far superior to bread toasted in a toaster or oven. Ji Junxin carefully examined the sandwich in her hand, which was now less than half after one bite. Hmm, there were some oil stains on the surface, but it didn’t taste greasy… With Ji Junxin’s limited culinary experience, analyzing how the bread slices were made was naturally… impossible. Fortunately, for a foodie, such inquisitive thoughts were fleeting. Her attention was quickly drawn back to the food itself.
Delicious and limited food should be savored to maximize the enjoyment. Ji Junxin, having tasted the deliciousness, abandoned her earlier aggressive approach and slowly finished the rest of the sandwich in small bites. After a few more sips of milk, she reached for the other triangle on the plate. Fortunately, Mi Hongdou had made two, not just one. Otherwise, being unsatisfied halfway through would be torture. One sandwich was just enough to satisfy her initial craving. She would savor the second one slowly.
She picked it up and took a bite. The same crispy bread slices. Ji Junxin, enjoying the deliciousness, narrowed her eyes, but they widened in surprise when she tasted the filling.
What was this? Savory, fragrant, and fresh, with a smooth and creamy texture and a subtle graininess. The rich aroma was like crab roe, but without the fishy smell. Savoring it carefully, there was also a faint fragrance of cucumber. One bite, and the delicious taste was incredibly tempting. She wanted to take another bite immediately, but she also wanted to linger on the lingering aftertaste of the first bite. It was a dilemma. She had assumed both sandwiches were the same and hadn’t looked closely at the second one before taking a bite.
Ji Junxin looked at the side of the sandwich. The filling had three layers: off-white, bright green, and orange-yellow. The off-white layer was the thickest, followed by the green, and the orange-yellow was the thinnest. The three layers of smooth and delicate filling were neatly arranged in the sandwich. The orange-yellow layer, although the thinnest, was the most eye-catching. Ji Junxin carefully observed and then cautiously tasted each layer separately. The off-white one seemed to be mashed potatoes with a hint of black pepper. The bright green one was finely diced cucumber, almost like cucumber puree. And the thinnest orange-yellow layer was the key to the entire sandwich’s flavor: crushed and spread salted egg yolk! Although she couldn’t tell whether it was salted duck egg yolk or salted chicken egg yolk, for someone who always wished salted eggs were all yolk and no white, that savory, fragrant, and rich orange-yellow filling, with its oily sheen, was incredibly tempting.
Ji Junxin had eaten many kinds of sandwiches, from simple ham and egg or meat floss and egg sandwiches to more elaborate tuna or beef sandwiches… but she had never eaten such a strange yet incredibly delicious combination of potato, cucumber, and salted egg yolk. The richness of the salted egg yolk, combined with the smooth mashed potatoes, was even better than crab roe in terms of flavor explosion. It was shockingly delicious.
So, the question now was… why was this sandwich so small!
The delicious breakfast brought an incredibly good mood, which lasted until Ji Junxin arrived at the set and saw Jiang Lingling having her makeup done backstage.
Among the drama’s investors, there were Qiao Rubai and Yang Lianyi, who couldn’t be swayed by money, and naturally, there were others who could be easily bought. The day after the test shoot at the estate, Jiang Lingling replaced an actress who had already filmed several scenes and joined the crew. Of course, officially, the actress had suddenly become unwell and withdrew from the production, and Jiang Lingling took over. But how Jiang Lingling actually joined the crew, everyone knew.
This kind of thing wasn’t uncommon in the industry. It would be gossiped about for a few days, and then forgotten. Moreover, “Imperial Secrets” had already undergone a major overhaul of the script and cast a month after filming started. Compared to that, Jiang Lingling just taking over a small supporting role wouldn’t cause much of a stir. However, what everyone didn’t expect was that after Jiang Lingling joined the crew, the scenes for this supporting concubine were also revised.
As a drama mostly set in the harem, besides a few important characters like Ji Yan, Miao Qianye, and the young Empress, the other supporting concubines weren’t complex. The supporting concubine that Jiang Lingling replaced was originally just a stepping stone in Miao Qianye’s rise in the harem, causing some trouble and spreading some rumors before fading into the background. But after the revision, this concubine had a special background and became an important supporting character with a specific purpose in the estate scenes. Not only did her screen time increase, but more importantly, the originally bland villain, after the changes, gained depth and complexity, leaving a deeper impression on the audience. Not to mention others, just the actresses playing the other ordinary concubines naturally felt uncomfortable. But feeling uncomfortable didn’t change anything. After all, she had a rich and influential godfather, they couldn’t compete.
They couldn’t compete with her godfather, but they could still play some tricks. Cold shoulders, exclusion, snatching makeup artists, deliberately causing NGs, petty actions were endless, and it seemed to have escalated to snatching boxed meals in the past two days. The originally harmonious atmosphere on set was now somewhat chaotic. But these petty actions wouldn’t normally be too excessive or last too long. It was just that Jiang Lingling was someone who wouldn’t take any losses. Ignoring the exclusion was one thing, but last time, a girl who had just found an excuse to snatch Jiang Lingling’s makeup artist was somehow locked in the bathroom and couldn’t get out. Everyone guessed it was Jiang Lingling’s doing, but there was no proof. And the girl who deliberately caused Jiang Lingling to NG a few times, when filming a rain scene later, Jiang Lingling made mistakes and NGed dozens of times, resulting in several actors, including Jiang Lingling herself, catching a cold. If it was a coincidence, who would believe it? But in this industry, even petty actions were usually done discreetly and subtly. Jiang Lingling was so straightforward, unwilling to suffer any losses, retaliating directly, even if it meant harming herself in the process, as long as she could vent her anger.
Jiang Lingling’s godfather had money, but he wasn’t very familiar with the inner workings of a film set. Jiang Lingling wasn’t signed with an agency, so no one smoothed things over for her. Her direct retaliation did make some of those playing petty tricks restrain themselves, but others were probably plotting even worse tricks. The atmosphere on set seemed to have worsened in the past few days.
These things wouldn’t normally affect Ji Junxin. She had seen similar things happen on other sets before, but they never happened to her, and Qiao Rubai never let her get involved. This time, Ji Junxin, who already didn’t have a good impression of Jiang Lingling after the food-snatching incident, naturally wouldn’t get involved. She just watched them go back and forth, and in the end, Jiang Lingling didn’t suffer any real losses. She didn’t understand what they were trying to achieve.
This month, most of Mi Hongdou’s scenes were for the other production. She didn’t have many scenes here, and when she came, she filmed and left. Ji Junxin was worried that with the young empress’s scenes starting soon, she didn’t know if Mi Hongdou could adapt to such a bad atmosphere on set. She didn’t expect that after all this commotion, Director Pan hadn’t intervened. Wasn’t he afraid that it would affect the filming? Ji Junxin had thought that Director Pan would finally step in after the rain scene with dozens of NGs, but he didn’t do anything, which was strange.
With Ji Junxin’s current status in the industry, she could ignore those petty actions, stay out of it, and it wouldn’t affect her. What she didn’t expect was that today, as soon as she entered the makeup room, Jiang Lingling, with half-finished makeup, walked up to her and, with just one sentence, dispelled the good mood brought by the two sandwiches.
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