Chapter 76: Sticky Rice Rolls p2
Unhappy? Food was the answer. Mi Hongdou took a large bite of the glutinous rice balls.
“Hey…” Ji Junxin’s voice was weak.
Mi Hongdou, her cheeks puffed out, looked at Ji Junxin, whose expression had shifted from hesitation to despair.
“Can you… save a bite for me?” Seeing that the rice roll was already half gone, Ji Junxin finally spoke. “Just one bite… please…” Asking for food was embarrassing, and Ji Junxin blushed slightly, gently tugging at Mi Hongdou’s sleeve.
Mi Hongdou paused. “I’ll ask Bai Tang to buy you another one…” She took out her phone.
“No…” Ji Junxin stopped her. “Then forget it… it’s a long drive, and they’re probably sold out by now. I’ll have it tomorrow.” She retracted her hand.
…Shen Zhu was right, she should have checked the filling before eating, Mi Hongdou thought, holding the half-eaten rice roll, feeling conflicted.
“Eat quickly, it will be hard when it’s cold,” Ji Junxin said, repeating Mi Hongdou’s earlier words, her expression encouraging.
“…” Mi Hongdou brought the rice roll to her mouth, then noticed Ji Junxin staring at it intently. She moved it away, and Ji Junxin’s gaze followed. In this situation, how could she possibly eat it?
Mi Hongdou sighed. “But I’ve already eaten half of it, do you mind?”
“I don’t mind,” Ji Junxin answered quickly, then, embarrassed, looked away.
“I’ll buy you one tomorrow, okay?” Mi Hongdou still couldn’t bring herself to give Ji Junxin her half-eaten food. It was too pitiful.
“…” The anticipation on Ji Junxin’s face faded, replaced by a faint disappointment and resignation. “Okay.”
She looked so pitiful! Mi Hongdou’s heart ached. She wondered if she could stop filming and rush back to make her a fresh one…
Naturally, that was impossible.
After another moment of hesitation, Mi Hongdou couldn’t resist the pitiful little foodie and handed her the rice roll. “If you don’t mind…” Before she could finish, the rice roll was snatched from her hand.
“Thank you!” Ji Junxin quickly took the half-eaten… sticky rice roll.
Just as Mi Hongdou thought she would eat it immediately, Ji Junxin handed it back.
“…You eat first, just save the last bite for me.” Although reluctant, Ji Junxin resolutely returned the rice roll.
How could she only save one bite for such a pitiful creature? Mi Hongdou chuckled and put the rice roll back in Ji Junxin’s hand. “It has so much filling, I’m already full after half of it, you eat it.”
Ji Junxin held the rice roll, her face burning, but she still looked at Mi Hongdou suspiciously. “Are you really full?”
Mi Hongdou nodded seriously.
“Thank you!” Ji Junxin thanked her again, then happily took a bite. Sticky rice rolls should have fried egg, sausage, and pork tenderloin, with lots of sweet and spicy sauce and salad dressing, not this dry, pickled mustard greens, youtiao, and meat floss filling! Ji Junxin was so satisfied she almost cried. She had been craving glutinous rice balls for days, but either she had left too early, and the shop wasn’t open yet, or too late, and they were sold out. Or, while filming the estate scenes, there were other people in the chauffeured car, and she was too embarrassed to ask them to make a detour. Fortunately, there was Bai Tang… Bai Tang was such a good assistant!
Seeing Ji Junxin happily eating the half-eaten rice roll, Mi Hongdou felt both apologetic and embarrassed.
She remembered a time in her previous life when Qiao Rubai, on a whim, took her and Ji Junxin to a farmhouse restaurant in the mountains. Halfway there, they had a flat tire, in the middle of nowhere, and Qiao Rubai’s car didn’t have a spare. Fortunately, although the location was remote, they had cell service. After calling for help, they could only wait in the car. Before the flat tire, Ji Junxin had said she was thirsty and wanted to have a big pot of soup at the restaurant. Now, they were stuck. As they waited, Ji Junxin’s lips became dry, and Mi Hongdou, seeing Qiao Rubai’s half-empty water bottle, suggested that Ji Junxin have some. But Qiao Rubai chuckled and said that Ji Junxin was always a bit particular, she wouldn’t touch anything that someone else, even Qiao Rubai, had already eaten or drunk. Ji Junxin had smiled and agreed. After that incident, Qiao Rubai installed a small refrigerator in her car, always stocked with food and drinks.
Mi Hongdou glanced at Ji Junxin, who was happily eating. Did this… mean that in her heart, she was now closer to her than Qiao Rubai? Mi Hongdou didn’t dare to ask, but just the thought made her feel a strange sense of happiness.
Having finally eaten the glutinous rice balls she had been craving, Ji Junxin was happy, her earlier embarrassment from begging for food now gone. After a satisfying bite, she said to Mi Hongdou, a little embarrassed, “Have some soy milk… or… do you want to go back to Jiang Lingling’s table and have some more food?”
Since Ji Junxin had already taken the rice roll and eaten it, Mi Hongdou didn’t have to pretend to be full anymore. She pointed at the other half-eaten rice roll that Ji Junxin had put aside. “Give me that one.”
“…” Ji Junxin didn’t take the rice roll, shifted uncomfortably, and after a moment, mumbled, “I… already took a bite.”
“I know, I saw it.” Seeing Ji Junxin’s awkwardness, Mi Hongdou suddenly felt better. “Give me my pickled mustard greens, youtiao, and meat floss roll back.”
Snatching food from Mi Hongdou’s mouth had already been embarrassing enough. But giving Mi Hongdou her half-eaten food was beyond the limits of Ji Junxin’s shame.
As Ji Junxin hesitated, Mi Hongdou reached over, took the rice roll, and before Ji Junxin could stop her, took a bite. “Mmm… this one is so much better…”
Too late…
Ji Junxin stopped protesting, her face burning, and focused on eating. It was her own fault, her craving had gotten the better of her… Mi Hongdou had just eaten from the same rice roll… was that… an indirect kiss? The belated realization made Ji Junxin freeze, and she choked on the food, coughing.
“Hey, are you okay?” Mi Hongdou quickly patted her back. “Eat slowly, no one’s fighting you for it.”
Right… she had also eaten from the same rice roll, so she had also… indirectly kissed Mi Hongdou? The choking Ji Junxin coughed even harder, tears welling up in her eyes, but her thoughts continued to race.
The two in the car, having indirectly kissed, although embarrassed and overthinking, were heading towards happiness. But those outside the car weren’t so lucky.
Just as the assistant and Jiang Lingling were discussing Ji Junxin’s assistant, Shen Zhu, Mi Hongdou’s message arrived.
Take Shen Zhu to the breakfast table and don’t let her leave until she’s about to burst? Jiang Lingling, at first, didn’t understand. She hadn’t known how bad the breakfast was before, but now, having tasted it, she felt that calling it “ordinary” was a compliment. She herself found it difficult to swallow, how could she enthusiastically invite someone else to eat it? But after rereading the message and recalling Mi Hongdou’s earlier suggestion of trying the breakfast… So, Mi Hongdou knew the food wasn’t good, yet she still wanted Shen Zhu to eat it, to eat until she was about to burst? What grudge did she have against her?
Regardless of the grudge, Jiang Lingling loved a good show, especially since Mi Hongdou’s message also included “I’ll reward you handsomely later.” She wasn’t short on money, so what was the reward? Jiang Lingling excitedly started planning the menu in her mind, her gaze fixed on the girl getting out of the chauffeured car, waiting for her to approach so she could quickly complete Mi Hongdou’s task.
Who knew that the girl, after getting out of the car, just glanced at Jiang Lingling and then walked in another direction.
Honey-stuffed dates, cold jellyfish salad, boiled chicken, braised beef, pickled radish, rice cakes with dates… Jiang Lingling’s mental list of cold dishes wasn’t even finished when she saw her target walking away. This wouldn’t do! She hadn’t even started on the hot dishes, soups, and desserts!
“Go, quickly invite that Shen Zhu over here, tell her Mi Hongdou asked me to treat her to breakfast.” Jiang Lingling pointed at the retreating Shen Zhu and told her assistant to quickly bring her over. “Didn’t you say she talked to you earlier? Coax her, trick her, whatever it takes, just bring her here. And make sure she eats her fill.”
“…Eating her fill is one thing, but eating here? The food isn’t very good…” The assistant muttered, then quickly ran after Shen Zhu.
Hmph, where was that timid, easily bullied assistant! Now she was even making comments! Who did she learn that from! Jiang Lingling proudly raised her chin and quickly examined the breakfast spread. She had tried several dishes earlier. Since Mi Hongdou said “take good care of her,” she should choose the most… unique ones for Shen Zhu.
While her assistant was off fetching Shen Zhu, Jiang Lingling diligently selected a few of the more… interesting dishes she had tried. But looking at the amount, it didn’t seem like enough to make someone burst. But it didn’t matter, once her assistant returned, they could choose more “delicacies.”
Shen Zhu was also unlucky. She had tried to befriend Jiang Lingling’s assistant a few days ago, so now, when the assistant approached her enthusiastically, inviting her to breakfast, she couldn’t refuse. Actually, it wasn’t the assistant she was afraid of offending, it was Jiang Lingling, who was standing by the long table in the distance.
When the assistant first invited her, Shen Zhu had used the excuse of having already eaten. Later, the assistant brought up Mi Hongdou’s name, saying that Mi Hongdou had specifically asked them to invite her. Shen Zhu, who had just had a confrontation with Mi Hongdou, didn’t dare to refuse, but she also didn’t want to go. The clever assistant, seeing that mentioning Mi Hongdou had the opposite effect, changed her tactic and brought up Jiang Lingling. Jiang Lingling rarely treated people to meals, it was an honor to be invited, if she couldn’t bring Shen Zhu back, Jiang Lingling would think she was incompetent and might even punish her… The assistant’s performance was dramatic and even a little pitiful. Shen Zhu, however, felt a cold sweat. The assistant wasn’t just talking about being punished, she was implying that if Shen Zhu refused, Jiang Lingling, with her temper, would definitely remember it.
Although she hadn’t been close to Ji Junxin, Shen Zhu regularly came to the set. Gossip spread quickly among the crew, and she knew about Jiang Lingling’s retaliation against those who had tried to make things difficult for her. In Shen Zhu’s eyes, Jiang Lingling was rich, clever, and petty, definitely not someone to be offended. Now, with the assistant’s thinly veiled threat, how could she refuse?
So, the assistant successfully brought Shen Zhu back.
Jiang Lingling greeted them with a smile and enthusiastically introduced the breakfast dishes she had selected, dry and wet, meat and vegetables. The apprehensive Shen Zhu was pressed into a seat, and in the blink of an eye, a pile of food appeared in front of her.
“That’s… enough, enough…” Seeing Jiang Lingling reaching for a basket of steamed sponge cake, Shen Zhu finally spoke. “I’ve already had breakfast, it’s too much, I can’t finish it.”
“How can you not finish it? The dim sum portions are small, and the congee and soup are just small bowls. This isn’t even enough, I’ll get you more later.” Jiang Lingling, afraid of scaring her away with too much food at once, put down the sponge cake and stopped adding more for now. Even so, there were already two bowls of congee, one bowl of wontons, two bowls of rice noodles, a bowl of thin noodles, and seven baskets of dim sum in front of Shen Zhu.
Jiang Lingling didn’t leave, just looked at her intently. Even Shen Zhu, as clueless as she was, knew that she couldn’t leave without eating. She just hoped… that Jiang Lingling only wanted her to eat some, not all of it. Clinging to this last shred of hope, Shen Zhu hesitantly picked up a piece of steamed pork ribs with black bean sauce.
Salty, fishy, and tough… Shen Zhu was stunned after one bite.
“Delicious, right?” Seeing Shen Zhu’s struggle to swallow, Jiang Lingling quickly said, “I spent a fortune buying this restaurant a few days ago and specifically asked the chefs to make this breakfast. How is it? Isn’t it amazing!” Actually, it didn’t cost that much, she just wanted to exaggerate and intimidate Shen Zhu.
Shen Zhu looked at Jiang Lingling, shocked. What kind of taste buds did she have to say such a thing? It was practically inedible, what was amazing about it!
Facing Shen Zhu’s skeptical gaze, Jiang Lingling maintained her confident and smug expression. After all, she had been quite proud of this breakfast before tasting it. She would just temporarily forget about the actual taste.
Shen Zhu looked at Jiang Lingling for a moment, realizing that she was genuinely proud of the food, and couldn’t bring herself to spit out the pork rib. Doing so would be a direct slap in Jiang Lingling’s face. Shen Zhu knew that as a small-time assistant, if she offended Jiang Lingling, her chances of survival were zero. So she endured, swallowed the pork rib, and spat out a clean bone.
Jiang Lingling smiled, pleased that the food from her restaurant was appreciated.
Shen Zhu, now trapped, avoided the pork ribs and picked up a shumai. It looked like it was just made of rice, it shouldn’t be fishy… She carefully took a bite. The skin was hard, the rice dry, the flavor bland… it was like eating a three-hundred-year-old dried rice ball… Shen Zhu chewed with difficulty, wanting to throw down her chopsticks and leave.
But…
Jiang Lingling said excitedly, “Aiya, Shen Zhu, you have such good taste, this is made by the best dim sum chef in my restaurant, delicious, right? Eat more!”
The best dim sum chef… she hadn’t even met all the chefs in her restaurant, what a liar. The assistant silently hid her face.
Shen Zhu forced a smile and swallowed the ancient rice ball.
Jiang Lingling’s smile widened.
What a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the assistant thought, her gaze distant.
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