BXBX NOVEL Chapter 328: 327 Wonton
Wu Minqi held her chopsticks, with the Yun Chicken still in her mouth, she had already sunk into her memories.
After a long while, she came back to reality as if from another lifetime, and smiled at Jiang Feng, saying, “This time, it tastes exceptionally good.”
As she spoke, Wu Minqi took another piece with her chopsticks.
Jiang Feng smiled subtly, modestly hiding his skill.
Jiang Feng then replicated the process for Wang Xiulian’s taste preference and made a special version of Yun Chicken for her, which indeed turned out to be A-grade. Although he felt regret that this A-grade dish couldn’t yet be added to the menu, Jiang Feng knew that a dish as heartwarming and family-friendly as this was perfect for casual family meals.
Carrying the Yun Chicken, Jiang Feng went out looking for Mrs. Wang Xiulian, ready to have his dear mother try the latest creation.
The first person Jiang Feng saw when he exited the kitchen was Ji Yue. It was hard not to notice her, as the digital tablet in front of her was quite conspicuous.
“Ji Yue, have you seen my mom?” Jiang Feng asked, casually placing the Yun Chicken on the table.
“Mrs. Wang just stepped out. She probably went to buy scallion pancakes, taro balls, milk tea, fried chicken, or cake,” Ji Yue said with an exhausted look.
The bowl beside her, once filled with pure meat wontons, was now empty.
Ji Yue was probably the second person, after Xue Shaoheng, who could finish a bowl of pure meat wontons by herself.
The digital tablet in front of Ji Yue was still blank, displaying only the bowl, spoon, and table—no wontons in sight.
“If you can’t draw it, just forget it,” Jiang Feng suggested. He thought it would be better for Ji Yue to launch a direct assault rather than trying to win over Zhang Guanghang gradually through his interests and hobbies.
After all, with the time, energy, and effort she spent on drawing comics, Ji Yue could have probably pursued Zhang Guanghang successfully by now.
“I can’t just forget it!” Ji Yue said that this wasn’t about a man anymore—it was about dignity. “The soul of this story is the bowl of wontons. If I can’t get the wontons right, the whole comic would be ruined. How could I simply forget it?”
Jiang Feng instantly respected her more, not expecting Ji Yue to be such a persistent and idealistic…
Waitress.
“So… how are you going to draw it now?” Jiang Feng asked.
“I don’t know,” Ji Yue replied expressionlessly.
Jiang Feng: …
“What’s that dish you just brought out?” Ji Yue shifted her gaze to the Yun Chicken on the table.
“It’s a new dish I’ve been working on, sweet and sour. Do you want to try it?” Jiang Feng moved the Yun Chicken in front of Ji Yue. “Don’t move around with your foot like that, I’ll get you some chopsticks.”
Jiang Feng handed the chopsticks to Ji Yue, who immediately reached for the smallest piece of Yun Chicken on the plate.
Ji Yue liked crispy, fried foods, and she favored small portions of this type of pan-fried meat.
After a small piece of Yun Chicken, the worry vanished from Ji Yue’s face, and her eyes glazed over in thought. Suddenly, she burst into laughter.
Coming back to her senses and seeing Jiang Feng watching her, she explained, “I just thought of my younger brother.”
“When I was in junior high, my brother was in elementary school. My mom wouldn’t let us snack too much, afraid that I wouldn’t grow tall and he would gain weight. She would only buy a little bit for both of us, and once it was gone, that was it.”
“So we would sneak each other’s snacks whenever the other wasn’t home, and whenever my parents came back, they would find my brother and me fighting. But later, when I got to high school, my mom stopped worrying about my snacking, and I lost interest in snacks. It seemed that snacks not fought over with my brother just didn’t taste good,” Ji Yue said with a laugh, then, as if struck by inspiration, she picked up the pen and made a stroke on the digital tablet.
The pen paused on the tablet.
Thirty seconds later―
Ji Yue silently erased the stroke she had just made, indicating she still wasn’t inspired.
Jiang Feng: …
Jiang Feng sat in the lobby for over half an hour, and even though the Yun Chicken had cooled, Mrs. Wang Xiulian had not returned. Instead, he was met by Xue Hua and Xue Shaoheng.
Xue Shaoheng was dressed very formally today, sporting a suit and meticulously combed hair despite its natural curl, his big eyes as clear and bright as ever, looking almost like a child dressed in adult clothes.
Xue Hua held Xue Shaoheng’s hand while speaking softly in his ear as they walked.
Seeing Jiang Feng, who was playing on his phone while waiting in the lobby, Xue Shaoheng got excited and pulled Xue Hua’s hand, pointing at Jiang Feng.
“Shaoheng, don’t point at others like that. It’s very impolite,” Xue Hua chided him gently before quickly approaching Jiang Feng.
“Master Jiang, it’s such a relief to see you. I thought my brother and I were going to make a wasted trip,” Xue Hua said. “We came yesterday and at noon today and missed you both times. We only wanted to check and didn’t expect to actually find you here.”
“Looking for me?” Jiang Feng was somewhat flattered.
“Yes, my brother and I are going to Magic City tonight; his art exhibition is about to begin. These last few days, he’s been craving the wontons you make, insisting just now at home that I bring him over. It’s not business hours right now, but could you possibly…”
Jiang Feng immediately stood up: “No problem, I’ll make them for you right now.”
As an outstanding employee of Taifeng Building, Ji Yue got up at once: “I’ll pour some water for you.”
Her first step was unsteady; she limped a bit.
Xue Hua noticed Ji Yue’s difficulty in walking; she recognized her after all, as she and Xue Shaoheng were also regulars at Taifeng Building. It was already out of business hours, and she couldn’t bear to have Ji Yue pour water for her, so she quickly declined.
Xue Shaoheng’s attention was drawn to Ji Yue’s digital drawing tablet; he had never used one for his artwork and was seeing it for the first time.
“Wonton,” Xue Shaoheng pointed at the digital drawing tablet.
“Shaoheng, don’t mess with other people’s things,” Xue Hua said softly and gently, as she was busy placing an order and settling the bill on her tablet and couldn’t stop Xue Shaoheng from walking up to Ji Yue’s digital drawing tablet right away.
“You knew I was going to draw a wonton?” Ji Yue was surprised.
She had some understanding of Xue Shaoheng’s situation and had just heard Xue Hua mention he was going to Magic City for an art exhibition, so she knew her own artistic skills must be far inferior to Xue Shaoheng’s.
Xue Shaoheng didn’t answer and picked up the pressure-sensitive pen, beginning to draw.
One stroke, two strokes, done in one go.
“Shaoheng, don’t mess with other people’s things! And you shouldn’t touch this sister’s drawing without permission!” Xue Hua wanted to stop Xue Shaoheng’s actions.
“It’s alright,” Ji Yue stopped Xue Hua, her eyes fixed on the pressure-sensitive pen in Xue Shaoheng’s hand.
Without any pause or hesitation, Xue Shaoheng drew stroke after stroke, and Ji Yue didn’t dare blink, captivated by the sight. In just a few minutes, a bowl of wontons appeared on the digital drawing tablet.
The wontons that had puzzled Ji Yue for several days were drawn by Xue Shaoheng in just a matter of minutes.
It was as if he had printed the freshly made wontons from Jiang Feng onto the digital drawing tablet; they were an exact match, not just in appearance, but even the impression they gave was identical.
Looking at the wontons drawn by Xue Shaoheng, Ji Yue felt as if she saw that bowl of extremely unpalatable wontons that made her cry and yet eat again.
Even the taste of the wontons seemed to emerge in her mouth.
“Wonton!” Xue Shaoheng pointed at the wontons on the digital drawing tablet, giving Ji Yue a smile.
Ji Yue nodded mechanically: “Yes, wonton.”
Xue Hua also noticed, saying: “Isn’t this the wonton made by Master Jiang? It looks quite similar to me; wontons from other places don’t look like this.”
“Right, the wonton I wanted to draw is the one made by Jiang Feng,” Ji Yue said, her gaze glued to the digital drawing tablet, unable to move away.
Xue Shaoheng put down the pressure-sensitive pen and left Ji Yue’s digital drawing tablet. Xue Hua brought him to a small table to sit down, whispering a warning: “Shaoheng, sister knows you wanted to help this sister draw the wonton, but next time you can’t just take someone’s things without their permission, even if you’re helping. You need to ask for permission, do you understand? This time, this sister was forgiving, but you have to go and apologize to her later, you…”
Xue Hua rambled on into Xue Shaoheng’s ear, and he nodded occasionally while his eyes kept wandering elsewhere, it was unclear how much of her words he actually took in.
A few minutes later, Jiang Feng came out with the wontons, and Xue Hua finally stopped lecturing Xue Shaoheng, who started devouring the wontons.
He was not sad, even feeling a bit happy.
Xue Shaoheng squinted his eyes, swallowing the wonton in his mouth.
He was enamored with the colorful world he saw while eating the wontons: blue sky, white clouds, flowers, birds, doors, home. Compared to these beautiful things, the departure of his mother, who had already faded from his memory, seemed less upsetting.
And there was his sister.
Xue Shaoheng looked up, showing Xue Hua a smile.
In his memory, his sister’s face was forever fixed in her teenaged appearance.
His sister was the prettiest, the most beautiful girl in the whole world!
Ji Yue looked at Xue Shaoheng, glanced at the painting on the digital drawing tablet, and then at the bowl of wontons in front of him, and couldn’t help exclaiming, “Jiang Feng, he is truly a genius.”
Jiang Feng also saw the wontons drawn on the digital drawing tablet and guessed they were drawn by Xue Shaoheng; Ji Yue’s style was not like this.
This made him think of the teacup Xue Shaoheng had drawn in the past with precision as if laid out with a compass, agreeing, “He’s always been a genius.”