Chapter 51

A kind of ambiguous tension that can only be felt between two people, floating in the air.

Ji Wanmei's cheeks were slightly flushed, whether from the sun or something else, it was hard to tell. In any case, a beautiful peach-pink hue rose on her fair face, making her even more radiant and charming.

Lei Tingjun couldn't take his eyes off her at all.

He stared straight at her, feeling that a bowl of tea was simply not enough to quench his thirst.

A surge of intense heat coursed through my entire body.

It made his muscles tense, his chest and lower abdomen involuntarily tightened, and hot sweat dripped down his temples.

Lei Tingjun picked up the teapot, poured himself another bowl of tea, and then, using the rim of the bowl that Ji Wanmei had drunk from, tilted his head back and gulped down the rest.

Ji Wanmei noticed that when he picked up the bowl, the side she had drunk from wasn't facing him. Instead, he deliberately turned it around so that the side with the lip print he had left while drinking was facing her lips. After drinking, he even smacked his lips and wiped the corner of his lips.

He looked up at her without saying a word, as if he were silently savoring the moment.

Ji Wanmei glared at him with a mixture of shyness and anger, but with everyone at the table, she couldn't say anything and could only lower her head and eat.

This time, however, I didn't dare to pick up that plate of Mapo Tofu again.

"No wonder this Sichuan restaurant is so popular, the food is really good!" Xiaoqiang said, trying to lighten the mood with some funny remarks.

Although Sichuan cuisine is a bit spicy, it is precisely because of its strong flavor and the generous use of oil when stir-frying that it tastes exceptionally delicious.

Uncle Xu was eating so much that his mouth was full of oil that he didn't have time to talk. He only responded occasionally, maintaining the demeanor of an elder.

The landlady next door, after finishing her business at the dried goods store, also has to go home to take care of her large family. She has elderly parents and young children to support, and the whole family depends on the couple's income. They would never be willing to spend money on a meal at a restaurant.

There were five or six dishes on the table, and every single one of them was delicious. Although the Mapo Tofu was prepared differently from the local version, it was very flavorful. And the boiled pork slices were amazing; I don't know how the chef made them, but the pork slices were so tender and smooth. Even the vegetables and bean sprouts underneath were perfect with rice.

She ate almost wolfing it down, her mouth full of food, mumbling as she ate, but she didn't actually have time to speak.

Luo Chunyan was the same. Her family was of average means and could afford to eat out, but her parents were used to being frugal. They ate at home almost every day of the year, except for weddings and funerals.

Moreover, Sichuan cuisine is inherently more oily and flavorful than local home-style dishes. People who are used to bland dishes are completely immersed in the deliciousness of this cuisine.

Just now, Luo Chunyan had time to notice that Ji Wanmei had accidentally drunk from Lei Tingjun's teacup, but now, after tasting a few bites of food, she had no time to pay attention to anything else and kept putting food into her mouth with her chopsticks.

At this table, it's actually Lei Tingjun and Xiao Qiang who frequently eat out.

They were friends, and all were single men without families. Every month after they received their wages, they would invite a few brothers and friends to this restaurant for a drink.

Therefore, Lei Tingjun was relatively immune to these dishes. Although he thought they tasted good, they were nowhere near as worthy of his attention as Ji Wanmei sitting across from him.

He kept his eyes fixed on Ji Wanmei's movements, observing which dishes she liked and disliked, and silently memorizing them.

He discovered that Ji Wanmei's eating habits were relatively bland, and she couldn't handle spicy food very well, at most only mildly spicy. For example, the Mapo Tofu dish she had just eaten was too spicy for her taste.

She also prefers to eat green vegetables, especially leafy greens, and she eats them very politely.

No wonder she's so thin; she hardly eats any meat, and she only eats small bites of white rice.

The way she chewed resembled an elegant and leisurely little deer in the forest.

Lei Tingjun discovered that he could watch Ji Wanmei eat all day long.

He seemed completely absorbed in watching, barely touching his chopsticks. Ji Wanmei, on the other hand, felt a little uncomfortable under his intense gaze and asked softly, "Why aren't you eating? Don't you like Sichuan food?"

"I sometimes come here with friends. The food is pretty good, and the owner is a very easygoing person." Lei Tingjun looked away and casually picked up a bite of twice-cooked pork.

This twice-cooked pork is his favorite dish.

Half fat and half pork, stir-fried until crispy and juicy, with the unique aroma of Sichuan fermented bean paste, it's especially good with rice and also goes well with alcohol.

In the past, when he and his roommates Zhou Peng and Sun Xiaojun came to eat, they would order at least two or three servings of twice-cooked pork to be enough for all of them.

So he comes here often; no wonder he found this place so quickly.

When ordering, everyone was being polite and didn't take the menu. It was Ji Wanmei, the host, who ordered the dishes. Based on her estimate of how much these people would eat, six dishes should be enough for five people.

Looking at it now, the five dishes and one soup on the table, plus a large bowl of white rice, were not enough for these people.

Lei Tingjun barely touched his chopsticks after arriving; he was busy watching Ji Wanmei.

Seeing that the dishes on the table were almost empty, Ji Wanmei called the owner over to order two more dishes.

Otherwise, if her treat leaves everyone hungry, wouldn't that be a poor gesture of hospitality?

If you treat someone to a meal but they don't get enough to eat, then it's a waste of money. What if they come back and say you're stingy, that you treated them to a meal but no one got full?

Seeing that she was about to pick up more food, Lei Tingjun stood up and said, "I'll order. I know the owner of this place quite well. I've eaten here before and I know what their signature dishes are."

Seeing this, Ji Wanmei nodded: "Okay, then you can add two more dishes."

Lei Tingjun then got up and went to the kitchen to find the boss.

The moment he left, the oppressive atmosphere on the table seemed to dissipate instantly.

The landlady, who hadn't said much until now, even let out a loud burp in her relaxed state. She covered her mouth somewhat embarrassedly and chuckled at everyone, saying, "You know what, this restaurant is really delicious. I'll bring my family to try it next time!"

Ji Wanmei said, "There's more if you're not full. I've already asked the owner to add more dishes. I didn't expect the food here to be so good. No wonder the business is so good."

Lei Tingjun spoke a few words to the boss inside, then came back and sat down again.

At this moment, the people at the table all still had more than half a bowl of rice in their bowls, but the dishes on their plates were almost empty. They were all waiting for Ji Wanmei to add more dishes.