Chapter 27 The Music Capital felt as satisfied as a little rascal who had successfully stolen a bite...

After a seven-day trip to Budapest, Hungary, the production team took a two-and-a-half-hour train ride to Vienna, the capital of Austria and a world-renowned music city.

The scenery outside the car window was like a flowing scroll painting, gradually transitioning from the vast plains of Hungary to the rolling hills of Austria. Occasionally, red-roofed cottages would flash by, creating a scene reminiscent of a dreamlike fairytale world.

Zhu Qingting sat by the window, soothing classical music flowing from her headphones. Her gaze occasionally drifted to Chai Yundu, who was sitting opposite her, talking quietly with Chen Yifei.

As if telepathically connected, Chai Yundu turned his head to look at her when her gaze swept over again. Their eyes met briefly in the air, and a barely perceptible smile appeared on his lips, carrying a tacit understanding that only they could comprehend.

"Ugh, sitting here is so boring," Chai Yundu suddenly stood up, took his backpack from the overhead luggage rack, unzipped it, and with a whoosh, dumped a whole backpack full of snacks onto the small table between the four of them. Potato chips, dried fruit, nuts, and even a few bags of brightly colored, fragrant-looking spicy strips.

"Come on, sitting here all the time is too boring. I'll start a game of Weile Mahjong on WeChat to practice beforehand. When the time comes, I'll wipe out all the foreign students from the Confucius Institute!"

Chen Yifei immediately perked up, winking mischievously, "Brother Du, just playing cards isn't fun, we need some stakes or punishments!"

Chai Yundu pointed to the mountain of snacks in front of him and laughed, "Isn't this the punishment? The rules are simple: whoever discards the winning tile gets to choose one of the snacks to eat."

"Ah—!" Shan Zhiyi let out a painful wail, "Brother Du, you're killing me by hurting my spirit! You know that Zhu Zhu and I need to maintain our figures, you're so mean!" She exaggeratedly clutched her chest, as if she had suffered a huge blow.

Seeing her resistance only fueled Chen Yifei's enthusiasm. "It's settled then! Meaning, I can't wait to see how you'll be conquered by these super spicy strips!"

Zhu Qingting smiled and joined the game, secretly pleased with herself. Among the four, her card skills were unanimously considered the worst; the rules seemed tailor-made for her, as if they were deliberately feeding her a treat.

As expected, in the very first hand, Zhu Qingting gloriously defeated Chai Yundu. Chai Yundu smiled and precisely picked out the bag of spicy strips with the words "Extremely Spicy" printed on it from a pile of snacks, handed it to her, and said in a deliberately provocative tone, "A bet is a bet, Zhu Zhu, please."

Zhu Qingting readily agreed, saying "I'm willing to accept the loss" as she unpacked the package. The spicy aroma instantly wafted out, and she pretended to take a cautious bite. The rich spice flavor and domineering spiciness immediately exploded in her mouth, making her sweat and gasp for breath, but she ate with great relish.

In the second round, Shan Zhiyi targeted Chen Yifei. True to his word, Chen Yifei cheerfully pushed another bag of the same spicy strips in front of her.

Dan Zhiyi couldn't eat spicy food and needed to protect her voice, so she was on high alert. She carefully pulled out a stick, and as soon as she took a small bite, the chili oil squeezed out instantly, sending a strong, pungent sensation straight to her head. Her eyes immediately reddened, and with tears welling up, she grabbed a mineral water bottle and gulped it down.

Seeing this, Zhu Qingting quickly took out a tissue from her bag to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes, and said softly, "Yiyi, you can't eat spicy food, I'll eat the rest for you."

"No way!" Chen Yifei immediately objected. "Rules are rules, you can't go back on them!"

Dan Zhiyi took the opportunity to turn and hug Zhu Qingting tightly, nuzzling her neck affectionately like a kitten seeking protection. Then, she raised her chin at the two cunning men in front of her, "What do you know? This is called girl helping girl! It's only natural for sisters to help each other!"

Chai Yundu watched as Shan Zhiyi could so naturally cuddle with Zhu Qingting and act coquettishly, his eyes revealing undisguised envy. He also longed to be close to his own darling.

In the following rounds, everyone won or lost, but Zhu Qingting was the one who got the most points in the game. She was happy about it and took the opportunity to enjoy a lot of snacks, feeling as satisfied as a kitten that had successfully stolen some fish.

After the train arrived in Vienna, the group transferred to the program crew's bus and headed to the Confucius Institute in Vienna.

The Confucius Institute in Vienna is quite different in style from the one in Budapest. It is located in a renovated classical building with pure white walls and exquisite carved windows that speak of past elegance, while the interior cleverly integrates highly modern teaching facilities, giving people a novel feeling of time and space intersecting.

The students here come from a wide range of ages, from blond-haired, blue-eyed children to white-haired elders, all of whom share a deep interest in the long-standing Eastern culture.

The core activity arranged by the Confucius Institute this time is "A Bite of China". The Chinese guest team will prepare a sumptuous Chinese lunch for the foreign students, and the foreign student team will prepare a table of their favorite Chinese dishes that they have learned in their classes.

After a lively discussion, the Chinese guest team finalized a "perfect" menu, aiming to showcase the rich layers of Chinese flavors.

Sweet squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, spicy spicy diced chicken, fragrant braised pork, pungent snail rice noodles, as well as Mapo tofu, Kung Pao shrimp balls, stir-fried potatoes, green peppers and potatoes, shredded potatoes and green peppers, tomato and egg soup, and Yangzhou fried rice as the main dish, all ten dishes together symbolize completeness.

The college kitchen instantly transformed into a lively arena.

Chai Yundu volunteered to handle the most difficult fish, the squirrel-shaped mandarin fish. He rolled up his sleeves, picked up a plump mandarin fish, and with a swift stroke, precisely stunned the fish with the back of the knife. His skillful movements drew gasps from the foreign students who were watching the fish being killed.

Immediately afterwards, he took the knife, scraped off the scales, removed the internal organs, and cleaned the wound. His movements were fluid and skillful, clearly those of a seasoned professional.

Facing the surprised looks of the crowd, Chai Yundu skillfully made decorative cuts on both sides of the fish with a knife while calmly explaining, "When I first came to Hengdian to work as a martial arts instructor, my fellow students and I squeezed into a rented room. To save money, we bought our own groceries and cooked our own meals. Preparing fish and meat are all basic skills."

He also suggested the spicy diced chicken, so naturally he was the one to make it. He used high heat and hot oil to stir-fry dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns until fragrant, and the rich, spicy aroma instantly filled the entire kitchen, making one's mouth water.

Zhu Qingting was drawn in by the aroma and couldn't help but swallow her saliva quietly, but she didn't dare to show it too obviously because of the camera.

Chai Yundu caught a glimpse of her greedy expression out of the corner of his eye and chuckled inwardly. He picked up a piece of freshly fried chicken, coated in bright red chili oil, and quickly brought it to her lips when no one was looking, whispering, "Try it to see if it's salty enough."

Zhu Qingting was stunned for a moment, then quickly opened her mouth to take it. The chicken was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, which made her squint her eyes in satisfaction.

Chen Yifei happened to see this scene and immediately came over shouting, "Wow! Brother Du, you're being unfair! I want to try it too! I want to judge the saltiness too!" This caused everyone to burst into laughter.

The other guests also showcased their skills. Teacher Ding Yi's braised pork was glossy red, tender and tempting; Liu Xin's Kung Pao shrimp balls were sweet and sour, with bouncy shrimp; Zhao Lin's Mapo tofu was spicy and fragrant; Shan Zhiyi's green pepper and potato shreds were refreshing and not greasy; Chen Yifei even showed off his wok-flipping skills, making his hometown Yangzhou fried rice with each grain distinct.

Zhu Qingting, however, faced a formidable challenge. Her culinary skills were limited; aside from salads and fried eggs, she knew nothing else. Salads clearly lacked Chinese character, and fried eggs, as a main lunch dish, were hardly considered elegant.

After much thought, she decided to contribute the only two packets of "spiritual sustenance" she had in her suitcase—river snail rice noodles. She planned to cook the two packets together in one pot as a dish.

But simply cooking instant snail rice noodles seemed a bit plain, and she was also worried about being criticized by netizens for being perfunctory. She remembered the soul accompaniment to snail rice noodles—fried eggs. Thinking that fried eggs and pan-fried eggs should be similar, she decided to give it a try.

However, Zhu Qingting was somewhat intimidated by the pot of boiling oil. The moment the beaten egg mixture was slowly poured into the oil, oil splattered everywhere, startling her so much that she cried out and jumped back.

Chai Yundu, who had been silently watching her from the side, immediately stepped forward and naturally took the chopsticks and bowl from her hands, saying in a calm tone, "Let me do it. The oil is hot and you might burn yourself."

He skillfully spread the egg mixture, and soon, a fluffy, crispy, and golden-brown perfect fried egg was formed.

"Come here, turn it for a few seconds, and you can take it out of the pot," Chai Yundu said, beckoning Zhu Qingting to the pot only after he saw that there was no danger.

Looking at the fried egg dish that the two of them had made together, Zhu Qingting felt a warm glow in her heart.

After an hour and a half of intense work, the two sides finally completed all twenty dishes, which were placed on a huge round table in the center of the cafeteria.

The ten dishes prepared by the Chinese guests were interspersed with the ten dishes prepared by the foreign students, creating a dazzling array of dishes that were filled with aromas.

Fourteen people sat together in a lively atmosphere. The Chinese guests warmly invited the foreign students to sample their cooking.

Seeing the students raving about the sweet and sour crispy squirrel-shaped mandarin fish, giving a thumbs-up even though they were gasping for breath from the spiciness of the spicy chicken, and going from initial doubt to acceptance and even love for the unique "fragrance" of snail rice noodles, everyone felt incredibly proud and gratified.

They were also warmly invited by the foreign students to sample the dishes prepared by each other. One student, who spoke fluent Chinese, proudly introduced, "My favorite class is the cooking class at the Confucius Institute! Not only can I learn Chinese, but I can also learn such wonderful Chinese food! I even work part-time at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown during my holidays!"

Another elderly man with white hair was particularly fond of Ding Yi's braised pork, carefully inquiring about the cooking time and seasoning combination, his eyes filled with admiration and a desire to explore Chinese culinary culture.

At the round table, food became the best bridge for communication. In Vienna, the music capital, they composed a moving symphony of food, culture, and friendship in the most down-to-earth way.