The butcher at the next table clapped his hands in laughter, his leather apron swaying with his movements, revealing the dark red lining underneath. "Sir, our Shu chili peppers are truly top-notch!" He raised his wine bowl, amber-colored rice wine sloshing in it, the liquid clinging to the sides like thick honey. "Last year, a convoy leader from Guanxi claimed he could chew five pounds of chili peppers raw. He ended up eating half a pot here. The spiciness was so intense that he hugged the old well across the street for half an hour to soak. In the end, the brothers had to carry him away on a door panel!" The whole place erupted in laughter. The waiter brought freshly brewed Old Eagle tea. The steam from the copper kettle's spout condensed into a white mist in the cold air, like a miniature rainbow, dispelling the burning heat brought by the spiciness.
Jiang Yan sat down panting, watching Su Jinli carefully wipe the oil from the corners of Nianli's mouth with a wet wipe. When the wet wipe passed over the corners of the little girl's mouth, Nianli licked it with satisfaction. Si Yan was lying on the table, fiddling with an abacus, muttering numbers vaguely, with his brows tightly furrowed, as if he was trying to solve some huge problem. The spiciness gradually faded, but a strange sweet aftertaste remained in his mouth, like a burnt land soaked by spring rain, with the warmth of wood ash and the fragrance of soil. He looked at his wife and children making a lot of noise, and suddenly felt that the spiciness of Shu was so refreshing and hot that it made his heart burn - it was not the stinging pain of being burned by fire, but the heat of being warmed by family affection. It was the most real warmth in the world of fireworks, and it was more soothing than any delicacies.
"Another piece of tripe!" Jiang Yan suddenly grabbed his chopsticks and this time steadily dipped the tripe into the non-spicy mushroom pot. Tiny droplets of oil floated on the snow-white broth, like gold foil dotted on an ink painting. Nianli immediately pushed the vinegar dish in front of him. The edge of the dish was still stained with the vinegar she had just poured, and it gleamed sourly in the candlelight. Siyan pushed the remaining sugar cake to his hand. The osmanthus flowers wrapped in oil paper shattered on the table, like a handful of sweet stars. Su Jinli smiled and picked up a chopstick of mushrooms: "You should have listened to me and ordered the mushroom pot earlier."
A family of three laughed heartily in the steam of the hot pot. The flames from the copper cauldron licked the bottom of the pot, illuminating everyone's face with a flushed red glow, even tinging their eyebrows and eyes with warmth. The rain outside the window had stopped at some point, and the lanterns of Chengdu Mansion cast a warm red glow in the damp, cold air, shining through the misted window paper, creating a striking contrast with the bubbling spicy broth in the pot. It was scorching to look at, but warming to the heart. The butcher at the next table downed another bowl of wine, his gruff voice tinged with laughter: "Look at this family, are you enjoying the spicy food?" Jiang Yan raised his tea bowl in a distant gesture of respect. Though the spiciness had faded, the warmth in his heart, like the heat of the hot pot, lingered for a long time.
Jiang Yan picked up the hot pot tripe and stuffed it into his mouth. The fresh aroma of the mushrooms, wrapped in a subtle spiciness, was surprisingly even more delicious than before. He watched Nianli show off, her tongue reddened by the spiciness, while Siyan carefully calculated the cost of the hot pot on an abacus, muttering to himself, "Twenty cents for the soup base, thirty-five cents for the tripe..." Su Jinli smiled as she scooped up a piece of yellow pig's throat with her chopsticks. The strands of hair at her temples, slightly damp from the heat, clung to her smooth forehead like wisps of inky clouds. In that moment, he suddenly understood that the warmest feeling in the world was never the mild mushroom soup, but the steaming reunion dinner before him and the two adorable little kids busy saving the day—they, in their childish way, transformed the spiciness of life into honey, making this Shu night just the right amount of sweetness.
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