The May sunshine was like melted butter, flowing down the kitchen blinds into golden lattices and winding gentle arcs on the white tiles.
Wang Xiaolu stood in front of the stove, the light scar on her wrist faintly visible in the morning light.
He was wearing a washed-out white T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing his slender yet powerful forearms. His fingertips were holding a fresh shrimp, and the transparent shrimp shell made a crisp crackling sound under his fingertips.
"Wang Xiaolu, if Nanhe from 'Deep Sea' could cook, what would his style be?"
Zhang Xuanhua rubbed his sleepy eyes and walked into the kitchen. His black wolf tail was curled up like a squirrel's tail blown by the wind, and his light blue eyes were still stained with sleepiness.
He was wearing panda slippers, his pajamas were askew, and half of an anime figure was visible from his pocket - it was the protagonist of the movie they watched together last night.
Wang Xiaolu turned to look at him, the corners of her mouth curling up unconsciously: "I guess he wants to cook instant noodles like a full-scale banquet."
He placed the peeled shrimp into a celadon bowl and stirred the cooking wine in the bowl with bamboo chopsticks, making a small sound. "But Nanhe's personality is so good, maybe he'll add popping candy to the soup."
Zhang Xuanhua laughed heartily, leaning against the countertop and shaking his figurine. "Then I'm going to give this Nanhe a 'Seafood Porridge Limited Edition Skin'! Look at his pose, he looks even cooler holding a spatula than a trident."
He suddenly leaned closer to Wang Xiaolu's shoulder, his nose twitching. "Wow, they're using scallops today? Last time I had chazuke at a Japanese restaurant, the scallop flavor was so ingrained in my DNA—"
"Come on, you clearly said that bowl of chazuke is not as good as the frozen dumplings I cooked."
Wang Xiaolu interrupted him, but as she turned around, she pulled out a bag of vacuum-packed golden hook scallops from the cupboard. "I saw them yesterday when I passed by the seafood market. The owner said they were new stock that had just been dried."
Zhang Xuanhua's eyes lit up like a child who had discovered a new toy. "Is that the kind you said when we were buying takoyaki at the entrance of the anime convention last time, 'If the scallops are dried well, they'll be so delicious that they'll make your eyebrows fall off'?"
He suddenly reached out and poked Wang Xiaolu's waist, "Tell me quickly, did you secretly cast a 'food spell' on me? Now I get hungry when I smell the fragrance of rice."
Wang Xiaolu slapped his hand away, but the tips of her ears turned slightly red. "Stop talking nonsense and go wash the clams."
He pushed the bamboo basket in front of Zhang Xuanhua, then suddenly remembered something and added, "Last time you said the Jade Dog in Jujutsu Kaisen loves edamame. Do you want to cook some edamame in salt water as a side dish?"
"Great! If Fushiguro Megumi had a roommate who was as good at cooking as you, she would have trained Jade Dog to be a kitchen helper long ago."
Zhang Xuanhua rolled up his sleeves, but when he touched the cold water, he screamed exaggeratedly, "Hiss—this water is colder than Gojo Satoru's reversal technique!"
Wang Xiaolu chuckled, amused, and turned to open the casserole lid. The aroma of rice, mixed with the smell of the sea, filled his face. He stirred the boiling rice with a wooden spoon, watching it bloom into tiny snowflakes in the boiling water.
Zhang Xuanhua hummed the tune of "Love Cycle" while washing clams, and occasionally talked to himself facing the sycamore tree outside the window, as if he was providing background music for the chirping of cicadas in the tree.
"Xiao Lu, when a cicada sheds its shell, will it make that 'pop' sound, like Shinobu Kocho's potion in Demon Slayer?"
Zhang Xuanhua suddenly held up a clam, his serious face reflected on the shell. "How about we name this one 'Inosuke'? Look at the pattern on its shell, it looks like a wild boar's head mask."
"If Inosuke knew he was being compared to a clam, he'd probably chop you with his Nichirin sword." Wang Xiaolu shook her head and laughed, throwing a handful of shredded ginger into the casserole. "But it does look a bit like it. How about making you a 'wild boar head mask shaped rice ball' next time?"
Zhang Xuanhua's eyes lit up, and he almost dropped the clam into the water: "Then I want three! One original flavor, one teriyaki, and one--"
He suddenly lowered his voice, as if to tell a secret, "Add double the shredded nori and pretend it's Inosuke's mane."
"Bring the cooking wine."
Zhang Xuanhua hurriedly put down the clams, but almost knocked over the wine bottle when he picked up the wine. The wine splashed on the tiles, reflecting tiny spots of light.
"Idiot!" Wang Xiaolu laughed and took out a tissue to wipe it. "This bottle of Riesling is the one you insisted on taking out from the wine cabinet last time because you said it was 'like the nectar that nobles drink in anime.'"
"Of course!" Zhang Xuanhua argued, stiffening his neck, his ears reddening. "The porridge you make deserves the best ingredients—just like Porgy in 'The King's Ranking'. Even if he doesn't have the strength to wield a sword, he still deserves the brightest stars."
These words made Wang Xiaolu pause.
He looked down at the gradually thickening porridge in the casserole, with shrimps and clams floating in the beige soup. He suddenly remembered the long nights in the hospital, when Zhang Xuanhua sat by his bed and told him the plot of anime, and used the flashlight of his mobile phone to shine on the comic book, and the shadows danced on the wall into a funny shadow play.
At that time, he always felt like a kite with a broken string, until the boy said: "It doesn't matter if the kite's string is broken. Maybe it will float to a more beautiful place, like the world with takoyaki and seafood porridge."
"Try a bite?" Zhang Xuanhua handed over a wooden spoon. It was half filled with porridge, with a curled-up shrimp on top. "Be careful, it's hot."
Wang Xiaolu blew on it and ate it. The delicious flavor exploded on her tongue, with the richness of the dried scallop and the refreshing sea breeze. It was better than any other time she had ever made it.
He suddenly remembered that when he was working at an izakaya, his boss always said, "You have to put your heart into your food so that people can taste the sweetness."
He didn't understand it then, until this moment, looking at Zhang Xuanhua's expectant eyes, he suddenly understood - it turns out that love is to go to the dock at six in the morning to pick the freshest seafood, to incorporate the jokes of anime characters into the recipes, and to see one's own reflection in the other person's eyes.
My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!
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