Chapter Fifty-Nine: Stuffed Tofu + Stuffed Tofu Puffs...
The two little heads were huddled together, whispering and discussing the story. It was so cute and heartwarming. The girl propped her chin up and watched them. Later, two high school girls arrived and also started playing with the two children.
"Little Tangbao, Xiao Ran is here too." Xu Jiajia liked them very much, like two little glutinous rice balls.
Xu Jiajia sat opposite the two children. After Yi Ling finished ordering, she also started to tease Xiao Tangbao and Xiao Ran.
Yu Miaoyin cut a slit in the tofu puff and squeezed in the minced meat. She stuffed it full, and then pan-fried the side with the exposed meat filling until both sides were golden brown. The aroma of meat mixed with the aroma of caramelization wafted out, and then she poured in a circle of sauce, covered the pot, and simmered it for a while.
Another dish, stuffed tofu, follows a similar process. A hole is hollowed out in the middle of the tofu, and the meat filling is stuffed inside. The tofu is then pan-fried until golden brown on both sides. The beany smell of the tofu is gone, but the fresh aroma of soybeans remains.
Xu Jiajia propped her chin on her hand and said, "Little Tangbao, there are still thousands of days until your high school entrance exam. You must study hard and get into our high school."
"Sister Jiajia, is your school nice? Are there lots of fun things to do? Does it have a slide?"
Xiao Ran also started to imagine, "Will there be delicious food every afternoon?"
The younger children attend kindergarten, while the older girls attend high school. High school is more demanding than kindergarten, and you have to take an entrance exam to get in, so there must be a lot of fun things to do there.
Xu Jiajia said with a look of utter despair, "Is studying and taking exams every day fun?"
Xiao Tangbao recalled how Jiajia seemed to be consumed by exams when she took them, so high school must be terrifying. They should just stay in kindergarten.
"But, going to high school is quite enjoyable." If there were no exams, Xu Jiajia felt she could study in high school for many years, she couldn't explain why, but if she really had to stop, she felt she couldn't do it. Besides, there was a small restaurant run by Sister Ayin across from the high school, which she wouldn't be able to eat at when she went to university.
Aunt Zheng brought the dishes up, and Xu Jiajia, engrossed in the food, lost all interest in talking to the children and quickly started eating, since she still had to go back to her evening self-study session.
"These two smell so good!" Xu Jiajia stared intently at the two dishes. The tender, crispy tofu was stuffed with minced meat and stacked together, glistening with a dark brown sheen. The rich sauce slid down the tofu pieces, and the aroma of beans, meat, and charred meat wafted out from the steam and the gaps in the broth. The minced meat on top of the stuffed tofu puffs was even charred and fragrant. The generous filling made the tofu puffs look like plump little lucky bags.
Xu Jiajia picked up a stuffed tofu puff, blew on it, and gently bit open a small opening. The tofu puff's outer skin was soft yet chewy, while the filling inside was generously packed, its firmness palpable with each bite. The edges of the pan-fried filling were slightly crispy, while the center was tender and smooth. A little sauce oozed out from the opening, carrying a savory and salty flavor. The tofu puff itself had absorbed the sauce and was slightly hot. Xu Jiajia gasped for breath but couldn't bear to stop eating, quickly blowing on it before continuing.
"Little Tangbao, aren't you going to eat?" Xu Jiajia asked Little Tangbao after swallowing the delicious food.
Xiao Tangbao said, "I just ate delicious osmanthus chestnut cake, and when I get home, my older sister will make me other delicious food."
"Okay, stop talking, I'm so envious I could cry." Xu Jiajia said, "Xiao Tangbao is the happiest person in the world. If she could eat such delicious food every day, she would wake up laughing in her sleep."
Xu Jiajia picked up another piece of stuffed tofu. The edges of the tofu were crispy, while the inside was tender. Biting into the chewy meat filling in the middle added a unique texture. After chewing, the rich and delicious sauce made it even better. "This is so delicious too. How come Sister Ayin is such a good cook?"
Yiling thought both were incredibly delicious, and she couldn't decide which one she preferred. Gently poking the stuffed tofu puff with her chopsticks, the juices slid down, the tofu puff skin becoming soft yet still chewy, and the meat filling was very flavorful. The tofu puffs were exceptionally absorbent, bursting with juice with every bite, the sauce and meat juices exploding together in her mouth.
"It's so wonderful to be able to eat such delicious food every day," Xu Jiajia exclaimed a thousand times, holding her bowl.
The others agreed, saying that the food the owner cooked was truly a pillar of their high school life.
"Will Sister Jiajia be happy to eat Sister's food?" Xiaotangbao asked curiously.
"Of course! Food gives people strength and warmth," Xu Jiajia immediately replied. She believes that in this life, one can neglect many things, but one should never neglect one's own taste buds. After all, delicious food is something that truly enters one's mouth and brings genuine happiness.
"I'm also very happy to have eaten Sister Ayin's food. I really like Sister Ayin too." Xiaoran said to Xiaotangbao with a smile. She remembered the fried rice noodles that Sister Ayin had given her, and she thought it was the most delicious thing in the world.
He Tianyou watched Xiao Ran and Xiao Tangbao from a short distance away. The two girls were really cute, especially Xiao Ran...
She seemed to have become a little more cheerful. Her sister had also told him about Xiao Ran, saying that it seemed that Xiao Yin's cooking contributed a little to the success.
Food can save the day!
He Tianyou served himself another bowl of rice, picked up a piece of stuffed tofu, and put it in his mouth. As soon as his chopsticks touched the tofu, he could feel the outer layer was slightly crispy, while the soft tofu inside wobbled slightly. Biting through the crispy edge, the tofu inside was tender and smooth, flowing into his mouth along with the juices from the meat filling. The meat filling was finely chopped, blending perfectly with the bean flavor of the tofu. The savory sauce seeped into the crevices of the tofu, allowing him to taste the aroma of meat and beans with every bite.
"It's delicious!" He Tianyou exclaimed.
Several people entered the store one after another. They ate and chatted happily. The customers who came in couldn't help but smile when they smelled the aroma.
A moment later, a voice broke the silence, "There's still some time before the high school entrance exam, I definitely don't want my son to go to a vocational school."
“But what can I do if he really doesn’t want to read? I can’t just tie him up,” the man said, sounding somewhat resigned.
After saying that, he made another call, his tone much more relaxed and gentle, "Hello, teacher, we've found Xiaoming. We won't trouble you anymore. We really appreciate your help with this. I will educate him properly."
No one could hear the voice on the other end of the phone; all that could be heard was the man's long sigh after he finished speaking.
Just by listening and looking at him, you can tell he's a man who's having a headache over his son's studies.
Yu Guang turned off his phone and looked up, only to realize he'd gone to the wrong shop. He was about to leave when the aroma made him unable to move. Going to the wrong shop? So what? He'd already taken so many wrong turns in life. He'd originally come to buy roast meat, but instead, he'd walked into this little shop.
Thinking of this, Yu Guang sighed and went to order food. He hadn't decided what to eat, but everything smelled delicious, especially fragrant...
Yu Guang couldn't resist and bought one of each to take home.
At home, Yu's mother was talking to her son when the sound of gunshots rang in their ears. "Xiaoming, there's still a year left. If we study hard, we still have a chance."
Xiao Ming heard it, but chose to ignore it. Then came the banging of gunshots, which made Yu's mother's heart tremble.
Knowing that such words would have no effect on her son—he'd heard them so many times that they were probably already going in one ear and out the other—Mother Yu took a sip of water and sighed again.
"Wife, let's eat first." Yu Guang walked in. He felt annoyed and upset whenever he saw his son.
Out of sight, out of mind, Yu Guang didn't look at him, but instead brought the food to the table.
"Do you want to eat?" Yu Guang asked Xiao Ming.
The gunshots stopped, replaced by the sounds of characters landing and being eliminated. Xiao Ming snorted, "I said I'd never eat your food again, and I mean it."
All that was left for them was a departing figure and a tightly closed room door.
Xiaoming is in his final year of junior high school, which is the most rebellious time of his adolescence. He's not doing well in school, and if he has to choose his major based on the high school entrance exam, he'll probably have to go to a vocational school.
Yu Guang and his mother didn't force Xiaoming to get good grades. However, Xiaoming wasn't like this before. In the second semester of his second year of junior high, he seemed to have undergone a complete personality change. He became addicted to shooting games, his grades plummeted, and he started skipping classes to go to internet cafes and arguing with teachers. Today, he skipped class again, and Yu Guang searched for him for a long time before finally finding him in a small internet cafe.
He wanted to persuade Xiaoming to study hard, because he didn't want his son to become like this. But Xiaoming always said, "What's the point of studying if I can't pass the exam?"
Mother Yu shook her head and said, "Luckily, I only had one child, so I can manage one. If it were several, I wouldn't know what to do."
But seeing her son turn out like that still filled her with indescribable sorrow and heartache. She only had one child, and she'd raised him to be like that…
"Let's eat first. I've been busy all day looking for this little brat," Yu Guang said. Besides, the food at this restaurant smelled really good. After smelling it for a while, he felt really hungry and craving it.
Although it was a chance encounter with this shop, wasn't it a delightful surprise? Thinking this, Yu Guang opened the packaging box. Inside, the stuffed tofu puffs and stuffed tofu trembled slightly with the opening. Both were coated in a thick, dark brown sauce, which dripped down the seams, accumulating in a thin layer at the bottom of the box, steaming hot and carrying a mingled aroma of beans and meat. They were neatly arranged in the lunchbox, one next to the other, bulging with filling.
An even stronger, warm aroma wafted over.
Yu Guang had no time to think about the children and quickly called his mother to eat. This stuffed tofu smelled amazing! The edges of the tofu were fried until slightly charred, and the generously stuffed meat filling bulged slightly from the gaps in the tofu. When you bit into it, the crispy outer layer contrasted with the tender tofu inside, and the juices from the meat filling spread across your tongue, the aroma of meat mixed with the fragrance of tofu filling spreading in your mouth.
"The food at this restaurant is so delicious! Where did you buy it?"
Inside the room, Xiaoming, who was playing a game, twitched his nose. It smelled so good. He touched his stomach, became distracted for a moment, and was quickly ambushed by the enemy and eliminated.
My friend yelled into the microphone, "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm hungry, I'm going to get something to eat first," Xiaoming said, pulling out a loaf of bread he didn't even know he'd bought that day, and eating it with some plain water. He wasn't going out to eat, no matter how delicious the food was.
Xiao Ming thought to himself, took another bite of bread, and then thought, even if I were to go out, I should wait until my parents are gone, okay?
Forget it, he swore he would never eat a single bite of food from home again, he won't give in so easily.
In the living room, Mrs. Yu glanced at the closed bedroom door and asked, "Should we invite Xiaoming over for dinner?"
“He won’t respond even if you call him,” Yu Guang said, then quickly picked up a strand of shredded potato. “Let’s eat first. This dish is so delicious, it’s even better when it’s hot.”
Yu's mother, who had been concerned about her son, stopped looking at him and quickly ate her meal. She completely agreed with Yu Guang's assessment; the food was incredibly delicious. The stuffed tofu puffs burst with juice when you bit into them, making the rice moist and flavorful.
By the end of the meal, both of them regretted not having more stomachs, as they simply couldn't eat anymore. Yu Guang got up, cleaned the table, covered the remaining food, and put it in the refrigerator.
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