“The broth tastes good, doesn’t it?” Yuan Zhou drank a mouthful of the soybean milk blissfully and then asked Broth.
Of course, Broth didn’t respond to him at all. It just lowered its head and drank the broth attentively.
“Actually, I wanted to give you a bowl of soybean milk, but I thought you might not drink it after a second thought.” Yuan Zhou looked at Broth regrettably.
“Gu Dong”. Yuan Zhou drank half a bowl of the soybean milk in one gulp and the aroma of beans swirled in his mouth.
Apart from that, there was also a kind of milky aroma and sweetness of the soybean itself. For the soybean milk without sugar, there wasn’t any underlying bad taste. Yuan Zhou nodded his head contentedly.
“Don’t look at me. I looked it up on the Internet. Some people say you can drink while some others say you can’t. After considering for quite a while, I decide not to let you drink it. The situation would be terrible if you drink it and get diarrhea,” Yuan Zhou looked at Broth that was looking up at him and before saying.
“Sigh. It’s fairly strenuous for me to drink two bowls of soybean milk alone. After all, I still need to eat the tofu pudding later.” Yuan Zhou looked at the other bowl of soybean milk with sugar inside with a seemingly distressed manner.
“Ta Ta, Ta Ta”. Broth left immediately with a leisurely pace, totally disregarding Yuan Zhou’s flaunt.
“Why does it leave so quickly? There’s still a bowl of soybean milk left uneaten.” Yuan Zhou set down the bowl in his hand and then carried up the soybean milk with sugar inside.
“What’s the taste like?” Yuan Zhou drank up a mouthful of the soybean milk at once.
The lukewarm soybean milk passed through his throat smoothly. Then, a hint of sweetness along with a slight taste of sugarcane pervaded his mouth making it feel quite fragrant and sweet.
“Well, the taste of the soybean milk with sugar inside is fairly good.” Yuan Zhou spoke highly of the combination.
Just then, Broth returned together with that gray dog.
At present, Yuan Zhou always gave them two servings of broth. Therefore, Broth would bring the grey dog here to drink it every time he finished drinking. However, it seldom did that in the face of Yuan Zhou.
But obviously, the grey dog had been quite used to drinking the broth over here. It barked happily and immediately ran to Broth’s dog bowl to drink with a sound of “Pa Ji, Pa Ji”.
At that moment, Broth just squatted beside the gray dog while looking up at Yuan Zhou with its dark and limpid eyes.
“Wooo…”, Broth suddenly turned to Yuan Zhou and made mournful sounds. Then, it turned its head and licked the corner of the gray dog’s mouth.
The gray dog immediately raised its head and licked back. And so did Broth. After that, the two dogs began to lick each others’ fur intimately to show how close they were.
“Holy sh*t. Broth, don’t be so mean, okay? It’s no more than a bowl of soybean milk. Why are you doing this to me?” Yuan Zhou looked at the two dogs in surprise.
However, Broth and the gray dog continued licking each other. It was quite a touching atmosphere.
“Great. Broth, you win. You know, you are so stingy. I’m a generous man and I won’t bother myself with you.” Yuan Zhou drank up the soybean milk in a gulp and then immediately closed the back door. Out of sight, out of mind.
“This cunning dog. This stingy dog. Broth is definitely a cunning and mean dog.” Only after Yuan Zhou muttered to himself for a while did he feel better.
Having finished washing the two white bowls quickly, Yuan Zhou tested the temperature of the soybean milk in the pot with his hand. When he felt it was almost alright, he started to add the brine water.
As the small flame was still on when he drank the soybean milk, the temperature in the pot was now extremely high. At that moment, Yuan Zhou took out a big spoon and poured the brine water in the soybean milk by moving the spoon in circles with smaller quantities but more frequency.
At that moment, the snow white soybean milk began to produce little wisps like small pieces of cotton. He continued adding a little brine water and when the tofu pudding coagulated into loose blocks, Yuan Zhou turned off the flame immediately. Then, the tofu pudding took shape.
“Hoo. Looks nice.” Yuan Zhou wiped his perspiration with a towel and looked at the tofu pudding that was as white as polished jade in the pot contentedly.
As the tofu pudding directly took shape in the cylindrical stone pot, it was also shaped like the pot.
Both the tofu pudding and soybean milk were too tender to be scooped or cut with ironware. Naturally, Yuan Zhou still used the bamboo knife.
“Shua Shua.” He waved the bamboo knife and cut the tofu pudding into four identical pieces and then poured them all together into a big bowl.
“There are still 40 minutes left for me to eat. Good.” Yuan Zhou checked the time first before he scooped the rice and began to eat.
Having prepared the dipping sauce in a small plate, he began to eat a bowl of plain white rice along with four bowls of white tofu pudding.
Yuan Zhou removed the froth very carefully when the soybean milk was boiled. Therefore, the tofu pudding in front of him was extremely fine and white and looked extraordinarily smooth and tender.
He picked up a piece of tofu pudding with the taste-free chopsticks. The white and tender tofu pudding quivered slightly between the chopsticks and looked quite appetizing, thus this piece of tofu pudding was eaten by Yuan Zhou directly without even dipping it in the sauce.
The feeling the tofu pudding gave was different from that of the soybean milk when it entered the mouth. After all, soybean milk was for drinking while the tofu pudding was for eating.
Besides, it was best to eat tofu pudding boiling hot. There was even a common saying like that. Therefore, the tofu pudding was really very scalding.
“Hiss. So hot.” Yuan Zhou couldn’t help inhaling.
Even if it was scalding, Yuan Zhou didn’t stop himself from eating it immediately. He chewed it slightly and prepared to swallow it. As the tofu pudding was too tender, it melted at once after it entered his mouth.
A strong bean aroma was emitted. It smelled fragrant and sweet and thus tasted awesome. However, Yuan Zhou couldn’t help knitting his brows.
In rapid sequence, Yuan Zhou picked up another piece of tofu pudding. This time, however, he dipped it in the sauce.
The taste of the sauce was spicy and hot. With the chili powder mixed inside, the red chili oil appeared transparent and glossy. It covered the tender tofu pudding and rushed straight into his mouth along with its overwhelming and spicy taste.
Nevertheless, Yuan Zhou’s knitted brows still didn’t stretch. After that, he began to eat the rice and then the tofu pudding silently. He ate up all the four servings of tofu pudding alone.
“There are still ten minutes left. I still have time.” Yuan Zhou checked the clock on the wall and then he took out his phone and began to call somebody.
The call was made to Zhou Shijie. That’s right. It was a rare moment where Yuan Zhou made a phone call proactively.
“Little Yuan? What’s the matter?” Zhou Shijie was a little muddled when he answered the call.
After all, Yuan Zhou had rarely called others, especially when it was supposed to be the time to prepare the food ingredients.
That was why Zhou Shijie would feel puzzled.
“Chairman, may I ask if you have ever tasted Spring Water Tofu Pudding cooked By Master Shi?” Yuan Zhou asked with a show of seriousness.
“Master Shi? Well, yes,” Zhou Shijie first got stupefied and then he said with a downcast tone.
“Then I’m going to treat you to dinner tomorrow. There’s also a dish named tofu pudding. I hope you can taste it,” Yuan Zhou said immediately.
“That’s good. But apart from the tofu pudding, I must order something else,” on hearing that Yuan Zhou would be treating, Zhou Shijie immediately said with interest.
“No problem. See you tomorrow evening.” Yuan Zhou nodded his head at once to show his consent and then prepared to hang up the phone.
“Wait. Little Yuan, you asked me if I had ever eaten the Spring Water Tofu Pudding cooked by Master Shi. If I hadn’t eaten that dish, you wouldn’t have treated me?” Zhou Shijie suddenly realized the problem.
“Chairman, you originally prepared to come here anyway.” Yuan Zhou didn’t admit it frankly, but he almost meant that.
“You little brat, just stayed there and wait for me. I will reason with you tomorrow evening.” Zhou Shijie immediately got angry and thus scolded him.
“All right. See you then.” Yuan Zhou hung up the phone quite politely.
Having solved the matter lingering in his mind, Yuan Zhou began to prepare the food ingredients for dinner. After all, it was almost business time.
…