CH 22.2

Hearts Softened (2)

While thinking of that, Fang Mu Sen answered otherwise, "No other reason. Mr. Lu wants to eat hot pot, that’s all."

Lu Nan, who came back after answering the phone, heard this sentence.

Lu Nan: "......"

“Mr. Lu.” Fang Mu Sen coughed lightly and took a half step back to give those two spaces.

Only then did Lin Yu He turn around and see Lu Nan. He was curious. “Gege likes spicy food too?”

Lu Nan’s expression was unreadable. “......Hmm.”

Not sure if it was an illusion, but Lin Yu He thought that Lu Nan was silent for a little too long before answering.

As they were talking, their waiting number was called. The two were guided into the restaurant by a server and led to a table by the window.

They were given the menu, and Lin Yu He was about to hand the pencil to the other man when he heard Lu Nan say, “I remembered that you are from Shu Province.”

Lin Yu He nodded. “Yes.”

“I’m not familiar with these,” Lu Nan said. “You can order.”

“Okay.” Lin Yu He took the menu, “Do you have anything you cannot eat?”

Lu Nan replied, “No.”

Lin Yu He asked, “Then what spice level should we order?”

Lu Nan replied, “What level do you usually choose?”

“It depends on the situation. When I go with my friends from Shu Province, we usually eat medium to strong.”

Lin Yu He stared at the bottom of the pot. Doctors recommend against spicy food for asthma patients. However, he had recovered and always took care of his diet on usual days, so it didn’t matter for him to eat spicy meals once in a while. “With friends from other places, we usually choose less spicy.”

Lu Nan said, “Just choose the spicy level you usually choose.”

Lin Yu He said, “Then let’s go with mild? Mild spiciness in Shu is actually quite spicy.”

Lu Nan was silent again for a moment. “......Sure.”

While Lin Yu He asked Lu Nan’s preferences, he ordered many of the must-have ingredients. Once he was done, he handed the menu back to the man to check, and Lu Nan added a few more before handing it to the server.

There were many people in the store, so the pots were served slowly.

After a short while, the server brought brown sugar patties, icing powder, herbal pudding, bubble milk tea, and many more... Desserts filled the entire table.

These were not ordered by Lin Yu He, but were added in by Lu Nan.

Lin Yu He looked at the familiar food in front of him and was lost in thought.

It was only when Lu Nan’s voice sounded that his attention was drawn back.

Lu Nan said, “I remember you said last time that you don’t eat much sweet food.”

Lin Yu He nodded. “Hmm.”

Lu Nan asked, “Why?”

He asked casually, carrying the conversation forth naturally. “The flavor of Shu is spicy and sweet. Do you not like sweets?”

Lin Yu He was silent for a moment, smiled, and said the same thing as last time. "It's not that I don't like it."

His voice was soft, as if a gust of wind could carry it away. "I'm afraid of cavities."

Lu Nan frowned, but he didn’t probe after looking at Lin Yu He's expression.

It didn't take long for the hot pot to be brought up. They ordered the dual-layered pot with a butter soup base. However, this dual-layered pot only had a small round pot in the middle with a clear broth. Comparably, the clear broth pot was really tiny when it was surrounded by a bunch of bright red dripping chili and red oil soup.

Lin Yu He pointed to a panda-shaped block that was brought up together and said, "This is butter, it will melt away when placed in the pot."

The server waited for the two to finish admiring it and then skillfully put the panda-shaped butter into the pot.

When he put the butter into the soup, the floating chili peppers on the surface were pushed to the side, revealing the pure red soup underneath.

The ordinary spicy hot pot had a normal clear broth with chili. However, the butter hot pot they ordered already had red oil in the soup, so the taste would quite stung on the tongue.

Lin Yu He was worried that Lu Nan would not be used to so many chili peppers, but he saw that the other man had no change of expression despite seeing the bottom of the pot. Hence, Lin Yu He did not say anything and felt relieved while thinking, “He didn’t seem to be surprised.”

The ingredients were also brought up one after another. Lin Yu He, a native of Shu, naturally took on the job of putting them into the pot.

It didn't take him long to help Lu Nan serve a plate full of tripe, ten seconds of cooked fresh duck intestines and crystal-like fresh duck blood .......

Until Lu Nan said, “You also eat it. Don’t be in a hurry to cook so much.”

Only then did Lin Yu He put down his chopsticks.

Lin Yu He quickly finished his share, and when he looked up, he realized that Lu Nan had only eaten less than a quarter of the ingredients.

The man was not a picky eater, he ate everything Lin Yu He served him. But he ate very slowly, chewing slowly as if he was savoring.

Was Lu Nan so fond of traditional hot pots?

Lin Yu He watched curiously as the other man ate, and only when he noticed that Lu Nan was drinking water at the rate of one bite with a cup of tea did he realize that it was clearly too spicy for Lu Nan to eat.

Lin Yu He quickly pushed both soy milk and milk tea in front of Lu Nan and said, “Don’t drink tea, soy milk can curb spiciness.”

After he watched the man drink a lot of soy milk, guessing that the other party should have felt better by then, Lin Yu He asked, “Gege, could you not take spicy food well?”

Lu Nan’s face did not reveal anything, even his voice was the same as usual. “I’m fine.”

If he hadn’t seen half of the soy milk Lu Nan finished in one gulp, Lin Yu He would have believed this “I’m fine” statement.