Chapter 765: Chapter 299: Shaken, Provocation, Overturned
Like sitting on pins and needles, like thorns in the back, like a bone stuck in the throat.
...Even though it wasn’t really that dramatic, Zhou Wang just inexplicably thought of this catchphrase at that moment.
Seeing Jiang Qingkui and Ding Yi debating from "Wushan" to whether "childhood has a greater impact on one’s life" or "youth is the most important transformational period," Zhou knew he couldn’t let them continue like this.
After all that physical activity just now... he was starving.
"Stop, stop, stop!"
Zhou Wang reluctantly intervened between them, raising his hand and saying, "Qingkui, Yiyi, did you know... you guys are actually from the same school lineage?"
Jiang Qingkui and Ding Yi were both stunned by Zhou Wang’s words.
"My fault for not clarifying earlier, Yiyi, Sister Qingkui’s master’s and doctoral advisor, also known as Professor Chen from Peking University Law School, and your advisor, Professor Wang Hongying, are legitimate senior and junior colleagues..."
Hearing Zhou Wang say this, Jiang Qingkui gave Ding Yi a surprised glance, seemingly not expecting there was such a connection between them.
But just that alone obviously couldn’t change anything, Jiang Qingkui only responded with an "oh" and a light smile, saying, "Really? No wonder I felt a sense of closeness when I saw Junior Sister Ding, turns out she’s always been my junior."
Jiang Qingkui put special emphasis on the word "junior."
Ding Yi’s smile remained unchanged as she responded,
"I feel the same sense of closeness seeing Senior Sister Jiang, turns out senior sister is an alumnus who’s already graduated from our school a long time ago."
The "old" word from Ding Yi’s mouth was also pronounced especially clearly.
Hearing this, Zhou Wang’s head started to ache; he knew that this would lead to an endless quarrel, so he could only remind them.
"Qingkui, Ding Yi is quite close with Jiang Mo, she helped her a lot when she first came to Beidou..."
The focus of this sentence was clearly not in what Zhou Wang said, but in pointing out that both of them had a good relationship with Jiang Mo... But for crying out loud, Jiang Mo is my girlfriend now, okay?
As expected, with Zhou Wang’s reminder, Jiang Qingkui and Ding Yi quickly fell silent; seeing this, Zhou Wang finally sighed in relief and quickly called out, "Everyone sit down, sit down, um... Xiao Dai, get the kitchen to bring out the dishes!"
...
The main course for dinner was stewed pork with bread, another specialty from Old Beidou.
The so-called stewed pork with bread involved boiling cooked pig intestines and pig lungs together and pairing it with traditional bread for eating.
The pot Zhou Wang and the others were eating from was a super deluxe version of stewed pork with bread, which included beef tripe, fatty beef, crab legs, shrimp balls, and more in addition to the pig intestines and lungs.
The chef was hired from outside, bringing with him a secret recipe for the broth, but all the ingredients being cooked inside were provided by the hotel, all of which were premium goods.
For example, the fatty beef was from Charolais cattle in England, the crab legs were from a 9-pound king crab, and the shrimp ball’s original material was derived from a rather plain Australian lobster...
This pot of hodgepodge easily cost Zhou Wang tens of thousands of dollars.
But even when Zhou Wang was still dirt poor, he always held the belief that the pleasures of taste were among the easiest human desires to satisfy.
People who deprive themselves of food must not know how to live.
Even if you have no money, cheap snacks are filled with delicious flavors; of all the world’s splendors, perhaps only the gateway to enjoying good food is the lowest.
Stewed pork with bread in the northern regions is considered fairly strong-flavored cuisine, not everyone can stomach it, but of the three people present, two and a half were from the more intensely flavored Yunnan Province, so they didn’t mind.
There were originally servers dedicated to helping in the private room, not only to help with dipping sauces but also to fish out large pieces of food, cut them into appropriate small pieces, and put them into people’s bowls.
However, Zhou Wang refused; the stewed pork with bread was meant to be enjoyed in random street alleys for authenticity, eating it in a hotel room was already somewhat out of place, and having someone serve everything felt even more off...
Jiang Qingkui and Ding Yi weren’t the pretentious types; seeing Zhou Wang unwilling for the server to help, they too declined and started serving themselves.
Finally able to enjoy a quiet meal, Zhou Wang scarfed down a piece of bread, then picked up a piece of pork intestine, dipping it in the sauce mixed with small, fiery peppers, relishing in the satisfaction as juices filled his mouth, he couldn’t help but sigh.
But then, Zhou Wang felt things were too quiet, so he actively started a conversation:
"Did you know the origin of stewed pork with bread? Before it existed, there was a court dish called Suzao meat, but because Suzao meat was made with pork belly and was expensive, common folks couldn’t afford it. So people replaced it with pig’s head meat and offal, which led to the earliest form of stewed pork with bread..."
After hearing this, both Jiang Qingkui and Ding Yi had expressions full of contemplation.
Zhou Wang, seeing this, couldn’t help but quietly feel proud; had he just successfully shown off in front of two academic over-achievers?
Just as Zhou Wang was thinking this, Jiang Qingkui suddenly spoke lightly: "Mr. Zhou, what you said about this story is interesting, you hardly hear about Suzao meat anymore, yet stewed pork with bread has become a Beidou specialty..."
"So?"
Zhou Wang instinctively replied.
"So..."
A smile appeared on the corners of Jiang Qingkui’s mouth, "There’s really nothing in this world that’s irreplaceable, those things we once thought were unforgettable, when they become irrelevant, there’s no need for them to exist anymore."