Braised Spareribs

Chen Miemie never expected that the little loli who looked like he could cry with one punch actually had such a big background.

Old Man Yu only knew the general idea and wasn’t too clear about the secrets of [Chenpi].

Since that meeting at No. 1 Tonghua Road, he hadn’t seen that green-haired loli again.

Of course, Chen Miemie wasn’t that curious, and soon put [Chenpi] out of his mind.

And so, a few more days passed.

Among them was a [Wuming Day].

That day, Chen Miemie eagerly waited for guests to arrive in the mist, but not a single thing touched him—not even the weirdos who used to make strange noises at the door showed up.

Today was the third day of the new week.

11:50 a.m.

No. 50 Nuanyu Road.

Yi Zhu arrived as promised.

He came to the front door of his old house and found it wide open.

Before entering, he took a few deep breaths to keep himself as calm as possible, then stepped through the door.

There were only four keys to this room: two were with him and his sister Yi Xian, and the other two were with his stepmother Dujuan.

He knew that his sister was still at the guild right now, so the person inside must be Dujuan.

After graduating, he hadn’t contacted Dujuan for almost a year. They had never had much to say before, and now he didn’t know how to deal with her.

“Come in, make yourself at home,” said Chen Miemie, acting as if he were the owner.

“Brother Miemie, are you alone?”

“No, I have my assistant Loop.”

“Then how did you get in?”

“The lock isn’t broken, so I used a key.” Chen Miemie gave a look that said, “That’s a stupid question.”

Yi Zhu started to say something but stopped, and finally came out with another question: “What did you call me here for today?”

“One of my clients wants you to revisit a taste from the past.”

“Who is your client?”

“It’s my duty to keep the client confidential. Why not focus on the food? Consider it a regular lunch I’m treating you to.”

Yi Zhu knew it wasn’t that simple, but he trusted that Chen Miemie wouldn’t harm him—Chen Miemie was far stronger than him and had even saved both his and his sister’s lives.

“Okay, then I’ll look forward to it.”

No. 50 Nuanyu Road wasn’t big on each floor, but the layout was clever.

On the first floor, besides the hall, there was an open kitchen connected to the living area.

Chen Miemie and Yi Zhu sat down at the dining table next to the open kitchen.

From here, they could clearly see every move the cook made in the kitchen.

The chef at work was Loop.

“The diner is ready, Loop. Let’s start,” Chen Miemie signaled.

“Okay, I’ll begin cooking.”

On the preparation counter were large and small plates, filled with already cut ingredients and seasonings.

Loop only cooked and didn’t speak.

The narrator was Chen Miemie.

“Yi Zhu, I think seeing these ingredients and seasonings, you should know what dish this is.”

Yi Zhu nodded. Even though he had lost his ability to taste sweetness, he was still a highly skilled professional chef.

“This is braised spareribs. It’s the dish I loved most as a child.”

Chen Miemie smiled: “Close, but not quite accurate. Braised spareribs? Don’t you think it’s missing a key seasoning?”

Yi Zhu lowered his head slightly, looking a bit down: “I know. This braised sparerib recipe is missing sugar. Brother Miemie, you must know that I can’t taste sweetness anymore. Whether there’s sugar or not makes no difference to me.”

Chen Miemie shook his head.

“This isn’t braised spareribs. What we’re recreating today is your mother Ms. Hua Nian’s special dish.”

“Special dish? But when I was little, my mother only made braised spareribs.”

“Yi Zhu, when you were young, your nickname was Da Zhuang, right?”

“You managed to find that out.” Yi Zhu was a bit embarrassed.

“Actually, you weren’t really ‘strong’ as a child. ‘Zhuang’ was just a nice way of putting it. You were a chubby kid, weren’t you?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Ha-ha, when you were little, you loved sweets and sugary drinks, so you got fatter and fatter to the point it hurt your health. Ms. Hua Nian didn’t want you to keep going, so she started controlling your sugar intake.

In that case, do you think she would willingly add sugar to dishes and make you high-sugar braised spareribs often?”

This left Yi Zhu stumped.

Yeah, in his memories, his mother had always kept him from eating sugar or drinking sugary drinks. Yet how could she have made him braised spareribs on a regular basis?

But the problem was, he did eat them every now and then, and it was his favorite dish at the time.

These two memories seemed to conflict.

Seeing that the moment was right, Chen Miemie brought out the first “dish.”

“This is your mother’s notebook. I’m returning it to its owner now.” Chen Miemie handed over an empty notebook.

Yi Zhu took it, his hands trembling.

“Yes, my mother used this kind of cover pattern.”

After taking it, he carefully opened it.

Page One, Page Two, Page Three...

“This is an empty notebook?” Yi Zhu asked, puzzled.

“No. Open it to page 17, around two-fifths of the way through.”

Yi Zhu did as he was told.

“Huh? What’s this?”

He saw that page 17 had been shaded in with pencil for about half the page.

“On page 16, Ms. Hua Nian had handwritten the recipe for that sparerib dish, but it was torn out. The contents are on page 17. I thought you might recognize your mother’s handwriting.”

“Yes, I do. This is definitely my mother’s writing.”

Yi Zhu began reading the penciled tracing word by word:

“Da Zhuang keeps fussing for sweets, but his body can’t take it. I’m so clever, I came up with this dish. Honey spareribs, with sour plums, lychee, and honey. Finally done. Hand it over to ████. Perfect!”

Putting down the notebook, Yi Zhu first laughed heartily: “Right, right. I was so stupid. My mother could conjure honey. The sweetness I tasted then was her honey!”

But as he laughed, the corners of his eyes grew slightly moist.

Chen Miemie waved at Loop: “Give it to me. Before it goes into the pot, let Yi Zhu take a close look.”

Loop picked up a small glass jar from below the counter and handed it to Chen Miemie.

Chen Miemie pushed the half-full glass jar toward Yi Zhu.

“What’s this?” Although Yi Zhu used a question, the excitement in his voice showed he already knew what it was.

Chen Miemie didn’t answer but just signaled Yi Zhu to open it and smell it.

“This is my mother’s honey jar. No mistake. And this little half-jar inside is...”

Chen Miemie nodded slightly:

“This half-jar is the last half-jar of honey Ms. Hua Nian left in this world. I used some tricks to find it with great difficulty. It was still frozen and still edible.

I think this can be considered what Ms. Hua Nian left for you. After we finish making this meal, the remaining honey and the jar will all go to you.”

Though Loop’s cooking wasn’t done yet, Yi Zhu had already tasted two “hard dishes.”

Half an hour later.

The room was filled with the smell of braised meat.

Loop plated the special honey spareribs, ready to serve.

Chen Miemie handed Yi Zhu a tissue. “How about this, Yi Zhu? Why don’t you go wash your hands again?”

Washing his hands was just an excuse—the real reason was that Yi Zhu’s nose was twitching and the corners of his eyes were moist. He could go to the restroom to tidy himself up.

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

When Yi Zhu returned, the dishes were already on the table, steaming hot, with fragrance filling the entire room.

On the table, aside from the dish, there was only one set of bowls and chopsticks.

Chen Miemie showed no intention of dining together:

“Please, help yourself. The ribs and all the seasonings were bought from the stalls Ms. Hua Nian used to frequent. It’s a perfect reproduction of honey-glazed ribs using Ms. Hua Nian’s recipe and her brand of honey. I hope you like it.”

After Yi Zhu took his first bite, he closed his eyes, his whole body trembling uncontrollably.

“This is it! This is the taste! The freshness of lychee, the saltiness of preserved plums, the tenderness of the meat—except I can’t taste the sweetness now, this is exactly what my mother used to make! This is the most beautiful taste in the world!”

Chen Miemie grinned at him, secretly amused:

“This, the most beautiful taste in the world? You haven’t seen anything yet. The third ‘big dish’ I’ve really prepared for you hasn’t even been served.”