Looking at the Preserved Egg and Lean Pork Congee before her, Minezaki had initially been somewhat unimpressed. But when she caught the delicate fragrance drifting through the air, her stomach betrayed her with a growl.
Looking at the spoon Seiya held out to her, Minezaki hesitated for a moment before finally reaching out to take it. She scooped up a spoonful of porridge, white as jade, and brought it to her mouth.
The moment the porridge entered her mouth, the tender stewed lean pork, the savory preserved egg, and the scallions that heightened the flavor combined, exploding across her palate.
Compared to the Scallion-Exploded Vegetarian Beef from before, which had made her feel as though she had broken free from restraints and filled her with freedom and passion, this Preserved Egg and Lean Pork Congee gave Minezaki a different yet equally unforgettable taste.
The instant she swallowed the porridge, Minezaki felt as though she were being tightly embraced by an incredibly warm pair of arms.
Within that warm embrace, she seemed to recall her childhood winters, when her mother would rather endure the cold herself than let wind and snow touch her.
As long as she was in her mother's arms, no matter how bitter or exhausting things became, Minezaki felt she could endure it all!
Wasn't the reason she had always worked so desperately to climb upward because she and her mother had depended on each other since childhood, only to be looked down upon by others?
As she ate the porridge, tears began streaming down Minezaki's face. The movements of her hand scooping up porridge grew faster and faster, and before long, she had finished the rather generously sized bowl of Preserved Egg and Lean Pork Congee.
Seeing Minezaki's lingering expression, Seiya simply brought the clay pot out