Chapter 7

"I already ate." Huo Baichuan forced himself to say shamelessly, "At the orphanage. It just didn't taste very good, and I didn't get full."

Tao Yan lowered his head as well and apologized to the warmly enthusiastic uncles and aunties. "Sorry, we lied to you."

The uncles and aunties looked at one another, barely holding back their laughter. "We already knew." Since they were children taken in by the Red Heart Orphanage, how could they possibly go without food? Most of the neighbors were simple, kindhearted people. When they had free time, they would go to the Red Heart Orphanage to help out, washing things and cooking for the children, so they naturally knew the orphanage's schedule.

"What you two did doesn't really count as deception." After all, they had used their own talents to earn money, and the two of them truly had nearly been harmed by traffickers. There were police officers to testify for them, so how could it be called a scam?

The neighbors all chimed in to comfort Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan. Rather than getting angry, they felt even more pity for them. They thought the two children were good-natured and so sensible. At such a young age, they had ended up on their own, yet they neither stole nor robbed, and even knew to use their own skills to earn money for food. Even if they had exaggerated or fabricated things a little during their performance, it was only because life had forced them to. Everyone could understand.

Adults sometimes said harmless pleasantries when necessary to support their families. Since that was the case, why should they demand perfection from two children?

Listening to the overly enthusiastic advice and consolation from the uncles and aunties, Huo Baichuan felt a little awkward and glanced at Tao Yan. This top student, who was always so good at playing innocent and acting cute, was listening to them with a gentle expression, occasionally responding, "...I understand... Thank you, Auntie..."

Huo Baichuan clicked his tongue inwardly. He could not help recalling their high school days. Everyone had broken rules by arriving late, leaving early, skipping class, and going to internet cafes, yet Tao Yan always managed to get away unscathed. At every flag-raising ceremony, the only ones made to deliver self-criticisms were Huo Baichuan and his buddies.

Thinking of that, Huo Baichuan shot Tao Yan an indignant look. This guy was still so good at putting on an act!

By the time they left the police station, it was already one in the afternoon. With the sixty-odd yuan they had earned performing at noon tucked into his pocket, Huo Baichuan felt like a newly rich man full of lofty ambition. "What do you want to eat? It's on me!"

Tao Yan had spent the whole morning acting obedient in front of the neighbors, and his throat was a little dry too. He bought two bottles of chilled soda from the little shop across from the police station and handed one to Huo Baichuan.

In the scorching summer heat, a layer of condensation quickly formed on the emerald-green soda bottles, leaving them wet in their palms. Tao Yan drained his fizzy, ice-cold soda in one gulp, feeling as though he had jumped into a swimming pool. He instantly felt much cooler.

Huo Baichuan also gulped down his soda and asked Tao Yan, "We didn't get full at lunch. What do you want to eat?"

Tao Yan thought for a moment and pointed at a noodle shop by the roadside. "Let's have two bowls of zhajiang noodles."

Huo Baichuan hated zhajiang noodles most of all and immediately said, "I'm not eating zhajiang noodles. I want Liangpi."

Tao Yan did not mind. "Then let's have Liangpi."

However, they walked from one end of the street to the other, only to find that not a single restaurant or stall on either side sold Liangpi. It was sweltering, the sun blazing overhead, and after walking so long beneath the scorching heat, neither of them could keep going. Huo Baichuan reluctantly compromised. "Then let's have zhajiang noodles."

Tao Yan coolly studied Huo Baichuan, who was so unwilling that he might as well have had "I don't like zhajiang noodles" written across his face. After thinking it over, he said, "We didn't get full at noon, and we've been running around for so long that I'm hungry too. Let's just make do for now and fill our stomachs. After we eat, come with me to the market. We'll buy a bag of wheat starch, and I'll make Liangpi for you tonight."

Huo Baichuan froze, looking at Tao Yan in surprise. "You're going to make Liangpi for me?"

Tao Yan looked up at him. "What, you don't want to eat what I make?"

"How could that be?" Huo Baichuan grinned, then let out a foolish laugh. "Your cooking is so good. I love eating whatever you make."

When the two of them had first gone to Princeton to study abroad, they simply could not get used to Western steaks and other Western food. There were no Chinese restaurants nearby that suited their tastes either; they were either too oily and salty, or the flavors were inauthentic. So Tao Yan learned to cook for himself. As Tao Yan's roommate, Huo Baichuan helped prepare ingredients and then shamelessly mooched meals off him. Later, when they reached sophomore year, Tao Yan had to balance his studies with an internship on Wall Street and no longer had time to cook. But Huo Baichuan's palate had already been spoiled by him, and he grew even less able to stomach the school cafeteria or Western restaurants outside.

Young Master Huo was not someone who knew how to deprive himself. He simply hired a chef from China and opened a Chinese restaurant outside the school. By the time they graduated, that restaurant had become a somewhat renowned upscale local establishment, beloved by both locals and international students.

Even so, Huo Baichuan still thought Tao Yan's cooking tasted best. Not even a Michelin chef from a five-star hotel could compare!

Watching Huo Baichuan suddenly brighten up as if wagging his tail, Tao Yan smiled faintly. He casually asked, "How are you planning to spend the sixty yuan we earned today?"

Chapter 7

The Lotus District farmers' market was just behind the street where the Red Heart Orphanage stood, about a ten-minute walk away.

This was also the first time Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan had visited a farmers' market since crossing over.

The farmers' market of the 1990s was far more prosperous and bustling than either Tao Yan or Huo Baichuan had imagined, whether in terms of its size or the scale of its stalls. Used to buying groceries from huge, clean, refined supermarkets where even every vegetable leaf had been meticulously cleaned, they found themselves somewhat unaccustomed when they suddenly entered this crowded, raw and lively farmers' market.

The vegetables here were piled in heaps on the stalls, their roots still caked with dirt, with none of the category labels Tao Yan was familiar with. All he could recognize among the lush green piles were everyday vegetables like cucumbers and eggplants. Fruits such as fresh peaches and watermelons were stacked directly on large trucks and hawked for sale. Rice, flour, beans, and cooking oil came in barrels or bags of at least fifty jin, rather than the small packages Tao Yan wanted. Chickens, ducks, and geese were alive, their feet tied up and tossed in front of the stalls, flapping their wings and squawking. All kinds of fish, shrimp, river crabs, and seafood swam energetically in tanks, occasionally leaping and splashing water everywhere. The air was filled with the smell of livestock droppings and the fishy odor of seafood. Grocery shoppers brushed shoulders as they moved through the market, picking through ingredients at the stalls while loudly bargaining with the vendors...