Chapter 9

The only flaw was the lack of gluten, but Tao Yan did not like it himself, so he could not be bothered to make any.

Huo Baichuan actually liked gluten quite a bit. But as a man who could not cook, he was already lucky to have food to eat and had no standing to make demands.

The volunteer aunties stared wide-eyed at the bowls of brightly colored, generously topped Liangpi on the stove and could not help praising him. "With skills like yours, you could set up a food stall."

Tao Yan merely smiled without replying, then told Huo Baichuan, who had finished chopping the pork knuckles, to continue making Roujiamo. The volunteer aunties quickly said, "We'll do it, we'll do it. Let's all work together and speed things up."

During this, Tao Yan noticed something. "Why haven't I seen the director?"

Aunt Zhao, one of the volunteers, replied with a smile, "My sister went to the school for the deaf and mute to pick up those four children."

Only then did Tao Yan learn that Aunt Zhao and the director were biological sisters.

Once the Liangpi and Roujiamo were done, the volunteer aunties immediately carried them outside to feed the children.

The children who had been waiting eagerly at the kitchen door let out excited shrieks. Like little kittens, they clustered around the aunties and followed close behind them into the cafeteria to eat.

Tao Yan had bought more than half a bag of wheat starch and two front pork knuckles at noon. A rough estimate put the Liangpi at nearly a hundred bowls, while there were around seventy Roujiamo as well. The orphanage volunteers and children could not possibly finish it all.

Tao Yan had Huo Baichuan pack thirty bowls of Liangpi and twenty Roujiamo to deliver to Lianhua District Police Station two blocks away. It was also a way of repaying the warm hospitality the police officers had shown them these past few days. As for the remaining Liangpi and Roujiamo, Tao Yan planned to give them to the elderly folks who played the erhu and Chinese chess beneath the big tree at the entrance to the alley—after all, he had earned money using their equipment. He had to show some appreciation.

Huo Baichuan could not carry thirty bowls of Liangpi by himself with only two hands, so he simply tipped all the Liangpi into one large basin, then packed three bowls of sauce and a huge plate of Roujiamo before calling Tao Yan to deliver them together.

When they ran into neighbors along the way, the warm and hospitable elderly folks swallowed their saliva as they curiously asked, "What smells so good? Is it food from your hometown?"

"This is Liangpi and Roujiamo." Huo Baichuan grinned. "We bought the ingredients with the money all of you gave us at noon. With everyone's goodwill in it, how could it not smell good?"

The elderly folks immediately laughed when they heard that. "Then I have to try some. How much did you make? Is there any left?"

Tao Yan had intended to do exactly that, but there was not much Liangpi and Roujiamo left, clearly not enough for everyone to get a share. So Tao Yan answered honestly, "There isn't much left. But everyone can have a taste."

The elderly folks clapped their hands and joked, "Then we won't keep chatting with you. I'm off to mooch a meal. Since there isn't much, it's first come, first served. Anyone who comes late can only smell it!"

With that, a large group of them headed toward the orphanage amid laughter and chatter.

Chapter 9

When Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan arrived at the police station carrying the Liangpi and Roujiamo, they happened to catch the officers changing shifts. More than a dozen police officers were at the station. Seeing the two of them carrying plates and basins like restaurant servers, they could not help laughing. "Why are you here again?"

"What smells so good?"

"Liangpi and Roujiamo." Huo Baichuan patiently explained again, "Tao Yan made them. We brought you dinner."

"What is Liangpi? Is it a snack from your hometown? I don't think I've ever seen it here in Jiangzhou." The dozen or so officers put down what they were doing and gathered around. "That Roujiamo has pork knuckle meat inside, right? It smells incredible!"

"You know your stuff!" The two set the plate of Roujiamo and the large aluminum basin of Liangpi on the table. Huo Baichuan gave the officer a thumbs-up. "You could tell it was pork knuckle meat just by the smell. Impressive! Then smell this too—was it from a front pork knuckle or a hind pork knuckle?"

"It was definitely a front pork knuckle! Hind knuckles can't smell this good!" the officer declared confidently, rather pleased with himself. "Let me tell you, my nose is something else. I trained all the police dogs at our station."

Tao Yan glanced sideways at him, deeply curious about just how this "exceptionally gifted" officer had trained the police dogs.

The old station chief laughed helplessly and smacked the back of the young officer's head. "You're never this enthusiastic when you're working. Comparing your sense of smell to a police dog's? Why don't you compete with Big Black to see who can run faster?"

Zhou Yang rubbed the back of his head and grinned foolishly without speaking. Anyone who loved pork knuckles knew that front pork knuckles were actually more fragrant than hind ones. Front knuckles were also better suited to rich braised dishes. Zhou Yang's father was the head chef at a state-run restaurant, and Zhou Yang had grown up watching him cook. As for why he was so certain that Tao Yan had used front pork knuckles for the Roujiamo, it was mainly because Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan had spent the past few days at the guesthouse with their famously refined standards for food. Even if Zhou Yang was only guessing, he could guess that Tao Yan had definitely used front pork knuckles to braise them.

"If you'd used hind pork knuckles, you'd have done this dish a disservice."

"You're getting more and more carried away." The old station chief shook his head. "Little Tao and Little Huo came all this way to bring us dinner, yet you're the one doing all the talking." Talking nonsense after nonsense.

The old station chief looked at Tao Yan and Huo Baichuan and added, "We appreciate the thought, but we can't accept this. We have regulations—we can't take so much as a needle or thread from the people. Besides, you two only arrived at the orphanage today. You don't have much money, so don't go spending it on us."

"It's already made. If you refuse to eat it, we can't finish it ourselves, and it'll all go to waste." Huo Baichuan smiled. "Besides, while you do have regulations saying you can't take a needle or thread from the people, aren't your superiors also telling you to serve the people, to foster close ties between police and citizens, and to live together like one big family?"

"Besides, we're not giving you needles or thread, just a meal. We've been in Jiangzhou for so many days now, with nowhere to stay or eat, mooching meals and lodging at the guesthouse under your police station every day. You never found us annoying, did you?"

"But—" The old station chief still wanted to say something, but Huo Baichuan cut him off.