"It's time for my planned activity."
Liu Woxing took the guide's little red flag and said with a soft laugh, "The theme of my birthday surprise is: food."
Xie Mi's eyes instantly lit up. "Food!"
You Hongxuan's eyes instantly lit up too. "Food!!"
Shen Yeqing hauled him away from Xie Mi. "Whose birthday is it, exactly?"
"Shen Yeqing, how can you get jealous over even this?"
"You have vegetables stuck in your teeth."
Liu Woxing led them through streets and alleys until they finally reached an extremely secluded noodle shop deep in an alley.
"Li's Beef Noodles. This is it." After checking against her little guide notebook, Liu Woxing smiled.
"Their extra-meaty beef noodles are the best. The secret password is: half a spoon of sesame oil, half a spoon of vinegar, a full spoon of beef, and a sausage."
"Just how much research did you do?" Xie Mi leaned over to look at the little notebook, with its dozens of densely written pages, marveling at it.
Liu Woxing bashfully hid the notebook a little. "Didn't you say that truly delicious food takes dedication to uncover, Teacher Xie?"
"So you uncovered all this?" You Hongxuan exclaimed admiringly. "With willpower like that, you'd succeed at anything."
"Noodles are ready-"
The owner brought over five steaming bowls of noodles. Just the aroma was enough to send them floating.
Xie Mi eagerly picked up some noodles and took a big bite. Her eyes immediately lit up.
"Sweet but not cloying, sour but not astringent, spicy but not harsh, salty but not bland, savory but not fishy, crisp but not hard, soft but not mushy, tender but not dry, chewy but not sticky, silky but not greasy-absolutely divine!"
"Where did you get all those adjectives?" Lai Bingxuan asked in shock.
Shen Yeqing took