Huang Liang didn't recognize the name Selina, but when Mei Yiqiu's old flame was mentioned, he immediately remembered her. The first time he visited Dickinson's house, Dickinson joked about Mei Yiqiu's embarrassing moments at Princeton when he was young, and mentioned Selina.
He vividly remembered Professor Mei's story: for the sake of a scientific experiment, he left his lover in the cold wind of the park, even using her bra as a rag to wipe the lab table, and then returning it to her. The outcome is self-evident: that night, Princeton gained a heartbroken drunkard, the intoxicated professor gave all his clothes to a homeless man, and he himself was taken away by the police as an exhibitionist.
Anyone who hears this story would inevitably think it's the fabrication of a bad novelist, but when Huang Liang recalls the strange old man with a pipe and a head of radiant silver hair, he feels that what happened seems quite reasonable.
Dickinson and Selina were clearly very familiar with each other, and she shouted in the yard, " Selina, look what I've done! I've brought you back a China chef. You're in for a treat!"
A woman's voice came from inside the house. "Oh, really? Let me see what kind of person this is. I hope it's not some old geezer like you!"
Strangely, Huang Liang felt the voice was familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it before.
The door creaked open, and a wrinkled but delicate face appeared inside. Huang Liang's heart pounded the moment he saw her. He had seen her before; on Sea Cucumber Street, this old lady had given him directions and led him into a dream. Later, when he asked Howard about her, Howard seemed unaware of anything.
By then, his spiritual cultivation had reached a considerable level; he was able to deceive Howard and even had an impulse to challenge Qingmu again. However, the old lady's appearance completely dispelled his arrogance, and he began to lie low like an insect in winter.
The dream was so vast that he was completely unaware of it when he entered it. The key point is that the people who appeared in the dream overlapped with the people at the party later on, indicating that the old lady did indeed go to the party and meet everyone, while Howard and the others were completely unaware of her presence.
He immediately deduced that this woman must be an important figure in the organization. But he didn't expect her identity to be so special. She was Mei Yiqiu's former lover, and Huang Liang was now certain that she was the organization's second leader.
So who is Mei Yiqiu? Who is Dickinson? Who is Qingmu?
A series of questions suddenly popped into Huang Liang's mind.
Selina glanced at Huang Liang, smiling, seemingly quite satisfied. Her hair was half gray and half white, making her look younger than Mei Yiqiu, but not as energetic as the professor; instead, she exuded a peaceful aura from head to toe.
Dickinson was busy introducing them:
"This is Selina —a candidate for United States's most beautiful old lady, Florida pet expert, and a crazy fan of China food. She actually loves more than just China food; she loves everything about China, but because of someone, you know, so..."
He winked at Huang Liang like a child, then burst into laughter, "This Mr. Huang is a doctor with a pair of steady, dexterous hands. I think those hands would be perfect for cooking too, haha!"
Huang Liang greeted Selina. He didn't mention Amsterdam, as if they were meeting for the first time.
Selina laughed and said to Dickinson, "Is it really as good as you claim, Charlie? You'd better not just send someone to fool me, or I won't let you off the hook!"
Dickinson patted his chest and assured him, "Don't worry, when have I ever boasted!"
As they entered the house, taking advantage of Selina's inattention, the old man leaned close to Huang Liang's Huang Liang, slapped him hard on the back, and said, "You'd better give me some face!"
Huang Liang suddenly found it very interesting. Judging from Dickinson's expression, it was as if Selina wasn't Mei Yiqiu's ex-lover, but rather the object of his own pursuit for decades.
Sitting down in the living room, Selina poured coffee for the two men like a hostess and chatted casually. They talked mostly about things from their Princeton days, but made no mention of Mei Yiqiu. For Huang Liang, both the era and the place were unfamiliar, so he could hardly get a word in edgewise.
Selina appeared calm and approachable, showing no sign of being in a hurry to say anything to Huang Liang, not even offering a hint. If Huang Liang hadn't met her in the Netherlands, he would have doubted whether he had made a mistake. He stood up and said:
"Should I go to the kitchen and cook?"
Dickinson happily led Huang Liang to the kitchen, gave him some instructions, and said, "This is all yours now. We look forward to your delicious cooking."
"Don't worry, although I can't compare to a real chef, I can still cook some home-style dishes," Huang Liang said confidently after seeing the Lao Gan Ma and Thirteen Spices in the cupboard.
The Dickinson family's kitchen was large, though not comparable to a rural China kitchen, it was still quite rare in the city. Huang Liang first familiarized himself with the tools and ingredients, organized the food in the refrigerator, and roughly planned how many dishes to make before he started cooking.
The whitefish caught from the English Bay looked a lot like the whitebait from his hometown, with many bones, but it tasted delicious. Huang Liang figured that foreigners probably wouldn't be good at spitting out fish bones, so this kind of fish was either boiled in soup or deep-fried. He decided to make it into crispy fish, so that you wouldn't be able to taste the bones, which should suit the tastes of foreigners.
Before deep-frying crispy fish, the fish needs to be thoroughly marinated. Pan-frying and deep-frying are foreigners' forte, but in China cuisine, the flavor of fried dishes depends entirely on the skill and effort put into marinating. What ingredients to use, how long to marinate, when to change the ingredients, how much water to retain, how much batter to use, and how much oil to use—this is the essence of China cuisine. If you fry everything like KFC, it will all taste the same.
Just as he was marinating, Selina came in.
"Need my help?" Selina casually flipped over the fish that had already been seasoned. "Hmm, looks good. Someone who knows how to cook."
"Just a few simple home-style dishes, I can manage by myself," Huang Liang said.
"That's fine, some things can only be done alone." Selina nodded.
"I'm not a professional, why choose me? Aren't you worried I might mess it up?" Huang Liang didn't even look up, continuing to carefully rub salt onto the fish. To onlookers, it sounded like he was asking about cooking, but only he knew what he was really asking.
"Whether someone is professional or not needs to be evaluated by more professional people," Selina said. "Look at you now, aren't you doing a great job?"
Is this your assessment of me?
"I suppose so."
"But I don't know what your taste is, and you haven't told me what to cook. Even a professional chef would be confused if they didn't know what to cook!"
"I'll tell you when the time is right. Right now, I just want to see what delicious dishes you can make when you're given free rein. With enough freedom, you might even make something better than what I've specified!"
"Freedom is great, but there needs to be some direction."
"Freedom is the direction."
"Freedom is direction?" Huang Liang pondered the meaning of that sentence carefully. He finished marinating the last fish, looked up, and asked, "Whose freedom?"
"You, me... everyone!" Selina said.
Huang Liang's heart suddenly skipped a beat, as if he had thought of something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Let me taste your cooking first," Selina said, smiling at Huang Liang. "Also, I'd like to know how you planned to prepare this meal. Without knowing anything about the host and guests' tastes, or even what ingredients were available, how did you intend to cook it if no one told you? Were you just going to keep putting it off, or did you have other plans?"
"No, on the way here, I at least knew there were fish," Huang Liang said.