Chapter 723: Chapter 722: The Correct Way to Eat Buckwheat Noodles

Ding-ling!

The sound of the bell indicating the meal is ready.

Seated and waiting for nearly two hours, the crowd showed neither sleepiness nor impatience; at the sound, they all turned to look inside together.

Xia Yu counted his own portion as well, a total of six large bowls of ramen for six people.

Placed on two trays, he carried them with both hands, very steadily.

“Here you go, please enjoy—”

Thump.

The trays were placed on the tea table, and Xia Yu also sat down on the tatami mat.

But the atmosphere around the dining table became a bit awkward as he set down the trays.

Alice’s eyes widened in shock, staring dumbfounded at the ramen on the tray, “Wh-why is the broth this color?”

Eriina’s expression was equally strange.

Initially, she gave Xia Yu a puzzled look, that gaze clearly telling him, as a chef who also pursues delicacy and perfection, why would he serve such a bizarre bowl of ramen?

The peculiar and mysterious style of the food didn’t fit with Eriina’s impression of Xia Yu at all.

“Ah!”

Leonora covered her mouth, using her not-so-fluent Japanese, stammered, “Toilet cleaner?”

Tiqie Zongwei just stood there, with a complex look in his eyes.

He was about to open his mouth to explain the reason for the color of the broth when Xia Yu shrugged and said, “Don’t doubt it, this is exactly how the recipe is supposed to look.”

Immediately, Alice and Eriina, looking at the calm Tiqie Xianzuowen, had a change in their expressions.

“Yes, this is what the ramen looks like!”

Xianzuowen declared.

Seeing the creator of the recipe explain without any burden, Xia Yu’s mouth twitched slightly, showing a subtle smile.

In fact, just moments earlier in the kitchen, when he was uncovering the pot to fill the bowls, he too had been stunned by the color of the broth.

The term that Leonora had blurted out was simply too graphic—

Toilet cleaner.

Looking down, on the two lacquered wooden trays, the six bowls of ramen all shimmered with a translucent blue.

The broth was blue!

This translucent blue, not only failed to whet the appetite but also reminded people of a range of cleaning products. Coupled with a strange flavor, there was no doubt it’d be a culinary disaster.

“Can, can this really be eaten?”

Alice, who had been clamoring just a moment ago about how much she wanted to taste the instructor’s cooking, now clearly hesitated.

Eriina’s gaze drifted as well, her eyes lowered, not daring to look in Xia Yu’s direction.

“Cough!”

Xia Yu cleared his throat.

No wonder, he himself didn’t really want to be a guinea pig and try the taste of the ramen.

In any case, this was the first time Xia Yu felt that something he had cooked was so unreliable.

But the stalemate didn’t last.

“I’ll start then!”

Tiqie Zongwei picked up the chopsticks from the tray, bringing his palms together in a gesture of gratitude.

He dipped the chopsticks into the bowl, stirring around, making the blue broth sparkle even more.

Sprouts, shredded leeks, a soft-boiled egg, the soup glistened with scattered green onions.

The epitome of “vegetarian”!

He directly picked up a clump of buckwheat noodles, the originally light brown color of the noodles now dyed a blue-green by the broth. The strange color didn’t hinder Tiqie Zongwei’s appetite at all, but instead, it brought out an intense craving in his eyes!

Slurp!

He began to eat.

And Tiqie Zongwei’s way of eating ramen was quite “rough,” no need to chew, just swallowing the noodles from his chopsticks in one big gulp.

“Ha—”

Afterward, he lifted his head, his expression blank, his throat visibly working up and down for a moment.

Only the dripping chopsticks remained.

No excess ingredients, the pure taste of the broth spread in his mouth, inside his body, expanding outwards.

His face, forehead, and even his neck quickly turned red.

It was the taste of garlic!

“Ha, hahaha, hahahaha!” Tiqie Zongwei suddenly laughed out loud.

“This is the energy brought by the flavor of garlic!”

In his mind, the image of food was of himself, in the outdoor dojo in the morning, continuously throwing punches, sweat pouring down like rain.

Ha!

Ha!

With each punch thrown, there was a corresponding shout.

Sweat flew with his fists cutting through the air, and the entire scene was filled with a robust masculine aura!

“Old man!” Alice, seeing the insane-looking Tiqie Zongwei, was frozen in shock again.

Leonora was about to ask her husband what was the matter when Tiqie Zongwei suddenly rose to his feet with a hearty laugh, pulled off his jacket, and went to an open space by the tea table.

Not caring that it was three o’clock on a deep winter night, he stripped off his undershirt too, standing there with a glistening upper body, a fine sheen of sweat that seemed to have risen from exercise covering his chest and back.

Seeing this, Alice and Leonora were stunned.

Eriina paused for a moment, then turned to look at Xia Yu with an expression that was as bizarre as it could get.

“This, this wet body… It wasn’t my doing!”

She raised her hands to show her innocence.

“No—”

A deep voice beside them said, “This, is the true essence of ‘Demon King’s Ramen!'”

Xia Yu looked over and was dumbfounded.

Tiqie Xianzuowen had, at some point, also picked up a pair of chopsticks and had grabbed a bunch of soba noodles soaked in bluish-green soup, slurping them down eagerly.

But sensing Xia Yu’s gaze, he paused to explain, “Want to know the correct way to eat soba noodles?”

Without waiting for an answer, the Food Demon King went on:

“Actually, soba noodles don’t need too much embellishment, simple is best. Have you read Natsume Soseki’s ‘I Am a Cat’? There’s a proper explanation on how to eat soba noodles there—the first time someone tries them, they might find the buckwheat taste too bland, and keep dipping them in sauce, chewing loudly after each mouthful. That way of eating basically wastes the soba noodles.”

“It should be eaten like this—”

He demonstrated, taking a mouthful of noodles from his chopsticks in one swift gulp, not even chewing, the sauce inevitably splattering around his mouth.

“This, is called the ‘Hare’s Narrow Escape’ ultimate eating method!”

Hare’s Narrow Escape?

That’s supposed to be the correct way to eat soba noodles? Xia Yu almost laughed out loud.

“Hm!”

Following the first mouthful, just like Tiqie Zongwei, Xianzuowen’s complexion turned rosy.

After grabbing another mouthful with his chopsticks, whoosh!

The long-lost ‘explosive burst of clothing’ occurred once more; the Far Moon Commander’s upper garments mysteriously slipped off as he stood up and stepped forward, his actions beautifully capturing the essence of a hare’s narrow escape.

Xianzuowen left his seat and went over to Tiqie Zongwei’s side.

Ha!

Ha!

And just like that, they started throwing punches, complete with a naturally macho sound effect.

“I can’t believe this!”

Xia Yu, Eriina, Alice, and Leonora exchanged amused glances as they watched the father and son who seemed to be drunk on liquor, their faces flushed as they performed Drunken Fist.

“Hey, hey!” Alice, practically leaning halfway across the table with her delicate, pretty face close to Xia Yu’s, peered at her with eyes full of curiosity. “Lecturer, lecturer, is there some sort of magic to your ramen? Why are the old man and the geezer acting like it’s morning exercise?”

“Magic?” Xia Yu shook her head with a mysterious smile. “Alice, haven’t I taught you? Cooking, or rather a recipe, definitely depends on the ingredients to express its main theme.”

“Main theme?”

“Yes, the main theme, or you could say the theme, is often the soul of a dish. What do you think this bowl of ramen uses as its ingredients and what is it trying to make the taster experience?”

“Ah!”

Alice was stumped for a moment, then pouted and said, “Just tell us, lecturer!”

“And Eriina…”

Xia Yu was about to ask the other girl when she and Alice simultaneously turned their heads, only to find Eriina had preemptively picked up the large bowl of ramen.

This time, she was ahead of the game!

Holding the bowl, the thought crossed Eriina’s mind as she shot a smug look at Alice, a tinge of triumph clearly present in her eyes.

She didn’t eat any of the soba noodles, instead she opened her mouth towards the rim of the bowl, her pale neck visibly swallowing twice, taking in a good amount of the clear blue broth.

Instantly, a blush erupted from her delicate neck, quickly spreading across her angelic face.

“This, this taste is so intense! What’s happening?”

Feeling as if her whole body was about to smoke up, especially her cheeks burning hot as if scorched, Tiqie Helinai panicked.

Her ‘Divine Tongue’ totally froze up in confusion.

The hot soup cascaded down her throat, and an embarrassing warmth started racing wildly within her body. Eriina buried her head, clenching her mouth tightly in an attempt to control her body’s reaction, but her shoulders trembled ever so slightly.

Suddenly, a look of terror crept onto her cheeks.

The heat flow mischievously converged and surged downward.

Ah!

The expression and shyness of that moment made Xia Yu and Alice, who were watching her, speechless.

Now, the Far Moon Queen was painted in an entirely different light.