Xia Yu couldn’t help but heap praise.
The praised Alice beamed with joy, her metaphorical tail nearly wagging as she cheerfully explained, "Mm, these artificial fish roe are made with crystalized mint tea and rose water. Besides soothing emotions, they also stimulate the digestive tract and promote digestion!"
"And the other two..."
Xia Yu continued to devour the remaining two sushi pieces.
The one covered with yellow "caviar" was Honey Chrysanthemum Tea sushi, which could also relieve fatigue and refresh the body.
With the third piece, the red "caviar" and rice melted in his mouth and Xia Yu immediately tasted the faint flavor of ginseng tea.
After simply eating the sushi, he felt completely revitalized, as if there were hands gently massaging his temples, the fatigue vanishing without a trace.
Looking up into Alice’s sparkling eyes, Xia Yu expressed his surprise, "Alice, your molecular cuisine, well, its style is completely different from before. It’s as if the machine suddenly has a human touch, no longer cold and impersonal."
"You liking it makes me really happy! It seems that my creation will be a big hit at the ’School Festival’!"
Alice clapped and cackled with joy, but her delighted expression caused another girl to silently grind her teeth.
"We have udon noodles and egg fried rice too. Instructor, please continue tasting..."
An angry voice interrupted, and Tiqie Helinai forcefully interjected.
Looking at the inferno that was Divine Tongue’s ire, Alice rolled her eyes and with a playful tone said, "Oh my! Helinai, it’s one o’clock in the middle of the night, and your cream stew is way too high in calories to serve as a late-night snack. Don’t you want to make Grandpa and Instructor fat?"
Alice had hit the nail on the head with Helinai’s sore spot.
Hearing that Grandpa and Xia Yu were back from Zhonghua Building, Tiqie Helinai had dashed into the kitchen to hurriedly cook, and when she bumped into Alice outside, she faintly realized she had chosen the wrong recipe!
Alice’s subtly provocative gaze caused Helinai’s rage to skyrocket in an instant.
"You say my bedtime snack is fattening, what about yours?" Helinai managed to stay level-headed, "Hmph, what mint tea, chrysanthemum tea caviar, did you not consider that the tea flavors are so refreshing they might overdo it, keeping Instructor up all night? It’s one o’clock in the morning!"
At those words, Alice was momentarily stunned.
"You-you-you’re saying my tea sushi will keep Instructor awake?"
Helinai ignored Alice’s chagrined gaze and continued her mocking tirade, "And what about your udon noodles and egg fried rice? I don’t know how much effort you put into making them look flashy, but serving them at this late hour is a total mistake!"
"Your cream stew is disgusting too, oh oh oh, that smell must be beef, right? Haha, I see you didn’t just add milk, but a lot of cheese too..."
The two feuding sisters began to quarrel and tease each other mercilessly.
The scene left the maids standing outside the teahouse exchanging helpless glances, trying to suppress their giggles.
Their bickering was just another typical day in the Tiqie Mansion.
After about ten minutes.
Alice gasped for breath and fell silent, "Anyway, my food was made for Instructor Xia, and yours for Grandpa. Ha, you’re not sincere at all. Watch my lips closely—"
Seeing Alice mouth the word "tsundere" silently, Helinai felt a mix of embarrassment and annoyance, her ears turning red enough to bleed.
"Instructor, quickly try my udon and egg fried rice..."
Before she could finish, Alice was flabbergasted.
On the tea table, only empty dishes remained. Xia Yu had finished both their midnight snacks and was now casually sipping tea with his back to them.
Suddenly, Alice and Helinai looked at each other eyes wide open.
"You-you’ve finished it all?"
Helinai blinked at him, a trace of surprise in her eyes, unclear whether she was pleased or otherwise.
"Yes, everything was delicious, I’m full!"
Xia Yu put down his tea cup and stood up. Turning to the two girls with a smile, he said, "It’s getting late, I’m off to my bedroom to rest. You should go to sleep soon too."
Before he could step away, he was called back.
And it was Tiqie Xianzuowen who called him, not Alice or Helinai.
Xianzuowen pointed to the emptied dish of cream stew and coolly said, "You ate my portion as well."
Xia Yu, eager to eradicate the source of disaster, suddenly found herself in an awkward situation.
"No, no, it’s, this is..." Eriina stammered, unable to articulate a complete sentence.
Alice watched with amusement from the sidelines.
Tiqie Xianzuowen winked at his granddaughters and then said to Xia Yu, "After eating, you need to replenish. Before you go to sleep, cook me a bowl of ramen, can you do that?"
Xia Yu could only nod, "Ramen? No problem!"
"But it’s not just any ramen..."
With a slightly odd smile, Xianzuowen stood up, "Follow me—"
So, Xia Yu followed Xianzuowen, along with Alice and Eriina, to the kitchen of the Tiqie Mansion.
Xianzuowen walked straight out the door.
Deep within the Tiqie Mansion.
Tiqie Zongwei and Tiqie Leonora, having not yet left Japan and working late into the night in the mansion’s study, happened to meet the old master coming out from his bedroom in the inner courtyard.
Seeing Tiqie Xianzuowen move as quick as the wind with a notebook in hand, Tiqie Zongwei immediately stopped and bowed slightly, asking curiously, "Haven’t you gone to rest yet?"
Seeing the couple, Tiqie Xianzuowen nodded and said, "You haven’t rested either? Good, come with me."
Upon hearing this, Tiqie Zongwei and Leonora were surprised.
All the way to the Tiqie mansion kitchen.
From outside the door, they could hear Alice and Eriina’s mutual taunting.
There was also a rather troubled voice: "Okay, okay, it’s all delicious, the pairing is excellent, flawless!"
It was the young instructor!
The couple was even more astonished.
Following Tiqie Xianzuowen into the room, they saw the old master handing the notebook directly to Xia Yu, "Make the ramen according to my recipe."
At that moment, Xia Yu also saw the Tiqie Zongwei couple.
"For four people!" Alice raised her hand and shouted.
Seeing this, Eriina pursed her lips, a conflicted expression on her face as she said, "I want some too..."
"That would make it five portions!"
Xia Yu was utterly speechless.
When Xianzuowen had previously requested food, Xia Yu knew this old man was up to no good.
But now, as she opened the notebook handed to her by the old master with a look of disinterest and glanced through it, her expression suddenly changed dramatically.
"This, this recipe..."
She couldn’t help but look up at Tiqie Xianzuowen’s face, only to be met with a faint, inscrutable smile.
If it were someone else, sharing such a precious recipe notebook so selflessly with her, Xia Yu would seriously suspect that something was wrong with their brain.
Xianzuowen asked lightly.
Alice, Eriina, and the Tiqie Zongwei couple all looked at Xia Yu in amazement as she clutched the recipe notebook, seemingly very excited.
What level of a recipe was it?
They all had the same thought of doubt.
"Probably... I can!" Xia Yu herself wasn’t quite sure.
"Then I won’t demonstrate it for you!"
A herd of alpacas raced through Xia Yu’s mind, leaving her thoughts in disarray.