"This is your room here," Su Yu Hi told Yu Qi.
"Brother Yu Hi has very good taste." Yu Qi said and looked around the room.
Yu Qi sat on the chair that was prepared for her while Su Yu Hi had already taken his seat. They began their monthly meeting. Su Yu Hi told her about her companies for the last month. Yu Qi nodded when she heard the report. Her two companies were making good progress in their profits.
"Yu Qi, the ryokan is already completed to 100 percent. When it will be having its grand opening?" Su Yu Hi asked.
"Hmm... I think Sister Mei Fung's training will be completed soon. Brother Yu Hi, you already found employees for the ryokan, right?"
"You may fill the other position but leave the 'Okami' position to me. I already have the perfect person for the position."
"Brother Yu Hi, you can find another assistant to help you. The jobs keep increasing and I don't want Brother Yu Hi to become sick due to the increasing workload." Yu Qi said when she looked at Su Yu Hi's face.
Yu Qi grabbed his hand and read his pulse. Yu Qi frowned when she felt his pulse.
"Go and take two days off." Ordered Yu Qi.
"Yu Qi, I'm okay." Su Yu Hi insisted on working.
"No. Keep your mind off from work and relax your mind." Yu Qi, as a doctor, knew that if Su Yu Hi did not rest and free his mind from work, he might collapse sooner or later.
"You must update me on what are you going to do in these coming two days. No work. Understand?" Yu Qi ordered Su Yu Hi in a tone that forced people to obey her.
In the end, Su Yu Hi gave up. He would follow her orders. He, himself, knew that he has not had a short holiday for a long time.
The meeting was ended with Su Yu Hi getting two off days. To make sure Su Yu Hi rested properly, she informed the employees to contact her directly if they countered any problems that they could not manage to solve themselves because Su Yu Hi was getting two days off. The employees nodded, getting the order from their lady boss.
Su Yu Hi wanted to send Yu Qi back to university, but Yu Qi rejected it since she wanted to talk a walk in town. Well, it was Aoi and Bo Ya that requested some outside food since they were bored with what the university had.
Yu Qi went to street that sold some street food. That two little foodies would be happy if she brought some new food for them to try.
The first stall that she saw was selling Jianbing, otherwise known as a Chinese Crepe. It was a very common street food. The dough was made of wheat and grain flour and fried on a griddle with an egg at the base. Meanwhile, the center was filled with scallions, lettuce, cilantro, and a rich chili sauce. She brought some for herself and her little cuties.
After that, she went to the next stall that selling Cifantuan or Ci Faan, also known as Glutinous rice balls. Cifantuan or Ci Faan was a rice ball filled with various flavorful local ingredients. The most common types were the savory kind. There were also sweet variations, which consisted of the same ingredients as the savory one but with added sugar as well as sesame. Yu Qi made the decision to buy the two different types to try it.
She walked again surveying the stall to find something else that looked tasty. She did find something. She saw Baozi or Chinese Bread Buns. Baozi was a dough bun, often filled with juicy meat such as barbecued pork and/or vegetables and steamed in steaming trays made of bamboo. It looked very delicious.
Beside the stall that sold Baozi, there was a stall that selling Rou Jia Mo or Chinese Hamburgers. Rou Jia Mo was a Chinese version of the American hamburger except the buns were thinner and flavored with meat gravy and chili paste – rather than ketchup and mustard. The meat was also shredded rather than a large, circular patty. She brought a lot of it, Aoi would be happy with this.
Another food that Aoi would be happy with was Chuan's or Chinese Kebabs. They were pieces of meat skewered onto thinly cut bamboo sticks. Any kind of meat or even vegetables were used. The way street vendors prepare them was to coat the meat with salt, dried chili flakes, and ground cumin spice, then mix all three ingredients together before barbecuing the marinated meat over charcoal until they were well cooked.
Bo Ya was a fan of sweet foods. She thought he would be happy if she brought some Bing Tanghulu. Bing Tanghulus was Chinese hawthorns covered with a hardened coat of sugar syrup and skewered onto long thin sticks. They tasted both sour and sweet – similarly to mini candy apples, but more sour, astringent and granular. The exterior was crunchy and sweet while the interior was soft, but sweet and sour due to the fruit.
Yu Qi did not realize she already brought a lot of food to herself and her two little cuties. The day was also starting to turn its color. She quickly took a bus back to the university. Even the bus driver was shocked when he saw so much food for such a young girl. He knew her destination was Starlight University. He couldn't help but think that a girl with such a petite body like hers could not finish all that food. He even thought she might be buying that food to share with her friends.
If Yu Qi could read this bus driver's thoughts, she might tell him that food was for her little pets.
Thank you, my editor, Sakura Minasaki