Morning.
After getting up and washing up, Lin Xu went downstairs.
He put the clay pot on the stove, added water and brought it to a boil, then took out the rice that had been soaked overnight from the freezer and poured it in, added a small spoon of salt and a small spoon of lard, covered it and let it cook over dium heat.
Adding lard to the congee makes the rice grains smoother in texture and the aroma of the congee richer.
While that was cooking, he added so flour into a bowl, cracked in a few Eggs, added chopped scallions and Carrot Dices, then sprinkled in salt, Sichuan peppercorn powder, and thirteen-spice, added water and stirred it into a batter.
He preheated the electric griddle, brushed a layer of oil on the bottom, ladled in a scoop of batter, spread it flat with a bamboo spatula, and closed the lid.
After one minute he opened the lid; the batter had already set into a golden Egg pancake. He brushed oil on the surface, flipped it, and fried it a little more before taking it out.
By the ti the rice congee in the clay pot was ready, the Egg pancakes were also done.
He scooped out a few Taihu shrimp he’d brought back last night from the small kitchen aquarium, removed the feelers, deveined them, slit them along the back and dropped them one by one into the congee.
He gave it a stir, letting the congee wrap around the Large Shrimp.
Then he washed a handful of baby greens he’d brought from the shop, chopped them up with a kitchen knife and put them in a bowl, drizzled a little sesa oil over and mixed them so the veggies would be crisper and more refreshing.
Once the shrimp in the pot had completely turned red, he turned off the heat, sprinkled in the chopped greens, gave it a stir, and a simple pot of fresh shrimp and veggie congee was done.
Lin Xu wiped his hands and shuffled upstairs in his slippers.
"Get up and eat. Weren’t you going up to the rooftop to do yoga?"
He patted a certain soundly sleeping Baobao’s perky butt, then pressed the button on the remote for the electric curtains.
He’d tested it the last two days: if no one called her, this girl could sleep straight till eleven, and once she woke up she’d even turn it around on him, complaining that he hadn’t woken her and she’d missed her morning wake-up yoga.
So he’d deliberately made breakfast early today to wake her earlier.
"Mmn... you’re so annoying, Xu, I already did yoga in my dream last night..."
That counts too?
"I just made your favorite Egg pancakes and fresh shrimp veggie congee. If you don’t get up, I’m going to eat all the shrimp..."
He hadn’t even finished the word "all" when the sleeping beauty on the bed, eyes still barely open, sat up wrapped in the quilt and stretched out two fair, smooth arms to wrap around Lin Xu’s neck:
"Kiss kiss..."
Lin Xu lowered his head, just about to give her a peck, when the girl suddenly yanked hard and pulled him down onto the bed. Then she scrambled on top of him, arms and legs pinning him down:
"Haha! This is a grappling move I just learned online. Aweso, right?"
Lin Xu pulled the quilt up to wrap her body:
"Aweso, aweso. Now hurry up and get up, or the food’s going to get cold."
Shen Baobao lazed in bed a while longer before finally, reluctantly, getting dressed and getting out of bed.
After they washed up, the little couple went downstairs hand in hand. Lin Xu brought the finished Egg pancakes to the table, served each of them a bowl of fresh shrimp veggie congee, and finally put out a small plate of pickles and a small plate of crunchy kimchi.
Breakfast was ready.
"These Egg pancakes are so good; they’re a perfect match with the little kimchi, and the congee is great too... No, I have to take a picture for Monts. Eating sothing delicious and not posting it is basically the sa as not eating it."
Lin Xu picked up a piece of Egg pancake, folded it into a triangle, held it in his hand and took a bite:
"Where do you even learn this nonsense?"
"Online. You have no idea—lots of people ride in a nice car once and take dozens of gigs of photos, then post one every few days, making it look like they ride in luxury cars every day... I’m eating breakfast personally made by Director Lin, of course I have to show it off. Otherwise everyone will just assu I’m eating at so breakfast stall."
She snapped a photo and posted it to her Monts, with a caption:
"Once a woman passes twenty, she can’t just pig out anymore. A simple bowl of congee with pickles and an Egg pancake—nice and plain to start the day."
It was only seven in the morning; a lot of people were still fast asleep.
But there were early birds too, like Dundun’s aunt, Chen Yuanyuan, who was at the No. 4 shop getting ready to open. Seeing the breakfast in the Monts post, she imdiately comnted:
"If there’s any left, bring so. I went to bed too late last night and didn’t have ti to eat at the shop this morning before opening up."
And Zeng Xiaoqi, who was eating breakfast at the shop, chid in:
"A whole bowl full of Large Shrimp, and you call that simple?"
The boss lady really was sothing, poisoning people first thing in the morning.
Too bad President Chen wasn’t up yet, or those two sisters would definitely be sparring in the comnts section.
At the table, after finishing her "poisoning," Miss Shen focused on the delicious food in front of her. The Egg pancake was full of Egg fragrance, soft yet pleasantly chewy.
And the congee in the bowl had smooth rice grains, rich shrimp flavor, and refreshing vegetables.
Eating them together was both delicious and satisfying.
"Xu, where are you eating at noon?"
"Yanjing Hotel, I guess. I’m going over there to take a look first today, then I’ll go handle the pet license and the contract. After that I still have to co back; I need to keep an eye on the back kitchen over there."
If it were just for a salary, he definitely wouldn’t take on this job.
But the allure of a quota to stay in Yanjing was too strong; he had no choice but to put in the extra effort.
Once he got the quota, he could transfer his parents’ household registration over too, and their dical insurance, social security and everything would all change.
Most importantly, the apartnt could finally be put under his own na.
Having it under the company’s na was fine, but it just didn’t feel as reassuring as having it under his personal na.
"If you’re busy I can go handle the pet license and the contract. It’s not like it’s any trouble."
"You’re not going to work anymore?"
"I’ve already talked to Uncle Tan. I’m not going back. Later I’ll have Sister Jing help transfer my social security over to the company, that way I’ll have tons of ti to film Dundun and be a full-ti UP creator."
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