Chapter 104: Ice Cream Can Be Deep-Fried?
The place was crowded at noon, so Huang Mao took the four of them to an outdoor eatery for lunch.
"Old Mo, you order," Huang Mao said with a carefree laugh. "Don’t be shy, get whatever you want. Now that my grades are up, I can squeeze a ton of money out of my old man."
Chen Mo took the menu. Naturally, he wasn’t going to be polite with Huang Mao.
They were good brothers; there was no need to act like strangers.
He ordered a dish he liked and another he thought Su Yuqing would enjoy, then looked at her and said, "Yuqing, see if there’s anything you want. It’s rare for Yellow Hair to treat us, so we’ve got to hit him hard."
When Su Yuqing took the menu, her fingertips gently slid across the ink-printed names of the dishes.
She remembered that Chen Mo loved rich, dark, savory meat dishes, but since he had just eaten the savory egg crepes she’d made that morning, he should probably have some lighter side dishes to go with them.
She paused for a moment by the picture of sweet and sour pork ribs, but then turned the page and pointed to the stir-fried Chinese broccoli and steamed baby bok choy, telling the waiter, "Light on the oil and salt, please."
"Yuqing, you eat so healthy!" Zhao Yuanyuan said, leaning over to look at the simple dish names, her mind already on more delicious things.
"You order then. I’ve ordered two, that’s enough for me." Su Yuqing smiled gently and passed the menu to Zhao Yuanyuan.
"I want the salt and pepper mantis shrimp! And the braised large intestines!" Zhao Yuanyuan declared, ordering the braised intestines without the slightest hesitation.
Most girls rarely order something like that when they’re eating out with guys for the first time.
But clearly, Zhao Yuanyuan couldn’t care less.
And Huang Mao cared even less. In fact, he really liked her unreserved attitude.
However, after ordering the two dishes, she suddenly saw their prices. They were both ridiculously expensive—one started at several dozen yuan, and the other was over a hundred.
She quickly shook her head. "No, no, I want to change my order."
Chen Mo and Huang Mao could both tell from her reaction right away that she was only backing out because she’d seen the price.
Huang Mao immediately waved at the waiter and said, "We’ll take those two dishes she just ordered. Don’t listen to her."
With that, Huang Mao took the menu from Zhao Yuanyuan’s hands. "They each only ordered two dishes, so two is enough for you, too. It’s Lin Yu’an’s turn to order."
He passed the menu to Lin Yu’an, giving Zhao Yuanyuan no chance to change her order.
"But the mantis shrimp is so expensive! I remember it wasn’t this expensive when my grandpa bought it," Zhao Yuanyuan whispered, leaning close to Huang Mao’s ear.
The price for the mantis shrimp was nearly a hundred yuan, which was something Zhao Yuanyuan hadn’t expected at all.
Huang Mao said with a smile, "You must be thinking of the small mantis shrimp. The salt and pepper mantis shrimp here are almost as big as lobsters, so the price is different."
"Oh, I didn’t know. Quick, have the waiter change it," Zhao Yuanyuan said, embarrassed. She looked like a child who had done something wrong.
"Relax. It’s not often we all get to eat out together, so don’t worry about the price. If you hadn’t ordered it, I was going to anyway. You just happened to order it for me," Huang Mao said, waving his hand dismissively.
"Really?" Zhao Yuanyuan looked at Huang Mao, surprised.
"I’m a puppy if I’m lying," Huang Mao said with a resolute expression.
Hearing him say that, Zhao Yuanyuan no longer doubted him.
Chen Mo, however, was snickering to himself on the side. ’From now on, Huang Mao has a new nickname: Huang the Puppy.’
Meanwhile, Lin Yu’an was also feeling very awkward holding the menu.
He didn’t know what to order.
"Lin Yu’an, we’re all friends now. Just order whatever you want to eat, don’t overthink it. Unless you don’t consider us friends," Huang Mao said immediately upon seeing his indecisive expression.
That really scared Lin Yu’an. He had finally gotten the feeling of having made friends at school, and he really didn’t want to lose that.
He immediately pointed to fried ice cream and finished ordering.
"Fried ice cream? You’ve got the tastes of a kid," Huang Mao said with a laugh as he took the menu back.
Lin Yu’an gave an embarrassed smile.
He didn’t really have any particular food preferences himself. He was never a picky eater, so he ate everything.
But his younger brother had his own favorites, so Lin Yu’an was in the habit of buying things his brother liked to eat.
This time, flustered by Huang Mao’s prodding, he panicked and subconsciously pointed to a food his brother loved.
"What? You can fry ice cream?" Zhao Yuanyuan, with a dazed and adorable look, snatched the menu to take a look.
She suspected Lin Yu’an had read it wrong.
Su Yuqing, also surprised, leaned over to glance at the dish’s name on the menu.
She was also very curious as to why ice cream could be fried.
Seeing their innocent and dazed expressions, Chen Mo and Huang Mao both just smiled without saying much.
"Seven dishes should be about right. Let’s add a final order of fried noodles," Huang Mao said after confirming, then sent the waiter off.
"Yellow Hair, what’s this fried ice cream like? Is it hot or cold?" Zhao Yuanyuan asked Huang Mao curiously.
"You’ll know when it gets here," Huang Mao said with a mysterious smile.
"Wouldn’t ice cream just melt if you fry it?" Zhao Yuanyuan’s curiosity grew. She looked at Chen Mo and asked, "Brother Mo, do you know?"
"It’s a dessert that’s both hot and cold. You’ll have to wait for the real thing to arrive and try it to understand," Chen Mo replied with a smile.
"Fried ice cream... it sounds delicious! I have to try some later," Zhao Yuanyuan said, rubbing her hands together in anticipation.
Su Yuqing was also quite curious about the dish and had a look of anticipation on her face as well.
Lin Yu’an hadn’t expected that a dish he’d randomly pointed at would get both girls so excited. He relaxed, feeling like he hadn’t ordered the wrong thing after all.
Soon, the dishes they ordered began to arrive one after another.
These outdoor eateries do some pre-prep on their dishes before the lunch rush, allowing them to serve food quickly at noon.
The fried ice cream, in particular, was made from pre-packaged, semi-finished products.
They just had to be dropped in a wok of hot oil for a moment before they were ready to serve.
As the dishes arrived, a plate of plump, golden-brown, half-moon-shaped food that looked like fried dumplings was soon brought to the table.
"Did we order fried dumplings?" Zhao Yuanyuan asked, surprised.
"Those aren’t dumplings. That’s the fried ice cream you were so curious about. Go on, grab one and try it," Huang Mao said with a smile.
When Zhao Yuanyuan heard that these plump, half-moon "dumplings" were actually the legendary fried ice cream, her curiosity was immediately piqued.
But just as she reached out with her chopsticks, she suddenly remembered that Lin Yu’an had ordered this dish. She quickly pulled her chopsticks back and gave Lin Yu’an a sweet smile. "Lin Yu’an ordered it, so he should have the first piece."
"It’s fine. There are eight of them. It’s closer to you, so you go first," Lin Yu’an said with a gentle, unconcerned smile, waving his hand.
Seeing how Lin Yu’an had been showing his emotions more and more naturally around them recently, Chen Mo felt that since his return, everyone around him was changing for the better.