Chapter 150: Fish Wonton
"Little cutie!" Aunt Wine gushed when Anji finally appeared. She had been waiting all morning.
Greeting the head cook, Anji grinned and introduced Assistant Hu. The short man laughed nervously and asked if he could borrow the kitchen to make Researcher Ke’s meals. Paying little attention to the panda-like man, Aunt Wine told the kitchen staff to help him out while turning all her attention to Anji.
"How was your morning? Was it difficult? Did Researcher Ke bully you?"
While questioning Anji, Aunt Wine also pushed a tray of nutritiously balanced food. Today, the kitchen prepared soy noodles with marinated soy chicken and some steamed vegetables on the side. The children’s menu special included fish wonton soup.
Surprised that they had fish on the mountain, Anji asked if it was expensive.
When Aunt Wine heard it, she laughed and explained how there was a researcher who missed the seafood that he often ate before becoming isolated in this place. He started building an ecosystem for freshwater aquatic animals.
"Eventually, we even managed to breed frogs, lotus plants and crabs. The shrimps were a little trickier because the crabs and fishes kept eating all the baby shrimps. Eventually, we had to raise them separately. Now, they are thriving. We don’t often have seafood on the menu because not many people enjoy the fishy smell. Some people claim they taste mud when they eat seafood, even when we cleaned it well."
Nodding in understanding, Anji remembered eating seafood for the first time at the Silver Water Town. Having lived her whole life in the Celestial Dragon Sect, there were many types of food she did not know about. When she learned from the merchants in the village below the mountain about salted fish, Anji thought all seafood was salty. However, the snails that she ate were refreshing and chewy instead of salty and dry.
Skilfully fishing out a fish wonton, Anji dipped it in the condiment sauce consisting of vinegar and ginger slices, as Aunt Wine recommended. Then, she ate it and tasted the fresh fish mixed with spices and chopped chives. It was like nothing she had ever eaten before. The flavour was complex but light and heartening. Unable to stop at one, Anji fished another wonton, much to Aunt Wine’s delight.