Chapter 47: Each Has Their Own Way of Eating

“Clear broth hotpot.”

Although hotpot wasn’t sweet, she could prepare a sweet dipping sauce. 

Today, besides feeling especially hot, her mouth was also especially greedy.

“Mushroom soup hotpot?” 

Li Yang said.

“Mm, good.”

“Then I know a place. There are especially many people at night. It should be better at noon.”

The hotpot restaurant Li Yang mentioned was on a small street behind the commercial district.

The location wasn’t very conspicuous, but business was good.

At lunchtime, quite a few guests were already seated.

The decoration inside was very simple, just an ordinary hotpot restaurant look.

But the air was filled with the rich aroma of the soup base, making people swallow their saliva the moment they walked in.

There were many people.

The two could only sit at tables set up outside the store.

“What would you two like to eat?” 

The server handed the menu to Li Yang.

Li Yang passed the menu to An Ling again. 

“Order whatever you want. I’m treating today.”

An Ling took the menu and flipped through it.

The dishes were quite rich.

Beef and lamb, seafood, vegetables, bean products — everything was there.

Her gaze wandered over the menu for a while.

Finally, she ordered fatty beef rolls, shrimp paste, luncheon meat, and a few vegetables.

“Just these?” 

Li Yang took the menu. 

“Too little. Add some more.”

He quickly checked off several more items.

An Ling didn’t see clearly what he ordered.

She only heard him say to the server, “Split pot. Use mushroom soup for the clear side. Put less chili on the mildly spicy side.”

“The mushroom soup base has no flavor.” Li Yang said. “I’ll eat the mildly spicy side. You eat the clear broth side. Perfect.”

Since Li Yang was treating and she didn’t mind spicy hotpot base either, An Ling naturally wouldn’t say anything.

While waiting for the food, An Ling held the teacup with both hands and sipped water in small mouthfuls.

Li Yang sat opposite, looking at something on his phone with slightly furrowed brows.

“What’s wrong?” An Ling asked.

“Nothing.” Li Yang put down his phone. “Someone who often plays games with me is asking me to log on and play.”

“Then you want to…”

“No need. I can play games any day.” Li Yang said cleanly and decisively. “Today I’m specifically taking you out to play. I’m too lazy to game with them.”

An Ling’s ears twitched unconsciously.

Her tail also swayed gently behind her.

She quickly lowered her head and pretended to drink water.

The pot base was soon served.

The mushroom soup side was white, floating with a few red dates and goji berries.

The mildly spicy side was red, with some chilies and Sichuan peppercorns rolling on the soup surface.

It looked very appetizing.

The dishes also came one after another, filling the entire table.

“Let’s eat, let’s eat!” Li Yang picked up his chopsticks and dumped a plate of fatty beef rolls into the mildly spicy pot.

An Ling also picked up a plate of shrimp paste and carefully put it into the mushroom soup pot.

The two had different ways of eating hotpot.

An Ling liked to go one by one, eating a little and adding a little.

Li Yang liked to put everything in at once for a satisfying round, then add new ones after eating.

“Want to eat this?” 

Li Yang used a clean pair of chopsticks to pick up a slice of fatty beef roll, then rinsed it in the clear broth pot.

After rinsing, he put it into An Ling’s bowl.

But An Ling was looking at the beef in Li Yang’s spicy pot.

It looked really delicious.

“Want to eat this one?” 

Li Yang asked.

Li Yang fished out a slice of fatty beef from the mildly spicy pot and put it into An Ling’s bowl.

An Ling looked at that slice coated in red oil.

She hesitated for a moment, but still put it into her mouth.

“A bit spicy.” She took a sip of water to wash down the spiciness.

“Hahaha!” Li Yang looked at her and laughed until his eyes narrowed. 

“You should just eat the clear broth. The only spicy thing you eat is spicy strips.”

“Che.”

An Ling thought of a way.

She picked up a slice of fatty beef from the spicy hotpot and another slice from the clear broth, then sandwiched a bit of leafy green between them.

An Ling combined the fatty beef rolls and ate them in one bite.

It was just right — not spicy, but flavorful enough.

“Pretty smart.”

Li Yang directly picked up a slice of luncheon meat from the spicy pot and stuffed it into his mouth. 

“This way of eating is still the most satisfying.”

“Each has their own way of eating. Mine isn’t bad either, okay?”

Li Yang smiled and added a few shrimp into the clear broth pot.

After they were cooked, he scooped them out with a strainer and put them into An Ling’s bowl.

“Eat more meat. You’re too thin. It would be better if you were a bit fatter.”

The hot steam from the hotpot rose up, blurring the view between the two.

An Ling’s face was probably flushed from the steam now.

Li Yang looked at her and suddenly felt this scene was very warm.

The two of them sat facing each other with a steaming hotpot in between.

Hotpot really was better when eaten together by two people.

“An Ling.” 

He called her.

“Mm?” 

An Ling raised her head.

There was still a bit of sesame paste on the corner of her mouth.

“Nothing.” Li Yang smiled. “I just wanted to call your name.”

An Ling’s ears twitched.

She lowered her head and continued eating.

The two ate for more than an hour.

The dishes on the table were completely wiped out.

Li Yang leaned back in his chair and patted his stomach contentedly. 

“I’m so full.”

An Ling also put down her chopsticks.

There was still a little food left in the small bowl in front of her.

She really couldn’t eat anymore.

“Sit for a while. It’s still early. We can play a bit more before going to watch the movie.”

An Ling nodded.

The two sat there playing on their phones and chatting.

Li Yang would occasionally show An Ling videos he found interesting.

After a while, they digested some of the food that had filled them to bursting.

Li Yang stood up. 

“Let’s go. Let’s go out and play.”

An Ling nodded, picked up her small backpack, and stood up as well.

This time it was Li Yang who took her hand.

But the one whose face was red and hot was still An Ling.

The two wandered aimlessly around the commercial street.

They stopped in front of a small miscellaneous goods store.

It seemed to sell all kinds of interesting and useful little things.

“Want to go in and take a look?” 

Li Yang asked.

An Ling nodded.

Inside, there were all kinds of small gadgets, small accessories, small toys, small stickers.

There were even ear decorations and tail decorations specially designed for beastkin.

An Ling also discovered a beast-ear hair accessory that looked especially like her ears.

But it wasn’t as big as hers, and the fur wasn’t as smooth as hers.

It felt like a store that little kids would like.

None of the little things inside were expensive.

An Ling’s gaze was attracted by two keychain pendants.

Cute little wolf pendants, and the color was the same as hers.

Perhaps because of her race, An Ling just liked all kinds of little gray wolf-style things.

“See anything you like?” Li Yang leaned over.

“No.” An Ling shook her head.

But her tail was already pointing at that pendant.

Li Yang looked at her tail and picked up the two little wolf pendants. 

“These are pretty cute. I like them a lot. Let’s get two.”

Li Yang checked the price.

Not expensive.

He took the two pendants to the checkout counter.

“What are you doing?” An Ling followed.

“Buying them.” Li Yang said matter-of-factly. “Let’s buy two. I like them.”

“Then why buy two?”

“One for you.”

Li Yang had already paid.

He handed one of the pendants to her. “Here, take it.”

An Ling looked at that pendant.

She hesitated for a moment, but still accepted it. 

“Thank you.”