#now I want to get some youtiao and have it with coffee

[masterfuldoodler]

on the wikipedia tonight <3

[umichenginabroad]

Week 4: Food!!!

I swear I’m gaining the freshman 15 again.

Because how can I resist the savory umami aroma wafting from every other corner? How can I resist when I know the epitome of joy and satisfaction in the form of a meat skewer is right there going for 10 RMB(~1.5USD). All this to say, the food has been good.

Food is probably the aspect of China that I was most excited for. I think for Chinese people, food is just so ingrained in the culture as such an important part of life. A student from my host school said something interesting while responding to my friend who wanted to learn how to say “how are you” in Chinese. He said “Chinese people don’t say how are you, they ask if you have eaten”, because food is not to survive, it is to live.

So the Canteens/dining halls are god-tier. There are just so many options, the food comes out so fast, the food is delicious, the food is cheap, and—most importantly for me—a lot of them are really easy to order (aka, I need limited Chinese). Different Canteens are set up in different configurations but most of them are like massive food courts with different restaurants. Sometimes there are a lot of dishes out and you just pick out the dishes you want similar to Michigan (these are my favorite) but sometimes you actually need to read and order something (I tend to avoid these). The food generally is really cheap ranging from 10-20 RMB (~1.5-3 USD) and you normally don’t need to wait longer than a few minutes.

Outside of campus I don’t really do research before going out to eat. Generally, I just wander until I smell something good which doesn’t take too long. However I have had some Shanghai specials such as youtiao (fried dough sticks), xiaolongbao (soup dumplings), shengjianbao (pan fried dumplings with thicker skin), congyoubing (scallion pancakes). My main takeaway, Shanghainese food tends to be really oily but really delicious.

I think the most dangerous food here that is contributing to the majority of my freshman 15 round 2 is the drinks! Before coming to China, I wasn’t much of a drink person because each drink is like $7 in Ann Arbor and I am a bit of a caffeine lightweight, but now, I am a sweet drink fiend! There are just so many cafes again with incredibly cheap prices, and it is getting really hot here so I’m folding so easily for sweet drinks. But the coffee is just so smooth and the tea is so fragrant, I never regret the daily sweet drink/treat!

I’ve also had my share of fast food here including Mcdonalds, Burger King, and KFC. I think a rule of thumb is, Chinese fast food is great at chicken but average at everything else. My favorite was probably Hotpot McChicken

I think my favorite food places I found just by wandering around and exploring with friends. It is also way more fun to eat with friends because you can order so many dishes and all easily share! I feel like food is such a bonding experience, it really has been the best part of this trip. There is nothing like chatting for hours and hours only for everyone to go dead silent when the food arrives and we regress into nothing more than ravenous wolves. It is the best!

Overall, I think my stomach has been happier than ever this trip. As I am writing this, I am actually preparing to go on my first solo trip outside of Shanghai! So unfortunately, I won’t be able to try as many yummy dishes, but I am super pumped regardless!

See ya next week.

Erin Xia

Mechanical Engineering

Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH61

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

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Chapter 61: Purgatory Reunion (XIII)

It was dawn.

There was no sun in the Underground Ant City, but Qi Leren still knew by intuition that it was dawn.

Looking at the time again, it was 7:20 in the morning. If he was training with Chen Baiqi, it would be too late. If he left for her place at this time, he would definitely receive the "loving care" of the three-headed hellhound. But for a person who was on a rare vacation, this hour was still too early.

Actually, he could sleep for a while, but... Qi Leren sat up from the bed. Now that he was awake, it was better to make some breakfast for Ning Zhou. The living room here was connected to the kitchen.

Thinking this, Qi Leren jumped out of bed, put on clothes in a hurry, and came to the bedroom door. After a pause, he rubbed his hands and gently turned the door handle, ready to tiptoe out.

As soon as the door opened, the smell of fried eggs filled Qi Leren's nose. He paused and looked straight into the kitchen.

Freshly brewed hot coffee sat on the table, as well as hot sausages and slices of bread. When Ning Zhou heard the sound of the door opening from where he was frying eggs, he looked back at him, smiled, and said, "Good morning."

"Morning." Qi Leren felt that he was still dreaming.

Dreaming... Speaking of which, he seemed to have had a dream last night, but when he thought about it now, he can't remember anything, except that it was a beautiful dream.

Ning Zhou skillfully put the fried eggs on the plate with a spatula, and Qi Leren quickly walked past and picked up the plate to give him a hand.

It wasn’t the first time that Qi Leren saw Ning Zhou cooking. Before the end of the undercover mission with the Slaughter Secret Society and the start of the Holy Nun’s task, he and Ning Zhou had briefly lived together for a while, as it was for the convenience of Ning Zhou training him. At that time, the two people who had had a crush on each other but sought only to endure it tacitly avoided many topics, and even deliberately avoided each other in many cases. The scene of eating together in silence at dusk was still filled with a different kind of warmth.

Restraint ran through this relationship. Even if they had confessed their feelings, they were still restrained.

When you like someone, you can be presumptuous, because the impulse comes so warmly that people get carried away and act rashly. You may even forget to think, and let your instincts dominate you to express your feelings freely, but you don't think whether it will hurt the person you like. Because at that time, you just want it.

However, when you fall in love with someone and want to spend your whole life with him, you lose your courage, become timid, and be swayed by considerations of gain and loss. You start to restrain yourself, learn to pull out the spikes one by one, express your love gently, and don't use the excuse of "love" to hurt your loved one. Because at this time, you want forever.

"I'll brush my teeth first!" Qi Leren put the plate on the table and rushed into the bathroom. He spent one third of the usual time brushing his teeth and didn't wash his face, because he didn't want Ning Zhou to wait too long, but he carefully observed himself in the mirror and combed his messy hair with a wet comb.

After several tens of seconds, Qi Leren sat upright at the dining table with a knife and a fork in hand, and ate breakfast happily.

Qi Leren was not used to this kind of western breakfast. When he was young, his mother often went out to film, and his father threw him a few dollars irresponsibly to buy breakfast for himself. He usually bought youtiao when he was sent away. When his mother was at home, his father would use 18 kinds of cooking skills, from Cantonese-style refreshments to northern noodles, never making the same thing in the same month. The only thing he never made was Western-style breakfast. Qi Leren, who depend on their mother to eat and drink, had no opinion on breakfast at all, and had been used to this for more than 20 years.

The western-style breakfast was a bit too greasy for him, which made his stomach accustomed to youtiao uncomfortable. However, this was made by Ning Zhou, and Qi Leren not only ate it all, but also praised it with a smile. Because of his outstanding acting skills, Ning Zhou didn't see that he was reluctant.

Looking at Ning Zhou's happy appearance, Qi Leren felt willing to act all his life.

After breakfast, they went to the Trial’s Ant City headquarters, which was disguised as a small auction house, where people were busy and didn’t pay much attention to others. Celia, the contact person in charge of the whole branch’s affairs, had stayed up all night. The smell of black coffee was all over the office. She added sugar to it and smiled bitterly: "I sent someone to interrogate Kathleen overnight. I dug up a lot of news."

"What news?" Qi Leren’s spirits rose as soon as he heard it, and he took Ning Zhou and sat down.

"After Kathleen escaped from the Village of Dusk, considering her demon identity, she chose the Underground Ant City where humans and demons live together as her foothold. As luck would have it, an old lover from her early years happened to run an industry for Witches of Greed in the Underground Ant City, so she settled down there. After the Illusionist disappeared, we investigated his whereabouts. He had been to this casino before going to the Dragon Ant Queen’s royal palace. A gambler saw him and was very impressed with him. Later, our informant reported this matter and went to the gambler to verify it, and then disappeared in the underground casino. Kathleen admitted that the informant was in her hands. After torturing the informant who was looking for the Illusionist, she put the underground casino on watch, and then met you while you were investigating while in disguise."

"So, there’s still no news on the Illusionist?" Qi Leren frowned.

"Yes, we still don't know why he went to that underground casino." Celia was also very troubled. "But it’s certain that he eventually disappeared in the Queen Dragon Ant’s palace."

"Last time, you said that entering the palace required the Prophet's decree?" Qi Leren asked.

Celia nodded. "I also wrote about you in the second request, and I will have an answer next week. Until then... I don't have the power to make such a big decision."

Although Celia was in charge of all the Village of Dusk’s affairs in the Underground Ant City, after all, she only acted on the orders of the Prophet. When it came to the Dragon Ant Queen, who was also a field-level master, she had no right to make decisions.

Qi Leren didn't know about the delicate relationship between field-level masters. He didn't even know how many field-level masters there were in the whole Nightmare World—he vaguely remembered that had Su He mentioned it in those days, but now he wouldn't even believe even Su He’s punctuation marks.

"The Dragon Ant Queen, what news is there?" Ning Zhou suddenly asked.

Celia hesitated and shook her head gently. "There is no news... I'm afraid this is the best news. She’s now in the stage of rebirth, and after this... "

It meant that the queen who had dominated the Underground Ant City for more than 20 years would die and give her authority to the new queen.

What kind of attitude would the new queen hold towards humans and demons? Was it closer to the side of humans or demons? Would she expand the Underground Ant City’s sphere of influence, or would she pay more attention to stability and peace in her own field? Which Devil King would she follow? All these were related to the existence of the Underground Ant City in the next ten or twenty years, and people living here were greatly concerned about this problem.

Among the successive Dragon Ant Queens, a few were friendly to human beings. During those times, human beings gained a high status, but most of the time, the Dragon Ant Queens were not friendly to human beings—she would tolerate human beings living in her sphere of influence, but that's all.

"What method is the Dragon Ant Queen’s field passed down through? Is there any idea?" Qi Leren asked curiously. He had learned some things from the intelligence materials, but the method of inheritance was a complete secret.

Celia shook her head. "Most fields decline with the death of their owners, and they will die out in a few decades. There’s a special inheritance method in the Holy See, where the Pope’s field has been perfectly passed down through the ages."

Was the Pope's field Neverland? Qi Leren secretly took a look at Ning Zhou and was caught red-handed.

"The method of condensation is different," Ning Zhou said.

Qi Leren seemed to understand. He knew that Ning Zhou once condensed more than a half-field with the Holy See’s method, but the half-field had been very fragile, and it was broken before it condensed into a field. But now...

He should have condensed the field again, as evidenced by what had happened in the underground casino yesterday.

He would look for an opportunity to talk about this problem in depth with Ning Zhou. He really cared too much about his own force. This evil force brewing destruction meant endless pain for him.

"Oh, as well, I’ve investigated the things that you asked me to, but there are some questions..." Celia took a sip of coffee and explained the matter.

Ashley, Mrs Kathleen's subordinate, had been missing for a month. She could still feel that her subordinate existed, but she couldn't feel where he was. A surprisingly evil force cut off her connection to him.

"She also said that she had once met someone who looked like Ashley. At that time, he was fighting fiercely with a man wielding a tangdao, but she couldn't see clearly because they were too far away. After they left, she took a look at the scene, and there were broken walls. Therefore, Kathleen thinks that she must have seen wrong. Although her subordinate is clever and considerate, his strength is average and it would be impossible for him to fight with such a powerful master," Celia said.

Qi Leren didn't quite agree: "Didn't she say that her subordinate was controlled by an evil force? Maybe it's something like a seed of slaughter?"

"This is also possible, but according to Kathleen's tone, the level of those two people was more than that of someone who’s been parasitized. Moreover, so many days have passed, and there probably aren’t many valuable clues left there, " said Celia.

"Is there anything we can do for you now?" Qi Leren asked.

"With the matters of the Illusionist, we can only wait for the Court’s reply. Other affairs are handled by special personnel. If you have time, you may wish to help us go to the place where Mrs. Kathleen mentioned that she thought she saw Ashley." Celia smiled and looked at them expectantly.

Qi Leren and Ning Zhou exchanged a look, silently reaching an agreement.

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[onemuseleft]

Meet Cute fic, Zhao Yunlan/Shen Wei, 1/1

Another prompt from the Meet Cute Prompt List, this one for @flange5 who asked for #7: You both do the side-to-side dance when you try to pass them in the grocery store aisle.

Title: Meet Cute 7 Fandom: Guardian Pairing: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan - no-Dixing AU, alternate first meeting Rating: PG mostly for ZYL’s lecherous thoughts and slightly gratuitous use of the word ‘fuck’ Warnings: none

Zhao Yunlan had met his match.

It was a little embarrassing that after ten years on the force, three of them as the Chief of the Special Investigations Department, after surviving the Triads, domestic disputes, assassination attempts, one persistant stalker and a literal serial killer, he was meeting his match in the produce department of the local organic grocery store.

He sighed. Fucking fussy Da Qing and his fucking fussy snack foods.

Giving the display of vegetables one last look, he gave up trying to figure out which kind of mushroom Da Qing wanted and turned away only to walk straight into someone’s push cart.

“Shit,” he said, catching himself against the edge of the cart bin. His own handbasket clattered against the cart, causing even more of a racket than Zhao Yunlan had originally. “Sorry!” He steadied himself and let go of the cart, backing up a little to get out of the way-

-and backing right into the produce display behind him.

Strong hands grabbed his shoulders, pulling him upright the instant before he would have fallen and ended up sitting in a pile of organic produce. “Are you all right?” a strong voice asked. “I apologize, I shouldn’t have tried to get through the aisle while you were browsing. I thought there would be enough room.”

Zhao Yunlan huffed a self-deprecating little laugh. “I think the problem was that I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry about that.” He shifted the basket to his left arm and held his right out for a shake. “Zhao Yunlan,” he said, and looked up at his rescuer.

The man pushing the cart Zhao Yunlan had almost killed himself over offered him a kind smile and took his hand. “Shen Wei,” said the most beautiful man Zhao Yunlan had ever laid eyes on.

He was pretty, there was just no other way to put it. His hair was a deep, dark brown with reddish highlights, shiny even under the supermarket fluorescent lights, and, Zhao Yunlan couldn’t help but think, just long enough for someone to really run their hands through and mess it up. His eyes were dark behind the thin wire frames of his glasses, with just a spark of good humor at Zhao Yunlan’s clumsiness but offset by a general air of kindness. His smile was genuine and friendly. His lips were pink and moist and Zhao Yunlan wanted to do things to them.

He was dressed kind of prep for Zhao Yunlan’s taste - although he’d dated a few business types in the past and messing up their prim and proper attire had always been some of the most fun he’d had. Shen Wei didn’t look like a businessman, exactly. He was wearing a cornflower blue vest with a cream and blue plaid pattern and tiny, precise buttons that made Zhao Yunlan’s fingers twitch a little with the urge to touch. His shirt was a crisp white and he wore a cravat - a fucking cravat - in some kind of deep blue and white pattern at this throat, just peeking out from behind the collar of his shirt. 

And sleeve garters. The same cornflower blue as his vest, with gleaming silver clasps. Zhao Yunlan had seen sleeve garters before but he’d never considered them sexy until right this very moment. Possibly because they’d always been on old, grouchy Ministry officials before, and not stretched enticingly tight around what looked like a truly gorgeous bicep.

Actually the rest of him looked pretty fucking enticing, now that Zhao Yunlan had looked. His shoulders were straight and strong, his chest solid, his waist trim. His suit pants had a plaid effect as well, Zhao Yunlan noticed, dark blue on dark blue that you only noticed at the right angle. 

Zhao Yunlan was struck by the sudden and somewhat unusual urge to take this man home and strip every single piece of clothing off him. 

“Thanks for the rescue,” he said, pitching his voice just a little lower and tipping his head so he could look at Shen Wei through his lashes. “I’m lucky such a strong person was there to save me.”

Shen Wei’s smile widened into a smirk. “Save you from a hefty produce bill, perhaps,” he said. His voice was dry, and he looked like he thought Zhao Yunlan’s flirting was mostly amusing, but he wasn’t walking away either. 

His hand was still clasped in Zhao Yunlan’s, which they both seemed to notice at the same moment. Zhao Yunlan let his fingers brush against Shen Wei’s as they parted, and noticed the way Shen Wei’s cheeks flushed slightly at the gentle touch.

Oh yeah. The hottie was definitely interested. 

Zhao Yunlan figured he had about five seconds to come up with an excuse for them to keep talking or he was going to have to watch this man walk away from him (he very firmly did not let himself think about what this guy’s ass would look like in those tailored pants). He glanced down at the cart and saw several bundles of fresh vegetables, fruit, flour - aside from the bottle of sesame oil, nothing processed or pre-packaged. A health nut maybe, or at least the kind of guy who cooked his own meals.  Or whose partner cooked their meals, but Zhao Yunlan ruthlessly strangled that thought to death and kicked its corpse under the metaphorical couch. This guy was single until he said otherwise. 

“Mushrooms,” Zhao Yunlan said. 

Shen Wei blinked at him. “Mushrooms?” he asked.

“Yes. Mushrooms!” Zhao Yunlan held up Da Qing’s shopping list. “You look like you know a thing or two about cooking. Could you help me? I’m supposed to buy mushrooms for my roommate, but he didn’t tell me what kind and there are-” he gestured toward the plethora of mushrooms behind him. “There are a lot. And I suspect if I get the wrong kind it will make a difference.”

“It could, yes.” Shen Wei pushed his cart to the far side of the aisle where it wouldn’t block any more space that necessary, and then came around to stand at Zhao Yunlan’s side, just close enough that their arms brushed a little. It sent a bolt of warmth through Zhao Yunlan, half arousal and half the silly, almost giddy feeling of flirtation he hadn’t had in years. Not since school, at least. Maybe longer. 

It felt… nice. He liked it. He wanted to see if he could like Shen Wei.

“What are the mushrooms for?” Shen Wei asked and Zhao Yunlan  had to blink a moment and remind himself what they were doing.

“Hot pot,” he said. “He needs them for the broth, he said, but it didn’t occur to me to ask for more information than that. I don’t cook a lot,” he added.

Shen Wei glanced down at the contents of his basket - a bag of his favorite anti-smoking aids, a bag of coffee, a half dozen packs of instant noodles, frozen dough for youtiao, a box of the fancy chocolate cookies his mom had loved and which Zhao Yunlan always bought as a treat around her birthday, a box of green bean cakes, and several packages of dried squid. “I see that,” he said in a tone of deep concern. “This isn’t very well-rounded.”

“I order take-out a lot,” Zhao Yunlan assured him. 

The furrow between Shen Wei’s brows only deepened. “He probably wants shitake for the broth, but there are a number of possibilities. Did he give you a list? Perhaps I can determine what he needed based on the other ingredients.”

Da Qing had done nothing of the sort. “He asked me to pick up a couple of other things - maybe we should just get a selection?” It would be worth having a month’s worth of mushrooms littering up the fridge if it meant he could keep Shen Wei around long enough to get his phone number. “Do you think you could help me pick some out? If you have time,” he added. “If your spouse is waiting for you to get home for dinner, I wouldn’t want to keep you.”

Shen Wei gave him a slow once over out of the corner of his eyes. It was deliberate, and appraising, and one of the hottest things Zhao Yunlan had ever had done to him. This guy was pushing all of his buttons and he still had all his clothes on. Zhao Yunlan found himself holding his breath. “No spouse,” Shen Wei said finally. The corner of his mouth curled up in a pleased little smile. “I’ll help you finish your shopping, on one condition.”

“Yeah?” Zhao Yunlan’s brain conjured up some truly inappropriate ways of demonstrating his gratitude. 

“Meet me for lunch tomorrow,” Shen Wei said. “If you’re free. You can bring me the leftovers and we’ll see if my mushroom selection proved fruitful.”

Zhao Yunlan had picked up guys before, met women in bars, run into handsome and beautiful strangers who caught his interest. He’d never had a lunch invitation set his heart pounding and make his stomach flutter like he’d just won the lottery and been crowned king all in one moment.

“It’s a date,” he said.