Chapter 499 - 333: You’re Finally Willing to Come Out?

Chapter 499: Chapter 333: You’re Finally Willing to Come Out?

"Huh? How did this turn into a dumpling wrapper?"

Jin Meiyan tried rolling out a piece of dough, but all she got was an irregularly shaped, unevenly thick oval of a wrapper.

She held up her tragic-looking creation and glanced at the nearly ten perfectly round wrappers already piled on the table, unable to believe the gap between them was so huge.

Most importantly, the wrappers Lin Chen rolled out weren’t just uniformly thick, but their shapes were also perfectly identical.

When stacked together, there was almost no difference in size between any of them.

"Don’t use too much force with the hand rolling the wrapper. The back-and-forth distance of the rolling pin should be consistent each time."

Lin Chen picked up another piece of dough and demonstrated again, slowing down his movements.

His left hand remained almost stationary, using only slight turns of the wrist to rotate the wrapper.

His right hand pressed the rolling pin with the heel of his palm, rolling it back and forth over the front half of the wrapper on the table.

With just three or four rolls, the piece of dough would expand into a circle.

After two rotations, a plump, white dumpling wrapper was already formed.

Jin Meiyan blinked, replaying the details of Lin Chen’s movements in her mind several times. A spark of understanding lit up her eyes as if she had finally grasped a key point.

The wrapper she rolled out this time was much more presentable than her last attempt, and its overall shape was much rounder.

After three consecutive tries, she finally mastered the technique and rolled out a perfectly round dumpling wrapper.

"Not bad. You’re a fast learner."

Lin Chen nodded in satisfaction. To be honest, he hadn’t really taught her much; he had just been rolling out wrappers nonstop.

Someone without any basic cooking skills wouldn’t have been able to learn just by watching.

"It’s all because you’re a good teacher, Oppa."

Jin Meiyan was also very pleased with the wrapper she had made, even taking out her phone to snap a selfie with it.

"Oppa, can I post this picture on Instagram?"

"Go ahead. Our fans already know about the event that got you the most likes, so us appearing in the same shot is just a little teaser."

With the dumpling wrappers taken care of, the rest was simple.

Lin Chen didn’t rush to the next step. Instead, he first wrapped a few dumplings to taste for seasoning.

They had over three thousand dumplings to wrap, so speed was essential. He used a two-handed method, the kind where you pinch it shut with both thumbs.

Four dumplings in just about fifteen seconds. Jin Meiyan was stunned watching him work so fast.

She looked down at the wavy-edged dumpling she was holding in her palm, finding it hard to believe her speed was only a quarter of his.

’And I was so confident earlier, telling him I was good at wrapping dumplings. This is the result?’

’So embarrassing!!’

"Finished wrapping? Come on, I’ll cook it with mine so we can check the seasoning."

Lin Chen glanced over, smiled, and gently picked up the dumpling from her palm. He even gave her a thumbs-up in praise.

"You wrapped it really well! I remember that dumplings in South Korea are wavy-edged, just like the frozen ones they sell in supermarkets. Great technique!"

Jin Meiyan’s cheeks flushed, and she waved her hands in embarrassment. "Yours look better, Oppa. They’re fast and well-made. My speed is too slow. I just hope I’m not causing you any trouble."

She originally thought all dumplings looked the same, but she hadn’t expected dumplings from Great Xia to be wrapped this way.

Although the shape wasn’t as aesthetically pleasing as the wavy-edged ones, the filling part was plump and round, making you want to take a bite just by looking at it.

"How do you make dumplings in South Korea? Are they pan-fried?"

While waiting for the water to boil, Lin Chen didn’t stay idle. He continued pinching off dough balls and rolling out wrappers, not forgetting to make small talk to avoid any awkward silence.

"Yes, they’re mostly pan-fried. We also have dumpling soup, which is when they’re cooked in a stone pot soup."

"That’s different from us. In Great Xia, dumplings are divided into five types: in soup, drained, steamed, pan-fried, and deep-fried. At home, the most common ways to eat them are in soup or drained."

"The shape of the dumpling also differs depending on the cooking method. Different shapes are suited for different methods, and the same goes for the fillings."

"So we’re boiling these now, right? Do we have to wait for the water to boil before putting the dumplings in?"

"Right. Add a spoonful of salt to the water. It’ll keep the dumplings from sticking to the pot and also make the wrappers more al dente so they don’t break while cooking."

Jin Meiyan nodded. She didn’t understand why, but she did as she was told, even remembering to stir the water with chopsticks after adding the salt.

Once the water boiled, she waited for Lin Chen’s confirmation before daring to put the five dumplings in.

"Oppa, how long do they need to cook?"

"Once they float to the top, give them another five minutes, and then you can take them out. We don’t have many ingredients on hand, so we won’t make the soup version. Let’s just have them drained."

"Okay, whatever you say, Oppa. But what ingredients do you put in the soup version?"

"It depends on personal taste. Different regions use different ingredients. Back in my hometown, we mainly use lard, soy sauce, seaweed, dried shrimp, white pepper, and salt. If you don’t mind the trouble, you can also add thinly sliced egg crepes. Finally, you ladle in a few spoonfuls of the dumpling cooking water."

"That sounds really refreshing. Hot, with pepper... It sounds perfect for a hangover, something to have the morning after drinking."

"A hangover soup? Haha, that’s so Korean."

The pristine white dumplings tumbled about with the rising bubbles, swirling around in the pot. The wrappers slowly turned translucent, revealing the faint pink of the filling within.

...

"Hahahaha, this is so interesting! I never knew Great Xia’s youth dramas and romance reality shows were so fascinating. They’re a completely different style from North American and European ones. So reserved, yet filled with a kind of indescribable thrill."

Erica took off her headphones and sighed, still wanting more. She subconsciously glanced at the time in the bottom-right corner of her screen.

When she saw the numbers displayed, the smile on her face froze. Thinking she must have misread it, she rubbed her eyes and whipped her head around to look out the window.

Through a tiny crack, she saw that the once-bright sky had turned a dusky yellow, with vast stretches of wine-red clouds appearing on the horizon.

’When did it get dark?’

’I watched for a whole afternoon???’

The thought that she had left Lin Chen and that Korean girl hanging for several hours made her expression change. Forgetting everything else, she snapped her laptop shut and rushed out.

The moment she opened the door, she caught a faint scent of flour drifting in the air.

Following the scent to the kitchen, she had just rounded the corner when she saw Jin Meiyan holding something with her chopsticks up to Lin Chen’s mouth, half of it already inside.

Her other hand was cupped under his chin as if to catch any dripping juices.

Erica’s eyes narrowed slightly. In that instant, countless scenes from the show she had just spent the afternoon watching flashed through her mind.

’This act of feeding someone... if I remember correctly, it’s pretty intimate, isn’t it?’

’Even the contestants on the romance shows didn’t do this kind of thing in the early stages of getting to know each other.’

’It’s only been a few hours this afternoon. Did their relationship progress that quickly?’

"Hm? So you finally decided to grace us with your presence."

Lin Chen caught a flash of movement in the corner of his eye and instinctively turned his head, only to see Erica staring at them with a strange look.

He immediately raised his flour-covered hands and waved them. "Don’t get the wrong idea. My hands are covered in flour, and I was too lazy to wash them."

"Right, right, that’s it! I can’t help much, so I can only feed Oppa some food to taste. I’ve never had Great Xia’s dumplings before, so I don’t know if the flavor is right."

"Dumplings?"

Erica nodded and didn’t say much else. She walked over calmly and looked at the table filled with dumpling wrappers and meat filling, the pot of bubbling, faintly white broth, and the plate of dumplings in Jin Meiyan’s hand.

’Judging by the scene, they aren’t flustered, which means they have nothing to hide. Plus, with all this stuff prepared, they probably aren’t lying.’

’Thinking about it, I was gone all afternoon, so Lin Chen could only ask this girl to help him out. Jin Meiyan is also Asian, so she should know something about a traditional skill like making dumplings.’

’Yeah, the problem is with me. I was the one slacking off; I can’t just go around suspecting people.’

"What kind of filling is in the dumplings? Let me try one, too~"

She hadn’t felt it before, but now that she smelled the aroma, a powerful wave of hunger washed over her.

She took the chopsticks from Jin Meiyan’s hand, picked up a dumpling, and popped it into her mouth, completely unconcerned that they were the same chopsticks Lin Chen had just used.

Jin Meiyan, on the other hand, blinked in surprise. She glanced at the chopsticks, then back at Lin Chen, a teasing smile spreading across her face.

Lin Chen hadn’t expected Erica to pull a move like this the moment she arrived. ’Is she trying to declare her sovereignty or something?’

He had no romantic interest in Jin Meiyan, so his conscience was clear.

It was true that she was very beautiful and had a great presence. And spending an afternoon alone together, plus the feeding... theoretically, it did prove she had a certain degree of fondness for him, but it didn’t necessarily mean it was romantic attraction.

He hadn’t even considered that possibility. His mind was completely occupied with planning their upcoming schedule and work. In fact, he was more concerned that Erica’s actions might be a bit rude in front of a guest.

However, judging from Jin Meiyan’s expression of someone enjoying the drama, she clearly wasn’t taking it to heart either.

Since she didn’t mind, there was no reason for him to mind either. He casually said, "Pork and cabbage. We also prepared shrimp and cod, and later there will be chive and egg. Three types of fillings in total. You can just boil or steam them, then pack them in boxes for the workers."

"What? Me?"

Erica had just been about to praise how good the dumpling tasted, but when she heard that, her eyes went wide. "Then what about you?"

"I have to take her on the wilderness survival experience," Lin Chen said, giving her a strange look. "I’m the channel director. I have to go, right?"

"Our team is just you and me. If I go, you’re the only one left to prepare food for the workers. You don’t know how to cook Chinese food, so my only choice is to prep it for you in advance. Makes sense, right?"

"...I guess that does make sense."

Erica scratched her head. She wanted to argue, but after thinking it over, she couldn’t find a good reason to object.

"What about Andre? Did he say when he’s coming?"

"No. That’s why I’ll have the driver help you move everything. All you have to do is boil or steam the dumplings. The driver will handle the rest. You can just stay home and rest."