Japanese people eat spicy food, but they eat pure spicy food.
What is pure spicy food? It's chili powder mixed with water to make chili paste.
It's the kind that is only spicy, the color is terribly red, and the sticky feeling doesn't look appetizing.
Spicy, numbing-spicy, Sichuan-style spicy, and all sorts of strange spicy flavors—they had rarely tried any of them.
After Ono Yoko experienced that numbing sensation,
she began to feel a bit absent-minded.
Although her mouth said no, her body was very honest.
She kept glancing at that pot of mapo tofu from time to time like a greedy cat, eating from her bowl while eyeing the pot.
But since she had just spoken out against it, she felt a bit embarrassed to go for it again.
Seeing this, Lin Yi took the initiative to add a spoonful to her bowl: "Try some more, the taste is actually quite good."
"Mm."
Ono Yoko smiled sheepishly, then impatiently ate the mapo tofu mixed with rice.
She had learned her lesson this time and only took a small bite.
She chewed slowly, carefully savoring the authentic mapo tofu.
The intense spiciness hit her taste buds, accompanied by waves of numbing sensations, as an indescribable fragrance drifted through her mouth.
"It's really... delicious."
Ono Yoko immediately changed her food review, greedily eating a few more spoonfuls with a satisfied smile on her face.
"This... how did you make it?"
Ono Yoko couldn't help but ask Lin Yi for advice.
In her heart, a man who could cook was the very definition of a good man.
And for a man who could cook such great food, whoever became his girlfriend would be happy for a lifetime!
"First, cut the tofu into neat little cubes and put them into a pot of boiling lightly salted water. Use the back of a spoon to gently push them outward; don't break them," Lin Yi shared his cooking insights.
"Question!" Ono Yoko said curiously. "Why use lightly salted water? Won't regular boiling water work?"
"Using lightly salted water allows the tofu to shrink slightly so it won't fall apart during the cooking process. Besides that, it makes the texture more elastic. Also, blanching the tofu in hot water makes it firmer and less likely to break..."
"Oh... I see." Ono Yoko had an epiphany. She said, "No wonder whenever I cook tofu, it falls apart so easily... I have to remember that."
As she spoke, Ono Yoko picked up her phone and began to note down these little tips. She could use them later when recording her shows.
"What else?" Ono Yoko looked at him with a face full of thirst for knowledge.
Lin Yi said, "After blanching the tofu, set it on a white plate. Then start stir-frying the minced beef for the mapo tofu. This step is mainly about controlling the heat. Let the minced beef get about sixty percent cooked, then add the beef filling to saute until the moisture is gone."
"Wait until the minced beef gradually turns dark, then add cooking wine and bean paste to stir-fry until the red oil comes out. After the oil is hot, turn to low heat, put minced ginger, fermented black beans, and dried chili powder into the pot. The most important step is thickening the sauce with starch."
"Whether the Starch Thickening is appropriate has a huge impact on the quality of the dish. It determines whether your mapo tofu is just a common home-cooked meal or a signature dish!"
"Thickening the sauce... is so hard."
Ono Yoko looked helpless. "I fail every time... I always end up making the dish all slimy..."
"It's okay. After we finish eating, I'll teach you."
Lin Yi said with a smile.
"Really?" Ono Yoko's eyes couldn't help but light up, though she felt a bit embarrassed. "But I'm a bit clumsy; it might take a long time to learn."
"It won't. You just haven't mastered the trick yet."
Lin Yi spoke with a smile, already quietly creating an opportunity for physical contact.
Later, he would be behind her... bah, he would be behind her, teaching Ono Yoko how to cook hand-in-hand.
Ono Yoko had grown somewhat accustomed to the traditional mapo tofu, and her eating speed naturally picked up.
"Phew... it's a bit hot."
Beads of sweat appeared on Ono Yoko's forehead.
She put down her chopsticks and took off her coat, revealing the white shirt underneath.
As an Idol, there was no need to mention how white and tender her skin was.
Fair and tender skin were standard requirements for being an Idol.
And Lin Yi didn't care much for such superficial things.
What truly attracted Lin Yi was actually Ono Yoko's collarbones.
She had a very slim figure, so her collarbones were very prominent. Moreover, they were the rare straight-line type, possessing a unique beauty.
Lin Yi felt that he could place a row of cherry tomatoes on them.
Perhaps because he had seen too many beautiful girls, Lin Yi had begun to develop a certain immunity to looks. The girls who could make his heart flutter often did so for other reasons.
Take Ono Yoko, for example.
It wasn't because of her beautiful appearance or slim figure, but because of her sexy collarbones.
Seeing her well-proportioned and clearly defined collarbones, Lin Yi, for some reason, suddenly had an urge to go up and take a couple of bites.
Ono Yoko noticed that Lin Yi was staring at her, specifically below her face. This made her blush, but she didn't hate it. She said coquettishly, "Hey, stop looking... eat your food."
"Oh... sorry."
Lin Yi snapped out of it. Without any embarrassment, he smiled frankly and said, "Your collarbones are just too beautiful..."
"Is that so? Thank you."
Ono Yoko felt very happy because she felt that the most outstanding and proud part of her body was her collarbones.
She had seen many girls prettier than her and encountered many women with better figures, but when it came to collarbones, Ono Yoko had yet to see any more sexy than her own.
As a popular star, Ono Yoko inevitably had to deal with many men—handsome ones, ugly ones, learned ones, and coarse ones.
But no matter which one they were, they only praised her for being beautiful or cute. The more eloquent ones would say she had a very healing presence.
But none of those were what Ono Yoko wanted to hear. What she wanted to hear most was about her collarbones.
Unfortunately, besides the makeup artist sister who was responsible for dressing her, she hadn't heard this compliment from anyone else's mouth.
She never expected that Lin Yi would actually take a fancy to her collarbones at a single glance. To be honest, this made her excited, and even her heart began to race.
The atmosphere was finally filled with a layer of ambiguity.
This made Yoko Okino no longer focus on the food.
Her thoughts began to gradually diverge, and she couldn't help but imagine some scenes from shoujo manga.
This made her little face start to blush, and a smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of her mouth.
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