Miss Heir wasn't very kind to me.

Chapter 22 22. "Lottery and Sukiyaki"

When I was checking out, there were three people in line in front of me, one of whom was a foreign tourist.

The cashier looked like a male high school student working part-time. His childish face was filled with panic. After exchanging a few words in broken English, he said "sorry" as he left the cashier counter and walked into the lounge.

After a few seconds, an older man came out.

He has slightly dark skin and facial features with obvious Austronesian ancestry. He speaks fluent English and is probably a foreigner living or working there.

Kobe has always been a city with many foreigners. In recent years, with the aging population and labor shortage, there are more and more South Asian and Southeast Asian faces.

When it was Masumi's turn, the clerk said, "Sorry to have kept you waiting," and then picked up the items one by one to pay.

After all the bills were settled, the clerk smiled and said to him:
"We're having a promotion right now. Spend 1000 yen or more and you'll enter a prize draw."

Then a cardboard box for the lottery was handed over.

"please."

Masumi reached into the cardboard box without any expectations, fumbled around inside, and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Congratulations, it's third prize."

——It would be a surprise if it wasn’t just a thank you for your patronage. It’s actually one level higher than the fourth prize tissue paper. Masumi’s eyes were filled with ripples, and he was looking forward to the third prize.

However, this expectation was soon disappointed.

"These are the third-place prizes."

Expired protein bars, a carton of vegetable juice, and a deck of singing cards.

I really shouldn't have expected that. Of the three, Masumi hesitated briefly before ultimately choosing karuta.

"By the way, what's the first prize?"

"It's thirty kilograms of rice."

"Thirty kilograms?" Masumi asked in surprise, "When will this activity end?"

“It will probably last until mid-May.”

"I understand, thank you."

After receiving the change from the clerk, Masumi threw one of the 5 yen coins into the donation box and left the convenience store with the plastic bag.

"take care."

◇

Back at the Starry Cafe, several girls were eagerly awaiting his return. For the first time in his life, being waited on by several girls, Masumi self-deprecatingly wondered if he looked a bit like the male protagonist in a harem manga.

"Uh, 'Masumi-kun, your smile is so disgusting,'" I really want to say, but since you're treating us to sukiyaki, I really can't say it."

"Thank you, you've said it."

Masumi suppressed his smile, and while saying "Thank you for your help", Kamishiro Rinone took the ingredients from him and walked into the kitchen.

Asami looked at him with a smile, rubbing her fingers together and said.

"How generous, Masumi-kun! Did you just win the lottery?"

“There is indeed a prize.”

"Eh—" She was slightly startled, then her eyes lit up with interest. "It's actually true? How much did you win? One hundred thousand? One million? Could it be ten million?"

"Do you still have the winning ticket? I want to see it!"

"You're overthinking it. It's just the third prize from the convenience store."

Masumi wanted to show her the karuta he had won, but he was still holding a freshly made smoothie in his hand. He was about to put the smoothie aside when Asami noticed him.

She was surprised at first, then burst into laughter. "No way! Masumi-kun, you actually dared to buy this smoothie. I really admire you."

"What's wrong with this smoothie?" asked Jiuyuan Weilai next to him in confusion.

"The texture is terrible," Mami explained. "Not only are they very fibrous, but the stems often can't be pureed. It's as bad as it can be."

"What I can't tolerate most is that it has no sweetness from beginning to end, which completely defeats the purpose of drinking a fruit smoothie."

Asami complained indignantly.

"If you want to drink, I recommend the honeydew melon one." She looked very experienced.

"Oh, thank you."

Chatting about irrelevant topics, several people walked into the kitchen and helped wash vegetables and prepare ingredients.

As soon as I walked in, I saw Rin standing in front of the kitchen counter, chopping cabbage, onions, green onions and other vegetables with a kitchen knife. The knife made a light rhythm on the cutting board.

Water flowed from the faucet like a transparent waterfall, extending into Masumi's hands. He washed the mushrooms, then cut off the stems with a knife and made beautiful cross-shaped cuts on the surface.

When Masumi was a child, he naively thought that this was what shiitake mushrooms looked like.

Halfway through the cut, the light in front was suddenly swallowed by shadows.

Masumi turned his head and saw Asami standing beside him with a smile on her face. She was holding a handful of freshly washed vegetables and making crisp chewing sounds. "What's going on?"

Asami shook her head, then nodded slightly, "Yes, I have good news to tell everyone."

"what?"

"We'll find out tomorrow."

"If that's the case, let's not talk about it for now." Masumi sighed.

With everyone helping out, the ingredients were quickly prepared.

Four people sat around the table, turned on the gas stove to heat the pot, added butter, and evenly spread it on the bottom of the pot.

Linyin held the soy sauce bottle and cooking wine in her hands and poured them into the pot one by one. Then she added green onions, fried tofu, konjac noodles, shiitake mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, garland chrysanthemums, chrysanthemums, cabbage and other ingredients, just like squeezing brightly colored paints on a palette, and then covered the pot.

The beef and konjac noodles are separated. It is said that the ingredients in konjac will make the beef hard, and its appearance and taste will be much worse.

It is an authentic Kanto method.

In 1869, the first Sukiyaki specialty restaurant in the island country opened in Motomachi, Kobe. At that time, it was just a simple grilled beef dish. After continuous development, it was divided into two methods: Kanto and Kansai.

For example, in Kansai, when eating sukiyaki, the beef is grilled first, and then the vegetables with sufficient moisture are fried together. The ingredients are also different, and vegetables such as green onions, white tofu and mizuna are used.

Hearing Masumi's puzzled voice, Rin explained as a matter of course: "I saw that the green onions, grilled tofu, and cabbage you bought are all Kanto-style ingredients."

"Like this." Masumi ignored the fact that he had been in Tokyo for five years and because of his personality, he unconsciously became closer to his friends in some habits.

"Besides, my mother is from Gunma Prefecture, and we always ate sukiyaki this way when we were little. I'm more confident this way," Rin said nonchalantly.

Masumi was a little nervous. This was the first time he heard Rin talk about her personal affairs.

"No problem! I love eating them all, both in Kanto and Kansai!"

Mami clasped her hands together in a cheerful tone, "My heart is very big. It can hold all the cities, provinces, prefectures, and forty-three counties in the country."

"Are you doing weight-bearing practice?"

Masumi grumbled calmly, pouring sterilized raw eggs into his bowl.

Use chopsticks to stir for 9 minutes and a half, neither more nor less, to maximize the sticky texture created by the egg white.

After waiting for a few minutes, the sound of water boiling softly came from under the lid, and hot steam came out from the gaps between the holes.

"You can eat now!" Mami swallowed.

"hold on."

Rin was staring at the phone screen expressionlessly. Masumi glanced over and found that she was actually using the timer on her phone. Did it need to be so precise?

"In the past, there have been cases in welfare homes where children were hospitalized due to poisoning from eating undercooked food."

She explained calmly, pressing pause before the timer reached zero, and then lifted the lid of the pot with her slender fingers.

The hot steam brings the aroma of Sukiyaki to everyone's nose.

"You can start eating."

"I'm starting." ×4
"Click——"

There was the familiar sound of a can being opened.

Asami's chopsticks aimed directly at the beef.

The high-grade Miyazaki beef is evenly fattened and has a delicate texture. After being cooked in the pan, it is coated with a rich soy sauce flavor. After being dipped in egg liquid, it cools down slightly to a just-right level of flavor. Together with the smooth texture of the egg, it creates an exquisite flavor in the mouth.

"Oh, so delicious." Mami pressed her cheek, "Delicious food really needs to be paired with this."

She picked up the beer at hand, her white throat moved, and she took a big gulp, then let out a moan that made Masumi a little dumbfounded.

However, it makes people feel very refreshing and appetizing.

“I really want to eat this delicacy every day!”

Asami ate a piece of meat, took a sip of wine, and then groaned "Woo-wah".

Masumi felt that her demeanor was not like that of a drinking savvy from Omi Province, but rather like that of the Demon King of Oeyama from the neighboring Tamba Province.

"Well, if Fanxing is a big success after its renovation, let's have another sukiyaki party."

"This time I want to eat Kobe beef and Omi beef!"

"You're thinking too far ahead." Masumi sighed, "We haven't even decided on a new dessert menu yet."

"Don't worry." She said casually, "Regarding this, I have found strong external support to help the store."

Suddenly, Mami said.

The three people at the table stopped eating sukiyaki and stared at the tip of her nose in confusion.

"Ah, I wanted to give you a surprise."

(End of this chapter)