News from Taiwan

Chapter 66 Same lineage, same taste
The timing of everyone's outing was perfect; it was just as dusk was falling and the night was beginning to fall, and Taipei's Shilin Night Market was already bathed in the warm glow of the lanterns and colorful lights hanging around it.

"The night markets in Taipei have always been famous, but I wonder how they compare to the night markets in old Shanghai." Lu Qing hesitated, stroking his chin, when he was still a few steps away from the night market.

"Mr. Lu, let's eat first and then talk."

"Exactly, how can you compare if you don't eat them?"

"You can find the same snacks in Taipei in Shanghai. The only difference here is that they are more suited to the local tastes. The food is pretty much the same."

"I doubt it will taste as good as the ones in Shanghai."

The group chatted amongst themselves, and before they knew it, they had arrived at the entrance of the night market. Even before stepping inside, they were enveloped by the aroma of oil mixed with a sweet scent reminiscent of cane sugar.

"Wow, it smells so good."

The vendors, speaking in their distinctive soft Taiwanese accents, were calling out, "Oyster omelet! Freshly shucked oysters!" "Steamed sausage wrapped in sticky rice, delicious!" "Salted and fried chicken, so fragrant!"

As the crowd grew larger, Shen Huaizhou stood behind Jiang Guier, instinctively reaching out to protect her from the surging crowd and prevent anyone from bumping into her.

His actions were seen by Lu Qing, who was standing not far behind. He quickly took a picture, and to cover up his actions, he held up his phone to take a picture of the oyster omelet stall, shouting, "Senior brother, Miss Jiang, would you like to try it? It looks good."

Shen Huaizhou didn't answer. His gaze fell on Jiang Guier's face, and seeing her eyes frantically searching around, he asked in a not-so-soft voice, "Do you want to eat this? Or the wheel cake you saw before?"

How did he know I wanted to eat wheel cakes?

Jiang Guier raised her eyebrows. "Anything is fine. Let's try it."

"Then I'll start with one." Shen Huaizhou walked through the crowd to Lu Qing's side and said to the stall owner, "One serving without scallions, slightly spicy, and four servings of the signature dish."

Lu Qing leaned closer and said, "Senior brother, I want it spicy, with minced garlic and cilantro."

"Tell the stall owner what you're going to tell me," Shen Huaizhou replied indifferently. Lu Qing could only explain his needs to the stall owner himself.

"No scallions, mildly spicy, here you go." As he spoke, Shen Huaizhou naturally took the paper bowl handed to him by the stall owner, held it up in front of Jiang Guier, and handed her a tissue. "Be careful, it's hot. Blow on it before you eat."

Jiang Guier took the warm oyster omelet, its golden skin encasing chewy oysters, the sauce a thick, sweet and sour blend that looked quite appetizing. She took a small bite, the omelet burning as she gently tore it apart.

Shen Huaizhou frowned slightly. "Slow down, no one's going to take it from you."

The people gathered around winked and exchanged knowing glances, while someone else, trying to suppress a laugh, mimicked, "Well, then no one will be fighting you for it~"

This made everyone burst into laughter.

Lu Qing, chewing on a piece of sausage wrapped in sticky rice that she had bought sometime earlier, mumbled in agreement, "Oh my, you guys are too bold, daring to make fun of my senior brother!" Then she changed the subject, "But senior brother, you're too biased. You know that Miss Jiang doesn't eat cilantro or spicy food. Sigh, we've known each other for so many years, and you don't even remember my tastes."

Shen Huaizhou ignored them and didn't refute them, pretending they didn't exist. He just looked down at the sauce on Jiang Guier's lips and handed her a tissue, his tone carrying a hint of indulgence, "Are your hands free? Do you need me to wipe it for you?"

"No need, I have hands." Jiang Guier was too lazy to pay attention to the meaning behind his words. She took a tissue and gently wiped her mouth.

Shen Huaizhou smiled, glanced at the third of the oyster omelet she had eaten, and reminded her, "There's a red bean wheel cake up ahead, do you still want to eat?"

Jiang Guier wanted to eat, but hesitated because her stomach couldn't hold that much food.

Shen Huaizhou naturally took the oyster omelet from her hand, saying, "Shanghai has plenty of these things, so let's just try a little bit of the local flavor and eat something new. We don't need to finish it." With that, he took Jiang Guier to buy wheel cakes.

"Mr. Lu, I bet Mr. Shen will eat that oyster omelet."

"Does this even need a bet? Anyone with eyes can see that we only ordered five portions in total, and everyone was sharing them. Mr. Shen didn't join us from the beginning."

Lu Qing sneered and took a big bite of the oyster omelet in his hand. "Hey, it's so much better to enjoy it all by yourself. Why share it?"

"President Lu, you're jealous." Liu Yu leaned over and patted Lu Qing on the shoulder. "I understand, I understand."

"You don't know anything, kid, get out of the way." Lu Qing quickly caught up with the two people ahead, holding her phone. Jiang Guier had just bought the wheel cakes when she noticed that Shen Huaizhou no longer had her oyster omelet. She paused, wanting to ask, but then kept quiet. "I bought six. Do you want to try some?"

"Need not."

Seeing that the crowd behind him had caught up, Shen Huaizhou spotted a milk tea stall not far away and said to Lu Qing, "You guys go ahead and browse, we'll go buy a drink."

"No, senior brother!" Lu Qing quickly followed. "I want my milk tea with 30% sugar and less ice too. Everyone's tired from walking, it's perfect to have an iced milk tea on such a hot day."

"Pfft." Jiang Guier couldn't help but laugh.

Looking at her pretty face, Shen Huaizhou, who had originally wanted to get rid of her, suddenly felt relieved.

He walked straight to the milk tea shop and ordered, "Two cups of pearl milk tea, three-tenths sugar and less ice."

"Okay, it'll be ready soon." The stall owner quickly got the milk tea.

In front of Lu Qing, Shen Huaizhou handed the milk tea to Jiang Guier, saying, "You're here too. I'm sorry, I just bought two cups."

Lu Qing gritted his teeth and said, "It's okay, senior brother. I can buy it myself. It's alright, it's fine."

He said everything was fine, but he was secretly furious and annoyed. He shouted so loudly, how could his senior brother not have heard him? He was deliberately refusing to buy milk tea. Fine, fine, he was definitely biased. Now he can't even get a cup of milk tea.

Jiang Guier held a milk tea in her hand. She looked up at Shen Huaizhou standing in front of her. The lights of the night market reflected in his eyes, making him look bright and clear. He was looking down and reaching out to help her tidy her bangs that had been blown out of shape. He said in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, "He really has a big mouth. I'll bring you here alone tomorrow."

The surrounding area was bustling with noise. Lu Qing was discussing with the milk tea stall owner what flavors of milk tea everyone wanted, but Jiang Guier could only hear her own heartbeat. She softly hummed in agreement.

Looking into the other person's similar eyes, your tenderness is impossible to hide.

"Where do you want to go next?" He looked up at the night market, trying to find something special, but after looking around, he didn't find anything particularly unique or surprising.

Jiang Guier raised her chin slightly. "They haven't finished buying their milk tea yet."

"How about we go buy some mochi?"

"Forget it, I think I've already been to a Taiwanese night market that doesn't have much good food. It's really not special. Shanghai has all of those, doesn't it?" Jiang Guier thought for a moment and shook her head. However, today's experience washed away the bad impression she had from the previous two days.

Actually, the owner of the braised pork rice restaurant not far away was shouting in Mandarin with a Minnan accent, "Come on, come and try some braised pork rice!"

"Then let's try the braised pork rice. It has the same origin as the meat soup rice in Fujian." Shen Huaizhou led Jiang Guier forward.

Upon hearing this, the owner smiled and replied, "Young man, you're absolutely right. My grandfather was Zhuang Zhou. He brought the recipe to Taiwan back then, and it's been passed down from generation to generation. It's still the same old craft, and the taste is pretty much the same from both sides."

Jiang Guier held the warm braised pork rice, scooped up a spoonful, tasted it, and said, "The taste is indeed almost the same."

"It's not just about the taste."

Shen Huaizhou naturally shared a bowl of rice with her. “Look, the night market here is no different from ours. The Minnan dialect spoken by the stall owners is almost identical to the dialects of Quanzhou and Xiamen. Everywhere you look, it shows that we are all one family, just separated by a strait.”

As the evening breeze blew by, Jiang Guier's eyes welled up slightly. She had come to Taiwan to find the story of her family, to find her maternal grandfather, and to find out why he had disappeared after simply crossing the strait.

Why doesn't he go home?

Has he never thought about his wife and children all these years?
"The Taiwan Strait... cannot separate us from our close kinship." Jiang Guier's voice was soft, yet firm and powerful.

“That’s right.” Shen Huaizhou grasped Jiang Guier’s hand, and the two looked into each other’s eyes, seeing the same determination in each other’s eyes.

"What are you doing!" A strange shout came from behind.

(End of this chapter)