Why bother with dating when you already have a cat?

Xiaoyu had seen this way of eating before when she was shopping at Yintai City, but unfortunately she had already finished eating with Aiqing each time, so she could only look at it from afar outside the store.

"Hot pot, right?"

"Yes! It's called hot pot!" Xiaoyu suddenly realized what it was called. "I've wanted to try it before, it looks like a lot of fun."

"Okay, let's go take a look."

Chapter 150 Little Fish's Treat

Hot Pot.

This can actually be eaten at home.

You don't need to prepare the ingredients yourself; just buy the frozen ones that are ready-made.

Then, prepare an induction cooker and a pot, make some hot pot base and dipping sauce, and you can make it at home.

But just like cooking for yourself, you still have to clean up the table yourself in the end.

The advantage of eating out is that you don't have to clean up.

Moreover, when it comes to hot pot at home, Ai Qing prefers to eat it in winter.

In the dead of winter, when the wind is howling outside, the house is warm and cozy with the air conditioning on. The family gathers around a hot pot, and there's no need to worry about the food getting cold if you eat slowly. A sip of soup warms the stomach.

Just thinking about it makes me feel good.

As for summer, the most enjoyable thing is probably eating spicy hot pot while sweating profusely in an air-conditioned room.

Unfortunately, Ai Qing can't handle spicy food very well, so I wonder what Xiao Yu's taste is like.

……

After getting off the subway, Xiaoyu hugged Aiqing's arm and walked into Yintai City.

"Hot pot restaurants are all pretty much the same," Ai Qing said. "Anyway, it's all about the dipping sauce, so just choose whichever you like."

"Okay." Seeing that Ai Qing was completely used to her clinging to his arm, Xiao Yu chuckled twice and then said, "Then, brother, shall we go to that place called Haidilao?"

How did you know about Haidilao?

"I saw it in a video," Xiaoyu blinked and said. "It said Haidilao has pretty good service, do you want to try it?"

"If you're interested, that's fine too." Ai Qing wasn't really a fan of Haidilao, but if Xiaoyu liked it, it wasn't out of the question.

The main problem is that he's socially awkward and really doesn't feel comfortable with people constantly pouring him drinks.

He quite liked Haidilao's plum juice, but every time he drank half a cup, the waiter would refill it.

Ai Qing felt somewhat guilty about having to go through all this trouble so often.

I know this is good service, but it's still hard for someone with social anxiety to adapt.

"Where is Haidilao again?"

"It's on the fourth floor too, let's go up." Ai Qing led Xiao Yu to the fourth floor of Yintai City and easily found the location of Haidilao.

"Welcome to Haidilao. Are there two of you?" The Haidilao waiter at the door greeted them warmly and led them inside.

"Yes, yes, you two." As Xiaoyu became more and more comfortable communicating with strangers, she no longer needed Ai Qing to speak for her; she could handle things on her own.

Following the waiter to a table, Xiaoyu sat down next to Aiqing.

The waiter brought over a tablet specifically for ordering food and handed it to Xiaoyu and Aiqing, smiling as he said, "Please order here. Feel free to let me know if you have any needs or questions."

"Okay, okay." Xiaoyu nodded, took the tablet with great curiosity, and then whispered in Ai Qing's ear, "Brother, do we order food here using tablets?"

"That's why the service is better." Ai Qing appreciated this point, since ordering food on a tablet has a larger screen and is much more comfortable than operating it on a phone.

However, it's unlikely that a typical restaurant would set up so many tablets with only one function: ordering food.

The purpose of ordering food via QR code was to save on waiter costs, but this tablet has unnecessarily increased expenses, completely contradicting the intended purpose.

"Let me see." Xiaoyu flipped through the menu, then asked Ai Qing, "I've never had hot pot before, so all of this is raw, right?"

"Hmm." Ai Qing pointed to the next table and whispered in Xiao Yu's ear, "Didn't I tell you before? Cut the raw ingredients into thin slices that are easier to cook, put them in the pot and cook for a little while, and the ingredients will be cooked."

"Then we can directly scoop out the cooked food, dip it in our own sauce, and enjoy a bite of freshly made food."

That's the beauty of hot pot.

"What does brother want to eat?"

"I'll just order these." Ai Qing ordered several plates of meat, rice cakes, quail eggs, and a bundle of vermicelli.

After watching Ai Qing finish ordering, Xiao Yu continued to look through the menu and chose a few things she had never eaten before.

The main focus is on providing a fresh experience.

"What kind of broth should we choose?" Ai Qing asked. "Take a look."

“I’ll listen to my brother. I’m treating today. You’re the guest, so you can choose.”

Ai Qing didn't stand on ceremony with her and simply ordered a four-compartment hot pot: "One spicy, one tomato, one mushroom soup, and one plain water."

"You can try all three kinds when you go. If you think the spicy broth is too spicy, you can rinse it in the clear broth before eating."

After ordering, the waiter poured warm water for the two of them and asked what drinks they would like.

Ai Qing ordered plum juice, and Xiao Yu ordered orange juice.

After finishing that, the two got up and headed towards the dipping sauce area.

They also have dipping sauces when I go to eat barbecue before.

However, unlike here, the dipping sauce at the barbecue restaurant is prepared in advance by the owner and placed in a long, rectangular dish that combines three ingredients.

The dipping sauce here is served in a bowl, and you can mix more than ten kinds of sauces yourself.

Of course, you can also tell the waiter your preferred taste and ask them to prepare a dipping sauce for you.

Little Fish definitely wanted to try it herself, but looking at the dazzling array of seasonings in front of her, she was still a little at a loss.

Ai Qing had her own preferred dipping sauce. She skillfully prepared the sauce for herself, then sprinkled on a bunch of chopped green onions and minced garlic before turning to look at Xiao Yu, who was still looking hesitant.

"What's wrong? Don't know how to adjust it?" Ai Qing chuckled. "If all else fails, just ask the waiter..."

"No, no, of course it's better to mix it yourself." Little Fish's face was serious as she stared at the dozen or so bowls of seasonings, then said, "But I've never seen many of them before, I don't know what they taste like."

“You’ll gradually learn as you eat here more often,” Ai Qing said with a smile. “It’s not like you can only come once.”

"Alright then." Xiaoyu decided to go all out and focused on the seasonings that she thought looked the best. After adding five or six kinds of seasonings, she imitated Ai Qing's actions and added some chopped green onions and minced garlic. "I wonder if it will taste good."

"If you don't like it, you can try mine later." Ai Qing led Xiao Yu back to her seat.

The four-compartment hot pot has been set up, and the ingredients are being brought to the table by the waiters one after another.

Ai Qing himself doesn't eat spicy hot pot. As a native of Hangzhou, a Jiangnan person, his ability to eat spicy food is not nonexistent, but it's negligible.

This spicy hot pot might only be considered mildly spicy for people from the Sichuan region, but for Ai Qing, it was already quite spicy.

Even if you put the lamb rolls in the hot pot until cooked, and then rinse them again in the clean water, they will still be very spicy when you eat them.

Little Fish didn't quite understand this; she was still stirring her own seasoning with chopsticks.

"What did you put in here?" Ai Qing glanced at the small bowl of yellow dipping sauce on her side and couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know either," Xiaoyu shook her head. "I just added it randomly."

"Does it taste normal? Try taking a sip first."

Xiaoyu tried taking a bite with her chopsticks, then her eyes lit up and she nodded to Ai Qing: "It seems alright? It's sour with a hint of saltiness."

After saying that, Xiaoyu couldn't help but glance at Ai Qing's dipping sauce bowl and asked, "Brother, what does your dipping sauce taste like? Can I try some?"

"You try it." Ai Qing moved the bowl to the center and dipped the small fish in her chopsticks.

"Hmm..." Xiaoyu sipped the sauce on her chopsticks and muttered, "It's salty and has a bit of umami flavor. It tastes pretty good."

"Eat up, put whatever you want in the pot, then cook it and take it out."

"How can I tell if it's cooked or not?" Little Fish asked curiously.

"For meat, it's usually almost cooked when there's no blood left. If you're worried about the other parts not being cooked, just ask me."

"I want to eat this! I've never had this before," Little Fish said, pointing to the duck blood next to her. "What's it called again...?"

"Duck blood."

"Duck blood~" Little Fish said, trying to put a piece of duck blood in each of the three pots except the clear broth pot, and then asked, "So what is duck blood?"

"It's duck blood."

"Huh?" Little Fish was taken aback.

In her memory, there are actually many words that are not quite the same as their literal meanings.

So when she first saw the words "duck blood," she thought it was a similar situation.

But now Ai Qing says that this thing is duck blood?

"But...can we eat blood?" Little Fish hesitated, glancing twice at the pot. "Won't it melt?"

"If it could really melt, why would it be sold?" Ai Qing said with a smile. "Anyway, this is what duck blood looks like after it solidifies. It tastes similar to jelly, but not as bouncy. You'll know once you try it."

Ai Qing also added vegetables to the tomato broth and mushroom broth, enjoying the hot pot meal.

Mmm...delicious!

Xiaoyu couldn't tell if the duck blood was cooked or not, so she asked Aiqing to pick up a piece of duck blood and a slice of mutton roll for her. After dipping them in the sauce that she and Aiqing had haphazardly made together, she ate them.

I must say, the taste is pretty good.

Little Fish was lucky; the sauce she made herself didn't taste weird.

Even so, she still secretly dipped the lamb roll in Ai Qing's bowl into the sauce, took a bite, and exclaimed, "Mmm~ this is delicious too."

They usually eat together at home and don't really mind this behavior, but Ai Qing still reminded them: "If you come to eat hot pot with other people in the future, don't just use the condiments from other people's bowls. Some people will think it's not clean."

"What about your brother?"

"Of course I'm fine." Ai Qing picked up a mutton roll from her bowl, intending to dip it in the sauce, when Xiao Yu immediately handed her her bowl.

"Try mine!" Little Fish strongly recommended. "Although I don't remember what I added, it tastes amazing!"

"Um..." Ai Qing looked at the bowl of yellow dipping sauce in front of her and hesitated for a moment. However, for Xiao Yu's sake, she still picked up a lamb roll, dipped it lightly in the sauce, and ate it.