Chapitre 14: Chapter 14 - A Noodle Stall.
Following the nice aroma of chicken soup, Rei and Holly reached a small noodle stall near the far-end corner of the street. And to their surprise, this stall looks rather plain compared with all the other fancy stalls on the carnival street. With just two tables of four seats which are all unoccupied, this stall looks nothing like a famous stall but a cheap and boring stall. However, there is one thing that caught Rei's attention.
"Hmm? Is this really the place we had been looking for?" Holly murmured in doubt.
"I don't know but... The chef looks kind of professional," said Rei.
"Really?"
"And looks kind of handsome," said Rei.
"Ah..."
Yup, the chef of the noodle stall had successfully caught Rei's attention with his good look.
The chef of that noodle stall has a slightly mature look, probably in his early thirties. His jet-black hair is slicked back and tied up neatly giving a clean and refreshing look. The slightly protruding cheekbones and the angular jawline of the chef give him a masculine and stern look which is somewhat softened by the two strains of loose hair that dangles from both sides of his forehead. And there's an eye-catching feature on this chef's face, his light stubble beard. Yes, stubble beard.
Rei never really liked men with thick beards, she always felt that it was kind of unhygienic to have such a thick bush under a person's jaw, however, the light stubble beard of this chef gave a different vibe. Instead of giving a messy and unhygienic look, it added a slight dash of wildness to his clean look which matched perfectly with his well-balanced body build that gave a sense of security.
However, this slightly masculine-looking man has a contradictory pair of eyes. The chef has a pair of black slender almond eyes. Despite being small eyes, that pair of eyes are bright and filled with spirit, it's just that, Rei somehow managed to catch some small unusual details out of it.
Behind that pair of bright spiritful eyes, Rei caught a heavy dash of tension and uneasiness as if something had been bothering that chef so much that he needed to stay cautious all the time, but at the same time, Rei felt a deep sincerity under that dash of tense and uneasiness as well, which successfully drawn out Rei's curiosity.
"That pair of eyes filled with lots of stories," said Rei after a short observation.
"Heh? Really? How can you see so much out of a person's eyes from such a distance, all I know is that he looks good... Despite having small eyes." said Holly who sounds kind of frank.
"Anyway, I don't know if this is the stall we were looking but the broth smells nice, so I believe the food here wouldn't be bad," said Rei.
"Mhmm... You are right, let's have our breakfast here then. The chef's good look alone is enough to be a reason for me to have my meal here." said Holly with a slightly naughty tone.
"Hmm... You better don't let Dr Ben hear what you said just now," said Rei with a subtle smile.
"Oops... Rei, please keep this a secret from Dr Ben... Please..." Holly whispered.
"O-kay~ The breakfast is on you then. Let's get ourselves seated," said Rei in a playful tone.
"Alright, no problems!" said Holly with an okay hand signal...
***
As soon as the two ladies walked to the food stall and were about to get themselves seated, a teenage boy walked towards them and pulled away an empty chair, opening an empty space for Rei's wheelchair. Then, the boy poured two bowls of warm soy milk out of a medium-sized clay pot and served it to Rei and Holly.
Despite being just two bowls of simple beverage, the nice and heartwarming aroma of the warm soy milk immediately caught Rei's attention.
"Do you have any recommendations for the food?" Holly asked, rather straightforward.
And no, there is no such thing as menu in ancient China's eatery.
"I am sorry, I can't really give you any useful recommendations as we are only having two choices of food today. Shiitake mushroom and chicken soup with rice, or shiitake mushroom and chicken soup noodle." said the boy in a polite and fluent tone.
"Ah... I see... Uhm... Please give us two bowls of soup noodles then." said Holly who sounded a bit doubtful.
"Chef! Two bowls of noodles please!" The boy shouted before he politely walked away.
As soon as the boy walked away, Holly retracted her smile and looked kind of upset.
"It's okay, Holly, we were planning to have noodles for our breakfast anywa..."
Just as Rei trying to comfort Holly, something caught her attention from the corner of her eyes.
"Hey! Holly, look!" Rei exclaimed in excitement as she grabbed Holly's right forearm.
"Hmm? Oh! Wow!" Holly turned around in doubt but was immediately amazed by the sight...
.
.
.
With a serious look, the chef grabbed two portions of premade dough. After briefly shaping the dough a bit, he started pulling, stretching and tossing the dough, gradually forming it into countless strains of raw noodles. During the process of shaping the noodles, the chef noticed the passionate eyes from the ladies, in response to those passionate stares, the chef gave them a sincere smile without stopping the movements of his hands.
Upon making eye contact with the chef, the two ladies immediately turned their heads back and covered their faces in embarrassment. Seeing the reaction of the ladies, the chef giggled a bit before continuing his work.
After done stretching the noodles into the perfect shape, the chef tossed the raw noodles into a pot of steaming boiling water, the steam rushed up the moment when he opened the cover of the pot, the steaminess around the chef kind of adding an alluring vibe to the good looking chef.
"Oh... My..."
And yes, it successfully dragged the ladies' attention almost immediately.
And there's more to come...
Ignoring the piping hot steam of the boiling water, the chef remained concentrated on cooking the noodles, he stared hard at the noodles which sunk into the bottom of the boiling water and floated back up after a few minutes. Almost immediately after the noodles floated out of the water surface, the chef grabbed a bamboo strainer and scooped the noodles out of the boiling water, and all this series of actions was done in less than a second.
"Wow..."
Yes, wow.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
AI380
AI380 If Rei has a special ability, it would be detecting and analysing handsome men (and ladies).
Anyway, if you like this story, please add it to your library collection, vote with power stones, leave a review and share it with your friends and family.
Cadeaux
-- Cadeau
reçu État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone