My Years as a Copyist in Taiwan

Chapter 79 Ye Meili

"Akina-chan, let me teach you how to make a dish. See if you can make it?"

Akina Nakamori blinked. "Sir, you can cook?"

Zhao Wen raised his head.

Looking at the ceiling of Tokuma Bookstore at a 45-degree angle, he proudly said, "I can cook 996 dishes. You might not be able to learn them all in your entire life. Today, let's learn this one dish first."

"いいよ, いいよ! (Okay, uh-huh)" Akina Nakamori said cheerfully.

Zhao Wen knew that whenever this girl was happy, her hoarse, deep voice would immediately become bright, and now it was indeed very bright.

And judging from her eagerness, she seemed it was as if she couldn't wait to rush to the stove in the small restaurant.

They were already tying their apron straps, ready to set off at any moment.

Zhao Wen followed Douyin's instructions directly: the fish slices should be thin, the batter should be applied properly, the oil temperature should be precise, the spicy and numbing flavor should be matched with the fermented bean paste (at this time, they also had fermented bean paste in Japan), and the oil poured at the end should be at a high temperature, and so on.

As he spoke, he gestured with his hands, explaining each step clearly, from selecting the fish to slicing it, from coating it with starch to slicing it in oil.

This is equivalent to a divine initiation. Just like described in her biography, Akina Nakamori is truly gifted in cooking. She didn't take notes; she just sat there listening, blinked, and memorized everything.

Then she stood up, turned around, and ran to the kitchen.

Not long after, Akina Nakamori brought the dish to him.

A large bowl of bright red food, topped with dried chilies and Sichuan peppercorns, was steaming hot, and its aroma instantly filled the entire small restaurant.

Zhao Wen picked up his chopsticks, took a piece of fish, and put it in his mouth.

Then he froze.

It's so delicious! The numbing, spicy, fresh, and fragrant flavors, along with the tender, smooth, and refreshing texture, almost perfectly recreate the taste of my hometown, Chengdu.

Zhao Wen ate with tears in his eyes, sighing as he ate the fish, "Is this the difference between a genius and a good-for-nothing?"

There was a large pot of fish, and Zhao Wen certainly couldn't eat it all by himself, so he asked the waiter to call Grandpa Gong and Suzuki Toshio over to enjoy it together.

Akina Nakamori's true specialty was Takano tofu.

In Japan, Koya tofu is an extremely common and ordinary home-style dish, while in China it is called frozen tofu.

But Akina's Koya tofu was so flavorful that Zhao Wen was deeply impressed. Even if this girl didn't become a big star, she could still open a restaurant and she wouldn't be poor!

"Sir, did the fish I cooked remind you of anything from the past?" Nakamori Akina asked, because Zhao Wen was actually shedding tears while enjoying the food.

"Yes! My mother used to make this dish often." Zhao Wen was referring to his mother from his previous life, who often made this dish before she passed away.

"This proves, Akina-chan, that you are the most talented chef in the world; otherwise, you couldn't have made this..."

""

"Boiled fish in chili oil!"

"right!"

Akina Nakamori also possesses a valuable quality: when she is happy, she will try her best to make others happy as well.

That's how it is now.

She used serving chopsticks to pick up fish slices for Zhao Wen, Miyazaki Hayao, and Suzuki Toshio. The fish slices were so slippery, yet she could pick them up with ease and without breaking them.

"Miss Akina, this is outrageous! Who would have thought that our Showa-era diva could cook such delicious food!" Suzuki Toshio praised loudly, partly because he genuinely thought it was delicious, and partly because he was being a sycophant.

Miyazaki Hayao ate without saying a word, but quite slowly. Zhao Wen realized that the old man was actually a foodie. He only showed a haughty and indifferent attitude when he encountered something he didn't like.

He's not only a foodie, but also a heavy smoker.

In "The Wind Rises," the historical Jiro Horikoshi did not actually smoke, but Miyazaki Hayao deliberately changed him into a heavy smoker like himself, even making him smoke Cherry, which is equivalent to projecting his own smoking addiction onto the protagonist.

The old man was very confident. When interviewed by reporters in the future, he proudly said, "My parents were both heavy smokers, but they didn't die of lung cancer, so I'm fine!"

In this era of neon lights, smoking is not a "personal habit," but rather a fundamental part of society, deeply ingrained in its very being.

One statistic is quite alarming: from 75 to 85, the smoking rate among Japanese men was 72%, while the smoking rate among women was only 17%!

Although the smoking rate had dropped from its peak in the 80s, 6.5 out of every 10 adult men still smoked, while non-smokers were a minority.

In the conference room of a large company, when important meetings are held, the executives sit down and light cigarettes first. After a few minutes, the faces of the people opposite each other can no longer be seen. "The smoke concentration equals the intensity of the discussion!"

Smoking is allowed on the plane, you can smoke as much as you want!

Decades later, when Japanese netizens voted for "Top 10 things Showa-era office workers miss the most," "being able to smoke anytime" came in first place (10666 votes), demonstrating how deep this cultural imprint is.

So now that several heavy smokers are smoking together, filling the room with smoke, Nakamori Akina doesn't feel anything is inappropriate; on the contrary, her eyes even show a restless glint.

Zhao Wen was amused; this girl's true nature had been unleashed!

In her previous life, Akina Nakamori was a heavy smoker. Her most famous moment was flicking cigarette ash into her lunchbox, which was then photographed by the media and made it into a weekly magazine...

"Akina-chan, you'd better not learn to smoke. Your voice is the most precious asset of your country, understand?"

"Hi!" The curiosity that had just popped up was suppressed by Mr. Snail's words, and Akina responded solemnly.

Ye Meili was stopped at the entrance of the securities exchange after get off work by a middle-aged man in a suit with messy hair.

"Ms. Ye, my surname is Gao, and I'm from Tainan. I'd like to invite you for a cup of coffee."

Ye Meili glanced at him warily. Was he another client trying to extract inside information?

Editor Gao handed over his business card.

It reads: Gao Zhiyuan, General Manager of Snail Literature and Art Publishing House.

Snail Literature?

Isn't that Mr. Snail's publishing house?!

Ye Meili suddenly raised her head and looked at the middle-aged man in front of her again.

The name "Mr. Snail" is now a phenomenon in Taiwan.

Especially these past few days, lines like "You Muggle!" and "I am who I am, and I am not ashamed!" have been filling the entire stock exchange, and even clients are memorizing these nonsensical phrases...

But Ye Meili is not that naive!

She only loves Chihiro!

But now, the general manager of Snail Literature and Art has come all the way from Tainan to find her, a salesperson at a securities company.

In the coffee shop, Editor Gao took a newspaper from the counter, pointed to his photo, and said, "Ms. Ye, I'm really not a fraud. This is my photo. Compare it to yours..."

""

United Daily News supplement: Mr. Gao Zhiyuan, general manager of Snail Literature and Art, said that Ye Meili believed that Mr. Snail's (Zhao Wen) work "Love Letter" was being adapted into a film. The messy hair was very recognizable.