Moving his the fillets near the pan, he watched as bubbles began to form in the oil. Taking his first piece, he gently slid the fillet into the oil.
And as soon as he did, the ordinarily quiet group had to turn their heads. There was something about food frying, the thought of that rich oily smell, the bubbles reacting violently against the coating of an ingredient and of course that very sound as soon as something new entered. It dug down into the depths of the human psyche and pulled out their appetites which would create an almost giddy feeling in a person's body should their cravings not be satisfied.
It didn't take long for the fillet to turn golden brown as Zhao Wei served his first piece.
He refused to cook all of these together as he found that giving one ingredient the concentration it deserved somehow pulled out it's rich flavors more fully.
Despite the big pan being able to handle 2-3 pieces at a time, Zhao Wei never had more than 1 inside at anytime.
The first one was of course served to Thirteen. She sheepishly took the plate handed to her and with a fork slowly touched the fillet. Just as she touched the coating it began to flake of.
It was like magic in the works, it had stayed completely solid throughout the whole process from the frying pan until it reached her on a plate. But it began to crumble with just a tap.
Just goes to show the level of delicacy with which the fish was handled despite Zhao Wei's bravado as he cooked.
Her fork cut through the light coating and felt just a little resistance from the meat before sliding all the way through the center and out the other end with another loud crackle as the fork broke through all the way to the other side in an unimpeded motion.
She held the piece up to inspect, the cut was perfect!. Even with the most veteran chefs, if they fried anything with a batter and coating, there would be some of it that crumbled on the plate or broke off unevenly to the cut.
It was quite annoying for customers who found themselves with just a little piece of fish meat and a large piece of the coating on their forks. There was no such case with this one.
Despite it's dry exterior, thirteen saw the little juices dribble between the coating and the meat, a light bubbly yellow that seemed to come alive on the plate. A little steam rose up gradually from the cut, eliciting a drip of saliva to run down the assassin's face. Despite being trained against temptation, no one could be trained to go against this.
Everybody watched her intently, trying to guess what it would taste like. The fork brought the piece to her mouth, and just as it entered, her soft lips wrapping around the morsel of goodness, everyone gulped as they heard the coating crackle again just from the pressure.
They waited what seemed almost a lifetime for a reaction but in the next second they were all shocked.
"WAFU!" Thirteen puffed up her cheeks, and made an O with her lips, blowing small puffs softly out of it, her cheeks turning a little red, it was still too hot.
But despite the heat, she refused to spit out the piece but kept it suspended in her mouth until it cooled before swallowing.
As she finally felt the stares she saw everyone, especially Jeff grinning stupidly. Zhao Wei who was at the kitchen gave her a thumbs up as his other hand covered his nose.
Her mouth hung open for awhile before she turned her back on them and began eating her meal quietly.
Next one to get a piece was Panda, followed by Myra. Just as Zhao Wei walked over with the next piece, Jeff reached out his plate with a smile of gratitude.
But Zhao Wei walked past him, and gave another serving to Myra, she was a big eater after all.
Jeff let it slide this time, the next time Zhao Wei came, Jeff felt it was his turn and gave out his plate again only to similarly be passed by and the piece given to Myra again.
Maybe she was a big eater, he thought. The next time Zhao Wei came, he was clearly walking directly towards Jeff so he thought it was finally his turn. Just as Zhao Wei stood next to him with the piece in hand and Jeff looked at it hungrily, he spoke. "Thirteen, I see you've finished your piece earlier, want another one?"
"Mmm" Thirteen nodded and held out her plate for the piece.
"D#%n! Boy you trying to pick a fight!?" Jeff shouted as he pulled back his sleeves.
"What are you talking about old man?" Zhao Wei spoke as if he didn't have a clue, "Don't you see I'm feeding the kids first? Can't you have a little patience."
"How is that a kid!?" Jeff pointed at Myra who was the biggest of the group.
"'That'..." Zhao Wei emphasized coldly. "Has a name and it's Myra, who'd have thought your memory would be so bad to forget such simple things..." Zhao Wei did a face palm as he walked away. "By the way, despite her size, she's barely year old."
Jeff looked over at Myra in disbelief only to have her nod and confirm the information to be a fact. Just as he felt like crying he heard Zhao Wei speak again, "I'll bring over the next piece." Finally he felt like the kid was just playing a light hearted joke against him and that he shouldn't hold any grudges