"Hello." Tang Qingying greeted Ding Xuebo, then turned and saw Guo Fugui, expressing her surprise, "Brother Guo, good morning! So Xiao Han is dining with you all—I was wondering how he could know soone to visit Zuixiang Pavilion."
"Haha, just now I was thinking it might be you. Xiao Han, Uncle Tang was a comrade of my dad; I’ve known your Mr. Tang since childhood." Guo Fugui said with a laugh.
Han Qiwu hadn’t expected this connection either and replied with a smile, "Then the al will feel even more natural."
With laughter and chatter, the four made their way to Zuixiang Pavilion.
Since Han Qiwu had dealt with the alligator gar so quickly, it was still just past ten in the morning and Zuixiang Pavilion was bustling with early tea-goers.
After parking, Guo Fugui opened the car’s back door and gestured to the staff to carry the alligator gar to the kitchen.
"Han Qiwu, did you fish this up yourself? That’s pretty strong!" Tang Qingying asked, surprised.
Ding Xuebo chid in, "He did indeed. Our guys hadn’t even gotten into the water, and with one rod, Han Qiwu pulled the fish right up."
"Impressive, impressive." Tang Qingying shot a thumbs-up in his direction.
"It’s all thanks to the teacher’s great instruction." Han Qiwu said with a smile.
"Get outta here, I never taught anyone how to fish." Tang Qingying reached out to pat Han Qiwu on the shoulder.
Observing this interaction, Guo Fugui couldn’t help but think to himself—he knew Tang Qingying the best among the four, and seeing her behave this way, it was obvious that her relationship with Han Qiwu wasn’t just the ’good friend’ Han Qiwu claid.
He decided to ask Ding privately about Han Qiwu’s character and perhaps slip the news to Uncle Tang.
"Let’s head upstairs; there’s a private room there." Guo Fugui invited.
The group made their way upstairs.
As they were climbing the stairs, Ding Xuebo excused himself to use the restroom and pulled Han Qiwu aside, landing a light punch on his shoulder. "Dude, that’s sooo sneaky of you! Secretly getting together with Tang—and not saying a word? Scared to death!"
"Don’t talk nonsense; it hasn’t gotten to that stage yet." Han Qiwu aid to punch Ding Xuebo back but thought better of it—if he put too much strength in, Ding might end up in the hospital.
Ding Xuebo glanced toward Tang Qingying for a mont, his lips curling upward. "Not gotten there yet? Think about what stage you’re at and where you’re heading! When have you seen Tang smile so often? You better sort it out quickly! Delay leads to uncertainties."
Han Qiwu paused, and prompted by Ding’s remarks, he began to reflect on his own feelings. Was his kindness to Tang Qingying purely because she was his teacher—or was it because she was Tang Qingying?
He thought about the tis they’d walked along the beach, drank together, fished together, climbed mountains together.
These clearly exceeded the usual scope of a teacher-student relationship.
So the answer was already clear.
He liked her, and it seed that she liked him too.
"I understand now. Let’s go; it’s lunchti."
Having sorted out his emotions, Han Qiwu felt a refreshing clarity. Once inside the private room, he naturally took a seat next to Tang Qingying.
Tang Qingying sensed sothing different about Han Qiwu—but as soone inexperienced in love, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what had changed.
"Does anyone have food preferences or restrictions?" Guo Fugui asked while motioning for the servers to hand out nus to the group.
Han Qiwu and Tang Qingying exchanged a glance and both answered in unison with smiles, "No preferences, we’ll eat anything."
"Alright, I’ll make the arrangents then. As for the alligator gar, the chef previously ntioned it could be made into fish atballs and a fresh fish slice porridge. Let’s start with other dishes first."
The group was familiar with one another, so their conversation flowed freely—from campus anecdotes to workplace woes, they chatted enthusiastically.
Cantonese-style morning dim sum dishes were typically prepared in advance, so the food ca out quickly. Before long, signature shrimp dumplings, stead spareribs with black bean sauce, stead chicken feet, beef tripe, salted water dumplings, rice noodle rolls, and other classic Cantonese dim sum dishes filled the table.
Having not had dim sum in ages, both Han Qiwu and Tang Qingying didn’t hesitate to dig in, sampling everything spread out before them.
Amidst the lively dining, a knock ca at the door. The chef stepped in with freshly prepared dishes and introduced them enthusiastically—"These two dishes are made with alligator gar at: fresh fish slice porridge and fish atball soup. Before they were served, they were safety tested—no toxins detected."
"Great, thank you very much." Han Qiwu smiled brightly. Sitting nearest to the dishes, he instinctively picked up a spoon and served half a bowl of porridge and half a bowl of soup to Mr. Tang.
"Whoa, look at that—I’m so thirsty, feeling like I need soup sooo bad!" Ding Xuebo said dramatically after witnessing this scene.
Han Qiwu placed the spoon down, picked up the teapot, and poured Ding’s cup full of tea, saying, "Drink this; if it’s not enough, I’ll tell the staff to refill. Soup doesn’t quench thirst—tea does."
Ding Xuebo: "...."
Tang Qingying gently blew on the fish porridge before taking a small sip. Her brows faintly furrowed. Then turning to try the fish atball soup, she displayed the sa slight frown. After sampling both, she didn’t comnt further and quietly chose a piece of chicken feet, lowering her head to continue eating.
The other two didn’t notice this subtle reaction, but Han Qiwu caught her expression and, puzzled, lowered his head to taste both the porridge and the soup.
Ah, now he understood.
No wonder Mr. Tang furrowed her brows.
Although the fish porridge tasted decent and had potential, the dense and firm texture of the alligator gar’s at did not shine through—it felt constrained, making it less satisfying compared to porridge made with regular fish.
The fish atball soup had similar drawbacks; the alligator gar fish balls lacked bounce, and their flavor was entirely overshadowed by the ginger, leaving an underwhelming impression—certainly not flavorless, but far from competing with the quality of other dishes.
Tang Qingying was straightforward—if she didn’t like sothing, she simply wouldn’t bother with it.
Guo Fugui and Ding Xuebo soon helped themselves to the porridge and soup, tasting it themselves, and also expressed mild disappointnt.
"Old Han, this fish has neither flavor nor enjoyable texture—it’s worse than eating carp." Ding Xuebo remarked.
"That’s true; no wonder no one catches it. If it tasted good, it’d have vanished long ago." Guo Fugui chuckled lightly.
Han Qiwu could sense Tang Qingying’s small disappointnt.
But he didn’t want her to feel let down.
"Brother Guo, there should be enough of the alligator gar left—could you ask the kitchen if I can go in and give it a shot?" Han Qiwu proposed, "This fish is rare to eat; these recipes don’t do it justice."
"Fair point. But, Old Han, how do you plan to make it? If it’s not prepared properly, it could still be toxic." Ding Xuebo asked curiously.
Tang Qingying looked sowhat surprised and addressed Han Qiwu, "Exactly—why not just leave it be? Besides, there’s plenty here to enjoy." She wondered whether he had noticed her earlier frown, but felt it seed unlikely—such a tiny gesture couldn’t have caught his attention, right?
Han Qiwu stood up and grinned, "Don’t worry—the chef can supervise closely. I plan to prepare grilled fish; with the texture of this at, it might work well as fish steaks."
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