ebookslot Questions from Chapter 12 that were not answered
Questions from Chapter 12 that were not answered
Jiang Yan withdrew his gaze, his fingertips gently tracing the edge of the menu.
The deep blue mist still hovered quietly in his field of vision.
He had seen similar colors in recent days, such as on homeless people curled up sleeping in subway stations and on uncles drinking alone in convenience stores at four in the morning.
But those are all fluid, fluctuating with emotional ups and downs.
The blue in Kim Tae-yeon's heart is so serene.
It was as quiet as a stagnant pool.
"Jiang Yan?"
Tiffany's voice pulled him back to reality. She waved her hand in front of him, "What are you daydreaming about? I'm asking you what you want to eat."
"Ah, okay." Jiang Yan quickly looked down at the menu, his eyes scanning the rows of neat Korean characters, but he didn't absorb a single word. "Doenjang jjigae is fine, noona is fine with anything."
"Miso soup?" Tiffany covered her mouth and chuckled. "I brought you to a fancy Japanese restaurant, and you ordered miso soup? This kid is really..."
She shook her head, took the menu herself, and rattled off a long list of dishes to the waiter: "Bluefin tuna belly, four slices; salmon belly sashimi; grilled eel; tempura platter; matsutake mushroom dobin-steamed dish; and oh yes, change the sake to a hot pot, Kikumasamune."
The waiter bowed and left, and the private room fell silent again.
"Pani."
Kim Tae-yeon suddenly spoke up, "This pickled radish is quite good, would you like to try a slice?"
Tiffany glanced at the nearly empty plate of pickled radishes, her lips moved, but she finally smiled and said, "Okay, I'll try a slice."
She picked up a slice of radish, put it in her mouth, chewed it, and then frowned: "It's a bit salty."
Kim Tae-yeon tilted her head: "Is it salty? I think it's just right."
"When did your tastes become so salty?" Tiffany poured herself a glass of sake and a glass for Jiang Yan, saying as she poured, "I remember you used to not eat such salty food, saying it was bad for your throat."
"That was so long ago." Kim Tae-yeon smiled faintly, putting the last piece of pickled radish into her mouth. "People always change."
She said it casually, with a faint smile on her lips.
But Jiang Yan saw that the deep blue mist in her heart contracted violently when she said the words "people always change".
Like a sea anemone pricked by a needle, it suddenly curled up, wrapping itself up even tighter.
Jiang Yan picked up the sake cup, lowered his head and took a sip. The warm liquid slid down his throat, slightly hot.
He wondered how the woman in front of him, hailed as the strongest vocalist in K-POP, got the dark red scratch on her chest.
Those unspoken words, those unvented angers, those swallowed tears.
Once, twice, ten times, or even hundreds of times.
Over time, this process leaves bloody marks on the lining of the heart.
How much must it have swallowed to become like this?
"By the way, Kang Yeon-ssi." Kim Tae-yeon's calm and unwavering eyes met his gaze directly. "Tiffany said you found the problem with the title track in just a few minutes, and also said that the arrangement was out of sync with her."
She paused, a hint of curiosity in her voice: "This sounds a bit far-fetched. What makes you feel that the arrangement is disconnected from her?"
Jiang Yan paused slightly in the hand holding the wine glass.
He could vaguely sense that Kim Tae-yeon was asking about more than just the arrangement.
Those eyes watched him quietly, as if waiting for an answer.
An answer she might not even know she was waiting for.
Jiang Yan put down his wine glass, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "It's probably because I'm listening to more than just music."
Kim Tae-yeon's gaze sharpened slightly.
Just then, the paper door to the private room was gently pulled open, and a waiter walked in carrying a plate of thinly sliced bluefin tuna belly.
The pinkish-white fish flesh is covered with fine, evenly distributed frosty patterns, which gleam like satin under the warm yellow light.
"Come on, let's eat first!" Tiffany immediately greeted him warmly, picking up the serving chopsticks and putting a slice on Jiang Yan's plate. "This is the restaurant's signature dish. You won't find another place in the entire Jiangnan region that can cut the belly into such a thick slice."
Jiang Yan thanked him, picked up the piece of fish, and the fish melted on his tongue the moment it entered his mouth.
Tiffany looked at him expectantly, "How was it?"
"It's delicious." Jiang Yan nodded vigorously.
"Just those two words?" Tiffany sighed in disappointment, turning to look at Kim Tae-yeon. "Look at young people these days, is their ability to express themselves really that poor?"
Kim Tae-yeon smiled but didn't say anything. She picked up a slice of tuna belly, dipped it in soy sauce mixed with freshly grated wasabi, rinsed it with Kang Yeon's hand as a gesture, and then put it in her mouth.
After swallowing, Kim Tae-yeon put down her chopsticks. "Kang Yeon-ssi, maybe you could try dipping it in soy sauce. That might come up with even more interesting descriptions."
Jiang Yan was slightly taken aback and looked down at the untouched soy sauce dish in front of him.
He really didn't dip it in any seasoning; he just picked it up and ate it directly.
It's not that I don't know how to eat sashimi, it's just that I'm used to eating food in a rush, as long as it fills my stomach, I don't usually care whether it's dipped in soy sauce or not.
"Yes, thank you for the reminder, senior." He picked up another slice of pork belly, dipped it lightly in the soy sauce dish, and put it in his mouth.
The salty and savory flavors of the soy sauce and the refreshing spiciness of freshly grated wasabi explode together, elevating the sweetness of the fish to a new level.
At the same time, his eyebrows furrowed at the refreshing spiciness, and he subconsciously said, "It's definitely different."
Tiffany burst out laughing, covering her mouth as she laughed so hard her shoulders shook: "It's still the same! It went from 'delicious' to 'definitely different,' just three more words in the vocabulary!"
"Hey, Tiffany." Kim Tae-yeon put down her chopsticks and patted her lightly. "I'm here to eat, not to hand in a food review assignment."
Tiffany smiled and raised her hands in a gesture of surrender: "OK, OK, I won't say anything more."
Then the waiters brought out grilled eel and tempura platters one after another, filling the private room with the aroma of charred fat and the unique crispiness of the thin batter.
Tiffany refilled the sake bottles for the three of them. Kikumasamune's sake was warmed to just the right temperature, smooth and creamy on the palate, unlike cold sake which can be harsh on the throat.
As she placed a piece of grilled eel on Kim Tae-yeon's plate, she casually changed the subject, which had almost veered into work: "By the way, Kang Yeon-ssi, I heard you're from Busan? How long have you been in Seoul?"
"Two years." Jiang Yan put down his wine glass and placed his hands neatly on his knees. "I came here in my freshman year. Before that, I stayed in Busan until I graduated from high school."
"Are all Busan men like you?" Tiffany rested her chin on her hand, looking him over with interest. "You speak and act so formally, completely different from the guys in Seoul. They're incredibly enthusiastic the first time you meet them, chatting about everything from hobbies to family backgrounds, practically begging to become your buddy on the spot. But you, you just answer every question with a single, slurred reply, like a saw-through gourd."
Jiang Yan felt a little embarrassed by what she said, and raised his hand to touch the back of his neck: "My dad used to be in the Marine Corps, and he was quite strict with me since I was a child, so I guess I'm used to it."
"Aigoo, no wonder." Tiffany slapped her thigh and turned to Kim Tae-yeon. "Tae-gu, did you hear that? Marine Corps! I told you that the energy he had was different from others. That day in the recording studio, the combined pressure from Director Ahn and Kenzie unnie would have made an ordinary person's legs go weak, but he was fine, he didn't change his expression, and finished speaking one by one without even stuttering."
Upon hearing this, Kim Tae-yeon paused for a moment on the grilled eel with the tip of her chopsticks.
She raised her eyes and took another look at the young man sitting opposite her, who was sitting upright and sturdy.
They certainly don't look like their peers in Seoul.
A young man in his early twenties, holding an SM Entertainment ticket, with two members of a top girl group sitting opposite him, couldn't hide a hint of smugness or pride in his eyes, no matter how polite he was.
But Jiang Yan's eyes were clear, devoid of flattery or scheming; he simply focused on the food and conversation before him.
Kim Tae-yeon nodded, picked up the piece of grilled eel that had cooled down a bit, and said with a hint of praise, "It's definitely different. It's very good that you can maintain this mindset at your age."