Meng Yan's Transformation

"Here you go! Keep your money safe this time. Earning money isn't easy, and losing it again would be a real loss. You just said this little bit of money is enough for your expenses this semester! Are you kidding me? How can such a small amount of money cover your living expenses for a whole semester?!"

As Zhan Yue spoke, she placed the coin she had picked up from the ground into Zhan Mengyan's hand and looked at Zhan Mengyan in disbelief.

"Sister Zhanyue, let me break it down for you—my monthly food expenses are only five yuan because I don't order groceries, only rice. The school only charges me a processing fee for the staple food. Books aren't much either; I use books that my brother's classmate Zhang Xincheng has used, so I don't need to buy any. So, you see, I earn enough..."

Zhan Mengyan looked very satisfied as she spoke.

"Mengyan, you'll become malnourished if you don't eat vegetables for a long time. Besides, how can you swallow rice that's dry at every meal?"

As Zhan Yue spoke, she looked at Zhan Mengyan with heartache.

"Now I buy soy sauce for a dime from the corner store, put it in a bottle, and when I eat, I mix rice with soy sauce. It's so delicious! How can I not swallow it?"

As Zhan Mengyan spoke, she licked her lips, as if savoring the delicious taste of soy sauce rice.

"Mengyan, you have such a good appetite! I don't think I can eat anything. What must it taste like?! It must be so awful, I think it's even worse than rice."

When Zhan Yue spoke, her lips were pursed, as if she found the soy sauce-mixed rice difficult to swallow.

"No, no, Sister Zhanyue, you're wrong—soy sauce rice is practically 'minimalist performance art' in the culinary world. The moment that spoonful of dark brown liquid meets the glossy white or reddish rice, the originally unassuming grains undergo a magnificent transformation. The rice grains eagerly don a glossy black robe, like stars falling onto a jade plate. Each grain is infused with concentrated umami, creating a symphony of black and white or black and red in the bowl. This is a national delicacy passed down through generations. My soy sauce has the magic of 'turning food into gold.' The sizzling sound when the piping hot rice meets the cool soy sauce is a welcoming melody for a hungry stomach. Just two or three even stirs are all it takes. The originally monotonous staple food is transformed into a complex aroma—the richness of fermented beans, the subtle sweetness of caramelization, and finally, a delightful burst of flavor on the tongue." The invigorating savory aroma, jokingly called the savior of kitchen novices, with soy sauce as the magic wand that transforms the mundane into the extraordinary, meanders through the grains of rice, instantly painting the snow-white or reddish-brown hills like an ink painting or a watercolor. The blissful expression on my face as I chew the first spoonful proves that true deliciousness doesn't require elaborate cooking; it simply requires two simple ingredients meeting at the right moment. Soy sauce rice, seemingly a casual combination, holds the true essence of culinary philosophy—while modern people indulge in extravagant feasts, soy sauce rice, with its pure and authentic flavor, protects our most primal connection to food. Every grain of rice soaked in soy sauce proclaims: "What makes food special is never complex seasoning, but the palate that appreciates the beauty of simplicity…"

Zhan Mengyan spoke fluently and at length.

"Alright, alright, Mengyan, stop talking. As expected of a top student in the humanities class, your language skills are amazing. You can make soy sauce rice sound so delicious. I'm impressed."

Zhan Yue interrupted Zhan Mengyan.