"Another serving of Savory Tofu Pudding!"
"Another serving of Sweet Tofu Pudding!"
Voices rang out, filled with excitement and anticipation.
"Me too...another serving of Savory Tofu Pudding..." Dracula looked at the white porcelain bowl in his hand, which had been licked clean at some point, and weakly raised his hand.
"I want another serving of Sweet Tofu Pudding!" Jinx, having finished his tofu pudding at some point, said without a hint of embarrassment.
"Okay, please wait a moment." Yabemia replied, quickly clearing the table with Sally.
"Uncle Bat, didn't you say you'd rather starve to death here than eat a single bite of human food?" Amy asked Dracula with a curious expression.
Everyone looked at him with a hint of amusement, after all, he and Jinx had been the loudest and most resistant just now.
"Well… um… actually, as a vampire, adapting to different living environments and foods is a basic survival skill." Dracula coughed twice, his expression slightly embarrassed. His gaze fell on Mai Ge, who was standing at the kitchen doorway, and his eyes lit up. He smiled confidently, "Besides, for vampires, blood and brains are the best foods to replenish energy. This tofu pudding is made with brains, which perfectly suits our vampire tastes. We would never eat vegetarian food."
"Excuse me, guest, tofu pudding isn't actually made from magical beast brains, but from soybeans, so… it's vegetarian." Mai Ge smiled at Dracula's confident grin.
"How… how could it be made from soybeans! It tastes exactly like brains, and even better than brains! How could it be vegetarian!"
Dracula's smile froze. He glared at Mai Ge, jumped up from his seat, and felt his intelligence had been insulted.
"Yes, I think this tofu pudding is softer and smoother than any other brain I've ever had. How could you possibly make something like this from beans? Kid, you're not kidding us, are you?" Gustav said with a skeptical look.
"Tofu pudding is indeed made from soybeans, and it doesn't contain any meat or brains. Our restaurant operates with integrity and never deceives our customers." Mai Ge said with a smile. Chinese dish names are profound and complex. If we were to make connections based on the dish names, what if he made "Husband And Wife Lung Slices" in the future? Wouldn't the people from the Gray Temple be searching the kitchen for corpses everyday?
"Oh no! I've become a vegetarian again!" Dracula plopped back down, staring blankly at the clean bowl in front of him. He muttered to himself with some self-doubt, "And I didn't even notice, I even thought it tasted good and wanted another bowl... Am I no longer a pure vampire?"
"Whatever it's made of, I think it tastes good, so give me another bowl of Sweet Tofu Pudding! It's f**king delicious!" Talus exclaimed, slapping his thigh.
"Although this vegetarian dish has seriously damaged my confidence, but I still have to say, isn't tofu pudding supposed to be savory? Sugar on something so tender? The taste is unimaginable!" Dracula suddenly raised his head, looking at Talus with righteous indignation.
"Bullshit! Tofu pudding is supposed to be sweet. Even though it's not real brain, the sweet but not cloying taste and the delicate texture are simply irresistible. How dare you say it's bad? Dracula, even though we are all demons, but what you're saying is a bit too much!" Gustav chimed in, glaring at Dracula.
"This tofu pudding itself has a slightly sweet taste, and when combined with the savory sauce and the abundant side dishes, all the flavors blend together in one bite. Only then can you experience the true deliciousness of tofu pudding. This is a delicious taste that you can't experience with sweet tofu pudding that you just add a spoonful of syrup to." Fu Ke Si put down his spoon and looked at Gustav and Talus seriously, saying, "Tofu pudding should be eaten savory!"
"Fu Ke Si, although your face is still as sour as ever, but I suddenly find you much more pleasing to the eye. It's true that not everyone has the chance to taste such a delicious food as Savory Tofu Pudding." Dracula nodded at Fu Ke Si.
"Sweet Tofu Pudding is the best!" Jinx exclaimed, then turned to Hai Wei De and asked, "What do you think, Hai Wei De?"
Hai Wei De glanced at the bowl in front of him, about to speak.
"You'll have to borrow money from my purse to pay for the table and chair." Jinx added.
Hai Wei De's eyes widened, he hadn't expected this man to be so shameless.
"It's alright, Hai Wei De, just say what you think, and I'll lend you the money!" Dracula said domineeringly, waving his hand dismissively.
"Savory Tofu Pudding is definitely better!" Hai Wei De said without hesitation, nodding at Dracula with satisfaction. "Dracula, don't worry, I'll definitely pay you back the money I borrowed."
"Sweet..."
"Savory..."
The restaurant instantly erupted into a debate over whether tofu pudding should be sweet or savory. The demons and giant dragons, who had previously been fiercely arguing for their respective racial interests, were now divided over a bowl of tofu pudding, creating a situation where each side was intertwined with the other, and the intensity was no less than before.
"Could it be that Boss Mai is intentionally trying to break the deadlock and create a turning point?" Michael wondered, glancing somewhat suspiciously at Mai Ge in the kitchen as he watched the heated argument.
He had chaired many talks between the two sides. In situations involving territorial disputes and casualties on both sides, substantial progress was unlikely in less than ten days to two weeks. This was why he chose the Restaurant Mai Mi as the meeting place—to see if the stimulating effect of delicious food could accelerate the talks.
A situation like this had never occurred before. However, if word got back to those old fogies that this was all about a meal turning against each other, they'd probably be furious.
Mai Ge watched this scene with a smile and said nothing, showing no intention of mediating. He was well aware of Michael's intentions, and whether the talk could succeed tonight would be the key to getting the City Lord's Mansion to agree to grant the restaurant the vacant land in front of the entrance as soon as possible.
Just like the territorial disputes between nations in his past life, which often reached a stalemate, especially when both sides were evenly matched, a slightly different approach was needed.
"Uncle Bat, you were just arguing with those uncles over there, and now you're arguing with each other. So, who is whose enemy, and who is whose friend?" Amy asked curiously after watching for a while, resting her chin on her hand.
The arguing crowd suddenly fell silent, glancing at the person sitting opposite them, then at their own kind beside them, their expressions turning somewhat strange.
Yabemia brought out bowls of tofu pudding and placed them in front of everyone, but for a moment no one touched it.
"If you ask me, since we both have reached a consensus on the matter of eating tofu pudding, why don't we just get straight to the point in this meeting? Let's skip all the messy, mutually hurtful, and suspicious stuff and have an open and honest discussion about how to resolve the issue so that both sides can leave that nameless island with dignity, instead of continuing to argue about who should be responsible for this." Dracula broke the silence, looking at everyone seriously, and then picked up his spoon. "Of course, we can talk about it after I finish this bowl of Savory Tofu Pudding."