Chapter 593: Seahorse Wine and USB Drive

A city has a city's culture, and a city has a city's flavor. All city culture is vividly embodied in flavor, and all flavors can dress up a city to be more beautiful and varied.

Macau is a small island, and a small island cannot lack seafood.

Seafood is a treat for the tongue, and seafood is the most obvious difference between coastal cities and inland cities. Arriving in Macau and not eating seafood is unfair to one's stomach. Being unfair to the stomach is being irresponsible to oneself. Being irresponsible to oneself is being irresponsible to society. A person who cannot be responsible to society is a person of low taste.

After thinking about it several times, I finally said it: let's go eat seafood.

They didn't object to my proposal; they just told me to follow them.

From their leading the way, I could see that this wasn't their first time here. It was as if the Macau under their feet was the same as Hengyue City, and they were familiar with it in their eyes.

Every building in Macau was decorated with neon lights, like a dance hall girl, flaunting her shallowness and restlessness.

There were many young men and women walking on the street. Although it wasn't summer yet, the women were all exposing their chests and thighs, especially the miniskirts that were short to the buttocks, reflecting the ever-changing lights on their white, tender thighs, making people's hearts flutter.

We walked along a small alley and saw a patch of orange light not far away. Under the light, a cloth banner was hung, embroidered with the words "Macau Snacks."

The Discipline Inspection cadre said to me earnestly, "Director Chen, the food here is the freshest."

I asked abruptly, "Have you been here before?"

He smiled noncommittally and led the way into the small shop.

There weren't many people in the shop, and the boss looked very relaxed. Seeing us enter, he hurriedly stood up to welcome the guests.

Perhaps he saw that we were guests from the mainland, and his tone was extremely cautious. Macau is an introverted city, unlike Hong Kong's ostentatious display. It is said that when we mainlanders go to Hong Kong, we always feel like we are guests. As for whether the host welcomes us, the guests can only be cautious and dare not speak loudly.

Macau is different. Everyone who comes to Macau feels like they are walking around in their own home, with the momentum of being the master. Therefore, when Macau people see mainland guests, they serve them cautiously, for fear of offending these wealthy mainland guests.

Actually, once you think it through, it's not strange at all. If this tiny island of Macau lacked the blood of the mainland, it would almost lose its direction in life.

The Discipline Inspection cadre smiled in response, called the boss to bring the menu, and after pointing and gesturing, said, "Let's eat some oysters. The oysters here are the best in the world."

The two State Security people nodded and said okay, and ordered four portions of beef offal, plus things like fish balls.

I wanted to laugh when I heard them say fish balls. These people like to call fish balls "fish eggs." When I first heard "fish eggs," I really thought they were eggs laid by fish.

It's not strange at all that fish lay eggs; the roe they produce is actually the eggs they lay. Just like chickens and ducks laying eggs, it's a very natural thing. The eggs laid by chickens and ducks can actually be called ova. Since chicken and duck eggs can be called ova, the roe produced by fish can naturally be called eggs.

But what is puzzling is that these fish eggs are not those fish eggs. The fish eggs they call are not the roe produced by fish, but fish minced and made into fish balls, called fish eggs.

When I first heard "fish eggs" at a hotel, I was very excited and specifically ordered fish eggs to eat. When they were served to the table, I discovered they were fish balls.

We ordered snacks. I didn't blame them for ordering snacks at all. In fact, the flavor of every city can only be embodied in snacks.

Whether a city has culture, just look at how many snacks they have. The inheritance of culture doesn't rely on articles and allusions, but on the taste on the tongue from generation to generation, which can express the connotation of a city.

Before the dishes were served, the four of us drank bland tea without saying a word.

The shop owner cooked himself, wearing an apron around his waist, chatting with us through the transparent glass cover.

"Big brother here on official business?" he asked, his hands not stopping, busy with the food we were going to eat.

A smile appeared on the faces of the two State Security people; this was the first time I saw them smile after being out for a day.

"A little business. Leaving early tomorrow morning." They answered him, tapped their teacups on the table, and signaled for more tea.

The boss shouted loudly for the person inside to come out and add tea. When I looked up, I felt my eyes light up. The person who came out to add tea was a woman as clear as water, with a wisp of bangs on her forehead, looking extremely pure.

The boss smiled and said, "My daughter is going to study in your mainland this year."

I asked rashly, "Middle school or university?"

The boss laughed and said, "University, of course. Originally I wanted her to go to Europe, but she said that the mainland is now carrying out reform and opening up, which is even better than Europe."

I laughed, "That's indeed the case. Now in our mainland, the economy is indeed different from the past. Although it's not extremely wealthy, we can stand tall in front of others."

I said this with meaning. In the past, people like those in Hong Kong and Macau looked down on us mainlanders. If a family had a relative in Hong Kong or Macau, it was definitely a matter of face and increased prestige.

Therefore, in the 60s and 70s, countless people ran from the mainland to Hong Kong and Macau. Many people drowned in the sea while smuggling, but even so, it didn't stop wave after wave of people who weren't afraid of death. For example, Lao Can, who risked his life back then and swam over from the sea.

"The mainland is good, the mainland is good. I like doing business with you mainlanders the most." The boss smiled and came out from the glass cover, holding a large plate of roasted oysters.

The woman poured the tea and was about to leave with her head bowed. Hearing that we were from the mainland, she stopped and asked me, "Is the mainland school better in Beijing or Guangzhou?"

We looked at each other and laughed at the same time, saying, "Beijing is better, of course."

"But the school I'm going to is in Guangzhou," the woman said. "There are three of us classmates going together."

I said "Oh" and asked, "What university in Guangzhou?"

"Jinan University."

My heart skipped a beat. I knew this school; it's a prestigious school! Compared to my Central Province Normal University, I don't know how many grades higher it is.

"Where are you from?"

I hesitated and looked at the Discipline Inspection cadre. He nodded and smiled, so I said, "We are from Central Province."

She said "Oh" and said, "I don't know this place."

I felt a sense of loss in my heart.

With seafood, of course, I wanted to drink. I proposed again that we should order some wine.

The State Security people looked at me with disdain and said, "What wine?"

"Beer is fine."

He became even more disdainful and said without even looking at me, "Eating seafood and drinking beer causes gout, don't you know?"

I really didn't know, but when I ate seafood and drank at the seafood restaurant in Chunshan County, I drank white liquor and never had gout.

Seeing that my face was not good, the Discipline Inspection cadre asked the shop owner to bring beer. The shop owner rubbed his hands and said, "This boss is right. Try not to drink beer when eating seafood. If you bosses really want to drink, why not drink the seahorse wine I brewed myself? It's good stuff!"

The Discipline Inspection cadre said, "That's fine, bring us a cup each."

The wine soaked with seahorses was brought up, turbid, and a particularly strong fishy smell almost made me vomit.

The shop owner said very reluctantly, "I don't sell this wine. It's just that you came, so I'll let everyone taste a little. You have to know that soaking this seahorse wine is a very difficult thing."

I asked, "Why is it difficult?"

The shop owner laughed, "The seahorse wine we usually drink is made from seahorses without urine. Without seahorse urine, the efficacy is reduced by more than half. These fishermen are very cunning. When they catch seahorses, they always squeeze the seahorse urine into their own wine. What's left for us are just the seahorse shells."

I said in surprise, "There's such a thing? Seahorse wine actually requires drinking seahorse urine."

The shop owner said with a heavy face, "This jar of seahorses was obtained after following the fishermen out to sea for three days. If you want to get it again now, these fishermen won't be willing to take us out to sea. So, once it's finished, it's gone."

I smelled a fishy smell and tried to lick it with my tongue. A burning sensation on the tip of my tongue, with a bitter taste, it didn't taste good.

The Discipline Inspection cadre looked at me with a smile. I asked hesitantly, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and didn't speak, but pushed the cup of wine in front of him to me and said, "You young people, drinking more is fine."

I felt he had something in his words, and I hesitated whether to drink the wine.

Seeing my hesitation, the Discipline Inspection cadre whispered, "I heard that this seahorse-soaked wine is a special wine for strengthening yang."

The two State Security people clearly heard it and laughed at me together.

My face was embarrassed, and I didn't know how to answer his words.

The State Security people said, "Drink it, it's fine. We are watching you, you won't make any mistakes."

Before the plate of oysters was finished, one of the State Security people seemed to suddenly remember something, and his face turned pale.

Seeing his strange expression, we thought he had eaten something bad, and we all asked him what was wrong.

He hesitated and said, "I forgot to turn off the computer."

I laughed, "What are you afraid of? It's in the room, it won't be lost."

The State Security person stood up and wanted to leave, saying he couldn't let it go, and he would go back to the room to turn off the computer and bring it down.

I smiled and said, "This little thing, let me do it. I'm younger than you and walk faster."

Saying this, I didn't wait for them to object and left as soon as I walked out the door.

They didn't call me back from behind. I cursed in my heart while walking, damn it, wasn't I just being polite! You don't even have a polite word, am I here to do chores?

They didn't call me back, and I was too embarrassed to go back, so I had to curse while returning to the hotel to turn off the computer.

Walking downstairs to the hotel, I saw a shop selling electronic products, which was still open, filled with various electronic products. My heart skipped a beat, and I turned into the electronic shop door.

This shop wasn't big, but it was filled with electronic products that couldn't be seen in Hengyue City.

I walked over directly and asked, "Do you have a USB drive?"

The clerk took out four or five USB drives of different styles directly for me. I chose one with a large storage capacity, paid the money, and went straight to the guest room.

I suddenly had an idea in my heart: I wanted to copy the content on the computer to the USB drive. ===== CHAPTER 594 =====