Chapter 18: Entertaining Guests

After a few more days, Zhang Fan's illness finally healed. Zhang Fan felt he should thank everyone who had helped and accompanied him during his illness.

So today, at Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er's home, the place was full of the guests they had invited. Everyone was busy preparing their lunch today, which included the few neighbors he had first met and their partners, of course also the chieftain couple and Mo De couple and a few others. The rest were some males who had a good relationship with Ba te er.

A few days earlier, Zhang Fan had Ba Ke Er collect many seasonings in the wild—although only simple scallions, ginger, garlic, plus Sichuan pepper and chili, the quantity was still sufficient. Thus Zhang Fan had an idea in mind. Indeed, he planned to use these seasonings to make hot pot. It had been a long time since he last ate it; thinking of this, Zhang Fan began to salivate, sped up his hand movements, and started stir-frying the hot pot base. Soon the aroma spread throughout the courtyard, making everyone who was helping look forward to the upcoming lunch. After the base was ready, Zhang Fan added animal bones and clean water to the pot to begin simmering the broth. Then he started using another pot to make chili sauce and the other dipping sauces.

After a while, the broth was finally done. Zhang Fan had everyone bring the prepared meat slices and washed vegetables to the side of the pot. Then he let everyone take a bowl to prepare their own dipping sauce. Everyone found this new way of eating novel. They all picked up their bowls and chopsticks, adjusted the dipping sauce to their taste, then sat by the pot and began to eat, with females and males seated separately. On this side, the female table's Fei Er said:

"Zhang Fan, is this way of eating something you invented yourself? It's really not bad! It's delicious, this is the best thing I've ever eaten."

The males at that table, Ba te er, also began to agree:

"Yeah! Fan Fan, this is really delicious! What is it called? Will you make it again next time?"

Zhang Fan felt delighted inside.

"This is called hot pot; you can eat while it cooks. In winter, eating this is the best. It's a way of eating from my original tribe; people where we're from all love to eat it in winter. Moreover, it can be cooked with many different kinds of animal meat. If you get tired of it, you can also blanch some vegetables to eat."

Everyone hearing this thought that Zhang Fan's original tribe people were indeed clever; eating this hot pot in winter would surely be warm! That way they wouldn't have to worry about many people dying from the cold in winter.

Thus, the status of hot pot was quietly settled in everyone's mind; they all decided to eat hot pot in winter. They began to grow curious about the ingredients in the hot pot. Nuoya was always the first to speak up:

"Zhang Fan, what did you put in this hot pot? How is it so delicious?"

Zhang Fan also hadn't thought of keeping it secret, so he openly said to everyone:

"The base of this hot pot is made by stir-frying chili, fresh ginger, scallions, garlic, and some Sichuan pepper in oil rendered from fatty meat." Upon hearing this, everyone exclaimed: "Ah! Aren't several of the seasonings Zhang Fan mentioned exactly the medicines they use to treat fever and colds?" No wonder the people of Zhang Fan's original tribe all eat hot pot in winter.

This meal, everyone ate together for a long time, finishing all the dishes. Nothing was left; even the broth in the pot used for blanching the hot pot was drunk down to the last drop. At the end of the meal, everyone was reluctant to leave, so they began helping Zhang Fan and Ba Ke Er clean up. Only after everyone had washed all the bowls, chopsticks, and pots clean did they each say goodbye and depart.