Chapter 5. The super deep meaning of bubble tea (jasmine milk tea)

When Phương arrived home, his sword had also returned around the same time, coming from a different direction. It gave him its spatial pouch, eager to show off the fruits of its labour.

Phương held the spatial pouch in hand, inspecting the contents. This was the payment for the old set of goods. His eyebrows raised. “Not bad, you did well.” He took out a few spiritual stones from inside the pouch and gave it to his sword.

The sword didn’t immediately fly away. It swayed in front of him, making the light catch on the blade.

“Oh, you want a new sword skin?”

The sword bobbed quickly. It traced a shape of a flame in the air with the sword tip.

Phương immediately understood. His sword must have seen a cool-looking sword artefact at the auction today and wanted a fiery make-over. “No problem,” he said. “Luckily I bought some fire-attribute ores. I’ll design some mock-ups for you to pick from later.”

His sword burst out in sparkles of joy. Only then did it fly off with the spiritual stones.

In a good mood himself, Phương had a energy-recovering meditation session (a nap) before returning to his workshop. He was sketching several flashy sword ideas when his sword came flying in.

“Hmm?” Phương put down his pencil and followed the sword outside. As expected, there was a guest approaching.

The guest was dressed plainly but in expensive fabrics; the understated-looking ornaments on his body were high-level cultivation artefacts.

The guest came over, looking at the place with interest.

“Hello,” Phương greeted. “Would you like some milk tea?”

The guest inclined his head in a princely manner and asked curiously, “Milk tea? Is that the local speciality here?”

Phương chuckled. “It’s not a local speciality. But it’s a speciality of my tearoom.”

“Very well,” the guest said. He followed Phương into the house and took a seat at the dining table.

“Your tea will be with you shortly,” Phương said. He moved to the kitchen and began brewing jasmine tea. The fragrant green and floral jasmine scent soon filled the room.

The guest breathed in. Jasmine, a very familiar tea. But how would it taste with milk?

As the tea was steeping, Phương heated up black sugar tapioca pearls and fortified rice milk.

After the jasmine brewed for four minutes, Phương strained the tea and began putting together the cup of bubble tea: tea, rice milk, a touch of sugar syrup and pearls. He placed the cup on the tray along with a straw, a spoon, and a small plate of lightly salted crackers.

“Jasmine milk tea,” Phương said, placing the items in front of the guest. “You can drink this using the straw.”

The guest raised his eyebrows. “Very well.” He followed the instruction to put in the straw and took an experimental sip. Interesting.

Letting the customer drink in peace, Phương returned to the kitchen to prepare dinner: chicken phở. Phương charred some onions and ginger first in a large stock pot, before putting in water, chicken, coriander and multiple fragrant seasonings. After bringing it to a simmer, he set a timer for 1.5 hours and checked back on the customer.

“Is it to your liking?”

The guest had drank only a third of the drink and nibbled on one of the salted crackers. “Is this your speciality drink? Is this your speciality snack?”

“Are you looking for specialities?” Phương asked. Was this the cultivation world’s version of a travel blogger? The guest was quite handsome—he would do well, looking effortless and princely no matter where he went, and easily arousing one’s hunger just by looking at his face.

The guest had a chagrined smile. “Is it so obvious? Take a seat, and I’ll tell you my story.”

“Wait a moment.” Phương fetched his own cup of jasmine bubble tea before sat down opposite the guest. “Please, go ahead.” He put on an attentive expression while sucking up jasmine milk tea and tapioca pearls.

The guest gathered his thoughts before speaking. “My name is Lang Diệu, prince of the South Moon Kingdom. I’m one of several sons. My father quite likes food. He even cultivates the dao of cooking. Our kingdom may be small, but we have many unique specialities. Recently, my father the King has decided that he wants to step down. Following our kingdom’s tradition, the son who can create the most meaningful and delicious dish will win the throne.”

“Oh, better than a fight to the death,” Phương said. He sucked up some tapioca pearls.

Prince Lang Diệu smiled. “It’s our kingdom’s little idiosyncrasy. This competition derives from our ancestor, King Lang Liêu, who created the square bánh chưng to symbolise the earth and the round bánh giầy to symbolise the sky. You may have heard of them.”

“I have,” Phương said. “They’re present at Tết.”

Prince Lang Diệu’s smile widened. “Such is my ancestor’s legacy. Now, it’s my turn to develop a new dish for my father and the kingdom. I’ve been on a journey for over a month, tasting different foods across the land. This milk tea is one of the most surprising and delicious items I’ve come across. I noticed the ingredients—jasmine tea, representing scholarly refinement; rice milk, representing daily meals and the heart of a family; sugar, representing life’s joy; and these curious round chewy balls, representing life’s pleasant surprises.”

Phương’s lips twitched. It was like assigning meaning to the blue curtains in a story….

“However, while my father cultivates the dao of cooking, I do not,” Prince Lang Diệu admitted. “I have no illusions about my cooking ability and no illusions about my ability to take the throne. However, as a son, I will find some new delicious food to present to my father.” He drank some more bubble tea. “This milk tea reminds me of father’s cooking…” His eyes lowered; he seemed to be mostly speaking to himself. “No matter what delicious food I eat outside, my father’s cooking is the best. When our father cooks for us, it shows that he loves us, that he wants us to grow up well…”

Staring at the black pearls in the cup, Prince Lang Diệu suddenly had a flash of inspiration. Presenting the most meaningful dish to his father? Did dishes really have any meaning by themselves? Meanings were just things they ascribed to the dishes. And no outsider’s dish could have as much meaning as his father’s home-cooked dishes. And the dish itself did not matter—it was the feelings accompany that dish that mattered, and the people you were eating with.

Prince Lang Diệu finished drinking the milk tea; a few pearls remained in the cup, reminding him of the ball games his father played with him when he was young. He already knew what he would present to his father upon his return.

But, what was that fragrant smell? Prince Lang Diệu didn’t cultivate the way of cooking, but he had a discerning palate and sharp nose, honed from decades of eating the food made by cooking cultivators. There was something cooking with spices of cinnamon, cloves, fennel, star anise, and coriander, wrapping around a homely chicken broth.

“Does your establishment also serve food?” Prince Lang Diệu asked.

“Yes,” Phương said, “But it won’t be ready for another hour or so.”

“Then I will stay for a while longer. Tell me about how you make these.” Prince Lang Diệu pointed to the pearls left in the cup.

“Alright,” Phương said. He wasn’t concerned about keeping the recipe secret—after all, he wasn’t the one who came up with them. “They’re made from brown sugar, water, and tapioca starch. I have some dried ones here, and I can show you the pearl making machine too.”

“Machine?” Prince Lang Diệu frowned a little. How could a machine make this chewy round ball?

Speaking of his machines, Phương puffed up a little. “Oh, just a little something I made—”

At the end of dinner, the prince’s attache came by in a floating boat to take the wandering prince back. Phương gave him several cups of bubble tea of different flavours, a bag of dried tapioca pearls, a recipe for phở, a pearl making machine, a dishwashing machine and a blender.

In return, the prince gave him a small pile of spiritual stones. Phương happily gave the prince’s attache a free cup of bubble tea and sent them off.

Then, once the boat was flying away, he turned towards the dark sea. The moon and the stars reflected off the water.

“You can come out now—I can see your tail poking out.”

Silence.

More silence.

“Oh well, I guess I can go to bed then and not make anymore food—”

Splash!

A blue dragon emerged from the water, quickly turning into human form. “I was just passing by,” Long Quang said, looking casually at the night sky. “We can’t see the stars under the sea.”

“You must be hungry waiting in the sea for so long,” Phương said.

Long Quang blushed red. “I wasn’t waiting! Why do humans eat so slowly!”

“You could’ve come in earlier,” Phương said. “There’s enough space for you too.” He opened the door and ushered Long Quang inside.

“Humans are evil!”

“You were scared of a mere human prince,” Phương teased. “Let me make you something delicious, hm?”

Long Quang immediately puffed up. And then he puffed down again when he heard the second part. He obediently sat down on the chair with the watermelon cushion. “I gave away almost half of the bubble tea, so I need more,” he mumbled.

“I understand,” Phương said, suppressing a smile. “Do you just want bubble tea, or do you want dinner or dessert?”

“Yes,” Long Quang said. He leaned back and casually dropped a spiritual stone on the table.

“Many thanks, Young Master,” Phương said. He turned to the kitchen, his lips curling up when his back was turned.

Long Quang raised his chin and his little tail swished. Heh, I’m quite a smooth dragon.

Long Quang: The water is blue, I’m blue, no one can see me ( ¬⩊¬)

Phương, who has a greater cultivation and an eye for detail: Haha, how cute!

Long Quang: … (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻

Notes:

Tết: Vietnamese Lunar New Year, usually happens around late January or February.

bánh chưng: a square “cake” made from glutinous rice with a mung bean and pork filling (other versions exist too) wrapped in large leaves. According to the origin story, this was created by Prince Lang Liêu in the 14th century. His father the monarch set up a competition where the son who could bring back the best dish would become the next ruler. I eat this every lunar new year ^_^

bánh giầy: a white, flat round glutinous rice cake, also said to be invented by Prince Lang Liêu. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever eaten this?

blue curtains: a meme about how an English teacher thinks the blue curtains in a story represent very deep meanings about a character, when the author had blue curtains with no hidden meaning.

Lunch menu: Vietnamese phở gà—chicken noodle soup, the lighter and easier-to-make version of the more typical beef phở but still delicious!!

This is the end of the initial daily updates, updates will be every Monday and Friday. Let me know if there is anything fun you want to see included, such as your favourite bubble tea drink (=^_^=)