《 Chapter 14: Macaque 》

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Sizzling could be heard as Pigsy, Tang, Sandy, Mei, and Bai He are sitting down watching Nuo cooking food. Nuo chops the spice paste ingredients and then blends it in a food processor until fine. Then she heats the oil in a stew pot, adds the spice paste, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, and cardamom and stir-fry until aromatic. She add the beef and the pounded lemongrass and stir for 1 minute, and add the coconut milk, tamarind juice, water, and simmer on medium heat, stirring frequently until the meat is almost cooked. After that, Nuo add the kaffir lime leaves, kerisik (toasted coconut), sugar or palm sugar, stirring to blend well with the meat. Lower the heat to low, cover the lid, and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is really tender and the gravy has dried up. Add more salt and sugar to taste. Finally, she served immediately with steamed rice.

Mk is in training with Wukong and Bai He came over to hang out. Nuo glances at Mei who gives her an encouragement nod. After Red Son and Princess Iron Fan got away with the key, Mei had saw her dragon form and asked a lot of questions about her, to which she and Mk replied it was a long story. Mei was pretty upset with Mk keeping a secret from her as he quickly told her that he had a good reason to. After amounts of explanation in Mk and Nuo's apartment, Mei was amazed and told Nuo that she should tell her friends about it since they cared about her. Nuo was unsure at first, but if they're going to deal with something dangerous she has to plus they're like a family to her much like back at Kumandra.

Nuo smiles and nods back before going back to cooking as she placed the food in each plate before doing one more thing she wanted to do. Once she's done, she placed the plates in front of them as they admire the smell and how good the food looks.

"What is this delicious stuff?" Bai He asked, drooling.

"That is Beef Rendang." Nuo explained, feeling proud of her work. "They're really good and I add that with rice to make it taste more good. Be careful, it's a little spicy."

They bring out their chopsticks, pick the food up, and take a bite of the beef. Their eyes widened at the taste as if it exploded in their mouth. They quickly finished them in one gulp.

"Wow! That's the most delicious thing I've ever taste!" Tang exclaimed.

"It's so full of love!" Mei added.

"It really hits the spot!" Bai He added with a sigh.

"Mhm!" Sandy nodded.

Nuo smiled and ate her own good as well.

"Thanks."she said.

"It really does! But say, what's that you just made?" Pigsy asked, pointing to another dish in her hand.

"A little bit of dessert called Bánh Tét. It's a savory rice cake with pork belly and mung beans. It's actually my favorite dessert." Nuo explained, taking a bite of it and her face is in bliss. "And it's still delicious."

She gives them a plate of the rice cake as they tried it and they love it even more.

"This tastebuds is even good, it has a taste of... home!" Pigsy said, tearing up.

"You gotta teach us how you do it!" Sandy said.

"Definitely." Mei said.

Nuo chuckles and looks to see Bai He stffing her face with Bánh Tét, clearly loving it. She smiles and looks down at her pocket to reveal a paper sticking out. She looks back at Bai He and then to her friends. She should tell her friends about herself first before telling Bai He. There's something very important she wanted to tell the little girl.

"Hey, guys." she called.

They stopped eating and looked up at her as Nuo took a deep breath.

"There's something I need to tell you. I'm... a water dragon."

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