Gemstones | Winners ✮ Anthology

'Sacrificially' by @simplyruth

Winning entry of the 'Food Freak' contest: Written by simplyruth

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He knew he was late.

The sky split, streaks of yellow and orange were beginning to show. The moon took comfort in the light as it signalled the end of its shift. He was paddling as fast as he could. As he swerved the last right turn, he parked and locked his bicycle by his regular stop sign pole. With a big huff, he placed a large bag of cucumbers on his shoulders and paced to his regular hawker centre stall. Uncle Kin has already begun skinning whole chickens and braising them to make the perfect chicken stock combination.

"Overslept again?" Uncle Kin asked in Cantonese.

"Kind of," he murmured sheepishly.

"You work too hard for your own good." Uncle Kin said, "too bad I can't pay you more to finish college." He shook his head softly.

"Now, if I really went to college, you will miss me very much."

"Yeah, no one cuts cucumbers like you do." The young man begins to untie his sack of fresh cucumbers and wash them in a huge basin of water. Then, he proceeded with skinning each cucumber and slicing them diagonally. Each with much precision in thickness. At the same time, he had a huge pot of boiling water to cook the bean sprouts. Having been Uncle Kin's assistant chef for the past 2 years, he has mastered the skill of multi-tasking and the craft in getting all the necessary vegetables cooked at the right temperature. The dynamic duo also managed to win the heart of an ultimate food critic, granting them the bragging rights to a Michelin star—the city's first accomplishment.

As his sliced cucumber piles and bean sprouts cook, he transitions to prepare more rice for the rice portion of the chicken rice dish. In another big pot, he began rinsing the rice with the "Rule of 3" that his parents had taught him ages ago.

"Always rinse your ingredients three times." He recalls, as he assisted his mother with washing some Chinese spinach. "But don't go mushing the vegetables." She wrapped her hands around him, watching her gentle washing contrasted his rough handling prior. "Xiao Meng, do you understand?" He nodded happily as he attempted.

He always welcomed thoughts and memories of his simpler times as it provided him the strength to push through the day. Perhaps it has been embedded in his identity as his mother named him Xiao Meng, her little dreamer. While he was younger, he always dreamt about the future. Now, his dreams were filled with memories from the past.

"Meng!" Uncle Kin drew him back from his reverie, "chicken is ready. The crowd is hungry, ready to serve?"

"Yeah, let's get this show on the road."

***

She threw her fork down on the plate and walked to the closest trash bin to spit out the contents of her mouth. "What is the meaning of this?" She asked incredulously.

"I.." the younger boy stammered. "I..don't quite understand ma'am."

"How audacious of you to serve my favourite dish at your audition." She said monotonously, if the boy had not known better, it may have even sounded close to a compliment. "But it doesn't taste anything close to it. The chicken is overcooked, cucumbers are cut in odd shapes, and worst of all, your rice is plain and tasteless. What happened to your chicken broth? The rice is the simplest and most integral part of the dish. Did you know that?"

"Yes—"

"And yet you messed it up."

"I..." the boy started, unsure if he should continue, he took a deep breath, "It's no excuse ma'am, but I ran out of time. I really did try my best: I applied the Rule of 3, made sure all my ingredients were washed well, and I may have wasted too much time there. As for the chicken broth, I have it back on my station, I made sure to start with the broth as soon as the timer went off, but I still failed." He said dejectedly.

Her heart softened at the mention of Rule of 3. She remembered how much time could be spent if the individual was not deft enough or had master the craft. She knew because she was once in his shoes, her parents were kind enough to let her have her way and gave her as much time as she wanted whenever she tried assisting in the home kitchen. "Very well, go grab me a cup of your chicken broth."

The boy immediately dashed to his station and returned with a steaming hot chicken broth. She took a scoop of it and poured it on her rice dish. "Much better," she began after taking another bite. "Do me a favour," she eyed the boy squarely, "don't forget the broth next time. You passed." She walked up to the young boy to give him a handshake. He let out a huge breath of relief and gave her an ecstatic smile.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Miss Mei!" The boy started, "You don't understand what this means to me and the honour that I'm bringing to my deceased parents."

"Oh, I think I do young man." She smiled wanly, "I, too, know someone of your same spirit." She walked away, glad to have ended another day of filming. Her stomach growled and she knew just the place to get her chicken rice craving truly satisfied.

***

"Alright, presenting the best tasting chicken rice dish, your favourite white meat with double portions of bean sprouts and cucumbers!" Meng announced dramatically as he placed the dish in front of Mei.

"Enough of your nonsense, Meng gege (term of address for an older brother)."

"Why, someone is in a sour mood today."

"It's just hunger responding." She said with her mouth full.

"I saw what happened on the TV." Meng said, referring to the live audition rounds that were aired. "You were so mean, it's scary." Meng teased.

"It's all for the drama, don't you know." She replied as she took another bite.

"But that didn't stop you from being nice to the last contestant."

She paused and looked up at her older brother intently. "He reminded me of you."

"Oh yeah? How so?"

"He's daft and naïve." Meng rolled his eyes. "He knows about the Rule of 3. His chicken broth saved him, too much oil for my liking, but that's modifiable. I'm just glad to be done with another day of filming." She shrugged her shoulders.

"Mom and dad would have been so proud." Meng started, "In fact, I'm sure they are."

She looked at Meng with softened eyes, remembering that this was the man that gave up his dream to make everything work for her favor. Even if that means dropping out of high school, waking up in the wee hours in the morning to earn a living for her and himself after the sudden car accident that robbed their young parents' lives. She brought her gaze down to the plate of chicken rice she was enjoying, the sweat and effort put into this plate beyond imaginable as it came directly from her brother's heart. She worked hard, knowing that the opportunities that came her way were not solely based on her efforts, but of her brother's as well. She felt indebted to her brother, as if she were a burden and a hindrance to attain his dreams. But he is living his dream in the most unexpected way—a co-chef of a Michelin star chicken rice stall.

"Couldn't have done it without you." She replied with a smile.