【11/09】(113)
The world was still in the darkness, the stars faded to dim light, only a vague orange flickering at the farther east of the horizon tried to break the dimly lit air. But even in the early times like this, the people who came from well-known restaurants had already started to make their preparations at their own stall.

Because today was Guangzhou's annual dumpling contest. Many restaurants came to attend the grand event and put a lot of effort only for the perfect dumpling.

It was when the sun rose up and light slanted into the drop of the stall's flap, the herd of starving people started to pour into the plaza. Hot Pepper was one of them. He tossed and turned himself last night and never drifted into a dream, because he was so excited that he could taste the dumpling which was made by the famed master chef.

He pressed the rumbling belly as he looked for his first prey to attack. And one stall caught his eyes, the way they cooked the dumpling flamed him with curiosity.

He tried to shoulder his way to the front of the stall, but he was so little and scrawny and not the only one who gave it a try. So he had no choice but to crane his neck up to earn a better view to see their performance.

There were two chefs; one was lean and slender, had long brown hair, wore a blue vest over a pink garb and wound blue clothes on his head, another one was stout and robust, and bared his upper body to show his muscle.

Suddenly, the lean chef shouted loudly to the crowd. “Today, we’ve prepared very special dumplings for you!”

Then, heat puffs of air steamed up from the pot quickly as he lifted the pot lid. The feature of dumplings was the flame of its head that felt like they were blazing. “Now, attention! The most surprising part is coming! ” He gestured toward the stout chef.

He drank a mouthful of wine from the green wine bottle, took a flaming stick in front of his mouth, then blew a gust of wind out directly to the pot, the fire soon devoured the dumplings violently. They swirled, whirled with fire like dancers on the dais.

As quick as the trick was done, the dancers' skin was roasted crispy. Just to smell the burned meat made Hot Pepper’s mouth water.

“Come to taste the best dumplings in Guangzhou!” The lean chef announced. Then everyone swarmed into the stall and tried to grab a plate of dumplings.

The stout chef kept blowing fire into the pot, more dancers charred, finally Hot Pepper also snatched one plate. They were so hot that he needed to blow it a little cool before he took a bite.

He nipped it carefully at first then broke into gorging. How nice the taste is! He wanted to know the secret of cooking. So he observed their act very gingerly. When he stared into the fire a thought just came to him.

“It’s slobber! The secret is the spitting slobber!” Hot Pepper was satisfied with his genius answer as he took his last bite. Then he hummed merry tones, settled out for home.

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