Chapter 192 – Squirrel Human Fish
Hearing this, the woman dressed in white immediately released a sigh of relief, yet before the fear in her eyes could vanish, Hexi continued. “You don’t have to worry about Earth Bound Spirit Poison, because what you should be worrying about, is what I’ll be doing to you next.”
With that, she pointed at the Flying Sword lying on the ground. Suddenly, the Flying Sword that had originally belonged to the woman dressed in white leaped into Hexi’s hand.
Test slicing the long sword through the air a few times, Hexi then lightly tapped the sword’s edge against the woman’s face.
The woman dressed in white felt the cold metal and sharp edge against her cheek, and instantly turned pale with fright. “What are you doing?”
Is there any woman who doesn’t appreciate her own beauty? No woman wouldn’t feel scared when their face was being threatened.
Hexi coldly said, “Speak, who sent you? If you tell me, I’ll leave your body intact!”
The woman’s eyes flashed with a trace of alarm, and she immediately shouted, “Since I’ll die anyway, why should I tell you anything!”
“Oh, such a courageous spirit,” Hexi withdrew the long sword, clicking her tongue as she said, “However, don’t you know how many kinds of methods there are to kill people? If you’re beheaded; you’re dead, if you’re skinned alive; you’re dead, one long slice across the waist with a sword; you’re also dead…do you really think that dying by these methods is all the same?”
The complexion of the woman dressed in white quickly became deathly pale. Hexi had only described simple methods of execution, but the woman was already so scared that her whole body was trembling. Unable to bear it any longer, she yelled, “Don’t you know who I am? If you kill me, you absolutely won’t be able to escape, I…”
Abruptly halting her words, the woman dressed in white firmly bit her lips, refusing to continue speaking.
A corner of Hexi’s mouth curled upwards. “Do you know what my favourite dish is?”
The woman dressed in white didn’t understand why Hexi suddenly changed the topic to food, yet not daring to speak, she could only firmly glare at Hexi.
Hexi continued speaking, “My favourite dish is called squirrel mandarin fish[1]. The so-called squirrel mandarin fish isn’t really made with squirrels, rather, it’s made with fresh fish. First you slice the fish meat into thin pieces without completely cutting them off, then, you take a spoonful of hot oil and pour it on top. Just listen to the squeaky sounds it makes, it resembles the sounds a real squirrel makes. The delicious and fresh taste that dances on the tip of your tongue; it’s a temptation that most top chefs can’t resist.”
The woman dressed in white paled further, while the expression in Hexi’s eyes as she looked at her caused the woman’s hair to stand on end.
Hexi’s next words frightened the woman so badly that she nearly fainted. “I know, how about I make you into a squirrel human fish? First, I’ll slice the flesh on your body into strips, making sure that the thickness is well-distributed so that they won’t rip off. Then, I’ll place you on a big iron plate to grill you, slowly pouring on the hot oil. Hmm, I’ve never made such a big squirrel human fish before, but I believe that the taste will be particularly delicious.”
As she finished speaking, she examined every inch of the woman’s skin, mentally measuring up the material she had to work with.
The woman dressed in white was so frightened that she almost collapsed, and as she was on the verge of sobbing, her voice cracked as she spoke, “You wouldn’t dare–! You wouldn’t dare do that to me…”
But, without waiting for the woman dressed in white to finish shouting, the long sword in Hexi’s hand suddenly waved through the air.
“Ah ah ahh—” The woman let out a miserable shriek, tears and mucus streaming down her face.
Where before there was smooth skin on her cheek, there was now a thin piece of flesh hanging down to her neck, exposing the tender pink flesh inside.
However, what was weird is that even though this was clearly such a big wound, not the slightest amount of blood could be seen oozing out from it.
Hexi lightly laughed. “You still want to say whether I’ll dare to or not?”
After saying this, she approached and looked at that piece of flesh. “Seems that the thickness of the cut isn’t well-distributed. Since I haven’t made squirrel mandarin fish in such a long time it seems that my hands have become stiff, I’d better try slicing another section.”
[1]In making this dish, a whole fish is deboned with the fillet still attached to the tail, the fillet is then cut in a cross-hatch pattern and when deep fried, will look like a squirrel in flight. The sauce served with it is sweet, slightly tangy and pleasantly red. Red is the auspicious colour for the Chinese, so this sauce is extremely appropriate for the Chinese New Year. It is the signature dish of the premier restaurant of Jiangsu cuisine, known as Su Xiaoxiao. Apparently, a long time ago, an Emperor wanted to eat carp, but carp was forbidden by his own laws. Of course, being the Emperor, he wanted to get his way and told his chef that his head would be on the ground if he was not served carp. His chef then had to devise a way to make the carp un-carplike and using his unmatched kitchen techniques, made the fish to look like a flying squirrel instead. Another legend has it that that during Emperor Qianlong’s extensive tour of the south, he caught sight of a particularly frisky carp and, delighted by its apparent zest for life, ordered it to be cooked immediately. In an attempt to capture the fish’s former joie de vivre, the chef focused on giving it a reanimated-look when he fried it. Others say that the origin of the dish’s name lies in the squirrel-like squeaks and squeals that erupt from the flesh when hot sauce is poured over it.