Liu Mingyan narrows her eyes at her. She is being mocked, she suspects, but it stirs no rage in her. There is something familiar in this teasing, but she cannot place it.

"Never," she vows. "It was my fault; in my effort to earn your forgiveness I have sampled your work too soon." She shakes her head, some of her real curiosity coming through, and admits, "I have never seen noodles prepared in this way."