213: Clothes make the man, saddles make the horse

The dim sum restaurant Zhang Meiqi and the others recommended truly lived up to its reputation as District 5's top dim sum spot.

When Li Qinghe arrived at seven in the morning, the two-story restaurant, with its upper and lower floors, was already filled with all kinds of customers.

There were elderly people, neatly dressed young people, and even students with backpacks.

Some were grabbing food to go in a hurry, others were eating heartily inside the restaurant, and still others were leisurely savoring their meal at small tables.

Originally, Li Qinghe came for the fresh shrimp dumplings, seafood siu mai, and red rice shrimp rolls.

However, when he saw someone at the entrance eating soy milk with fried dough sticks, his taste buds were instantly awakened; he hadn't had such a breakfast in a long time. He sat down and ordered a serving of soy milk and fried dough sticks first.

When he was a child, he loved dipping the fried dough sticks into sweet soy milk. A bite of a fried dough stick soaked in soy milk, with the sweet soy milk and soft fried dough melting on his tongue, instantly opened up his appetite.

Here, a bowl of soy milk with one fried dough stick cost 30,000 vietnamese dong, which is a little over 8 dragon country currency, so it wasn't cheap.

Biting into the soy milk-soaked fried dough stick, he felt it tasted almost the same as in his memory. It was rare to eat a taste from his childhood in a foreign country over a thousand kilometers away.

Only then did Li Qinghe slowly order shrimp dumplings, red rice shrimp rolls, fresh shrimp siu mai, char siu bao, lava buns, pan-fried buns, braised chicken feet with black bean sauce, and finally, a special red bean boba tofu pudding.

Being a good eater has one advantage: you can freely eat whatever you want.

Moreover, the portions of Cantonese dim sum are not large, making it perfect for big eaters who want to try many different flavors.

Various steamers and plates piled up in front of Li Qinghe as he sat there alone, heartily eating all sorts of breakfast items.

He had actually tasted these dim sum dishes before in Guangdong Province. Tasting the dim sum here in Saigon, which claimed to be made according to old recipes, he felt the difference in taste wasn't too significant.

As long as fresh ingredients are used, the taste won't be bad.

One breakfast lasted from a little after seven in the morning until eight, with diners coming and going around him. Finally, he popped a black tea egg into his mouth and finished his soy milk.

Li Qinghe ate 350,000 vietnamese dong worth of food by himself, which is about 95 dragon country currency.

And this was without him letting loose; he was mainly tasting. Otherwise, eating the same amount again would have been no problem.

This dim sum meal wasn't particularly amazing, but what was certain was that the owner of this restaurant used fresh, good ingredients, ensuring the freshest flavors of the food.

Seeing that it was still early, Li Qinghe got on his motorcycle and slowly rode along the streets and alleys towards Zhang Meiqi's home.

Along the way, the old and dilapidated buildings on the streets told stories of what had happened there, and walking on these streets felt like being in a small county town in China during the 1980s.

Only the streets full of motorcycles presented a somewhat lively hustle and bustle.

He remembered Zhang Meiqi saying last night that she would leave home at 8:30 AM to go to District 1.

At this time, she should still be at home and not yet departed.

Now was considered rush hour, and the roads were filled with a surging tide of motorcycles. Saigon's motorcycle army was even larger than Hanoi's, even in a somewhat declining area like District 5.

Amidst the flow of motorcycles, when Li Qinghe reached the alley entrance where Zhang Meiqi's home was located, he happened to see Zhang Meiqi riding her motorcycle towards him.

Perhaps because she was going to work outside today, Zhang Meiqi wasn't dressed in vibrant, youthful clothes underneath and wrapped up like a ghost on the outside, as she was yesterday.

Instead, she wore a white long-sleeved shirt on top and long denim pants on the bottom, looking much more formal.

Seeing Li Qinghe approaching on his motorcycle, the girl braked and extended her long legs to support the motorcycle.

Zhang Meiqi

"Brother Qinghe, why are you here?"

Zhang Meiqi's face clearly showed some surprise; she thought Li Qinghe had come specifically to take her to her workplace.

"I went to the dim sum place you recommended for breakfast, and seeing it was still early, I just strolled over. I didn't expect you to be just leaving."

As soon as Li Qinghe spoke, Zhang Meiqi's heart suddenly trembled. She had a bad feeling.

Was Li Qinghe here to see the twins, Li Mingyue and Li Mingxing?

"So Brother Qinghe came to find A-Yue and A Xing." Zhang Meiqi forced a smile.

"Ah, what do you mean, finding A-Yue and A Xing? Didn't we agree to accompany you to your part-time job today?" Li Qinghe looked at Zhang Meiqi with a puzzled expression.

With Li Qinghe's explanation, knowing it was a misunderstanding, Zhang Meiqi immediately became happy.

"Brother Qinghe, let's go to District 1 quickly. After work, we can explore District 1, and in the evening, we can go to Pham Ngu Lao Street for drinks or to a KTV for singing."

"Let's talk after you finish work. I'll start filming now. You lead the way."

Li Qinghe held up the future camera disguised as an action camera.

Zhang Meiqi happily waved her hand and rode her motorcycle first, heading towards District 1.

The two rode for about half an hour in the rolling traffic.

They arrived at the shop where Zhang Meiqi was doing her part-time job today. It was a street-facing shop with a wide sidewalk in front.

Many balloons and a red carpet had already been set up at the entrance, and the shop was decorated with numerous red lanterns and festive ornaments.

Several pretty girls stood on the side of the entrance, together with the model agent they had met the other day.

These were likely also professional or part-time models, but overall, none of them were exceptionally tall; they were all around Zhang Meiqi's height, about 1.7 meters.

However, a girl of this height is considered relatively tall in Vietnam, especially in a Southern Vietnam city like Saigon.

Although there are many theories that Vietnamese-American or Vietnamese-French mixed-race individuals raised the upper limit of Vietnamese people's height.

In fact, the average height of French people only began to increase rapidly after World War II. Before that, the average height of French men was only 1.66 meters.

When facing Vietnamese men, they actually didn't have much of an advantage.

So, the overall height of Vietnamese mixed-race individuals was elevated by Americans.

Therefore, for native Vietnamese people, especially girls, growing taller than 1.6 meters is already considered a good height.

Parking her motorcycle in a nearby parking spot, Zhang Meiqi put on her small backpack.

"Brother Qinghe, I'll go ahead then."

Zhang Meiqi waved at Li Qinghe and walked lightly to join the other girls.

From her demeanor, she seemed to know some of the girls there. After the group greeted each other, some of the girls pointed in Li Qinghe's direction and said something to her.

Zhang Meiqi didn't seem shy at all; instead, she responded with a few words, looking somewhat proud.

Then, the group of girls all looked at Li Qinghe and started laughing.

After Zhang Meiqi arrived, two more girls came and joined the group.

The agent, who had been taking a call nearby, returned and assigned work tasks to the group of girls.

The girls then all walked into the soon-to-open clothing store, seemingly to change into their ceremonial attire.

Li Qinghe stood on the street, filming Zhang Meiqi.

After about twenty minutes, a line of beautiful girls wearing exquisite Ao Dai walked out of the clothing store.

The agent pointed to various positions at the entrance of the clothing store and arranged them. Zhang Meiqi was placed right at the main entrance of the shop.

The old saying, 'People rely on clothes, horses rely on saddles,' is not without reason, but more importantly, the person wearing the beautiful clothes must have a good foundation themselves.

Zhang Meiqi, dressed in an Ao Dai, stood there holding a tray. Her hair was styled into a bun and adorned with a uniform hair accessory, giving her beautiful appearance an added air of dignified elegance.

Zhang Meiqi