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"Rhubarb?"
"Yes. We call it "dà huáng" in China. The English bake it into pie."
Sayuri's brow wrinkled. Wasn't rhubarb a rather bitter vegetable?
"That's why you counter it with a lot of sugar. Good balance!" Meilin smiled at her. "Come with me."
Sayuri allowed Meilin to pull her into the kitchen of Pumpkin Witch.
"It can survive cold weather, but should not be eaten if damaged by cold." Meilin explained as she pulled the vegetable in question out of the fridge. "Oxalic acid no good."
"But we're making a pie, right? We don't need to worry about it being too cold."
"Right!" Meilin grinned back at her.
Rhubarb, Sayuri learned, could also be combined with other fruits and vegetables.
"Strawberry is a popular choice. Shall we?"
The pie crust was rolled out first, followed by the sprinkling of sugar to keep it from getting soggy. While Sayuri did this, Meilin cut up the rhubarb and strawberries. When she finished, she got a thoughtful look on her face before heading back to the fridge to get one more ingredient.
"Tapioca gives gelled filling!"
"Okay..."
After adding the rhubarb, strawberries, and some small pieces of butter, Sayuri added the top crust, then cut four small slits into it.
"So steam won't escape, right?" She looked at Meilin hesitantly. This was her first time baking pie, but she'd seen them in old Western cartoons as a child.
"Yes, very good!"
The pie was placed in the oven for an hour. While it baked, the two returned to the main area of the shop, conveniently right as another customer walked in. As Meilin became busy, Sayuri opted to catch up on a series she hadn't read in awhile. This was fairly normal for her, but something seemed off about Meilin's behavior today. She was certainly acting like her normal, cheery self.
The question was, why did she keep glancing at Sayuri out of the corner of her eye? Even after the other customer left and Meilin began handling other tasks, she kept glancing at her. When the pie finished baking, Meilin explained that it needed to cool for another hour.
Rinse and repeat. Another hour of Sayuri trying to read while Meilin kept glancing at her in a feigned attempt at looking nonchalant.
Finally, Meilin cut a slice of the pie and put it on the plate.
"Dà huáng root is used for medicinal purposes." She explained. "But perhaps all of it is useful?"
"What?"
Meilin smiled knowingly at her.
"Maybe pie can loosen your tongue." Her tone shifted from playful to kind as she handed the plate to Sayuri. "You tell me what your problem is. See if I can help."
Ah. It was times like these that Sayuri wondered if maybe Meilin really did have psychic powers.
"Thank you." Sayuri nodded as she accepted the slice. "I guess I should probably tell you about my friend, huh?"
Meilin's expression didn't change. She simply nodded for Sayuri to continue.
"Well, a few days ago, we kind of had an argument..."