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It’s a special night at Mr. Ping’s noodle shop: the goose decided to close the restaurant for one night to have dinner with his son…
…well, more like to host dinner with his son for the Furious Five. He busily ladles broth into porcelain bowls before stirring the six other pots bubbling on the firewood stoves.
“Sure, you’ve had my version of the soup,” Po says as he carries out the first round, five steaming bowls at a time. “But I swear it has a completely different flavor profile here!”
Tigress takes a tentative sip. “I’ll say.” She gives Po a look. “That’s not to say your cooking is atrocious. No offense.”
“None taken!” Po glances over his shoulder back at Mr. Ping. “Great job, Dad! Tigress actually tasted it!”
The goose gushes, “Of course she did, no one can resist my secret ingredient noodle soup!”
The Five greedily gobbles their meal, with Mr. Ping flapping here and there to bring them more food and whisk away empty bowls. He’s always been able to keep Po busy chewing while handling a never-ending stream of customers, so five hungry kung fu warriors are a walk in the park! For a moment, the outdoor restaurant is quiet as they ate ravenously, then laughter and conversation fills the space as they slowly drain Mr. Ping’s seven giant pots of food.
At some point, Po and Monkey burst out laughing at Mantis’ stupid story (one that made Tigress roll her eyes at), soup coming out of their nostrils and bowls rattling from pounding the table.
“Boys, have some manners,” Mr. Ping scolds without batting an eye. Tigress grimaces when they chug the remainder of their soup (that definitely had nose drippings in them at this point). Viper glances over and does a double take.
“Uh, Po? What are you doing?”
“Hm?”
Everyone turns their attention to the panda and sees him slurping from his soup spoon… held between his chopsticks. Monkey’s gaze flickers between Viper’s tail wrapping around her spoon and Crane’s talons clutching chopsticks and then his own utensils in his hands, before landing on Po’s set up again.
“What? It fell into the soup. I’ll… get my hands… sticky,” Po explains, his voice growing smaller with every word.
Even Mr. Ping looks disappointed. Po tries to redirect the heat from him, “Dad! Do we still have those fortune cookies in the back? We can finish those off before they go bad.”
“Good idea, maybe one of them will bring a change of fortune for you,” Tigress says drily as she cracks one open. “‘Love will find you if you don’t start looking.’ What is up with this?”
“Maybe the universe is telling you to finally get a boyfriend,” Monkey quips. He’s instantly silenced by her growl.
“What did I say, eh? Hots? ” Mantis snickers. He breaks one open and quickly reads aloud (to avoid being squished by the tiger): “‘Laughter is the best medicine’. Eh, pretty generic. Looks like I already got this fortune tonight!”
“Give me one!” Po grabs a handful and crushes the first one. “‘Wisdom chases you, but you are faster’.”
At this, Crane drops his spoon in the bowl. Viper bites her lips to stop from bursting into laughter, which Tigress fails to do. She quickly composes herself. “Sorry, Mr. Ping.”
“Why are you sorry?” Mr. Ping snorts. “My son may be big, but he wasn’t born an elephant.”
Po stops chewing, mouth full of the bland-tasting crackers. “What’s that supposed to mean?”