Reunion Dinner

However, she did not feel tired. Instead, she became more and more energetic. Fortunately, Ruyi and the others were not arriving at noon. They would probably arrive in the afternoon, so there was no need for her to prepare a large amount of food for lunch. She had plenty of time on her hands.

After breakfast, she left the washing of the dishes to Qin Anming and Zhuang Zhuang, while she focused on preparing for the reunion dinner.

She looked at the menu and counted the ingredients that she had cut. Looking through the list, she did a check to see which ingredients she had to finish up. She realized that there was only the octopus and prawns left.

At this moment, Zhuang Zhuang and Qin Anming had just finished clearing the table. Xiaoguo placed a large basin of prawns in front of them. “I’ll give each of you a skewer so that you can devein the prawns.”

Although the two of them were clueless, with Xiaoguo’s patient explanation, they quickly got to work.

They looked like they were coping well and they managed to devein the prawns very thoroughly. So Xiaoguo left them to work on it while she went ahead to work on the octopus.

She cut the big octopus into small pieces. Some red and green chili peppers were also chopped. They will be added to the dish later on.

The remaining century egg tofu was ready-to-eat. She will whip that up later in the afternoon.

The bean paste pancakes and brown sugar glutinous rice cakes were ready—to-cook. They could be fried in the afternoon, but the sweet potato balls had to be made from scratch.

The cooking method was very simple. There was a large-sized sweet potato at home. After peeling it, it was steamed and mashed. Glutinous rice flour, sugar and some starch were then added before kneading the mash into a dough. The dough was kneaded into a long roll, and cut into smaller pieces. Xiaoguo then molded them into balls and coated them with a layer of starch. They would be deep-fried in the afternoon.

At this moment, Qin Anming and Zhuang Zhuang had finished deveining the prawns. Xiaoguo looked at the table full of ingredients and counted them silently. All the ingredients were finally ready. There was only one thing left.

That was to mix the sauces. In order not to get flustered when cooking, it was very important to mix the required sauces in advance.

Zhuang Zhuang and Qin Anming looked at each other and wandered around the house. They realized that there was really nothing else for them to do. They didn’t know what time Xiaoguo had gotten up in the morning. To think that she had gotten all the ingredients ready by this hour.

“What else can we do?”

The two of them slowly moved behind Xiaoguo and watched her while she fiddled with a spoon. It was extremely strange.

Xiaoguo had no time to pay attention to them. The sauces were all rationed and she had to prepare them spoonful by spoonful. Hearing their words, she didn’t even open her mouth and waved her hand casually in response.

The two of them were telepathic. Even though she didn’t say it, they understood. She was telling them to move aside and not cause trouble for her.

They understood completely!

“Zhuang Zhuang, let’s go back to the room.”

“Yes, yes.”

The two of them returned to the room together. Since there was nothing else to do now, they would go back to the room and read for a while. If they kept bothering her, she might explode again.

All the condiments were finally ready. Xiaoguo double-checked to ensure that everything was in place. The only thing left for her to do was to cook in the afternoon. With her hands on her hips, she looked around in satisfaction and returned to her room to rest.

–

“Zhuang Zhuang, move the stool away.”

“Okay…”

Xiaoguo and Qin Anming moved the table carefully from the kitchen to the back room. Zhuang Zhuang moved the stool that was in the way and asked them to put the table down.

“That’s enough.” Xiaoguo aligned the kitchen table with Zhuang Zhuang’s desk and measured the length.

“How is it? Are we able to fit in two tables?”

Qin Anming looked at Xiaoguo and asked. They should be able to fit 16 dishes on two tables.

“Sure.” Xiaoguo nodded. There was definitely no problem. There should be enough space for eight people and sixteen dishes.

“By the way, Zhuang Zhuang, bring out the peanuts, melon seeds, nuts, and all the other snacks.” After saying that, she turned to Qin Anming and said, “Brother, go and open the door.”

“Understood!”

Zhuang Zhuang and Qin Anming accepted the order and split up. Xiaoguo nodded in satisfaction. Very good.

But they suddenly turned around and asked curiously, “What about you?”

Since they both had a job, what was she going to do?

“…”

Xiaoguo blinked and said after a while, “I’ll go prepare dinner.”

“Quick, quick, quick, go! Go!”

With that, Xiaoguo walked past the two of them and rushed to the kitchen with enthusiasm.

The two of them were left alone and looked at each other. “What was that about?”

In the kitchen, Xiaoguo was taking out the meat from the pot. She took out the chicken, pork belly and tenderloin and placed them on a plate. The freshly cooked meat looked good and the fragrance was delightful. Xiaoguo swallowed her saliva. “All these meat smelled so wonderful fresh out of the pot.”

Zhuang Zhuang, who was in the back room, placed three full plates of dried nuts in the middle of the table. After putting them down, he ran out. His mother was probably going to start cooking soon. How could he possibly miss this big occasion?

When he arrived at the kitchen door, he bumped into Qin Anming, who had just opened the door. The two of them walked towards the kitchen together.

The two puppies were guarding the kitchen door. They were craving for the meat, but they were well-behaved and did not enter the house without permission.

Zhuang Zhuang pushed the two puppies away and entered the kitchen. Otherwise, with them blocking the door, no one would be able to enter.

As soon as he lifted the curtain, the rich fragrance of meat completely blew him away. Zhuang Zhuang took a deep breath and looked intoxicated. Qin Anming and Xiaoguo smiled when they saw his expression.

“Mother, when are Sister Ruyi and the others coming?”

“Sigh.” Xiaoguo sighed helplessly. “Baby, this is the fifth time you are asking.”

Zhuang Zhuang pouted and said pitifully, “I didn’t eat much for lunch.”

“Who told you not to eat?” Qin Anming said instinctively when he heard his words. He was sitting on a stool and chopping wood.

At noon, Zhuang Zhuang insisted on saving his appetite for dinner, so he didn’t eat much. He only ate a teeny bit of rice before putting down his chopsticks. Now that he was hungry, there was nothing the adults could do.

“Mother, listen to what Uncle is saying…”

Zhuang Zhuang complained to Xiaoguo and looked at Qin Anming accusingly. He did that just so that he could eat more during dinner. If not, he would be letting his mother down. She had spent the whole day preparing the feast after all.

“Hmph…”

Seeing that Xiaoguo was ignoring him, Zhuang Zhuang snorted loudly, trying to show Qin Anming that he was angry.

Unexpectedly, Qin Anming didn’t take him seriously at all. Seeing him like this, he laughed out loud.

Even Xiaoguo couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Zhuang Zhuang was small but strong. If his mother laughed at him, he couldn’t do anything. But if his uncle laughed at him, he had to make a move!

“Take that!”

With that, he pounced on Qin Anming’s back. His weight was pretty substantial and Qin Anming had problems blocking his attack.

With her back facing them, Xiaoguo only heard two loud bangs.

Feeling curious, she put down the knife and turned around. She almost choked with laughter when she saw them.

“What are you guys doing?” Xiaoguo wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and held her tummy with her hands as she laughed. Could someone tell her how they managed to fall flat against the stove and end up with sooty faces?!

“We…”

Before they could finish speaking, there was a commotion at the door. Xiaoguo smiled and clapped her hands before running out. She couldn’t care less about the two of them. She would leave them to do whatever they wanted.

“Sister Xiaoguo!”

“Ruyi!”

As soon as she lifted the curtain, Ruyi’s carriage stopped in the courtyard. The five of them got out one after another, each of them carrying a pile of things.

Seeing this, Xiaoguo quickly invited them into the house. “Quick, quick. Go in and rest for a while. I’ll go cook now.”

“Sure, let’s cook together!”

Ruyi and Xiaocui were a little older. They handed the bag to Ling Long and Fu’er and followed Xiaoguo to the kitchen.

Ling Long and Fu’er swiftly carried the bundle to Xiaoguo’s room. As expected, they saw five blankets and pillows neatly arranged on the bed. The two of them looked at each other and smiled. They loved squeezing on the bed and sleeping together!

As soon as she entered the kitchen, Xiaoguo saw that the two black faces were no longer around. She guessed that they must have gone to wash up. Otherwise, how could they meet anyone with their dirty faces?

After looking around, she saw Uncle Xu coming in from outside with a large basket that was filled to its brim. He stopped at the table and put the basket on it.