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墨書 Inktalez
Then she turned and shouted at the two sisters, "Alright, you two little devils, your grandma and grandpa have set off early, so hurry up and get the food ready on the table. Mom, you've seen your little granddaughter, and since the kitchen is quite smoky, your health has just recovered. Let me help you sit outside."
"Okay, that sounds good. Grandma will wait outside for the little darling to chat later."
So Grandma Zhou was helped by her daughter Zhou as they turned and left the kitchen while greeting Ziyan.
Ziyan finally let out a long sigh, while Ziying, standing nearby, was still covering her mouth and giggling.
"Go on, set the table with the dishes," Ziyan pushed her sister and ignored her.
She turned back to start preparing the next dish—Braised White Trout Offal.
Ziyan first mixed all the accompanying ingredients with a little salt in a bowl and set it aside. She heated up the frying pan and poured in some vegetable oil, then added ginger, scallions, garlic, small chili peppers, and a few slices of red onion, stirring them over high heat until fragrant.
When the pan started sizzling, she poured in the bowl of fish offal, stirred it a few times, added some broth, covered it with a lid to let it simmer naturally. This was because when the fish was cooked through, it needed to be flipped carefully; otherwise, the flesh would easily break apart and fall off, ruining its presentation and consequently diminishing people's appetite.
While the fish was simmering in the pot, the soup on the right burner was also nearly done; it had been boiling for quite some time. So Ziyan added salt for seasoning and called Ling Yuxuan to turn off the heat and help serve the soup. She still needed to quickly prepare a few cold dishes.
Having already made Chilled King Cobra Skin as the first dish, she proceeded to slice some wild boar liver that had been marinated yesterday—Braised Wild Boar Liver.
Next, she used fresh fiddlehead ferns picked that morning along with some wild black fungus that her sister had prepped earlier. She added some garlic paste, vinegar, and small chili peppers to create Black Fungus with Ferns.
Remembering the large plate of White Trout sashimi that looked like red sunflowers on the table, she quickly took a medium-sized deep dish to serve it with a dipping sauce made from small chili peppers, scallions, sesame oil, rice vinegar, garlic paste, white wine, and salt—completing White Trout Sashimi.
She then instructed Ziying to slice up some already flavorful Smoked Original Flavor Fluffy Silver Fox Meat.
Finally, she made Candied Sophora Flowers using sophora flowers picked that morning along with fine granulated sugar.
Ten dishes! This followed Ziyan's family's tradition of serving ten bowls of dishes when honored guests arrived—a custom known as "eating ten bowls."
As Ziying, Ziyan, and Ling the Handsome successively brought all the dishes to the table while Ziyan chatted with Grandma Zhou, they noticed at the door Zi Lao Er welcoming Ling Yuxuan's master Qin Ming. He was also known as Gu Yuxuan's father Gu Chaoyang among people.
The two were chatting as they approached the large Stone Table where everyone had gathered. It turned out that Zi Lao Er had indeed planned to invite Gu Chaoyang again since it was getting late.
As a result, after stepping out of the house, they soon encountered Gu Chaoyang by the riverside, who was hurrying over. The two then decided to walk back together.
Gu Chaoyang was a man of good manners; he had brought a small gift with him, and everyone noticed that he was holding a silver fox that had already passed away.
Gu Chaoyang was not a pretentious person. He generously approached Zhou and directly handed the silver fox to her.
"My son told me they caught a silver fox yesterday, and this morning I unexpectedly found this one in the mountains. With the two pelts sewn together, it would be enough for Miss Yan'er to make a winter coat, so I brought this silver fox pelt down as well."
Zhou nodded with a somewhat complex expression and didn't say much, only offering a simple thank you.
On the other hand, Zi Lao Er felt somewhat embarrassed and said, "This, this... ah—thank you for your kindness, Brother Gu. Our Zi Family owes your father and son a debt of gratitude that I will never forget in this lifetime. Here, let me toast you both with this first cup of wine."
After speaking, Zi Lao Er picked up two cups of wine that Ziying had just poured, handing one to Qin Ming and the other to Ling Yuxuan.
He then raised his own cup and clinked it with each of theirs, saying, "I’ll drink to your health first," before downing it in one gulp.
The two who were toasted by Zi Lao Er did not hesitate and finished their cups one after another. The three of them then raised their empty cups and turned them upside down in the air to show that they had finished drinking before sitting back down together.
"Come on, come on, let’s eat! Everyone dig in!" Zhou Laoda quickly took charge to liven up the atmosphere.
At this moment, Zi Lao Er realized and hurriedly introduced each guest to one another. After that, everyone at the large table began to truly enjoy the meal.
The men also drank heartily, exchanging cups while chatting about various topics under the sky and current affairs.
Of course—this was excluding Ling Yuxuan among the three older gentlemen present.
Ling Yuxuan ate rather elegantly and occasionally nudged Ziyan beside her with her elbow while batting her beautiful eyes.
Whenever Ziyan noticed Ling Yuxuan teasing her playfully, she would merely smile lightly without responding further.
Her main focus was on her grandparents; she always acted coyly and sweetly greeted Elderly Couple while occasionally adding food to their bowls.
Ziying was in a good mood today as well; she happily joined her sister in pouring tea and serving water for their grandparents.
Everyone at the table was in a great mood today, except for one person who appeared to be deep in thought and somewhat distracted—that person was Zhou.
Since Qin Ming walked in and approached her, she had been preoccupied, as if lost in contemplation.
However, her gaze never seemed willing to meet Qin Ming's; instead, Qin Ming occasionally looked at her with an open expression.
This subtle action went unnoticed by almost everyone, except for one person—Ziyan. From the moment Master Ling Yuxuan chose to hand the silver fox to Zhou, Ziyan instinctively sensed that something was amiss.
As a result, she kept a close eye on her mother and Qin Ming's expressions and reactions, further confirming her intuition.
While pondering these thoughts, she maintained a facade of simply attending to the Zhou Family Elders.
During the gathering, with so many people present and it being a rare occasion for everyone to come together, there were naturally many topics to discuss and share.
Thus, throughout the afternoon, without any sign of dispersing, everyone leisurely enjoyed the delicious food while engaging in light-hearted conversation.
As the food cooled down, Ziying and Ziyan would take it back to reheat before placing it back on the table.
Time slowly passed, and as evening approached, the dishes on the table gradually diminished until there was hardly anything left. Yet those few older men still hadn't completely set down their chopsticks.
Suddenly, Ziyan had a brilliant idea: how wonderful would it be to add some barbecue to this atmosphere?
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