Translator: @anhnguyen12332

The wait was long...but I'm making it up to you guys with a double update .

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After coming out of the change room, Xia Yao retreated into the toilet and stayed there for over a hour until the scent of food wafted in.

"You're still adamant on cooking at this time? I'll just eat whatever's in the fridge."

That was exactly Xia Yao's thought until he saw the array of half cooked dishes laid out on the kitchen counter. The deliciously sweet smell made Xia Yao quickly take back his words. With just a quick glance one could already see pork ribs, chicken fillets, prawns and fish. Lunch wasn't even this lavish, where did all of these ingredients come from?

So it played out that while Yuan Zong was busy making big noises flipping and frying and boiling, Xia Yao was lazily waiting around for the food.

Not long after, the first dish was served.

"What is this?" Xia Yao asked.

Yuan Zong said, "This is a delicacy of Dong Bei, drunken chicken [1]."

[1]

Xia Yao had intended to wait for the whole ear to be laid out, but this first dish looked already too tempting, so he made a difficult decision to try a bit. The chicken meat has been marinated in an eight years old Chinese wine, strong wine scent dissipated into thin air, the meat was cooked just right, soft but not overcooked. Xia Yao took a bite and immediately, both the eater and the chicken became drunk.

This is fucking delicious!!!

Xia Yao's initial intention was to have a quick taste, however, he couldn't stop himself after the first bite, then came the second bite, third bite...Straight until Yuan Zong brought up another dish did Xia Yao's focus change.

Yuan Zong used eight types of seasonings to make braised pork sin soy-sauce [2], which was of a pinkish red color, a Dongbei delicacy also.

[2]

Xia Yao hurriedly picked up his chopsticks.

Xia Yao tipped into the pork rib with dripping succulent sauce, the meat was sweet not greasy, so very appetizing.

Ah ah ah ah...tastes so good! Other than the word "delicious" flashing in neon lights in his head, Xia Yao could not think of anything else.

A little while later, prawn cooked in claypot [3], chilly vegetable salad [4], duck ribs in mushroom [5], the final dish was vermicelli and pork stirred shredded sour vegetable[6], all were delicacies of Dongbei.

Usually, sour vegetable wouldn't be Xia Yao's first choice, but when it is made by yuan Zong, it suddenly possesses the color of crunchy yellow, fresh, with a breezy sour taste.

"Where did you buy this?" Xia Yao asked.

Yuan Zong answered, "I made it myself, sour vegetable from the supermarket doesn't have any flavor."

The cassava vermicelli was also made from scratch, no artificial chemicals, soft and shiny. Lean meat came from the pigs raised in hometown farm, not too fatty but just right.

"So nice, uhm, this is exquisite, and the smell is just..."

Bite after bite, Xia Yao gobbled everything down without looking up. It was in his every intention to hold up his dandy boy appearance, wearing a cold exterior mask, but the mouthwatering food had made him forget everything. It was not until Xia Yao had filled half of his empty stomach did he notice Yuan Zong has yet to pick up his chopsticks, instead, those oblique eyes were glaring intently at him.

Oily mouthed, Xia Yao gave a quick grin.

"Tastes fine."

Finally, Yuan Zong Zong brought out some bird egg stock [7], Xia Yao drank up more than half of the bowl before reluctantly bidding farewell with the food.

[7]

A few days later, as natural as the sun rising and setting, Xia Yao would come to Yuan Zong's office to eat dinner. Here, Yuan Zong would not hold back his culinary skills and cook alternating dishes so as not to make Xia Yao get bored, who would only drive home after getting his stomach stuffed.

Mother Ha saw these changes and couldn't help but prodded for information, "Why so many extra shifts during these few days?"

Xia Yao answered, "There has been a serious criminal case which our bosses are pushing to get done."

"But you can't neglect your body like that! You can't continue buying food from outside. Next time you have to stay late, so tell me and I'll ask our driver to bring you dinner."

"Oh no, that's alright!" Xia Yao quickly replied, "The office takes care of our meals, and they're not bad either, so you don't have to worry at all." (Where did you learn how to lie like that, hun? )

Yuan Ru harrumphed, "Big bro, why have you been so lazy these days? You don't m even bother with dinner anymore, I have to eat out every single day. There's practically no fatty goods in my belly."

Yuan Zong replied with a simple, "Busy."

"Oh yeah, guess what, I want to tell you something, I'm lovesick again."

Because it was a usual occurrence, Yuan Zong didn't bat an eyelash.

Yuan Ru mumbled, "I've discovered, A person's aesthetic sense only increases with time, once it has had the pleasure of savor something extremely beautiful, there's no way going back. Xia Yao has raised my bar to it's highest level, so that now no one will ever do. Brother, tell me what should I do?"

Yuan Zong reacted by giving his sister a silent look, maybe because he shared the same realization.

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So many new dish names! I spent hours searching and ended up making up most of the names anyway :3

Love,

Ann