...
"Little sister, is that how you talk about your own older brother? Brother is looking for a sister-in-law, you should support me."
"Sister-in-law~, looking for a sister-in-law." Zhengzheng was operating a remote control, and upon hearing this, he mumbled with a cute tone.
"Zhengzheng, that's not a sister-in-law, that's an aunt."
"Old mom? Don't want an old mom, want a new mom, want mommy." Zhengzheng crawled up and ran to Shen Yin's side, hugging her legs with both hands.
"Don't want an old mom, don't want an old mom."
"It's uncle's lover, you should call her aunt," Shen Yin explained as she picked up Zhengzheng.
"Zhengzheng, uncle will definitely find you a beautiful aunt," Shen Lv tried to take Zhengzheng from Shen Yin's arms.
Fang Yue happened to be coming downstairs: "Shen Lv, do you even know how to hold a child? If my grandson feels unwell, you're not having lunch today."
Shen Lv's outstretched hand froze in mid-air, not knowing whether to put it down or hold the child.
"Mom, I'm your son."
"A son isn't as important as a grandson."
"Yin, what would you like for lunch? We have everything at home, mom will cook for you," Fang Yue ran over to Zhengzheng.
"Mom, why don't you ask me what I want to eat?" Shen Lv asked.
Fang Yue didn't even bother responding to Shen Lv, not even looking at him.
"Grandma, Zhengzheng wants meat."
"Okay, grandma will make it for you. You stay with mommy, grandma is going to the kitchen right now."
Fang Yue walked into the kitchen, where there were maids cooking, but she wanted to personally cook a meal for her daughter.
"Play with cars." Zhengzheng wanted to get down, so Shen Yin let him down.
The little one actually pulled Shen Lv's hand and ran to the carpet area. He handed the excavator to Shen Lv, while he himself held the cool red car that could flip over.
"Race."
"Huh?" Shen Lv didn't understand what Zhengzheng meant, so he turned to look at Shen Yin.
If it was when Shen Yin had just arrived, she wouldn't have known what "race" meant either. But now it was different, she had been taking care of Zhengzheng for so long that she understood his every action.
"He wants to race with you. You use the excavator, he uses the little car, and you two race to see who's faster and who can knock the other one over."
"Wow, how did you know that?" Shen Lv looked shocked.
"Ahem, there's a kid here. If you use your brain, you can figure it out. You play with Zhengzheng, I'll go to the kitchen and help mom cook."
Shen Yin turned and entered the kitchen, leaving Shen Lv dazed. Did his sister just imply that he's brainless?
Shen Lv didn't accept it. How could he be brainless? Hadn't the company been running smoothly under his management lately?
When he came to his senses and wanted to retort, Shen Yin had already gone into the kitchen.
"Zhengzheng, look at your uncle. Uncle has such a low status in the family - dad doesn't love me, mom doesn't love me, and even my sister thinks I'm brainless. Wah wah wah, you're the only one who treats uncle well now."
"Race," Zhengzheng handed the excavator to Shen Lv.
"Okay Zhengzheng, uncle will race with you. From now on at home, you protect uncle."
"Okay!" The little one responded loudly.
The two reached an agreement and started playing happily.
In the kitchen, the maid had prepared all the ingredients. After Shen Yin came in, she said, "Mom, let me do it, you can assist me."
"Great. I feel so blessed now, my daughter is so capable. If your brother was half as worry-free as you, I'd be content," Fang Yue sighed.
Shen Yin: "I used to cause you even more worry before."
"Ah, you were different. You were just sick back then. You used to be so obedient and sensible, always thinking about your parents. Much better than your brother, who has been causing trouble since he was little. He's already so old but still doesn't have a partner."
"The right time hasn't come yet. He'll get married naturally when it does."
"Look at you, still defending your brother," Fang Yue stretched her neck to look into the living room.
She continued, "If it weren't for Zhengzheng willing to play with him, I would have chased him out to the company."
Shen Yin laughed: "Mom, you may complain about him, but in reality, you still worry about him and care for him, don't you?"
"You're right." Fang Yue brought the washed vegetables to Shen Yin and asked, "What are you preparing to make?"
"Golden Chicken."
"I've never seen such a complicated method for cooking chicken."
Shen Yin smiled without responding. Golden Chicken is a famous dish from the Zhejiang and Fujian regions. Its color resembles gold, hence the name. To make Golden Chicken: Use boiling water to remove the chicken feathers, then add sesame oil, salt, and water to boil the chicken with scallions and Sichuan peppercorns. Once cooked, cut into cubes. The original broth can be used separately. If paired with rice wine, one can taste the joy Li Bai described in his poem when he was summoned to the Tang capital by Emperor Xuanzong: "White wine freshly brewed, returning from the mountains. Yellow hens plump on buckwheat in autumn. Call a lad to cook the hen, pour white wine. Children laughing, tugging at my robes."
The chicken Shen Yin was holding had already been defeathered, so she simply washed it and followed the recipe from memory.
"And what's this?" Fang Yue saw Shen Yin holding a sea bass and realized that her daughter's every action was beyond her expectations.
"Zhengzheng likes fish, so I'm making sea bass for her."
"This way of cooking is also so complicated. Mom has never seen anything like it. Where did you learn it from?"
"I read it in a cookbook - it was a book of ancient recipes. I was bored every day with nothing to do, so I studied it. This is called 'Sea Bass Delicacy', a traditional famous dish from the Song Dynasty in Suzhou and Hangzhou. According to records in the 'Tai Ping Guang Ji' by Li Zhan and others from the Song Dynasty, to make Sea Bass Delicacy, one must use sea bass caught in the 8th or 9th lunar month when the first frost arrives. Select those around 3 feet or smaller to make dried sea bass. After salting it, wrap it in cloth to drain the water, then lay it on a plate. Separate it with fragrant osmanthus flowers and leaves, finely chopped, and toss everything together. The sea bass caught after the first frost has flesh as white as snow and doesn't have a fishy smell. As the Tang Emperor said, 'Golden Delicacies are delicacies from the Southeast region.' The purple flowers, green leaves, and white sea bass delicacy laid out separately on the plate look fresh and lovely. It's not the right season now, but since the sea bass is still quite fresh, I'm using a different cooking method, but the taste should still be good."
As Shen Yin spoke, she placed the sea bass on a plate and poured the prepared sauce over it.
"It's not even cooked yet, but I can already feel how appetizing it is. My little daughter-in-law is really too brilliant," Fang Yue praised her profusely.
Shen Yin made a few relatively simple dishes, but the golden chicken she had just cooked was now ready.
Golden yellow in color, it looked appetizing, and the aroma was mouthwatering.
A small and a large person came running into the kitchen from the living room.
"Mom, it smells so good, what are you cooking?" Shen Lv asked.
"Mommy, Zhengzheng smelled the meat scent, Zhengzheng is hungry," the child said.
"Your noses are so keen that you could smell it as soon as it came out of the pot?" Fang Yue asked.
"Smells good, Zhengzheng is hungry."
