In the living room, the father and son sat on both sides of the coffee table, and the servants poured tea.
"Young master, will you stay for dinner tonight?"
Umbo just sat down and looked up at Wen Siyuan when he heard the words.
Wen Siyuan pointed to the box on the shoe rack at the entrance.
"That's two bottles of red wine for my father. It's better to wake him up early."
Umbo knew wine best. Although he couldn't understand the French on the box, he could tell that it was good stuff at a glance. His expression eased instantly, and he ordered the servant.
"The abalone that I brought back yesterday was cooked in the kitchen, and …"
The servant hurriedly responded.
Wen Siyuan looked up two inches and fell behind Umbo in the direction of the master bedroom on the second floor.
Zhou Lan was standing behind the railing, looking at him with a frown.
"What happened to your face?"
Umbo's voice interrupted his thoughts. He came back to his senses and withdrew his gaze. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Zhou Lan had closed the door and returned to the bedroom.
"Oh, I drank with my friends two days ago and knocked it. It's nothing serious."
Regarding drinking, the old man had never said anything to him. After all, he taught him by example.
"Have you dealt with the things in Macau?"
"Yes."
Wen Siyuan nodded. "It's nothing serious. It's just that a friend asked me to help."
"It just so happens that I have something to discuss with you these two days. It's about the shares of Pleasure. You hold those in your hands for me. I have a lot of use for them later."
Wen Siyuan felt a little guilty. He lowered his eyes and nodded.
"Hong Rizhang, the old fox, wants to gain something without risking anything. In his dreams. He wanted to bite the meat of Pleasure before. No matter what, I will make him lose a layer of skin. What's more, he's not the only one who wants this meat now."
Wen Siyuan lowered his head and drank tea. He didn't have his usual enthusiasm for the old man's practice.
He was still a little guilty. What Ling Han asked him to do was, in the end, helping outsiders. If the old man knew, he would be so angry that he would faint, and he would be half dead.
However, if he didn't do it, those debt collectors would definitely do something like chop off his hands and stomp his feet.
…
While everyone in the Wen Family was harboring their own ulterior motives, the Ling Family's old mansion was shrouded in fog. They were eating copper pot soup.
It was Ling Li who brought up the idea of having hotpot. He had repeatedly reminded Ye Huanyan on the phone that they had to go home for dinner. After Ye Huanyan had asked him about it in a roundabout way, she finally found out the reason.
Fu Yingxiang was originally from Hunan. Like her father, she liked spicy food since she was a child. During this period of time, she had been living in the old mansion. Everyone's taste was lighter, so the guests followed the host's preference. They had been eating bland and tasteless food, especially the chicken soup a few days ago. Even Ling Zhan himself couldn't stand it anymore.
"I used to take her out for supper every night, but she refused to go out with me since yesterday, so I can only make some food at home. But I don't know how spicy her taste is. It won't be good if it's too spicy."
"So you plan to use us as a cover tonight. In fact, you want Fourth Sister to be your lab rat, right?"
Although she couldn't see Ling Zhan's face through the phone, she could tell from his tone that his face was probably as red as a pig's liver.
After settling Ye Huanyan, Ling Zhan specially called Aunt Zhang and found the old copper pot that hadn't been taken out for many years. She personally washed it and heated the charcoal. The beef and mutton were the best in the supermarket outside.
The whole afternoon, the kitchen was filled with the sound of pots and pans.
Ling Li had been playing games all night and was sleepy, so he was asked to help wash the vegetables.
Fu Yingxiang and Ling Han went out. Wen Siyuan had something to discuss in Su Hong's shop about the gambling debt, so he was not at home.
In the evening, when Ye Huanyan came back, except for the kitchen, the whole old mansion was dark.
She opened the curtain of the kitchen and saw Naonnao squatting next to the washing basin. He was playing with red and green peppers with his small hands. Ling Li was sitting next to him, yawning and playing games on his phone. From time to time, he would pat his hand.
"Stop fooling around. Wash well."
Ye Huanyan put his hands on his waist and put on a fierce look.
"Stupid girl, how can you bully my son like this?"
Ling Li lazily raised his head and glanced at Ye Huanyan.
"If you knew how many things my brother forced me to wash this afternoon, you would think that I already love your eldest nephew very much."
"…"
Ye Huanyan followed Ling Li's gaze. On the square table in the kitchen, there were dozens of kinds of meat ingredients. Ye Huanyan did not even know the names of some of them.
"What are these?" Ye Huanyan exclaimed in disbelief.
Ling Li put his hands into his pocket.
"Come, look, I'll introduce them to you."
"There are five cold dishes here, century eggs, tofu, sweet and sour radish, longan, red dates, salted duck …"
"…"
"Look here, there are six kinds of meat. Except for the beef roll, which is bought outside and my brother can't cut it, there are hand-cut mutton, chicken breast, beef eye …"
"…"
"Six kinds of vegetables, cabbage, chrysanthemum, cabbage, lettuce …"
"Six kinds of balls …"
"Six kinds of bean products …"
"Six kinds of desserts …"
"…"
Ye Huanyan listened to Ling Li with her mouth agape. She swallowed her saliva and said, "You eat a lot of Chinese food now. How can you recognize so many vegetables?"
"Bah."
Ling Li's face was filled with righteous indignation.
"Before this, I called these lousy vegetables. Do you know that I washed them all afternoon? My brother's typical Virgo obsessive-compulsive disorder forced me to not even ask for the leaves on the vegetables that have turned yellow. I was about to go crazy because of him. I repeated the name of the vegetables hundreds of times when I washed them. How could I not remember?"
"Okay, okay." Ye Huanyan comforted her. "It's your duty as a sister to help your brother woo your sister-in-law. Stop nagging. It's not like you don't want to eat later."
Ling Li still had an unwilling look on his face.
"Now that she doesn't even give him a good face, my brother is already so sincere. I don't know how low his status in the family will be when he gets married in the future. Ye Huanyan, have you ever seen my Brother Linghan treat you like this? He went through so much trouble just to find out whether your taste is salty or not. Those who don't know would think that this is a state banquet! "
"Don't exaggerate."
Ye Huanyan pulled Naonnao up from behind the basin to wash her hands. At the same time, she rolled her eyes at Ling Li. "That's enough. Have you ever seen a state banquet where you treat foreign guests to hot pot?"
"Yes, at my house."
"Don't eat it tonight."
"Why? I washed the vegetables all afternoon."
Just as they were talking, Ling Zhan came back with two bags in her hands. When she saw Ye Huanyan, she quickly greeted her and then looked at Ling Li.
"Ling Li, wash the fruits in these two bags. I'll make a platter."
Ling Li covered his face and gritted his teeth.
"Brother … am I your sister?"
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