321: Decide

The next day, Wang Cheng took the lou mei he made and went with Chu Yifeng to the Chu house. He’d originally wanted to bring a few sets of clothes, but Chu Yifeng told him that clothes had already been prepared for him.

Chu Wenting and Shen Qing had already set off yesterday. They planned to have a honeymoon as soon as they married, but some factors prevented them from leaving in the end. After their son Kunkun was born, the two of them had even less time. Now, however, Chu Wenting felt that they shouldn’t delay having their honeymoon any longer, and the couple immediately decided to set out to travel.

It wasn’t until Wang Cheng saw the little bean Kunkun twisting his butt around as he crawled towards them that he remembered something: Chu Wenting and his wife didn’t take the little guy with them on the trip. Had they wanted family members to help take care of him? Wang Cheng suddenly made a remarkable discovery, and simultaneously felt a strange sensation near his feet. When he lowered his head, he saw Kunkun grasping his pant leg and gazing at him eagerly.

"Didn’t this little guy like you the most?" Wang Cheng looked at Chu Yifeng speechlessly. He’d thought that the little guy was rushing towards Chu Yifeng, but as a result, the little guy changed targets the moment he got distracted?

Chu Yifeng shrugged and took the lou mei from his hands: "Maybe he likes you. Carry him in." After leaving those words, he lifted his foot and walked away.

"Hey, hey..." Wang Cheng hastily called after Chu Yifeng, who resolutely ignored Wang Cheng and walked away, leaving Wang Cheng and the little guy still holding on to his pant legs.

Wang Cheng stopped and looked at the little guy helplessly. "Kunkun, didn’t you like your eldest uncle the most? I've only met you a few times."

Kunkun blinked and looked up at him without saying a word.

Wang Cheng stared at him for a while, and finally surrendered. Resigned to his fate, he picked him up and went inside. He happened to come across Chu Yifeng as he exited the kitchen, so he asked him, "Did Chu Wenting and his wife just leave Kunkun at the Chu house like this? If no one in your family had time to take care of him, why didn’t they send him to Shen Qing's parents for a few days? "

Generally, in rural areas, if the husband and his family were busy, they would let the wife’s family look after the child.

"Shen Qing's parents work for the government just like my aunt and uncle do, so they don't usually have any spare time." The Shen family's Old Man Shen and Old Man Chu were war buddies from when they were young. However, the Shen family was not as prosperous as the Chu family, so not many people were able to stay at home.

"Give this little guy a hug." Wang Cheng hurriedly attempted to hand Kunkun to him.

Chu Yifeng didn't react. "Since he likes you, you can hold him for a while."

"Come on, his arms are wide open, he obviously wants you to hold him." Wang Chengcheng knew that this little guy liked Chu Yifeng the most. However, just as he finished speaking, the little guy retracted his arms.

"..." Kids these days mature too quickly.

After Wang Cheng sat down in the living room, Kunkun became restless and began to crawl all over him, as if he’d suddenly been injected with ADHD. At first, Wang Cheng kept his guard up to prevent him from falling. Then he gave up and felt he might as well let him climb around.

The old lady didn't make them wait too long. It was soon lunch time, but Old Man Chu and the others wouldn’t be back from the military zone until evening. So, only the three adults and little Kunkun ate today’s lunch.

Their meal for lunch was Wang Cheng’s lou mei. The old lady couldn't eat strong flavors, so she served herself some of the slightly sweet stewed tofu. The texture of the tofu was relatively soft, perfectly suitable for elders like the old lady. Because Old Man Chu liked to eat lou mei, the family chef would cook some every couple of days to satisfy his cravings. The old lady had long been familiar with the taste of the chef’s lou mei, so she soon found that today’s tasted different.

"Who made this plate of stewed tofu? Somehow, it tastes better than before."

Wang Cheng coughed lightly. "Grandmother Chu, I made this myself and brought it from the apartment. I happened to make a lot of lou mei yesterday and heard that Grandfather Chu likes it too, so I brought this and some other flavors over. If you like it, I will make more for you next time."

"You actually know how to cook? You must normally cook for Yifeng a lot." A smile appeared on the old lady’s face.

"It's more convenient to cook by myself than to eat out or order takeout, and it's also much more hygienic, so we can eat with confidence," Wang Cheng said.

The old lady smiled and nodded. "You are right. Prepare some of this for the old man when he comes back tonight."

After Wang Cheng finished talking with the old lady, he turned his head; Kunkun, who had been eating quietly beside him, was staring at him. No food could be seen in his bowl. Wang Cheng had heard that his appetite was very big, and now he was forced to believe it. He accepted his fate and helped serve him another bowl of rice.

Kunkun was two and a half years old. Although he had two rows of teeth, which added up to several fingers when counted, he still couldn’t eat hard food. So, Wang Cheng simply prepared another bowl of stewed tofu with rice - but this time, he smashed a marinated egg and tore meat from the stewed chicken legs to add to the bowl.

Upon seeing that there were additional eggs and meat in the bowl, the little guy's eyes lit up. He stretched his neck and followed Wang Cheng's movements with an impatient expression.

When she saw this scene, the old lady couldn't help but laugh.

Possibly due to the lou mei appetizer, the old lady’s appetite improved a lot. She drank one more bowl of porridge than she usually did. Later, the surprised Chu chef felt a desire to learn from Wang Cheng. However, considering that Wang Cheng was a guest of the Chu family, the chef could only keep his thoughts to himself for the time being.

After eating, they all moved to the living room.

Wang Cheng carried Kunkun under his arm. The little guy had eaten so much that his belly became round. After sitting down, Wang Cheng put him on the floor to let him exercise and digest the food.

Kunkun looked refreshed after eating and immediately crawled around along the coffee table. He returned to Wang Cheng's feet once he’d finished crawling around, looked up at him, then began crawling around again, then looked at him, then continued crawling, and so on and so forth. Wang Cheng had no idea what he was doing.

However, the old lady was amused and laughed. “There seems to be a popular saying: ‘The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach’. It seems that this method is also effective on children."

"Grandmother is right, Kunkun has been blessed by Wang Cheng’s craftsmanship," Chu Yifeng echoed.

When Wang Cheng heard this, his face became covered in black lines. He had gone through a child's stomach? Bah, what did he want to do by gaining a child's heart? Anyway, a kid was good for nothing besides being cute.

Having played enough, Kunkun struggled to climb onto the sofa. Wang Cheng looked over and lifted him up with one hand. However, he didn't put him on his own lap, but stuffed him into Chu Yifeng's arms. Kunkun looked at his eldest uncle and immediately grinned, hugging Chu Yifeng's arm.

The old lady began to feel somewhat tired and went upstairs to rest. Kunkun, who was also worn out from playing, fell asleep in Chu Yifeng's arms and was carried to his own small room to sleep.

Wang Cheng thought about how the Chu family would be coming back one by one in the evening. They already ate up all the lou mei they brought today, so he planned to go into the kitchen to make some more. After the chef learned of this, he also came to the kitchen to help Wang Cheng and discuss his lou mei recipe with him as they cooked.

The deliciousness of the lou mei rested in its sauce. However, the sauce recipe was quite complicated - especially the red sauce’s, which required more ingredients than the yellow and white sauce. Because the old man liked to eat lou mei, the Chu kitchen had lots of sauce and marinade ingredients prepared.

In fact, Wang Cheng's culinary skills were not as good as the Chu family chef’s. Like any good chef, many of the dishes the chef cooked were delicious. However, Wang Cheng only specialized in a few dishes. He’d cooked lou mei over many years for the monk’s picky mouth, allowing him to hone his skills to the level it was today. If he competed with the Chu chef in other dishes, however, Wang Cheng's cooking might not be as delicious as the chef’s professional cooking.

The chef benefited a lot from his discussion with Wang Cheng, and his new-and-improved marinade sauce was almost the same as Wang Cheng's.

At this time, the other members of the Chu family came back one after the other.

Wang Cheng had stayed in the kitchen, so they didn’t notice his presence until he came out.

The old lady and Kunkun had already woken up from their naps, and were sitting in the living room with Chu Yifeng. Wang Cheng came out of the kitchen holding a big bowl so he was a little embarrassed, but he still greeted them all one by one. Besides Chu Yifeng and Kunkun, the others present were elders. Old Man Chu was the last to come back with his third son, Chu Lei. The only one absent was Chu Li, who had called just now to say that he would not be home for dinner tonight.

"Everyone is quite lucky, tonight's dinner was cooked by Zhou Cheng and the chef. His dishes are very good, especially his tasty handmade lou mei." The old lady glanced at Old Man Chu as she said this with a smile.

"Then we’ll have to get a good taste of it later on," Chu Lei said with a smile.

Chu Hong also said: "Though I’ve heard that there are many men who can cook these days, I'm afraid that not many of them cook delicious food. However, even my mother praises Zhou Cheng’s cooking? It seems Zhou Cheng is less and less simple than we thought."

Jiang Zhuqing looked around at everyone. She’d originally wanted to say that men of the Chu family didn't need to cook. However, when she heard their words, she consciously closed her mouth. Once again, she deeply understood that her niece had no chance. When she remembered her niece’s words, she had a headache all over again. She mulled over her thoughts for a while.

Once the meal was served, everyone came to the table, one after the other.

Chu Hong deliberately lagged a few steps behind to grab his wife and warn her in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Zhuqing, there are some things I don't want to have to repeat. Remember that you are the daughter-in-law of the Chu family now. You will spend the rest of your life in the Chu family, not the Jiang family."

Jiang Zhuqing's body shook.

***

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